Do you mix up your reading or do you find you are reading in one genre in a go?

I read across a reasonable number of genres but find I’m one of those readers who have to have their “fix” of crime fiction for a while before then going on to have a “fix” of fantasy stories before coming back to crime, moving on to historical fiction and so on.

I zig-zag all over the place at times, though I love all that I read (which I think is the most important thing. With never as much time to read as I would like, I want to make sure all I do read is going to pass the will-it-entertain-or-inform-me-or-do-both test before I get too far into the book. I’m glad to say I’ve only abandoned one or two books in my time and that several years ago. I realise now life is too short to waste on a book that simply isn’t gripping me when there are thousands out there that will!).

Facebook – General Part 2 – Publication and Events

I think I can say it’s been a good week so far. Am delighted to report a post I wrote on my writing rituals is now up on Bridget Holding’s Wild Words site. I met Bridget at Swanwick this year and loved her talk on finding your voice.

Image used for Wild Words and my post on A Writing Ritual.  Many thanks to Bridget Holding for hosting me.

Also glad to say I will be having new stories on Cafelit very soon (indeed two are due on there this week). Will keep you posted. Lovely to have work on there again. It is a fabulous place to showcase your writing.

Also looking forward the Bridge House/Cafelit/Chapeltown Books celebratory event on Saturday.

Some of the books I’ve appeared in and FLTDBA of course. Image by Allison Symes

My last Bridge House story is in here. Naturally I hope there will be many more to come! Image supplied by Bridge House Publishing.

Very pleased to have appeared in these lovely books.

Hope there will be more anthologies in the New Year.

It took me a while to get the title for From Light to Dark and Back Again right. Funnily enough, I usually find titles for the stories themselves not too difficult to come up with but coming up with something for the collection was more problematic. It was when I decided to focus on the theme and tone of the stories that the title came to me, as it does reflect the mood of the tales well.

With the title sorted out, I could then focus on an appropriate cover image to send to Chapeltown. The wonderful ripple picture comes from the magnificent Pixabay website and Chapeltown then put their fabulous frame around it. It’s a cover I’m very proud to be associated with as people DO judge the book by the cover!

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Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again Part 2

Some new flash fiction pieces from me will be appearing on Cafelit soon. Will keep you posted!

Am also glad to share the link to Bridget Holding’s Wild Words website where she has hosted a post from me about my writing rituals.

It is a joy to write fiction and non-fiction, though the first has always been what has “called” to me the most. I’ve always had a love of stories and always will though it is great that now a lot of fiction techniques are being used to make non-fiction work more accessible to people. Long gone are the days of long lists of dates and figures… now we look at how people would have lived back in the days of whenever. A much better approach.

I would hope flash fiction would also be a way to convince the die-hard non-fiction only reader (and I’ve known a couple in my time) that you can enjoy storytelling. And that it can be kept to the point like any good non-fiction article.

Themes should emerge naturally from your writing though occasionally I pick a theme and write to it. Image via Pixabay. (Also an older CFT post from me).

You can’t beat the trusty notebook and pen for interview notes. Image via Pixabay.

Creative writing includes blogging but also brainstorming sessons to generate future ideas. Image via Pixabay.