Best bits from the writer’s journey this week

Best bits of the week

Doing a daily blog is fun but by it flies by and at the end of the week I am ready for a recap.

Aren’t you?

So here are some of the best bits from my recent musings on the writer’s journey.

Faith and fear at the start of the week

My first couple of […]

Results as a writer are a matter of discipline

Master as a writer takes discipline

Like any other skill, writing is about 10% talent and 90% discipline. It would be very easy for me to claim that Age of Oppression is taking a long time because of demands of work. I could give a dozen excuses about life challenges and the weather and other people getting in the way. I […]

Every author’s greatest fear

The Scream painting - terrified writer

You want to be an author. You have been working at it to build your skills and feel it is time to make a start on your journey. But there is something standing in your way. Want to have a guess what that is, in 99% of cases?

Fear!

There is no getting away from […]

Creating the landscape – part two

Stormy skies

When I was first developing the maps of Bremmand (see my blog from last week) I needed to consider geography. It isn’t a topic I know a vast amount about (I dropped the subject at school when I was 13) but when it comes to political boundaries, I know a enough to get […]

Creating a landscape

Map of the Kingdom of Bremmand

One of the less visible aspects of writing a narrative fiction book (i.e. from the imagination), is that you aren’t just creating a time and a place but a whole nation. As I started to develop The Line of Duty some 20 years ago, I started to realise that I needed a map in my […]

Inventing a religion

image of a drop of water

When you invent a kingdom for the purposes of fiction, you soon discover that you have to invent a wide range of other things too. That was certainly my experience with the Bremmand Chronicles. Not only did I have to think about the looks and occupations of Bremmand’s people, I had to consider their spirituality […]

Getting consistent

Image of my tablet

Happy New Year!

I took time off over Christmas – both from blogging and also from work. It is always nice to break out of the regular routine and do things a bit differently. It also gave me time to reflect. Every year I set a resolution to finish the first draft of my next […]

The Twitter trickle

I’ve been pondering about social media recently. I became active on Twitter around this time last year and, according to a number of books, you can conquer the world this way. They paint a very tempting picture. All I need to do is sit back, throw a few tweets out into the ether and my […]

Making it memorable

In the UK, last night was Bonfire Night. For my international friends, all that means these days is that is an excuse to stand out in the freezing cold and watch fireworks. It’s history is more interesting. It’s proper name – Guy Fawkes Night – is more telling and it is the day the British […]

Using my senses

I am immensely fortunate – although many wouldn’t agree – that, in order to get to work, I have a 25 minute walk at 5:15am to reach the station. Yes, that means getting up at sparrow’s cough each day and yes, that means I get home each evening and go straight to bed during the […]