#ThisWritingLife

Lynne Shelby

Dec 3, 2020
6 min

Travelling In Time With A Book - Jennifer Macaire - This Writing Life #25

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Jennifer Macaire with a guest post about her passion for dinosaurs and sabretooth tigers - and her latest novel, A Remedy In Time, which will be published on 7 January 2021. Over to Jennifer... * Thank you for having me as a guest on your blog! I'm here to talk about my newest time travel book, 'A Remedy in Time', and what inspired me to write it. I've had a passion for time travel ever since I found out about dinosaurs. I admit, I've watched

I am a Crime Writer - Not a Murderer - Anna Legat - This Writing Life #22

Lynne Shelby

Jul 31, 2020
5 min

I am a Crime Writer - Not a Murderer - Anna Legat - This Writing Life #22

Today, I'm delighted to host a fascinating guest blog from Anna Legat, whose latest novel, The End of the Road, was published on 30 July. Over to you, Anna... I am a Crime Writer - Not a Murderer Anna Legat Crime writers are adept and often merciless when it comes to body count. Murder is the name of the game. Death rules supreme. But even the most barbaric crime writers struggle to kill off their heroes at the end of the story. The mystery may be solved, the culprit apprehen

My Writing Journey - Julia Wild - This Writing Life #21

Lynne Shelby

Jul 23, 2020
3 min

My Writing Journey - Julia Wild - This Writing Life #21

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Julia Wild, with a guest post about her writing journey. Hi, Julia. Thank you for guesting on my blog. It's lovely to have you here... My Writing Journey Julia Wild Hello there! Thank you to Lynne for inviting me onto her lovely blog and add that I really enjoyed her latest book, The Summer of Taking Chances, a cracking read! My writing journey began in 1989 whilst working on a Saturday in a quiet double-glazing showroom; I decided it’d be good

In Pursuit of Happy Ever After - Melissa Oliver - This Writing Life #20

Lynne Shelby

Jul 17, 2020
3 min

In Pursuit of Happy Ever After - Melissa Oliver - This Writing Life #20

Today, I'm delighted to host a guest post from Melissa Oliver about her journey to publication. Melissa's debut novel, The Rebel Heiress and the Knight, was published in June this year. Over to you, Melissa... In Pursuit of Happy Ever After? Melissa Oliver My journey to publishing has been a long and winding road but then again, I wouldn’t have it any other way. That pivotal moment when it all came together was the sum of everything my life had been- up until the moment I wa

#mencanwriteromance - R J Gould - This Writing Life #18

Lynne Shelby

Mar 5, 2020
3 min

#mencanwriteromance - R J Gould - This Writing Life #18

It is a truth universally acknowledged that most writers of romantic fiction are female. Today, I'm delighted to host a guest blog from R J Gould, talking about his writing life as a male writing in the romance genre. Over to you, Richard ... #mencanwriteromance R J Gould Why the twitter hashtag #mencanwriteromance? I use it to wave a flag for the small number of males writing, and for that matter reading, Romance fiction. I’m one of only 1% of the members of the Romantic Nov

Making Sense of Chaos - Giulia Skye - This Writing Life #17

Lynne Shelby

Feb 6, 2020
4 min

Making Sense of Chaos - Giulia Skye - This Writing Life #17

Today, it's my pleasure to welcome Giulia Skye, with a guest post about her writing process and her debut novel, Her Outback Driver. Over to Guilia ... Making Sense of Chaos Giulia Skye Have you ever disturbed a trail of ants and watched the ensuing chaos? The once uniform line turns into a mass of scattered dots, patches here and there that have no shape or pattern, then after a few minutes of reordering, the ants fall into line again, the trail restored into a seamless flow

How Family Feeds My Fiction - Vivien Brown - This Writing Life #16

Lynne Shelby

Jan 17, 2020
4 min

How Family Feeds My Fiction - Vivien Brown - This Writing Life #16

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Vivien Brown to my blog, with a fab guest post. Over to Vivien … How Family Feeds My Fiction Vivien Brown Since giving up the day job and becoming a full-time writer, it’s been hard to separate the two halves of my life – family and work. After all, they exist side by side under the same roof. My ‘office’ is a bedroom upstairs, my ‘works canteen’ is my home kitchen, and a call arriving on the phone on my desk is just as likely to be from a frie

