Whilst I’m editing Grimm I am also putting together my own playlist for the the book – songs and music that really inspired me. Thee is one song, specifically, by a South African band called The Parlatones which I adore. It is called Dragonflies and Astronauts. There is a refrain that is pure magic and [...]
On Friday I set off with my friends Maureen Oakeley, Sue Hyams and Paolo Romeo and headed for Dunford House Conference Centre in West Sussex. The journey was very smooth and we got there with plenty of time to spare. We got seen to our rooms by some great smiling employees of the conference centre. [...]
This article about word-count came my way last night via my Twitter feed and I thought I’d share it. Interesting and also surprising that aspiring writers are still struggling to figure out appropriate word-count what with all the information there is out there about it. I’ve polished my first four thousand words to be sent off to [...]
We went to Paris for a few days last week. It was gloriously sunny, although, admittedly I should have worn better shoes. My feet were killing me by the end of the visit. So here are some random photos. We walked loads and saw loads. We took around eight / nine hundred photos. [...]
I’m currently re-reading Goose Girl on my Kindle as I am currently between books and felt like a comfort read. And I forget what a strong story it is and how fantastic a writer Shannon Hale is. This paragraph made my heart soar: “I guess I never really knew what it meant, I just thought [...]
Mark and I booked a walking tour with Ian Bevan who led us and a group of around ten other interested people around the alleyways of the City. Mark works in the City and I work in the West End and we sort of pride ourselves on our knowledge of our adopted City. Ian Bevan [...]
I had the chance, along with a hoarde of other SCBWI members to attend the Undiscovered Voices event last night. For those who don’t know, Undiscovered Voices is an initiative by SCBWI British Isles where unagented, unpublished, authors have the chance to appear in anthology which is then sent out to agents and publishers and [...]
Moomin Bag! I have no self-control – I hate Selfridges. Just look what happened when I took a stroll! All these beautiful things jumped into my hands. Collection 1 – front and back Collection 2 – front and back Collection 3 – front and back Random tiny skinny notebooks – lined – picked up from [...]
For World Book Day later this week I’ll be visiting a local school to to talk to three different classes of Year 6 pupils. Apart from the obvious abject terror gripping my heart, I’m really looking forward to the day. I get to talk to them about writing and creating characters and where ideas come [...]
I’ve been a bit quiet lately – mostsly I’m obsessing about revising and chopping and changing things. But don’t let this fool you thinking I’ve done a vast many things. I have done all of two chapters. Part of it was a rewrite. But mostly, it is deep thinking. About my writing and own creativity. [...]
