Hello reading friends!

Welcome to another edition of Book Chat, a newsletter for readers and writers.

I realised the other day that although I’ve shared lots of content for readers; I haven’t included many links for writers, so this week I’m going to change that. Keep in mind that when I say writers, I mean anyone who writes. That includes emails and shopping lists.

Many people like to imagine that they’ll write a best-selling novel one day. It’s one of my favourite daydreams, even though I know success is always the result of hard work and determination, and that daydreaming will not get me there.

Like many people, I like to think that I could be successful by learning about the habits of other (more hard-working) authors, which is why I love this podcast.

I just finished reading Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. It’s funny and heartbreaking. I wrote about it on my blog.

I love it when writers share their favourite writing books, so here are some of mine.

The Power of Writing it Down by Allison Fallon This is a brilliant book for anyone who dreams of being a writer but doesn’t quite know where to start. It’s not a ‘how to’ guide on writing, it’s more of a self-help book for anyone who might need a little push in the right direction.

If you want to improve your writing, you can’t go past On Writing Well by William Zinsser.

It’s tempting to eat too much when you’re stuck at home with nothing to do (except housework which I hate) so I’ve been trying to entertain myself by making my lunch as pretty as possible.

My tip is to toast the walnuts. You can do them in a frypan if you watch them carefully, or use the oven. For an extra special treat, coat the nuts with a small amount of maple syrup before you bake them. It will make your lunch super-exotic.

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Thanks!