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This week has been a big week for me. Well, not really. Relatively big, I mean, in that I’ve had to go outside several times and even have conversations with other adult humans (it’s half term and there is only so much indoor time with my children I can take). There have also been multiple… Continue reading Happy Valencake Year!

About three years ago, my husband bought a new coffee machine. It is, he assures me, a very good coffee machine. It is also, he has assured me about a million times, really easy to use. Once every couple of months he takes me into the kitchen, demonstrates where the water goes and which buttons… Continue reading Don’t be a d*ck about apostrophes

Recently, I started a discussion in a Facebook group* about the one piece of advice editors would give authors to help them with their own revisions. There were a ton of helpful answers, and I’m sure I’ll share more of them with you in due course. But today I’m going to talk a little bit… Continue reading The Problem is Choice

Ah, Twitter. How I love thee. And how thou dost take up all my time and sometimes maketh me want to cry. Sound familiar? Back in the day, when I had a job in one of those office-thingies and didn’t ever have to do anything resembling “networking”, I had a Twitter account. And I had… Continue reading How to Spend Less Time on Twitter

Happy New Year! Yes, I know, I’m eight days late. It’s not my fault. My children have only gone back to school this morning, and the cold that decided to show up on New Year’s Day has finally receded to the point where I can stop counting the seconds until I can take my next… Continue reading 2018: Thinking Less, Doing More

I know the year’s not over yet, but what with the endless social engagements and chocolate-eating one must fit in at this time of year, I’m going to go ahead and review 2017 now. I’d like to think not much will change in the next two weeks, but if this year has taught us anything,… Continue reading 2017 in Review

I fulfilled a bit of a life goal last night – I sang with a live band. I love singing, and I’ve always been alright at it when I sing on my own, or with the choirs I’ve been involved with over the years, or doing the odd bit of karaoke. But despite being around… Continue reading The Noble Art of Being Not Very Good at Stuff

If you’ve spent any time at all in any space where people discuss creative writing, you’ve almost certainly heard this advice. It’s the big one, the one piece of advice that all writers are supposed to follow without question. There’s a reason for that: it’s bloody good advice. Strong writing “shows” instead of “tells”. And… Continue reading Pinches of Salt 4: Show, Don’t Tell

The next in my series of advice about writing advice deals with unnecessary words. This is one I’ve seen a lot – people are always eager to share their lists of words that they seek and destroy in their writing. The lists vary from person to person, but they often include “that”, “very”, “then”, “next”,… Continue reading Pinches of Salt 3: Avoid unnecessary, redundant words that you just don’t need.

All across the land, an army of homeworkers sit at our desks, fingerless gloves on our blue, trembling hands, blankets around our shivering shoulders. We will not surrender to our weakness. We will not take the easy way out. Maybe, though, we should. I don’t like putting the heating on. Every time I do, I… Continue reading Winter is…well, here.