Author of the Kember & Hayes mysteries
“Nothing will work unless you do.” Maya Angelou I’ve dreamt of being an author since my schooldays but my family tree is littered with agricultural labourers, foundry workers and cannon fodder. My background is working class and I remember hiding behind the settee with Mum and Dad to avoid the… Read more“Motivation and the Literature Mine”
I get my inquisitiveness from my Dad. He was fascinated by all sorts of stuff and took me to the galleries, museums, castles, stately homes and historic places of London and the South East when I was a boy. Growing up during World War Two gave him an interest in… Read more“Living History”
‘What’s in a name?’ wrote Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. ‘That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.’ George Eliot complimented this with ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ in The Mill on the Floss. All well and good but, as I discovered when… Read more“Judging a Book by its Cover”
Having always wanted to write about characters I can develop over time in a series of books, I found myself in a curious position. Book One had been written, edited and coaxed through many iterations. It had been drafted, crafted, beta read and re-drafted. In fact, the rough wood had… Read more“Stick or Twist – An Author’s Dilemma”
As I stood with my fellow course-mates on the Curtis Brown Creative (CBC) 3-month London course, I had never experienced such an intense feeling of impostor syndrome. They looked like ‘proper’ authors and I wondered whether I had been ushered into the wrong waiting area. The feeling did not dissipate… Read more“Becoming a Curtis Brown Creative”
I first received advice to write what you know while in school and thought it made perfect sense. After all, Ian Fleming had been in Naval Intelligence and John le Carré in both MI5 and MI6 before writing their spy novels, whilst Alistair MacLean had been in the Royal Navy… Read more“Write What You Know (just don’t kill anyone)”
This is not my usual kind of article but between my father-in-law falling on bended knee like someone seeking divine inspiration, breaking it in three places in the process, his wife passing out and face-planting the kitchen floor like Tom Daley swallow diving into an empty swimming pool and me… Read more“Carry on Doctor”
Writers achieving ‘overnight success’ usually have back stories telling of failed novels, lost competitions and mounds of rejection slips, illustrating years of hard work and perseverance. Drawing on their personal experiences, they recommend entering competitions and submitting articles to many publications. Decades ago, this was not the advice my… Read more“Staying the Course to Overnight Success”
An old school friend reminded me that a love of books is often forged very early in life. He mentioned Miss Brade from Kingsley Junior School who sat on her desk at the front of the class and read some enthralling books. This jogged my memory about another, Miss Richardson,… Read more“Books in the Blood”
This being my first ever blog post, I thought I’d share how I became interested in writing. It is said that everyone has a book in them but I’m not sure that’s true. Not everyone has either the inclination to complete the thousands of words necessary or the ability to… Read more“The Legacy of a Good English Teacher”