This blog has been a bit quiet recently, but there’s a reason for that. Along with countless others, I emerged from National Novel Writing Month on 30th November, having just about snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. I hit the requisite 50K words on 25th November, but I’m still feeling a bit shell-shocked.
Category Archives: Novels
Revisiting Inspiration on Corsica
Should you go back to places that have a special significance in your memory, or where you have found inspiration? It can turn out to be disappointing. They might have changed beyond recognition, or the magic you experienced might simply have dissipated. So, it was with some misgivings that I recently revisited the Corsican village where IContinue reading “Revisiting Inspiration on Corsica”
NaNo or NoNo? How to Survive National Novel Writing Month
Is it that time of year again? Well not quite, but it comes upon you before you know it. Having spent the past few months on paid work, my fiction-typing fingers are tingling and the ideas are flowing. I need space to write and I can’t do it with clients and deadlines snapping at myContinue reading “NaNo or NoNo? How to Survive National Novel Writing Month”
My Biggest Lesson on my Book’s First Birthday
Where does it go? Time, I mean. It’s not so long ago that I was slaving over a hot computer to write The House at Zaronza (actually, it will be three years in November). And surely it’s only yesterday that it was published? No, today it’s my novel’s first birthday. Now it enters theContinue reading “My Biggest Lesson on my Book’s First Birthday”
On the Chaise Longue with Vanessa: Meet Author Sue Barnard
On the Chaise Longue with Vanessa: Meet Author Sue Barnard I’m very pleased to welcome back my friend and fellow Crooked Cat author Sue Barnard – who is also my editor! She is a lady of many talents and has a range of short stories, poems and three published novels to her credit. She wrote aContinue reading “On the Chaise Longue with Vanessa: Meet Author Sue Barnard”
Relatively Speaking…
Relatively Speaking… I loathe promoting myself and always have done. I was brought up not to boast, not to push myself forward and never to ask for things for myself. Not a good training for an author these days, eh? With gritted teeth, I have launched myself on social media and, while I do enjoyContinue reading “Relatively Speaking…”
10 Things Not to Say to an Author
A tongue in cheek post today, but with a grain of truth. Readers I meet at parties or other events usually have very interesting and perceptive things to say about books and writing. I love having the opportunity to talk with them, which doesn’t happen often living down here in la France profonde. YouContinue reading “10 Things Not to Say to an Author”
The Role of the Editor: Guest Post by Sue Barnard
I’m delighted to welcome my friend and fellow Crooked Cat author, Sue Barnard, to the chaise longue this week. Not only is Sue an author in her own right, but she’s also an editor. More precisely, she is my editor. And a cracking job she did, too, of The House at Zaronza. She saved meContinue reading “The Role of the Editor: Guest Post by Sue Barnard”
TEN THINGS NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING
Originally posted on Jane Bwye:
I am delighted to welcome back a valued friend, Karen Charlton, from my Authonomy days. Her little piece is so, so true. And the strange thing is, we all have to learn every one of these lessons by personal experience; sometimes more than once. In a recent survey carried out…
Ten Inspiring Things About #Corsica: Part 2
Here’s part 2 of my post about aspects of Corsica that I find inspiring as a writer. Some of them appear in my novels The House at Zaronza and The Corsican Widow, but all of them are things I want to keep experiencing. In writing this post, I have realised that 10 is far tooContinue reading “Ten Inspiring Things About #Corsica: Part 2”
Vanessa Couchman 