Fi Phillips

The festive season and the end of the year are coming up fast. It's almost time to shut up shop, reach for a mince pie and turn on the Christmas lights. 2017 has been an incredible year for me personally but, like the rocky terrain in the title image of this post, it's been a challenging one too. I've learned so much, set myself on a steep learning curve, and met people who have changed my view on life (and my future) forever. So, with my goals and plans for 2018 firmly in hand, I thought I'd look back over the last twelve months. January, February and March Many people have slammed the door on 2016 as a year of divisiveness, hate and loss. I have to agree that yes, it's been all of that, but for me it's also been a time of growth and realisation. Not all of that was comfortable, for the world or me personally, but no worthwhile change was ever achieved from a place of safety and comfort. Challenging times bring out the best in people. Looking

This time of year always finds me in a reflective mood (well, in between the chaos of present shopping, wrestling the Christmas tree down from the attic, and doing my best to subtly interrogate my family about what they'd like me to buy them for the big day). Ali from Aliventures feels exactly the same and that's why this month's Choice Words are her Twelve Wise and Inspiring Quotes About Writing . Have a look. They're well worth a read. Phoebe Morgan, author and editor, offers some insightful advice in her article, Your Publisher's Decisions . Finally, here's a little help on the topic of literary agents from writer, Iain Broome .

Advent calendars are eagerly opened each morning, the tree is up in all it's tinsel-ly grandeur, and Christmas cards are written and ready to post. December has arrived. After the house move in November, we're well on the way to unpacking all the boxes and bags we brought with us. The new place finally feels like home. December will be a month of winding down after all the hard work of settling in here, preparing for the festive break, and looking ahead to all the new beginnings that January will bring. Writing-wise, I'm determined to carve out some time during the Christmas holiday to return to my novel (armed with advice from my recent meeting with literary agent Lucy Morris ). Work-wise, Murdering the Text has never closed its online doors during or since the move. Blog posts have been written and newsletters have continued to fly out. We'll be winding down for Christmas on 22nd December though, opening up again on 3rd January. Family-wise, the present

This month's writing exercise is intended to set your creative cogs whirring. You're at home on your own. It's dusk and you're settling down with a hot drink. As far as you're concerned you won't be going out and you certainly aren't expecting a visitor. There's a knock on your front door, a quiet, hesitant knock. You put down your drink and stand up. There's a second knock, this time heavy and insistent - knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. When you get to the door, you put the chain on and gingerly open it. There's nobody there but as you look down, you see a cardboard box has been left on your doorstep. You take off the chain, cautiously open the door and peer out. There's nobody around. You step outside and examine the box. It's sealed but there's no address, label or writing on it. What do you do? Do you open it on your doorstep? Do you carry it inside? Do you ignore it and  close the door? If you do open

Last week, I had a wonderful excuse to escape the mountain of unpacked boxes still filling my new home, dress up and head into Chester. On Monday last, as part of the Chester Literature Festival  held at the Storyhouse , I met with Curtis Brown literary agent Lucy Morris to go over the opening chapter of my novel and the accompanying synopsis. The feedback on my chapter was brilliant but what proved to be the most helpful was the discussion of my synopsis.  I had always played a bit of a guessing game when it came to writing my synopsis, pulling from the information offered by literary agent websites and online writing advice. Talking to Lucy cleared all of that up for me.  The definition of a synopsis that I grew up with was a break down of a novel's chapters. I knew that this wasn't the case anymore and that an overview of the storyline was preferable but that was as far as my idea of a synopsis went. Lucy began by asking me to tell her what my nov

It's finally here - the day my family has been waiting for. It's felt like the whole process has moved at a snail's pace but we got there in the end. We're moving! When I next post on this blog, it will be from our new house (well, new to us). There'll be a lot to sort out - boxes to unpack, change of address notifications to send out, finding a place for everything - along with continuing to run our normal life too. So, although you will hear from me this month, most of it will be taken up with settling into our new home. Wish me luck.

Hallowe’en is a bit of a non starter for me this year. The whole family are working on the new house we’ve bought (but not yet moved into), decorating our teens’ bedrooms in readiness for when new carpets arrive tomorrow. We’ve spent the last few days steaming, scraping and generally manhandling woodchip off the walls. Each morning we’ve woken up stiff and tired from our evening stints, so by tonight, all we’ll be any good for is watching a scary movie on TV, phoning for a takeaway meal, and staggering to the door to hand over sweets to the trick or treating kiddies. This time last year, I wrote about what Hallowe’en means to me in A Hallowe’en Dilemma . All of that still holds true. Hallowe’en will always be a special day to me, and before I drag myself off to bed (I’m beginning to sound more and more like a zombie as I write), I’ll spare a thought for my loved ones who are no longer with us. Wherever you spend it, and whatever you do, have a wonderful Hallowe’en. 

