Category Archives: News

Short Story Writing Courses

Just a couple of forthcoming courses to tell you about today. 10th – 12th April 2015 ‘Write a Short Story in a Weekend’ at the Royal Agricultural University – Cirencester (above) A step by step guide to writing a short … Continue reading

Posted in News, Retreat, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Wednesday Writing Spot – A Short Story Anthology – Guest Blog from Helen Yendall

Today, I am talking to the lovely Helen Yendall about her venture into self publishing an anthology called Paperchase. And it’s a subject close to my heart, short stories. Isn’t it a fabulous cover. So without further ado… Q: Why … Continue reading

Posted in Guest Posts, News, Wednesday Writing Spot | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Happy Ever After – or is it? How do you get a good end?

For me, endings have always been the most difficult thing to get right.  But a bad ending can ruin an otherwise excellent story. There are all sorts of bad endings. You probably recognise most of these. They don’t really need … Continue reading

Posted in News, Questions from Dear Della, Tips on writing, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Novel I Should Never Have Written!

Writing The Morning After The Life Before was probably one of the worst commercial decisions of my writing career. I knew when I began it – after discussions with my agent – that this book would not be taken on … Continue reading

Posted in Ice and a Slice, News, Writing | 20 Comments

Someone Else’s Child

My new novella, Someone Else’s Child, recently hit the virtual shelves. Here’s the first chapter just in case you fancy a read. I like this little book – it was one of the first longer stories I ever wrote and … Continue reading

Posted in first chapter, News | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Ten Stories NOT to send to Woman’s Weekly

I was lucky enough to be teaching with the very lovely Gaynor Davies at Woman’s Weekly last Monday. Here are a list of stories she currently does NOT WANT because a) they have too many already or b) they’d been … Continue reading

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, News, Short stories for magazines, Woman's Weekly, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Writing for The Friend

Last week I was lucky enough to listen to a talk – as well as have a chat with – Shirley Blair, Fiction ed of The People’s Friend.  Fascinating stuff.  Here are ten things you may or may not know … Continue reading

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, News, Short stories for magazines, Writing | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Writing a Winning Opening Paragraph. Three Top Tips.

Last week I was lucky enough to be teaching at the Writers’ Summer School at Swanwick in Derbyshire. Beautiful place if you haven’t been there. One of my courses was about winning writing competitions. Just for fun we had an … Continue reading

Posted in competitions, News, Writing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Eating Loads and Staying Slim

The hardest thing about losing weight is keeping it off. I learned this in between trips to Slimming World, which I have been to three times.  That says it all really. I loved Slimming World – they helped me to … Continue reading

Posted in How to Eat Loads and Stay Slim, Inspiration, News | 4 Comments

Writing Your Memoir/Autobiography

If you’ve ever fancied writing your memoir or autobiography you are not alone.  How do I go about writing my memoir or autobiography? is probably the second most frequently asked question I get on my Dear Della page at Writers’ … Continue reading

Posted in News, Writing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment