In Mslexia – national (and international) fame!

Shortly after Military or Civilians? was published, Danuta Kean invited me to submit a short piece for the Mslexia magazine’s spot called How I Did It. In a bit over 200 words, under headings The Book, The Long Haul and The Advice, I outlined the experience of publishing my ebook.

A frisson of excitement rose […]

What's a thriller?

When I mentioned to a new friend that I wrote thrillers with an alternate history setting, she batted aside (or maybe ignored) the alternate history bit and asked, “What do you call a thriller, then?”.

Er, isn’t it obvious? Apparently not.

Merriam-Webster defines a thriller as “a work of fiction or drama designed to hold […]

Money, money, money!

Yesterday, I danced round the house. I’d received the following email: (Parts have been removed to protect their modesty.)

The following payment is related to digital royalties for Amazon.co.uk. It will be paid by bank transfer directly into your bank account. Please allow up to five business days for the funds to appear in the […]

Did the books you loved make you into the writer you are?

Drafting my latest query letter, I did a little exercise. No, not twenty press-ups on the floor, but one prompted by this particular agency’s submission guidelines. As part of the marketing approach, I was asked to thinking of two to three (i.e. three) comparable books. That wasn’t a problem, but it started me thinking about […]

Researching – how to behave

Two years ago, I wrote a post on research, setting out five steps to getting a best result. During the past two weeks, I’ve been following that same methodology to assess service suppliers and have narrowed my search to two possibilities.

I googled then sifted the results, gathered reports, opinions, financial data (from the sycophantic […]