For those of you who don’t know, I work in a bookshop which happens to sell my books, and every time one of my books sells, I’m always amazed. I feel a mixture of anxiety, surprise, happiness and doubt. This doesn’t just happen with my books though, I make things too and when they sell, […]
Tag: Diary of a Young Writer
Your thoughts are probably elsewhere in light of recent events and the last three years, but the winter season is fast approaching. Halloween is just around the corner and soon after that Christmas will be upon us. Searching for gifts can be tricky and coming up with new ideas every year that won’t break your […]
I’ve been writing books, or at least trying to, for the last nine years. At first I was met with a lot of disbelief and raised eyebrows when I talked about being a writer. Most people didn’t believe I could or would be able to write a book. Four published books later, I have learnt […]
I’ve been working in a large bookshop for six years. There are approximately 70,000 books over two floors, most are second-hand and some are new. We also have some antiquarian and collectable books too. A lot of people like the idea of owning or working in a bookshop. It sounds like a perfect job in […]
In my 3rd year of my English Literature degree, I took a class about Renaissance/Early Modern literature and poetry. Part of the requirements for the latter half of the degree was that we take at least 1 subject that covered pre-1800s literature, so I decided to do mine in the first semester of that year. […]
As writers, we all have projects we decide to leave behind or put on the backburner. Sometimes an idea is just not quite there, or we’ve lost momentum or motivation to keep working on it. This time, last decade, I was in my first year of secondary school. I had moved from a small village […]
For those who don’t know, Camp NaNoWriMo is an offshoot event of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which occurs in April and July. During NaNoWriMo, a writer aims to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November, the goals in Camp NaNoWriMo are much more flexible. You can write a short story […]
For me, some silver linings of this terrible year have been that I‘ve had quite a few poems published in magazines and anthologies. One of my flash fictions was placed on a long list for the first time and my debut chapbook, Keep On Spinning, was published with small Scottish publisher Dreich Publishing. It came […]
You may have heard of and seen a bullet journal by now, but just in case you haven’t…. ‘A bullet journal is a method of personal organization developed by designer Ryder Carroll. The system organizes scheduling, reminders, to-do lists, brainstorming, and other organizational tasks into a single notebook.’ Bullet journals have grown in popularity over […]
Whether you’re writing a short story or a full novel, the first page of your book is your most important page. It is your first chance, besides your blurb, to hook your reader’s interest. You have got to make it count and you have to make it flow. In a few short lines you have […]