Jessica Davidson's Blog, page 59

How to Publish your Book: flowchart

Here’s a great flowchart to help in your quest to publish your book. As if you need any encouragement to procrastinate…Click to enlarge! – created by Zachary Petit for Writer’s Market.Filed under: Writing Inspiration Tagged: Flowcharts, Fun, Humour, Procrastination, Publishing, Writing, Writing Advice

How to Stop Procrastinating – Now!

Last week we successfully avoided doing any work by looking at the eight styles of procrastination. But no matter what your style, you can’t keep putting things off forever. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to get stuff done. But first you need to figure out why you’re procrastinating. So here’s another thing you […]

What kind of Procrastinator are you?

I’ve been meaning to write this for ages. It’s been on my list of possible posts for over a year, but I kept putting it off in favour of other stuff. Then around came the new year and it gave me the perfect excuse to stop making excuses and get it done. Everybody procrastinates some […]

How to make your New Year Resolutions Stick

Congratulations on surviving the holidays! Now it’s time to kid yourself that you’ll make spectacular changes to your life for the New Year. Lose weight! Get fit! Learn Chinese! Write a novel! Yeah, right… In this post we’ll have a look at where we go wrong and how we can choose resolutions that’ll stick. It’s […]

You were Born with Wings

A little reminder of who you are for the New Year. Let’s make 2016 the year we remember how to fly… “You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for […]

The Origins of Christmas – Part 2: Shamanic Roots

Originally posted on Jessica Davidson:
After exploring the pagan roots of the midwinter festivals and the dying Sun God, we travel into the darkness of the far north. This is where we’ll find the origins of Christmas, its real meaning, and a hint at our true purpose on this earth. In the first part of…

The Origins of Christmas – Part 1: Pagan Roots

Originally posted on Jessica Davidson:
Christmas is a time to feast and make merry, to gather the family and exchange gifts, sing wonky carols, and get so drunk you forget your own name. You decorate an unfortunate tree that’s been dragged inside your centrally heated home, send greetings cards to people you spend the entire…

His Dark Materials: interview with Philip Pullman

In this fascinating interview, Philip Pullman talks about His Dark Materials and some of the ideas in the books, including: loss of innocence, religion, William Blake, the oral tradition and why fairy tales differ from novels, plus a little dig at CS Lewis and Tolkien. Recorded at the Durham Book Festival in October this year. […]

A History of Addled: from idea to publication

I never wanted to be a writer. I didn’t fantasise about seeing my words in print or imagine adoring fans hanging on my every word. I believed I was an inarticulate musician and sound engineer. Writing anything would simply confirm my deepest fears: that I was stupid. So it was quite a surprise to find […]

Visionary Fiction: stories for growing minds

Visionary Fiction became a recognised fiction genre around the turn of the millennium, but stories using visionary elements have always existed. In fact, Visionary Fiction (VF) might be the oldest genre of storytelling. I first heard of VF when I was trying to decide which genre my debut novel fell into. Addled: Adventures of a […]