The strangeness, and freedom, of writing a trilogy

My writing desk at Lumb Bank

When I started my first novel, INCEPTIO, I had no idea what I was doing. Writing was an impulse, a reaction to a dire film and thinking I could produce something better. But not even halfway through the first draft, I realised I had a far bigger […]

Not the Booker prize, but...

Self-publishing is expanding exponentially; it has long ceased to be a minority interest. But along with the glorious freedom of writing any genre, mixed genres or no genre and the ability to control every aspect of a book’s production comes responsibility to the readers.

Some authors write books purely for their own pleasure and that’s […]

How I developed the Roma Nova titles...

Minerva/Athene, goddess of wisdom (Capitoline Museum, Rome)

A poster “in another place” commented about the Roma Nova books: “They sound great, but I can’t help but cringe at the titles. Not quite Latin. I suppose that’s probably the point, but ouch. Intriguing, though.“

I admit, I thought ‘ouch’ back, […]

Shortlisted for the 2014 Self-Published Book of the Year Award

Several months ago, I entered INCEPTIO and PERFIDITAS for the Writing Magazine self-published book award. With all the work finalising SUCCESSIO, I almost forgot about it. Imagine my pleasure when I came home after the SUCCESSIO launch trip, browsed the July issue of Writing Magazine and found that both books had been shortlisted for the […]

So what does SUCCESSIO mean to me?

Writing a book is hard work but a privilege. Sitting down, slogging away, oblivious to neck and shoulders becoming rigid, you ignore the blurring eyes, the headache creeping up over the crown of your head because you are lost in the imaginary country of your book’s world.

Your characters smell the pines, shiver at the […]