A lovely review of Thorn in the Flesh (see full post for links) from Vicki Tyley who was kind enough to say the following:

“Quite simply, it was wonderful – intense, emotional and suspenseful, even dark, with a satisfying ending.”

Many thanks, Vicki - much appreciated! Your comments have seen me through today's team Away Day, which we spent at the Manor House Conference Centre in Godalming - so only a three minute drive, hurrah. I must admit a large part of the discussions were beyond me: if I hear the word "strategy" or "framework" more than three times, my brain implodes - purely as a safety mechanism. Indeed I think I may have entered some kind of coma a couple of times during the morning, but it may have been the heat. Which wasn't helping. Only the fact that I was taking basic minutes kept me alert. I even got quite tearful during the late morning individual exercise when I sat in the garden, stared out at the woods and longed to be at home. Sigh. Nice food though - and the peanut butter icecream at lunch was fabulous ...


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I realised sadly a few weeks ago that I was going to have to go to France to research the new novel. This is, of course, the worst possible aspect of the writing life: that we can travel to beautiful or at least interesting places, and set off the whole lot, from the first cup of coffee at the airport, by way of hotel bills, entry tickets and photo printing costs, to the last steak-frites, against tax. I remember saying to my father that it seemed odd that Ian Fleming had suddenly upped and set a whole James Bond novel, You Only Live Twice, in Japan. 'I expect he fancied a tax-free holiday there,' said my father. These days I know enough about Fleming (though some things I rather wish I didn't) to know that it wasn't quite as simple as that, but the point stands.

So I don't expect anyone to sympathise when I say that this kind of research isn't without its difficulties.

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I’ve found a fantastic site for procrastinating called, Protagonize. Collaborate to your heart’s content. I’ve tried to get my fellow writers at WF in Writewords to play with this kind of thing but they never do, or keep anything up I begin. So I’m in clover; I’ve only been a member there for two days and I’ve got two stories running and have joined in a couple of others – now this could be very addictive but at least it is actual writing!

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I came out of one site where I'd been trying to source linen bags for a client and idly tapped YUCKETYPOO into the search box. I nearly fell off my chair! There were pages of it, in everything from French to Japanese and who knows what all in between. If news of the book is hitting foreign book sites likes these, why aren't I earning more commission from it? I was flattered, horrified and completely astonished all at once. So then I tried Yahoo and there it was again! So it does look as if word is steadily creeping through, despite the fact that I often feel completely disconnected from it because I hear so little about what is actually happening.


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I'm delighted to announce that two of my flash stories are being broadcast as part of the Sharp Things series on the excellent RethinkDaily podcast, the first, Egged On, tomorrow (July 1st) - it is actually up there already (it's the second story). It sounds great, read by an actress, she did a great job!

Click here to visit the site. You can listen there or download it like a regular podcast, through iTunes or whatever.


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Well, gosh. Across the pond, Maloney's Law (see full post for links) has now been sent to the printers so all I'm waiting for at this point is (a) publication and (b) to hold a copy in my hot little hand. Double gosh. Goodness me, how English my emotional response is. Inside however, I'm screaming and hanging out the bunting. I'm hoping that Maloney will sell more copies than my other books have but, most of all, I'm hoping readers will get something out of it. I know I certainly do, no matter how many times I read it through ...

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I wrote over 2,000 words of conflict today, prefacing the final scene in the novel. I've had what I hope is a great idea for this final scene but it breaks all the rules and will require some serious skill to pull it off. I may find it defeats me in the execution. If it works, it will become part of the trademark "feel" for the whole series, so I'm excited and nervous in equal measure. I'm trying to follow at least one Golden Rule which is to Write It and not just Talk About Writing It.

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I had great plans today to go into Godalming to wander around the French market and pop into Waterstone's with my book vouchers - but in the end, I really felt too exhausted to bother. Time of the month, you know, dammit.

Still, at least it's meant I've updated my website with the pleasing news that The Bones of Summer (please see full post for all links in this paragraph!) was shortlisted in the Writers' Conference Novel competition. Hurrah! Which is lovely but strange - The Gifting was shortlisted last year (and Donna from Piatkus Press, who judged the competition, also asked to see the start of that one - but so far the agent hasn't yet sent it to her ...) and now it's Bones' turn. And that in the face of the fact that Piatkus publish neither fantasy nor gay crime. Most odd. Still, nice to know I'm reaching a readership that ... um ... doesn't really want me. Heck, in publisher terms, I should be used to that though ...


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Have finished the final edit of Maloney's Law this morning and sent it back to the lovely people at PD Publishing. I only found 5 mistakes, so that's fabulous. And, bloody hell, but certain passages especially later on in the novel still make me cry. And I wrote the bloody thing - not to mention having read it through about a dozen times in the last few months! I'm not sure I'll ever write anything as emotionally strong as that again. It packs a punch for sure. And probably, in essence, says a whole lot more about my family than I'd realised. In its fashion. Now there's something for the reader to chew on ...


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