Elaina James

My love of writing song lyrics wasn’t the only secret I’d been keeping. I had notebooks filled with ideas for new characters and plots, partially started short stories and even an entire draft of a novel. Around the same time that I entered the UK Songwriting Contest, I also entered a short story contest. When the results were announced I found I had to keep reading them just to convince myself that I hadn't imagined it and that my name really was listed as the winner. Reaching the semi-finals of the UK Songwriting Contest gave me hope that my lyrics had potential, winning the short story contest inspired me to be brave and do something I’d only ever dreamed about. I signed up for a creative writing class.   Now I know in theory attending a course shouldn’t be something that requires courage. I’ve attended many courses over the years, however they were always work related. Well, apart from my brief attempt to learn Spanish, which is probably best forgotten, just like my Spani

Today I'm delighted to welcome friend and author M W Arnold to the blog. I’d never dreamt about becoming an author. Certainly, I’d had many dreams, most of which never came true, but I’d certainly never considered even writing a book. Back when I was in the Royal Air Force, I went all over the world and read plenty of books during my travels, mostly Star Trek and fantasy, but predominantly, Terry Pratchett. I can still not get enough of this much missed man and author and even now, picking up one of his books will be enough to put a smile on my face. The most I’d ever put to paper was when I was writing a report at work, or filling out a travel claim. I suppose various ideas for stories did pop into my head, but obviously nothing which was enough to ignite a spark of creativity. Nothing much changed, even when I left the RAF and took the plunge into civvie-street, though Mr Pratchett was always there to comfort me. Then, I think it was around 2013, I read a book which I was asked t