Seeing as it is Hallowe'en in a matter of days, I thought it only fitting that this month's photo inspiration should be suitably scary. Or perhaps, you don't find this image or graveyards scary. There's a leaf strewn path leading through a shady graveyard to an area of bright sunlight. Do you walk along the path? Do you stay where you are? Do you investigate the gravestones, leaving the path to tread in between the stones? Are you walking the dog? Are you meeting someone? Are you escaping someone? What does this photo inspire you to write?

A couple of weekends ago, I took my teens to a local artisan market, the Makers Market at Chester . I bribed them both with a fiver to spend and they happily pootled round the market with me. Near the entrance of the market, I spotted an artist's stall when we first arrived. In our new house, we'll need some new artwork and there were all kind of gorgeous prints to choose from. Donning my sensible hat though, I decided to save my money until I'd been round the rest of the market. If you ever have the chance to visit a Makers Market (and that's your kind of thing - food, handcrafted goods, artwork), then get yourself along there. My teens were especially impressed with the  macaroons and burgers. By the time we got back to the entrance, on the way out, I half expected that the one print that had really caught my eye would be gone, but I was in luck. If I'm like a kid in the proverbial sweet shop with stationery and books, then artwork comes a close third.

It's cold. My coat is rarely off my back, the garden has gone into hibernation, and my feet are freezing all the time. I finally gave in and switched the central heating on yesterday. My feet are still cold. I may have to buy slippers. It's going to be a weird month as 'real life' takes over. Well, not so much real as mundane and non writing. The house purchase has progressed, although no dates are firm as yet, so that frantic decluttering I mentioned this time last month has become even more frantic. Frantic-er? Is that a word? It is now. You know in the film Top Gun  where Tom Cruise's character Maverick and his friend Goose say, "I feel the need, the need for speed"? Well, I feel the need, the need for obsessive and to within an inch of its life organisational skills at the moment. Energy would be good too but I've given up caffeine. This is probably the last full month I'll have in this house so along with the household organising,

Need a new way to organise your year, diary and thoughts? A bullet journal could be just the thing. A couple of weeks into 2017, I came across a magazine article about an organisational tool that I hadn’t heard of before – a bullet journal. It sounded ideal so I turned to my best friend online, Google to find out more. Whoa! The internet was teeming with entries on bullet journals – how to start one, how to organise one, where to buy one, and how to make your bullet journal look adorably stylish. How had I not come across this before? If you’re a bullet journal virgin like I was, then let me explain. A bullet journal is an organisational tool that captures your to-do-list, diary, thoughts and really anything else you need to capture, in a written format, i.e. a notebook, not a computer file. How to Bullet Journal from bulletjournal.com “A notebook?” I hear you say. “Isn’t that, well, old-fashioned and time-consuming? I can keep all that information on my

September always a marks a new start to the year for me as my offspring return to school after the long summer break and I get my days back. Launching my new business This year is an especially fresh start as I begin to develop my copywriting business. Back in February, I started down the freelance copywriter path, writing in-house material, sales emails and other goodies for a local business. Over the summer break, I delved into the world of copywriting a little further by seeking out relevant training and joining a number of online business groups. There is so much brilliant advice out there already from existing copywriters and business owners, that it's been easy, and fun, to put together a support network of helpful mentors. After all, who better to ask then the individuals who have already done it? Now, with my domain purchased, I'm ready to set up my copywriting business proper, website and all. 'Watch this space' as they say, for future news of the

This month's photo inspiration is a little different. It's actually an old slide taken in the 1960s. What do you think? What can you tell about the inhabitants of this home? Who could live here? What would their story be? Happy or sad?  Who is behind the camera? Why is this slide being taken?  The room is empty (apart from the person behind the camera). Where is everyone? Is this a wealthy house? Up to date (at the time)? Well-loved? What story would this image inspire you to write?

