Blog: Mel's Muse

Online Book Club Questions: A Time To Live By George Pitcher

QUESTIONS How did reading the book either confirm or change your previous opinions about euthanasia / assisted dying? What, in your opinion, were the most persuasive arguments put by the author against...

Posted at 09:29am on 2nd August 2011

Dealing With Depression Caused By False Accusations

Photo: Desolation: An Empty Beach

In Dealing With Depression: An Author's Look At Life I stated that, as an author, writing is not what I do but who I am. I went on to say that while writing and publishing a book is quite beyond me at present because I'm battling...

Posted at 17:30pm on 15th July 2011

1 Comment

Dealing With Depression: An Author's Look At Life

Photo: Dandelions At Dusk

Forgive me, those of you who come regularly to An Author's Look At Life to learn about creative writing techniques and writing and publishing a book. I feel I've let you down, lately. The fact is that I'm at something of a crisis point in my life. ...

Posted at 15:41pm on 12th July 2011

2 Comments

How To Be A Writer Of Christian Fiction Books

Are you an established writer or aspiring author who is also a Christian? Is there a novel you want to write (or have written) for which you are unable to find a publisher? Do you enjoy reading mainstream fiction but find that Christian fiction books leave you cold? How does...

Posted at 15:50pm on 24th June 2011

Book Club Discussion Summary: Suite Francaise

Suite Française
by Irène Némirovsky

Born in Kiev in 1903, Irène Némirovsky, was a Jewess who, with her family, fled the Russian Revolution. She settled in France, married a Catholic, and became a best selling author. Her novel, Suite Française is a keenly observed portrayal of French manners and...

Posted at 17:16pm on 29th May 2011

2 Comments

Online Book Club Questions: Suite Francaise

Suite Française
by Irène Némirovsky

THESE QUESTIONS ARE PROVIDED FOR MEL'S ONLINE BOOK CLUB but may be reproduced - see below.
Discussion Summary will be posted shortly, when comments will be open for debate for six months.

How did you feel, generally, about the author's style...

Posted at 15:24pm on 27th May 2011

Breaking Writers Block - Two Tips

Revised: May 2011

There's no doubt about it, marketing a new book plays havoc with your writing schedule. I told myself, when my novel, A Painful Post Mortem, hit the bookshops, that I'd give my undivided attention to book signings, speaking engagements, writing and blogging until - well, until the end...

Posted at 11:32am on 2nd May 2011

English Grammar Explained To A Foreigner

Dear Mel, it's FP here.

I hope you had a good Easter. I know I did.

I wonder if you could please enlighten me about this thing that has been nagging me for quite some time now:

Is it "started" or "startled"?

For...

Posted at 21:15pm on 28th April 2011

2 Comments

God On Mute - The Problem Of Unanswered Prayers: Mel's Online Book Club

As book club questions were included in the book, I did not compile any for my real-time reading group, who met last week.

A book on unanswered prayer is never going to be an exhilarating read, but God On Mute, by Pete Greig, surpassed expectation for all but two of...

Posted at 14:31pm on 17th April 2011

2 Comments

Rights

I have just read a report in The Guardian newspaper which In 1993 I was commissioned by Hodder & Stoughton to write the posthumous story of a man named Phil Godfrey. Phil had been a research scientist in Geneva, where I went to meet his widow, an American whom he'd...

Posted at 08:07am on 12th April 2011

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