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Today I’m revealing the cover of my novel, Lyrics for the Loved Ones, which will be published on May 15th. As the novel is set mostly in a UK care home during the pandemic, I thought the anniversary of the first lockdown would be the perfect occasion to show off the gorgeous design.

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How did I do in 2022?

21/1/2023

Yeah, I know I’m late with this – most people have moved on from 2022. But I thought I’d do a quick recap of my reading and writing year. Although I didn’t achieve everything I’d set out to do, I think I did okay, especially with losing several potentially productive weeks to illness.

Publication

The year’s main achievement is the publication of my novella, Stolen Summers, the prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home. This didn’t only mean completing the manuscript and working through the edits, but also learning about self-publishing – which has put me in good stead for my next book.

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Friends can be found in the darkest places

1/10/2022

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Yay, it’s publication day for my novella Stolen Summers. Despite the unseen obstacles of my first self-publishing project, the book is on sale in both e-book and paperback formats and it’s already getting some fabulous reviews:

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Mental health and the tyranny of positivity

24/9/2022

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I’ve shed more tears than usual in the past few months. Shall I tell you what helped me most? It wasn’t reminders of the many good things in my life. It wasn’t unfounded assurances things would turn out fine. What helped most was a straightforward acknowledgement of my feelings and that I had every right to grieve.

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Feel free to judge my new book by its cover

15/9/2022

As mentioned in my previous post, things aren’t going swimmingly with my first novella and first book-length self-publishing project, my forthcoming novella, Stolen Summers, the prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home. But I still expect to be able to publish at the beginning of next month. So where else would I go with this week’s flash fiction challenge to write a 99-word story about balloons on a bumper?

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Publication, platform, promo: My reading and writing plans and aspirations for 2022

24/1/2022

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As with embarking on a novel project, so with setting goals for the year ahead: there’s a sweet spot between restraining oneself within an inflexible structure and leaving it all to chance. Now I’m clearer about how novels work, I’ve become a carefree planner – or is that an organised pantser? Now I know – in fact, I’ve always known – I’ll get some stuff done to progress my authorial career, I’m happy to set myself a mix of concrete goals and airy-fairy aspirations each January and review where they’ve got me at the end of the year. So here’s an overview of where I hope I’m heading; I feel I have a better chance of achieving some of my aims since I discovered, two days into the New Year, that toxic positivity is a thing.

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Out with the old, in with the new (once we’re all vaccinated, of course)

31/12/2020

See what I THOUGHT 2020 would bring

Adieu 2020, you won’t be missed! Although we won’t be fully done with you until we’ve all been vaccinated (and for we poor Remoaners, until we rejoin the EU). Nevertheless, our internal clocks insist it’s stocktaking season: the time to review our successes and failures, to measure ourselves against January’s goals. Starkly unblinkered this year, we gaze back at what seems the Age of Innocence, adjusting our aspirations for 2021. But however we’ve fared, since the pandemic makes staying alive an achievement, we can congratulate ourselves on arriving here.

Amid the lows and lows, I’ve made some progress with my reading, writing and promotion, with some positives that wouldn’t have happened without lockdown. Let’s have a closer look!

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My locked-up novel’s #lockdown #bookbirthday … and virtual choral singing

25/5/2020

The writer’s life is riddled with disappointment, so we need to celebrate the successes when we can. When I’ve remembered – which I haven’t always – I’ve marked the publication-day anniversary for my books. For my second novel’s third birthday this month, I had in mind to write something on the theme She never intended to write a thriller, echoing the opening line of the blurb: He never intended to be a jailer, but the universe knew better. (As it did on this novel’s first anniversary – I don’t know what happened to the second – when I was so moved by the warrior women of Ireland coming home to vote for reproductive rights, I threw the plan away and wrote about the importance of normalising abortion in fiction.) This year, I’m wondering about the parallels between a fictional character who seeks to resolve a relationship crisis by keeping a woman captive in a cellar, and our current experiences of lockdown.

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Unrecognised: Rabbits for Food & Miss Iceland

24/4/2020

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Is there discrimination against women writers? (Is there even more discrimination against older women writers?) Probably but, there being even worse things to get hung up about right now, I’ll gloss over the fact that these two novels about under-appreciated female writers – one in 1960s Iceland, the other in 21st-century New York – come from fairly successful female authors. With a couple of caveats, either or both would make great lockdown reads.

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Connected through music and literature: The Weight of a Piano & A Bookshop in Algiers

20/4/2020

If you’re reading through the lockdown, or listening to more music, you might be interested in these two books featuring dual narratives connected via an “instrument” of the arts. The second is a translated novella set in and around a real-life bookshop and publishing house; the first is about heartbreak compounded by the fear of letting go from a publisher who mostly does translations.

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Discovering interesting echoes of our current crisis as I edit my novel

5/4/2020

I desperately wanted my third novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, to be published this year. For one thing, I like the ring of 2020. For another, I’ve been working on it long enough. Begun with three character sketches in autumn 2014, I completed an 80,000 word first draft in January 2015 and, after various ups and downs, including ballooning to 130,000 words, had it ready for reader feedback three years later.

When Inspired Quill, who published my first three books couldn’t find space in this year’s schedule, I considered self-publishing, and, for a whole week in January was convinced I was going with a pricey but prestigious assisted self-publishing outfit until it became clear that, even setting aside printing costs, I’d lose money on Amazon sales unless I ratcheted up the price. Now, of course, with events cancelled for the next several weeks, I feel remarkably lucky to have finally signed with Inspired Quill for May 2021.

