Author of the Allensbury Mysteries

Tag novel

What skills do you need to be a writer?

No writer emerges fully formed. It’s that simple. When a writer publishes their first book, it’s rarely actually their first completed work. Instead it will be the product of many, many years of false starts and learning from them. Most… Continue Reading →

The five stages of editing

I wrote recently about how to plan a novel in a week; that is definitely possible. However, I won’t ever claim that it’s possible to edit a novel in a week. In fact, my first two novels took at least… Continue Reading →

Working with a cover designer

Independently published writers are always told that their book has to have a professionally designed cover. I certainly wouldn’t be one to disagree. Your book cover is the first thing people see and it has to be convincing. Crime fiction… Continue Reading →

A writer who blogs, or a blogger who writes?

As a writer who has any intention of publishing, you’re always told that you need a platform. Not a week goes by when you don’t hear from someone extolling the virtues of blogging or getting involved in social media. You… Continue Reading →

Working with a professional editor

Writing is a very self-involved process. You get wrapped up in your story, your characters and getting to the end. Editing is more of the same. You’re focused on pulling the story apart and putting it back together in the… Continue Reading →

Reaching The Big Finish

Writing the words ‘The End’ is a fantastic feeling. When it comes at the end of a two-year slog to write an 80,000 word novel, the feeling is even better. (Yup that’s how long it took me to write my… Continue Reading →

Anyone for a writing goal?

Hands up who sets writing goals at the start of each year? I have a confession to make – I don’t. Yes, that’s right, I don’t set myself any writing goals at the start of the year. Why? Because every… Continue Reading →

When is blogging not good for writers

Opinions are very mixed in the publishing world about whether an author needs a blog. When I launched this blog 18 months ago, everything I read online seemed to be saying that an author needed an online platform, somewhere they… Continue Reading →

New Year, New Me

It’s taken a long time (and about four drafts) to decide what my first blog post of the year would be, and here it is! Usually I get caught up in New Year enthusiasm and throw myself wildly into new… Continue Reading →

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