Tumbleweed of the Mind

“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” – Ray Bradbury Dark Fiction. 1247 words Summer Break When I was eight years old, Mrs Florence Barrow told my parents I had trespassed in her garden. I had not been anywhere near her house. I was with my friends playing off-ground-tick. Mrs Barrow was walking back and forth outside her front wall. For some…

“Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad stories in a row.” – Ray Bradbury Lit Fiction. 396 words. Sweet Pea In the garden, she watches and listens as Daddy prunes the roses. He snips. Quick. She likes the sound that the secateurs make. Secateurs, what a lovely word. It took ages for her five-year-old tongue to wind around and capture that word. Sec-a-teurs.…

As per my previous post, about Reslient Writers, Lisa Kessler, and Ray Bradbury. Folk Horror. 3,700 words. Fantastic skull tree roots and branches hand drawn sketch vector illustrationRochak Shukla Scalders Cross They descend on Scalder’s Cross in their droves. Every four years. It’s like a magnet for the beguiled, the deranged, the hippies and the cosmic children, the travellers and…

Image from Book Finishers Summit home page. https://offers.resilientwriters.com/summit_registration I recently signed up for the Book Finishers Summit. Organised by Rhonda Douglas at resilientwriters.com, it promises: This 5-day virtual event will teach you new tips and techniques so that you can finally complete your first draft, revise and edit your book (so it’s a book you’re proud of!)…

I know writers are supposed to get their work professionally edited. I know it is recommended that we find a professional to design the cover art. I know all this, and yet… There are a few common reasons writers end up doing everything themselves when writing and releasing a novel—especially if they’re new or working independently. 1. You’re self-publishing, so the “team” is just you When you…

They say not to judge a book by its cover but I need you to do just that. If you liked the cover of my book, HAFT, please vote for it for the Cover of the Month contest on AllAuthor.com!I’m getting closer to clinch the “Cover of the Month” contest on AllAuthor! I’d need as much support from you guys. Please take a short moment to vote for my book…

New Sci-fi Novel Release Hello there, Apologies for my tardy post, I have been preoccupied with the new ‘toy’, SubStack. I’m finding it a jolly easy place to navigate and create posts and find stuff I want to read about – predominantly writing stuff. I just wanted to pop in to say I have a new title being published. It was meant to be Tuesday 2nd July, but between my getting locked out of KDP…

Hello friends. It has been a while since I last posted anything, but I do believe indolence was mentioned in my home page! Anyway, things have been moving around and as well as getting a short story published in New myths, I have started a Substack account. You can find me here – https://open.substack.com/pub/alexandrapeel?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=gbt49 Thank you for following…

Are you bullying yourself? How kind are you? How kind are you to strangers? How kind are you to yourself? Most people tend to be kinder to friends, colleagues, and associates than themselves. I don’t pretend to have an answer to the reason for this, but it does seem to be difficult to differentiate between selfishness and self-care. At this time of year, I keep hearing about people feeling…

We Three Things – Pyjama Christmas I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas, I’m sure there’s still plenty of food in the fridge! The days following Christmas day can be a bit odd, feel empty to some, a come down for others, and a relief that it’s over for a few. It was agreed by all, in our household, that we had the perfect Christmas. Here’s how… Firstly, we are a family of three. Now, this is…

Not to scare you or anything, but – There’s Ten Days to Go! There are ten, yes 10, days left in the NaNoWriMo event. For those who have ploughed ahead with great focus and commitment, and have met the target, well done! Fifty thousand words isn’t a huge amount in the scheme of things, the average novel is between 80,000-100,000 words. It’s not simply the amount that can be intimidating, but the…