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On my last round of agent submissions, one agency threw me when they asked for something different to the usual author bio, pitch, back of the book type blurb, synopsis, first 10 pages or 3 chapters, etc. etc.  They wanted to know “what drives you as a writer?”. Argh!  Something clearly drives me as a writer, otherwise I wouldn’t still be doing it.  I came up with a few ideas…

A few weeks ago I had huge fun taking part in a 48 Hour Flash Fiction competition!  I didn’t make the shortlist sadly (6 stories out of the 418 entries – perhaps I came 7th?!), but I wanted to share my story with you, as well as give an insight into its creation. The challenge was to write a sci-fi flash fiction story of up to 2000 words in 48…

I’ve been struggling with writing again in the last few weeks.  I may have been positive and upbeat in my last post, but once the rejections start rolling in and you read articles about how celebrity authors are shutting children’s authors out of their own trade you can very quickly feel like writing to get published is pointless. In fact, I’ve even decided that it’s not over-dramatic to compare the…

I’ve just finished a whole month’s worth of preparation for agent submissions for my YA manuscript and I learnt SO much from the process that I really wanted to share some of it! 1. Do thorough research I looked at the website of every single agent on Querytracker who was currently accepting YA submissions (450+ agents from the UK and US)!  It was time-consuming, but essential in order to become more familiar…

I’m teetering on the edge of something at the moment, have been for aaages in fact: looking at what I should be jumping into, considering it, pacing along it, but too nervous to take the plunge. We can all feel this way.  Whether it’s sliding into a cold swimming pool, starting a conversation with a stranger or standing on a wooden platform high up in the trees, ready to step…

At the beginning of January I went back to work – the paid employment type – for the first time in 5½ years!  When I took voluntary redundancy in 2011 it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a year out to pursue my long-held-but-neglected dream of being a writer. That year has stretched a loooong way.  It took me two years to really get going with any writing.  Once…

Chatting with a friend about last week’s blog post I was reminded of the biggest lie in our society about beauty. It would be bad enough for our self-esteem if we were aiming to look like, and judging ourselves against, the most beautiful people in the world.  But what we’re usually comparing ourselves to when we look at models and celebrities – especially in print – is a complete unreality. Even 25…

“I’m so ugly” was a frequent thought in my teens, closely followed by the similar “I’m not as pretty as her” when comparing myself to friends or other women in magazines and on TV. Self-esteem is a mahoosive issue for teens, especially for girls.  While I desperately wish that young people could see how wonderful and beautiful they are, in all their uniqueness, convincing them of that is often near…

Unsurprisingly a new year is a great time to set goals for the year ahead and to wish people health, happiness and success in 2017. Success = the accomplishment of an aim or purpose (dictionary definition) But what does success mean for you personally? When my shoulder tendonitis was at its worst and I’d spent 3 days in my pyjamas sat on the sofa because the pain and painkillers were wiping…

Apologies for not having posted last week, although with the busyness of this time of year you probably didn’t notice.  I sustained a nasty shoulder injury a couple of weeks ago and spent most of last week in a fog of excruciating pain.  One of those days was even more unpleasantly enhanced by an opiate painkiller daze.  Coleridge might have written Kubla Khan on opium, but I ditched it after just…