The Gift of 20 Minutes a Day
Can we reframe this business of writing for 20 mins a day/500 words as a gift that you give to yourself? A gift to that part of you that never wanted to be cooped up in a classroom all day. A minimum time and space where you can express yourself – say whatever you want […]
With A Rose Between Her Teeth
A story that plays with both British and Spanish stereotypes. “Whenever we Costa Brits became weary of sun, sea and sangria, tired of bright beach umbrellas, blue skies, palm trees, bead curtains, and dinner at midnight, we would go over to Debbie and David’s. Debbie’s chintzy little villa with its garden gnomes, crocheted toilet seat […]
Black Dress: The Making Of A Story
My most chilling – and successful – story (if successful means the number of times it’s been published) came straight from my unconscious mind. It’s the only story I’ve ever written that required minimal tweaking rather than driving myself crazy with endless rewrites before it felt ‘right’. I found Black Dress on my hard disc […]
The Map and the Territory
Do you know the difference between the map and the territory? It’s a key skill to have, to be able to distinguish between the map and the territory. It puts you at the cutting edge of thought. It gives you clarity and personal power. The territory is what is. The map is our personal web […]
Business Writing Magic
Many people tell me they have big problems writing for their business. They know all the stuff they’re supposed to do to promote their products and services: email marketing, newsletters, articles, tweets… But they don’t know where to start. They get stuck. Their brilliant ideas go down like a lead balloon on the page. How […]
Write What You Know?
Write what you know. But don’t take that too literally. Maybe you don’t know what it feels like to be shot or wounded. Do as actors do: think back to a situation of pain that you did experience. I always remember Meg Ryan saying in an interview, about playing a soldier, that she felt back […]
Writing: The Three Keys
Passion – Perseverance – Patience Passion drives the story and sweeps the reader along. Your passion for your subject, your story, your characters in some mysterious way leaves its energy imprint in the words on the page, and your reader will feel it and will care. Perseverance means using your writing craft tools until you’ve […]
Story Success
Big congratulations to Creating Worlds writers Kobie du Plessis and Sam Mardell on the publication of their stories, both set in Barcelona, in Foreign Encounters 2012, the third anthology published by Writers Abroad. An encounter can be a chance meeting, a planned get-together or even a confrontation. This collection of stories, non-fiction articles and poems […]
Paradisiac Pink Power
I gasped as I eased the bottle of shower gel from its wrapping (a gift from a friend over from the UK). I was drooling before I even got the bottle open to sniff it. That’s the power of a name – of words. Always having used shower gels from the local supermarket or high […]
The Colours and The Shapes
Ever since I was a depressed, angst-ridden teenager in Manchester, I’ve zoned out / self-soothed / chilled out by wandering round shops. So when I read about the wonderful Artist’s Date tool in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, I thought: I already do that. Costume jewellery and art supplies, fabric departments and toy shops, tropical […]