This little cartoon showing a cat reviewing among other things my novel Timed Out is by cartoonist Colin Shelbourn. It appeared alongside a very short story of mine published in The Author. The story, “How Many Stars?”, has earned me more accolades and almost as many pounds as the novel plus all my other published fiction. And ... Read More
Found in a folder of old notes pre-dating my novel Timed Out in which a rather different version appears briefly. “Afraid of dying alone? Don’t be. Find yourself a carer. Internet dating is the answer,” all over the country decrepit men are telling their decrepit friends. And all over the country, lonely women are egging ... Read More
Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you have enjoyed your tour of our renowned university city. And I do hope you have not had difficulty in understanding me. Yours is not a language we teach in our schools, but once we had found out that you still exist a few of us have endeavoured to learn ... Read More
My novel Timed Out is usually classified as ‘mature romance’ or ‘women’s literary fiction’. (I snobbishly prefer ‘literary fiction’ though I know that doesn’t sell books.) It is about an older woman trying to turn her life around after she retires, doing Internet dating and also pondering again the Big Questions. On its book page Amazon.co.uk lists ... Read More
John Crace Being Dead. Begins with a gruesome murder and then traces the victims’ lives leading up to that moment, and describes in detail the putrefaction of the corpses. I was too squeamish for this, though John Crace as a writer of beautiful and evocative prose is second to none. Margaret Drabble The Dark Flood Rises. A ... Read More
Some of you may have noticed my attempts to garner publicity for my new novel Timed Out. What follows is a revised version of a little article in The Oxford Writer. I must stress that I am no expert on the subject and I hated the whole business at first. But I am beginning to see ... Read More
If you would like to hear what I sound like and find out a bit about me and my novel Timed Out there’s a Radio Gorgeous podcast of an interview with Donna Freed. I enjoyed it. Donna had obviously read the whole book and I think some of her questions were very interesting. Sorry the link has not ... Read More
Before you can post a review you need to have an Amazon account that has been used to buy something from them (not necessarily a book). You do not need to have bought the book you are reviewing from Amazon. How to do it: Go to product details page. Click on Customer Review. Rate.Write.Submit. You ... Read More
When they say they have never heard of your publisher, smile sweetly and express surprise. ‘Oh, haven’t you?’ And don’t call Driven Press ‘a small global press’ – call them ‘a global press’. When they ask what happens in the end of Timed Out, don’t tell them – just suggest they’ll find it interesting. Don’t ... Read More
One person’s witty, eloquent brainwave is often another person’s cliche. We are urged to avoid them: story cliches, adjective-with-noun cliches, metaphor cliches, phrase cliches. And how we hate being caught using one. After all, we writers call ourselves creative and we think we are original, daring, imaginative. And that’s especially true of those who have ... Read More
