I’ve just finished reading a book. It’s one of those books that you read as an author and think: damn, why didn’t I write that? The answer, of course, is that you are a different person with a different outlook, different experiences, a different imagination. I write emotional, dark-themed family dramas. I’m fascinated by emotions…. Continue Reading
Welcoming a fellow writer…
When I first began writing the term self-publishing was almost a dirty word. But nowadays things have changed. Indie publishing just doesn’t carry the same negative connotations that it did a few years ago. E L James has made a fortune. Mel Sherratt is leading the Kindle bestselling chart with not just one book but… Continue Reading
World Book Day!
A day to celebrate books and the written word. A day to remember the excitement you feel when you pick up a book you know you’re going to adore, one of those books you can’t put down and at the same time dread finishing. World Book Day – aside from being the scourge of many… Continue Reading
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
2012 has been an amazing year for me. I’ve seen Sworn Secret on the shelves, seen it included in ‘Reads of 2012’ lists, become a regular guest panellist on local radio, developed a website, and given interviews. So exciting! After many years of writing, rejections, and a dogged refusal to give up, to see my… Continue Reading
Book-baby Two is Finally Born (Mother Surviving)
Yay! Back-flip! Whoop, whoop, I’m free! I’ve finished my book and handed it in for my Lovely Agent to have a read. A year of work and it’s done. (At least for the moment…I’m sure there will be plenty of change to make.) I actually wrote THE END. Hooray! That’s what I should be feeling… Continue Reading
Shalya
A week ago we had to have our beautiful dog, Shayla, put down. She was an Estrela Mountain Dog and huge at fifty-seven kilos, a bear of a dog. Sadly, she had problems from the off. Irresponsible breeding left a litter of four puppies with dreadful hip dysplasia, and at eight months old Shayla was… Continue Reading
Inspiration
Since publishing a book, one of the questions I’m asked most frequently is: ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ It’s an interesting question because, for most authors I think, the truth is the ideas are just, well, there. Constantly. Like rather irritating ghosts. I might wake up in the middle of the night with… Continue Reading
No More Page 3
Page 3. It’s alright, isn’t it? Bit of harmless fun, isn’t it? What’s the problem? I’m just a middle-aged feminist getting her granny-sized control pants in a twist because younger, slimmer girls choose to bare their gravity-defying boobs for the boys. Jealous because my once-were-passable boobs that have fed three children now hang around my… Continue Reading
Name Tags
We all like our children to come home with their uniform but – and such is the point of uniform – it all looks the same. Therefore, if you’re an excitable small child or a distracted teen, the chances of picking up something that doesn’t belong to you, when your mind is otherwise occupied with… Continue Reading
Born on the 4th September…
Last night was the launch of Sworn Secret at Goldsboro Books. My goodness what a great night! Goldsboro Books, owned and run by the marvellous David Headley, was the perfect place to hold it. Slap bang in the centre of London, a stone’s throw from Leicester Square, nestling between St Martin’s Lane and Charing Cross… Continue Reading