Monday Writing Motivation: Finding the next idea
I mentioned persistence last week – the persistence, in that case, of a cygnet beating its great wings against the water as it races down the waters of our lake […]
Five hundred motivational essays for writers – and counting
Our most ancient origins lie in the sea. Palaeontologists and archaeobiologists tell us that two billion years ago, give or take an eon, the first self-replicating molecule somehow assembled [...]
Never let go of your writing dreams
It’s been a demanding year. There’s not a person I’ve spoken to who hasn’t faced a cost-of-living crunch, trouble at work or home, or an illness. I want to share […]
Monday Writing Motivation: Like love, after the lovers have parted
What’s your Monday Writing Motivation? And how does it fit in with paleontologists? Palaeontologists have discovered, in the scrolls of rock that constitute a unique repository of ancient [...]
Monday Writing Motivation: The story that emerges from the cracks between scenes
Monday writing motivation. Here’s a thought: what are characters up to when they’re not active in your story? Remember, they’re not human beings. A human being is busy with all […]
Monday Writing Motivation: Could your best reader possibly be you?
Who is your best and wisest reader? Who is able to offer you the most cogent and practical advice in your quest to make your story as good as it […]
Monday Writing Motivation: Loss of innocence
I’ve often celebrated the many gifts writing bestows on the writer: the sharpened eye, the joy that springs from creating something from nothing, the pleasures of devising the felicitous phrase, [...]
Monday Writing Motivation: The inventors of immersivity
Introducing an episode of a series of short radio programmes recently, the presenter* said: “I’d like you to imagine strapping on a big eye mask. It completely covers your eyes. […]
Monday Writing Motivation: O my! O my! O my!
Yes, of course literary conflict provides the driving impetus of all narrative. But from time to time every writer earns the right to indulge their desire simply to celebrate beauty […]
Monday Motivation: A luta continua
War talk is much in the air these days. We talk of “the war” in the way that our parents and grandparents must have referred, in their day, to “the […]
Monday Motivation: The butcher of St Neots
St Neots, a small town straddling the River Great Ouse a few locks down from Bedford, holds a market every Thursday in the town square. It was the site, in […]
Monday Motivation: Exercising the old brain cells
I was paging idly through an old notebook this morning and came across a passage in my handwriting that will serve as the hinge of today’s piece. Yes, I frequently […]
