Things are happening, folks! First of all, the countdown to the book release is on. At the time of writing, there are 149 days left! I also had an exceptionally cool meeting with my amazing editor yesterday but I can't really dish the goss on that one yet other than to say she is a … Continue reading A spanking new website!
Category: A. Crazy World
Judge a book by its cover!
It has no doubt become abundantly clear to anyone who saved this website (and there are a few of you - sorry) that I'm absolutely rubbish at keeping it updated. Well, here's one for you... The Book and the Blade has a cover! Remember, beautiful people... sharing is caring
That was some year! (written in June 2021)
It has been just over a year since I woke up one morning to an email from some lovely people in The States who told me they wanted to publish my little book. A year! 2020. Nothing much happened there, right? Just an ordinary, boring, humdrum kind of year. So I thought I'd let you … Continue reading That was some year! (written in June 2021)
It’s easy to get a publisher, right?
It turns out I keep this online diary almost as consistently as I keep my personal diary, i.e. hardly ever. This is quite normal for me. I seem to work in flurries of madness separated by long periods of nothing. Well, I say nothing, but the old noggin is always ticking over. It's like a … Continue reading It’s easy to get a publisher, right?
Before The Book and the Blade
I wrote six books before I started work on The Book and the Blade. They were not great. One, two and three were terrible in fact. Four showed some small promise but floundered (drowned) in the middle. Five was a present for my kids that I'm still happy with, and six was a silly thing … Continue reading Before The Book and the Blade
Where have you been?
Years ago I ploughed my way through Frank McCourt's books because one of my students was reading Angela's Ashes and raving about it in class, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I read the same book, loved it, and decided to read everything else he had written as well. Somewhere … Continue reading Where have you been?
Halloween Hearth Stories 2020
I wrote a thing for the Halloween Hearth Stories hosted by Parliament House Press. This weekend and next they are publishing a selection of creepy/spooky/Halloweeny short stories from some of their authors (that's me, Mum!) and my story is online now for you to have a gander at. I'll come clean, I cheated a bit. … Continue reading Halloween Hearth Stories 2020
The Idea
I had the idea for The Book and the Blade nearly 20 years ago and it hurts me to write that! When I was 18 I started University in York and one of the drawcards for the city was the rumoured 365 pubs... one for every day of the year. There's a famous street called … Continue reading The Idea
The Start
In the beginning... 31/1/19 I started writing the York ghost story last night... finally! I'm not entirely convinced by the tone yet and it's a bit cliched but I'm happy I've started. The characters are taking shape and I have an idea of where the story is heading. It feels so good to write fiction … Continue reading The Start