Category: Uncategorized

Around this time in December there’s quite a few ‘end of year’ book lists appearing on social media. Most are dedicated to those published in the last twelve months. However, my to-be-read-and/or-reviewed pile, which I reduced over the year and filled back up again, is filled with wonders from not just this year but from previous years too. In 2020 I managed to read 49 books from all age ranges and genres. Most of the children’s books I have read this year (picture books to young adult) are reviewed on My Book Corner but there are some that are still

Every November, the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) taps me on the shoulder and whispers ‘go on, you can do it’ in my ear. Over the MANY years I have tried to achieve the ‘just out of reach’ 50k word target, I fail. So for the past few Novembers I have been creating my own achievable targets instead. After a creative blow to the start of my year I finally started writing again. Slowly but surely the words came. I left myself little notes of encouragement in between the more lucid paragraphs. Things like ‘something scary needs to happen here’

There’s nothing quite like the excitement of a children’s book debut that finally arrives in your library ready to be borrowed or on the shelves of your local bookshop but what about those who have had their 2nd, 6th or 99th book published? Supporting creatives on social media, buying or borrowing their books and shouting about their stories when they’re launched into the world is something I like to do. There is no magic money tree to invest in most book launches so a link-nudge, a recommendation or an on-line review is what we, as word devourers, can do to

Many things have had to change this year and book festivals up and down the country are embracing the technological world to ensure the ‘show must go on’. Cymera, the UK’s only horror, fantasy and sci-fi writing festival, is one of them. I was delighted to be involved in this new approach to festival event chairing. Gone were the pre-event green room chats replaced with an introductory wave at my camera, a quick hello and introduction of the panel and the red Button of Destiny confirmed we were live and recording! As those who know me will confirm, I quite

Picture the scene. You’ve spent all day wrestling with a chapter in your latest story. You’re finally happy with the page turns, the way the characters interact and the scenes depicted. A moment of bliss, you say to yourself as you turn off your device. You smile as you get ready to turn in for the night, knowing that tomorrow brings with it a new chapter, a new reason for your character to eat marshmallows or whatever it is that makes them happy enough to embrace where you are taking them next. The lights go out and you begin to

If you’d asked me this time last year how I measure success, I probably would’ve said something along the lines of surviving my eldest turning 15, getting an agent and consequently going out on sub, preparing to chair events at the UK’s first ever Sci-fi, Fantasy and Horror Writing Festival and so many other literary happenings that filled my life. I was happy and finally achieving things on my bucket list that had previously seemed so far out of reach. Fast forward a year and so many things have changed. I don’t want to make this post about C-19 and