Half-term: to yell or not to yell, that is the problem.
It’s been half term this week. I only have my second-born’s word for it that he’s been revising for his mock exams. On Tuesday, I found him head under the…
Tag: editing
Wind days, hospital marketing, and a novelist’s ode to post-it notes.
We have ‘snow days’ in Britain, but for the first time, the children are off school because of the wind. Unfortunately for them, COVID means teachers have wised up about…
Stretching the perimeter of my comfort zone.
If I had my way I would stay in my comfort zone and never make a mistake. But two things have recently pushed me to do things I wouldn’t choose…
Parenting mini-mes, editing and the hard work behind magic.
The first sign of spring – forced daffodils in the supermarket. Give it another week or two and I’ll have snowdrops in my garden. I can see the crux of…
Life-novel balance and other fictional concepts.
I have never managed the work-life balance thing. Complicated Christmas holidays, a deadline for one of our authors, the need to catch up with my own work after that, and…
Poacher turned gamekeeper: editing other people.
Between trips to Manchester, the tip and the vets, and finishing the article I mentioned last week, I have been making notes on the latest draft of an author’s manuscript.…
Ian Rankin and editing
“This is where the magic happens. This is where the magic happens. It doesn’t feel like magic at the moment. It feels like hard work with a lot of hard…
Thoughts from the tired
I don’t remember learning much at primary school other than reading, writing and how a mung bean grows. Today, my seven-year-old started up a conversation about the trials of finding…
sophie beal 