Tag: featured
Writing and Cancer
I would consider myself to be an incredibly lucky person. I have a wonderful life. I’m about to celebrate my eighteenth wedding anniversary in June. I have two teenagers, a boy and a girl who are the light of my life. Especially when they choose to actually talk to me – that normally happens when […]
The Art of the “Difficult” Female Protagonist
Gone With the Wind, published in 1936, was extraordinary for many reasons. For me, the real genius of Margaret Mitchell’s work was her creation of Scarlett O’Hara, a rich, challenging, and difficult character. She’s spoiled, self-centered, scheming, and her family is on the wrong side of history. In spite of all that, we turn the […]
Why You Should Choose A Hybrid – An Insider’s Guide
As I’m sure you’re well aware by now, there are several different types of publisher out there and ways to go about securing one. Much information already exists regarding traditional and self-publishing in blog or tweet form (that’s supposed to be a joke), so we won’t waste any time on those. Alternately, this Guide is […]
Walking and Writing: Step By Step, Word By Word
I’m going to walk my way to my next novel. When I write it, of course, I will plant my butt in my chair and go head-to-head with the blinking screen of my laptop. But each word I type there will first take shape when I’m putting one foot in front of the other, when […]
5 Mistakes I Made Writing My First Novel
I began writing my first novel thinking I’d get it done in a year. It ended up taking me four. Sure part of this was due to my full time job, and propensity to procrastinate, but if I had known then what I know now I probably could have made it happen. Here are the […]
How Disaster Movies Creep Into My Writing
Hands up – I am a disaster movie geek, which is perhaps strange considering I only write romantic comedies. Part of the attraction is the element of danger, which doesn’t exist in my day-to-day life (not complaining!) My nine to five is spent at home, tapping away at the keyboard. I don’t even risk being […]
Why We Should Reconsider The Way We Review Books
If you are an author, the uncanny ability of book reviews and ratings to fill your day with sunshine or suck you into a storm cloud may resonate with you. I’ve basked in the glow of thumbs-up reviews and ratings, and endured the gloom of a few poor ones, those fretful 1’s or 2’s on […]
On Co-Writing
For better or for worse, co-writing is a sort of marriage and therefore should not be entered into lightly. A quick Google search will tell you that there really isn’t a lot out there regarding how-to tips. My co-author, Melissa Storm, and I had to learn a lot by trial and error. From this experience, […]
On Life Writing
I’ve been thinking about life writing – what it is and what it means – since I got invited to do a workshop with offenders in Durham prison. English PEN are an incredible international organisation that campaign to defend writers and readers around the world whose right to freedom of expression is at risk. They […]
Q&A with Literary Agent Juliet Pickering of the Blake Friedmann Agency
Juliet Pickering worked for Waterstones as a bookseller and fiction buyer before joining A P Watt in 2003, working up from combing the slush pile, franking mail and scanning royalty statements, to becoming an agent in 2007. She moved to Blake Friedmann in London in 2013, and her authors have been shortlisted for Costa, Commonwealth […]
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