The Blotter
Michael’s solution to the tensions between the Blog and the Letter.
Welcome to the Blotter page! The Blotter aims to satisfy those who like the swift inter-action facilitated by blogs as well as those who prefer the approach of a traditional letters page.
The main protagonist in my novel makes good!
The Journalists’ Charity ran a competition inviting descriptions of a modern day character that Charles Dickens might admire.
Writing in Lockdown – or should that be Blockdown?
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.
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.
Longlisted in the CWA Awards
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 of submissions.
An opening or a draft?
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.
Second Prize at Steyning Festival
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.