What Counts as a Novel?

Photo by Emily on Pexels.com I have finished the third draft of Dandelion Time with almost all of the book marked as Final Draft, but I am short of the word count I would like the book to be. As it stands, it is only 64,858 words and I'd like it to be at least …

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NaNoWriMo Week 3

I'm pleased to say that at the end of NaNo week 3 I've not only reached the fifty thousand word goal and crossed the finish line, but now have a complete first draft of the novel. It currently stands at 54,763 words. I'm hoping to add another twenty to thirty thousand words over the next …

NaNoWriMo 2021 Week 1 in Review

So I made it through the first week of NaNoWriMo having written 19545 words, and am feeling pretty good about my progress so far. I’ve surprised myself by writing every day for 2-3 hours every morning and even more surprising is that I have resisted the urge to read over my work and edit as …

Nano 2021 – Days 2 & 3

My Temporary Cover Design I seem to be developing a routine of writing in the mornings for three to four hours, usually between 9am until 12 or 1pm when things are quiet and I have time to myself. I find background distractions like the T.V. or the presence of other people, even if I can …

Nano 2021 Day 1-The Blank Page

Today is the first day of Nanowrimo 2021. To say I’m starting with a blank page isn’t strictly true. I have a good idea of my story and what I want to put in it, a synopsis of 12,861 words and I’ve broken the story down into thirty-seven chapters with titles that give a brief …

Nanowrimo 2021

So I've decided to participate in Nanowrimo this year writing the new story I told you about at the end of my last post. I also mention it in my Gothic Beginnings post. The setting for this story is based around the house I spent a great deal of time in when I was a …

Persevere or Park It?

I am 62,000 words into my vampire romance, Persephone Reborn, and I have hit a brick wall. Despite having a plan of over 10,000 words the story has come to a grinding halt and is just not working. I love my beginning, and I know how I want the story to end, but the middle …

Ignoring Advice from Stephen King

On Writing by Stephen King isn't really a book of advice for writers, it's about one man's journey to becoming a writer. The advice is there, between the anecdotes and the difficulties he's encountered along the way. If there is one thing he believes is the best way to write a book, it's to get …

Gothic Beginnings

I was a solitary child, playing alone in the shadowed confines of the garden, gathering sycamore seeds and autumn leaves and chattering to Henrietta, the girl who wasn’t there. As an adult, I discovered there had been a real girl called Henrietta who had lived and worked as a domestic servant in the vicarage that …

The Time Has Come…

The time has come,' the Walrus said,      To talk of many things:Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —      Of cabbages — and kings —And why the sea is boiling hot —       And whether it isn't time to start writing again and having a jolly good look at updating, rewriting and re-editing Blackfeather and Immortal and whether …