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The Most Exciting & Original Voices Writing Today
About It All Again
Thinking back to December 1973… a village called Oberjoch (over the hill) in the Bavarian Alps. Six feet of snow! I was learning…
Shrek – a Masterclass In Writing Character
I recently had a great movie night with my daughter. We made a fort (three kitchen chairs with a blanket thrown over the top and…
It’s Not the End of the World
Well, it sort of is… I’ve been fascinated by dystopian fiction for many years – any story which explores a dramatic change in the way…
It’s Art If I Say So
Marcel Duchamp said this: it’s art if I say so. He’s the guy who stuck a urinal on the wall and called it ‘Fountain’. And…
Let Them Eat Cake
As a writer, I tend to focus on plot. I love a good action scene, and I also enjoy writing dialogue (probably stems from loving…
8. The Scots Invade Italy
The 28 Delegates from Earlston in Scotland here on their annual twinning visit with Cappella Maggiore attended Mass at a local church in Anzano. Fr…
Is the future here yet?
As a kid, I watched Star Trek. Some things have come true. I remember at the market you had to push to open the door….
Writing Emotion
Out of the Mouths of Babes This post was inspired by a comment made by my eleven-year-old son. It was prompted by his question regarding…
7. Summer Reflections
The sun blazing down on this our fragile humanity enticing us to the cooling waters of the sea or the breezy shade of mountain trees….
My Favourite SFF Audio Books
There are debates about audio books vs paperback vs digital formats. This post is not about that. Although that would be an interesting post. But…
Good Writing
I recently wrote a blog post about bad writing in current media and decided that this month I would write about good writing instead. Bad…
1917-18 The Year of Hunger and “Farewell to Arms”
My neighbouring village in Northern Italy enacted the 1917- 18 Year. They called the event the “L’an de la Fan” which is a Veneto Region…
Experimenting
Be Brave I’ve been writing seriously for years. The more I wrote (and read the work of other authors), the more I experimented with different…
Journeys and the Importance of Writing Communities
My Writing Journey During my formative years, I had spells when I thought I’d like to be an author when I grew up (if we…
And Another One Gone…
Donald Sutherland is gone. I saw him on stage at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles years ago in a play. What can one…
Pride Weekend, Part 2.
I’ve never liked my voice. I’m not alone. People, in general, hate their voices. We are simply not biologically intended to hear our voices the…
Pride Weekend
This year, for the first, time, I noticed the absence of something in June: rainbows. I’d never been particularly in love with them. The fact…
Bad Writing
Lately, I’ve been hearing lots of complaints about awful writing. Not mine – people aren’t saying it to my face anyway – but some movies…
AI at the G7 with the Pope
Originating from an informal meeting of finance ministers in 1973, in Washington DC, two years later the G6 established at its first meeting in Château…
Forest bathing
A long-lost friend dropped by recently. Myka was in Berlin for a conference, and found herself with a free evening. We offered her a barbecue,…
Play to Your Strengths
Be Up-Front Agent Pete often says that writers should play to their strength and put it front and centre in the opening of their novel….
Titles – What’s in a Name?
A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet, Right? The Silence of the Lambs, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Elinor Oliphant is Completely…
I like this. You like that.
Food, travel, books, movies, television shows, and on…and on… A family member of mine doesn’t like avocado. Won’t dip his chip into guacamole. YUM. A…
Think Like A Reader
I always find Beta reading such a great opportunity to learn. I discover things that I’m sure I do myself as a writer that I…
What’s The Deal? My Experience with Deal Sites
My experience with deal sites. This one is for the writers. Last week, I ran a promotion for my novel The Trouble with Prophecies. I…
Padre Pio and I
I’ve always had a sense of affinity with the Mystic Padre Pio and the fact that he was born the same day I was, May…
Writing ‘Rules’
Don’t Start with a Character Waking Up, Looking in the Mirror, or with a Hangover On Pop-Up Submissions, we received a lot of openings like…
Writing Disability
(Disclaimer: although not politically perfect, I’m going to use the familiarity of the term ‘disability’ rather than, say, ‘differently abled’ in this post.) I’m gonna…
Self-Publishing
I decided to self-publish my contemporary romances after unsuccessful attempts at the traditional route. There are pros and cons to making this decision and lots…
Skimming Stones
The pebble skimmed the surface ten times before running out of momentum, then seeming to flounder for a split second, sank into the dark still…
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