writing craft

Writing in lockdown

It’s now the—what? 6th?—week of isolation and #covisolation, and I’m used to it. I don’t mind having to stay in, and work from my house. I have a very nice house. I have put a lot of work into it. It looks beautiful. It’s got my wife, my son, and now three cats (I know). […]

What does "show, don't tell" mean?

  Characters are what stories are about. Plot is essential—we had to have a story to tell. Something has to happen, something that matters to you, the readers. But it has to happen to someone we care about, or identify with, or connect to in some way. That connection has to happen on an emotional […]

Dead Man Lying cover

A lot of time has passed since my last blog post—four months. A third of a year! To tell you the truth, often during the first two months of that time, I wondered myself what was standing between me and updating my blog. I put it down to having too much other (paying) work to […]

An adventuresome holiday

  I have had some pretty adventuresome vacations: Banff, where I had my closest encounter with a grizzly bear; whitewater canoeing in Ontario and Quebec; and last year, when we got uncomfortably close to the wine country wildfires. And last month, I encountered a different kind of adventure in Portugal. It’s a wonderful place, and […]