Home Thoughts Weekly

With nothing specific on the agenda , it’s been good to be able to take a few moments to pause and reflect. I’ve especially enjoyed looking at all the wedding photographs coming in from friends and family and absorbing different impressions of a day that fills me with happiness whenever I think about it. I’ve also been taking stoc k this week because next Sunday sees the official release of my second novel, Move Over Darling . Without, I hope, wishing to sound in the least bit boastful, it feels particularly good to have reached this point after all the doubts, fears and long, long hours. I joke that when I look at my daughters, I’m filled with a sense that, wow, I made a WHOLE person (okay, with a bit of help) and then I did it again! Well, it’s a similar feeling holding a second book in my hand and seeing my name on the cover. With it come the same mixed emotions about holding on and letting go. There’s the joy of celebrating with loved ones, sadness for the people we miss. It...

A fragile and flickering little flame has been lighting my dark for the best part of ten weeks now. Ever since a real live editor asked to see the full script of ‘Fighting the Tide’ I’ve dared to hope that this time it was really going to happen. FTT’s got pretty close before, considering it hasn’t been spread very widely, so I know it’s got something going for it. And, indeed, the email that popped up on Friday seemed to confirm this; ‘…polished writing…wonderful characters…a talent for dialogue…very real location’ etc, and then ‘not the right time to take this book on.’ What? What seemed to have tipped the balance was the length of the book and one subplot too many ie the additions suggested by an agent to turn a simple love story into something ‘bigger and darker’! Well, that’s what I could tell myself but I suppose the truth is that I’m aiming at an already overcrowded market where being polished isn’t sufficient – you need an ‘X’ factor. And that’s exactly what Girls Aloud ...