The Blog
Writing in the Margins
Do you write in your books? Read this guide on how making notes, marginalia and a post-it note system could help you with your creative writing.
How to Start Freewriting
Unlock your writing potential with this freewriting guide. Overcome your anxieties around The Blank Page and harness the brilliance of spontaneous writing.
Embrace the Shadows in Your Writing
Take some time to search deep into the shadows of your story. It’s the shadows that shape the light of your writing. Find the way here.
How to Write With Intention
Ask yourself: What is your story about? Read this post featuring wise advice about story-telling from Marion Roach Smith.
How to Start Your Own Reference Library
A starter guide to building your own reference library inspired by author Marion Roach Smith.
Write About the Colour Blue
Write a story about the colour blue. How do you experience the colour blue? How might one of characters?
Discovering Stories in Family Photographs
Photographs from your family archive are a great way to access a memory or discover a story. To make the story feel real get right into all the details.
How to Use the Senses in Your Writing
Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste - Do you use all the senses in your writing? Here’s a simple exercise by Alice LaPlante.
Making Time to Write
No time to write? Here are a few ideas on finding the time to do the thing you want to do.
Beauty of Libya
My grandmother gave me this book, a book showing Libya, the country of my birth, before the revolution of 1969.
Using Mind Maps for Creative Writing
Do you ever use mind maps to help write your stories? Here are some helpful tips on how to make them.
A Gift Book of Fairy Tales
The illustrations and stories in Dean’s Gift Book of Fairy Tales fired my imagination with stories of witches, princesses and long-lost children. Read more here.
Write About the Colour Yellow
Write about the colour yellow or incorporate yellow into a story or simply write from the picture above.
A Collection of Maps
Some thoughts about one of my favourite non-fiction books, The Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky.
Learning to Write Tight
Tighten up your writing with crime novelist Debbie Burke’s suggestions.
How to Use Creative Writing Prompts
Maximize your creativity with my guide to using creative writing prompts. Learn how to harness prompts effectively and with purpose.