If your dream is to live in a castle…
'Remember the kid's rhyme 'I'm the king of the castle and you're the dirty wee rascal.'? I can remember shouting it out from the ridge of our garage roof. You…
Count down to Katharina – or of Swedes and scanners…
The cover art was the first part of the jigsaw that is the release of a new book to be sorted. It took quite a bit of work - on…
Katharina: Section Breaks.
Now call me obsessive, (OH often does) but when my first book (Turn of the Tide) was published by Capercaillie I was asked what I'd like for the section breaks.…
Katharina: Finding a Font (and other stuff).
So there I was, with a finished manuscript, edited (3 x me, editor x once, 1 x me final), and ready for the formatter. I hadn't realised there were still…
All roads lead to Cumbernauld – yes really!
Writing is a lonely business… Right? Most of the time, anyway, so when the opportunity comes to meet up with other writers, I’m interested. There is nothing quite like talking…
Guest interviews.
#One guest interview and one guest blog post in the past 10 days, and in both I've confessed to (you've guessed it) my love of chocolate. Indeed it is an…
Genesis of a Story Part 4 -Battenberg for Tea
I've lived in the Scottish Borders for over thirty years, about fifty miles south of Edinburgh. We visit Edinburgh a lot and I couldn't count how many times I've walked…
Short stories – Interlude.
I'm breaking into my mini series on the inspiration for the stories in my new collection Dust Blowing and other Stories to consider an issue that was raised by one of…
Genesis of a story Part 3 – Celebrity Status
Celebrity Staus This story is also set in East Belfast, where I moved following my marriage. We bought a three-storey terrace house which was quite up-market of its kind -…
Britain’s Tudor Maps
Some time ago I was invited to a Book Group which had just finished my second novel A House Divided as their monthly read. I gave a wee talk and…