From Hook To Book

My Month of Writing is over. Yay! I achieved my goal of adding 25,000-words to my manuscript and met my deadline last Friday 31st August at 7.29pm. (Then I collapsed with exhaustion! And wine!) I only exceeded my goal by a miniscule 93 words but I’m really pleased with the … Read More

Today I begin a “Month of Writing”. A writing retreat if you like with a fixed deadline and word count aim. But it’s all self-imposed and self-inflicted! And necessary. Of course I would love to go off on a fully-fledged writing retreat in some idyllic setting, meals laid on and … Read More

There are so many touchstones that I come across in my research. Small poems, articles, images or videos that connect me to my story. In the spirit of my promise to not make my every blog post lengthy, I want to share more of these poignant and emotive links to a … Read More

It’s time for me to get back to blogging, but, from now on, without always spending hours researching or pedantically connecting all my posts to serious writing subjects, which takes away from real, actual writing time. At the beginning of a new novel project real writing is top of my … Read More

I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration and imagination of late. This has been an unusual year for me, as it’s mostly been taken up with editing and rewriting and not a lot of new writing. After a spinal surgery last December, I gave myself time out to rest and … Read More

What a fantastic, inspiring conference was HNSA 2017! This second Historical Novel Society Australasia Conference, I have to say, was even more brilliant and better than the first. The hugely diverse and wide-ranging program of speakers, super sessions and workshops provided so much choice – from sessions on ‘personal histories’ … Read More

That feeling when your brand new story/character/world becomes real and – OMG, it/he/she speaks to you! Especially when you feared after finishing your previous project (of many drafts and years) that the same passion might never strike you again. Despite reading many blogs/interviews/author biographies to the contrary – the promise … Read More