Authors Electric

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about writing of late, more thinking than writing, especially late at night. This makes me want to beat myself up mentally sometimes, makes me wonder why I can't sleep.  In the past, when want-to-be writers wanted to chat about writing, I obliged but with some trepidation. I don’t do small talk, and to wax poetic on the craft of writing seemed meaningless unless there was real life application. Were we writing a book together? If not, then what I had to contribute would probably be of little help. I’m not an academic, and theorizing about writing can never take the place of the act of writing itself. It’s a discipline that's learned while putting it in practice.  Writing is also a solitary endeavour, not a group effort. I say this even though I write with a partner every month. Bill Kirton (who also contributes to this site) and I compose stories together , but our individual pieces are written without prior discussion, so the act of writing ...

Most of us take for granted the fact that we can read and know what it's like to enjoy a good book. But how sad it is for those who have never known the pleasure of reading either because they are dyslexic or they struggle with reading for some other reason. It's so rewarding to a writer regardless of the genre of book they write, when they get positive feedback or a good review. Even more so when the reader is a child or teenager who admits that they don't like reading - yet they loved a particular book that you'd written. But the idea of actually writing for the market of reluctant teen readers was something of a challenge - but also a great experience, and one I hope I'll get the opportunity to do again. It's only something I've been doing for the last six months or so. I was excited to be asked by the publisher, Badger Learning if I would like to try for a series of horror books for 12-15 year olds with a reading age of around 8-9. Wh...

Happy New Year everyone!  So how was 2014 for you writing-wise? Did you achieve everything you were hoping to achieve?   If you made a new year's resolution did you stick to it? If I remember correctly my new year's resolution for 2014 was to write more and try to get more stuff published. Looking back, I haven't done too badly and it's certainly been an interesting year with magazine articles and some new books out. So I thought I'd post a few photos to illustrate some of the highlights and successful bits of 2014. I try not to harp on about the disappointments, such as being asked to try for a non fiction series with a publisher that I'm working with on some fiction books. Fab! I thought and pitched four ideas... or rather I would have pitched four ideas, had I remembered to send the email. Somehow - don't ask me how, but it ended up in my draft emails rather than being sent. And there it stayed until it was too late and the slots had all been filled. Do...

Wander around any supermarket at the moment and you'll be bumping into witch, ghost, skeleton and pumpkin costumes as Halloween approaches. And they seem to get better every year. Couldn't help but smile at a skeleton outfit I saw the other day that had a moving jaw and talked. Now that my kids are all grown up, Halloween isn't something I usually bother with, although this time last year, Rob who I work with at his Tysall's Photography Studio, was asked if he could take some family shots at the customer's house. No problem... until we got there, and the guy met us at the door, all dressed up as Dracula, and soon informed us that actually he was a real vampire. We hoped he was joking! After the photo-shoot we came away giggling like a couple of kids, and still looking over our shoulders as we headed to the car. Still, it provided a nice little scenario for a horror story should one be needed. Although I love writing stories that send shivers up t...