If you, as an author, you may have been asked the same question many times: How do I become a writer? The answer is not simple, but it should be. You become a writer by writing. But—and there is always a but—, it is not as easy, is it? Some people might have been writing for years with no one knowing about it. I call them the closet writers. Others might jump feet first into it (like me), and first had to learn how to write crap, before they can become a good (or better) writ

Why, you may ask? You’re an author, you don’t need it. You’re right, probably not, but recently I had the rather weird experience to submit my CV. For goodness’ sake, I haven’t worked in any kind of environment since 1998. My qualifications are so out of date, they may fit in a museum. My references are dead or old and senile and might not even remember me. Maybe there are one or two that might remember me, but I won’t know where to find them. Look, my last “official” qualifi

Today I am honoured to welcome on my blog, Kate Emmerson. I had the privilege to spend some precious bumtime with Kate last year in Johannesburg. She inspired me to try #LocationFree Living too, which I had just set out to do before COVID-19 put a stop to my travels. Who knows what the future might hold? I didn't really need to ask Kate questions, because she is so enthusiastic about her life and lifestyle and what she is doing, that you can talk to her for hours. I hope she

Can you believe it that we've reached the end of our #AtoZBlogChallenge for April 2020? This brings us to Z and with it Zillions. A zillion is still a number I can't get my head around. Okay, I must confess. Most numbers confuse me. Maths had never been my strongest point. I do know, however, that zillion must be a really big number. My husband usually ends all his letters (yes, I still got those!), faxes, emails and messages with "...millions and billions and zillions and q

"A setting is one of the most important elements of a good fiction novel. When properly developed, the setting can really bring your novel to life and captivate your readers." That statement comes from wikiHow and it is true. Your readers want to know where the book is set and get the feel for the place. It is not to say, however, that you should sound like a tour guide when you describe your setting. I know, I read a book not too long ago like that. Of course, I did not fini

Am I the only one who feels despondent these days, wondering whether you should carry on with this crazy life of publishing your books? Maybe it is just that today was supposed to be our last day of the 21-lockdown, and now it has been extended to the 30th of April with rumours of another two-week-lockdown. All because of people's stupidity by not staying at home and isolate. Or I may only feel like that because when I woke up this morning, I had to deal with Facebook posts o

You know when you had something, and you didn't realise how good you had it until it's gone? Yes, almost like freedom of movement and shopping when you want and all those over things we all crave for now. What I miss most now is my own writing space. I had this amazing study a couple of years ago but then we downscaled for a year before we became nomads. How I miss that space! That's where I've written most of my books and it had been my happy place. In another blog, I will t

Oh heck, you don't have to go and tell my husband! He knows all about Jakes! And he knows that Jakes is my MC in my debut novel, Eye on the Ball, so everything is good there. Each of the characters I've created the last three and a bit years are special, but I must confess that I will always have a soft spot for Jakes. He is like my first love. You know you have to move on, but you will still think fondly of him. It could possibly be because Jakes is the first character I’ve

I love inspiration boards. My office walls (when I had one), was usually filled with pages and pages of inspiration for all the several projects I work on. Apart from that, I also have inspiration boards for each series and then I have for the Playing for Glory series, team sheets, management sheet and all the other characters. (See far right photos.) I usually use Pinterest to build up my research and ideas for each book, then I pull some of the photos into Photoshop and cre

Photos: Pexels/Canva unless otherwise specified I haven't been the most active person in the world during the last few years. If you look at me, you wouldn't believe that I played netball well into my thirties, was an active jogger and swimmer but I had been. I exercised seven days a week, from aerobics, netball, jogging or dancing. Things had changed dramatically in my early thirties with job challenges and travelling. It got even worse after I had my daughter when I was 37

This should and will be the shortest post so far. What are my goals and dreams? If I wanted to answer it simply, I would have said: to write a best seller book. You might argue that I only gave you one answer and yes, it's true. Because, writing that best seller is not only my dream, but it is my goal too. So what is the difference? The difference is, if you don't set yourself a goal, a target, and work your ass off to get it, it will always stay a dream. Do not think you've

Let's get personal today! Today I want to share with you some of my favourite things so you can get to know me a little better. I've used the same approach I did while interviewing my characters, and have drawn up a list. So here it is: 1. Favourite candy? Chocolate - always chocolate. I love handmade chocolates with decadent fillings and which look too beautiful too. And Lindt but most chocolates will do to satisfy my cravings: Whispers, Flakes, KitKat, Whispa... Ooh, let me

I know, I said my blog today would be called Echoes of my Past, but when I started writing this morning, I just was not in the mood for reflecting on my past and getting even more melancholic than I already am. I mean, we are in the ninth day of lockdown and rumours are that it might extend for four months! Four months! I'm fine self-isolating and not going out. I mean, as a writer working from home, I quite like it, but it would kill me not seeing my husband and daughter for

I know we all are feeling fidgety, irritated, distracted, and just out of sorts at the moment. We are living in uncertain times, and there are a lot of things weighing on our minds. We worry. We are scared. That's understandable as we are dealing with something we never had to do before. Yeah, I worry too. I worry about my husband, stuck on an oil rig in Egypt, not knowing when he will be able to come home as all borders in Egypt, and South Africa are closed. I worry about my

I guess every author has his or her own tricks on how to develop their characters. In the three years I've been writing, I've used several methods to get to know my characters, but it is not easy for a pantser. All you want to do is sit, write, and get the book out there. But, even as a pantser, you have to think about your character to let your readers see how they grow and develop throughout your story. I find that I may think for weeks about a character before I start writ

Since I published my first book in 2017, I dreamed of having a proper book launch, like those you see on television and read about in the news. Being a self-published author, there is not much chance of that happening, unless you do it yourself! And that's what I did. Of course, I had all these elaborate ideas about hiring a venue and invite many people and the newspapers, but in the end I had to curb my enthusiasm and do it on a smaller scale. But I did it. I celebrated with

When the days become shorter and the nights longer, the leaves turning in beautiful hues of browns, reds and yellows and orange, and the air crisp enough to add another layer, you know it is autumn. The start of a new season. A new beginning but also the ending of summer and those careful, free days. It is a time to sit still, and reflect, a time to breathe deep and enjoy everything this season will bring us. Living in the southern hemisphere, and especially in Pretoria, our

This is my first post from my revamped blog site, which I will now post directly from my website. I know, call me crazy or as one of my friends did, an over-achiever (😊). I may be mad, but yes, I am doing the blogging challenge for my Ramblings of the Travelling Mug travel blog, as I announced a couple of days ago, and use the A-Z Blogging Challenge 2020 to set up my author blog. I thought it would be the best way to kick-start the blog, and hopefully set me on the way to bl