Coffee Addiction?

 Not me. I rarely drink it. Tea is my beverage of choice. A preference inherited, I think, from my grandmother.  I have six different varieties in the cupboard which I do drink regularly, but a nice mug of English Breakfast is always acceptable. Or should that be Welsh Breakfast? 

I have noticed however that people in my reading matter seem to have an obsession with the stuff - coffee that is. It's particularly noticeable first thing in the morning, when characters either cannot function at all, or are super grumpy, or both, before their caffeine fix. Often preparation involves a machine of considerable expense that requires Master's degree in engineering to work it. Yes, I have done that one. With all the different types now on offer it can be a marker for personality. The rugged hero, of course, drinks his black. If he's a cop, it probably has the consistency of engine oil. Heroine gets something with more milk.  The precious princess semi villain - ex girlfriend, difficult boss, snooty colleague, will probably insist on a special type of non dairy, specific number of shots, etc. And I admit to this category too - I do have a weakness for the occasional fancy stuff with syrups and other additions, Dairy is OK, but I have been known to ask which speciality brew has the least coffee in it. Tea addiction - see above. 

Then there is, of course the coffee shop as a place for the meet cute, a work location or a fast pit stop in a queue for a take away. The cosy coffee shop, often attached to a bookshop, gallery, garden or stately home can be the impetus for a whole book on its own. And if you add dogs, cats, dragons ...

From a writer's point of view coffee is a useful 'prop'. It gives your actors something to do. It is an icebreaker and a signal of hospitality. It can be offered at any time of the day, unlike alcohol. It serves in the place that tobacco took in golden age fiction, when cigarettes would be offered rather than a drink. It's universal and will probably not be going away any time soon. It has certainly come a long way from the milky coffee in the cafe by the beach that was the reward for a cold winter walk in my childhood. What would now be classed as a latte - and made with instant powder, of course. 

But that was a long time ago.

Distraction?

 You've probably seen lots of them - videos and reels and memes of kittens chasing feathery toys. Distracted by the new and pretty. 'Oh - look at that! Chase it! Chase it!' 

At the moment, that is me too.

I have a Work In Progress that has been moving at the pace of treacle. And I have been threatening to try my hand at a cosy crime - even done some work on it. I'm still interested. I have a fantastic plot twist that  I would love to put into writing - well, I think it is fantastic. But somehow the rest of the book has never come together - or not yet. I have not given up on the idea by any means. Because that's what happens with ideas. And it's happening now. In a completely different part of the forest. Suddenly I have my own shiny feather on a string, distracting me. Two ideas that have suddenly melded, a MacGuffin, a hero who has been occupying space in my head for a very long time, and an opening line that I really want to use. I blogged about it in November when it first began to simmer and it hasn't gone away. Instead it is gathering momentum - two strands that didn't have anything around them that are acquiring form and substance.  It's a romantic suspense, possibly the first of a trilogy and it is busy incorporating all sorts of threads and snippets that I have wanted to write for some time.

So now what do I do? 

Go after the fluffy distraction and write that one instead? 

New Year, New You?

 It's New Year's Eve. The dawn of 2026 and I'm not entirely sure where 2025 went. But it's gone, so that's that. 

New Year is traditionally the time for resolutions. Actions that will achieve all those goals you've been setting yourself. Trouble is, life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of good intentions. 

And how many resolutions actually make it even to the end of January? Is the cold, still dark and dreary time of the year really the best time for trying to make changes, whatever the calendar says? 

I'm not making resolutions. I have a few hopes - more of them in the next few weeks - but nothing is getting set in stone. 

The first meeting of my RNA Chapter for the year - which will be next Tuesday - has traditionally become the time for people to disclose their forward plans. I'm looking forward to hearing what they are, and cheering friends on.  I'm going to be a bit more cautious. Be careful what you wish for. 

I have some ideas - as I said, hopes - but if getting older has taught me anything, it's how unpredictable life can be. 

So - no resolutions. But I am hoping that 2026 will be  good year. And I hope that it will be for you too. 

Season's Greetings

 I'm always happy when the winter solstice is passed and I know it will begin to get lighter as the days draw out. 

