In 2021, Isla, a student of creative writing at the University of the Highlands and Islands, asked me to share my experiences of writing my first novel Castles of Steel and Thunder in this author interview. I’m happy to say that Isla also seemed to enjoy the follow-up book, Pieces of Sky and Stone, and…
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One of the surest things about writing, or indeed any kind of creative pursuit, is the experience of rejection. Offering work up for any kind of scrutiny, be it through books, competition entries, submissions to agents or publishers – all of it entails the risk of someone saying ‘no’. Rejection isn’t as clear-cut as the…
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I was recently asked to answer some questions on my experience of novel-writing by a creative writing student from the University of the Highlands and Islands. Of course, I was happy to oblige – and thought I would share the interview here for anyone who would like to find out more. Read on for tips…
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If, like me, you self-published your first novel during the pandemic, you might be wondering how on earth to go about promoting it. With bookshops – and indeed most places – still shut due to lockdown, it may not feel like the ideal time to be attracting new readers to your book. Thankfully, there are…
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In amongst this period of lockdown, it almost escaped my notice that Wellies on the School Run had reached its four-year anniversary on the blogosphere. Four years of writing, two hundred and twenty five articles, somewhere in the region of two hundred thousand words. I’m not sure what I expected when I started my own…
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I got a nice surprise last week when one of my blogging friends – the lovely Suzanne – nominated me for a ‘Hello Sunshine’ award – a round robin of questions posed to your favourite bloggers (much like the sort of thing that does the rounds on personal Facebook feeds from time to time). One…
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Last week I wrote here about the very basics of setting a blog up, with a promise to return this week with some answers to questions that people commonly ask me when they find out I write stuff on the Internet. As I mentioned last time, this is also good preparation for me as I prepare to talk…
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I can’t believe we’re already half way through the month of February. Once January bites the bullet, the weeks always seem to quickly disappear. I’m not sure if it’s a sign of getting older, but these days I find weeks and months slipping by me like a river. One of the ways I try to keep focus…
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I don’t make New Year’s resolutions in January, instead preferring to make small, incremental changes whenever things need changing. Last week I wrote about making time for self care, and the number of comments and messages I received in response indicated that a lot of you reading have been through similar experiences of your own. This week,…
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Recently I’ve been trying to get back into the habit of writing, and to be honest, I’ve been struggling. After finishing the last school year on a high after completing the first draft of my novel, I’ve returned to the new year feeling, frankly, a bit flat. The origin of this dip in motivation is…
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