Random Musings

Category: writing

  • Because you’re supposed to tell people you do this thing…

    I hope you don’t mind terribly, but I’m going to do a little bit of end of year self-promotion. It’s not in my nature, and I always want to duck and hide when I have to do it, but being an author in a digital age means actually telling people…

  • Where stories are born

    We’re walking along the damp, shiny, puddle-laden streets of Venice, trying not to stumble or get hit by one of the trillions of umbrellas moving to and fro down the narrow walkways. We stop at a shop window in an alley barely big enough to stand side by side, and…

  • Cinnamon grateful

    My last post was on the first of November, about the behind the scenes creation of books. Today is the thirtieth, and I’m unsure what to say in only my second blog of the month. It’s been a tough month in a lot of ways. Broken bones, illness, the black…

  • Creation and nerd references

    How often have you, as a reader, thought about the world behind the book? The aspect of creation? Do you enjoy meeting authors? How important is it to you that you have some inkling of who the author is behind the books you enjoy? I think, in this world of…

  • Not a joke

    So, we saw Joker yesterday. I went in expecting a typical comic book film filled with action and larger than life characters. What I got, though, wasn’t that. What I got was a disturbing, deeply troubling movie about a man who needed help in the face of a cruel, careless…

  • Let the words out

    So I’ve clearly fallen down on the attempt to blog weekly. Life gets busy, right? I suppose it’s about priorities. I choose to read in the bath rather than blog. I choose to respond to emails, scroll FB, even play candy crush…instead of blog. And I’ve come to realise it’s…

  • Building, learning, flaying

    repertoire 1 a : a list or supply of dramas, operas, pieces, or parts that a company or person is prepared to perform b : a supply of skills, devices, or expedients; broadly : amount, supply c : a list or supply of capabilities I’ve lapsed on my desire to use a word of the day for more…

  • Jabby little teeth

    I seem to be out of words. I sit down to blog, but there’s nothing there. There are personal things I could rant on about, but that feels a little too close to the bone and obvious and, and…And that leaves me not knowing where to start. I self censor…

  • Let’s get steamy

    Last year I was honoured to co-edit the Escape to Pleasure anthology with the wonderful Sandy Lowe. It was fun and we had a great time choosing the stories. This year I’ve been given the opportunity to do it on my own. Silk and Leather is about losing your inhibitions,…

  • What’s in a name?

    A number of times recently I’ve had discussions about pen names. It’s a subject that comes up in my writing courses, too. Q: Should you have one? How do you choose one? A: Maybe, and carefully. Here is the primary question to start with: if someone Googled your real name…