Edgy and entertaining insights from the dangerously-talented writers in the Colony…explore at your pleasure!
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…
Italy: Liberation Day
The 25th April is a national holiday here in Italy and it’s called Liberation Day. I had noticed, however, as the years went by, the…
The Worst Part Of Being A Writer
“So, what is the worst thing about being a writer?” my neighbor asks me at the Spring Social. “Ummmm,” I say, looking past him to…
Writes and Wrongs
Remember lockdown? Remember how we all got a bit excited in the first one and felt we had to make it count? And some of…
Can Songs Teach Us Something About Writing Novels?
Rules and Commonalities I’m not a musician but even I know that songs have a structure, verses and a chorus, that they often have a…
What Wordle Taught Me About Writing
I’ve been doing the daily Wordle puzzle since it started. In case you missed it, Wordle is an online game that gives you six chances…
Stories that stay with you
Last time, I spoke about stories that stay with you – or more accurately, the ones that don’t. This month, I want to take some…
Rejection
You Are Not Alone Most people experience rejection when querying. Beatrix Potter, author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, got so many rejections she ended…
Writing Routines
Time and Head Space When I was teaching full-time, I found it difficult to fit in any writing. It’s definitely not a nine-to-three job! My…
Cue the Music
In that heady, comforting, all-encompassing safety-net that is the deep love forged by a long life together, my soul-mate and I tried to find ‘our…
Self-Critiquing
Who the hell do you think you are? I once heard that authors alternate between two perceptions of their work-in-progress. One is: ‘This is amazing!…
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