Authors Electric

It’s that time of year when one usually makes their New Year’s resolutions. I’ve done so in the past (and usually, to be fair, have managed to keep to them; however, I put this down to them being reasonably small steps to take). This year, however, my resolution was not to make any resolutions. Instead of planning for the year, I’m going to try and ‘pants’ it. Pretty much like I do with most of my writing, although I have been dabbling with plotting for a while with reasonable success. That’s not to say I don’t have some ideas in mind for goals I’d like to reach – There’s a couple of pieces of Bach’s music for which I have guitar transcriptions and I’d like to learn them; there’s also a couple of pieces I’d like to master on the piano as well, for example – but I don’t want to set dates on them. I’d rather enjoy the journey of discovery as I come to learn the pieces. It’s a similar story with writing. I have a few projects that I aim to finish this year. I have a new YA...

A haunting atmosphere doesn't cover gaping plotholes. Chatting to a friend about books over Christmas, I mentioned that I rarely read modern literary fiction anymore. Not because I don’t love fiction – of course I do, I write it for children! – but because it’s nearly always a disappointing experience. There’s something about beautiful writing – the chief characteristic of literary fiction – that seems to give the writers a pass when it comes to plot structure. Or even believable characters.  Instead, finely crafted, often poetic prose and the power to conjure up a haunting atmosphere propel many a slim, pastel-teared-jacketed volume up the prize shortlists, with nobody seemingly noticing the gaping plotholes in the story. Or not caring about them if they do.  But I care. If I can’t completely trust the world the author has created, what’s the point of reading on? If the letdown comes right at the end of the book, as it so often does, I’m left with a dispiriting sense of being...

  Here we are three weeks into a brand new year. I have never been one for Resolutions. I am too fickle to keep them going. The sense of disappointment and self loathing which comes from failing at them is overwhelming. I just don’t do them. I have decided to see what each new year brings. 2020 for me, started as normal. Then lockdown came and my autoimmune problem meant I was working from home. Once the decision was made, I was escorted out of the building clutching my briefcase, my desk calendar and my plant and warned that I would not be back in the foreseeable future. I felt like a kid let out of school early. I could work in my jammies, drink enough coffee to floor a horse,  pig out on chocolate and crisps,do my laundry if I wanted,  in short, be my own master.  Then, new normal hit home and I rode the rollercoaster of emotions and problems which came along with that. I had not realised that I could be so vulnerable to a tiny organism that I had to stay closeted...

It is that time of year when, amid the bustle of Yule planning, we often pause to take stock of our lives; especially in the days leading up to the end of the year when many of us make resolutions for the coming twelve months.   Those of us who embark on these plans do so with every intention of achieving something important to ourselves or to those around us. It might be losing weight or writing that best seller or beating that illness, or perhaps getting (or keeping) that job. Few people set them with the certain knowledge they will fail. Yes, we all have that sneaking suspicion that we may be reaching a little far, yet we wade in nevertheless in the hope that fortune will be on our side. Sometimes we set the bar a little lower with the expectation of attaining an achievable goal and in my experience they are the ones that get broken the fastest. Possibly because they are frivolous, more often because they were never serious objectives in the first place. I recall ...

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Fell by the wayside already? Mine have. Eat more healthily, do more exercise… yes, well!  But I will start eating more healthily soon. Nearly all the Christmas chocolates, cake and biscuits have been eaten up. And as the weather starts to improve, I’ll be more inspired to go out for walks and get to the gym... honestly! Writing aspirations and resolutions are always top of my list. And it helps when you can share with writing buddies. My Monday night writing class has been going for quite a few years now. The photo here shows our core members enjoying a post-Christmas/New Year party last Monday. In between eating and drinking, we shared our plans and aspirations for 2018. And while lots of people poo-poo the idea of making promises to yourself you never keep, I honestly think it’s a good idea to set yourself new challenges at the beginning of the year. Only don’t beat yourself up if you fail to keep them. ...

(from left to right) Orna Ross, me and Katie Fforde at the first Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival in April 2015 (Photo by Clint Randall) Writing on the penultimate day of 2017, I can't NOT think about where this year has taken me and what next year will bring.  Don't worry - I'm not going to be banging on about New Years' Resolutions . I love new beginnings and seize every opportunity for one - new school terms (I have a school-age daughter), solstices, equinoxes, birthdays, etc. But I was cured of an addiction to Resolutions a couple of years ago by my friend and mentor, the author and creativism teacher Orna Ross (you may also know her as the founder and director of the Alliance of Independent Authors ). Orna Ross made me realise that New Years' Resolutions generally focus on the negative: things to give up or bad habits to reform. Her recommendation is to state Creative Intentions instead - a more positive, constructive system which focuses on the ...

As this is the last of my AE blogs for 2017, I have been casting around for a suitable topic to sum up the past 12 months.  New year resolutions sprang to mind but they can be such a mine field when you make your own choice a matter of public record. I am quite bad at them. I start with the best of intentions but by the end of January my well meant promises are already being shoved to the back of the queue as life gets in the way and by the 1 st March I am usually trying to forget I ever made them in the first place. So what then? The general wisdom is to make a resolution that is within your grasp and to be specific. I was giving this very matter some thought as I struggled through a step routine for the first time this year! It would be fair to say that I am not a natural athlete, and that, combined with hours spent at the keyboard, does mean a certain tendency to spreading out a little. The recent weather has even limited my walking any distance – and if I am perfectl...

