Diane

52 books in 52 weeks: Writing the Cozy Mystery

6 February 2017 Diane 52 books in 52 weeks

I set myself the goal of reading and reviewing 52 writing guides over the year. Here is book 5. Writing the Cozy Mystery by Nancy J Cohen is another short read, although this one took less than 30 minutes. But I

52 books in 52 weeks: How to Write Fiction – a Guardian masterclass

3 February 2017 Diane 52 books in 52 weeks

I set myself the goal of reading and reviewing 52 writing guides over the year. Here is book 4. How to Write Fiction – a Guardian masterclass is similar to the 60-minute masterclass books in that it takes around 60 minutes to

52 books in 52 weeks: Writing Short Stories – a 60 minute masterclass

2 February 2017 Diane 52 books in 52 weeks

I set myself the goal of reading and reviewing 52 writing guides over the year. Here is book 3. Writing Short Stories – a 60 minute masterclass by Shelley Weiner took me just under 60 minutes to read. But I was

January round-up

30 January 2017 Diane monthly round-up

January has not been a great start to 2017 for me, work-wise. I’ve been lazy, unmotivated and easily distracted. I think the biggest problem was I didn’t set myself a total word-count target for the month and, as a result,

52 books in 52 weeks: Writing Crime Fiction – a 60 minute masterclass

17 January 2017 Diane 52 books in 52 weeks

I set myself the goal of reading and reviewing 52 writing guides over the year. Here is book 2. Writing Crime Fiction – a 60 minute masterclass by William Ryan & M R Hall took me more than 60 minutes to read.

Ideas masterclass: January 2017

11 January 2017 Diane writer at work

Okay, you asked for it, so here it is – the ideas masterclass for January. There are lots of places to find ideas and, this month, as with previous months, I’m going to concentrate on date-specific ideas and topical subjects.

52 books in 52 weeks: Feature Writing – a 60 minute masterclass

9 January 2017 Diane 52 books in 52 weeks

I set myself the goal of reading and reviewing 52 writing guides over the year … and then right in week one was struck down by lurgy. So the first in the series is a little late, but it’s a short

New beginnings (* list alert *)

4 January 2017 Diane 52 books in 52 weeks, interview

The news that yet another short story magazine has closed its doors to all but a privileged few has knocked me sideways somewhat this past week. It’s not a market I’ve had a lot of success with, but it’s a