The first writing exercise of 2017 from me and it's August already. How did that happen? This month's writing exercise is about summer, or rather what summer means to you. For me, the summer is largely taken up with the school summer break - 6 or 7 weeks when my teens are away from school and my work has to take a sideways shunt to accommodate day trips and refereeing arguments. I also have to feed them but since we bought a new sandwich toaster, they're sorting their own lunches out by experimenting with hot sandwich fillings. Ingredients to date have included ham, bacon, cheese, bananas, peanut butter, chocolate and jam. I'll let you guess at what combinations they've concocted so far. So, back to the writing exercise. Summer. What does it mean to you? Does it even register in your busy life other than a change of wardrobe? Do you like summer skies or do you prefer the winter winds? Write a piece about summer from someone else's perspective: A si

August is always a mixture of a month. On the one hand, it's summer break and my teenage monsters are off school. They're of an age to keep themselves and each other happy (aside from the bickering) but I try to get them out of the house (and away from their computers) most days. They're good company, and with our dog in tow for some of those outings, I enjoy our summer adventures. The downside is that my work schedule is massively interrupted. I'm lucky to be self employed, working from home and able to arrange my hours around my family, but it means early work before everyone else is up, and working some evening hours too.  So, aside from the adventures, I'll be juggling my time this month to include: ongoing copywriting work along with some training I'm taking on the subject too, finding new clients for my scriptwriting business plus adding more value to my existing clients, working on my novel, and investigating setting up a new writer/co

Creating quality images for my blog posts and website has always been a bit hit and miss for me, so when a friend introduced me to Canva I was delighted. Canva is a "free graphic design tool website". You can create all kind of  graphics on there, such as social media images, letterhead, certificates, books covers, and marketing flyers. What's more, it also provides royalty free images and photographs for no charge, along with shapes, frames, layouts, fonts and backgrounds. Having said that, if you can't find exactly what you want then you can pay for additional items. Of course, you can always upload your own images, which is what I've mostly done. There are a lot of Canva tutorials  available, both on the website and posted online by users too, but I found Canva easy to pick up with a little trial and error. So far, I've created images for Pinterest, photo galleries, email headers, and blog posts, along with my 2017 vision board. It's fre

When the Who Do You Think You Are magazine gave me the opportunity to review Watling Street by John Higgs , I jumped at the chance. British history, especially history from the point of view of the people, has always been one of my favourite topics to read. Add to that, the chance to get a free book and what's not to like? I initially received a paperback proof copy of the novel  but a few weeks later, courtesy of Higgs' publisher Orion Books, a beautiful hardback copy arrived too, this time full of maps and photographs that hadn't figured in the proof copy. The colourful cover perfectly captures the contents of this book with its witty combination of the past, national identity and more recent pop culture (the Tardis is my personal favourite). According to the accompanying press release, Watling Street is a road of witches and ghosts, of queens and highwaymen, of history and myth, of Chaucer, Dickens and James Bond. Armies from Rome arrived and straightened th

I haven't posted photo inspiration for a few months now (sorry about that) so I thought I'd return to it with a summer shot. This is a seaside telescope, all ready for someone to pop in a coin and have a look. Who do you think might use this? Are they alone? What are they looking for? What do they see through the lens?

I'm on the countdown to the school summer holidays and I know that once my two are at home all day, my writing time will be eaten into by trips out and requests for food, drinks or to watch one of their latest animations or memes. So advice on how to keep writing thoughout those six weeks is always welcome. Julia Munroe Martin's article on Writer unBoxed, Survival Pack or How to Keep Writing No Matter What is ideal. And just as a little extra for you this month, Em Lynas' article Who Is Driving Your Story? is well worth a read. Have a look.

Yes, you've guessed it. July is going to be another busy month for me, doubly so because my children's summer break begins towards the end of this month - argh! Murdering The Text The June target was to complete all the changes to the Murdering The Text website before July started. Did I do that? No! To be fair, I got a lot of the changes finished but two things happened to stall my progress. One, as I made the changes, I thought of better ways to improve the website so the planned changes took longer. Two, I came up with more changes to make. They're all good ideas but they'll take extra time to put into place. So the 'new' plan is to finish the changes to the website before school breaks up for the summer. There's a slight complicating factor though - I've come up with a new marketing plan for the website. I want to start it right now but I know that I need the website to be as good as it can be before I begin to attract new peeps to i

This last weekend, I persuaded my family to head into Chester to watch a local parade. The Midsummer Watch, obviously linked to midsummer's day, is one of Britain's oldest festivals apparently, dating back 500 years to medieval and Tudor Chester. You can find out more about it here . Accordi ng to an extract from the  Book of Days, The pageants became general in the reigns of the Tudors and Stuarts .. and have, like their predecessors the mysteries, their relation to English drama; not only were they composed for the purpose of flattering and complimenting their princes, but a moral end was constantly kept in view; virtue was applauded, while vice was set forth in its most revolting and unpleasing colours; and the altercation between these two leading personages often afforded the populace the highest amusement. The day was sunny and the square outside the town hall wasn't as busy as I thought it would be, although there was a cheerful, family crowd waiting for th