In which I show off my admittedly terribly puny collection of Footrot Flats books, and admit that my childhood had some terribly stereotypical Kiwi elements. I’m still getting used to the idea that not everyone had pet lambs growing up, or had to help with the docking. I haven’t really re-read Footrot Flats for a …
Short story week, and I normally put a little ramble in here about how the idea for this particular (and slightly weird) short story occurred to me. You know, a kind of “behind the scenes with the author” type thing. Minus the empty tea cups, cat hair-festooned desk, and cookie stash in the top drawer. …
In which I justify buying pretty art books on the basis that I may, possibly, one day, under the right conditions, use them for writing prompts. Maybe. I’d never actually thought about Dr Seuss creating art beyond his kids’ books until I stumbled across this post on Brain Pickings (worth a follow if you don’t …
Warning! Warning! Personal Post Ahead! There will be failing! (And possibly flailing.) Eeek, get it off! Get it off! Just kidding. Well, not really. But this is actually a post about failing, and having a bit of a rubbish year, and there are less dragons involved than you may have come to expect. Although I’ve …
In which I confess that, even if I didn’t write middle grade books myself, I’d still read them, because they contain all the things that make me happy. You know – magic, humour, friendship, and adventure. And often talking cats. Although, in this case, it’s a talking skeleton, AKA Skulduggery Pleasant. If you haven’t …
Hello wonderful people! I have big news this week. It seems that another wonderful person – Lynda, of Easy Reader Editing – has nominated me for a Liebster Award. Me, not the Little Furry Muse! (Although obviously she still takes full credit for any award-worthy material produced. Where is one without one’s muse? Certainly not …
In which I talk about the necessity of hanging up your brain sometimes, and how for me the only way to do that is with easy reads, as TV and movies still leave too much of my brain running around like a ferret in a sock factory. (Please note that I’ve never seen a ferret …
Blog post? What blog post? Time for an addition to the short stories instead. For a couple of weeks in the very early spring, every time I went down to walk by the sea, there was a log or a tree trunk or something submerged a couple of hundred metres offshore. All you could see …
In which I admit (once again) just how terrible I am at making book recommendations, and apologise to my lovely friend Lynda (whose blog you should really check out for lovely humour and fab editing tips) for basically suggesting she start reading Terry Pratchett by choosing any book at random. I then attempt to refine …
Happy blogiversary to meeeeee! Actually, no. Not really. I was just looking at my blogging files and suddenly realised that they go all the way back 2016. 2016, you guys. Okay, it’s not that long. But really – who knew I had that many words in my head? Well, coherent ones, anyway. I did not. …