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Reflecting on my fortieth year

Reflecting on my fortieth year

As I approach the end of the year and another birthday, I can’t help thinking what a crazy one it’s been. I wasn’t looking forward to turning 40 last year. As you may know, I kicked and screamed my way in to the next decade and I was determined to make the most of it...

A copywriting milestone

A copywriting milestone

I'm celebrating a work anniversary - five years at Nicola Young Copywriter. That's according to LinkedIn anyway and the lovely followers who sent me a message of congratulations on the day. This milestone passed me by because I've been copywriting for much longer than...

The dreaded editing process

The dreaded editing process

Writing a story is the fun part. If I have a story idea, it burns a hole in my head until I can get it out. Fingers connect to keyboard and the circuit is complete to let those words flow through. Then I get to the end and congratulate myself on a job well done....

Writing a middle grade manuscript

Writing a middle grade manuscript

I have exciting news from Nikki Young Writes and I've been bursting to share it. My first book is going to be published soon! Many of you who follow this blog will know I spent a lot of last year working on my young adult manuscript. I finished a second draft and...

Manuscript planning

Manuscript planning

This is my work station at the moment. When I get time to work on my fiction writing, that is. It's been too lovely to sit at a desk staring at the wall. I'd much rather be in the kitchen, looking out over the garden, lush and green as it is at the moment. I'm...

What I’m Writing – week seventy-six

What I’m Writing – week seventy-six

Welcome to week seventy-six of What I’m Writing. If you’re wondering what the heck I’m going on about and where are the other seventy-five weeks, let me explain. You can find all the details about #WhatImWriting here but the short(er) version is, this linky is for all...

My middle grade manuscript

My middle grade manuscript

I’ve been quiet on the blogging front recently. Sometimes, I feel as though I could quite easily spend all my time blogging and never get anything else done. I have to pull myself away from it every now in then so I can concentrate on other projects. That means I’ve...

Why it’s important to spring clean your blog

Why it’s important to spring clean your blog

Continuing with the positivity that has seen me through February, I decided to do a bit of Spring cleaning. No, not my house, although it could do with it. I'm talking about this little 'ol blog here. I like to give it a spruce up every couple of years or so and it...

Where has my writing mojo gone?

Where has my writing mojo gone?

I'm glad I didn't make any new year's resolutions, because I would have been bitterly disappointed by now and it's not even the end of January. Work on my novel has come to a standstill whilst I work out where it's going and it seems this has triggered a fiction...

On writing, reflecting and taking stock

On writing, reflecting and taking stock

After the whirlwind that was November, I haven't done any writing since. It didn't feel right to jump straight in to editing and I decided to take a step back and take stock of what I have been doing and where I want to go with the novels. I'm reading a book called...

On reflecting and achieving your dreams

On reflecting and achieving your dreams

Never more so are we reminded of how fragile life can be following the events of Friday evening in Paris. 129 lives ended simply because they were out enjoying themselves but happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a time of reflection and as I took...

National Novel Writing Month – Taking the Plunge

So I did it. I signed up to do this year's NaNoWriMo. That doesn't mean that I have signed my life away and committed myself to something I can't get out of, but it does mean a step that makes it seem real. I've spent most of this year re-writing my novel. Having done...

The truth about being a writer in the digital age

The truth about being a writer in the digital age

What does it take to be a writer? You might think that all you need is an idea and the ability to put that idea into words. Well let me tell you, bloggers, writers and authors of today can't survive if all they can do is write. We have to be so much more than that....

Summer Writing Plans

Summer Writing Plans

I haven't made up my mind whether or not to take a break from blogging over the summer. I think I would rather just see how it goes and not put any pressure on myself. I've edited the first three chapters of my manuscript and it's gone out to readers, so I hope to...

What’s on my Reading List?

What’s on my Reading List?

I have one more session left of a writing group I've been taking part in at my local bookshop. It's the first time I've ever done anything like this and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. What attracted me to the course was that it offered the opportunity to tackle your...

Summer Term Madness

Summer Term Madness

Why is it that schools feel as though they must pack everything in to the last term? Between all three children, my calendar is full of events: ones that we need to attend, others where we need to remember to take in certain things or do something special for. As a...

‘The End’ – When Do You Really Stop Drafting?

‘The End’ – When Do You Really Stop Drafting?

'The End' Those two words can mean so much, especially to me this week. I finished the draft of my manuscript re-write. I wrote the end of my story. Except I never actually wrote those two words because I know that it's far from at that point. It felt good though....