Summer has officially started here in Perth. It’ll be 37 degrees celsius, today. Air-conditioning is the obvious answer, but I always feel vaguely guilty about using energy that heats the planet to cool my living space (if that makes sense). Well, maybe soon I won’t have to feel guilty. People are looking into the possibility…

Womagwriter is one of my favourite sites when I’m in the mood to write and submit women’s fiction short stories. Today I just read an unhappy bit of news for those of us trying to scrabble a place on the rocky writing cliff. My Weekly is now only accepting short stories from writers who have…

In my previous post I talked about the heroine of my novel having a career change from lawyer to finance trader, and how this will support the story and fit the character. But have you noticed how many times writers make their protagonist a writer? Is this a case of writing about what you know,…

Well, this blog has already paid for itself. By forcing my brain to think of other things, I actually got a bit of distance on my novel. And then I realised why the pacing was skewiff. Most importantly, I’ve given Lyn allies too early in the story. I hate conflict in real life, and tend…

I have six books set aside to read over Christmas weekend. Three by Phoebe Atwood Taylor and one each from Donna Andrews, Carolyn Hart and Dorothy Cannell. Favourite authors all. I was also meant to set aside Jessica Hart’s “Under the Boss’s Mistletoe”, but shamefully read it in one gulp on the day I bought…