This little planet of ours

It could have all been so different, couldn't it? We could have got along, we could have shared this beautiful home of ours and looked after it and listened to its needs. But we didn't. We came up with the idea that some people were better than others, that some should have more power than …

Research: the best and worst of it

My current WIP is accidentally historical. And current. And possibly a little bit into the future (but that's a whole other matter). I normally avoid writing about the past because I don't like research. Or, I do, but I get so involved I forget there's a book to write. But my character is 80, so …

Interview with… Jessica Bell

Today, I'm delighted to host The Boss, aka my publisher at Vine Leaves Press, Jessica Bell. Jessica is an award-winning author/poet, writing/publishing coach, graphic designer, and singer-songwriter who was born in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to having published a memoir, four novels, three poetry collections, and her bestselling Writing in a Nutshell series, she has been featured in a variety …

Cat and The Dreamer is 10 years old!

How time flies! I remember it when it was just a collection of sentences in a notebook, a random idea, a short story which I couldn't stop writing. And now look at it! If you're not familiar with my back catalogue, Cat & The Dreamer was the first book I had published. It was my …

Have you ever heard about time slips?

I just sat down to write a post, wrote it, scheduled it, and was feeling very proud of myself when I realised it was a post I was scheduling for next week, not today... 🤦‍♀️ So, here's today's post. A while ago now, my mum told me a story about how she'd been walking with …

The Business of Short Stories

Short stories are my first love - reading them, writing them, they contain so much in such a small space - they are the TARDIS of fiction. So when Shannon Lawrence asked for people to share her new release, The Business of Short Stories: Writing, Submitting, Publishing, and Marketing, I couldn't refuse. And then she asked …

Interview with… Apple Gidley

It's the third Monday of the month, which means it's author interview day. And today it's the turn of Apple Gidley. A nomadic life has seen Anglo-Australian Apple live in twelve countries as diverse as Papua New Guinea and Scotland, which is chronicled in her memoir, Expat Life Slice by Slice. Her roles have been …

Oh boy, I’ve messed up

What do I mean, you ask? Just look over there ➡ ➡➡➡➡➡ Yep, the sidebar widgets have done something silly. Well, actually, I did something silly to them without realising. And now I've got lines and random spaces and I don't know how to fix it just yet. Update: I think I've fixed it!

Happy New Year!

Random photos from my year! Are you making any New Year Resolutions? Some years I do, some years I don't. This year I have two, I think. The first is to not buy any new clothes (apart from gym kit or dire necessity like underwear). I had a sort out of my wardrobe a couple …

Merry Christmas, everyone

Another interesting year is coming to an end. I started it with three months of furlough, returned to work, finished a novel, published a novel (you might have heard?), had a lockdown-themed short story published (All the Magpies Come Out to Play @ Fairlight Books), worried I might lose my job, heard my job was …