Home Thoughts Weekly

I’m chatting today to Morton S. Gray , whose debut romantic suspense novel, "The Girl on the Beach" was e-published by Choc Lit in January 2017. I asked her a few questions about romance. Why did you choose to write romantic suspense novels? I think the romantic suspense genre chose me! When I decided to explore creative writing, I studied for a Certificate of Higher Education in Creative Writing with The Open College of the Arts and the courses explored poetry, short stories, flash fiction, plays and memoir writing. During the same period, I went to a weekly creative writing class with Sue Johnson in Pershore, Worcestershire. Sue encourages you to explore too. After this time of exploration, I concluded that I wanted to write longer fiction with a strong romantic element. I began to read a lot of books published by Choc Lit and couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to get a publishing contract with that publisher for my debut when I won their Search for a Star c...

The last week of March passes with us fitting in a few urgent jobs ‘before the baby arrives’. Blue Nun is launched, I dash off to fit in a quick hair cut, I tidy every drawer and cupboard in the house because I’m fit for nothing else and I try not to ring Rose every five minutes to see if ‘anything’s’ happening. Nothing happens.   After two weeks Rose is admitted to hospital and the waiting begins all over again. Two days and many more grey hairs later, the phone rings and I hear my son-in-law’s voice. ‘You have a new granddaughter,’ he tells me before we all start crying with happiness and relief. Poor Rose has had a rough time of it, so I pop down to help out for a few days when Si has to go back to work. The first night I’m there I take the first night shift and sit up with this brand new person marvelling at her in all her tiny perfection. After all the speculation - boy or girl, names, hair and eye colour, personality - she’s here, a placid little soul (apart f...

March begins with our wedding anniversary - St David’s Day - we take ourselves off for an overnight stay in a very comfortable hotel at Deganwy. Our room has magnificent views across the estuary to snow-capped mountains beyond, the sun shines, the food is glorious and the spa and swimming pool’s free to guests so we make the most of every second of our visit. After starting the year with so much illness, it’s wonderful to feel well at last! Coming home , I find the latest (April) edition of The English Home waiting for me, with my words to Nick Carter’s gorgeous photographs of a sweet, nostalgic seaside cottage. Each commission presents a different challenge, but it’s always very satisfying to see the finished article in print. I’m currently working on two commissions for the magazine which are due to appear later in the year. Fiction-wise, of the novella I submitted in January, there’s no word. Perhaps with the current appetite for ‘grip-lit’, stories about two people overcomin...

Kirsty Ferry Today, I'm delighted to welcome fellow Choc Lit author, Kirsty Ferry to my blog to talk about her latest book, The Girl in the Photograph, the third in her Rossetti Mysteries series.  Here's Kirsty... First of all, let me thank Chris for letting me invade her blog today. I know that Chris loves to write about beautiful homes and Interior Design, so in order to (hopefully) make this a bit more interesting than just the random ramblings of me as an author, I thought I’d talk about locations and, more specifically, the houses where two of my characters live. I love doing research , and to me one of the most important things as I start a novel is to get an idea of the ‘personal space’ of a character. If I can’t imagine them in their house, then I might as well give up. After all, they’ve got to have a base, and as I have quite a cinematic mind, I like to imagine my people walking around, going to bed, making a cuppa, opening a bottle of wine… in short, doing a...

On the train to Cardiff again! February 1st sees me in Cardiff again where Lily and Bee have been struck down with a sickness bug. By Friday everyone’s on the mend so I come home, but on Monday Lily is so ill we’re all fearful of meningitis. To everyone’s relief, it’s ‘only’ a severe, acute sinus infection, but since Lily can’t even stand without feeling sick and dizzy, I dash down to help with the mini-hurricane that is twenty-month-old Bee. Poor Bee has had a rotten winter with a series of horrible colds and a perforated eardrum which has temporarily affected her hearing, but not her ability to make herself understood. Just after 6 am Bee bursts in, thrilled to bits to find me on the futon in the guest room. What to do first? Empty Nana’s handbag, exclaiming with delight over every item or take Nana’s running shoes for a spin? Bee’s not the type of child to sit passively in front of the TV, although she is partial to a bit of Teletubbies and Twirlywoos, so most ...

A chilly wind’s prowling round the outside of the house today, tearing up anything that’s not firmly rooted and screeching through the thinnest of window gaps. I’m wearing three layers to stay warm; it’s taken both me and Tom the best part of three weeks to shake off one of the nastiest colds ever to strike so I’m doing my best to avoid a repeat performance. After the enforced slow start to the year, this is a flavour of what we’ve been up to. We’re hoping that this year’s marmalade marathon will see us round to next January… but we say that every year. Coming out of hibernation , we’ve been reminding ourselves of the fabulous beaches on our doorstep. My next half marathon is only six weeks away so I’m gradually picking up the mileage. Last year, during the Poppit Sands Series, I met my awesome running buddy, Helen. We’re both busy women but try to do a long run together every couple of weeks. It’s great to have encouragement and support, especially on tough hil...

This week it's my great pleasure to welcome a guest, fellow Choc Lit author Victoria Cornwall, whose debut novel, The Thief's Daughter is out now. I'm reading it at the moment and can thoroughly recommend it.  Here's Victoria to tell you about her novel the inspiration behind it. Victoria Cornwall Inspiration for a novel comes from many sources, a passing conversation, a newspaper article, a photograph, even an obituary. I suspect if you asked ten authors what inspired them to write their book you would get ten different answers. For me, a novel often begins with a location, whether it is a house, place or room and my debut novel with Choc Lit, The Thief’s Daughter, was no different. Although at the time I was a little breathless and in need of a drink! For many years I have attempted to walk the Cornish coastal path. Unfortunately, the lack of time, rather than a lack of desire, has meant I have only completed a quarter of the 296 miles so far. During one w...