Fi Phillips

Wow, the summer holiday break is racing by in a blur and it's been incredibly busy so far but that doesn't mean that I haven't searched out some choice writerly words for you. First off, I have an article from Tim Grahl of Book Launch entitled Publisher Questions: What to ask before you sign a book contract . I'd love to be at that stage but this is a good reference article to file away for the future. It took me a while, and a lot of coffee, to write my About Me page. As an unpublished writer, I just wasn't sure what I could or should say. In How to Write an Amazing About Me Page , Autocrit answers all of my (and probably your) questions on this topic. Finally, here's some wise and choice words from writer, Alexa Donne.

It's holiday season here in the UK so I'm going down an obvious route with this month's photo inspiration - the seaside. There are three photographs to choose from, with differing aspects or view of holidays by the sea. Some are sunny. Others have grey skies. Choose the one that catches your eye. What does it inspire you to write?

What am I doing in August? I'm giving in to the summer. Or to put it another way, I'm going on holiday somewhere hot. The month of August will therefore be a little work-quiet for me. I'll be downing tools and picking up a suitcase instead. One of the benefits of going away and being away from the call of my laptop and work is that I can get some actual, quality reading done. Bliss! Having finished the latest draft of my novel (more news about that in my next blog post), I may spend a little time working out the plot for my next novel. Apart from that though, the focus will be on building memories with my family and relaxing. So whatever you do in August, have a wonderful month. P.S. There will be some more blog posts this month but they'll be scheduled to appear while I'm away.

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...

This entrance is close to where I live. My family and I traipse through it a couple of times each month. That's as much information as I'm going to give you. What do you think it is? Prison? Castle? Barn? Garden gate? What does it inspire you to write?

August has crept up on me. Who am I kidding? August has grabbed me by the heels and dashed me through the past ten days in a whirl of family trips and events. It's always this way during the school summer break, finding ways to keep my kids (now teen and pre teen) amused and fed, and throw in my normal routine too. I wrote about this back in 2009 when I called it the August Monster . With the first draft of my second novel completed (last month's target), I decided to take a step back from it all before I went any further. My muse, however, had a different plan. Cue several nights of tossing and turning and making notes on my mobile phone whenever ideas dived into my head. I had always planned to write the Steve Haven books as a trilogy but the more I threw around the events that had to happen in the story, the more I realised that a series of books would suit much better, allowing me to tell the whole story rather than rushing through the bare bones. The August target ...

This month's photograph was taken during a walk in the Grosvenor Park in Chester with my children. I can't find any information on the archway anywhere. It is simply described as a 'relic'. There's a smaller archway to the right hand side and behind me is another archway. Looking at the three together, it was probably the two ends of a walkway at one time, but why the very small arch? What does this image make you think of? The people who have passed through it? The building it was originally a part of? The era of its creation? What would this inspire you to write?

This month's exercise is one I was set about two decades ago by the wonderful poet and my then writing instructor, Pat Borthwick . Thanks, Pat, for the inspiration. Choose a colour. Make a list of things that you associate with it it. For example, Red - lipstick, blood, silk. Blue - sky, air, calm. White - cloud, age, daisy. As you can see, these can be material things, feelings or concepts. List as many things as you can think of. Now, using your list, all or just some of what you have written, write a short passage. It can be a poem or prose, even dialogue. Here's my green passage: Calm. That's how I felt, breathing in the sweet scent of freshly cut grass, my bare feet damp with the newly released sap as I crossed the lawn. 

The new school term starts next week for me and my children, a return to normality, a new normality for my daughter who is entering high school. The weather has turned cold but is sunny enough to allow us to still get out. Recently, we found ourselves at the play park that you can see above. Play parks are wonderful places. Obviously, they provide a world of entertainment  for children but they're more than that. They're a meeting place for all ages - parents with their children, teenagers with nowhere else to go, and grandparents sharing times with younger generations.  I took this photo on a random whim and it wasn't until I got home that I realised how much I had captured. Look at the people on the benches. I remember there being a number of teenagers in the park but there were also parents whose children played beyond the reach of my photograph. It was the end of day, hence the placing of the tree's shadow. The play park sits on a busy city road but the...

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...