I don’t know what other writers feel when they are asked this perfectly fair and reasonable question. I tend to have a version of the blurb available in my mind when I try to reply, a bit about how the book came about, and whether its genre is ‘tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, historical-pastoral, etc, etc.’, to abbreviate… CONTINUE READING

My collection of short stories, Cherries, is making its way into the world. Humphrey and Jack, my second novel, will be launched in the New Year. Time for some reading and a couple of reviews. Today, it is the turn of the notorious emperor, Caligula by the prolific Simon Turney.

My current work in progress is a selection of short stories to be called simply Cherries. I am busy curating these tales (as the current fashionable jargon has it – though ‘curate’ is the mot juste here) whilst my second novel, Humphrey & Jack, is with my editor. Which will appear first is anybody’s guess… CONTINUE READING

“Who is ‘The Countess’?” is the novel’s smouldering conundrum and it is never fully answered until the surprising and delightful last pages, and perhaps not even then. The fact that she is an enigma until almost the end is what propels the action – though, when I say ‘action’, there are periods of seeming inertia… CONTINUE READING

After twenty-five consecutive days of work, weekends included, and four meticulous edits, Humphrey and Jack is ready to go off to my editor. I look forward to some beers and a meal with him in London on Friday. I have managed to reduce the draft by two and a half thousand words, some of which… CONTINUE READING

At 11.42 hours this morning, I completed the first draft of Humphrey and Jack. It is a good feeling. I have been working on it now for a year and twenty-one days. Ahead lie many more days of gruelling editing. But for now, I am enjoying a pint. I don’t know how long it is…. CONTINUE READING

This is going to be very short because I’m very busy. I’m coming to the end of the first draft of Humphrey and Jack and I’m very excited. I am holed up in an isolated cottage in the Peak District. The setting is beautiful but apart from three trips to the pretty village of  Tideswell… CONTINUE READING

‘Legend’ (1985). Saw it was directed by Ridley Scott and was tempted in. Has unicorns in it. High risk of hyperglaecemia. Equivalent to eating four kilos of sticky toffee pudding at a sitting. Lasted less than ten minutes Rating * ‘Stand by Me’ (1986) Haven’t seen this for years. The boys’ acting stands the test… CONTINUE READING

It’s fast. The other day I tried dictating a passage in my WIP into my MacBook. I completed a thousand words in much less time than I would have managed with my laborious typing. It’s fun. Watching the words spill out miraculously onto your screen gives you a weird sense of power. It’s funny. Sometimes… CONTINUE READING

I intend these Work In Progress blogs to be rather more than just ruminations about what I happen to be writing at a given time. They will constitute a ragbag, or patchwork quilt, or smörgåsbord, or running buffet of the thoughts and ideas that crowd into a writer’s life. They could be about a knotty… CONTINUE READING