Do you write book reviews? I write them on Goodreads, NetGalley for the advanced reader copies(ARC) that I get for honest reviews, and on my Instagram account. I sometimes leave reviews on Amazon too. I've only ever written one bad review - bad as in I gave it 1 star. In the main I don't leave 1-3 star reviews because I assume that it's just not a book for me. The one negative review I did write was for something that should never have been published. There were continuity issues, poor copyediting, unrealistic characters and plot, and the dialogue was stilted and unrealistic. There was little positive you could say about the book. I only finished it because I was on holiday and had little else with me to read. All the other reviews I give tend to be 4-5 star reviews because I'm selective in what I read. I look at the reviews other people leave and I find myself wondering why they written what they did. There are 1 star reviews where people comment that 'this jus...

No matter what I've done throughout my life, there's always someone to shout out about it only being possible to be this or that if you've suffered the dark night of the soul. Apparently, writing is no different. I can only be a writer if I have had a book published, and if I started writing before I hit my mid-30s. I've got news for you. I'm a writer. I'm not yet published. But then, that's my own fault because I've not made time to see a novel all the way through to its natural conclusion. And I'm way past 35, which again, I guess is my fault because I got older. And yet I am able to put words down on a page, I'm able to string together a sentence, and create paragraphs, and lo and behold there we are, I'm writing. If anyone has told you that you're not a writer I suggest you smile and wave, and do your own thing. I'll forever be thankful of 3 authors I met at a book event in Liverpool's Waterstones because they encourag...