My thoughts about books, writing, life and so many other things….Judy Leigh/ Elena Collins.
I was asked by a local reading group to discuss my novel The Witch’s Tree (Elena Collins) at one of their meetings. I accepted immediately. Not only is it always a wonderful opportunity to talk about books, but the fact that everyone had taken the trouble to read The Witch’s Tree and wanted to chat …
Continue reading Meeting a local reading group. Friendship, Community and The Classics
Are the male protagonists in romance novels too good to be true? Or is it possible to take them into our hearts?
My blog post is in praise of local writing groups. I can't recommend mine highly enough. And a short story. that I wrote for my last group...
It’s interesting to think about talented people and to stop for a moment and really take in just how good they are, in terms of their skills being so much more than what we know as average. I often use myself as the average against which to compare others, but in many ways, I don’t …
Continue reading The treasure inside the nutshell: talent that goes unnoticed.
I have a friend who claims to have completely cured her arthritis by swimming in the sea, whatever the weather. Her pains completely disappeared, and she swore that it was because she immersed herself regularly in freezing water. I recently saw British athlete Mo Farah and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo do something similar on TV, …
Continue reading The immersion technique – it’s one way to write your next novel…
Once a week, on a Wednesday, I appear on a community radio show, 'CakEhole with Julie Mullen,' and we talk about all things to do with novels and writing for fifteen minutes. It is one of the highlights of my week as Julie is so much fun to chat with. Based on our conversations, I …
I enjoy writing for specific events or audiences, as there is a kind of precision and framework to be considered. It's quite an interesting mental exercise when you have a word limit, or when you have to create something for a specific genre. I like writing newspaper or magazine articles, poems, speeches, plays, all of …
Continue reading The excitement of writing for a competition…
As a writer, I’m blessed with being able to work from home and I’m so lucky to have a job I enjoy, that I return to each day with energy and enthusiasm. Lockdown is a difficult time for everyone in their own way, but some people have real problems in managing to get by in …
Continue reading Lockdown, languages and me. (Warning: much failure, a little success…)
I love the way films and live theatre give us as an audience the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a story through the eyes of the characters we meet. It's fascinating how a few lines on a page, a book or a script, can be turned into something visual and vibrant in front of our …
Continue reading Imagine Five French Hens as a Hollywood film with this huge cast…!!
It's rare that I write about myself. In my novels, characters and situations are imaginary. I rarely bring myself into what I write, although I include what I know and if I don't, my ideas will be inspired by other people or based on research. Many of my older characters have something of the inspirational …
That quintessence of dust 