Fi Phillips

Every year, September marks a fresh new start for me. The teens return to school. I've had a rest and change of scenery over the summer break, and I approach my workload with a new level of enthusiasm. After submitting my novel to a literary consultant at the beginning of the summer, I received the resulting report while I was away in Corfu with my family. Yay for roaming data! I spent the next few days (in between cocktails, losing at pool to my son, and boat trips) constructing a plan on how to approach the next draft of my novel. The report was provided by the Faber Academy and I have to say that they hit the nail on its well-worn head with their advice. They flipped my indecision over the way forward for my novel into certainty over what path I should take. Thank you, Faber Academy - you are my heroes. I'm therefore setting myself a NaNoWrimo-esque self challenge in September to complete the redraft of my novel. I've set myself a daily chapter-count (1.7 chap...

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.

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...

A foreboding entrance or a gothic welcome? What do you think? I found this gateway whilst on holiday with my family. What story could this lead to?

This week and next, I'm on holiday. Or rather my children are on holiday from school and I'm organising (although school holidays do release me from ironing school uniform and making packed lunches so I get a bit of a break too). For me, holidays have always been a time of family coming together. There are days out, days in, maybe travel to another country. The majority of my most memorable holidays have involved the beach - ice cream on the Yorkshire coast with my parents, my first taste of 'abroad' at a beach barbecue on Majorca, my one year old daughter's widening eyes as she dipped her toes in the sea in North Wales (her first holiday). The photograph above reminds me of a holiday to Canterbury with my family. My husband was working there and for a week, my children and I joined him. While he worked, we would spend time in the city, visiting the Cathedral, the museums, the ceramics cafe, and the park. When he was finished, we would drive out of Canterbu...

In today's I newspaper, I found an article listing the results of a poll of British children aged between 3 and 8 years old, that asked them what their ideal holiday location was. Here's what they said: The Moon Disney World Narnia Hogsmeade Lapland Hundred Acre Wood Hogwarts Pride Rock Australia Bikini Bottom The results made me smile. An adult mind would have picked completely real-life destinations (mine would have included San Francisco, Venice and Hong Kong). Our children are more comfortable with crossing the divide between reality and fantasy. Maybe there's a lesson for us grown-up's here. Fi's Ideal Holiday Locations Atlantis Ankh Morpork Camelot The Weasley's house The Magic Cottage in James Herbert's novel of the same name A flying holiday with Richard Bach Avalon The forest in Midsummer Night's Dream Centre Earth Diagon Alley Tell me about yours.