And now it is Christmas.

I hope your holiday is peaceful and contains plenty of books, and the time to read them.

Try not to eat to much - hah, I can talk with the state of the fridge and cupboards!

Nadolig Llawen!

Merry Christmas!

Winter Solstice

 Celebrations.

The shortest day. 

Now it starts to get lighter again. 

Happy Solstice. 

Not before time

 The two biggest sellers in popular fiction are crime and romance. Opinion seems to fluctuate over which is actually the biggest, but whichever it is, the answer for sales of both is - a lot.  Yet despite these massive sales romance has always been a bit of a Cinderella. not given the acceptance and visibility of crime and too often treated as a guilty pleasure - or a guilty secret. 

There is plenty of analysis in print as to why this is - most of it centered around the fact that the genre is predominantly (although not exclusively) written and read by women, but I am not going there in this post. It is a post about celebration, not analysis, because the tide seems to be turning. The Romantic Novelists' Association has championed the romance cause for its whole existence, most recently in its Respect Romantic Fiction campaign. And the world is listening. 

All over the country and abroad fans of romance writing are flocking to mass author signings to indulge their love of their favourite genre, signings like the Welsh Indie Love event which will be happening in Swansea in October next year. Romance will be a category in the British Book Awards from 2026 - taking its place alongside crime, which has been celebrated with its own category since 2017.

And now, like crime, romance is at last getting its own bookshops! London, Scotland, and now Wales, with the opening of the lovely new Love Stories shop in the Castle Arcade in Cardiff. I made my first visit today - it is warm, welcoming, well stocked with all types of  romance and when I was there it was buzzing with interested customers, many of whom seemed to be looking for Xmas presents. I found lots of books written by friends - sadly none of mine as they are digital and print on demand these days - but plenty to feed the romance habits of the city. 

It is a fabulous new venture and I hope it will go from strength to strength in 2026.   

The lovely new romance bookshop in Cardiff. 

The website is HERE

Bruce and me?

 Those 'If you like that, you'll like this.' comparisons for books have always been around, but right now they seem to be having a particular moment. Influence of TikTok maybe? Using familiar illustrations to sell a concept has always been a thing for authors. Jane Austen meets Jaws, as an unlikely combination, was always my favourite fantasy elevator pitch, but hey, someone successfully pitched Sense and Sensibility with Sea Monsters, so maybe not such a fantasy. 

But to get to the present - book comparisons do seem to be hot. With other authors, with other books, with films. At the moment films appear to be popular. Probably seasonal, as watching Xmas films seems to be becoming a tradition, from It's a Wonderful Life to The Holiday. Also at the moment a debate seems to be raging about whether Die Hard is a Xmas movie. Or is that just the circles I move in? 

Bear with me, this is going somewhere. 

My publishers, Joffe, who like to be on top of these things, featured the film comparison idea in a recent newsletter, selecting a Choc Lit book to match a favourite film. Now my Xmas book has always been a bit of an odd duckling as it is romantic suspense. I think it is very romantic, but it does have kidnapping, attempted murder and a few dead bodies along with the tinsel and snow, Yes, there is snow, in the Brecon Beacons/Bannau Brycheiniog. This is a Xmas book, It's in the rules.  So. I was very amused to find that my newsletter comparison was yes, you have guessed it, Die Hard. 

Now I'm really not sure that Bruce Willis is the model for Drew, the hero of What Happens at Christmas. In fact I know he's not. No guns, no vests, no ventilation shafts. The late Alan Rickman now, one of my all time favourites, even if he is playing the villain. He's not Drew either, even though I fell for him playing Valmont in Les Liaison Dangerous at the RSC some time before that film shot him to stardom. Drew is a very successful adventure/fantasy author with a reckless streak and is up for the dare devil stuff, in the name of research, up to and including a fake kidnapping that abruptly turns into something else ...  

I have to say there is a lot more romance in WHAC than Die Hard, but linking WHAC with an action thriller gives the reader a really good clue about what they might be getting into.

I'll take it.   

And if you're looking for some excitement along with the mince pies ...