Hands up those who thought Isolation and Solitude were twins! It’s got to be seriously annoying if you’re a writer, stuck at home, in isolation, with all the writing tools at your fingertips – laptop, Remington Model 12, pencil, paper, desk, kitchen table, whatever – and the words won’t come. I don’t know why isolation … Continued
‘Tis the season to be Pitching Christmas is soon upon us and there are many things to do. One of those things for a writer with a novel to air is pitching said novel to agents and publishers. That’s what is happening right now with my crime novel, The Fruits of Rashness. I’ve been sending … Continued
The ‘Fruits of Rashness’ Longlisted for the Debut Dagger I couldn’t really believe it when I received the news my debut novel, The Fruits of Rashness, had been longlisted for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award – especially as there were only nine other names on the longlist, which was drawn from many hundreds … Continued
I said some time ago that I’d returned to the draft of an early novel. Many months and several drafts later, it’s done! The characters have sharpened up their acts, the plot has twisted like a corkscrew into a reasonable Malbec and the one-liners have dutifully presented themselves for inspection. That’s my opinion. Now it’s … Continued
Success in the Steyning Festival short story competition! I was delighted to learn last week that I’d been awarded second place prize in the Steyning Festival short story competition with my story Rebuffed. The competition was organised by West Sussex Writers. Competition Secretary, Richard Buxton, had clearly managed the affair with understated skill. The competition … Continued
Ambushed by a Novella There I was, editing my novel and working on some short stories, when from out of the literary undergrowth a novella sprang. It was on me before I could defend myself: I was too slow to take evasive action; too weak to wrestle it to the ground. I had no time … Continued
A diet of novels and short stories I’ve been busy with the novel as well as a new series of short stories. I enjoy running the two in parallel: the approach seems to keep the creativity topped up. Like a good diet, I think, writing needs to have variety. The working title of the novel … Continued
“The Novel is finished!” From the fifth draft onwards, that was my declaration after completing each revision of my novel which has the working title, ‘Auguste in September’. It is a story of skulduggery in the world of art. It wasn’t until 2016 began to draw to a close that the declaration began to be … Continued
A few days ago I heard I’d got third prize in the 2016 National Short Story competition run by Nottingham Writers Club with my story A Call to Arms. Performing well in a big competition against accomplished writers is a very satisfying experience. It not only confirms that something is going right, it also provides … Continued
A zigzag trajectory is perhaps a reasonable phrase to describe my flightpath. In 2015 I didn’t write what I’d set out to do. But I wrote. I hardly stopped. It seems the writer can plan a destination but even if he has enough fuel to get there he still has to avoid missiles (in the … Continued