I love a dude with a problem

I hope you're not expecting some sort of romantic confessional from that headline! I'm talking genre, not actual dudes. I recently re-read Stephen King's Misery because I've been listening to Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, and Misery is used as an example of the "dude with a problem" sub-genre she describes …

The sting of rejection…is not so bad

Well, it finally happened, dear reader. my first official rejection. I have submitted my novel twice to publishers' Open Submissions, which is basically submitting to the 'slush pile' and just never heard anything. For all I know it was never even glanced at. Earlier this year I submitted it to a publisher and an agent, …

The struggle is real

If one day someone invents a pill that enables humans to actually do the things they know are good for them, it will be revolutionary. There's nothing we humans like more than to pass judgement on what someone "should" be doing. Why doesn't she leave her abusive husband? Why did he let himself get so …

The need for speed

In which our heroine commits to a deadline The whole start-writing-at-40 is my version of a mid-life crisis, I guess. You do get this dawning realisation as you get older that life is actually short, even if you're lucky enough to have a long one. If you live to 75, that's 28,000 days. Life is …