Dusting off the cobwebs

So, it’s been a while… Been a few changes in my life, etc., but mostly I’ve not been posting here because I’ve felt rather ‘stuck’ in terms of my writing the last couple of years. In summary though: Dayjob is…

Gardening…

This is not the blog post I was going to write. I was going to write about how my outlook has changed over the past year – politics, changes in the genre I tend to hang round in, understanding more…

Perspectives

Every so often when I’m writing I come across something which, when I look at it again, I realise “Oh! I wouldn’t have thought that a few years ago!” It’s not just age/maturity/extra life experience which causes these moments for…

Out in the wild at last!

So, Under Leaden Skies was released yesterday. I find I’m feeling a lot more higgledy-piggledy about it than I thought I would… I mean, I’ve known these characters for 4 years! I put their story to one side for at…

Settings, I think I hate them right now

I’m considering choosing which story to write next based on how many different places the tale takes place in. Having spent arggh-many hours finding out, reading up on, looking at pictures of, and in some cases visiting, all the different…

Perspective

The Wales Rally GB were around near our village last week. It doesn’t usually affect me as I tend to stick to the main roads once winter weather starts coming in but this year it co-incided with a week when…

Different kinds of stories

I’ve been thinking a bit recently about my reasons for writing stories, and realised it can’t ever be pinned down because each story has its own reason for me writing it. Some stories are about exploring a mood, some stem…

What not to say when pitching to a publisher

There are, I imagine, umpty-gazillion things one oughtn’t say during a pitch to a publisher, and what I said is only mildly wrong compared to many other things… “Of course, as we know, it’s not going to be the happy…

Ideas

It’s been a good week for inspiration. First I read Iain M Banks’s Player of Games which has kicked off my inner sci-fi lover. Got an idea floating about my brain regarding a genderless species – and there’s a character…

Perspective and perception

Had a reminder this evening of the limitations characters can be placed under which affect their perspective and perception of the world around them. I’m often seen (and recognised!) by the baseball cap I habitually wear when out of the…