I Suppose I Should Have Told You This Before…Mrs Finnegan Apologises
Mrs Finnegan, the celebrated housekeeper at The Regency Town House, has important news to impart but FEARS she may be too late.
No maybe about it. She should have told us last week…
Of Course I Write About Women – Remembering Alice Munro QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Remembering the Nobel Prize winning short story Alice Munro who died on 13 May 2024.
Paul Auster on Writing in the Third Person QUOTES FOR WRITERS
“…I was always drawn to books that doubled back on themselves…” Paul Auster on why he didn’t like third person narratives.
The Voice of a Novel – What it is and Why it is so Important Emma Darwin QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Readers respond to voice of a novel long before they know what kind of story they are reading. That’s why writers need to get it right…
Begin Again with Mrs Finnegan*
The most extraordinary housekeeper of her generation, Mrs Finnegan is about to write a book. But first, she tackles that age-old problem: what SHOULD you do when a biscuit drops into your tea?
Reading Allows ‘…People Long Dead to Talk Inside Our heads…’ Carl Sagan QUOTES FOR WRITERS
For 99 percent of the tenure of humans on earth, nobody could read or write. The great invention had not yet been made. Except for first hand experience, almost everything … Continue reading
How to Win at a Writing Competition without Claiming First Prize
Agents take notice of the results of writing competitions and competition organisers often have strong links with agents.
Writing is a Craft…Deirdre Madden QUOTES FOR WRITERS
I feel strongly that writing is more of an artisan activity than an intellectual one because you’re actually making something. I would feel closer to a basket maker, or a … Continue reading
Don’t be Ashamed of your TBR Book Pile – David Quammen QUOTES FOR WRITERS AND READERS
Of course anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime. A good book, resting unopened in its … Continue reading
Mrs Finnegan’s Almanac: A Celebration!
This Almanac is One Year Old! It was on the 28th day of March 1836 at 8 O’ clock in the morning that I picked up my quill and started … Continue reading
What Reading Teaches you – James Baldwin QUOTES FOR WRITERS (AND READERS)
You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented … Continue reading
Mrs Finnegan’s Almanac: Rainy Days and Daffodil Days.
I am not entirely sure what happiness is, but I think it must SMELL like Brighton on a daffodil morning when the wind blows from the south and it is … Continue reading
Fiction and Non-Fiction – the Difference Aminatta Forna QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Don DeLillo once quipped that a fiction writer starts with meaning and manufactures events to represent it; the writer of creative nonfiction starts with events, then derives meaning from them. … Continue reading
Mrs Finnegan’s Almanac: Ladies, get your red petticoats ready!
Proposing Two women are held responsible for the LEAP Year tradition that allows women to PROPOSE on February 29th. Queen Margaret of Scotland was said to have passed a law … Continue reading
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 