Three things that caught my eye this weekend. The first two are good morale boosters for all authors like me thinking of self-publishing on Kindle. 1. Neil Pollack in a New York Times interview says: “My self-published product may not be the easiest proposition for mainstream publishers. It will be short, it’s about Jews and… Continue reading Sunday Stuff
Tips on Book Reviewing
Book reviewing seems to be cropping up on various blogs at the moment (e.g. the Blood Red Pencil, Self-Publishing Advisor, Carolyn Howard Johnson’s Sharing with Writers – and that’s just in the last day or so. Authors are prepared to pay a lot of money for book reviews. The sort of sums mentioned seem scary… Continue reading Tips on Book Reviewing
A Smurfing Success Story
A quick look at the phenomenally successful Smurf books.
First Class News
I’ve just heard that some First Class children (that’s first year primary school in Ireland) are reading my book Anna’s Secret Granny as a class project and are hoping to ask me lots of questions about it. I’m delighted! I loved doing workshops with children when I was in Ireland, and I did a lot… Continue reading First Class News
5 Things You Need To Know Before You Start Writing
5 writing tips, writing tips, know your characters, first person narrative, third person narrative, know your limits for writing, plot, genre
Five Tips When You Falter
Five ideas to help you keep writing when self doubt or fatigue sets in.
Book Break-Up
Something Fishy has become enormous. I’m at 180,000 words and not finished. It’s too big. So I started thinking hard about what to do today while lugging hay and water around for the llamas and goats. It’s amazing what a spot of not-so-gentle exercise can do for the old grey matter. I found the solution.… Continue reading Book Break-Up
Finding Time
How to fit a few more precious moments of writing into a busy day around your day job: Five extremely practical ways: Only wash up/load the dishwasher once a day. Stop checking Facebook, Twitter, your blog stats etc quite so often. Shower faster – or less often. You choose! Cut housework down to the absolute… Continue reading Finding Time
Another 25 ‘Said’ Alternatives
Alternatives to said, say, interesting writing
The Name Game
names in novels, keeping track of character names, most popular boys’ names, most popular girls’ names