My 10 year-old niece rang me this morning, all excited, to tell me she had won a top reading award at her school. Basically, they get points for the books they read, the harder books accruing more points and so forth. She's accumulated more points than anyone else in her school, and so was the … Continue reading Oh, to be a bookworm again
How DISC informs my ‘Creative’ writing process
Last year sometime I had occasion to undergo a DISC behaviour assessment during a professional development course. It's one of many such psych tests commonly used by organisations to develop (and sometimes screen) employees. They're fascinating things. Anyway, I was thrilled to discover that according to the DISC assessment I am a 'Creative'. "Huzzah!" thought … Continue reading How DISC informs my ‘Creative’ writing process
What’s your favourite place?
How does one decide on one's favourite place in all the world? I thought this week's Friday prompt would be an easy assignment. I had only to sift through my memories and select the location that made my heart sing the loudest, the one I most yearn to return to. Only it turns out it's … Continue reading What’s your favourite place?
The sad demise of reference books
Once upon a time, when I was still living with my parents, a frequent Saturday morning activity was the completion of the weekend general knowledge crossword. Me and my dad would scrabble through an entire bookshelf full of reference books to figure out the answers and gleefully write them in. We would consult encyclopedic dictionaries, … Continue reading The sad demise of reference books
How Time Team can help with fantasy worldbuilding
I've recently been watching a lot of old Time Team episodes (a British TV show hosted by Tony Robinson in which a bunch of archaeologists excavate exciting things over three days). I think they have the best job ever. I absolutely love the fact there's so much history buried under pretty much every innocuous field or footpath … Continue reading How Time Team can help with fantasy worldbuilding
Travelling in the 90s – A bit of background
As often happens, the morning after publishing the first post in the Travelling in the 90s series (and thanks for the positive feedback, everyone) I thought of a heap more things I should have said by way of introduction. It's been on my mind all day, so at the risk of overdoing it for week … Continue reading Travelling in the 90s – A bit of background
Celebrating 200 posts
This, believe it or not, is the 200th post on this blog. It began in January 2011 when I decided it was time to establish an official writerly presence on the interwebs. After five years of blogging half anonymously about anything and everything (including my writing life) on my beloved Forge and Brew, I crawled … Continue reading Celebrating 200 posts
Facing fears (or the dead thing under the fridge)
I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to "face one's fears". Without me really stopping to think about it, I guess the phrase has always had literal meaning for me. But what is fear, exactly? Wikipedia says fear is (in part) "an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes entities to … Continue reading Facing fears (or the dead thing under the fridge)
How many coffees does it take to write a novel?
Trying a new writing cafe today...
Lather: The Twinkle Jackson Story ~ Chapter Four
It's becoming something of a tradition among one of my writing and blogging circles to hold a blogfest that takes the form of a Round Robin Tale. Basically each blogger contributes a progressive chapter to the story -- it ends up a completely crazy mashup of styles and genres, but is loads of fun to … Continue reading Lather: The Twinkle Jackson Story ~ Chapter Four
Ellen Gregory 