The Killer Touch - This Writing Life #15 - Lorraine Mace

Lynne Shelby

Jan 10, 2020
3 min

The Killer Touch - This Writing Life #15 - Lorraine Mace

Today, I'm delighted to host a guest post from Lorraine Mace about her writing life as an author of hard-boiled crime fiction. Over to Lorraine... The Killer Touch - Lorraine Mace I write what is termed hard-boiled crime and I’m often asked how I come up with story ideas. I always give the same response: I have an evil mind. The knowledge that I know more ways to kill people and cover up the crime than the average woman doesn’t help my partner to a restful night. I think he’s

This Writing Life #14 - Tom Williams - From Historical to Magical

Lynne Shelby

Dec 16, 2019
3 min

This Writing Life #14 - Tom Williams - From Historical to Magical

Today, I'm delighted to welcome author Tom Williams to my blog, with a guest post about his writing life and his new novel, Dark Magic. Over to Tom ... From Historical to Magical Tom Williams Even when I was young, so long ago that the history I write about these days was practically current affairs, I wanted to be a writer. What eventually inspired me to put words on paper was a visit to Borneo where I discovered James Brooke, the first White Rajah. His story was crying out

This Writing Life #13 - Gilli Allan - Buried Treasure Is Not Always What It Seems

Lynne Shelby

Dec 12, 2019
4 min

This Writing Life #13 - Gilli Allan - Buried Treasure Is Not Always What It Seems

Many different things can inspire a work of fiction, and today, I'm delighted to welcome Gilli Allan to my blog with a guest post about the intriguing true story behind her latest novel, Buried Treasure. Over to Gilli ... Not many people dig up treasure, but my uncle did …. or did he? Even as a small girl I was fascinated by archaeology. I even chose it as the subject of my project in the final year of junior school and won the only prize I’ve ever received in my life. My ve

Why? - Colette McCorMick - This Writing Life #12

Lynne Shelby

Dec 4, 2019
3 min

Why? - Colette McCorMick - This Writing Life #12

I'm always fascinated to know what inspires authors to write their books. Today, I'm delighted to welcome Colette MCormick to my blog with a guest post about why she writes. Her latest book, An Uncomplicated Man, is published 5th December. Over to you, Colette ... It's a well-known fact amongst writers that the big bucks are reserved for the lucky few while the rest of use fight for the scraps. So why do we do it? That’s a question that I’ve been asked more than once, and for

This Writing Life #11 - Jane Risdon - This Crime-Writing Life

Lynne Shelby

Nov 19, 2019
4 min

This Writing Life #11 - Jane Risdon - This Crime-Writing Life

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Jane Risdon to my blog, with a guest post about her (writing!) life of crime. Her latest book is Undercover: Crime Shorts, a collection of short stories. Over to you Jane... This Crime-Writing Life I’ve an inquisitive mind, a criminal mind you might say because I love to delve deeply into things which interest me. Being a crime writer, although not exclusively, I love anything to do with crime. I read about it, study it and its causes, and thos

This Writing Life #10 - Cheri Davies - My Writing Life: Art, Karate and The Prosecco Effect

Lynne Shelby

Nov 4, 2019
4 min

This Writing Life #10 - Cheri Davies - My Writing Life: Art, Karate and The Prosecco Effect

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Cheri Davies to my blog, with a guest post about her writing life. Over to Cheri ... My Writing Life: Art, Karate and The Prosecco Effect Cheri Davies There are many aspects of a writer’s life that I love and some that I don’t love so much – the rejection (it never stops, published or not), the proofreading and those times when no matter how hard I try, I cannot wrestle my characters or plot into shape (I find a walk helps). But I’m not here to

