Ready, Steady, Wait…

First, business.  Dr Dan, Dr Dad is looking good and ready for publication. The Kindle edition is already available for pre-order on Amazon and the paperback will be on sale by the end of the month. Will there be a fifth book? Probably. I’d quite like to see how Dr Dan fares during the pandemic,…

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Stuff

Two weeks without writing more than a shopping list has taught me a lesson: I need to write almost as much as I need to eat and sleep. Without it I feel…. not quite myself. I suppose I was a fool to think otherwise. After all, I’ve been writing since I was old enough to…

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Done and Dusted

A clear desk is a rare, rare thing in this house but today that’s what I have. Dr Dan 4 is off to the copy editor tomorrow, leaving me free to dust the Venetian blinds and watch cute dog videos. As usual, having finished a book I feel a mixture of relief and loss. Relief…

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We Have Lift Off

For most of this year I’ve been a textbook example of that expression ‘work drags on to fill the time available.’  People have assumed that because none of us were going anywhere, I’d be writing all the faster and getting Dr Dan 4 off the production line in record time. How little they know me.…

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No Offence

I see from my work-planner that I should be finishing first draft of Dan 4 this week. Sorry to disappoint, but we’re not quite there yet. I keep getting hooked away by other projects, such as The Rest of My Life. Soon, though. Soon… I’m aware that being a writer is a career many people…

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Losing the Plot

Well goodness, my last post got you all fired up. I appreciate reminders that I’m not a lone voice crying in the wilderness. This week, a few words on the art/craft/whatever of writing. A friend recommended Stephen King’s book on the subject and as I’m always interested in how other writers go about the job,…

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Pen Me No Missives

By popular request (well, one) and as I have nothing interesting to tell you about my dull writing life, today I’m going to deal with a couple of crimes against the English language. First, the widespread confusion between ‘enormity’ and ‘enormousness.’ Actually, the confusion is now so prevalent that in thinking I can do anything…

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Cruelty to Books

I’m not sure what Tik Tok is and my grandchildren assure me I needn’t worry my grey head about it, but I did read an interesting story about a Canadian woman who scandalised Tik Tok users with her attitude to books. She, an avid reader, cracks open the spines, writes notes in the margins and…

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Not Missing in Action

A brief post, just to reassure the concerned reader who feared I’d disappeared down a deep hole. I’ve been in London for the past three weeks, attempting to organise the next phase of my life, of which, more anon. This has been a tough year, though heaven knows, not just for me. I’ve been getting…

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Whither and Whence?

My late, lamented mother-in-law was a woman who skated lightly over the surface of her far from untroubled life. She raised her children on TV dinners and optimism and dished out home truths and advice to anyone within earshot. One of her favourites was, ‘don’t let little things bother you.’ Today I have utterly failed…

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