Past Me is a bit of a nightmare!

I've mentioned my diary before. It's one of those 5-year ones which has just enough space for a tweet-length analysis of my day. Sometimes I love immersing myself in the events of the previous year or the year before that. Sometimes, I can't read them, because I know those entries contain painful memories. And sometimes, …

The story behind the story

As is the way when an author releases a new book, I've been scanning the early reviews of The Clock in My Mother's House. There are twelve on Goodreads at the moment, so it's easy to see when new ones appear - I'm not stalking reviewers or anything. Soon I'll forget all about them - …

Getting distracted, or the benefits of a to-do list

It's hot. Not, really hot, but UK hot. And I'm bothered. And I've got far too much running around my head - literally idea after idea is queueing up, waving their hands to grab my attention, and I don't have the time or the space to deal with them. Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com …

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 …

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 …

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 …

I’m still saying yes!

I'm sure I wrote a blog post years ago about the benefits of saying Yes. At the time it referred to replying quickly to an email from the Guardian asking a few questions about my Costa Short Story Prize shortlisting. Because I acted quickly, I was the only writer from the six-person list to be …

10 Things I Love About Being a Writer

Photo by Jacqueline Munguía on Unsplash I've recently found myself slowly falling into a bit of a negative mood. Some of you are probably feeling the same. Dreary February, combined with lockdown and uncertainty, a deep wish to return to work, and the feeling that I'm repeating myself in these posts 😉 So today I'm …

Lockdown 2 – Electric Boogaloo

It's Sunday morning, in my world (although you're reading this on Monday or maybe even later than that). Usually by now, I've got my post written and scheduled because I work on Monday mornings and it's one of the few things I'm organised about. This week has been manic, with seeing family, friends, work, my …

Holding my breath

Bear with me, because I have no idea what I'm going to write today. I know I want to write something - the whole point of returning to my blog was to do it regularly - but... oh my god, I did not sleep well last night. I watched 1:15 disappear into the darkness, and …