Expert (adjective): Having a great deal of knowledge or skill in a particular area. When I first started writing I had this idea, like a lot of other people no doubt, that I needed to be specially gifted to be a writer.  In order to succeed, an innate talent was required that, with a little nurturing, could be set free to wow the world.  When I began to give writing a…

When I submitted the Winchester competition article that I posted two weeks ago, I had to enter the competition under a pseudonym/pen name.  Fortunately a recent discussion with a friend meant I wasn’t at a complete loss as to how to choose one.  She’d suggested combining your name with a colour, preferably beginning with the same letter – e.g. Mel Magenta or Mel Maroon – or by pairing the name of…

The Inner Critic is a nasty, picky, vindictive bully.  It’s that voice of criticism and disapproval in your head that slows you down or paralyses you when you’re thinking about doing something new and risky.  It’s such a recognised and major part of people’s psyches – especially those of creative people – that there are numerous articles and books about it, and you can go on courses to help you…

When I scrolled through the list of competitions at the Winchester Writers’ Festival earlier this year, I never imagined for a minute that I’d find myself entering the Feature Article one.  For a start there were two children’s fiction categories that I could have entered B4 (codename) into, with very little effort.  More importantly, perhaps, was the fact that I hadn’t written a “professional” article before, although I suppose I…

My lack of blogging in the last few months and the reason for this new look blog, are all tied up in the events of a couple of days back in June, when I went to the Winchester Writers’ Festival (you can refresh yourself on my preparation for it here, if you want).  It was an inspiring, challenging and – dare I say it – life-changing conference.  Friday could have just…