Best books of the decade
It was suggested to me that maybe now would be a good time to look back and select my favourite books published during the last decade. Oh yes, I thought... First problem... It's actually quite hard to remember what was published when; and humbling too. Some of my...
Top Ten Books About Time Travel
I adore anything to do with time travel. Far more interesting than life after death, easier to grasp than parallel universes, it allows for the exploration of so many ideas, concepts, truths about human nature, history, and possibilities. Here are my top ten reads. 1....
Twenty-five best reads of 2019
To select twenty-five best reads might sound easy, but it's really not when you've read over eighty books in total that year. However I always enjoy giving it a go as it's a pleasure to re-visit the year's finds. I also like cheating; finding ways to include more...
Nanowrimo -are you stuck? Hit the wall? Help is at hand. Some writing resources.
We are ten days into Nanowrimo and if you are taking part this year, you are either feeling smug about being ahead of the game (unlikely), still going strong and managing 1,667 words per day (possible), or perhaps you are struggling a bit but vowing to catch up (been...
Time to shiver: Top 10 supernatural books for Halloween
October means autumn is here. Time to curl up in front of the fire with a good book. And of course at the end of the month it will be Halloween, so maybe it's time for a good ghost story? There are so many creepy books out there I decided that in order to qualify for...
Top 10 funny books to cheer you up in times of gloom
Today is National Read a Book day, so I'm celebrating with a list of funny books. I don't know how you are feeling, but I'm nearly at the point of boycotting the news altogether. It's a bit like reading a crime or horror story, I'm still reading because I want to see...
Shivers… books set in cold climates
Last month's blog, which was written at the start of the summer heatwave and was about books set in hot places, seemed to strike a chord with a few people. As the heatwave intensifies, maybe it's time to think about cold places as setting. The novel I'm drafting at...
Record temperatures: Books set in hot summers
it's still June and already records have been broken. I feel quite fortunate to live in Edinburgh and not Spain. But I'm fascinated by extremes of temperature. In fact I've got the first draft of a MG book which is set entirely in the summer of 1976, when all our...
What use are Travel Books in the age of the internet?
We're off to the Canary Islands for a week, and as my bags sit waiting in the hall, full of suncream and fiction, I find myself thinking about travel writing books. We have a small shelf of guidebooks which we never look at these days because of course we look online...
Write every day? Creating an effective writing routine
An interesting article in the Guardian recently made me think about that advice you hear all the time - to be a successful writer, you should write every day. I’ve never found that works for me. I’ve done Nanowrimo a few times; this is where you try to write a novel...