Fi Phillips

It's June already. Summer is here and I'm suffering as usual with hayfever. Still, it gives me an excellent excuse to stay at my keyboard and find some excellent writing advice to share. First off is this article from Kathryn Evans on Notes from the Slushpile - Highlighting the Heart of Your Story with Motifs . I found this an incredibly useful way to approach my novel and I've already worked out my motif, its significance and how to include it in my story. Second is this wonderful article from reedsy, What is Chekhov's Gun and How to Use It . Finally, I've been following Rae Elliott's website Barely Hare Books for a while now for its excellent writing advice. Here's Rae herself being interviewed by fellow writer Hannah Heath about her books and her writing process.

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.

Back in January and February, I returned to an old love of mine - acting. It was a small part in a pantomime, and it's definitely not the most attractive I've ever looked, but I enjoyed it immensely. It wasn't until after the show had finished that I realised how acting on the stage had sharpened my scriptwriting skills, reminding me how my plays felt to perform and looked to the audience. Fellow writer Nick Cross came to a similar conclusion recently. His blog post Can Acting Make You A Better Writer?  appears on the Notes from the Slushpile site. Have a look.

No matter what stage of my life I was in (childhood, teens, adulthood) or what roles people identified me by (daughter, secretary, colleague, wife), I always thought of myself as a writer. There have been stops and starts, and lulls in my writing, but it's something I have always persevered with, even when it seemed that the world was telling me I was wrong. I will always be a writer. I will always write. Novelist Pat Walsh is very much of the same opinion. In this interview ( Keep Writing, Keep Reading and Never Give Up ) on the Notes From the Slushpile blog, she discusses her love of the supernatural, mythology and fairytales, her novels and how she came to be published.