Ducks in a row
Image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay So I’ve been spending the past few days planning for the new year. I did very well this year in that I was able…
New! Writing prompts
Image by adriankirby from Pixabay I’m slap bang in the middle of planning work for next year, both for the blog and for my workload. But I wanted to test-run…
When the work dries up …
… diversify. Looking back at 2020, a lot of us have seen major changes. I think lockdown was the biggest challenge for many. For people like me, who work from…
It’s beginning to look a lot like …
… Christmas! Friday turned out to be busier than I initially expected. I had to step away from the Canva and get on with some work, or I’d be doing…
Faffing with covers
So after yesterday’s good intentions, I didn’t get any new writing done for The Beast Within. Once I’d done a load of routine stuff, my mind was still whirling with…
Jobs are like buses
So my book is still “temporarily out of stock” on Amazon, both here in the UK and in the US. That’s very odd for a book they’ve had on pre-order…
Progress
Monday went by in a bit of a whirl. In case you didn’t notice, my book The Life of Richard Cadbury was finally published. There then followed a frenzy of marketing…
Book review: The Forgotten Gift
This feature is in association with NetGalley. The Forgotten Gift, Kathleen McGurl Thanks to NetGalley and to HQ Digital for an advance copy of this book. The Forgotten Gift by Kathleen…
Publication Day!
So, finally, today’s the day! After a very long slog, The Life of Richard Cadbury is now published! The hardback is now available from Pen & Sword Books here. It’s also…
The Beast Within
Because I didn’t get very much done on The Beast Within for NaNoWriMo in the end, I determined to add it to the planner for the last month of this…
Planning for 2021
As I’m up to date with client work, today I decided to start planning my own writing work for the new year. I use a 10-project planner spreadsheet. And while…
A weekend off
A couple of weeks ago we went in search of Bawtry Forest. Apparently, once upon a time, the poet camped there when he was doing part of his Duke of…
Breathe a little
I’m starting to run out of pictures from our Hatfield Moor trip, so we’ll have to go out again and get some more. Fortunately, we have the last of our…
Coming soon!
The reviews have started to come in already, which means that the advance reader copies have gone out, which means that this book is almost here! The Life of Richard…
Quick plug: A History of Cadbury
I am still up against the clock, but I found time to do a quick plug. Ahead of publication of The Life of Richard Cadbury, which is due on 30 November,…
Ghostwriting
Here is another picture from our recent walk around Hatfield Moor. The tree is a young silver birch and it comes under 2 photography subject classifications (that I know of)….
Welcome!
A massive hello and welcome to a raft of new followers who have arrived over the past day or so. I don’t know where you have all come from, but…
NaNoWriMo: Day 5
So it’s Day 5 for me for NaNoWriMo, despite it being 10 November. It isn’t going great at the moment, I will admit. This is because after I spent time…
NaNoWriMo: Day 1 of 17
Yesterday, then, was the start of my NaNoWriMo journey for 2020. I have around 17 days in which to write 50,000 words, and that gives me a daily target of…
NaNoWriMo Prep: Day 5
My NaNoWriMo for 2020 starts today. I’m still having weekends off, and I’m still having some long weekends with the poet. This means that my daily target is just under…
NaNoWriMo Prep: Days 2, 3 & 4
I’ve been working through the prep days for NaNoWriMo, trying to do everything in a certain order. Because I’ve decided on The Beast Within, much of the character work is already…
NaNoWriMo: And the winner is …
Today should have been NaNoWriMo Prep: Day 2. But after a long weekend, and with NaNoWriMo looming only this weekend, I had quite a lot of admin work to do. First…
NaNoWriMo Prep: Day 1
NaNoWriMo would not be the same without the participant badge and every year, in case you hadn’t noticed, I do like to display said badge. So, here it is. I…
Tier 3 lockdown
Here is another image from our walk around Hatfield Moor last week. I love that blue glow on the water. It makes it look like some kind of grotto, or…
Back to novelling
I am such a tease, knowing that the title will irk at least a couple of my friends when they see it! I can hear them now complaining about the…
Indexing
Today, I am doing the index for The Life of Richard Cadbury. The one job I dislike the most about writing is the indexing. So, for now, I leave you…
Technical issues
Here is another view from Hatfield Moor. The peat moors are quite ancient and this is part of what they call the Neolithic Way. These little paths wind all over…
Tier 2 lockdown
Wahey! I finally found out how to place a picture where I want it instead of where WP thinks I want it! And how to resize it too! I’m on…
Hatfield Moor
WordPress was having a bit of a hissy fit today. First of all, it wouldn’t let me create or edit a post in Edge, and then it wouldn’t let me…
This week, Matthew, I’m going to be a novelist …
This 3D picture of Mr Punch has been on many of my phones for a very long time. I found him on an artist’s website, and I remember being very…
Again, I write
The picture shows my current workstation. The lectern on the left currently holds some notes for Catch the Rainbow. These notes relate to the arrests of the Birmingham Six on…
Today, I am a writer
I had a bit of a strange experience yesterday. I’m admin on a Facebook group, the Seriously Serious Scribes, and last week I set off two new daily threads for…
One job at a time
I don’t have any pictures to hand today, and I don’t have time to sort one out. So here’s one courtesy of Pixabay. Today I am not a happy bunny…