Accountants everywhere are celebrating the new tax year, and since I still have accounting in my blood, I used the new year as an excuse to review and revise my business and writing plans. Business plans (and writing plans) should be organic documents. They should change and grow as your business does, so a six-monthly […]
Diversity in YA and what I’m doing to change it
In sport, particularly when playing finals, we have a saying: “Leave nothing in the tank” In other words, play your absolute best today. Leave nothing for tomorrow. Today, it counts. In writing terms, it would be “Do your best work now.” Don’t wait for tomorrow or next week or next year to work on projects […]
How Hugh Howey changed my mind
A few weeks ago, I wrote a short story in less than a day. I had a title in mind, and was mulling over what sort of story would go with it. I’d used the same title quite a few years ago with a short story I wrote for a competition that will never […]
And the winner is….
Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll to name my stable of horses for an upcoming book. We had over 2,600 votes over 7 days, and the lead changed 9 times. Here’s how the race played out – It’s Taxman out in front by half a length in front of Cruise Junkie. Notadonkey is […]
Name That Horse
I’m terrible at naming things. All my books have working titles like “The Space One” and “The Cosy Murder #1”, and my character names look like the unnamed extras in a movie (policeman #1, Guy at the Bar, Stripper #4, Main Character etc) So when I needed some names for some racehorses for a story […]