Book Blest Festival
I am excited to be attending the Book Blest Festival in Stroud in early September and I am one of the authors speaking on the second day Saturday 7th September. Here is the Poster for more information. Do come along.
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 [...]
Readership v Royalties
Readers are vital to writers, who are in the business of communication. So writers should be wise enough, when writing their books, to keep the potential readers in mind, and to tell good stories that arouse their curiosity to keep [...]
A Day of Words
On 29th March, I was giving a talk about my book, Dear Magpies, at the Blandford Literary Festival's Day of Words. It took place in the Woodhouse Gardens Pavilion. My talk was entitled: From Dorset with Love, because the novel [...]
CoronaSpring
Spring 2020. We are living in strange times. Coronavirus, more deadly than any terrorist, has attacked our world and is undermining hope. People feel threatened, frightened, challenged. Our physical horizons are dwindling but our mental horizons are expanding - people are more aware [...]
Magpies took off a Month ago
So my book, my new novel, my fourth book, Dear Magpies, has been out for a month. It was published as a paperback by SilverWood Books on 18th November - and, it seems, people are reading it. Amazing! I've been running [...]
Book Launch in Sherborne
Two weeks tomorrow, on Thursday 21st November at 6.30pm for 7pm, I am having a Book Launch for my new book Dear Magpies, at Winstones Books in Cheap Street, Sherborne, DT9 3PX. I will be giving a talk about my [...]
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 [...]