Thinking About Fairy Tales

Karen Tucker Posted on by

I was lying half-awake this morning, as you do on a lazy Saturday, and thinking about fairy tales. Working with myths and legends recently, I’ve been looking into the deeper meaning and hidden teaching behind these ancient stories. Looking at the fairy tale is an obvious next step. A memory surfaced of a book I read many years ago – Beauty, by Sheri S Tepper. So I found the copy I bought from a charity shop and re-read the introductory page. I was both saddened and heartened, and resonated with what she said. It moved me so much that I … Continue reading →

Bardic Qualification

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Bardic Qualification Well, after a ridiculously long time, I’ve finally got around to writing another blog post.  My apologies for the delay!  The reason?  I’ve finally achieved a long-held ambition, and received my very own Bardic Qualification!  Only a few days ago, the coveted certificate dropped through the door, proving that senior people in the British Druid Order, having examined the fruits of my creativity, have deemed me worthy of the title of Bard.  Here’s the proof … I had the news a week or so prior to the certificate arriving, through the wonders of email, but to be honest, … Continue reading →

Journey Into the Unknown Book 1 Released

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‘Journey’ Book Release! Please accept my sincere apologies, folks, for the very long time I’ve been away from my blog.  Life gets in the way, then technology lets me down – and sometimes, I’m even actually writing!  I appreciate this is a long overdue update, and I thank you for your patience.  I hope you enjoy reading about my new book – Journey into the Unknown and Back Again (Book 1), first announced in this blog post. Yes, the spiritual novel I’ve been writing with my friend Joshua Shapiro, who’s based in Seattle, USA, is finally complete and available to … Continue reading →

New Series of Stories

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New Series of Stories As you will know, if you’ve been following my blog, I’m off to the Winchester Writers’ Festival in June.  While I’m there, I’ll have the chance to pitch two of my novels to literary agents.  In the last few weeks, therefore, I’ve been trying to get two of my children’s novels edited and ready to submit.  But one thing after another has kept me from working on them.  So last weekend, I decided it was time to start writing a new series of stories. Now, I realise this may make me look like a bit of a … Continue reading →

Free eBook

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Free eBook Well, I’ve been promising for some time that I was going to start a mailing list, so that my loyal readers can be kept informed of new writings, publications, appearances and events.  Finally, I can deliver on that promise.  And in return for signing up to my mailing list, you will get a free eBook! The short story you will receive on signing up was shortlisted for the Adult Fairy Story Competition by Writing Magazine some time ago.  Given the many different genres in which I write, I was unsure at first which story to give away, as I will have … Continue reading →

Pitch Opportunity

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Pitch Opportunity! As some of my readers may know, I will turn 50 this year.  As a treat to myself for making it to my half-century, I’ve spent some of my well-earned tax rebate on a trip to this year’s Winchester Writers’ Festival, with the emphasis on a pitch opportunity with two top agents. I plan to make a long weekend of it, with my fiancé.  I’m really looking forward to attending the fantasy workshop, but the crux of the event, for me, will be the two appointments I have with literary agents.  This is my chance to show someone … Continue reading →

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New Book Offering Online! At last, it’s arrived!  I’m delighted to announce that the website offering the new book, in monthly instalments, has finally been completed and is up and running.  Journey Into the Unknown and Back Again is the first in a three-book series of spiritual novels.  I’m writing them in collaboration with Joshua Shapiro, one of the Crystal Skull Explorers.     The story takes place in modern times, and we focus on the lives of a special couple who have long been engaged in spiritual work.  When the book opens, they are on one of their regular public tours … Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo Update – The Editing Stage

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NaNoWriMo – The Editing of Grail Maiden   So I’ve finished the first draft of Grail Maiden.  What now?  There are acres of advice out there for writers, and almost without exception, it insists that the best thing you can do for a manuscript once the first draft is complete is to stash it away for at least a month, before you begin the editing process.  No less a figurehead of the writing world than Stephen King has spoken emphatically on this subject, so who am I to disagree and go my own wilful way? OK, so it’s not quite a … Continue reading →

Done it! NaNoWriMo Challenge – Completed!

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Done it!  NaNoWriMo Challenge – Completed!   Well, by the skin of my teeth, as they say, I have finally managed to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing 50,000 words in the month of November! What a strange month it’s been.  I’ve been under the weather the whole month, with an infection that started in late October, and for several days I haven’t been well enough to write at all. Then there’s the fact that I’ve started THREE separate novels this month!  The first was a fuller version of one of the past lives that Cathy Heritage discovers in my novel, … Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo

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Writing for NaNoWriMo November’s Writing Challenge   Hello, and welcome to my new blog! In fact, this is a brand new website, which my partner and I have been working on for the last week or two. It’s much more interactive – you can sign up to receive notifications of new posts, and comment on posts, as well as contacting me direct, which was your only option before, unless you went to my Facebook page. As I’ve just started NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month – a marathon writing challenge), my posts this month may be frequent but short.  NaNoWriMo is … Continue reading →