Read this on galpod.com. March was an interesting decade. I mean, month. In terms of excuses, I have plenty. There's a pandemic, and the kids are home, and the world had gone completely bananas. I've been trying to find ways to write despite the excuses. I still haven't written the King Lear equivalent, but I made sure to write every day as much as I can. With all due respect, I'm pretty sure Shakespeare wasn't homeschooling his children while he was on quarantine. One thing

Read this on galpod.com. Over at our fantastic writers' group, we ran an ideas workshop that was a pretty big hit. We each brought an idea for a story, and then took turns to share the idea and others gave us some feedback, responses, and random thoughts. It went really well. People shared fascinating ideas, and each opened a lively discussion about possible plot twists, what's the best point-of-view from which to tell the story, when to reveal which twist, what might the cha

Read this on galpod.com. We've been talking at my incredible Writers' Group about ideas. Where they come from, and how to decide what's a good idea. It made me think about where my ideas come from. I said here that I noticed that many of my ideas come when I talk to other people. Some ideas come when I read books or listen to podcasts. But I haven't had a new idea in a while. And I've been talking to lots of people and doing lots of new stuff. So, what happened? I think there

Read this on galpod.com. I'm stuck. Remember that breakthrough I had in my story in July? Turns out it wasn't much of a breakthrough after all. It got me ahead in the project, sure. I've written a few more scenes—scenes I thought would be the turning point of the story. But still, my MC blatantly refuses to see that he needs to deal with his emotions. Men. Now, unrelatedly (maybe), I have this new idea. It's a shining, fun idea, that would require quite a bit of research befo

Read this on galpod.com. I had a weird weekend. I'm usually full of energy on weekends, but this weekend was hot, and all I wanted to do was lie on the floor where it's nice and cool. But kids and guests mean that I at least have to have clothes on and plan for dinner, so I might as well cook (and do the dishes and the laundry), right? As long as I'm up, you know. Anyway. Yesterday, I finished writing my midpoint crisis scene in the novel I'm working on. As the name implies,

Read this on galpod.com. I've been trying out this habit in which you write ten ideas every day. It can be whatever you like, but they all have to be on a single theme. So, ten new ways to enjoy your city, ten cities you'd like to visit, ten people you'd like to interview, etc. The hardest part for me is coming up with a theme, so I've been using this website that just gives you a theme. Recently I got an easy one: Ten things your paradise would have. A stream A beach Lots of

Read this on galpod.com. My mom, sister, and baby nephew are visiting us. I went touring with them today, and it reminded me why I love living in London. Here are a few examples. This sculpture in a random street. The fact that there are ideas festivals happening here. The pretty colours. The sheer creativity of food trucks. Hey there! Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, you can subscribe to my blog to get updates and stories straight to your inbox! #Life #London #Tou

Read this on galpod.com. I started writing fiction because I had a story to tell. One day, while I was doing my PhD, a story came into my head. I tried to ignore it, but it kept coming back. After I finished my PhD, it became clear to me that academia is not the best route for me. After resisting it some more, I decided to take writing seriously and just write this story already. So I did. I started researching online instructions on how to write, and I started writing. I fin

Read this on galpod.com. I want to share a debate I’ve had with myself for a couple of weeks now. I’ve been going back and forth on this issue. Here’s the thing. I’m writing a novel. A novel is a big project. It takes a long time, and it’s hard to complete. I’ve been working on this particular one since February, and I’m doing pretty well. I know who my main characters are, where they start and where they'll end up. I also started writing some of the scenes (some of them are

Read this post on galpod.com. Hello! I'm experimenting with blogging every day. Because I'm very new to this, I need your help. Please take a minute to drop me a line and let me know what you think. I will post stories, thoughts, and possibly recipes (if I'm having an off day). Here's the post for today. I started keeping a reading log last week, and I LOVE it. I had sort of a reading log back when I was reading for my PhD, but I was always able to keep the main points in my