Category: On Writing
Writing About Sex (and the older woman)
Many years ago, as an experiment, and I admit a bit of a joke, I submitted the first three chapters of an erotic book to the publishers Black Lace. I read their guidelines carefully and made sure I ‘hit the ground running’; and although I must also have submitted some kind of synopsis I really […]
Fairytales
Once upon a time…how comforting is this timeless beginning, immediately sending us back to our childhoods, tucked up in bed and listening to a story. Narrative is part of the human psyche, the way we explain the world to ourselves and each other. It’s perhaps no surprise that recent research, published in the Royal Society […]
A Lost Literary Foremother: Constance Fenimore Woolson
About the time I was trying to decide if I could be a writer I started to wonder, when did women first have the nerve to commit themselves to careers as serious authors and to say, despite few female role models to follow, I can succeed at this as well as men? I wondered because, […]
Why I Decided To Write About Mental Health
I decided to write a memoir about my own experience of debilitating depression because I felt that I had something to say that might help someone. Although I was desperately ill, had suffered two major depressive episodes and been hospitalised, I did recover. I now consider myself well, and wanted to share what I had […]
Writing Through Grief
Two weeks ago, my wonderful mother died. Suddenly, unexpectedly, she passed away in my arms. One final slow exhalation and she was limp. Gone. Grief has bowled me over, set me totally off course. It was the week of publication for THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER and I was bouleversée, as the French say. Devastated. Nevertheless, I […]
Females on ships in the age of sail – from women dressed as men to lone travellers
My second novel, SONG OF THE SEA MAID, is set in the mid-C18th and my main character Dawnay Price needs to travel in order to do what she wants to do. She is a scientist – or as they’d say in those days, a natural philosopher – and she wants to study the flora and […]
An Inherited Obsession
My debut novel, Vintage, revolves around friendships between women of different generations. The shared interest that binds them is a love for vintage clothes. The idea for the book grew out of my own obsession for fashion, which I inherited in large part from my mother and grandmother. I grew up in a distinctly ordinary town […]
Living The Dream – A Tantalising Taste of Being a Full-Time Author
For a short time a few years ago, I lived the dream of being a full-time author. Not in the traditional sense – there were no agents or publishers nipping at my heels expecting me to meet a deadline. But, nevertheless, living the dream it was. I was made redundant from my job in Dubai […]
Are You a Writing-Conference Junkie?
As writers, we’re constantly (desperately?) looking for ways to improve our skills so we can write awe-inspiring sentences and create kick-ass plots with impossible-to-ignore characters. There are myriad ways to get to that end game—read a lot (a whole lot); pore over craft books, highlighting the best passages as you go; join critique groups and […]
Jane Eyre’s BFF
With Valentine’s Day approaching, I have been reflecting on love. Not on romantic love, but on the love between friends. I have been thinking about friendships new and old. After grappling with some serious health issues for almost half my life, I realize the importance of those who have stood by me when the chips […]
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