Motivation is a slippery thing. You have it…or you don’t. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find you have the motivation to do non-essential, but enjoyable, things, and no motivation to do things that are fundamentally necessary, but probably not particularly fun. If you find yourself in this boat, what can you do about it? […]
Blog
Why have a blog anyway?
I was tagged by Bronagh of Bronagh’s Beauty and Books to take part in the Blogger Interview Tag and as I haven’t done many of these on this blog, I figured I’d do one over here at the Cabinet, instead of on one of my other blogs. After all, why have a blog if you’re not […]
How Do You Restart Your Stuck Novel?
The ‘stuck novel’ comes to all of us at various times. You know what it’s like – you get an idea for a story and, full of the excitement of new plots, you feverishly start writing. For a few days, even weeks, it all seems great. You’re enjoying the story, it’s fun, and everything’s going […]
Write What You Know, But What If You Don’t Know Enough?
It was the 145th anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens this year, and while much has been written about his life and work, we can still learn a lot from his methods. His depiction of a supposedly-fictional London was so realistic – he clearly drew a lot from how people lived in worked in Victorian […]
#FridayFlash – I Am
I am the voice in the dead of night that whispers of the things you might yet achieve, if you could only relax your grip on fear and doubt. I am the voice that soothes and offers placation when the world turns away its cold face. I am the voice that calms and cajoles, that […]
“Write What You Know” Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does
If you’ve ever read anything about writing, chances are that at some stage you’ll have encountered the maxim that you should ‘write what you know’. It’s at this point that some writers will throw up their hands and declare that nothing interesting ever happens to them, so what can they possibly write about? It can […]