Off on the road to Rome…

When I recommended The History of Rome (THOR) podcast last December I had no idea that I would be joining the official THOR tour which starts in 10 days, on 24 February.

I was listening to the regular podcast, wishing I could be there, but the application date had passed and I hadn’t any pennies […]

On the home run

At 82,000 words of my 90,000 target, I’m fast approaching the end of book3. My heroine is about to confront the source of her problems and deal with her definitively. And she’s going to save the day. Obviously. The knitting is nearly knitted. The pudding is nearly boiled. But it’s almost unbearable. I want to […]

Double memories

Finding something that you know will give somebody else a great deal of pleasure is a smiley moment. Nothing is the same as watching the other person’s eyes widen. Their look of immediate disbelief dissolves as you hand it to them and they receive it with a huge grin on their face.

I decided to […]

Is it wrong to tweet on Christmas Day?

The immediate reaction is hands raised in horror. How crass, how selfish, how insensitive!

But is it?

I remember as a kid having ‘quiet times’ on Christmas day. We had the ecstasy of early morning present-unwrapping – scarf, pencils, jigsaw, books, new jumper – then breakfast, followed by the first ‘quiet time’ when […]

Are some genres more equal than others?

I love bookshops. I love bookstalls at charity dos and the second-hand paperback club. I love the book table at conferences. The second and third are informal; the offer is either serendipity or confined to the books written by speakers (and certainly in the case of the RNA) attendees. Running my hands over the spines […]