If there’s one thing that throws me off with my writing, it’s a break in the routine. A week off for the school holidays is fine, but if I leave it any longer than that, it's much harder to get back in to. That’s what happened this week. Half term came and went, then...
I regularly blog about how to find writing inspiration: from music, images and paintings, stories, inanimate objects and even Literary Agent’s wish lists, inspiration is everywhere. Sit in a café or on a park bench for half an hour and you’re likely to spot an...
We met children's book illustrator and author, Katherine McEwan at my writing group last week. What a lovely lady she is and such beautiful work too. People might think it's easy to write picture books when in fact the opposite is true. The word count is limited and...
Do you read for the purpose of research when you are writing? Or do you save reading purely for pleasure? I don't ever finding reading a chore, but sometimes my choice of books is dependent on what I am wriitng. Some people don't read at all when they're in the...
When I came across the ten to one story, I knew I had to try it for myself. That set me off looking for similar writing exercises and I found and completed another three. Lots of you joined in too and it was great to see the variations in interpretation and ideas. The...
Having just returned from a fantastic family holiday, today seems somewhat flat. The first day back of school for the little ones, the big girl going off for a few days on her year six residential trip and my mum going back up home. Everyone’s gone and I’m here in the...
Re-writing a manuscript is daunting and when I started mine, I wasn't sure how I would get on. I found part way through, I had to stop and take stock of what I'd written so far: do some editing, check for unnecessary adverbs and clichés etc. Since then I've spent...
Writing inspiration can come from many sources, whether it's through music, images, or newspaper articles. It can also come from the most unlikely of sources and when my son came home with this painting he had created at school, I immediately fell in love with this...
When do you write - in the morning, late in the evening? Are you at your most creative when surrounded by noise - music, coffee shop chatter, or do you prefer silence? Some people can write any place, any time. If finding the time to write is an issue, it's a case of...
I've been busy making some changes to my blog. For sometime I've felt that Nikki Young Writes has become more of a writing-themed blog than a lifestyle one. The time had come to make a new home for my health-related articles and recipes. It means running two blogs,...
If all stories were as simple as a beginning, middle and end, then writing a novel would be easy. They would also be a bit dull, which is why longer stories are structured to include sub plots. Yes, there is still a beginning, middle and end, but it's not quite as...
I finally feel like I am making some headway with my novel re-write. This is thanks, in part, to my daughter doing a two-hour gym session every Saturday. It gives me the opportunity to sit down and write for a reasonable length of time without any interruptions. I’m...
January is as busy for us as December and I'm so glad that it's over. I don't normally wish time away like that, but I feel that we all need a bit of a break now. What was I thinking taking on the 100K in 100 Days challenge? Somewhere along the way, I’ve lost count of...
I’ve been a closet writer for the last few years and it wasn’t until I did NaNoWriMo last November, that I actually plucked up the courage to socialise with other writers. I surprised myself by making such a bold step and I haven’t looked back since. Now I’ve gone...
I am re-writing a novel and it occurred to me that since first starting it, I have changed the point of view three times. The first edit started life as a short story and I wrote it in the third person singular tense. At the time, I remember feeling like it didn’t...
I made a promise to myself to write more fiction this year. It was why I made a commitment to do the 100K in 100 days challenge. This means writing 1000 words a day every day for 100 days. It shouldn’t be that much of a big deal really. This is what counts towards...
Have you ever stopped to think about a moment in your life that changed everything? Whether it changed you as a person, the course of your life or those around you, that one moment was such a significant one that you will never forget it. This is what I thought about...
I love writing this blog and I use it to discuss the things that are important to me. I also write articles that are more business related and at one point I tried to add these to this blog too. I soon realised that they don't really have a home here. My copywriting...
At the end of last month, I asked the question, ‘can you write a novel in one month?’ I signed up for NaNoWriMo and three weeks in to November, I hit the 50,000-word target. I won't lie; I went hell for leather on the writing front. I was so nervous about how it would...
I'm in the middle of writing a novel for NaNoWrimo and so I haven't done any other fiction work this month. My novel in progress was sent to an editor before I started this challenge and so it was good to be able to put it to one side for a while and get on with...