We set out for Queens last weekend, to explore Flushing Meadows – knowing only that it had a zoo – and that’s where the US Open Tennis is played. Wow – were we in for a surprise. The Great Gatsby. Alien Spaceships. A giant see-through planet. The park is overflowing with marvels.
I’m not afraid of heights – honestly I’m not. I have a healthy respect for things I might fall off – chairs, ladders, horses… But heights… I’m fine… ish. I’m in Toronto this week – and the city has this tower…. It’s the world’s tallest tower. It’s very photogenic. There are two observation desks –…
After seeing my Russian cover last week, I started thinking about book covers, and how they vary from place to place. This was all the excuse I needed to spend a lovely couple of hours yesterday browsing in a bookshop (I didn’t spend too much money – honestly). These are my thoughts after a comparison…
This is the Russian cover for The Farmer Needs A Wife. I can’t read any of the Russian, of course, but it’s very exciting to see it.
I am in Miami this week – home of spectacular sunrises, a pretty good basketball team and THE red-haired hero. I speak of Horatio Caine – CSI Miami’s taciturn but oh-so-sexy hero – played by David Caruso. Horatio has risen above a great handicap to become a hero. His intelligence and strength, moral fibre and…
I’m building a town. Not a real town you understand – but the town where my next three books are going to be set. It’s a mining town in the Australian outback – and it’s going to be as much a character in these books as some of the people who live in it. The…
We went to the Bronx Zoo this weekend. There was still some snow on the ground – and it was pretty cold. It started snowing again soon after we arrived and I started to wonder if this was perhaps not the best day for a visit to the zoo. Then we spotted the lions.
I’m not much of a plotter. When I start a book, I have the characters firmly set in my head – but the plot is a different matter. I know broadly what I’m writing about – the journey my characters have to take – but the actual events… no idea! I tend to jump in…
Writing is a funny thing – sometimes I wake and up have 2,000 words written before lunch. Other days, I can’t seem to construct three consecutive sentences. Ideas are the same. Sometimes they tumble over each other in my head, sometimes there’s just an empty space where the ideas should be. When I first heard…
