Firstly, I'm now part of the Goodreads Author Programme. I am blogging on here once a week but am also open to questions on its Q&A section. So if there is anything book/story/writing related you would like to ask, please head on over and send me some questions!
Secondly, Goodreads have author/book widgets for those writers on their programme, meaning you can link to reviews of my book, From Light to Dark and Back Again. Also listed on Goodreads is Alternative Renditions, an anthology by Bridge House Publishing, where the first thing I ever had appear in print, A Helping Hand, was published. I think it is quite a nice symmetry to have my first book and my first published story listed in this way. (What is also nice for me is my late mum, who so encouraged my love of books, got to see my first published story. My dad, who I lost earlier this year, got to see my first published book).
Thirdly, I am now taking part in more book related events and loving each and every one of them. The latest was a local Book Fair and my Chandler's Ford Today post this week is a report on this. There are plenty of pictures so it does give a good "flavour" of the event. All good fun and I very much hope there will be more Fairs like this. I hope to have more news of further events later on in the year.
As for character development, increasingly I am looking at what impact I want my characters to have on my readers. This is, I think, essential for flash fiction with its tight word count. The stories have to be character led so I am looking more closely at my characters' motivations and what they are prepared to do to achieve their wishes! I am also looking at how I want my characters to make the reader feel. Those two things together, I've found, are giving me a clearer picture of my characters in my head before I actually write them and are helping with the writing of the stories immensely.
Image Credit: The photos below are a mixture of those taken by me and my lovely Chandler's Ford Today editor, Janet Williams.