Going Postal: Why Delivering Mail Is Like Writing A Novel
Several months ago I took a part-time job to supplement my author activities. I am at the relative beginning of my publishing career and have not yet generated a stable income. Therefore, I became a postman. Apart from the financial aspect, it has also has proven to...
How To Write A Witch’s Backstory
The City of Shades, the next novel in the Anaïs Blue series, has hit the bookshelves. Anaïs Blue is a teenage witch trapped in the body of a five-year-old. I have now written two full-length novels about her with a third gestating in first draft mode. The new story is...
Loreless Revisited: A Debut Novel One Year On
I published my debut novel, Loreless, just over a year ago. So much has happened since then. I have published two more books in the past year. The most recent release, the second novel in my series about a teenage witch trapped in the body of a five-year-old, is...
Did Marilyn Monroe Have Unfinished Business?
I recently published my third novel, the second in a series about a witch with a twist. In The Promptuary I introduce a gone, but not forgotten, twentieth century icon. I’m sure you have heard of Marilyn Monroe. Early on in the writing process I established a sort of...
How Transforming Into A Refugee Drives Creativity
I have spend just over two weeks as an artist in residence in Bajesdorp and the village keeps throwing up surprises. Not everyone here is an artist, but that does not mean they don’t do other inspiring things. I have learned that several members of the community are...
Celebrating Becoming An Artist In Residence
I’m not entirely certain becoming is the right word. In the case of the artist part, I am already one. I reside in a world of creativity. There you go. A statement I never thought I’d proclaim. I reside in artistry. A World on its End I have had a tumultuous time over...
A Change Is Better Than A Holiday
I’ve had a mammoth week of change. I moved house three times, went to a writers’ conference in Dublin and started a new life as an artist in residence. I’m exhausted, but happy. Some weeks are much better than others. Change beats holidays hands down. Ireland It was...
Going In Search Of Wonder Woman
For Father’s Day I wanted to do something with my kids. I decided to go to a movie. I wanted to see a specific movie which I had heard had touched people. We went to see Wonder Woman. The Cinema We went to what I consider Amsterdam’s best cinema. It is a masterpiece...
Pantsing Your Way To A Plot
To pants or to plot? That is the question. It does not really matter now. The main thing is I made it to the end of my third novel. I don’t know what it was, but getting to the end seemed like climbing Everest. Not that I have climbed Everest, but writing the novel...
10 Weird Myths About Witches
According to the rules of the story world of Anaïs Blue, I would like to dispel some witch myths. The fictional realm of my witch is different to usual stories about them. I ditched the whole medieval idea of witches and the myths associated with them. I created my...
Mr. Lee And Tuk-tuk Number 3
Angkor Wat is one of many temples around Siem Reap—one of very many temples. We were tourists for a day. Mr. Lee was our tuk-tuk driver. He said he lived 10kms out of town and was trying constantly to get us to book him for more trips. I understand completely, it is...
The Trials Of Independent Author Time Management
I kind of lost the plot for a while (slight pun intended). I forgot to manage my time. I got caught up in the business of publishing. I have been obsessed with watching my sales rankings and trying to optimise my book’s descriptions, categories and...
Stream Of Consciousness And Writing At The Speed Of Light
I’m doing an experiment. I am trying to put as much down on the page as possible in the shortest amount of time. I am hoping it will also make sense and not be mindless dribble. A lot of the blogs I write use a technique called stream of consciousness. They are...
Attempting to Dissect a Bad Review
I recently received a rather confronting review on Amazon about my novel Loreless. Some of it was positive, some bordering on an insult and, in part, outright scathing. At least that was how I read it and I feel compelled to react. As an author, I have been advised...
9 Great Flicks at the Rotterdam Film Festival 2017
Every year I travel to Rotterdam for their international film festival. There is always something inspiring to see. Writing is my passion and so is cinema. Nothing really beats images when you wish to convey a story. I was quite satisfied with my choices this year and...
