Write Forward

Where does all the time go? Well, actually it goes in writing stuff. I know most authors are so much better than I at maintaining a public profile, but I have to wonder if most of them have a two...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2010/10/burke.html

A writer's blog is a strange animal. You might imagine it should be bursting with words and ideas, but if I'm writing here I'm not working. So when it's quiet here it doesn't mean I've stopped wr...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2010/07/poor-neglected-blog.html

The last few weeks have been dedicated to the production of my first full length play, Suspicious Minds . I was working with the Edinburgh company Siege Perilous founded by talented director, And...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2010/06/writing-plays.html

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN MARCH 2010 MENSA MAGAZINE FROM TENDING TODDLERS TO COMMITTING MURDER CAROLINE DUNFORD October 2009 saw the release of my first crime novel, A Death in...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2010/03/euphemia-in-mensa.html

Between 2003 and 2004 I kept a diary on the progress of my elder son's toddler years. In particular the times that are known for a good reason as The Terrible Twos. This went on to form the basis...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2010/01/toddling-on.html

Fiction may be inspired by life, but it's far from playing by the same rules. Life is to fiction as a riding a penny farthing is to driving a lamborghini. It's bigger, brighter, more thrilling an...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2010/01/real-life-and-fiction.html

Part of the problem of having a professional blog is that you tend to try and post the worthy stuff only. This can lead to either a very dull blog or a empty blog or in the worst cases both. Mine...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/12/work-ethics-and-disappointment.html

My publisher has decided to enter A Death in the Family into the Orange Fiction prize! I am a little startled, but very pleased.

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/11/startled-but-pleased.html

In general writers are shy folk. There will always be some who prefer to swing naked from the trees while tap-tapping on their lap-tops, but for most of us writing is a solitary exercise undertak...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-who.html

On my to-write list at present is the third in the Euphemia Martins Mysteries, the outline for my next YA and maybe that radio play that is always going to get written sometime. I'm not the typ...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/but-whats-it-all-about.html

Once upon a time publishers used to sell books. Now, more and more they are selling personalities. On October 1st this year eight hundred new titles were published. This stunning number is in p...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/author-as-product.html

The first novel I ever wrote was The Emperor's Men and I thought it was magnificent. It had wonderful characters, more than half of whom I was in love with. The description was vivid and new - I ...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/writing-as-craft.html

This is a video I made for the Readaway Series launch in Cheshire Oaks. I'm sitting in my own library reading a short extract from the Death in the Family - and I do voices!

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/extract-from-death-in-family.html

On Friday I had a private party to launch A Death in the Family. It went marvelously and there will pictures in another blog. On Saturday I was due to do a book signing in Borders, Edinburgh and ...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-author-wants-from-book-signing.html

My car just failed its MOT in a it'll-need-welding-for-that sort of a way. I can pretend it's cool to the kind of writer who drives a car with wing-mirrors held in place with black duct-tape. I...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/writing-versus-wielding.html

Here's hoping Eprint's party at Borders in Cheshire Oaks went down a storm today. This was the major launch for the Readaway series of which A Death in the Family is part and four Readaway author...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/book-party.html

Borders in Edinburgh are hosting my book launch for A Death in the Family on Sunday 10th October. Details up on the Borders Website . Many more details on the wonderful City of Literature webs...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/book-launch.html

Many years ago when I was in one of the many phases when I was looking to take on an outside job to support my writing addiction I was asked in an interview how many days sick I took in a year. ...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/10/writers-dont-get-sick-we-get-busier.html

In December 1909 the Reverend Joshia Martins expires in a dish of mutton and onions leaving his family on the brink of destitution. Abandoned by her noble grandfather, Joshia's daughter, the eigh...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/09/but-what-is-death-in-family-about.html

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/09/cover-for-death-in-family.html

A Death in the family officially exists - it's on amazon, available for pre-order now !

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/09/crime-launch-nears.html

Hands up anyone who enjoys writing a synopsis? No hands in the room? Hands up those who believe a synopsis is something you write immediately before you submit your completed manuscript to an...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/09/purpose-of-synopsis.html

Today I am resisting the temptation to launch into either the third Euphemia Martins novel (intriguingly entitled A Death in the Asylum) or the redrafting of the synopsis of the YA novel before t...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/08/you-are-what-you-read.html

Pearls Before Swine is one of Sniplits featured audio stories this week. You can download it for a mere 98 cents. It's a lyrical science fiction piece - and you don't hear those too often. Find i...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/08/audio-story.html

I've just finished my stint for this year at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. I was speaking about creativity, rejection, writing groups, and blogging. As usual I met some wonderful peo...

http://writeforward.blogspot.com/2009/08/writing-is-terrible-business.html