In association with NetGalley. — Many thanks to NetGalley and to Random House UK for letting me see an advance reader’s copy of The Stories of my Life. From the moment I knew that this book was coming out, I wanted it. Therefore, I was delighted when I was approved to write a review. The Stories of…

writing prompts for fiction and non-fiction, 30 March 2022 — Wednesday Writing Prompts are back, but renamed simply Writing Prompts. This is so I don’t feel obliged to do one every week, especially when I’m snowed under doing other, paying work. Six months away Personally, I try to work roughly 6 months ahead because the majority of my writing markets are quick to…

using my date work, I discovered an anniversary that piqued my interest enough to write a short story — Each month I do what I call date work. This is where I brainstorm upcoming dates, usually around 6 months ahead, in order to come up with initial ideas for short stories or articles. And even books. I stumbled upon the actual Phoenix Lights in July 2021, when I was…

writing prompts for fiction and non-fiction, 23 March 2022 — Wednesday Writing Prompts are back, but renamed simply Writing Prompts. This is so I don’t feel obliged to do one every week, especially when I’m snowed under doing other, paying work. Six months away Personally, I try to work roughly 6 months ahead because the majority of my writing markets are quick to…

hop along to my website where you can keep up with books I’m writing as I go along — I’m currently writing the fourth book in my Diary of… series. Diary of a Tiger is a year in the life of a fearless writer. The other three books are: Diary of a Scaredy Cat: a year in the life of a frightened writer Diary of a Pussycat: a year…

It’s all well and good coming up with ideas for stories and articles, but how can you drill down to make it something a market is interested in? — Date work is a big part of my short fiction work, and sometimes it features in my longer works too. I’ve also been known to write the occasional feature as well. Every month I come up with a long list of topical dates and there’s no way on this earth…

writing prompts for fiction and non-fiction, 16 March 2022 — Wednesday Writing Prompts are back, but without the ‘Wednesday’. This is so I don’t feel obliged to do one every week, especially when I’m snowed under doing other, paying work. For ‘48’, read ‘at least 48’. It just looks better than ‘50-ish’! Six months away Personally, I try to work roughly 6 months…