Category Archives: Inspiration

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

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Ideas – a poem that inspires a story

Recently, a lady wrote in to my Dear Della column in Writers’ Forum and asked me about turning a poem she had written into a story.  She wanted to know how to go about it. This is something I’ve done … Continue reading

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, plotting, Writing | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Creating Suspense in Short Stories – Three Top Tips

I used to believe that the art of writing suspense was mostly about technique – short sentences build tension and pace, longer sentences slow it down. But suspense means so much more than this. So what does the word suspense … Continue reading

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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

Woman’s Weekly Fiction Workshops – Hot Tips

A couple of Fridays ago I was teaching again with Gaynor Davies at the Blue Fin Buildings, our subject, Writing Short Stories for Woman’s Weekly. I thought you might like an update. There are two more short story workshops planned … Continue reading

Posted in Inspiration, News, Short stories for magazines, Tips on writing, Woman's Weekly, Writing | Tagged | 19 Comments

Wednesday Writing Spot – What Would You Save in a Fire?

So… this is the year you are going to write that novel, sell a short story to a magazine, publish that memoir. In short, do everything you said you were going to do this time last year but didn’t quite … Continue reading

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Happy Christmas

A very quick blog to say festive greetings and also, I must apologize for the distinct lack of reading material I’ve produced lately. In the last few weeks I’ve been moving out of my house, trying to find a new one, and … Continue reading

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Christmas Presents for Writers

That time of year again! How does Christmas creep up on us so fast? If you’re anything like me you’ve got one or two writers in your life so I thought I’d share some of my present ideas 🙂 I … Continue reading

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Wednesday Writing Spot – Calling all short story writers who want to write a novel?

If you’ve ever tried to write a novel and you’re on social media – particularly around this time of year – you have probably heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short).  It’s simple, you write a novel in … Continue reading

Posted in ideas, Inspiration, NaNoWriMo, Wednesday Writing Spot, Writing | 7 Comments

Goals, writing a bestseller and the law of attraction

If you are a regular follower of my blog you will know I’m quite keen on goals. I set goals for my writing: I set annual goals, which get broken down into weekly, monthly and daily goals. I come from … Continue reading

Posted in Inspiration, Writing | 8 Comments