Lissa Morgan

Christmas this year is going to be very strange after the events of 2020 and Covid-19. Last December seems a lot longer than just  a year ago and the way of life under the pandemic has almost become normal now.  I never really do very much over Christmas, anyway, apart from take some time off work, have a rest from routine, and catch up on things I don't have time to do at other times of the year. But one of my favourite indulgences over the festive period is reading and this year is no exception.  One of the books on my reading list is The Turning Tides by Jane Fenwick , the second in her trilogy of  seafaring sagas set on the north east coast of England. I got to know Jane and her work when I created a website for her a couple of years ago and since then her books have become a must on my shelves, both for their engrossing story lines that really draw you in and also for her vivid and evocative sense of time and place.  I'm also revisiting some old and well-worn novels. As I

I blogged about this a couple of years ago and I don't know whether to feel disheartened or vindicated to be blogging about it again!  Because there is a certain point in every book where a brick wall appears; for me this happens at chapter five, every time. Why?  I think many writers - at least those aiming to send off those first three chapters to publishers or editors - tend to work so hard on the opening section that they experience a bit of a slump in the following chapters, or lose their way temporarily.  Having carved out the characters and set up the conflict that will keep them apart until the end, the task is now to keep them apart yet bring them together at the same time.  The 'getting to know you' stage has to be delicately balanced in order to sustain the underlying conflict between the characters, and add in even more challenges for them to overcome on the road to that Happy Ever After. So it is completely understandable that a writer might run out of steam fa

I've changed direction slightly in recent months, or rather, added a new direction to my writing. While I'm still writing my dual time novel, set in 1916 and 2016 (conveniently avoiding the Covid-19 pandemic!), I'm also editing a historical novel I began back in 2013.  There are a lot of eye openers when you go back, either to re-read or re-write something you wrote several years earlier.  If your journey as a writer has gone as you'd hoped and planned it would and the intervening years have been one of growth and experience, then the first thing that jumps out at you when reading earlier efforts are the weak spots in the story, the lack of character depth and often the immaturity of the writing. I saw all three when I looked over my 2013 partial manuscript, which was depressing at first, but reworking it now, I am also heartened by the improvement in my writing and the maturing of my voice over the last seven years.  Having focused on contemporary novels over the last

It was a lovely clear, crisp and sunny afternoon today in the Dyfi Valley, so I ventured out for a walk, following a part of the Wales coastal path.  The sun was warm on my back and there were hardly any people around, just the sounds of the waders and geese across the river on the RSPB wetlands of Ynys Hir. I do love this time of year - at least when the weather is like it is today - because January heralds the start of a new year and all the possibilities that holds.  And 2020 is particularly significant as it is a new decade and a good opportunity to look back over, not just one year, but ten years and see how far we've come, or not! Sitting here now, looking at a spectacular sunset, I am thinking a lot about my writing and how that has fared over the last decade. The rejections, of which there have been plenty; the 'almost theres', of which there have been some; the beginnings of books which, initially so promising, never got beyond three chapters; and the ind