This week, the publishing world lost one of its best and brightest… agent Carole Blake. Her sudden death was met in equal measure by shock and grief. A world without Carole was somehow unimaginable – even to those who imaginations light our lives every day through the pages of their books. How we will miss…
I had it brought home to me this week how totally we now rely on technology. My website went down. Yes this one, which I assume is back up or no one is reading this. With it went my main e-mail. It was down for more than two days. Actually – worse – it was…
Another year has passed – and what a great year it has been. Books, good friends, travel and more books. Thank you to all my friends and readers who have helped make this such a wonderful year. I love you all. I’ll be back in the new Year – ready to do it all again.…
Books aren’t like buses… they are sometimes red (not read of course – that would be a terrible pun), but they aren’t that big or noisy. Yet…. Like buses, you can wait ages for one, and then two will come at once. Not only that, they may also cause you to stop unexpectedly in your…
We have a new addition to the family… a lovely guitar – but not just any old guitar. This one was custom made and is very very special. It all started when webmaster John went to a folk festival without me. (That is always a mistake, she says, smiling.) John met a man who makes…
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams – W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) It’s a phrase quoted to me many years ago by a teacher – and I have never forgotten it. The imagery is beautiful. The words are musical. The sentiment profound. It’s wonderful. It’s poetry at its very best. I write very very bad poetry.…
I was going to blog this week about a big hole in the ground in Wales – but got diverted by the sad loss of Leonard Nimoy – universally known as Mr Spock. Spock was possibly my first great love – when I was about 11. Leonard Nimoy and the Star Trek creator Gene…
This week the RNA announced the shortlists for the Romantic Novel of the year awards. As the RNA website administrator, I spent a lot of time working with the shortlist images and uploading them for everyone to see. One thing that immediately struck me was the incredible diversity of the novels on that shortlist. Some…