Writing Life

Today I’m delighted to welcome award-winning author Clare Flynn to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series in which authors have the opportunity to pitch their book to your book club. Clare Flynn is the author of fifteen historical novels and a collection of short stories. Her website promises historical fiction with modern themes and,…
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Today I’m delighted to welcome Christine Webber back to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series in which authors have the opportunity to pitch their book to your book club. Christine was a guest on my blog in July 2021, when she was talking about her novel, So Many Ways of Loving, which was subsequently…
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Christmas Day 2022 will be a special anniversary for me, marking ten years since I took back control of my writing career and became an indie author. Why did it take me so long? Good question. But bear with me. My first novel was published in 2009 when self-publishing was still in its infancy. Correction…
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Today I’m delighted to welcome Paul Marriner to my Virtual Book Club, my author interview series in which authors have the opportunity to pitch their book to your book club. Paul grew up in a west London suburb (not unlike the suburbs in which his latest book – Miracle Number Four – is based) and…
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This week saw the launch of my tenth novel, Small Eden, which tells the story of Robert Cooke, who created a pleasure garden the the memory of his two infant sons. In keeping with the theme of nature and of gardens in particular, I’m delighted to welcome Hannah Powell, author of The Cactus Surgeon, to…
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Why mix up historical and contemporary fiction when I would make my life as a writer a whole lot easier if I were to stick to one or the other? Because I don’t see a clear dividing line between the two. For me, when I think about my father saying, ‘I remember when all of…
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It’s been a while (launching a new book and working for real money) but today I’m delighted to welcome Liza Perrat to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series which gives authors the opportunity to pitch their books to your book club, be it virtual or real. Liza grew up in Australia, working as a…
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I’m reading a lot of interviews with Emily St John Mandel about Station Eleven and whether or not she actually has a crystal ball, so i asked a few writer friends to tell me about the time they wrote about a fictional event, only to have it, or something very similar, come true. Linda Gillard:…
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I’m delighted to welcome Anita Belli to Virtual Book Club, my interview series that gives authors the opportunity to pitch their novels to your book club. This month I’m showcasing my fellow nominees for The Selfies Award 2019 – a chance to check out the competition!   Anita describes herself as a ‘compulsive writer’ and creative tutor, who…
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This week, I thought I’d take a break from the usual Virtual Book Club format. Instead, I put the same question to a number of authors.  “A novel requires stamina and grit,” says author Oyinkan Braithwaite. “You need a certain kind of faith in yourself and in what you are doing to bang out 40,000-plus…
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