There are moments in life when we chance upon a song, poem, film or book that chimes with something within us. Pithy quotes resonate—we remember them—they influence how we act. I’ve been collecting quotes, anecdotes, aphorisms and poems for twenty years, which I refer to for inspiration. Sometimes a book, poem or song lyric can … Continue reading Life-Changing Books
My chosen writing genre is Crime fiction. It’s the second most popular genre, after Romance/Erotica, so seemed to be a sensible choice for me as an unknown writer. I’ve read a lot of crime novels and true crime stories, so knew what I wanted to do with my novels. Danish-Norwegian novelist Aksel Sandemose said “The only … Continue reading What Wouldn’t You Write?
As writers, one of the most commonly given pieces of advice is to cut excess detail, pruning the flowery passages that looked so good when we wrote them in a euphoric burst of inspiration, our fingers a blur on the keyboard. Less is More is the mantra. Elmore Leonard cryptically claimed: “If it sounds like … Continue reading Bloated Writing
Even if an author avoids writer’s block, it’s quite possible to feel jaded by one’s output. There’s a lot that’s rather mechanical about the writing process, when it comes to multiple read-throughs of the manuscript, editing away, thinking that you’ve finally created a version that’s faultless, at least so far as punctuation, grammar and repetition … Continue reading Keeping it Fresh
I’ve long been a collector of quotes, poetry and excerpts from novels and speeches. I have several ring binders full of them, and they’ve been a source of comfort and inspiration to me over the years. Some of the aphorisms are pithy observations on the human condition, while others are specifically about writing and reading. … Continue reading On being Quotable
I like to think that I’m quite a capable director of my dreams. I alter the angle from which I view the action, zooming in for close-ups and panning across the scene. I’ve become adept at recognising when a dream is straying into nightmare territory, waking myself up and consciously thinking of something else as … Continue reading Creativity in Sleep
I recently read Richard Flanagan’s 2014 Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and curious about the title, I did some investigating and found it comes from a 17th-century Japanese work by poet Matsuo Bashõ, which is considered to be one of the major texts of Japanese literature. It’s a common practice, for … Continue reading Stealing Book Titles from Great Literature
Even the most famous of artists have doubts about what they do, and when starting out as a writer it’s hard to generate self-belief. My attitude is, that if you’ve had an idea for a story and you’ve made a start at putting it down, then you’re a writer. You’ve already done loads more than … Continue reading Fake it till you Make it: Impostor Syndrome
As I’ve commented on this blog before, writing a book is relatively easy compared to the Herculean task of actually marketing it. People need to know that something is available to buy if one is to make a sale. One way of doing this is self-promotion – selling yourself. There are lots of different ways … Continue reading Pinterest and Self-Promotion
The career of Charles Bukowski should give encouragement to any writer who starts to apply themselves late in life to writing. He was 49 when he finally quit working at menial jobs, including as a filing clerk at a post office. As he said : “I have one of two choices – stay in the … Continue reading Charles Bukowski