If you’re me, it’s my trusty notepad. Yes, I do resort to Siri note-taking when I’m driving and have a brainwave I want to record before it dissolves from my often distracted consciousness. Flashes of inspiration disappear so quickly between mundane, day-to-day concerns like making sure the backyard chicken is fed and the fridge contains …
God, I love this. Laying down the bones of my next novel. Next step being the shuffling around of Post-It notes to work out pacing, and plot reveals. The. Best. Fun. And for those of you who’ve asked whether I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants writer, or a nail-the-story-down-before-starting type of writer… well, this probably answers your question.
… if I disappear, I’ve holed up here at The Farm at Cape Kidnappers. Can you imagine a more idyllic place to write? And to all of you who told me how much I’d love New Zealand? Yeah. You were right. Don’t gloat. It’s a very unappealing trait.
…. because Melbourne airport this morning is fairly bracing ❄️☃️🌧☔️🥶
People often ask me why I’m a little obsessed with Turkey. Yes, I’m back there again in my new novel, The Emerald Tablet. Can’t stay away. This place – and the people who live there – has a great deal to do with it. Bodrum. Thanks to our beautiful friends, Bahadir Berkaya and Chris Drum, …
Now I know what an elephant feels like. After a very long gestation, the birth of my new novel is just two weeks away. Straddling the politics and history of Egypt, Israel, and Turkey, and set in one of the most turbulent periods of the 20th century, The Emerald Tablet is quite a ride! If …
Cat + attempting to write = an impossibility. I surrender.
First sign that you should maybe pack it in for the day? When, rather than working on the plot for your next novel, you start arranging your Han Solo figurine in improbable locations. Witness for the prosecution – the tape dispenser. And, yes. That’s the tape dispenser that did the Kessel Run in less than …
Multiple problems, to be honest. So, you’re writing along, minding your own business, when out of nowhere, the opportunity to describe … er, how to put this?… an intimate scene pops up (no pun intended). Being a ‘no holds barred’ kinda person, I dive in, literarily speaking (no typo – literarily is the word I …
… He was almost there. Everything was prepared. One final effort and the mountain would be conquered. He would retreat into the ancient sanctuary and heft shut the entrance behind him. Finding blessed peace at last, he would drop down into the dust, lay the stone in his lap, and await oblivion. As long as …