Sandra Harris Writes

  A BITTER WOMAN’S GUIDE TO WRITING. BY SANDRA HARRIS. 1.         Don’t bother with goals- you’ll never keep them anyway and you’ll only get depressed. 2.       Always wait for inspiration to strike before you write anything- there’s no point sitting staring at a blank screen twiddling your thumbs. Go on social media instead, see if inspiration strikes there. 3.       Don’t waste your time looking for writing ideas in nature or in observing other people. The ideas are already all in your own head- no outside input needed. 4.       Why bother reading anyone else’s books or writings? They’ll only confuse you and your own style will end up as an irritating hodge-podge of other people’s. Best to develop your own distinctive voice by staying away from other people’s. If you really must read something, try a celebrity magazine or, again, social media. 5.       Don’t waste your precious words on wh...

  A NIGHT IN WITH E.L. JAMES, BY SANDRA HARRIS. © I recently paid a couple of quid for the privilege of spending ‘a night in’ with billion-selling author and creator of the FIFTY SHADES OF GREY book and film trilogy, E.L. James, real name Erika Mitchell. In reality, this didn’t bestow an actual night with the author on me; it only gave me access to an hour-long conversation between E.L. James and former X FACTOR presenter Kate Thornton, but this was still really enjoyable and entertaining and well worth the couple-a bucks I spent on it. British writer E.L. James is the author I most admire. What she managed to achieve was quite simply phenomenal. I first heard of her in 2012, when suddenly everyone was talking about a book trilogy entitled FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. This was the first book; the other two were entitled FIFTY SHADES DARKER and FIFTY SHADES FREED . I was bemused to see that all three books seemed to materialise in the bookshops all at once. What gives, I wondered?...