Is There A Secret Weapon For Writing Great Stories?
Recently I attended a free online writing course. It proposed to solve the common problems which most writers encounter. It also promised to increase writing productivity. It sounded like getting the keys to a secret weapon. Naturally, as a writer, I was inquisitive...
How To Make An Old Year New Again: Part 2
In part one of this post I looked back on my independent author experience up to now. My journey is not influenced by the ringing in of a so-called new year. Just as with the old year, in the new year I will be celebrating a growth and not a rebirth. I am aware my...
How To Make An Old Year New Again: Part 1
It’s the wrong way around. Old is not new. Every year we celebrate the so-called new year. It is not new at all, it is a year older. We should be celebrating a growth and not a rebirth. The commonly held idea is that we can make a new start with the beginning of...
How To Write A Really Big Story
I find myself in unknown territory. A year ago I started writing a story about a witch. It almost grew by itself. At some stage I decided the story had the potential to be bigger than just one book. This is when I realised I should write a series. I put the idea aside...
Taking Stock Of Where You Are As An Authorpreneur
Not that long ago I began writing in earnest. I plunged into it and along the way discovered I have a talent which had laid buried for most of my life. I made a change. I decided to pursue my creativity. It has opened doors for me. It has introduced me to a whole new...
The Real Life And Death Of A Fictional Character
Creating great fictional characters draws on all of a writer’s knowledge of mankind. Quite often a character is a conglomeration of people they have met in real life. Some people have a greater influence on the development of a character than others. Some leave a...
A Witching We Will Go: Time To Celebrate A New Novel
Very soon my second book, about a whole other witching world, will hit the stores. Even though I have been through the process once, it still feels like the first time. My writers journey started in earnest in July this year. At that stage I set up my own publishing...
Adventures in Cambodia: Surviving an Embassy Excursion
A little over a year ago my family had a stopover in Cambodia on our way to visit relatives in Australia. We had some interesting experiences in what is a very colourful country. This was one of them. My son needed a new passport. He also needed one fast. We were...
Is Writers Block A Figment Of Your Imagination?
What is writers block? What is any form of creative block? Is it real or is it invented? I don’t know whether what I’m experiencing is a block. I only realised it when I wrote the title to this post. I gave it that name, but is it really what I think it is?...
The Self-Help Guide to Self-Help Gurus
Learning the ropes as an author and independent publisher involves gleaning information from all kinds of sources. Inevitably you are drawn into what the internet has to offer. There are thousands of experts and gurus out there who are more than willing to share their...
Perseverance Is Everything
I have been struggling. Perseverance is getting me down. Writing itself and being a dedicated author is not a problem. It’s more about coming to terms with finding an audience. Creating a novel is only part of my job as an author. I have to make sure others can...
Kakadu: Boating With Sharks, Crocodiles and Wisdom
Going on a river cruise in Australia’s Kakadu National Park is quite unlike any other cruise you are likely to undertake. You won’t come across many places in the world where you find yourself sitting in a boot which is floating on waters teeming with crocodiles...
A Publishing Aftermath and a New Beginning
A couple of weeks ago I published my first book. I sent Loreless out into the world. To use a well-worn cliche, it was a baptism of fire. Now in the aftermath I realise I am at the beginning once again. For months and months I had no fear. I was convinced of what I...
Being Unemployed Is Hard Work
I’m not unemployed. It’s not true. In fact I’m constantly employed. I write. I make music. I run two bands. I do historical research and take courses in marketing. I maintain a website. I blog. I soak up every snippet of information on writing that I can find. I am a...
Finding Your Voice Is A Balancing Act
In a couple of days the band will be returning to the recording studio for probably the last session this year. It’s mixing time! I have just been listening back to the first rough mixes of the recordings. We did them over six months ago during our first session in...
What Happens When You Drop A Bomb On An Ancient Civilisation
In the novel Loreless I touch on a few major moments in modern Aboriginal history. I do this by way of describing the fictional experiences of the ancestors of the protagonist Billy. In each case I tried to put myself into the mind of the ancestor; the characters...