Because I Love What I Do - Sandy Barker -This Writing Life #9

Lynne Shelby

Jun 24, 2019
4 min

Because I Love What I Do - Sandy Barker -This Writing Life #9

I'm delighted to welcome Sandy Barker to my blog with a guest post about her writing life. Sandy's debut novel, One Summer In Santorini, is published today! Over to you, Sandy: When I started teaching in the 90s, I was tasked with teaching English to teenagers. I soon discovered two things. One, most teenagers don’t like English class, and two, even though I’d aced my English Lit degree and my post-graduate in teaching, graduating both with honours, I had no idea how to teach

How I Do It - Laura Wilkinson - This Writing Life #8

Lynne Shelby

Mar 14, 2019
4 min

How I Do It - Laura Wilkinson - This Writing Life #8

Today, I'm delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for Laura Wilkinson's wonderful novel Crossing the Line. Over to Laura, with a guest post about her writing process ... How I Do It No, not *that*; how I write novels. I’ve heard it said everyone has a novel in them. I’m not convinced that’s true. Everyone has a story, for sure. But a novel? Umm. Novels are slippery beasts, difficult to tame, wrestle into shape (certainly for me), and controlled and carefully sculpted th

Lynne Shelby

Feb 7, 2019
5 min

This Writing Life #7 - Rachel Brimble -

Today, I'm delighted to interview author Rachel Brimble about her writing life. Rachel has written over twenty novels, and her latest book is 'A Rebel at Pennington's.' Me: Welcome to my blog, Rachel. Rachel: Thank you so much for having me! It’s great to be here. Me: My first question is what, for you, is the best thing about being a writer? Rachel: The best thing about it is that I get to live in my imagination every day! I love writing and truly believe it is my calling –

What If? - Jenny Kane
Another Cup of Coffee Anniversary Tour

Lynne Shelby

Nov 12, 2018
6 min

What If? - Jenny Kane Another Cup of Coffee Anniversary Tour

Today, I'm delighted to host a guest post from Jenny Kane as part of her 'Another Cup of Coffee Anniversary Blog Tour.' Over to Jenny... It is five years since I celebrated the publication of my very first work of contemporary women’s fiction: Another Cup of Coffee. As you can imagine, I raised more than one cup of black coffee that day. Although I’d already had a large number of stories, long and short, published under various other pen names, this was the story that I’d alw

This Writing Life #5 A Room of Her Own - where do writers write?

Lynne Shelby

Oct 27, 2018
3 min

This Writing Life #5 A Room of Her Own - where do writers write?

Many writers like to shut themselves away behind a closed door to write, but I imagine few go to the extreme of Graham Greene who was so determined he wouldn’t be disturbed while he was writing that he rented a secret office, with only his wife knowing the telephone number. William Faulkner contented himself with detaching the door knob from his study door and taking it into the room with him to ensure that no one could burst in and disturb his train of thought, while Mark Tw

This Writing Life #4 Colette McCormick - Ribbons in Her Hair - Blog Tour

Lynne Shelby

Aug 21, 2018
4 min

This Writing Life #4 Colette McCormick - Ribbons in Her Hair - Blog Tour

Today I'm interviewing Colette McCormick about her writing life as part of her Blog Tour for her new novel, Ribbons In Her Hair. Me: Hi, Colette and welcome to Shelby Writes. First of all, can you tell us what, for you, is the best thing about being a writer? Colette: Hi, Lynne. For me, the best thing about being a writer, is being able to get away from the real world for a while and live in a world that exists only in my head. Me: Have you always written fiction? Colette: I

A Brush With The Hooded Man - Jennifer Ash/Jenny Kane - This Writing Life #3

Lynne Shelby

Jun 26, 2018
6 min

A Brush With The Hooded Man - Jennifer Ash/Jenny Kane - This Writing Life #3

Today I'm delighted to welcome Jennifer Ash who has written a fab guest post about how her writing life went in an unexpected direction. Over to you, Jennifer... Many thanks to Lynne for inviting me to take part in her ‘Writing Life’ blog series. Already I have to confess a mistake with this blog – I should really have entitled it ‘A Brush with Two Hooded Men’ – somehow though, that doesn’t trip off the tongue so easily – but I’m getting ahead of myself. My writing life didn’

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