Blog

I don’t know where the days go! How can it be so long since I posted on my blog? I have been busy polishing my work in progress for a critique by the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) New Writers’ Scheme (NWS). I’m loving my garden this year, the flowers seem to have vivid colours. I… Continue reading ‘Meet my Main Character’ Blog Hop

  I’m giving myself a bravery award. Yesterday, together with two other scared ladies, I had a swimming lesson. Technically, I can swim. Too many years ago for me to admit, I gained my white stripe, one width of the pool, and blue stripe, one width on my front, one on my back and picked… Continue reading Bravery Award

Bernadette O’Dwyer invited me to contribute to this blog tour where writers share their writing process.  Bernadette is a member of the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme, an English teacher by day; an aspiring author by night. Currently writing her third novel, while her first and second novels wait patiently for an interested publisher, her weekly… Continue reading My Writing Process – Blog Tour

The editing of my second draft of Rock, Paper, Scissors is going well. I’m maybe not progressing as fast as I would like, but at least I am making progress. Now that I have taken out the plot points which made the story too complicated, the book is making more sense. These story ideas alone… Continue reading Bird Talk

No not the floods! Picture taken in Bewdley Worcestershire yesterday. I went on Miranda Dickinson’s Write Foxy workshop on 1 February. One of the things that stuck in my head was her remedy for feeling bogged down in your writing. She advises to write something completely mad. She writes about a wombat. I took her… Continue reading It’s Miranda Dickinson’s Fault.

I hear you saying – ‘You will one day for sure’. Seriously, I sit here in my study with an enormous amount of material – poems, short stories, plays, autobiographical material and at least eight novels. They are piled on my shelf awaiting completion and sending out to publishers, magazines, etc. As I don’t think… Continue reading What If I Die?

In 2013 I read a steady 2.73 books a month, which seems miraculous given the little time I give myself for reading. I rate the books I read – out of 5 for writing and 5 for plot – then I add them together and come up with a score. This year the books I… Continue reading My Favourite 16 books of 2013

I always find dressing the Christmas trees rather poignant and can often shed a few tears at the memories that surface. There are wonky silver bells which big son, now 25, bought home from nursery and similar foam ornaments made by little son, now 10. As I hang the fragile glass ornaments, I remember the… Continue reading Memory Trees

I went to the Festival of Romance in Bedford at the weekend. It was all arranged in a last minute rush when I discovered that I had been shortlisted for the festival’s new talent award. The shortlisting was for the first chapter of a novel and it just happened to be ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’, the… Continue reading Exciting Times

Where has this year gone? It will be the eleventh anniversary of our move to this house on Halloween. I was five months pregnant and didn’t feel well at all. I remember the removal men arriving and I told them I felt ill. They made me sit on a box in the middle of the… Continue reading That Time of Year Again