Tag: Writing

  • Taster: Pact of Silence

    It’s two more days until Pact of Silence hits the stores. We’ve had some lovely reviews from ARC readers and bloggers; huge thanks to you all. I know not everyone likes every book – I don’t either, but it’s always such a relief when those early reviews are good. So what’s it about, Pact of…

  • The Case of the Budgie in the Garden…

    When I was a small child, my parents were enthusiastic potato-growers. At least my father was, I’m not sure Mum was quite as passionate about it but she did her bit bravely. We lived in a cottage flat with a moderate chunk of garden, and the vegetable (ie potato) patch was pretty much in the…

  • Location: Bristol. With Maggie James.

    It’s a while since we’ve had a location guest post here, so I was really pleased when crime writer Maggie James agreed to do one for the publication of her new book, She’ll Never Tell. I’ve read the book (a really exciting family drama with a very unexpected ending), but the Bristol area is somewhere…

  • The #WritingLife, and summer in Switzerland…

    It hasn’t been one of those glorious sunshiney summers here in N.E. Switzerland. We’ve had good days, bad days and downright disgusting days. Our lake is very high, but thankfully we escaped the worst of the flooding other parts of Europe had. I’ll do a scenic photo post another time, but for today, here’s a…

  • Writing conversation during a pandemic…

    ‘Make your conversation real’, is one piece of general advice when you’re writing a book. ‘Don’t use conversation to dump information’ is another, and that one’s easy enough. Don’t write things like: ‘Do you remember how we visited your ninety-year-old but very robust grandmother yesterday, in the gorgeous new villa in Kent she bought last…

  • How (not) to make your first podcast…

    Hobeck Books are very clued up about all things audio. They put out a podcast every week, with book news and chat, and an interview with someone in the book world – one of their writers, cover designers, or others they’ve met during the years they’ve worked in various book and publishing jobs. So when…

  • A sneak peek inside Daria’s Daughter… #newbook

    I’m very excited about my new book, published next week by the lovely people at Hobeck Books. It’s set in my old home town, Glasgow, so today we’ll have a look at some of the places in the book, and I’ll share the first chapter with you too. Glasgow is a green and leafy place,…

  • Alison Gray and Peony Rose…

    Alison Gray is no stranger to my blog, so I was really pleased last week to hear she had released Peony Rose, the final instalment of her DS Abby Foulkes crime series. Getting this book finished is in itself a huge achievement, and it’s very fitting that it was published in the same week we…

  • New Book News – when fate lends a hand…

    It was sheer coincidence. A few weeks ago, I sat down at my pc one evening and opened up Facebook to see what was happening in the world according to my FB friends. First thing I saw was a post by writer Alison Morgan – she was bubbling over with enthusiasm about being signed by…

  • Google searches this week…

    The internet is a blessing when you’re writing a book. I often wonder how writers managed before the www was part of daily life. For your main research, it’s usually more helpful to go and look at whatever you need to know more about, or talk to an expert – I’m lucky to have a…