Last weekend was the Romantic Novelists Association conference – and as the associations webmistress (I really like the sound of that) and all round geek queen, I led a workshop on taking the technical terror out of giving talks. Authors give talks – and for people who spend most of their lives alone talking to…
They say you never forget your first – and in this case, my first first. I am talking about the first story I have written in the first person. Normally I’m a third kind of girl… that is to say all my books are written in the third person and from multiple viewpoints. But I…
Drum Roll Please… It’s here – the fourth book in my Coorah Creek series. Little Girl Lost takes us back to Coorah Creek, where we meet up with Sergeant Max, Trish at the pub, Dr Adam and Dan the park ranger… all our old friends. And there are some new faces in town too.…
My visit to the Aran islands (see last week’s blog) was all about knitting, but there were two more island groups I had to see while I was in Ireland. This time it was all about language and literature and puffins with light sabres. Both islands are uninhabited, but both have stories to tell. It…
As regular readers will know – I am a big fan of ruins. Give me a crumbling castle to explore, or an abandoned abbey, and I’m set for hours of enjoyment. I love the history of such places and like to wonder about the people who lived there. What I normally don’t expect is to…
This week has been all about covers for me… First of all there was the staggering news that not one but two of my books had received an Award of Excellence for their covers from the Colorado Romance Writers – a chapter of the Romance Writers of America. Of course, I hasten to point out…
In the heart of Shakespeare country last weekend, it was retreat time. This was the second Developing Your Novel retreat I’ve led with my writing mate and awesome tutor, Alison May. What a great weekend it was, sharing experiences and knowledge and ideas about writing with a group of like-minded folks. There was a certain…
This week I spent a lovely evening as a guest of She Voices – a group of women writers based in Richmond, in London. We gathered at the Tea Box for an evening of music and words with an added layer of cake, tea (and wine) and fellowship. I was struck by how important evenings…