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Just over three years ago, I started a blog series on representation in writing—Writing Diversity. After the third post, my life turned into somewhat of a rollercoaster and, while the subject remained close to my heart, any thoughts on writing about it were put on the backburner.

Last December, when looking at my achievements of 2019 and pondering what I wanted to focus on in 2020, the topic of representation cried out for attention. And who am I to head that call?

After all, diversity is still a hot topic.

In previous posts, I’ve explained what representation is, how it works, and why it matters. I talked about the dangers of essentialism and tokenism. Today, I want to discuss another pitfall, something I’ve been calling exclusive inclusivity.Read More →

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New month, new interview!

Today, we are joined by prize-winning author Helena Halme. Helena writes contemporary fiction with a hint of both Nordic Noir and romance. She’s a former BBC journalist, bookseller, and magazine editor. Originally from Finland, where she gained an MSc in Marketing, Helena also holds an MA in Creative Writing. Helena acts as Nordic Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors and helps other writers publish and market their books.

Helena has published 12 fiction titles, including The English Heart, a best-selling Nordic romance, which won an Awesome Indies badge on publication. The bittersweet 1980s love story between a Finnish student and a British Navy officer is now a series of six books. Helena’s latest title, Book 2 in Love on the Island-series, An Island Christmas, came out November 2019.

Helena has also published two non-fiction titles, Write Your Story: Turn Your Life into Fiction in 10 Easy Steps, which we will be talking about today, and Write in Another Language in 10 Easy Steps.

Helena is addicted to Nordic Noir and dances to Abba songs when nobody’s watching.

Write Your Story: Turn Your Life into Fiction in 10 Easy Steps

Welcome, Helena! Please tell us, what is Write Your Story: Turn Your Life into Fiction in 10 Easy Steps about?

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When your inner critique makes all the sense…

…how do you keep going?

This past month, I’ve been working on my next tarot challenge—Speak Your Truth. As I was pondering the questions, the need to shake things up a bit during this challenge came over me. Great, right? I love it when inspiration suddenly strikes.

Unfortunately, those are also the moments that—for me at least—that nastly little voice inside my head pipes up and desperately tries to waylay whatever new idea is now buzzing in my brain.

As soon as my curiosity went ‘Yes, gut, let’s shake things up indeed!’, the following thoughts tried to take hostage of my mind, in this order:Read More →

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Failure is the mother of success, someone once said.

Yes, I’m all for giving credit where credit is due, but it looks like too many people have said it. And they’re all right. Failure is the mother of success.

There is no creative process without failure. You can’t innovate without making mistakes. It’s all trial and error, and hoping something eventually sticks.

But that’s not really how we do things these days, do we?Read More →

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Hiring an editor seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? You wrote some words, and now you need a professional to tell you what needs fixing.

You open a new tab, type in ‘Editor needed’, and hit ‘enter’. And that’s when it hits you.

  • There are an awful lot of editors out there,
  • who offer an awful lot of different things,
  • for wildly different rates.

I won’t go into the third one today, but the first two are partly related. One of the reasons there are an awful lot of editors out there is because editing is an umbrella term for different kinds and levels of editing.

That, however, is not what makes the process complicated. So, what does?Read More →