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 aContinueContinue reading “It’s easy to get a publisher, right?”
Tag Archives: abfinlayson
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 thingContinueContinue 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. SomewhereContinueContinue 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.ContinueContinue 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 calledContinueContinue 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 fictionContinueContinue reading “The Start”