Tag: writing
Deciding To Be A Writer
“Anyone who wants to say goodbye should come this morning,” said the voice. He was very clear that we should not leave it until the afternoon. The doctor had called about six in the morning to tell me that my mother was not going to recover from the pneumonia that had seen her stricken in […]
An Inherited Obsession
My debut novel, Vintage, revolves around friendships between women of different generations. The shared interest that binds them is a love for vintage clothes. The idea for the book grew out of my own obsession for fashion, which I inherited in large part from my mother and grandmother. I grew up in a distinctly ordinary town […]
How to Tackle the Writing Wall
My first encounter with the running menace known as “the wall” happened at 1:00am on a humid July night in Wakefield, Massachusetts. My sneakers were slapping sandy pavement littered with discarded paper cups. The taste of the twilight summer gnats thronging Lake Quannapowitt was still fresh between my teeth. In the sixth hour of the […]
Write for Victory!
Apologies in advance for starting this post with a negative thought, but it has to be said: there is a lot of disappointment in the business of writing. It is an inescapable part of the job which can make it difficult (to say the least) to keep moving forward, to keep trying, to keep writing. […]
Dear Me On A Bad Writing Day…
Dear Me On A Bad Writing Day, I know how you feel. I have been there. Your heart hurts, right? You feel terribly, horribly inept at this writing thing. There is not a sentence you’ve written that you are proud of. The best ones you wrote were the darlings you had to kill. You’ve contemplated […]
Good Writing is like Amber
The gash in the bark fills slowly with thick aromatic resin, clear and golden; it seeps out and spills over, precious droplets that catch the light. Tiny fragments of bark and leaves and mosses, a gossamer-light wing of a fly, all are caught and enveloped as the tree bleeds sap to seal the wound. Years […]
Wordsmithing: Go For It
Words. Individually they’re just symbols on a page. Meaningless, really. But when you string them together into a sentence that conjures up feelings and images, THEN you have something. That’s what I call creative wordsmithing. We’re all capable of it if you put forth a little effort. True, some are better at it than others, […]
Making Connections: Buses, Weaving and Poetry
When is the last time you sat on a bus or a train? I’m on a London bus just now. I find public transport a great place to brew and gather material for creative projects. Let me show you. The bus is a 106 from Stoke Newington to Finsbury Park, swinging round corners, barely pausing […]
A Journey of Souls – Why Novels Are the Most Truthful Medium
The first time someone talks to you because they’ve read your novel, it is very peculiar. The novel I have just published – My Memories of a Future Life – is about a classical pianist who has to stop playing because of a mysterious injury. Her desperation and her search for a cure are the […]
You Have Your Story, Find Your Voice
Have you had an experience so profound you just had to share it with others? Has a single event, or series of events over time inspired you to take what you’ve learned out into the world and make something of it? I have definitely had such experiences, and not only want to spread the word […]
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