Tomorrow, 7th May, will be seventy-three years to the day since the incredible rescue of my Grandad Colin took place on the South Atlantic Sea, a rescue all the more profound because many years later it saved my small daughter’s life too. These events inspired my debut novel How to be Brave, a book IContinue reading “An Escape Route”
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Amanda Jennings, Mona Lisa, the Universe, and Fishfingers…
Today I’m excited to welcome a writer who’s currently taking the literary world by storm with her incredible third book, psychological thriller In Her Wake – the lovely, quirky, talented Amanda Jennings. Though until recently we’d only communicated via modern missive – Twitter, Facebook – her warm personality shone between the lines. And when we finallyContinue reading “Amanda Jennings, Mona Lisa, the Universe, and Fishfingers…”
Bloggers’ Perfect Books…
Book Bloggers can quite literally make or break writers – mostly they make them as they’re such a lovely lot. They often reveal – via their passion for all things literary – little gems of novels we’ve never heard of, great big fat magical debuts we’re curious about, and old favourites just when we needContinue reading “Bloggers’ Perfect Books…”
Finally, my ship…
Like main character Grandad Colin in 1943, How to be Brave is crossing the ocean today. I hope it fairs a bit better on its journey than he did. Right now, seventy-three years ago, he was about halfway through his lifeboat ordeal, with another month until rescue. Daffodils and lighter evenings were brightening home whileContinue reading “Finally, my ship…”
How I Got a Book Deal – Part Two
Last week I posted part one of How I Got a Book Deal, intending to give new writers an insight into how some of today’s fantastic authors got their novels published, and to hopefully encourage others not to give up. To show that the road will likely be long and full of rejection, but thatContinue reading “How I Got a Book Deal – Part Two”
How I Got a Book Deal – Part One
Before I finally got my book deal – I did it, did you know? – it was the one thing I googled and researched and asked about the most while working on my novels. How did other writers manage to acquire that elusive, golden prize of actually having a publisher say yes. Yes, they loveContinue reading “How I Got a Book Deal – Part One”
Bedtime stories, any time.
The last time most of us heard a story read aloud – reverently and slowly – it’s very likely we were children, and that it was bedtime, and that the storyteller was a parent. I’ve always found it curious that as children we’re read stories before bed. They always woke me, lifted me, rather thanContinue reading “Bedtime stories, any time.”
An Outstanding Debt
When I was fifteen I bet my mother ten pounds that I’d be published by the age of thirty. Ten pounds was quite a bit to me then. I felt like it was a fair deal, one where she’d have to pay me. After all, I’d always been a writer. I wrote stories in notepadsContinue reading “An Outstanding Debt”
Louise Beech/Louise Swanson 