My Ten Favourite Books of 2022

Towards the end of each year, I tend to write a round-up of my ten favourite books from the twelve or so months preceding. However, 2022 has been a different sort of year for me in terms of blogging – a new job and changing domestic arrangements have meant that many of my old blogging…

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Finn and Friends at John O’Groats

Back in January, when I wrote about my writing plans for 2022, I mentioned a project that I hoped would come to fruition before the summer. Well, here we are in May – and apart from wondering how on earth time passed so quickly – I’m delighted to say I have some new book news…

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Autumn and Early Winter Reading – The Wild Silence, Feral, The Way Home and The Giver of Stars

It’s been several months since I shared a reading post on here – mainly due to being occupied with my own book. I’ve written less on my blog this year than any other – a shifting of my attention away from the blogosphere and onto the other writing I want to send into the world.…

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Spring and Early Summer Reading – I Am An Island, Where The Crawdads Sing, Wintering & True North

It’s been some time since I shared a reading post on the blog, the result of a slowing-down of my motivation for putting finger to keyboard and sending words out into the blogosphere. In the background, I’ve been absorbing the words of other authors, and it’s rare for a day to pass without me picking…

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Castles of Steel and Thunder Author Q&A

I was recently asked to answer some questions on my experience of novel-writing by a creative writing student from the University of the Highlands and Islands. Of course, I was happy to oblige – and thought I would share the interview here for anyone who would like to find out more. Read on for tips…

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Promoting Your Self-Published Book in a Pandemic

If, like me, you self-published your first novel during the pandemic, you might be wondering how on earth to go about promoting it. With bookshops – and indeed most places – still shut due to lockdown, it may not feel like the ideal time to be attracting new readers to your book. Thankfully, there are…

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Lockdown and January Reading (*contains gifted item)

One positive of these last few months in lockdown (and I think we really do have to seek out the good now and then, don’t we?) has been the chance to devote more time to reading. Reading can be such an escape from the realities of our current situation (even if, like me, you occasionally…

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The Names Behind Castles of Steel and Thunder

Since the publication of my first novel, Castles of Steel and Thunder, a few people have asked me whether there was any specific inspiration behind the names of characters and places in the novel. The answer is yes, and I thought I’d write about some of that inspiration here. I’ve already written about the debt…

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My Ten Favourite Books of 2020 – And What I’ve Been Reading Lately

At around this point in December, I usually like to round up my ten favourite books of the year, in no particular order, and with the caveat that the list refers to the year of reading rather than the year of publication. However, 2020 has been a year like no other, and between Covid, lockdown…

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Introducing Castles of Steel and Thunder

If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know I recently shared the news that I’m about to publish my first novel, a Young Adult fantasy inspired by the legends of Caithness. Over the October holidays, I was a very busy bee, proofreading typeset proofs and finalising small details with the wonderful assistance of Jen at…

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