'I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.'

Don't get me wrong, I'm as fond of a nice tree as the next person, but for inspiration I prefer something hand-crafted in grey stone that doesn't shed its leaves every Winter.


Read Full Post

These wonderful photos come from a CD I bought off eBay. My work in progress is set in the late 1850s and starts off in Liverpool before the main characters move to London, so I was looking out for some old Liverpool pictures for research and inspiration ...



Read Full Post

Strictly Writing has been going for over two months now, so it's about time we had a run-out of the perennial advice: “If you see an adverb, kill it!”

For those few who have never looked at a writing website or read a how-to book, this paraphrases a Mark Twain quotation about adjectives, and is used to illustrate the accepted wisdom that adverbs are the Lex Luthors of the English language. If you let one of those evil, pace-sapping little fiends near your book, you might as well chuck the whole thing out the window and get a normal hobby, because publishers are going to laugh at you, my friend.


Read Full Post

As seasoned readers of my blog might know, I am a Jenn Ashworth fan and I think it’s fair to say that her short stories are not only things that I’ve enjoyed but have also had a considerable influence on my own writing. So I’m thrilled to have her here on my blog, to talk, chiefly, about her debut novel, A Kind of Intimacy, and other things, like typewriters, shampoo aisles and what dashing across a busy street is similar to...

Read Full Post

It seems that like Lennox in 'Macbeth' I should not have waited on the order of my going.


Read Full Post

According to Thalassa Cruso, 'March is a month of considerable frustration.' I'll say it is. The sun's out and it's warm behind glass but try sitting out in it for any length of time without getting whipped by the wind or freezing your feet off. March also seems to be a terrible month for receiving rejections, especially from writing contests entered in the blithe optimism of the autumn. One after another they've been blowing in. I feel battered.

Read Full Post

An aspiring writer who's hovering somewhere between Reasons They're Rejecting You numbers 12 and 13 of Slushkiller's classic list (scroll down a bit), poor thing, has reached that banging-her-head-against-the-wall-and-howling stage. 'What more do I have to do?' she cries. She's written the best book she's capable of, and then made it better still. It's beautifully written, thoughtful, compelling, the voices are great and the plot excellent. Everyone who sees it loves it enough to bother to write a personal rejection, but reject it they do: somehow, it didn't quite grab them enough, in a climate where a book has to rival the grip of the Boston Strangler to be taken on. Some of the rejections mentioned that it falls between 'literary' and 'commercial' which makes it extra-hard to sell. Oh, I've been there (specially on the literary-commercial thing), and there's probably still a dent in the wall of the house I used to live in, where I took those feelings out on it some years ago. I've even offered the afflicted soul the very large, sharp-cornered nursing textbook I used then, because I know it does the job so very satisfyingly.

How does a writer, doing something so well, do it better, just to get over the bar from what my agent calls high competence, into being taken on?

Read Full Post

Okay so, as you can see.. I'm a newbie. Actually the reason why I write this is because i need you guys! Why? I can't say much yet but there's one thing I can say, or ask, anyway it goes like this:

did you learn anything from life? Like lessons from life? if so, and you're willing to share them, please Share!

Thanks a lot to all of you guys who will answer and if you're curious about why I need this, or simply want to have a chat with me, you can add me on myspace.com/underground_steph I don't promise to answer but if I have time it'll be my pleasure to do so.

‘There is a bleed,’ he said.
Not, ‘Your daughter has had a cerebral haemorrhage.’ No, I get the dumbed-down version. Her brain is bleeding into the nape of her neck, where it will disperse. Well that’s nice and tidy, isn’t it? I’m sitting in a tiny room being diagnosed as thick. I want to be bombarded with enormous words and unintelligible language. She’s only been here a couple of hours and has already had two brain scans; they wouldn’t spend that kind of attention on nothing. I’m choking here, trying to be passive and not in the least dangerous.
A new doctor, Mr Surgeon, throws an assortment of options on the table, all of which include the possibility of death. Claire is an adult and only she can make this choice.


Read Full Post

Some pics (taken by Hannah Young) of Thursday's reading.

And a HUGE thanks to the fab ww authors who kindly donated their books to the Book Aid raffle - we raised almost £80 which'll provide about 60 books.

Read Full Post