Category: On Writing
Women Writing Women
Like most of us, I began writing with the hope of creating the kind of novels I most wanted to read. While I tried to figure out what that was, I was lucky to land a minor ghostwriting job, which led to more. Writing as someone else came easily. I could submerge in another person’s […]
What I Learned From my Mentor
I’d been lost in the wilderness of writing for decades. Scraps of writing on torn-off bits of paper were clogging up drawers. Thousands more bits and pieces sat, ignored, on my computer, some of which dated back to 2002. Assignments from a home-study writing course were never completed and barely started ‘how to’ books littered […]
Love Letter
Dear Writing, It’s Valentine’s Day. Or almost. So now it’s time to tell you what you’ve meant to me and how you’ve changed my heart and life. Good love letters reminisce and remind of those first sightings, those early flirtations and that heady free fall into real love. So here goes. I first spotted you […]
Life After Switching Genres; Don’t Be Afraid!
A friend surprised me recently when she said “You write best when you write Creative Non-Fiction.” That is not who I started out to be and that is not what I started out to write. Writers have been taught that best practice involves writing what you know. Why didn’t I think that applied to me? […]
Literary Snobbery
Sara Sheridan, creator of the Mirabelle Bevan Mysteries, talks about how literary snobbery is divisive within the writing community, not least between men and women. I live in a City of Literature, but I’d rather live in a City of Words. Literature, to me, isn’t necessarily a good thing – it’s exclusive, for a start. […]
The Power of Dark Stories, and Why we Are Not Always What we Write
Where do you get your ideas from? It’s the question nearly all artists dread. We try to get round it in various ways, by making jokes (my standard response tends to be; “Goblins bring them during the night”), but actually the answer is simply this: They come from my brain. Okay. But what if one […]
Writing Through Difficult Times
A seed of salvation exists inside each of us. I had to find mine early. My father’s undiagnosed, untreated schizophrenia and violent outbursts were often directed towards me. He lived in a black and white world, and saw me as the enemy, so he did everything he could to destroy my self-esteem and keep me […]
Why I Write From the Tub
The world is dramatic. Families are busy. Emails are endless. Those are the first three reasons that pop into my head when someone asks me why I write articles, sermons and stories from the tub. I think it started almost 20 years ago after my first son was born and I had founded a community for […]
Finding the Hero
Which was your favourite fairytale? I was asked this question by a Transactional Analyst when I was a training to be a relationship counsellor. His message was that these tales – made familiar to us as children – help to make us into the people we are. I’ve since realised that they also shape the […]
We Can Not Be Defeated
There are writers who are joyful when they write. I have moments like that, sure, but in general I am terrified. I am more plotter than pantser, but there are things, usually the most integral, that are beyond preparation. I believe that you have to prove yourself, you have to earn it, before the story […]
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