‘The worst floods in a thousand years …’ ‘… biblical proportions …’ My heart goes out to those poor souls in areas devastated by the torrential rains of the last week. Lives lost, livelihoods in tatters, cherished possessions washed away, homes not only uninhabitable but uninsurable, unsellable … misery writ large. Puts the inconvenience of [...]
How’s your mental stability this week? Mine’s been seriously under scrutiny, I can tell you. It’s all this reading. And not just any old reading; almost all of it novels that feature Alzheimer’s – otherwise known as ‘the competition’. Day after day, night after night. Mammoth stints, made possible by lots of knitting. I don’t [...]
The subject of suicide (assisted or otherwise) just won’t – pardon the pun – lie down and die. Even in a week where I’ve discovered internet sites devoted to book reviews, (eg. www.dovegreyreader.co.uk and www.meandmybigmouth.typepad.com) had a phonecall out of the blue from Angela Rippon’s agent, and had a big breakthrough for the next book, [...]
Wahey!! Good news to report this week. The cover for my next book, Remember Remember, has been designed. And I love it. Just in passing I should say that I’m extremely fortunate in having a publisher who believes in the author having a say in production. They don’t all. It’s a jaded aphorism: ‘Never judge [...]
I’m always on the alert for authors and books with something to tell me for my own writing, so when I saw a session at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this week with two authors discussing my sort of themes, I thought: Ahhah, double whammy; this one’s definitely for me. The two books were Samantha [...]
One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is: What’s the next book about? Now, I’m well aware that might stem from a will-it-be-a-more-cheerful-subject hope-over- experience base. But for those of you who’re genuinely interested in life’s dilemmas, I’ll answer the question from a factual perspective. There are two more manuscripts already written and with [...]