Category Archives: Writing

Rejection is part of every writer’s life – hell, it’s part of everyone’s life. Whether it’s a job you desperately wanted, a lover who turns away or a friend who shuts you out, rejection is part of the human experience. Not a terribly nice part, but somehow necessary, I suppose, for building character and resilienceContinue reading “Rejection”

In my previous post I mentioned that I’d submitted my book to a handful of agents last year with no luck. I can still remember, I think it was July of last year, finishing my first book. It was as though the torrent of words that had been pouring out of me slowed to aContinue reading “Ready, Steady…Wait”

So, as you may be aware, I’ve written some books. And now I’m trying to get them published, submitting to agents in the hope that someone might be interested. But I’ll tell you a little secret – this isn’t the first time I’ve sent them out. Last year, fresh from finishing the first Ambeth instalment,Continue reading “So You’ve Decided to Submit Your Manuscript”

It’s a strange thing, to dream a person to life. Yet that is what a writer does, creates characters to walk the pages of their book, talking and breathing and thinking and doing. I’ve had to come up with quite a few people for Ambeth, and the interesting and slightly eerie thing is that theyContinue reading “Character Building”

Where do ideas come from? Ambeth was inspired, as I’ve said before, by something that happened to me when I was a child. But it has grown and evolved, the characters telling me things and taking me down paths I didn’t realise were there and I’ve learnt to sit back and let them tell theContinue reading “Unearthing Stories”

Writing on a daily basis means that I think a lot about words and how to use them. Words inspire and infuriate me, lurking like silvery small fish in a tangle of dark water weed, there one moment then slipping out of my hand just as I think I have them, sliding from the page.Continue reading “The Business of Words”

In January 2013 I sat down and started to write a story. The idea had been around for a while, percolating in my head, manifesting as pages of written notes, but with no coherent structure as yet. The incident that started it all was based on something that actually happened to me as a kid,Continue reading “Start At The Beginning”