I’m delighted to announce that after a year of writing, editing, design-approving and proof reading my second novel, Pieces of Sky and Stone launches officially today as an eBook. The book is the sequel to my first novel Castles of Steel and Thunder, and concludes the story of Sysa Steel, who left Caithness for a…
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In 2020, I published my first novel, Castles of Steel and Thunder, a tale of faeries and folklore inspired by the legends of Caithness. The book went on to become a bestseller across several Amazon categories, and following a successful paperback release, proved popular with readers from Caithness and further afield. But the story didn’t…
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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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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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Last weekend brought snow to Caithness, two days of respite from the unchanging nature of lockdown. As it fell that first evening, my 11-year-old ran into the street without a jacket while I watched him from the door. There was a simple kind of magic to seeing him spin under heavy, lamp-lit flakes, like parts…
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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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Around this time last year, I wrote a review of my year in numbers (an idea borrowed gratefully from my friend Suzanne at Inside, Outside and Beyond – thankyou again Suzanne). I enjoyed the format of reflecting on the year numerically, and so I have decided to use it again this year. It also avoids…
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If you’ve been reading recently, you’ll know that the last month or so has been a very exciting time for me. My debut novel, Castles of Steel and Thunder, launched in November as an eBook and quickly went to the top of two Amazon categories in the eBook charts. Recently, I took delivery of my…
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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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If you were reading last week, you’ll know that my first Young Adult novel, Castles of Steel and Thunder, has just launched as an eBook (paperback launch coming soon – more on that subject next time). The last week has been very exciting, and I was delighted when the eBook hit the number one spot…
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