Tina the Taxi Driver

I've a short story called Tina the Taxi Driver which is published in The People's Friend magazine today.  Also in the magazine is another instalment of my weekly soap opera Riverside.

The People's Friend are currently offering writing workshops, one in Dundee and one in York. If you're at all interested in writing for the magazine and learning the craft of writing short stories, I highly recommend this. I attended the workshop in York in 2016 and it was a truly wonderful day - like being back at school having my favourite lesson - all day long.

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Novel-writing Diary. Week 6: Perchance to Dream

This week I had a holiday, a few days break to my favourite Yorkshire sea-side place and to visit my mum-in-law in Yorkshire too. I also had a birthday so it's been a great week.  It also meant I had a break from writing for a few days.  That doesn't  mean I had a break from thinking and planning and talking to my characters though. No. That all still went on.

But what did happen is that I started dreaming again. I love dreaming and I do it a lot. I have vivid dreams, in colour, that I tend to remember well the next day. But when I'm writing, I stop dreaming. Now I'm not Freud (as you know) and I don't know Fancy Brain Stuff (as you may also know) but it seems to me there's a clear link between creativity during the day time and not dreaming at night. Or at least for me there is.

Anyway, I dreamed. I had a great week's holiday and I ate ice-cream.

Today I'm back to writing again with two chapters to complete before a deadline next week.

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Red-Top Truths

Many years ago I studied my journalism degree as a mature student. It's one of the best things I ever did, life-changing in every way.

As part of my course and because I was (and still am) a huge Coronation Street fan, I set up a Corrie fan site dedicated to one particular character. I won't say who it was because the site has long gone. But while it existed, it was huge and even got a mention on the Graham Norton show.

One day on my University course, I opened an email from a tabloid journalist who told me that my fan website had been hacked by pornographers and asked if I had any comment to make. I checked the website. No hack. No porn. I ignored the email. He sent another, demanding a comment. I ignored it again. He printed a lie of a story about the website being hacked.  That was over 20 years ago.

Today I've just read a critical tabloid article online about a Coronation Street cast member. It was published by a different tabloid, but it's the same journalist's name on the byline as the one who contacted me 20 years ago.

I was stunned. That's 20 years of that person's life they've spent every day, dreaming up and writing the worst possible things about people they don't know.  What a waste of that person's writing talents and journalistic career. What a waste of a life.

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Novel writing diary week 5: More tea, vicar?

This week has been busy and I've now completed four chapters in total. I've settled into a writing routine, things are going well and my mind's in overdrive. In fact, it's been so much in overdrive that I had to take part of one day to look again at planning as I was in danger of speeding and going off track.

Having a plan for each chapter has been crucial for me. Lists, planning - that's how my brain works. And then around the constructed loom of each chapter plan I weave and embroider my tale. This is when I find out my plan either holds up brilliantly or doesn't work at all. If it's the latter then tweaks are made, changes happen and the plan shifts and morphs to fit the new characters and situations which have crawled out of my brain.

I also had tea with the vicar this week who shared tales from the parish at the time in which my novel is set. Creative inspiration works in mysterious ways.

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Corrie Weekly Update - The Jammie Dodger Code of Conduct

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week in Corrie, the Cabbie's Code of Confidentiality strikes again

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Mum's Perfect Day Out

I've a short story called Mum's Perfect Day Out in this week's edition of My Weekly magazine.

It's a story inspired by true events and features two sisters who take their mum on a very special day out.

In fact, it's the one day out that their mum has always wanted to take.

But she isn't there to enjoy it with them...

I do hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

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The Little Book of Carla Connor

It's been announced today that Alison King is returning to Coronation Street in the role of Carla Connor. Perfect timing then to relive all of Carla's storylines from her very first appearance to her very last via my book I wrote and published last year.

The book is available in paperback as an ebook from Amazon.

BUY IT HERE

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Novel Writing Diary Week 4: Writing and Worrying

This is me as a writer, in my head.

This is me as a writer, in reality. 

Two chapters are written and the third is underway. I'm on a deadline to produce and submit six chapters before I go away on my jollies next month.  That's OK, it's doable. I've done myself a schedule. Ooh, it's a lovely schedule, on a spreadsheet, all colour co-ordinated with a nice font and I love tweaking it and updating it and... 

... it's so easy to get distracted. It's so easy to do anything other than sit down and write. But when I do, I get lost in the power of words, the power of my story, the power of being me as a writer. The me I have always wanted to be. 

(Note to self: that's far too cheesy a thing to be admitting in a public forum).

So the writing is going well, as is the tweaking of the schedule and the colouring-in of the spreadsheet. 

But I'm worrying too. Is there too much dialogue? Not enough? Are the characters coming alive for the reader in the same way that they're alive in my head? How do I move on time? Should I move on time and... oh, hang on...  my spreadsheet needs tweaking again.

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Corrie Weekly Update - Diamante M and The Smudges App

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week in Corrie, could Tracy and Steve be getting back together again?

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Novel Writing Diary Week 3: Planning and Plotting

I've spent today planning and plotting all 20 chapters of my novel. This is what the floor of my writing study (aka our spare room) looked like this morning.  One piece of paper represents one chapter of the  book.

Eagle-eyed readers might have spotted only 19 sheets of paper above. Aha! That's because I've already had my first chapter accepted, and have been given the go-ahead to finish the book with the first 5 chapters due in a matter of weeks.

Eagle-eyed readers might also spot that chapter 18 looks a bit empty. It was... I've jzuzzed it up a bit since I took the photo.

Tomorrow I am ready to lose myself as I start again to write... and write... and write.

And just when I thought I'd done all of the research that I needed to do,  I met someone at the weekend, a vicar no less. He offered some wonderful stories of the time and the place I am writing about. An afternoon at the vicarage to hear more of his tales has been planned, Biscuits may be involved.

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Corrie weekly update: Slack Alice, Chachi - and Romeo in Overalls

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week in Corrie, the back room at the Rovers proved its worth in gold.

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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora