How to Get Free Books (in the Caribbean)
I rely a lot on kindle now I live in the Caribbean but occasionally I do acquire books too. Here’s how I get them (on a tight budget) on a small island in the Antilles.
Writing Outside: Where To Get Started
Writing outside can be hard. Indoors is often where it is at for writers. There’s unlimited tea and, if you live with me, unlimited pop-tarts too (I know you didn’t ask but there are no less than 48 pop-tarts in my flat right now FYI). There’s never too far of a walk to get to […]
Ultimate Cheat Sheet of Writing Worksheets & Templates
There are about a million different resources and writing worksheets outside in the world for writers and authors, but to be honest, going outside is scary, and who wants to do that? To make things less scary, I’ve collected every worksheet I know of in one place for you to browse so we can really […]
What Happens After Nanowrimo?
Writing every day in November as part of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) eventually becomes routine. You realise that you can actually do this, and do it well, and so you do. Normally, mid way through November I start thinking about after November. You might not be there yet but you’ll get there soon. So […]
Nanowrimo 2017
Nanowrimo in the heat is v different from what I’m used to. Gone are the days of curling up in three, maybe four, blankets balancing a piping hot mug of tea on my lap along with a laptop and desperately trying to forget how cold I am as I type words towards my daily goal 🌨 […]
How To Make The Most Of Critiques
Critiques are great. People willing to let you know when and why something isn’t working for them in a book are gems. It doesn’t matter how great they are in the long run, though, because they’re also challenging. The very thing that makes a person creative can make them sensitive about their work. Pour your soul […]
How To Write A Novel in 30 Days Spring Edition
Spring is kind of off-season for some writers because Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month, during which people set out to write a novel in 30 days or less) is in November and everybody needs a break sometimes and it’s not even Camp Nanowrimo yet. It’s not off-season for me, I like writing throughout the year, […]
Writing Unreliable Narrators
I’m a fan of unreliable narrators. Not simply because I love having a story with duplicity in it but also because it creates intrigue and suspense in a story. Unreliable narration tends to happen most often with first-person POV, and all first-person narrators are unreliable to a certain extent, but those who lie in a big […]
YA Book Deals of the Week (24 February)
I love books. I love reading from libraries and I love getting them from book shops. As any bookworm will tell you, this is a costly obsession. That’s why I want to share some fab offers with you that I found around the internet this week! Don’t ever be afraid to go into your local library […]
How To Write Dialogue (that feels real)
Dialogue in a book is one of those things that can instantly either draw me in or put me off. I love great dialogue, and I appreciate the work that goes into it. So, what can you do if you want glowing conversations, too? 1 Study it in the wild We writers are studiers of […]
How To Write When You Have No Free Time
I wrote something similar to this not so long ago but because it’s Nanowrimo — national noveling month — this felt especially important to talk about today. I know a little about this subject, working two jobs, an internship and querying my first novel this year along with climbing regularly as a hobby and doing […]
Helpful Resources for Nano: Top ten
If you’re anything like me (a pantser!) you’ll have galavanted into Nanowrimo with little or no thought to planning things out. That’s cool. That’s the way we work. Thing is, around about now, I suddenly realise I need tools to help me do the things I want to do and oh! if only I’d actually […]
How To Write a Novel in 30 Days 2016 Edition
I do this every year, November after November I write this post, but with each year the topic on my mind changes and I think it’s worth doing. As many of you may know we’re currently knee deep into November, a month known to some as Nanowrimo during which they write 50,000 or more words […]
How To Use The Nanowrimo Forums
We’ve all been there, standing on the precipice of hitting send on our message, finger hovering as the cursor blink blink blinks back at us and we wonder whether this is a bad idea — maybe the worst idea we ever had. If you haven’t been there, or perhaps this is your first Nanowrimo, welcome […]
Nanowrimo
It’s Nanowrimo in a matter of hours — that time of the year where people across the globe band together and all try to write at least 50,000 words in a month. I’m excited and nervous because this year is so different for me. I try to write a lot in my ordinary life outside […]
Who To Query
Who to query is one of the most personal things you can decide! It’s like deciding who to be friends with or who to have a staring contest with or who to share a house with only not because this friend is also somebody you’re doing business with and they’re going to be your champion so […]
How to Query
Hooray! Congrats! You’ve written a book! What’s that? You’ve edited to too! Oh my word! You’re ahead of the game! You’re ready for anything. You’re a superstar! There’s just one small thing now. Just a tiny thing really. You’ll probably need a way of pitching this magnificent beauty. Just some kind
Creativity Hacks: Going for a walk
TY for everyone who took part in my 2016 kind of unexpected but totally fabulous planner giveaway! Remember you can still download it for free because everyone’s a winner digitally! The winners are Carla Domingo & Fatimah Mardhiah Omar! Congrats guys! I’ve emailed you so we can get the physical planners sent to you. Why to walk [&
IS YOUR EDITOR WORTH IT?
Want a free 2016 planner? I’m giving two away! Enter my giveaway here by 26 Jan 2015 to win the planner that will change your year around! This is a little like asking whether writing is worth it or what is the meaning of life or sausages or cakes with those little icing flowers on […]
Creativity Hacks: Doing Yoga
What the Yoga?! There was a time in my life during which I would have laughed in your face, and started choking on Haribo Tangfastics, should you suggest I would ever talk about yoga on this blog or, in fact, actually do yoga. Luckily, that time has been and gone and now we are left […]
How to survive your first book (robot uprising)
Wih this time of year comes a lot of promises we make to ourselves. We promise to not eat totally all of the cakes in one sitting, or to stop completely drowning oneself in maple syrup or not to kill all the characters in your current draft etc etc. I’ve heard a popular one is […]