I can't watch what is happening in America. Here's why.

It’s a familiar setting. Another new year rolls around with its shiny promises of better things to come. First, you need to clear out the old to make way for this wonderful potential. I know clutter isn’t good for my mind. The clearer and tidier my house is, the more energised I feel and my thinking seems clearer. So, getting rid of stuff is a good thing. Win win, right? Except I have a problem. I find it hard to throw things away. Really hard. Now, I’m not talking about rubb

December 2025 saw the release of a new genre to me. Grave Concerns  is a cosy murder mystery set in the idyllic village of Myrtleberry Dell. Of course, because I’m a fantasy writer, it also has a fantasy twist to it, so, as one reader put it, Myrtleberry Dell is a cross between Midsommer and Hogsmeade. The idea to write a murder mystery came to me in 2023 when I considered doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I needed something contained, rather than an add on to m

It’s been a bad three months. I haven’t been as proactive as normal in promoting my books because of other commitments and real-life issues that have cropped up. All of which has led to tumbleweed being the only thing moving on my sales dashboard. It is very depressing. Facebook seems to have become a ghost town. Whether this is because no-one is posting, or FB’s ever-changing algorithms I don’t know. But the vast majority of posts I see are from groups I’ve never joined, peo

This month, we went on holiday to the Peak District. It’s a place I have always wanted to visit since watching Lizzie Bennet standing on...

We all want it. Not only for ourselves, but for those we love. Yet for many people, it seems to be as elusive as a unicorn. No matter how...

I imagine many people out there have sat in an English exam desperately searching for the allegories and hidden meaning in a piece of...

I had a picture in my head. A man is standing by my local stone bridge, his fingers woven through the chain link fence, peering into the...

I was out for coffee and cake with some friends today, and we got talking about books we read as children, especially for exams. I have...

It was Christmas 2016. I had been out of work for six months, and our finances were still looking good. I was approached by someone in my...

I am a great believer in giving to charity. I support several financially by standing order from my bank, but there are other ways of...

Since starting my writing journey in 2017, I have gradually added tools to my arsenal to help me grow and improve as both a writer and...

At some point in your writing career, you will come across this little nugget of wisdom. Attributed but not traced to Mark Twain, this...

Following on from my top ten books and films comes the next wonderful list! You’ve probably done this before. If you could invite...

The world is a mess. Headlines in the news and on social media scream of war, hatred, pain, and loss. Our children are fearful for the...

I love New Year. It’s a time when we can say goodbye to the past, whether it was filled with success and blessing, or failure and...

I am currently writing my next series, a quadrilogy based on Norse mythology. If everything goes to plan, the first book will be...

One of the themes many stories utilise is that of death, be it a well-deserved ending for an obnoxious villain, a tragic backstory for...

Like most of us, I have a love/hate relationship with social media. As a published author, I am expected to have several accounts,...

Today, I want to take some time to reflect on the big news stories of the past couple of weeks. People are up in arms about Algerian...