• Novel Spaces

    My Travel Bug

    View of one section of Ho Chi Minh City If you know me, you know I love to travel. I tell people I will never be rich because every time I have two pennies to spare I am on a plane. My most recent trip was to Vietnam with a stop in Dubai on the way back. Vietnam was the…

  • Novel Spaces

    Fiction-the Original “Alternate Facts”

    Happy New Year and best wishes for 2017. We have been off to an interesting start and without introducing any partisan politics at all I feel obliged to ask a question. In a world where we have incessant access to news (real and ‘alternate’), do authors still have a job? Why should we as a society read fiction?

  • On Writing

    Do You Need an Editor?

    This morning I read a book review in which the reviewer’s writing was so careless and error-ridden that I questioned her credibility in critiquing someone else’s work. I stopped reading by the third paragraph and thought, she really should have hired an editor.

  • Heard on the Backseat

    Slave to Fashion

    So my youngest gets in the car after school and takes off MY shoes with a sigh. I look at her feet and the shoes have left an imprint on her feet. Me:       Do the shoes hurt your feet? Youngest:       Yes, but they look so GOOD! Clearly that sort of passion for fashion skips a…

  • Novel Spaces

    It’s Not Your Job

    I do my best to support my fellow Caribbean authors, so when I came across a new book by an author from the region I looked for it on Amazon and took a “Look Inside”. I did this because although I am a self-published author and wholly support self-publishing, I am painfully aware of the wide variety in quality that…

  • Novel Spaces

    The New Guy in my Life

    I’m a messy writer. I make notes everywhere, backs of envelopes, receipts, box tops. If pen or pencil will make an impression on it I will write on it.

  • Novel Spaces

    Keeping Me Honest

    Happy New Year! I know it is a little late, but the year still feels fresh although January is almost halfway gone. On New Year’s Day a friend asked me what were my resolutions for 2014. I sensed a bit of disappointment when I admitted that I didn’t have any, so I quickly clarified that I have plans for my…

  • Children and Reading,  On Writing,  This and that

    Anansesem

    When Summer Edwards, the founder and Managing Director of Anansesem CaribbeanReads contacted me for an interview I readily agreed. Anansesem is a wonderful project, and I encourage budding writers of all ages to take a look. –Click here to read the interview.

  • Novel Spaces

    The Real Audience

    I wrote my first young adult novel this year. A young adult (YA) novel is a book that will most likely be enjoyed by children 12-18 years old. Since all of my previous books had been written for a younger audience, I did a lot of research before and during the process.