The picture above is of Doris and me, about to go on a cruise in 2019. It was a couple of months after I was seriously ill, and Steve and I were quite nervous about going; but it had been planned quite a while, and was the honeymoon we had anticipated for 27 years. Doris… Continue reading Writing Anyway
Tag: Writing Life
A visit to West Dean
This week I have been enjoying this writing life. If you follow me on social media you will have seen that I have started my Countdown to Publication using images and quotes from the novel, and I am trying hard to wet your appetite to read more. I’ve been to West Dean College this week… Continue reading A visit to West Dean
Countdown to Publication
Next month I am going to be published. I started writing This Place of Happiness in 2015, and seven years later I will be able to hold a copy in my hand. It is daunting and exciting, and reminds me of the day my son started school; except instead of worrying how he will interact with the… Continue reading Countdown to Publication
A novel idea.
I had a new idea for a novel yesterday. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every idea translated itself into the sort of novel that you want to read? When I was at University we had a speaker from the Arts Council. He asked us a question. When we die what did we want our body… Continue reading A novel idea.
Writing and Process 2: Finding the Time
10/06/2021 It is one thing finding the time to write and another entirely to find the right time. I remember hearing about a woman who wrote while raising her family. She wrote one sentence at a time between bread making, cleaning the house, changing nappies and raising a large number of children. I think that… Continue reading Writing and Process 2: Finding the Time
Writing and Process 1: What is a writer?
10/06/2021 I’m a writer. There are lots of definitions about what a writer is. When I started my MA in Creative Writing and Publishing at West Dean College the students and our tutors discussed what being a writer is. There were six of us. We wrote. That was our common denominator. But were we writers?… Continue reading Writing and Process 1: What is a writer?
A Bit of Hope
21/07/2021 Today I submitted my second novel to Dark Edge Press. It’s a bit scarey. In February 2019 I suffered a brain injury. Before that, I had finished a Masters in 2017 and had been looking forward to a ‘second career’ as a writer. I was hoping to retire next year, in May 2022. I… Continue reading A Bit of Hope
This Writing Life
Earlier this week I flicked through the new prospectus for degree and diploma courses at West Dean College of Conservation and Creative Arts. I found this picture and the quote I gave the College at the end of my course. I wrote it ‘off the cuff’, but as time passes the words become increasingly true.… Continue reading This Writing Life