2017 was a year of change for me. I moved house, left my job and went self-employed the first time. I set up not one but two businesses (my freelance writing business and my author business) and got married. It was a year of immense highs but it also had its odd low points Life…
There are popular fairy tales we all know and love, those by Hans Christian Andersen, or the Grimm brothers. Beautiful tales of love, romance, and fighting adversity. There are also traditional fairy tales with more than a smattering of blood, death, and heartbreak, but still, they grab our attention and seep into our hearts. And…
Some wise person (probably several) once said that's everyone's life is a story. What are the traits of a good story? Drama, emotion, high points, low points, average days, bad days, great days. Unless you live a solitary existence in a cave where every day is exactly the same as the one before, I imagine…
At the beginning of the year, I set myself a target of reading 30 books in 2017. I even had a list of which books I was going to read that was divided into three sections: dystopian fiction, 'other' fiction and non-fiction. In total, I've ended up reading 40 books this year (including one I…
Two weeks ago, I published my first novel, Expendables. “Self-published” is the term often used, but as I feel many people have negative connotations around self-publishing, I prefer the term “indie-published”. Last week, I talked about some of the lessons I learned from writing that book and today, I’m going to focus on the publishing…
At the beginning of this year, I set out the three big things I wanted to achieve in 2017: organise a fantastic wedding (tick), fully establish my freelance writing business (tick) and write, publish and sell my (at that time untitled) first novel. On the dream board I created for myself, I have a statement…
This month, I'm interviewing epic and urban fantasy author, Meg Cowley. Meg is a great friend of mine and has been a huge inspiration to me in my author journey so I'm really excited to bring you this interview. If you're a fantasy fan, I'm sure you'll love her books as much as I do!…
Today, I've got an interview with L.J. Higgins, who describes herself as an author of "fiction with an intriguing twist". She's the author of the dystopian series Secrets of Aurora, The Dreamer Trilogy and standalone novel, On Delicate Wings. I caught up with L.J. in the run-up to the launch of Eden, the second book in…
Genoa is often overlooked by visitors to Italy in favour of the more famous cities of Rome, Venice and Florance. But this ancient port nestled between the Ligurian mountains and the sea on the Italian riviera has a unique history and beauty. I was lucky enough to be taken on a tour of the city…