One year ago I posted my writing resolutions for 2014. I freely declare I have not hit those goals. In October, after submitting my final university assignment for the year, I checked in, re-examined those goals and set new ones. I had completed some, was on track for others, and had yet to start a few. Of those goals, I have not: Submitted two finished PB MS to two or more publishers by the end of the year; written three more PB first drafts; entered one more competition f

Has anyone else ever given you 'that' look when you say you're a writer? It's the look that simultaneously questions your grasp on reality while accusing you of harbouring caffeine and daytime television addictions. Now think of someone doing his or her job. What is he doing? Making a product? Working in a business? She works regular hours. He might be studying at night to boost his qualifications. She might be attending a breakfast meeting, or an industry conference on the w

Today – 1 December – is an auspicious day. It’s when hundreds of thousands of novelists around the world blink their eyes against the sky’s blue brilliance after they stagger outside for the first time in a month, as they have done for the past 16 years. NaNoWriMo is over. At midnight last night computer keyboards fell silent, fingers were stretched against four weeks of claw-handed typing, and sleep rejoined the agenda as a regular occurrence. My second NaNoWriMo ended about