I'm delighted to announce that two of my flash stories are being broadcast as part of the Sharp Things series on the excellent RethinkDaily podcast, the first, Egged On, tomorrow (July 1st) - it is actually up there already (it's the second story). It sounds great, read by an actress, she did a great job!

Click here to visit the site. You can listen there or download it like a regular podcast, through iTunes or whatever.


Read Full Post

Well, gosh. Across the pond, Maloney's Law (see full post for links) has now been sent to the printers so all I'm waiting for at this point is (a) publication and (b) to hold a copy in my hot little hand. Double gosh. Goodness me, how English my emotional response is. Inside however, I'm screaming and hanging out the bunting. I'm hoping that Maloney will sell more copies than my other books have but, most of all, I'm hoping readers will get something out of it. I know I certainly do, no matter how many times I read it through ...

Read Full Post

I wrote over 2,000 words of conflict today, prefacing the final scene in the novel. I've had what I hope is a great idea for this final scene but it breaks all the rules and will require some serious skill to pull it off. I may find it defeats me in the execution. If it works, it will become part of the trademark "feel" for the whole series, so I'm excited and nervous in equal measure. I'm trying to follow at least one Golden Rule which is to Write It and not just Talk About Writing It.

Read Full Post

I had great plans today to go into Godalming to wander around the French market and pop into Waterstone's with my book vouchers - but in the end, I really felt too exhausted to bother. Time of the month, you know, dammit.

Still, at least it's meant I've updated my website with the pleasing news that The Bones of Summer (please see full post for all links in this paragraph!) was shortlisted in the Writers' Conference Novel competition. Hurrah! Which is lovely but strange - The Gifting was shortlisted last year (and Donna from Piatkus Press, who judged the competition, also asked to see the start of that one - but so far the agent hasn't yet sent it to her ...) and now it's Bones' turn. And that in the face of the fact that Piatkus publish neither fantasy nor gay crime. Most odd. Still, nice to know I'm reaching a readership that ... um ... doesn't really want me. Heck, in publisher terms, I should be used to that though ...


Read Full Post

Have finished the final edit of Maloney's Law this morning and sent it back to the lovely people at PD Publishing. I only found 5 mistakes, so that's fabulous. And, bloody hell, but certain passages especially later on in the novel still make me cry. And I wrote the bloody thing - not to mention having read it through about a dozen times in the last few months! I'm not sure I'll ever write anything as emotionally strong as that again. It packs a punch for sure. And probably, in essence, says a whole lot more about my family than I'd realised. In its fashion. Now there's something for the reader to chew on ...


Read Full Post

Irene, Jennifer and I have spent most of the day selling Goldenford books at the Annual Writers' Conference today. And what a good time we've had! So far it's proving to be the best Writers' Conference ever, in terms of conversations held with people and even books sold. Well gosh! Amongst the rather respectable sales we've done, I even managed to sell two copies of Thorn in the Flesh and two copies of A Dangerous Man. Hurrah! That's pretty good going for me. I now only have 2 ADM first editions left so will be moving on soon to attempting to sell some of my 2nd edition stock. Double gosh. I almost feel like an author, you know. Hell, it can't last ...


Read Full Post

Once, I would have persisted, pussy-footed around and been grateful for any crumbs of help that came my way. Being paid to put up with it made a difference, I suppose. Now, I think of D. and just decline. I've emailed to say they need some-one within the organisation who knows the ''protocol and personnel' better than I do and I'll be sure to be in touch should I reconsider.

All this declining is very liberating. I wish I'd thought of it before.


Read Full Post

I had lunch the other day with a couple of writer-friends. They both did the MA in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths, of which I feel an honorary member since I get to sit in on some of the visiting authors' seminars and workshops, and one way and another you might say we're at the academic end of the writing trade: by definition we're writers who like talking and thinking about writing. But did we talk about the death of the novel, or the joys and sorrows of the writing process, or great writers we admire? Not very much: for the most part we talked about agents. And editors. And publishers. And agents again. Actors are just the same, I assume artists are too, and it's all contrary to what the more starry-eyed reader/audience-member/gallery-goer would like to believe. In between negotiating the minefield of talking honestly about my experience of agents and publishers without sounding infuriatingly lucky, I've been wondering why.

It's true that agents and editors are the gatekeepers: if you want more than half a dozen people to read your novel, you need an agent, to get you an editor, to get your work out there.

Read Full Post

Breaking news for Surrey residents! The long-awaited adaptation of Louise Rennison's novel, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (well, we've been long-awaiting it, that's for sure!), directed by the fabulous Gurinder Chadha and due for general release in the UK from 25th July 2008, is having an extra-special screening.

See it first on Sunday 13 July 2008 at 2pm at the Empire Cinema, St Nicholas Centre, St Nicholas Way, Sutton SM1 1AZ. Sutton station is only 7 minutes' walk away. Tickets are £10 and all proceeds are in aid of The Mayor of Sutton's charity: The Royal Marsden Hospital, Children's and Adolescent Unit, Sutton.

Read Full Post