Home Thoughts Weekly

Ask an author which of their own books is their favourite and I suspect it’s like asking a parent to say which child they love best; it can’t be done. Turning the Tide will always be dear to me because it was my first full-length novel and it earned me a publishing contract. I’m proud of Move Over Darling because I wrote it during a very tough period with Stuff Happening externally and a crippling lack of self-confidence internally. Getting through that long dark night of the writing soul taught me a lot. Oh, but I did love writing Book 3! I loved returning to Little Spitmarsh, the setting for Turning the Tide , I loved seeing what Harry and Matthew had been up to and I loved my new heroine and hero. And fortunately, phew, everyone at Choc Lit loved them too and I was offered a new contract faster than I dared hope. One thing they didn’t love, though, was the title, so my working title went out the window and a new one was born, Follow a Star . Then I waited for my cover. ...

Apologies for being a bit elusive, but I'm trying very hard at the moment to crack on with Book Three.  It's therefore a bit rich of me to ask anyone else for their time, however, here's the latest book news for Move Over Darling for anyone who might be interested. I'm a guest blogger at RomCon , home of the Annual Romance Readers Convention, today. The large print of edition of Move Over Darling is out now , as is the audiobook, read by Charlotte Strevens who has a lovely warm voice and took immense trouble to get in touch with me before making the recording so she could be sure to get the accents right. You can hear a sample here .

‘Be punctual, bring props’ is today’s brief . My publishers, Choc Lit , have linked up with the UK’s largest coach operator, National Express , to give away a great selection of ‘summer reads’ on selected coach services to major airports and from major cities throughout July and August. My new novel Move Over Darling  will be making its debut on the coaches, giving passengers a pre-publication preview which is why I’m on my way to Cardiff for a photo shoot. My anxiety levels are stratospheric, there’s the ‘be punctual’ bit for a start. I hate being late, so I leave the house at Crack of Doom to allow for tractors and milking time on the long drive through narrow lanes. I manage to find a parking space at the station (my next worry). The train turns up on time, phew, and there’s enough space for me, my big orange sun hat and my small red suitcase. In Cardiff I’m almost undone by the station loos where eight women are queuing for two cubicles one of which seems to be pe...