What is ‘Outline’? Is it a novel, a collection of essays, a piece of philosophy, an account of the physical, mental and emotional wanderings of the gifted author? It is all these things, and more.Whilst I discovered it was possible to put the book down, it was not feasible to do so without finishing that …
Continue reading Outline, by Rachel Cusk: #BookReview
Subtitled ‘A new author’s guide to publishing and marketing for success’ this book was recommended to me by another writer, who thought it might be of use to me. It is! First, I’m a published writer, both self-published and published with a small indie publisher, so, on the face of it, this book could seem …
It’s that time of the year again. Time to bring a spot of horror to the coming night of terrors, eh? 'Julie, dressed just for summer fun, is coerced by controlling fiancé Kasim to visit her ancient Aunt Agatha at her isolated old manor house. Local rumours inform him the Folly in the grounds holds …
Continue reading Halloween: Time For A Tale Of Terror!
This is my seventh post on the progress of my WIP. I suspect it won’t be the last. But I feel I’ve made real progress.The last post was on 19th July, when I was about to start work on Chapter 24 of 40, and the MS stood at 121,716 words over 280 pages. Today, it …
Continue reading How Goes the WIP?
Reviews for books are often overlooked by readers searching for something to read. So, I thought I'd share some short quotes from reviews of my books over the years. This one is a short book, available in digital form only. It'll appeal to those readers who enjoy some spine-tingling, a bite of horror, a delve …
Continue reading Sharing the Love
My books feature on another author's website that examines the emotional aspect of writing fiction. You'll find this very interesting post here.
Jacques Louis David “Love of Paris and Helen”, from the Louvre Museum in Paris. 22nd June 2025 When I last reported on progress, in May, the book in its developing form, stood as follows: 270 pages, a word count of 116,291, and 40 chapters. As I pen this update after my writing has been much …
Continue reading Further Progress on the #WIP.
Writers Need Good Luck Sometimes. There you are, busily editing the first draft of your amazing, soon-to-be best seller WIP, hoping to move on toward that goal of publication when, from some inexplicable, unrecognised source, two new and unrelated ideas pop into your head. The question then is whether to give these intruders room to …
Continue reading A Spot of Serendipity
This sumptuously illustrated book of 400 pages of visual art and its history is an attempt to show the development of pictorial representation from the earliest daubes and scratches on the walls of caves all the way through to the more modern daubes and splashes that can apparently be counted as art. In between are …
Continue reading Timelines of Art, by DK: #BookReview
This short story appeared in a charity anthology, ‘Wrong’ to benefit Creative Writing Institute that sponsors cancer patients in writing courses. The theme was 'I have a list and a map. What could possibly go wrong?'You’ll find a link to the book at the end of the story. A Fork in the Road Lauren tapped …
Continue reading A Fork in the Road: Short Story
It surely can’t be this long since I reported on my WIP, can it? But it appears my last post was way back on 23rd November 2024. How can that be?Well, I’ve some excuses. It’s possible some of you may consider them reasons, which would be better for my conscience.First excuse: I’m suffering from an …
Continue reading Further Progress on the #WIP
This story won 2nd prize (a day at the local races) in a Yorkshire local writing contest in 2010. It was not published. The End of the Tempest. A terrified whinny urged Carl out of dreams and into reality, and metal clashing metal in a howling gale finally woke him. He must enter that storm, …
Continue reading The End of the Tempest: Short Story
I last updated progress on 28th of October, so a little late with this one. Sorry. At that time, the first draft was up to 80,840 words and I’d started editing to include a new character and had got as far as chapter 14. The old word count was 33,454 and the new to that …
Continue reading Further Progress on the #WIP.
This short story has a long history. It first appeared in the small print magazine ‘Ouse Valley Poetry’, unfortunately no longer around, where it was placed third in their monthly contest in January 2008. Following some slight editing, it was then published in the monthly print magazine ‘Writers’ Forum’, where it gained second prize in …
Continue reading Rebirth. A Short Story.
I last updated progress on 8th of this month, when I reported that I’d experienced a strange epiphany not uncommon for pantsters. It meant I needed a new character, and that new person had to appear right at the beginning of the story. He also has an intimate connection to the original main protagonist, replacing …
Continue reading More Progress on the #WIP.
Stuart Aken 