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Past Time Books – a wonderful new website for all lovers of historical fiction!

Past Times Books is a wonderful new website for all lovers of historical fiction! If you like good stories, well told, set in the past, this site is a must for you! All books are available online – so not … Continue reading

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If words are the most powerful drug, why are we calling it a Slut Walk and not a We’ll Wear What We Want Walk?

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Rudyard Kipling. I know this is old news now, but do we really have to call it a “slut walk”? Kipling once compared words to drugs to describe the … Continue reading

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POTTERMORE – More Harry Potter? Yes, well no, well …

POTTERMORE I’ve just read about Pottermore in The Bookseller. It seems JKR has joined the ranks of online self publishers. What does this mean for us ordinary writers? If you are a bestselling author like JKR and can … “labour … Continue reading

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8 rules for writing fiction and fishing!

I was having a bit of a tidy up of my writing files and came across a very short story I wrote a few years ago, which was shortlisted for the inaugural “Fish” Very Short Story Prize. If you don’t … Continue reading

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An interview with a real murder detective!

Interview with Jim, York, Tuesday 24th May 2011 Jim is an ex-detective, who worked in the police for some considerable years. He very kindly gave up a couple of hours of his time to answer my random questions about being … Continue reading

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Booked! A Festival of Words 2011 and Lost in The Trossachs

West Dunbartonshire’s 11th annualBooked Festival – its very best yet!       Designed by Alasdair Gray   http://libraryonline.west-dunbarton.gov.uk:80/rooms/portal/page/Sirsi_HOME I was invited to talk at BOOKED! A Festival of Words book festival in West Dunbartonshire yesterday in a town called Alexandria. We drove from Edinburgh, … Continue reading

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One Detective Chief Inspector and One Dog (at a time)

And as you may know, or not, my guilty pleasure is crime fiction and I am writing a crime/detective thriller, the first novel in a series of five set in the Pacific, with Detective Inspector Louisa Townsend.  And as part of … Continue reading

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Help! Blame My Blog!

As you’ll have guessed I’m pretty much a newbie to blogging. To get an idea of what it is about, I’ve been browsing other writers’ blogs. OMG! Help! You bloggers are twittering and facebooking (and blogging, of course!) 24/7. When do … Continue reading

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Treblinka and Srebrenica

I had a lovely time at my author event at the central library on Thursday. The library people were so helpful and the audience so attentive. I met an ancient auntie, a cousin I didn’t know I had, lots of … Continue reading

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The Art of Writing Fiction – or not?

Got an email from a certain Julia Hall, publicity manager on behalf of Pearson Publishers, asking if I’d consider recommending a new creative writing book to our writingclasses.co.uk students, called the Art of Writing Fiction by Andrew Cowan (the Director … Continue reading

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