"Don't ever turn the dryer timer counterclockwise," the repairman told me. He will have to get a part and come back in a couple of days. Meanwhile, I will be without a working dryer. Admittedly, I must have known not to turn electronic dials backward. My dad is an electrician, after all. But, somewhere along the way, I fell into the habit of taking a short cut.

Writers come in different shapes and sizes. Some of us write as much as we can in one day, never counting the words, and taking a day or two off to percolate. Some of us make certain to follow a stringent routine of no less than 2,000 words a day. Whatever works for you works for you, but after a novel has been written, it's imperative to edit that novel.

Chapter/Episode ONE of ENOCH—The Movie—A Work In Progress—from ENOCH the Metaphysical Novel by David Alexanders English (C2018) The inspiration for this work has always been the incredible story of Enoch. There has been so much mystique and misunderstanding around this character down through the years. It is a wonder and a testament that this singular figure holds such a revered and curious place in the fascination of so many thinking people of all cultural traditions to this day, regardless of whatever belief system to which one subscribes. The goal was to humanize this character; by positing the notion: what if he really existed; then envisioning, fleshing out how might his story have actually occurred.

Some authors write in a particular genre and all their work relates to that genre. Crime, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, romance—these spring to mind instantly. When asked, she who thinks she must be obeyed at all times says she writes character driven fiction. However, within this you have a whole raft of themes.

The short answer is that it can do. People who read Rosy Teale's books who know her say they recognise bits of her in various characters. People are generally interesting to observe so when you are writing character driven fiction it is only natural to draw on these observations sometimes.

“The dark moments we face in life are not barriers to success. They are what shape us, teach us and inevitably strengthen us to become stronger than we were before. In the end, they are mere bumps along your road to victory. Onwards!”

She who thinks she should be obeyed at all times is a great fan of audio books and used to work in radio, apparently, so knows a thing or two about recording. When she gives her talks promoting her books and her writing, people say they really enjoy hearing her reading the extracts, so producing audio books was something she was keen to do.

It was mid-afternoon in the California scorch zone when I came across the Facebook scroll that changed my life.

Death, dying and bereavement are subjects that, generally, people shy away from talking about but the beauty of writing strong characters is that you can express so much through their thoughts, words, and actions.

'The Perils and Pitfalls on the Path to Publication' is the title of the talk our Mum (she who thinks she should be obeyed at all times) gives to various groups as she promotes her writing. She has published a number of novellas, short stories, poetry and most recently she has finished the novel she started to write over thirty years ago. She has described the whole thing as being on a learning curve resembling vertical take off. She has described it in other ways too but we won't go there.

So you've got an idea for a story, but you're fretting over what genre or category you're going to put it in when it's ready for sale. Or maybe you're just starting out as a writer, and you want to build your platform and marketing base before you write anything... STOP. Don't worry yourself over literary labels. First, focus on writing your story, THEN worry about marketing and building a platform.