Blog
July 2019
Sunday 7th July 2019
I am super late with my July Blog because my husband Roy, our border terrier Abbey, and I have been to Wales for the past week. This was a completely spontaneous event in direct response to my husband lamenting that we had not made any holiday plans for this summer. My idea of ‘going away for a holiday’ is to anyplace outside the British Isles. But when I heard Roy say yet again he would like to go…
June 2019
Monday 3rd June 2019
My decision a couple of years ago to start a monthly blog attached to my website was for two reasons—to try and nurture/retain an interest in my books from new and existing readers, especially in the time between book releases, and as a way…
May 2019
Thursday 2nd May 2019
Last month I wrote about the satisfaction I got from typing the words THE END as I finished my latest book, Those Who Wait. After the past three intensive weeks spent editing- and re-editing, (no mean feat during ‘birthday month’ when our family celebrates 7 immediate family birthdays!) I feel my…
April 2019
Monday 1st April 2019
One of the greatest satisfactions in my writing life is when I type the words THE END. I did this two days ago when I finished the novel I began writing last May. I am hoping THOSE WHO WAIT will be available on Amazon by this May. I had been using a working title up until the day I finished my novel, and then not only the title, but the cover design for my book came together in rapid succession. I do actually love the entire creative writing process. I write because it is what I am driven to do. Regardless whether words are actually being typed or not, my…
March 2019
Saturday 2nd March 2019
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.—Charles Dickens. Growing up in…
February 2019
Sunday 3rd February 2019
My husband and I recently attended a showing of The Wife at our village movie night. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s the story of an American who has just won the Pulitzer Prize in Literature. As he travels to Stockholm with his wife and son to accept his award, his relationship with his wife and her relationship to his writing is revealed. I don’t want to…
January 2019
Saturday 5th January 2019
The tree is down. Ornaments and decorations are all gently packed away for next Christmas. Our house looks refreshingly stark, like it’s just been decorated by someone from Scandinavia. Outside, the trees are bare, the bones of their branches fully exposed; limp plants straggle across our lifeless garden. Even the fleeting sun, which barely breaches the top of our hedge, brings little warmth. It is winter. Throughout the entire busy holiday season I’ve…
December 2018
Monday 3rd December 2018
Every year at this time I write a reasonably short letter to go with our Christmas cards. With family on both sides of the Atlantic this has always felt like a good way to keep in touch and I enjoy receiving and reading letters in the cards of our friends and distant family. Writing these letters makes us think back over the past year—(years which are passing too quickly). Throughout the week that it takes me to write this letter, we keep adding to it as more and more memories surface. “Did you include the trip to…” or “the news about…”? In many ways writing these letters helps me to remember—some good memories and some not so good.…
November 2018
Tuesday 6th November 2018
When I first started to do BLOGS for my website, I set myself the goal of trying to always turn out a new one the first of every month. Plans this month have gone haywire. I started November’s BLOG on October 31st and I’m still struggling. It isn’t that I don’t have any thoughts—it’s just that I’m finding it difficult to organize them. First, we are approaching the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I, and although I had a pretty good schooling on The Great War (always wondered about that title!) I have felt the need to learn more. I…
October Blog
Monday 1st October 2018
My husband and I did a fair amount of traveling in September. The travel proved to be very nostalgic for me, returning first to Seattle (last time was in 1995!) and then Minneapolis (last time was in 1998!), visiting friends and family. I lived and worked in both locations and had good memories of those experiences. But in both Seattle and Minneapolis, I felt a real sadness. I’ve lost dear friends in those cities- friends who passed away far too young. And I felt as if I had lost myself too. Who was the person who used to live and work in these spaces, who traveled these roads on a daily basis? I did manage to find…
September Blog
Saturday 1st September 2018
It’s here again! September! It’s always been a month of changes for me, with many new beginnings in my history. I’ve always been very peripatetic, finding it difficult to settle in a home or even in a state. And lately, as my husband and I evaluate what we’d like our retirement life to be like, we’re also considering which country to live in- IF we do move, it will be my 4th across the Atlantic. We have now officially been fully settled in our house for 15 months. I’m glad all the hard work is done- the painting, packing and unpacking, sorting, cleaning, sewing, gardening…now we can enjoy our home. And yet…
August 2018
Wednesday 1st August 2018
ON THE MOVE My novels always involve some form of movement. My “Breaking Camp Mystery Series” takes a retired couple travelling all across America. My novels As Clear as Glass and Running from the Moon move readers through centuries. For a Rainy Day moves…
