It was Christmas 2016. I had been out of work for six months, and our finances were still looking good. I was approached by someone in my...

When I first started writing, I gave up reading fantasy stories for reasons I explain here. I didn’t feel confident as a writer to able...

December was a bleak month for me creatively. I found myself unable to write a blog post, let alone work on my novel. I had no ideas, no...

A few days ago, I was asked what sort of books I write. As always, I ducked my head, became a bit flustered, and muttered ‘stuff about...

You don’t have to be writing long before you hear about an annual event called NaNoWriMo. Short for National Novel Writing Month, the US...

Many people would love to be a writer. Some of them even have a go. A few of them might actually finish a story and a handful will go on...

Do you like vanilla? I don’t mind it as a flavour, but I know very few people who would choose it as their favourite, myself included. I...

It is just over a year since my first book went live on Amazon, and I’m amazed at how things have snowballed since that first foray into...

I was recently lent a book by Michael Ward called “Planet Narnia”. In it, he theorises that CS Lewis themed each of the Narnia books...

Whether I am at a speaking event, or just chatting to someone about being a writer, one question invariably gets asked: How do you come...

Right now, I am mired in the editing bog, which is slowly giving way to a polished novel ready for publishing. Many people love the...

Have you ever stopped to imagine how much your words are worth? Recently, I discovered exactly how much mine were, when the hard drive on...

You have written your book. Perhaps you have even given it to some people for feedback and made changes. You may even have paid for an...

One of the things many agents ask you to do is compare yourself to published authors who are current and commercially successful. They...

I have been thinking a lot about dying recently. The recent pandemic has shown us that life is fleeting, and none of us can guarantee...

The other day, I decided to write the acknowledgements page for my first book. I have never really bothered reading them before, but as I...

When is a novel finished? When I first started writing, I naively assumed that it was when I wrote the last word on the page. Of course,...

I was incredibly excited, yet equally terrified, to have a 15 min interview with an agent about my latest manuscript. I thought I was...