Indie Love Event

  Something big is happening in the romance world in Cardiff on 18th November. A day long event to meet authors, buy books, have them signed and generally have a good (romantic) time. Fifty plus attending authors, including me! All kinds of romance, including the very hot kind! This is your chance to be there, as tickets are on special offer this weekend.   

You can find details and book 

HERE

Addicted to books

 I'm currently researching for a new story - not a Riviera this time, but one set in Wales and featuring an historic garden. Of course as far as I am concerned that means books. I'm an old fashioned academic researcher and the printed word is my catnip. I'm also doing a short course on gardens with the Cardiff University  - you will probably hear more about that as the weeks progress - so I have a Reading List. Lots of fun in bookshops and my newly discovered source of supply, the libraries of the Royal Horticultural Society. As a member, which I have been for many years, they will send you books for free, although you have to pay the postage to send them back. Always a thrill when the postman staggers to the door with a large envelope - those gardening books are big and heavy - at least, it is a thrill to me.

As you know. research is a favourite occupation for writers who want to claim to be working but who are not actually producing the words. It's called procrastination. And what a lovely way to do it with a pile of books like the ones currently sitting on the end of the dining room table. I have got some words down on paper and tried them out on an audience of fellow romance writers at a workshop, with some very helpful feedback, so things are moving, honest! 

I promise the research will make it into a story eventually and I hope it will be a richer one for the background work. In the meantime, I am having a lot of fun. 

Special extra post - for a cover reveal.

 Along with a huge group of amazing romance writers I am going to be doing a mass signing in Cardiff on 18 November. More about that soon, including an offer on tickets, but in the meantime some of the authors have got together to produce an anthology of short stories. This is a cover reveal, with a link if you want to investigate/preorder a copy. I've not read it yet, but suspect that it will be hot, hot hot. Proceeds will go to a Cardiff Food bank charity. 

Find out more here.

Re-issue of What Happens at Christmas

 Some of you may have noticed that I have a Christmas Book out. Apparently it is 10 weeks until Christmas and retailers are already gearing up - and that includes the publishing industry. 

A warning note THIS IS A RE-ISSUE. If you bought it/read it first time around you don't need to do it again. Unless you want to, of course. 

When it first appeared in 2018 it looked like this.

I have to say that this is one of my favourite covers as it reflects elements of the book - the hut and the Welsh scenery - the result of some collaboration between me and cover designer Berni. 

It now looks like this 

Much more dramatic, but not quite so connected to the book. It says thriller and festive though, which are the main elements. It also has a love story - romantic suspense, remember - and it actually contains two Christmases because the story stretches over a whole year, and naturally the course of true love doesn't run smoothly. 

It's out now at a special e-book price of 99p/99c and you can read it on Kindle unlimited, if you have a subscription. 

If you don't have it in your collection, now is a good time. 

New Looks?

 You may have noticed that the first three of the Riviera series are out as a box set and a special price with a brand new cover for the set. Very summery - in keeping with the current weather. 

You can get them on Amazon - and also as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription. 

There will be more news later this week too on another re-issue, with a brand new cover.  I'll keep you posted. 

From the Archive

 I'm having a busy week this week - mostly boring medical stuff, so I've delved into the archive for this week's post. October 2013 - ten years ago. I was considering the part of my brain that writes the sinister stuff. I'm currently experimenting with a new idea that takes me back to the darker elements that I was writing when I began on this journey. I've tried it out at a writers' workshop, where I got positive and very useful comments. There is a lot of work to do, but I shall keep going and see where it takes me. 

As we have passed the Equinox and are heading into the darkest part of the year here in the Northern hemisphere, the revisited post seems appropriate. 

Into the Dark ...

When you write thrillers your books have to be ...well, thrilling. Which means tapping into the dark side. We're not talking a walk in the park here, at least, not unless it's midnight and there's a serial killer lurking behind that tree.

There, you see what I mean - if you write stuff that is intended to be thrilling then you tend to see the world - well, let's say your perspective is a bit skewed. Nothing is innocent, everything is potentially dangerous. There is usually some form of crime involved and your protagonists should be under some sort of threat.

To write that stuff, you have to go somewhere ...

I don't actually know where that is. I suppose it must somehow feed off  bad experiences that have happened in life, although I'm rarely aware of drawing on anything specific. I like to think I am a reasonably nice person, but give me a pen and paper ...

Conjuring up the scary and the gory isn't easy, but when the thing is working, in a perverse way, it can be a lot of fun. Now call me weird. You won't be the first.

Writing books is an exercise in fantasy, although that term tends to be applied these days only to stories with elves in them. Writers live in two worlds simultaneously. Here - and somewhere else entirely. It's solely inside your head, and that can be dark as well as light. Maybe there is an element of adrenaline junkie too. If you write it, you feel it. And now we're back to the 'fun' again.

I like writing the dark stuff, although I run a mile from it in real life. But, and it's a very significant but, my black stuff has to be tempered by a fully realised romance. Not just an add-on love affair. That's why I write Romantic Suspense. If I'm walking on the scary side I have to have the payoff of a hopeful ending and a new beginning to look forward to.

If I'm going into the dark, I have to know that something good is going to be waiting on the other side.