There are lots of reasons that you might want to keep a journal. For instance, it’s a record of your work or life or it could be a cathartic release. There is evidence that regular writing can help with the stress within daily life. Regular writing makes you feel good and can help you re-live … Continue reading "#27 – Why Keep a Journal?"

Anna and I talk about how to identify the crisis point in a story. The crisis point of a novel often happens towards the end, after the protagonist has either failed previous tests or overcome trials. In either situation, they have developed their skills and experience to allow them to tackle the crisis when it … Continue reading "#26 – The Crisis Point in a Novel"

Anna and I talk about the impact of crisis on our writing. What is a crisis? It can be an illness or the death of a family member, or it can be smaller, such as a broken-down car or a cancelled appointment. A crisis can happen to anyone, at any time and can derail life. … Continue reading "#25 – Writing Through a Crisis"

Anna and I talk about our reasons for wanting to write and what we hope to achieve with our writing. Get in touch and tell us why you started writing. We’d love to hear from you.

When I heard that each scene needs to move a story forward, I didn’t know how to do it. To me, it’s clear that the story should progress but what about downtime, having some relief from the tension or action? Story Grid helped me to understand scene structure. If you’ve never heard of it, check … Continue reading "#23 – Scenes"

Episode 22 is a short episode. Anna and I talk about a short story competition that we entered together. Below you will find an early effort, followed by the finished story. Wish us luck. Early Effort – Dina and the Ducks Dina winced at the rattle of the doctor’s stethoscope as it landed in the … Continue reading "#22 – Short Story Competition"

This week’s episode has Anna and I entering a short story competition. It’s the first project that we have worked on together. See how we get on as we document our process. We go on to talk about the author voice and how some writers achieve such a distinctive voice that it makes them easily … Continue reading "#21 – Author Voice"

The experts tell us that one of the essential aspects of marketing your books is putting out a regular newsletter. Why put out a newsletter? · Build your brand. · Build a relationship with your audience. · Keep people interested between books so that they haven’t forgotten about you by the time you put out … Continue reading "#20 – Marketing Your Author Business Through Newsletters"

In episode 19, Anna and Lucinda discuss goal setting and revisit Lucinda’s goals set earlier in the year. Why is it good to set Goals? It is motivating. – Goal setting is a way of monitoring our achievements. It helps us to use our time better by identifying activities that aren’t valuable or are a … Continue reading "#19 – Revisiting Goal Setting"

In this episode Anna asks me some questions about my experience collaborating on a series of novels in someone else’s universe. We talk about the challenges and practicalities of collaborating on a project.