Blog
It’s official. I am now a book coach in training
For some time now (well over a year) I have had my eyes on training to be a writing/book coach. This came about as I often receive requests to do a developmental edit for very new authors, but sometimes an edit isn't enough, or rather, it isn't the right service for...
Fantasy writer training from Prowritingaid (free)
Prowritingaid is running free training sessions for writers of fantasy from Feb 22nd to 26th. There will be live sessions with TJ Klune, Angela J. Ford, David Farland and Stephanie BwaBwa, a world-building workshop, a complete World Anvil software walkthrough and...
Planning, scheduling, to-do lists… and another lockdown
Between Christmas and New Year, I go through a period of self-assessment and analysis of how my business is doing and make goals and (lots of) promises (to myself) on how I can improve during the year ahead. The end result of this is lots of to-do lists, blank stat...
The Occupation Thesaurus – and a chance to win
Those of you who know me, know that I love books related to the craft of writing and editing and that one of my absolute favourites is the Emotion Thesaurus. Well, today, I have something fun to share...and a chance to win some help with your writing bills. You may...
Screenwriting (Links and websites and recommended books)
I have been receiving questions about screenwriting of late and this is a quick post to list all the useful websites, software, and books I have discovered over the past few years. Software: Final Draft (the bees knees/industry standard software): $250 (*student...
A-Z Blogging Challenge: N is for Narrative voice, pov, and distance
N IS FOR NARRATIVE VOICE, POV, AND DISTANCE The narrative voice is the ‘voice’ of the narrator telling the story. They may be a character in your book or an external ‘know-it-all god-like’ narrator, but whichever they are, it is their ‘voice’ the reader ‘hears’, and...
Reedsy application
I followed the example of a couple of editor friends today and put in an application to join Reedsy (and now have a pretty little profile/online resume detailing my life - so far - as an editor). I neglected to list all the books I've edited, which number over one...
Bullet journal: Yearly plan spread
I thought I would open my bullet journal with my yearly goals, which are pretty much the same year on year (although the real reason for writing this post so soon after the first is because my publicize (auto-post connection with social media) hasn't been working and...
A new way of organising my time
My website 'about me' page introduces the fact that I am a writer (unpublished), editor, and reader. I am also a geek and love software, computers, and website design... oh, and gardening when I have the time. (You can't beat the taste of strawberries and cherry...
A new approach and an introduction
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my editing business, more specifically about how far it's come and how far I can take it. While it has certainly come a long way from the days of offering free edits in exchange for experience and testimonials for my...
A to Z Blogging Challenge: M is for Movement
M is for Movement Today's post is about movement, namely how a character might move through a scene (from one location to another), and how a scene might move to a new location within a chapter. It will also cover the montage technique, which is commonly...
A to Z Blogging Challenge: L is for Life experience (aka how to tackle backstory)
L is for Life experience (aka, how to tackle backstory) Every character - from those in the starring role(s) to the lowly alien with a brief appearance on page fifty-six of book three - has dreams and aspirations. As in real life, our life experience...
A to Z Blogging Challenge: K is for Knots, crinkles and plot holes
K is for Knots, crinkles and plot holes I had to get a little creative choosing my subject for today, K is such a difficult letter to find a topic to write about, so I thought it would be a good idea to look at some of what I do as a developmental editor...
A to Z Blogging Challenge: J is for Journals and notebooks
J is for Journals and notebooks Sometimes it is hard to find inspiration to write a story or know how to tackle a particular scene, which is where journals and notebooks come into play. Every writer should have (at least) one. It doesn't need to be a paper...
A to Z Blogging Challenge: I is for Imagery
I is for Imagery I don't know about you, but when I'm reading a book, I love to 'see' the world I'm being immersed into. My genres of choice are - surprise, surprise - science fiction or fantasy. Both of these genres require a substantial amount of...