Regency romance, romantic mysteries, & writing tips too.
In a recent writers’ group meeting, we discussed writing fiction and the value (or otherwise) of the writing dictum: “write what you know”. A new member, who’s a new author, posed a question. She’s writing an American Civil War novel, inspired by Gone With The Wind… and a family diary. “Does that mean,” she asked, … Read more
In one of our online writers’ group meetings, we discussed writing challenges. When you strike problems with a piece of writing it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and procrastinate. Alternatively, you might give up completely. Several authors admitted that they had unfinished books littering their computer hard drives. Does this sound like you? How to overcome … Read more
A reader asked about “getting things done for writers”: is there a special strategy for GTD which helps with writing? (Here’s an article on GTD which has some useful tips.) We’ve discussed Getting Things Done several times at our writers’ group meetings. Some members are keen on it, others not so much. Getting things done: … Read more
Thinking about writing a book while you’re on lockdown? It should be easy. You’ve got the time, after all. Unfortunately, when you sit down to write, your mind goes blank. After ten or 20 minutes of staring at the computer screen and hating yourself, you get up and turn on the TV. In an online … Read more
Interested in self-publishing? It’s a popular topic in our online writers’ group. We’re online-only for now, until things get back to normal. One of the benefits of being online is that we can support each other through this global madness. Self-publishing—the big question: is it “real” publishing? An aspiring author in the group asked: “Self-publishing’s … Read more
Let’s look at some useful writing tips for 2020, courtesy of our local writers’ group. (Original post from December 2017; edited and updated) Writing tips: start with a process Ouch. I used to have a writing process, but that vanished this year, due to workplace chaos. I wrote about an easy writing process here, and … Read more