Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’m currently looking for some daffodils; four bunches in particular. These ones. I saw them the morning my mum jumped from the Humber Bridge. I stopped to take a photograph and then got the shocking news and forgot about the image for a whole month. But today they’re still sleeping. On my walk along theContinue reading “Looking for the daffodils…”

I typed and retyped the first line of this about a hundred times, the way I usually do with my novels. Where to start? With a book, it’s not always at the beginning, but usually at the most interesting point. What a week. I was very sad at the election results. I still am. SadContinue reading “This is how we are humans”

I was nineteen and in the second year of my A levels when I found out I was pregnant. To say it was a surprise, would be an understatement. My boyfriend of two years – a soldier who was frequently away – was equally surprised, but initially supportive. I decided – in the iconic wordsContinue reading “How I Became A Single Parent …”

They say you should challenge yourself. Stretch yourself. Do things that scare the bejesus out of you. I don’t know who they are, but in the last three weeks I’ve done three things that scared the bejesus out of me – four if you include having to cut my mother’s toenails – and one thatContinue reading “How To Be Scared…”

I’m endlessly fascinated by other writers’ processes; by how the story forms for them, by whether they plot or don’t, by whether they know where they’re going when they set off. But then I also love the idea of this process being a total mystery and I don’t want to ruin the fantasy that someContinue reading “Finding The Story By Writing It”

One of the huge highlights of having a new book out is the blog tour – or perhaps that should be #blogtour since these things can go viral, and are all about social media. With most people’s lives being lived online today, it’s the perfect way to share the #booklove. But these tours involve aContinue reading “The Beauty of #BlogTours”

On the morning I took this beautiful picture I was walking along the river. It was exactly two months ago today. I went for a walk that I regularly take, hiking along the banks of the river, passing underneath the Humber Bridge, and then weaving through the leafy country park. But because of a parcelContinue reading “Daffodils”

Since I’ve seen some writers creating many a Ten Things About Writing list – from what you should and shouldn’t write about, to where you and shouldn’t have been, to what you need to have experienced, seen, studied etc – I thought I’d have a go at mine. So, for your enjoyment, scattered with someContinue reading “My Ten Rules Of Writing”

Amazon Should Do Zero Stars Just no. Mediocre. Just no. Too much of a stretch. I really did my best. I should have stopped at 30%. Should never have reached the end. I wouldn’t have missed much. Amazon should do zero stars. Colin and Ken bored me to tears. To tears. It could have beenContinue reading “Amazon Should Do Zero Stars”

And The Swans Began to Sing by Thora Karitas Arnadottir In this gorgeous creative nonfiction, Thora Karitas Arnadottir writes with aching beauty, gentle simplicity, and raw truth about her mother, Gudbjorg Thorisdottir. About the appalling abuse she endured at the hands of her grandpa. About how she spent half of her life trying to forgetContinue reading “And The Swans Began To Sing – Blog Tour”