Fi Phillips

Due to the increasing success of Murdering The Text, I am closing down my other business Haven Crystal Gifts to concentrate my time and resources. On 1st September, the Haven Crystal Gifts website begins it's closing down sale. All items are reduced in price. Have a look to pick up some bargains.

Working on my pantomime yesterday, I suddenly realised how much 'dad' humour I was using. Let me explain 'dad' humour. It's the kind of jokes that you get in crackers or that fathers use to amuse their children. Well, they think they're amusing their children but usually the involved younglings are more embarrassed than amused, with cries of 'Oh Dad'. I suppose it's on par with dad dancing. With the pantomime, I find myself chortling at the humour I'm writing (especially as I can imagine the audience reaction) but also thinking 'oh no, how embarrassing'. When I return to my writing, I tend to read through the previous chapter or scene to get into the energy of that particular piece. For me, different kinds of writing (novel, play, blog article etc) tend to have their own rhythms and energy levels. For example, the pantomime is a very upbeat energy which has to be maintained throughout with the occasional lull for a sad bit or love song, o...

Or to be more precise, the child-filled, mostly unproductive six weeks that is the school summer holiday has taken over my life and my mind. My normal writing routine has been replaced by trips to viking museums and desperate shopping trips where I attempt to stop the octopi that are my children from destroying the comic or sweet display at the local supermarket. Everyone is different but for me, I need peace (i.e. children at school or at least asleep in bed) and usually to be alone to get any quality writing done. Cue many many midnight writing sessions after my husband has gone to bed to keep up with what I need to do over the holiday break. One advantage of having so much time with my children, however, is the boost to my imagination. I think it's a mixture of being around these magically creative little people and visiting new places (i.e. the viking museum mentioned above, a train museum , a different city, couple of zoos). I have almost filled the note capacity on my mobile...

After planning to spend a day working on the garden, the weather has eventually chased me indoors. With the rain throwing itself at the windows and the sky grey with cloud, it might at first appear to be an uninspiring scenario, an excuse to curl up with a book or watch daytime TV. However, taking the opportunity while my husband entertains our children, I have brought my laptop upstairs to our bedroom. Often people look elsewhere for inspiration, outside their normal lives. They sometimes feel that there is nothing worthwhile writing about close to home. On days when your mood is as rainy and grey as the weather outside, take one more look inside. Here is your challenge. Look at a surface in your home - a shelf, the top of a chest of drawers, a windowsill - any surface that holds a selection of items. For instance, on the top of the chest of drawers in my bedroom are two wedding photos, a figurine that holds two of my necklaces, and currently a cup of tea. On the windowsill is a paper...

I've just been writing posts for my other two blogs, both about inspiration and it made me realise how much material there is around us every day. A friend recently asked me to make her some smart jewellery to wear at her new job. She's working in an advisory role, helping people, and she wanted me to use crystals that would assist her in that. I used green rutilated quartz, a crystal renowned for it's usefulness in filtering negative energy from clients but supporting them as they release these emotions. You can see her necklace here . The same friend had a celebratory evening out last week and by the end of the evening, I had a brand new idea for a murder mystery set in a beauty salon with an all female cast. I've already decided who the victim is and have about half of the motives worked out too. Life is rich with titbits of inspiration - photos, the natural world, overheard conversations. All we have to do is put on our creative cap and open our eyes and ears.

I thought I'd give you a little more photo inspiration. These were taken when I was on holiday one year. I'm not telling you the location because I don't want that to detract from the possibilities of these landscapes. What do you think? Martian outpost? Western adventure? Unknown galaxy? Imagine what could happen there.

AS (Amateur Stage) Magazine have published an article in their June issue entitled 'Murder, She Wrote!'. Based on a past Murdering The Text blog article, Bums on Seats , this is a more generalised article pointing to a couple of MTT competitors and also gives mention to the lovely Purley Players who kindly supplied a photograph of one of their past MTT productions to accompany the article. Thank you AS Magazine and many thanks to the Purley Players too. I feel like I'm at an awards ceremony. Buy the June issue for an entertaining read.