2022 and all that: a review of my writing and publishing year

2022 has been quite a year – I think we can all agree on that. I’ve spent a fair portion of it with my jaw on the floor at what the government have got up to. However, that’s not what I’m here for. On to the review! It’s been an odd year, writing and publishing-wise.

NaNoWriMo: remembering the first time!

Do you NaNo? I haven’t this year, but I can still remember the first time. That makes it sound as if it was decades ago. It was actually in 2015 – but that seems like a VERY long time ago now! I’ve written so much since then… If you’re reading this and saying ‘Hang on,

Out of the blue: a new Halloween tale

I’m working on a new and unexpected story. I’m sure there are authors who schedule what they’re going to write when and actually stick to it, but I don’t seem to be one of them. You see, I went on a Heritage Open Day earlier this month. Well, I went on a few, but this

Swallowed a dictionary

This week I’ve been doing the final – I hope – proof on my middle-grade novel, Rich Girl, Poor Girl. At the same time, I’ve been writing down ‘tricky words’ to put in a glossary at the back of the book. That is, words I’m not sure a 9 to 11 year old would necessarily

Ambushed by a spam fritter!

So there I was, editing away at the children’s book I’ve drafted, and starting to think about what to write next.  The obvious contender is Maisie Frobisher book 5, and it would make sense to plot books 5 and 6 together and then crack on. Wouldn’t it?  But fate had other ideas… I’d been idly

Here we are again: new year goals…

This year seems to have gone both quickly and slowly. Somehow, the whole family has managed to stay Covid-free (I ought to cross my fingers but it’s quite hard to type at the same time). The kids are back in school, I’m back tutoring (in just one school this time), but my husband is still

It’s launch day: By The Book!

Another instalment in the Magical Bookshop series is out today! By The Book, book 4, is now available to buy in ebook and paperback on Amazon, and also available to read in Kindle Unlimited. I enjoyed writing this book very much. Not just because I always enjoy writing and this series is comparatively light, but also because this

A longer journey: embarking on a bigger book

Today’s blog is slightly different from the norm, as I’m embarking on something slightly bigger. I’m writing a bigger book. This probably doesn’t sound that big a deal, but to me it feels like one! So I thought I’d write about it, just in case anyone else: feels the same way is thinking about writing

It’s my publiversary! 10 thoughts on 5 years of self-publishing

Time flies when you’re having fun! I only realised this morning that today is the fifth anniversary of the date I published my first book, The Secret Notebook of Sherlock Holmes. I’ve done publiversary posts before, which you can find by searching for ‘publiversary’, but I felt that I probably ought to mark a half-decade

It’s that time again: new year goals…

Well, 2020 has been interesting, to say the least. What’s that saying about ‘may you live in interesting times’?  I reread last year’s ‘life goals’ post, and either I was unusually prescient, or I may be partly responsible for the mess that has been 2020. If so, I apologise. That said, I’m conscious that I’m