Cover Story

Having been hanging round with various writerly types for over 10 years now, I’ve heard my fair share of stories about book covers going wrong, or it taking an absolute age to find a design which both author and publisher…

Best value £9.50 I’ve spent this year

I’ve just got home from Abergavenny Writing Festival It’s a new event this year, and it’s a good one! Most writing-focused events I’ve been to have been ticketed for the whole event, which is great because of the atmosphere you…

*That* story of mine from Brighton

At the 2012 UK Meet, held in Brighton, the opening session was “Novel Openings”, where writers from a number of sub-genres read out the opening (first 150 words – at least that’s what the guidelines said!) to one of their…

Another world, a lifetime ago…

Something I’ve often told people about myself, but rarely explained its significance, is that I spent two summers working as a crew-girl on a hotel narrowboat pair. For anyone who needs a translation, that means I spent two summers travelling…

A Small Celebration

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got as absolutely as far as I could on my own with my WW2 story “Under Leaden Skies”. After a last check through, I sent it off to the publisher I pitched it…

How to Make a Christmas Wreath (my way)

I had to prune a few branches out of the Christmas tree, in order to make space for baubles to hang from rather than just sit on branches. “You could make a wreath for the front door from them,” husband…

Mince Pie Sunday (ish)

In less than an hour it will officially be Advent, as the 1st Sunday of Advent falls in November this year, and in our family (as with several other families), means the start of mince pie eating season. Hence calling…

Settings, I think I hate them right now

I’m considering choosing which story to write next based on how many different places the tale takes place in. Having spent arggh-many hours finding out, reading up on, looking at pictures of, and in some cases visiting, all the different…

Perspective

The Wales Rally GB were around near our village last week. It doesn’t usually affect me as I tend to stick to the main roads once winter weather starts coming in but this year it co-incided with a week when…

Different kinds of stories

I’ve been thinking a bit recently about my reasons for writing stories, and realised it can’t ever be pinned down because each story has its own reason for me writing it. Some stories are about exploring a mood, some stem…