As Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecc. 3:1 NKJV) As I’ve grown older, I’ve seen the truth of that in so many areas of life. Lately, I’ve been pondering my own seasons of writing: where I’ve been as an author, where I am …
Continue reading “Seasons of Writing: Lessons from the Farm”
Walking causes a repetitive, spontaneous poetry to rise naturally to the lips, words as simple as the sound of footsteps on the road. L.M. Browning Creativity thrives when we break out of our same old routine. Even the smallest changes can help get us out of a rut and encourage creative thinking. Part of my …
Every one of us is here for a reason beyond ourselves. It’s easy to forget that sometimes. We get so caught up in the demands of daily life that it’s easy to lose sight of the longer timeline, the broader view, the deeper perspective. Time is precious. There’s a set limit to how much we …
As I write, I’ve just completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing. I used to be an English teacher and I know how to teach creative writing, but in this course, I focused on my work as a writing mentor. The last few years have seen me develop workshops for beginning writers who …
Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim. Dory, from Finding Nemo Lately, I’ve found it hard to write. I think about the novels I have in progress and struggle to actually get to my desk and work on them. There’s been a lot going on in our family–a …
Does anything satisfy more than writing “The End”? In my case, it’s writing “Finis” for my Roman-era stories. It’s time for a celebratory cup of tea, a special dinner, a relaxing stroll…and planning the next story. How do we know what that next story should be? The characters, the setting, the plot, the theme…how do …
Continue reading “Writing the next story: how to choose the right characters”
This question gets asked a lot in the author forums I am part of. I thought it was worth giving an in-depth answer here. A reader magnet is a freebie that an author gives away in exchange for a reader’s email address. You might also hear it referred to as a ‘lead magnet’, which is …
For a man to check out a book online or in a store, the cover must hold the promise of a story men would enjoy. Historical novels where romance isn’t the most important plot focus are often enjoyed by both men and women. So, how can our choice of cover let men know our story …
Continue reading “How to Design Covers Both Men and Women Love”
Historical fiction lovers are also lovers of history. Every time we write a novel, we’re creating a special place for our readers to visit. We build a world for our characters to live in. The details of that world are up to us, but whatever we create, it must be believable. Even fantasy and sci-fi …
Continue reading “Writing Historical Fiction That Readers Will Love”
Post-Covid apathy is real. For some, it leads to the Great Resignation, burnout, languishing, indifference, or the Great Whatever. Whatever it is, I seem to have it, and so do many other creative people I know and work with. In 2020, as the world locked down, I decided to use the time of seclusion as …
