The Blue Mirror
Today I have finished my first children’s book, entitled The Blue Mirror. It has taken three months to write and it now has 12 chapters and over 17,000 words. It is aimed at 7 to12 year olds. I knew the [...]
Take a Leap
There are about 5 million people in the world who have their ‘real’ birthday every fourth year on 29th February. People born on 29 February are sometimes known as "leapers" or "leaplings." The odds of being born on a leap [...]
Dear Magpies
Creating a book and getting it out into the world is a little like having a baby - though it usually takes far longer. It grows more erratically and more slowly and its birth involves many people of different skills. [...]
One for Sorrow, Two for Joy
Magpies are magnificent. Distinctive by their black and white plumage, they are intelligent and inquisitive - and more superstitions surround magpies than any other wild bird. The most common one is that it is unlucky to see a lone magpie but two [...]
Slog through Snow, Blog into Spring.
This time last week it snowed. Snow can be a big problem for elderly isolated people and stranded motorists but I defy anyone, when they open the curtains on the first morning after snow has fallen, not to gasp with [...]
Role Reversal
A year ago I retired from a long-term part-time job, which gave me plenty of time for writing. I intended to transform my life and re-brand myself as a full-time professional writer. So why have I written so little and [...]
PEP Talk
It's been over 4 weeks since I finished my book. I felt elated even though I knew it was only the first draft. After 10 months and some 95,000 words, I needed a break from it, and decided not to [...]
Downhill Run
You need to put words on pages to make books. It's more about quality than quantity but you must have both. And it takes time and hard work. Right now I'm focused on writing a new novel - my fourth [...]
Winterborne Slepe
Winterborne Slepe is the name of an imaginary village in Dorset, where much of the action in my new book takes place. Whilst I was searching for an appropriate name, I drove through a small village in the eastern part [...]
Moving on to new Work
I woke up the other morning with a bunch of plot ideas in connection with my next book, a novel to be set in Dorset. In the earlier part of the year, I was doing research on the locations and [...]