Category: British Women Writers
Let Me Tell You Why I Write …
“Let me tell you one thing about why writers write: had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel.” Joan Didion I understand what Joan Didion means – you wouldn’t write a novel, would you, if you could possibly avoid it? Because as all mere [...]
Elephants Dancing in My Tummy: And The Angels Cried
I have a herd of elephants dancing in my tummy; my head aches and I am intermittently overcome by a wave of panic which starts at my toes and oozes from my fingers as I type; I’m not sleeping too well either. I’m not ill or on drugs – unless you count the medicinal Pinot [...]
Brutal – A Story of Sexual Abuse by a Muslim Imam
I was just seven years old when the imam at my local mosque began to sexually abuse me. The abuse happened on an almost daily basis and lasted for four years. The imam was the most powerful man in our community and I was terrified of him. He told me that I was special and singled [...]
Media Ready Media Savvy by Alison Hill
Most writers feel that our work is to create the best book we can, and then we’re done, well, besides getting an agent or a publisher. But the success of that huge journey to write our best book is tied to your efforts in capturing the words and messages about your book that will create [...]
Harnessing The Muse – How To Stay Inspired
Art is anything and everything that stirs the emotions. To create art requires an understanding of emotion; a clear sense of how lived experience impacts and expresses our inner world. We writers, like every other type of artist, gain inspiration from the world around us and from our own experiences. A lot of people believe [...]
Writing in Stolen Time: 10 Ways to Create Time (Literally)!
‘How on earth did you find time to write a novel? You’ve got kids!’ This is a question I have been asked frequently since publishing my debut novel The Girl Who Came Home – A Titanic Novel on Kindle last month. I sometimes wonder myself! But, having wondered, I’ve realised that when you have a [...]
Deer in the Headlights: A Marketing Pro Self-Publishes
I should have known. In the passions of finally committing myself to the authorship of a book, one I knew from the beginning I would not shop with literary agents or publishing houses, I utterly failed myself in not treating my book, All That I Need, or Live Like a Dog With Its Head Out the [...]
The Writer’s Ear: Hearing Prose, Poetry and Music
UK Author Jo Carroll very kindly responded to our question about how poetry and prose influenced each other in your writing. I have a diffuse boundary between poetry and prose. I know that one informs the other, but I’ve never tried to define that, nor explain it – even to myself – in a coherent [...]
Authors, Are You Ready – Media Ready?
Authors, are you ready – Media Ready? Are you ready to answer questions? From fellow writers. Friends. Bloggers. Book reviewers. Radio interviewers. TV hosts. Questions like: ‘Who are you?’ ‘What’s your book about?’ ‘Why should I fork out twenty bucks to read your work?’ These are tough yet realistic questions every author must answer, and [...]
Heartsease: A Writer’s Vision
Over the years I’ve found all sorts of ways to overcome my inclination towards chaos in my writing, but none worked as well as the day I started working to a vision. I began writing in my early twenties as a form of catharsis, although I’m not sure I was really aware of it at [...]
