My Weekly Pocket Novel

I’m really excited to be able to report that my first Pocket Novel has been accepted by My Weekly. It’s working title is ‘Girl With Amber Eyes’ but I am fully expecting that they will change the title.

This isn’t my first attempt at a Pocket Novel. My first attempt was the story that is now published novel number three (‘Fortune’s Promise’ – published by Endeavour Press in March 2017.) The first version of that story was 30,000 words long and I submitted it to the Romantic Novelists Association for a critique. By the time the critique was returned to me with ideas for improvement, the required word length had increased to 50,000 words. I put the story on one side and eventually added another couple of plot strands, making it more suitable for a full length novel.

The idea of writing a Pocket Novel hadn’t disappeared from my wish list. I wrote down ‘the bones’ of the story in November 2015 during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and submitted the synopsis and first chapter last July. I received a lot of positive encouragement from Maggie Swinburne at My Weekly – and she also told me the elements of the story that she didn’t like. I sent regular instalments of the story – acting on any suggestions I was given in between times. I submitted the full story at the beginning of November 2016 and was thrilled when I got the news last week that My Weekly wanted to buy the story.

Pocket Novels are published once a fortnight and are available in newsagents and supermarkets or by subscription.

More news soon!

‘Curious Women’ & ‘Journey: from pathways to poems’

My long-awaited second poetry collection ‘Curious Women’ is now available.  The book is dedicated to my two grandmothers and the only great-grandmother I remember. It also commemorates all the women I’ve observed in cafes and other settings and those who have come to me in dreams.  I also include myself under the category of ‘curious.’ (You can take that comment any way you like!) ‘Curious Women’ is published by The Greenwood Press and is available from Amazon, from me or from The Greenwood Press (www.greenwoodpress.co.uk).

My partner, Bob Woodroofe, and I have celebrated our nineteenth anniversary by publishing our second joint collection. This is called ‘Journey: from pathways to poems.’ They are paired poems and have been written in the various places we have visited. We are looking forward to reading from this at various festivals this year. ‘Journey’ is also published by The Greenwood Press and is also available from Amazon.

Writing Success: poetry, flash fiction & short story exercises

This book was published a year ago and is available in both paperback and Kindle versions.  You can buy it using the flash ‘buttons’ on the publications page of my website! “Writing Success” is a useful book for all writers. It encourages you to take the Alice in Wonderland approach – grow your words and then shrink them to fit a variety of markets. Many of my longer projects begin life as six word stories or poems and then develop in a variety of ways. Don’t ever waste a good idea by only using it once.

Creative writing tutors will find it helpful for planning workshops and I also give a few tips on doing readings.

Apple Orchard, Lemon Grove – now available in paperback

Apple Orchard, Lemon Grove is now available in paperback as well as on Kindle.

It was on free promotion over Christmas and I was very happy that it reached the top 20 of the Free Kindle chart under three categories.

Many thanks to everyone who downloaded the book and made this possible!

Twenty Five Things About Me

1. I have lexical-gustatory synaesthesia (I experience some words and names as a specific taste).
2. I was born in Kent.
3. I am left handed.
4. My birth sign is Aries.
5. I hate being called Susan.
6. I love dark chocolate – although it tastes of the word ‘late’ and I’m never late for anything!
7. I’m scared of deep water.
8. I don’t like snakes.
9. I prefer silver jewellery to gold.
10. I love Italy – and Italian food.
11. I don’t like shoe shops.
12. I love handbags.
13. I love charity shops.
14. My favourite subjects at school were English, History, French and German.
15. I trained seriously for athletics – 800m – when I was in my teens.
16. I love trains – one of my dreams is to go on the Orient Express.
17. I once met Winston Churchill.
18. I love visiting National Trust properties.
19. I love cooking and eating Indian food.
20. I’m often awake and writing during the night – I sometimes think I’m nocturnal.
21. I love black cats.
22. I wear a lot of velvet.
23. I love rings.
24. Glastonbury is one if my favourite places.
25. I’d love to live in Cornwall.