creative writing

  • The Magician: an abra-cada-bra poem.

    I’ve just joined a local writing group that meets virtually, once a week. The leader suggests a few different prompts for each meeting, one of this week’s being a ‘magical poem’ of three stanzas with the rhyming scheme abra-cada-bra. I do like a challenge so this is my contribution below. Some of you may recognise…

  • What Horror Means To Me

    One of my birthday presents was a kindle copy of Time Waggoner’s Writing In The Dark, a how to book on horror fiction. I’m finding it very useful so far. At the end of each chapter are helpful exercises and I thought I’d share my response to the first one: what does horror mean to…

  • Help Wanted

    FENCER REQUIRED Our current fence is old. It once was straight, but time, winds and snowfall has turned it as twisted as one of grandad’s tales.

  • My Mind Is Blank

    As many of you will know, I’ve been in a shedload of pain recently and I’ve had to stop sewing, crochet…so many of the things I did to distract myself from the shitstorm that 2020 has become. I thought I might be able to try writing again but the laptop weighs a ton (to me)…

  • A Dark and Stormy Night: The Weather In Fiction

    I’m typing this in my armchair, looking out at the snow – it’s a blizzard out there! – and listening to a classical music playlist I have on Spotify. It’s my go-to music for almost everything I write that isn’t novel specific. It also seems apt for the winter weather outside – it lends the…

  • A Christmas Ghost Story

    ‘Know whit’s traditional at Christmas?’ he said. ‘Ghost stories. Everybiddy loves a Ghost story’ I swirled the beer at the bottom of my glass and smiled. ‘Load a shite, in’t it?’ ‘Naw, naw. Look at Dickens and A Christmas Carol. Classic ghost story that.’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘Name another then.’ ‘Well, they don’t need…

  • A rose by any other name…

    When it comes to ideas of what to write about, I am never short of ideas. One of my main problems is choosing one from among the many ideas flashing around my brain at any given moment. I can usually get a quick grasp on the most important elements of my characters; I can see…

  • I Don’t Know What to Write!

    I’m a terrible procrastinator. I could represent Scotland in the Avoiding What You Should Be Doing olympics, such is my talent for being busy with anything except writing. And does this proficiency make me happy? No. So why do I do it? I was chatting about my low word count to Gary Parkin yesterday evening.…

  • So long 2014

    This is the time of year when I usually do a humorous post about the previous twelve months, but to be honest with you, this year has been shite and I’m pleased to see the back of it. Illness played a big part in the shittiness. I’ve felt well for about….maybe six weeks in total. The…

  • The Perfect Family

    In the best traditions of Christmas, I’ve written a ghost story. The subject matter is very delicate so I think it only fair to issue some trigger warnings. If you have suffered from infertility, miscarriage or SIDS, you may find the following distressing.   The Perfect Family Joe had left her after the second baby.…