Imaginary people – The Promethean moment.

Writing a novel or short story, imagined people grow, change, even think and act in ways the writer might not have expected. You write about their lives freely, until that Promethean moment when people spring to life, make their own choices. The character who became Cassie – Cass andra McKay of Cassandra’s Phoenix, out this

Green Pompeii – and my new book, Cassandra’s Phoenix …

Second year of this blog, still so much to learn, but my new book is ready Cassandra’s Phoenix – out October 18th, Kindle. Would like to share this with a close friend, Love wouldn’t be so disastrous if the right people loved each other. No loving family, sadly, but Cassandra seemed to have everything else,

Blogging For Beginners Lesson Twenty.

An interlude, mostly about grandparents, carers and the UK’s idolised NHS. Thanks to my brilliant friend, whose response to ID fraud was a DNA test kit, I know two things. (a ) Mostly Irish and Scottish, I’m part Nigerian, part North African/ Middle Eastern too. No English. No Anglo-Saxon, I mean. (b) Never (hardly ever)

Blogging For Beginners Lesson Nineteen: Be Yourself

Beginners ? That’s me. Like a much more famous collection of reflections, not planned for publication, this series of blog posts is written to myself . Everybody else is allowed to read it, and it isn’t even in Ancient Greek, Koine or any other Ancient Greek dialect. Why write a blog ? A year ago,

Blogging For Beginners. Lesson Eighteen

Imagine your readers They’re real people. Who’d want to read a book written by me ? Not just read, but enjoy ? Lots of people, I hope. Thousands ? Why not ? Where to begin ? Is there a magic formula, something to learn at a creative writing class ? There aren’t many core stories.

Blogging For Beginners: Lesson Seventeen. No More Fear

Almost a year ago, I was so afraid, of doing everything wrong, I took down my first blog many times. The question is always there. … Why write at all ? Why write Cassandra’s Phoenix, out soon, telling the story of a woman who loses almost everything ? Been done before, surely ? As a

Blogging For Beginners Lesson 16 :Why write ?

Why write ? To share experiences with others, sometimes by telling a story. What am I trying to say ? In this year when we’ve all lost so much , why am I writing about a woman losing everything ? The first loss is hardly tragic, happens to most of us, losing the person she

Blogging For Beginners… Lesson Fifteen. Nose to the Grindstone…

Nearly a year since my first post. No zillions of followers ? No best selling books ? (yet) What to do next ? Keep my nose to the grindstone ? Sounds excruciating, a grindstone being something used for sharpening knives, not noses. Far more painful than a mere ‘ once more into the breach’ How

Blogging for Beginners Lesson Fourteen. A week is a long time ?

Not just in politics, but whoever coined that phrase should have said a day , or maybe an hour. Main contenders R.A.Butler and Harold Wilson, but the Oscar rule applies. Anything uniquely apposite or funny had to be Oscar, even if really Whistler ( “I Wish I Had Said That” “You Will, Oscar, You Will”

Blogging For Beginners… Lesson Thirteen Everyone needs an Emcee

Just finished editing my next book, Cassandra’s Phoenix. Editing your own work is a brutal business. I cut out over 5,000 words, changed many others. Assessing and marking O. U. assignments, I’ve had some practice from the other side. Rigorous O.U. staff monitoring should reassure students that grading’s consistent. It’s a erve racking business for