New Year is not just about partying ... Because, as you will of course all know, they not only understand every word I say, but are perfectly capable of communicating a few choice ones themselves, I thought it timely to have a chat with my two office assistants, Archie and Angel, about making some New Year Resolutions: ANGEL: But our ears are always naked. ME: [baffled] What? ARCHIE: [patiently] Our ears are always naked. Unclothed. Exposed. Without coverings. ME: Oh … right. I think you may have misheard. I was asking about your New Year Resolutions, not nude ears. ARCHIE: Well you should have said. Honestly, your diction is getting worse. No-one would believe you had elocution lessons in your youth. ANGEL: And even they weren’t successful. In England everyone commented on your Irish accent and in Ireland they commented on your English accent. ARCHIE: But we blame the pupil, rather than the teacher. ANGEL: Yeah! Tin ear! ARCHIE: Tin ears ! ...

In a previous life, I was a professional encourager. Trained in community development and open to whatever career pathway opened up, (i.e. where I could earn enough money, as a single parent, to keep my family of three teenage daughters, a dog and two cats housed, fed and clothed), I had a plethora of jobs. All of them drew upon my training and expanded my experience and skills in facilitating other people to get more out life and develop their potential. I ended up managing a children's charity in Edinburgh which involved supervising and supporting 10 staff and 30 - 40 volunteers. When I left full-time working (the word 'retired' is laughably inaccurate since I have been busier than ever) and took up creative writing, I firmly told myself that, from then on, I was going to concentrate on my own development and give up the encouraging/facilitating lark. I was new to the writing game with loads to learn; so this seemed perfectly reasonable. I reckoned without my big m...

Hope it's a good one! It falls to me once more (and it comes round scarily quickly) to wish you all a very happy new year, and a good year to come. To celebrate, Authors Electric are not charging you to read this blog… but then we never do. Nor do all the other bloggers I know of. In fact, our online lives, lucky us, are crammed with Free Stuff. Woohoo! Spoiled rotten, we are. Facebook? Free. Wikipedia? Wonga-less. Google? Gratis. Amazon? Amazingly free to publish with and awash with free Kindle books. Youtube? Yes, buckshee as well. And yet, and yet… Something odd happens when people get things for nowt. On the one hand, they start to resent paying for stuff. On the other hand, they have less respect for the free stuff. They take it for granted. An example. When you are holding a poetry reading or a book event, if you sell tickets in advance even if they are just £3, people are more likely to turn up on the night. Give away the tickets, and if it rains, they’ll stay away in dr...

I don't remember asking Santa for a penguin ... Yeah, a stuffed rat. Just what I wanted ...   Right, that's Christmas and New Year over and done with. But before you start looking forward to the orgy of chocolate otherwise known as Easter, there's just the little matter of New Year's Resolutions to grapple with. I'm not making any - I never do these days, as I'm so bad at keeping them and then have to deal with the guilt of letting myself, or worse still, others, down. Except for one, which is not so much a resolution as a brilliant writing tool. I am notoriously lazy about writing: I'm fine if I have a tight deadline, but when it is a self-imposed one it is far too easy to find a good excuse for changing it. Things like the egg timer never works for me, as I can sit there for the full allotted time fiddling with unnecessary stuff or staring vacantly out of the window. Then I was given the gift of Linowrimo. We named it after its invento...

          So  as the fridge slowly empties of cling-film covered leftovers stored on ever smaller  plates, the Christmas tree sheds pine needles onto the carpet in ever increasing quantities and the waistband on my jeans grows ever tighter, thoughts inevitably turn to the New Year and resolutions. These  cold turkey-filled twixmas days  are a good time for indigestion and introspection, not to mention chocolate comas, Netflix binges and that ever popular, post gift-giving game of ‘hunt the receipt.’           I am a fan of new resolutions. ‘Drink less wine’ is always up there along with ‘write every day’ and ‘keep on top of the laundry pile'. Such resolutions are always doomed, but  last New Year was a little different. For a start my whole family were in Australia visiting my sister. Nothing is quite the same when it’s 40 degrees at Christmas, not even resolutions....

Harry's Home!           I think that now I’ve done this for a few months I will change the title of my blogs for the New Year!            I was new to writing, publishing, social media and blogging.  Now I am gaining confidence and am taking my books seriously!  They were a change from counselling/psychotherapy so the transition has taken a while.           Yes, I wrote “Harry’s Home! A Cat Compendium” because I love cats and donate £1 for each book sold to support cat rescue groups. It’s not on Kindle yet because of the colour pictures so order via www.EmotionalHealthForEmotionalWealth.co.uk please.           “ Pre-Marital MOT: A Relationship Inspection” would make a great Christmas present for any couple intending to marry in the New Year!  Order via website by 15 Dec...