The Past is Another Country
I have a guilty pleasure. I love research. If I had my way, I’d spend all day poking around in libraries, exploring significant locations, sampling local dishes or getting lost
On Writing
Why Salt?
The condiment we consider an everyday feature of the kitchen table was not always as accessible as it is today.
The Truth is in There
Creativity takes a lot out of us. A lot of what? I think Neil Gaiman says this best. Everything we encounter, every random thought, snatch of conversation, idea provoked by news story or strange juxtaposition of scent and colour goes onto the compost heap. None of these are fully formed stories, but ferment and cohere until that rich soil is ready to sprout something new.
In Praise of Readers
As every year, I start January full of good intentions. Some will stick, some won't and that's OK. One of the stickers will be my hardy perennial: to improve as a
Two countries separated by a common language
When I first started out as an author, I joined various critique sites to get feedback on how I could improve. It was a bruising but educational experience. One of things that frustrated me was the number of times people found ‘typos’ in my work, which weren’t typos at all, but the UK spelling of ‘traveller’, ‘dialogue’ or ‘theatre’.
“I mis-spoke.”
Should writers approach language as an untouchable set of rules, regarding idioms and phrases as sacrosanct? For me, the fabulous set of tools we are granted as English speakers is a gift. Our literature and conversation would be poorer without the creativity and inventiveness of those who stretch its elasticity.
Black Dogs, Yellow Butterflies, Royal Weddings
The Beatrice Stubbs Prequel - Black Dogs, Yellow Butterflies - is out next month. But given today's events, it seems the right time to give you a taste of the
My Writing Life (because that makes it sound better)
I’m onto the last chapter. I’m so very nearly almost there! My back is giving me bother so I write up until a natural break and go do my yoga. Breathing,
International Women’s Day!
These books open a door. We may not always like what we see but we come away with a greater understanding and appreciation of what it is (and was) to be a woman in another part of the world.