Month: July 2013

Feedback Deciphered

By any other name… For those who think sequentially, feel free to consider this post a direct descendant of something I put on Strictly Writing, not so long ago, just for fun.Rejection can be a bitter pill to take, not least because it isn’t always clear what to do next. Oh, sure, you can dive …

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Dark Dates

They say you never really know someone until you live with them and I’ve found that applies to writers as well. By which, I mean, it’s only when you spend quality time with them that you begin to understand what makes them tick and what life experiences they’re drawing upon. Sharing a blog like Strictly …

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The ‘about time I wrote something’ post

The right conditions + time and effort = something amazing. Well, who’d’ve thunk it? JK Rowling swallowed some of Hermione’s Polyjuice Potion and then emerged from the Hogwarts loos as crime writer Robert Gilbraith. I’m sure there’ll be many writers, struggling to get a foot in the literary door, who will cry ‘Foul!’ but all credit …

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The Bare Bones

Stick with it, there’s a novel in there somewhere. So it’s time to get motivated (or shamed – either is fine with me) into starting work on the new novel. In some ways it feels a bit of a cheat when the previous two in the series haven’t been picked up yet. (Agents and publishers, form an …

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Poetry Emotion

When I was at school, to the best of my recollection, most poetry rhymed. I also stuck slavishly to couplets, or, if I was feeling particularly adventurous, I’d try A B A B rhyming.  Once I’d left school, however, a wider world of poetry was waiting for me beyond the gates. Roger McGough, John Cooper …

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