Overcome Your Fear In The Recording Studio
There was a time when I was afraid of the recording studio. I thought that it would show me up for my inadequacies. I thought I wasn’t good enough. I was wrong. Studios are friendly places. They are full of like-minded people trying to create something and you, as a...
How To Make Yourself Creatively Accountable
If you are trying to make a living with a creative endeavour you need to hold yourself accountable for what you do. Writing requires enormous dedication. There is a large percentage of the population who have thought about writing a book. Supposedly this figure is...
How to Surrender to Triumph and Failure
I am about to spend another weekend in the recording studio. A few months ago we began working on a new album. At that first recording session, I was forced to question whether what I was doing was a triumph or a failure. The owner of the studio is a guy called Milan....
A Tale of Two Plates
Precisely four hundred years ago one of two plates began a startling journey around the planet. This morning I find myself in a stairwell at the Rijksmuseum. I intended to write in the library but it’s closed as it is a public holiday. It kind of sucks but at...
The Curious Case Of Constable W. H. Willshire
William Willshire was one particularly bad egg. Central Australia in the 1880s was considered the outer frontier. In some ways it still is, and continues to be most people’s image of what epitomises the Australian outback. When William Willshire went to serve as...
Great Uncle Josiah Goes To War
My great-uncle Josiah was in his sixties when he enlisted. Like many men during the Great War he faked his age in order to be accepted. What made his story different from most was that he lowered it. Most men put their ages up. He said he was forty-four. I don’t know...
The Not So Great War
Over a hundred years ago, my grandfather went off to war. He was young, and possibly, panting at the bit to go. He may have gone earlier if it hadn’t been for age restrictions. It was to be a great adventure. Every able-bodied man wanted to be part of...
Hobby Is A Dirty Word
Yesterday, I had a bit of a moment. My so-called hobby was challenged. Over the past few months I have steadily been building up momentum as an author. I set up a website. I have had my book edited, I have had a cover designed. I have absorbed oceans of tips on...
You Are The God Of Your Creative Universe
I went to see author T. C. Boyle speak towards the end of last year. It was the first time I had been to a book launch or an evening with sort of event. I didn’t expect to discover an important lesson in how to control my creative universe. A part of me went...
How To Become A Publishing Expert
There seems to be no end of people online with an opinion on writing. And not only about what the best methods are for putting words on the page, there are also literally thousands giving advice on publishing. I’m no publishing expert but it is clear to me that...
Writing The Message You Need To Deliver
I am on a crusade. I am a divine messenger. I have just discovered this. A few weeks ago I was just writing. Now I am experiencing it as a higher calling. I won’t say that it is truly biblical but the analogies are there. There has been a change in my thinking. I was...
Why There Is A Left And Right Way To Be Creative
As a child I had a learning disability. Somehow it was picked up at a very young age. I have very vague memories of it. I was sent to a specialist as there seemed to be a problem with how I used my brain. I was using both sides of it at will. I would do certain things...
36 Scenes on Wattpad
That’s it. I’m nearly there. The whole thing is nearly there. For the past thirty-four scenes I have strategically been uploading the story. It’s not just a story. It’s a novel. It’s my first. Baby is born. Nearly. I have two more scenes to put up there. They may or...
Research and Memory
Research takes a lot time. It also involves an enormous amount of reading. Most of it goes in and gets lost somewhere in the recesses of your brain. You can’t absorb everything in detail. Somehow your brain filters out the unimportant stuff and you’re just...
Rainbow Wanderer
Rainbow Wanderer My whole life has been about the journey. I never know exactly where it’s leading, but that is of minor importance to me. I get off on the trip. I get off on going somewhere. Of course, I do have goals, but over time they change. Most of them...Discover a part of Australia you never imagined existed.
Read Loreless
Do you like stories about witches? Ghosts? Powerful entities? You must meet Anaïs Blue.
