A week of isolation (in the broadest sense, as I am sharing the property with 3 teenagers, a dog, 4 chickens – and even, occasionally, my doctor husband) is already …
Hopefully not a thousand and one nights in lockdown
Distraction. It can be good, it can be bad. We probably all know a bit about distraction on social media. When I’ve spent too long scrolling through Twitter or Facebook, I …
Reading through Lockdown
Who knows when our lives will feel ‘normal’ again? I suspect that there are certain things we will never, ever take for granted in the future. A drink with friends …
Bad Guys Make Good Plots
Recently I was asked to contribute a guest post to the fabulous ‘History Girls’ Blog. This is a group of best-selling writers of historical content, fiction, non-fiction, for children and …
The Cartography of Leaving
It was early December 2018, and I was in Shrewsbury Library filling a rare empty half-hour between appointments. I often gravitate to a particular reading room in that library – …
The Historical Novel Society reviews ‘All the Winding World’
I don’t know if all writers are like me, but when I send a book off for review I immediately assume that the reviewer is going to hate it, even …
Countryfile – Highlights of Shropshire – follow in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims
The following is an article I was asked to write for Countryfile Online – a lovely magazine reflecting the interests of the BBC Television Programme. It was a great pleasure …
A ship leaves port – the launch of ‘All the Winding World’
At the very beginning of writing ‘All the Winding World’, I knew there would be maritime elements in the story. So I popped down to my old University town, Southampton. …
Waiting for ‘All the Winding World’
As I write this, 500 copies of my second novel are in transit, due to arrive at my house on a pallet sometime tomorrow. I think this must feel a …
Poetic Encounters #1 – A guest post by Andrew Howe – Visual Artist
Since the start of the year, I’ve been collaborating with visual artist Andrew Howe, as part of the Encounters Exhibition at the Visual Arts Network Gallery in Shrewsbury, which opened on …