Category: General Blog

There has to be a psychological term for what authors suffer from. All those months that trail into years of writing a novel, re-writing, editing, altering, changing – and finally the finished article, the published bound edition is to hand. And, unpacking that first box of books, sifting the copies from their layers of protective...

And yes, it really is 40 years ago. For anyone of at least 55 or so, that’s quite a startling thought. For whilst it may not feel quite like yesterday, memories are surely so sharp and acute for the era of the 1980s. For it really was a turning point in so many ways. Which...

And here it is again, our Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness. Our time of sodden paths and leaf-strewn parks and a determined putting away of the flip flops and sliders and a seeking out of boots that need heeling and a glove that has apparently lost its partner over the summer. And we embrace...

My fourth novel, The Odyssey of Lily Page, began life in 2020 immediately after I had finished Miller Street SW22, ahead of its publication in early 2021. Yes, I write slowly. The rest of living, getting, spending etc so often get in the way and even after the last sentence is finished, numerous re-writes, edits,...

At what age are we when we start wondering, What if …? At which particular stage of life have we reached when we begin to consider, in a musing, abstruse kind of way, Supposing I had taken that job. Or supposing I’d accepted that invitation to that particular party Or supposing I’d not noticed that...

Which is, exactly, where? For the past weeks of July and August, I have been reading. And writing. And staring at spectacular sunsets and casting my eyes over the valley of a Cretan village. And marveling at mountains, their limestone shifting from pink to grey as the reliable sun rises every morning. It’s surprising that...

Knee-deep in research, obsessed and fascinated by everything I can source about the Home Front in WW2 and other matters relating to my new novel, I know it is time to start writing it. After all, only a smidgen of what I am reading about will eventually find its way into the book. There is...

This is the question that is unfailingly asked by potential customers every time I go to a book or craft fair to sell my novels. It’s also the question that is always asked at the end of a talk that I might give about writing and publishing. But where do you get your ideas from?...

There’s a vacuum when a novel is finished, manuscript dispatched to publisher, synopsis, book blurb and AI (advanced information that goes out to bookshops et al) all written. It’s a kind of empty nest feeling – and I’ve been experiencing that restlessness when there is no clear reason to sit down in front of the...

Every author will tell you – I imagine – that the worst part of writing a novel is not actually writing it. Or researching it. Or editing it. Oh no. All these are delights. Frustrating, time-consuming, near blood-letting events – but nevertheless overwhelmingly satisfying. And – yes, well …delightful. It’s once the novel is finished...