#Amreading…

April 20, 2021

I appear not to have written a post on my reading since September last year! And that, my friends, is not a good thing.

In September of 2020, I remember saying it might be good, with my birthday and Christmas approaching, to receive book vouchers for my favourite stores. But no, it was not to be.

Instead, but just as appreciated, I received garden-nursery vouchers, which I have started to use this last week. Gardening for me is as much a passion as reading.

But also, summer came and I try never to go near the city during summer – a waste of my time, so I stay happily ensconced in our coastal garden by the sea. Which of course makes my Kindle and the all-important Amazon and Audible bookshops vital. Here, by the sea, where I can hear the waves and watch the seabirds, I have no need to drive into the city, park the car, walk through crowds to get to a bookshop. It’s all done with the click of fingers and buttons.

Casting…

April 7, 2021

When I write a novel, I always scan the screen for likely people to inspire my characters.

I will spend time watching their movements, how they speak, trying to pick up nuances that build brick upon brick.

So these are the faces/actors whose work helped me with Reliquary…

A city beseiged…

March 30, 2021

Recently I was offered an ARC of Paris in Ruins by MK Tod in return for an honest review.

Until now, my knowledge of MK Tod had been the most inspired surveys not just about historical fiction but about readers’ attitudes. In my opinion, her surveys are state of the art from year to year and required reading for any hist.fict author.

I hadn’t read any of her other work and had no idea of her creative style. I approached Paris in Ruins with some trepidation as it’s not a chosen timeframe and I may well have bypassed it on a shelf.

Simply, I would have missed a polished and well-contrived novel. What a beautifully written and well-framed and mounted drama.

End-of-season…

March 26, 2021

At the end of every season and with the beginning of a new one, I write a blogpost that’s a bit like a newsletter, of where things are up to for this #writer.

Waiting…

March 22, 2021

What does one do while one is waiting for the editor to do his thing on one’s latest book?

Well I can’t in all honesty begin a new book, because I might get crossed-wires and confuse character arcs. But I have done a little reading, future proofing, if you like – about the great heresies of the twelfth centuries which is background for the next book.

Once, some time ago, 22^nd December 2018 to be exact, I had a dream about a young illuminator monk.

Colourful, no?

March 14, 2021

And so, after a mammoth amount of time, I’ve finally finished writing my fourteenth book – Reliquary.

Seven of the those are historical fictions, a genre which is my first love.

SoS 27/02

February 27, 2021

Autumn supposedly begins here in the southern hemisphere on the first of March, but I’d venture that it actually began a couple of weeks ago. For a start after a pretty bad summer (grey skies, not much sun and warmth, rain and windy windy, all because of El Nina)…

SoS 5/2/21

February 6, 2021

Our big garden is tired and begging for autumn to arrive. We’re in the tail end of meshed weather systems today and the humidity is tropical. Rain is falling and the waves are crashing on the beach. The garden needs a good fertilise and for the windiest summer for ages to cease. Hopefully next week I can post on how it looks but in the meantime – on Thursday I was in the city and took some pics of our little Matchbox garden…

The end is nigh…

February 5, 2021

Yesterday, I looked at the word count of Reliquary, my current manuscript, and realised I had passed the 100,000 mark. I was surprised. It seemed only a short time ago that I watched 50,000 tick over and then time just slowed and it seemed no matter how often I wrote, the numbers barely changed. Some days, I would delete a page or a paragraph. And at one point, I accidentally opened the file at the very beginning and decided I wanted to hit the readers pretty hard from the get-go and so added a kind of prologue to set the scene.

I have still to get the editor’s approval on that one but it works for me…

SoS 15/1/21

January 16, 2021

Gosh, after a busy Christmas, a dry and hot week or so of the New Year and a tumultuous international affair, I’ve finally got back into my garden. We welcomed a full day of rain yesterday and showers today.

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Category: #amreading