Posts

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How to start a new novel

I finished writing The River Days of Rosie Crow a pretty long time ago now. Before that gem of a Christmas present knocked at my door of agent representation back in December, I was spending my time - A LOT of time - sending that novel off…
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Write to Travel

In my previous blog, I penned a few thoughts around the curbing of my incessant travel habit. As I was writing it, I considered a poetry competition I entered last year with Trip Fiction (a brilliant online resource pairing books with travel).…
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The Curious World of Waiting

There is a great deal documented about the process of writing a novel: crafting a plot and characterisation and the story arc or the editing process, for example. There has also been much written about the finished product of a book: working…
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Creative Writing Workshops with a Danish Gymnasium

I recently had the opportunity to teach a series of creative writing workshops to students at Herning Gymnasium in Denmark. I feel so fortunate to have been encouraged creatively as a child at primary school (doubtless helping to shape me into…

Bridging the Summer Literacy Gap

Click here to read an article I have written about fun ways to keep literacy alive for your children over the long summer break.
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Living, Coping & Writing with Chronic Insomnia

When I wrote my second novel, The Girl and the Sunbird, I would sit at a desk in my upstairs bedroom with sunbirds flitting to and fro from the foliage outside (yes, really, hence the title's inspiration), type away at my story, and cry. And…
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Speaking to students in India

Well, I have left Nairobi and I am now in India for 6 months, travelling with my family! For more on our Indian travelling adventures, take a look at our website and blog, familygappers.com. We even have a vlog which you can subscribe to on…

Four 5* Books from the first half of 2017

As we reach the middle of 2017, I thought it would be fun to do a short review of my four favourite reads of the year so far. After all, I am first and foremost a reader, and my love of the written word has, over the years, helped carve my path…
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Part 3 of my Self-Publishing Journey: The other side of the tunnel

In my previous blog charting part 2 of my self-publishing journey, I confessed that I had fallen out of love with my novel in quite a big way and that I was struggling significantly to move forwards with it. Well...I am pleased to say that…
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Ignite your Fiction Fire: 5 Tips for Aspiring Writers

Sometimes, trying to write and get our work out there can feel like flailing around in the dark. It can be a fraught journey, littered with the skeletons of defeated writers: I'm not good enough. I don't have time. I need to stop living in my…