#LeighRussell #BlogTour #DeadlyAlibi @noexitpress

DEADLY ALIBI, the latest in the DI Geraldine Steel Mystery Series by LEIGH RUSSELL is out on 25th May 2017 from No Exit Press. 

Two murder victims and a suspect whose alibi appears open to doubt.... Geraldine Steel is plunged into a double murder investigation which threatens not only her career, but her life. And then her previously unknown twin Helena turns up, with problems which are about to make Geraldine's life turn toxic in more ways than one!

I am thrilled to welcome Leigh to my blog today! Leigh has been to two of my author events in Harpenden and I'm always struck by how generous she is with her time, her advice and her support for all things bookish and writerly. As author of sixteen crime novels - which have sold over 1 million copies - and winner of several awards, she really is a fascinating person to talk to. Although I can't claim to have read all her 16 books, I can genuinely say that the several I have read, really are very good stories! 

Anyway, enough from me, let's get on with the guest post from Leigh! Thanks again Leigh for stopping off at Bibliomaniac as part of your Blog Tour for Deadly Alibi! 

LEIGH RUSSELL ON WRITING:

Two of the most useful pieces of advice concerning creative writing were penned by successful authors. William Faulkner's advice has never been bettered: 

“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.”

            By pure chance, this has mirrored my own experience, because I never set out to be a writer. When I was growing up, there were none of the courses in creative writing that proliferate nowadays. My childhood was spent lost in books - down the rabbit hole, through the back of the wardrobe, and later on marooned on an island with small boys reverting to savagery, and wandering the moors with Catherine Earnshaw. As a young adult I spent four years studying literature at university - more reading - and finally ended up teaching literature. In all that time, it never occurred to me to try my hand at writing fiction myself. Authors were mysterious people who lived, well, somewhere else, set apart from ordinary people.

            Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. Whether someone else leads you into a different world, or your own imagination creates a fictitious world for other readers, stories transport us away from our everyday lives and offer us a holiday from the pain, insecurity, and boredom, of reality. So I spent the best part of four decades reading avidly and then, one day, an idea struck me. I began to write it down and somehow the story took hold of me and I couldn't stop writing. It was an instant transformation, from avid reader to compulsive writer.

           

            Like reading, writing becomes all consuming. As Eugene Ionesco said, 'A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of writing or thinking about writing.' But teaching others how to write is a curious phenomenon, because the creative impulse drives us to produce something unique and original. William McIlvanney said on this subject, "All you can do is encourage writing. I don't think you can teach writing, but it's valid for people who want to write to have writers teach them. It depends on the writer but I think somebody who really feels a powerful compulsion should watch out about taking too much advice from anybody. You don't want to theorise it to death. Writing is ultimately an inexplicable compulsion. When I taught creative writing classes, I didn't tell people how to write. I encouraged them to write and to see that defying my advice was possibly as valuable as following it."

            This is absolutely right. There are numerous tips I can share with aspiring writers concerning the craft of writing, and I'm happy to do so whenever I'm invited to give creative writing master classes. But the most important advice anyone can give you is to trust yourself. You are the writer. There will always be others who wish to encourage or perhaps undermine you, people who want only to please you, or who would prefer you to write something different, or who believe they can write better than you. But if you don't have the urge to write your own story, there is little point in making the attempt. If you do have the 'creative itch', then you may find you have no choice but to dedicate your time to writing the story clamouring to be written. And once you discover the joy of writing, there is no going back.

Thank you so much Leigh! Great advice and inspiring quotes! I'm sure there will be a few of us reaching for pen and paper after reading this post! 

Don't forget to follow the other stops on the Blog Tour and check back over the ones you may have missed!

LEIGH RUSSELL 

After many years teaching English in secondary school, internationally bestselling author Leigh Russell now writes crime fiction full time. Published in English and in translation in Europe, her Geraldine Steel and Ian Peterson titles have appeared on many bestseller lists, including #1 on kindle. Leigh's work has been nominated for several major awards, including the CWA New Blood Dagger and CWA Dagger in the Library, and her Geraldine Steel and Ian Peterson series are in development for television with Avalon Television Ltd.

@LeighRussell

leighrussell.co.uk

And if you want to read my review of Deadly Alibi please click here

For more recommendations and reviews you can follow me on Twitter @KatherineSunde3