It is amazing where music will lead you. In this case – to a shotgun shack in the Appalachian Mountains and an art deco railway carriage in Chattanooga. Recently we went to a gig by US folk artist Diana Jones. She sings songs of Appalachia. Mine disasters, murders – cheerful stuff. She’s very good…
I read the other day that the BBC is about to do a remake of the Clangers. For those of you who did not grow up in the UK in the late 60’s – the Clangers are small pink knitted aliens who live on – or rather mostly inside – a very small planet…
I am sure I am not alone in hating the words ‘author photo’. We all need them – for our websites and blogs and other promo work – and to put in our books. The problem is, these photos never go away. They stay out there forever. And it’s just horrible hearing a whisper…
Or… how I went to Ally Pally and nearly lost my mind. Regular readers will know that some time ago I took up knitting. I’m not that good at it – but I really like it. So – a friend told me about this Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. I must…
After my rant last week about spoilers in book reviews – I thought it was probably time I did some reviews here… and I promise – not a spoiler in sight…. I’ll start with one of the most surprising (and biggest) books I’ve read recently… Stephen King 11/22/63 We’ve all heard the question posed…
I tried so hard not to find out who the new Dr Who is going to be. I really did. I avoided websites and FB and twitter – but alas, to no avail. So now I know and I hate that I know. I hate spoilers. And have suddenly developed an overwhelming fear – that…
Does size matter? Writers are a bit obsessed by numbers. I’m not talking about sales figures for our books (although we can get pretty obsessive about those too). Get more than one author in a room and within a couple of minutes someone is going to mention “word count”. Word counts haunt our dreams…
Authors are terribly insecure creatures. Seriously. It could almost be the dictionary definition – Author (noun): strange person who talks to imaginary people in their head. Also a heaving mass of doubt and uncertainty. Past successes, great reader reviews for my earlier books and even fan letters don’t help when I send a new book…
I always try to keep my promises. Back in May when I told you about my next novel Flight To Coorah Creek, I said there might be a small treat in store for you before its publication. Well, the book is out in March – but you get that small treat now. It’s a…
