Inspiration 2024

Here I am, another year begun, and again contemplating what inspires me, to get up in the morning, to get on with chores, especially to write. Do I have to be in a ‘good’ mood, no longer under dawn’s cloud of depression? That’s usually fixed with a cup of coffee, especially if taken in a […]

According to Reggie

Reggie is a ten year old mixed race boy with a single mother and a nan who hides a dark secret. Life has always been tough with ominous visitors, fights and a killing, trouble always lurking. Constant anxiety of what he doesn’t understand. This summer, though, things are about to change.  The precinct outside Nan’s […]

Found!

I found Reggie swinging on railings with a song to be sung. Rap, in his case, a rap to explore what he half knows or doesn’t, fears but doesn’t understand, using language picked up from others, like the lager cans he finds saves to help his new friend, Ernie. Ernie is a grumpy allotment holder […]

The Greenhouse Legacy

Two woman hold secrets which they have never shared; a mother, Elspeth, and daughter, Gina. The devastating incident in which they were both involved comes back to haunt them after decades of concealment. Elspeth, in her nineties suffering from dementia, is agitated, exposing the lies she guarded all her life; Gina is confused and angry […]

Leave it out! Let go!

Writers all; how many times have you had to take out a word, a phrase, a whole paragraph that you love but which adds nothing to what you’re trying to say, even detracts from the plot? Beautifully crafted phrases you can stick up on your wall for possible use on another occasion? Many times necessary […]

Advance readers wanted

How would you like to read a brand new novel before it goes print? Sent to you electronically with my one plea, that you give me feedback. * The Greenhouse Legacy – has been four years in the making, that is the writing process. However it has been lurking inside my brain for twenty odd […]

My Book of the Year

‘Shuggie Bain’ by Douglas Stuart is my book of the year, 2020. A debut novel, Winner of the Booker Prize, a remarkable achievement and I love it. I read a hardback copy – borrowed – and am waiting impatiently for the paperback publication later this year to have my own copy. A story of love […]

Creating a story

This makes me think of how it happens. Behind is a structure, the trellis of phrases, sentences, form. The branches and twigs are bare, no sign or hope of a flower until the eruption somehow magically happens and buds push out to blossom into work worth looking at. Just a thought!