My first ever visit to the London Book Fair was an inspiring and thought-provoking day. One of the talks at Author HQ was on how writers can boost their earnings. The room was packed, indicating that this is a hot topic for many! Most authors earn less than a living wage from their books alone,…… Continue reading How to make a living from writing: some useful tips from the London Book Fair #lbf
Author Sharon Booth – member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and fellow Yorkshire lass – has a series of posts on her blog this year inviting writers to share five photos that mean something to them. The authors’ posts have been fascinating, funny and moving. When it came to my turn to take part, I…… Continue reading Five photos that show how a writer’s voice evolved
It’s time for another Round Robin, where a group of authors each post on the same topic on the same day (but not necessarily the same time zone :) ) This week’s topic has been chosen by author Rhobin Courtright… Where do stories come from? I’ve always found it fascinating how we can imagine whole…… Continue reading Where do stories come from? The magic of writer inspiration.
Summer in northern England has been a bit of a wash out this year, and the skies here are gloomy again today, so I’m hoping my guest has brought some southern sunshine with her. The kettle’s on, and I have a big plate of scones, cream, and jam ready especially. Now I’m waiting for my…… Continue reading Good to meet you…author Jane Jackson
What a glorious Easter weekend it’s been. Yesterday there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and I spent the whole day tidying up the garden ready for planting out some bedding plants. So good to have a day warm enough to sit outside, drink tea and share the rest of my Easter eggs with my…… Continue reading Good to meet you…author Rachel Brimble
Image courtesy of Pixabay Last week I caught the tail end of BBC Radio 4’s Open Book programme. It was a fascinating discussion about how writers actually “hear” the voices of their characters (you might still be able to hear this episode on iPlayer). Dr. Jennifer Hodgson, who was interviewed on the programme, is a…… Continue reading How do writers “hear” their characters?
This year marks 80 years since Penguin Books printed their first paperbacks and changed the way readers thought about books forever. Penguin Books was first set up in 1935 by Allen Lane, who was then a director at the Bodley Head imprint. The story goes that he was coming back from a trip to visit…… Continue reading Happy 80th birthday, Penguin Books
It’s a great pleasure to welcome fantasy author James Crofoot back to my blog. James was last here with an interesting article on vampire myths, and how to tell if a vampire is really dead. Today he’s back to answer some questions about himself, to talk about his phenomenal work rate and to tell us…… Continue reading Fantasy author James Crofoot and his Necromancer series
Today author Marie Laval returns to my blog to give us the ingredients for a great romantic suspense. Marie was one of my first visitors ever – you can find her interview with me here – and since then we’ve met up many times in real life, at RNA events or most often to talk…… Continue reading Author Marie Laval’s recipe for Provençal romantic suspense
Twitter is a great asset to authors – a place to find out and share information, as well as to tell the world about our books. The trouble is, it does take quite some dedication to make the most of it. And we can’t be on Twitter all the time, because when are we actually…… Continue reading Author Mary Waibel on using Tweetdeck to manage Twitter
Helena Fairfax 