Writing

Pen Names   I went down a small rabbit hole of blog posts about being a “successful” author. “Successful” of course was a particular income goal, which I’ve always thought is a terrible marker of success as what makes a “good” income is totally variable depending on where you live in the world.   But […]

Cozy Mystery Conversion Journal 1   I’ve seen some posts around social media about writers notebooks … and decided to try one. I’m going to focus (as much as I ever focus) on a story I’m “converting” – changing the genre from romance to cozy mystery. Also, it’s a great excuse for pretty pens and […]

Watching Vs Writing   I had given up on NaNoWriMo for 2021.   I was tired, my health stuff was playing up… and then my brain switch flicked and I was so cranky at the thought of not winning. After all, after so many years I had won in 2019 and 2020.   I guess […]

I feel like everyone is saying 2022 hasn’t really started for them until Feb … but kind of, yeah. January was a whirlwind of wrapping up a job (so many handover documents. SO. MANY.), mentally preparing to leave a place I had worked, across many different roles, since April 2014. Job hunting. Learning to quote […]

SitComs   We’ve been watching Mom ever since it turned up on Netflix. I never knew much about the show, but recognised the two main actors from their other works.   I watch things spoiler-free these days.   It’s not bad. I like that it is a show that has (is still?) been on the […]

Novel Noises   While I was prepping for NaNoWriMo in 2021, I came across something I hadn’t really thought about yet. Noises. What noises are normal in the universe I’m creating?   I felt ok at first, having only written about a few noises so far as I think it’s quite a bland and sterile […]

Nasty NaNo   I feel like I saw a lot of nastiness towards NaNo last year that I had never seen before. What’s with that, humans? Is a community of people helping each other write somehow threatening to you? Cos if it is, wtf?   I’d never seen it before so I’m baffled if it […]

Launch Jealousy   I envy authors who have plans or understand marketing. Those who can get on the PR train, who can pay for and organise launch readings.   My skills in launching a book tend to be “put it on my website”. Which seems rather lacklustre given what others have accomplished at times. But […]

I mean yes, it is technically January but I’ve been barely turning on a computer for a week so… a day late isn’t too bad 🙂 I found out in December my contract at my day job isn’t being renewed so I’m sadly leaving some wonderful people and work that I’m going to miss and […]

Downsites. Downsides?   I took about a week off during NaNoWriMo 2021. I burned out and couldn’t work out how to keep writing when i could barely keep up with life itself. I just gave up and told myself that this year wasn’t my year.   Then it BUGGED me. Like really really bugged me. […]