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A few things I’ve learnt through my first foray into self-publishing with a short story e-book freebie

15/2/2020

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Big round of applause, please people! The year’s still in its infancy and I’ve already achieved one of my aims for 2020. On the other hand, in terms of literary or commercial benefit, I’ve spent way too much time putting together my little e-book of short stories as a giveaway for subscribers to my newsletter. But, once I got going, I enjoyed most of the twists and turns of the journey, with even the hairpin bends and U-turns a chance to admire the view. As a small-press published inbetweenie author, I’ve always tried to stay abreast of what’s happening in self-publishing, but there’s a huge gap between reading about something and doing it yourself. Let’s see if I can consolidate my learning by describing the process and perhaps helping others to reach the destination without too many wrong turns.

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Appraising and reflecting on the old year’s authorial achievements and my aspirations for 2020

6/1/2020

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Having posted my analysis of last year’s reading on New Year’s Eve, I’m back now with my audit of 2019’s writing and other authorial activities. What were the highlights? How wide was the gap between my aspirations and what I actually achieved? Where will I focus my time and energy in 2020? This time last year, I shared my fantasy goals to become a celebrity, write a series and win a major prize as well six more realistic targets where I haven’t done a whole lot better. Come and help rub my nose in the dirt!

Did I bring my short story publication count to 100 by the end of the year?

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A Kindle Christmas catch-up of self-published and small-press fiction

3/1/2020

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While I can appreciate the convenience of e-readers, I much prefer reading in print. But I do have an unloved Kindle and the app I can use with my slightly-more-convenient touchscreen on my laptop. From time to time I download books and then forget to read them; this Christmas I thought I’d try and catch up. Read on for my mini reviews – and apologies for mentioning the C-word in January! I know that the modern Christmas begins at the end of November, so people are heartily sick of it well before New Year but, while I’m a confirmed humbugger, I stick to the old-fashioned notion that Christmas runs for twelve days ending January 6th.

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Do short stories sell? Discuss!

22/11/2019

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It’s a year since my short story collection was published, and I’ve really enjoyed having it out in the world. Not only does it look gorgeous, it’s been received more positively than I expected, although that might be down to the fact that my expectations were rather low. As I wrote in a prepublication guest post, Greater than the sum of its parts? Assembling a first short story collection, it wasn’t a long-standing ambition to produce a collection partly because, I assumed, short stories don’t sell. Although mine has sold in very low numbers, I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

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Guest Post: The Last Will of Sven Andersen by Geoff Le Pard

30/10/2019

Can it really been three years since I last hosted a post by Geoff Le Pard to contribute to the launch of his second novel? As you’ll see from the list at the end of this post, he’s published another six books since then. So this new one – currently available for pre-order – must be his ninth! As he reminds me in the piece below, he’s been making me laugh since our first meeting and this follow-up to his debut, Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle, is guaranteed to be a hoot. Let him tell you about it:

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Every picture paints a story

1/7/2019

Although I’m generally more articulate in words than visuals, sometimes the balance swings the other way. Still playing catch-up a busy week and weekend, and with a few things to share before I can fully embrace a new week and new month, I’ve gone for an image-heavy post today. First up, is the gorgeous cover of my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, about a woman who has kept her past identity secret for thirty years, which is battling with nine others on cover wars. If you can spare a moment, please follow the link and vote for the one you prefer.

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The trouble with writing book blurbs: can’t see the wood for the trees?

20/5/2019

Many authors struggle with the task of summarising a book-length project, whether it’s the one-page synopsis we need for submissions, the 10-second elevator pitch ready for the dreaded what’s-it-about question or the blurb to entice browsers at bookstores or online. How do you condense the twists and turns of a 300-page novel into such a small space? How do you tease out the key elements when you’ve lived with those characters for years? Sometimes, it’s impossible to see the wood for the trees.

Another pair of eyes can provide the necessary distance; likewise the passage of time. Almost four years on from the publication of my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, I’ve agreed with my publisher the blurb we worked so hard to perfect could be sharper. To get it right, we need your help.

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Now with more books than hands

30/11/2018

Out on the soggy trails near my home a couple of days ago, I fell into conversation with a man walking his dogs. Discovering he was a visitor to the area, I wished him better weather before he left. When he replied that there’s no life without rain, I was ready to play my part in a climate-change script. So I was surprised, and somewhat disappointed, when he said he’d tell me something that had been kept from people since the beginning of time.

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With gratitude on launch-day and beyond

23/11/2018

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While our American friends have been stuffing themselves with turkey, we can all take a moment to appreciate what we have. With my short story anthology published today, I’ve a lot to be thankful for, not only for the fact of being published – and read – in this difficult climate for authors, but for the support from the blogosphere in the run-up to the launch. In Monday’s post – Becoming Someone is coming to an armchair near you! – I shared the links to the first few stops on my blog tour; today I’m sharing a few more, along with a reminder of the party, where I’m putting my gratitude into action by donating to Book Aid International.

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Becoming Someone is coming to an armchair near you!

19/11/2018

I’ve been so busy with preparations, I’d forgotten how it feels when that first box of books arrives. So I was especially touched when the delivery man remembered bringing my debut more than three years ago. If a man who doesn’t even know me could connect with that excitement, surely I could too. If that weren’t enough to celebrate, this is my 700th post!

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Into the light

5/11/2018