What a difference a few months make.

When I last wrote, Sun Ascendant - sequel to Wheel of Fortune and the second book in The Tarnished Crown series - was just about to make its debut. That was in May. Now, two review tours and several articles and blogs later, and I’m reeling from the all the positive comments flooding in.

And as if writing one series isn’t enough, I’ve signed a three-book contract for a new Gothic Mystery, yet to be named.

Find out what’s been happening and more in my Autumn Newsletter #3

WHERE HAVE ALL THE BOOKS GONE?

Wheel of Fortune and Sun Ascendant are temporarily unavailable on Amazon while they are being updated, but they will be back shortly.

In the meantime, they are still available through Barns and Noble and other outlets and, if you live in the UK, you are welcome to buy from my online shop and I will send you a signed copy through the post.

I have been squirrelled away for what seems like years researching, writing, and editing, and then, all of a sudden and in a blaze of glory, out pops a fully formed book. Happy birthday, book baby!

Newsletter #2

*New Book Release!*

Things are beginning to hot up here at the Castle - and not just because the shades of winter have at last relented, and signs of summer are making themselves known in the leafy lanes and byways of rural Dorset. No, this is more to do with the frenetic activity surrounding the soon-to-be-released Sun Ascendant.

Welcome to my brand new, shiny newsletter in which I bring you up-to-date with news and events, offers and giveaways. I’ll invite you to take a peek at my author life and the nuts and bolts of writing novels, and ask you about what you like to see in a historical novel and why.

And while this is a handy way of keeping everyone informed about the writing life of one author, what I really want to do is to keep in touch with the many people who, like me, are fascinated by writing, history, literature, music, the natural world, gardening and… chickens. So if you have any questions or want to get in touch, do message me.

As part of my ongoing research for The Tarnished Crown series, I’ve been going through my photo archives. I take many, many photos - some to capture a moment I wish to remember but, more often than not, as a resource upon which to draw when I’m putting together a scene, or to add to a catalogue of information. What can an image tell the viewer and what does it say about the one who takes it?

I started March with a poem about crows by the nineteenth century Northamptonshire ‘peasant’ poet John Clare (1793 - 1864), and now I shall end the month with another: Sonnet: ‘I love to hear the evening crows go by’

Plots are the backbone of a story, setting fleshes it out, but characters bring it alive. Consider your favourite books, the ones that embed themselves in your psyche, and then think about what makes those books stand out from the many others you have read. Chances are that characters play a factor. Whether protagonists or antagonists, it is people we tend to remember over any other aspect in a story. But why?

Find out more in today’s Writing Tips: Characters or Caricatures?

Just over nine years ago already, but memories of attending Richard III's memorial service are as clear now as when first imprinted. I sat a few feet from the coffin in a packed Leicester Cathedral, his discovery, exhumation, and reinterment on the 26th March 2015, an extraordinary series of events I never imagined I would see in my lifetime.

What’s in a title? In today’s Friday Poem find out which seventeenth century poem supplied just the right phrase for my debut novel.

Choosing a title for a novel can be a strangely personal thing for authors. Some come in a flash of inspiration; others after a grindingly long process. Finding a title for a debut book is particularly fraught, especially when it is the first of a series. So what does a poem by George Herbert and my first book have in common? Have a look at this short blog to find out more.

Deadline, deadlines, deadlines: my writing tip for today reflects severe time restraints as I work on a couple of chapters.

A glossary of medieval clothing: carmignolle.

You have come up with a fantastic idea for a plot, but will it be of interest to anyone else? This is one of those deep-seated anxieties many authors face. One way of testing the validity of your proposed project is to run it through a series of questions. But what questions do you ask and what happens if you don’t like the answer?

NEW 5* REVIEW!

It’s a happy author who wakes up to a new 5* review.

‘Great reading, a vast breadth and depth of historical knowledge worn lightly and a cracking story. I can't wait for the next one in the series! Highly recommended.’

Friday Poem: The Foddering Boy by John Clare.

This run of mild, wet weather can turn on a sixpence, rendering known ground inhospitable and alien. Here, John Clare sums up a bitter winter day two hundred years ago, but for those who work the land, no doubt this scene is all-too familiar.

When I looked out of the window first thing this morning, I was met with a scene Noah might well have recognised: a sky so dense with rain it blended with the sea, and hills shrouded in low cloud so their green crowns looked topped in snow.

While I might welcome the odd rainy day of uninterrupted writing, not everyone feels the same way. So is this writer’s weather or is it just too fowl for words?

Covid invaded my family shortly into the new year. If anyone tells you that Covid is an inconsequential sniffle, let me assure you that its effects can be long-lasting and, in the case of some, fatal.

It no longer makes the headlines, but are we deluding ourselves that the virus - now endemic - is also somehow more benign than in the early, scary days of the pandemic?

‘Story is king’ Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse series once told me, and while some people are bursting with stories, others struggle to come up with ideas for the next book.

What can you do to make the process easier?

The good news is that there are many ways to find that gripping new story. In today’s blog, I look at just a few to get you started.

Having escaped COVID until now, it caught up with me shortly into the new year, stealing my energy and laying me low. Having said that, I managed to finish the final editorial queries for Sun Ascendant and I am about to send it back to my lovely editor.

Plus I’ve been further cheered by another 5* review for Wheel of Fortune.