Category: Blog

It’s surely the goal of every fiction writer. We want to so absorb our readers’ attention with the flow and the intrigue of the story, that they are able to take a break from their lives, rest their brains, stop worrying, release some tension. It is definitely one of the goals in writing, but it…

That is one of the questions on my mind, as I’ve been editing my three History Maps books: UI, VR and AI. I wrote the first draft of book one (UI) through 2019, finishing in August, before any of us had heard of the virus, much less contracted it. I began book two (VR) in…

…and not one I often possess. Right now, I’m feeling impatient to finish editing the books, so that I can focus on packaging and launching them. Perhaps it’s because I’ve nearly finished now. I am more than halfway through book 3: AI. Such are the demands of family life that sometimes, all I manage to…

Short answer: I don’t. Long answer: I research while I’m writing, and sometimes the research inspires the story and sometimes, the story inspires the research. It’s more often the latter, and I sit down with Zoe in a new town, wondering what she would find out there, what would interest her about the place’s complex…

Something happened in my writing style, between books two and three, and even between the first and second halves of book three. I think I had a break in writing for some reason and when I came back, the contemplative voice had taken over and started to run wild. As you’ll know if you read…

Their company motto is “Don’t be evil,” and it seems that they’re not. Without Google Maps, Google Earth and Streetview, I could not have written my book, couldn’t have even conceived the idea. These services, free at the point of use, have surely transformed our lives and societies. I remember what driving was like, before…

“Edit a chapter,” the nagging part of my brain tells me, every day, until I’ve edited one. It used to be, “Write a chapter,” and soon enough, I imagine, it will be, “Promote the book,” and then back to, “Write a chapter,” again, when I start History Maps 4, or the first one of a…

I remember the gist of what I’ve written in the first draft, over three books, but by the time I get around to editing something, it might be a year or more since I wrote it. This means I’ve usually forgotten the details, and it’s almost like reading and editing someone else’s work. This is…

‘Bit’ and ‘just’ are two narrative components that have hit the cutting room floor, so to speak, in the editing process. I must use them in my own thought processes, because they both featured quite regularly, in draft #1. Zoe was just devastated. She cried a bit. Then she just smiled, etcetera. (No commas.) It’s…

Something happens, when I’m writing. I didn’t understand it, for many years, but now I know that this is because a different, more creative part of my brain is driving the process than the one I need for more drudging tasks, like editing. In order to activate that creative part of my brain, (I wish…