A perfect example of a story in need of telling is Martha of Paisley, both the title of my next novel and the woman at its heart. In my recently released memoir, Where Stories Lie Buried, I outline where my inspiration for each book came from. Martha is the next woman to entice me to…
I had a great day at my book launch for Where Stories Lie Buried, last Friday. With every chair taken, and people engaged, the energy in the room was high. Questions were asked, and a delicious morning tea enjoyed. People purchased books in one corner while others stood and chatted long after I’d finished speaking….
Today is the day – Where Stories Lie Buried, my memoir, is officially launched, but let me give you a peek into the life of an author leading up to this time. There is nothing quite like opening the box of books from the printer and holding one in your hand. The sense of achievement,…
The book I never thought I’d write turned into more than a memoir. A personal journey. A lifetime of wisdom. A practical toolkit. Where Stories Lie Buried is part memoir, part craft narrative, part family history — and the toolkit is the part I want to tell you about today. As I worked through each…
Where Stories Lie Buried, my eleventh book, is one I never thought I’d write. But then I never dreamed I’d write any of my other books either. I only wanted to tell a family history story. I wrote this memoir of a genealogist turned author to answer all the questions I’m often asked – about…
I’ve published ten novels now, but every time I am never quite prepared for the post-writing busyness. My next book, Where Stories Lie Buried, launches on 25 September, and the closer it gets, the more I’m doing things that have nothing to do with writing at all. Nobody warns you about this part. You imagine…
At a recent presentation given by six of my writing group, one of the things that struck me was their passion – the belief in their words, and the constant desire to write. As I listened to them outlining the stories behind the book, and the research involved, it made me think about all the…
I’ve been talking about my historical fiction novels for a while now, but this book crept up on me. I was not planning to write it. One day, I simply found myself thinking about how my journey had begun and realised I had never properly answered the question my readers ask me most often. How…
I have never been to Bristol. Yet I have wandered its streets, found its lost pubs, traced its floating harbour, and followed a Victorian woman through sixty years of her life there. That’s what genealogy research does to you. I’d stepped sideways in the hope of finding a link for my third and fourth great-grandparents…
She gave birth to eight children, had two husbands, was a witness at a murder trial, and held a victualler’s licence in her own name. This is the real Sarah — and she lived on the Welsh Back in Victorian Bristol. Sarah’s Destiny opens in 1851. At that time, Bristol was already a progressive and…
