The 31 January was a magical day. I woke up in Swansea (in a terrible hotel, but that didn't manage to ruin the day). My PhD viva was scheduled for later that Friday. Needless to say, I was nervous even though I kept telling myself that I wrote the thesis so I knew what it …
Soldier #amwriting #poem #poetry
One of my pieces of writing I am most proud of is, strangely, a poem. I haven't written any poetry in a long while and even when I wrote poems on a daily basis, the process didn't feel as natural as when I write fiction. I struggled. I imagine every poet struggles to an extent …
What’s in a name? #pennames #authorlife
A recent conversation with a fellow author who publishes her books under a pen name opened an interesting question about pen names for me. I only know this woman by her pen name as we ‘met’ in an online writing conference. We’ve become sort of friends over the years. I say ‘sort of friends’ because …
Vine Leaves Lit. Journal is available for pre-order
The final issue of Vine Leaves Literary Journal is available for pre-order on Amazon and other retailers. It offers 240 pages of poetry, prose, art & photography, including two of my pieces. As the editor, Jessica Bell says of the vignette form, it "forces you to slow down, to distract your focus from the future …
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New stories
You can now read my short story, Dad's expiration date, on CafeLit. A ten-year-old boy, Max, who's always lived only with his mother suddenly meets his father. But there is something odd about him and Max has a sinking feeling that things will not end well. The last issue of Vine Leaves Journal, including my …
When you want to give up #amwriting
This has been a difficult year so far. I've had new tasks piled on top of the old ones at work and I also spent a lot of time writing and editing several writing projects. Most of the time I feel overworked and on the brink of giving up. Particularly when I open my inbox …
New publications
In my guest post at The Artist Unleashed blog I discuss my never-ending struggle with the 'show, don't tell' rule when writing and which tricks I use to overcome it. Share your experience with writing struggles here. The publication of the final issue of Vine Leaves Journal in which I'll have two short pieces published …
Writing in different genres
Writing in different genres doesn't seem like such a big problem. I've been writing short stories and poetry for adults and stories for young adults and middle grade since forever. Switching between genres didn't seem particularly difficult and I rarely noticed it consciously. I didn't usually write for all the genres at the same time, …
Two of my short shorts will appear in the last issue of Vine Leaves Lit Journal (April 2017). I'm super proud of being included because it's going to be an amazing issue. The only down side? It's the last issue ever. I've discovered quite a few great authors in the vignette journal. Around the same …
