I'm in Brighton for the weekend; what a beautiful and inspiring city it is. I love the justaposition of the natural beauty of the sea and the beach against the wierd beauty of the Royal Pavilion and the garish beauty of the pier, all next to bits that can only be described as seedy. No … Continue reading Best of Brighton
You might have noticed a bit of a hiatus in the blog posts over the past month or so. I wish I could tell you that it's because I've been beavering away, polishing, honing and writing anew. I'd be fibbing if I did that though, and while there's a very thin line between telling lies … Continue reading Back to pinning the tail on the donkey
I'm writing this post from both a position of love as a reader of domestic noir, but also as a wannabe writer of domestic noir. Not at the minute as Vida and Slater have just embarked on their second adventure together but at some point in the not-too-distant future, I'm going to write the story … Continue reading Rules for being a Domestic Noir Doyenne
I’m at my second crime festival in the space of two weeks – firstly, Noirwich, and now at the other end of the country in Morecambe and Vice. I might have mentioned before that, as a reader, I love these things. I love the fact we live at a time when writers, those poor souls, … Continue reading Things an aspiring writer learns at a crime festival
So, I did it! And you know what, despite the fact I had to follow nine amazing writers, and the fact that I was exhausted from teaching for five hours and then driving for over four, it wasn't as nearly as scary as I expected it to be. I chose to read the introduction to … Continue reading Listen to my words…
As someone who effectively spends my whole life presenting ideas to classes, and who is more than accustomed to reading aloud, you wouldn't think the prospect of doing a public event for my novel would be daunting. But it is. Oh, how daunting it is. The thing is, in this day and age, authors (especially … Continue reading Preparing for my first public event
Today is the first day of my part-time teaching hours. Which officially means it's the first day of my working as a writer. It's requiring quite a shift in mentality, from writing being something I do in a spare hour between this and that, to being an actual job that I sit down and do … Continue reading And so it begins…
So, the moment has arrived and I've actually finished writing my first draft of my first novel. It's a pretty exciting moment for me. I woke up one morning, determined that today was the day, and bashed out 9000 words before teatime - focus! I've learned some important things though that I thought might be … Continue reading Five things I’ve learned about finishing a book
Yesterday I worked my last full-time day as a teacher. From September, I'll be part-time. I love teaching. There's so much I love about it: sharing my love of reading and writing; working with amazing colleagues and often even more amazing students; planning schemes of work designed to educate and illuminate and entertain; and building … Continue reading One step in the future
First off, I admit that this analogy probably applies to anything that you've ever had to wait for, but as I'm currently waiting to hear back from a couple of agents, it's an analogy that is sitting strong with me right now. As you all know, the idea of Schrödinger's Cat is that there is a … Continue reading The Schrödinger’s Cat of Being a Writer
Yesterday was our last residential day on the MA. Just over two years ago, I'd just heard that I'd been offered a place and I thought that all my dreams had come true - two years later and dreams I'd never even really contemplated have come true. It's been an amazing time that has just … Continue reading So long, farewell… for now
I've written before about the struggle between confidence and wanting to burn what I've done and run screaming through the streets - it's odd that a career choice that is actually quite insular is driven so much by external validation. As a writer just starting out, it can be really hard to find the kind … Continue reading What a difference some external validation makes!
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