Adapt and Survive – me and the #RTYDS

Posted onJanuary 15, 2016January 15, 2016Leave a comment

with Farnham Youth Theatre, about 1988. (I’m centre back). The production was Stephen Lowe’s Touched. They’re in 1940s costume. I’m in 1980s.

If you have read my bio, you’ll have noticed that I have had what might kindly be called a portfolio career. This is a feature of the lives of many writers – not many of us manage to start earning money with our very first words. It also happens to many people who become parents, too – particularly the women parents – as we seek ways to allow our work and family lives to function more effectively.… read more

NaNoWriMo: are you lost?

Posted onNovember 10, 20155 Comments

It’s day ten of NaNoWriMo, and if you are keeping to the ideal daily word count of 50,000/30=1670, you will be approaching the 20k mark. If so, congratulations!

I started my first two novels with NaNo, and have sped each of the others on in November. Sadly, I’m not doing it this year – I’ve just handed in the second draft of my next one and really need to have a bit of a brain defrag before I embark on the next project.… read more

SICK!

Posted onFebruary 12, 2015February 12, 2015Leave a comment

I’m very pleased and proud to have been asked to curate the book events for this year’s SICK! Festival.

SICK! is a multi-artform festival dedicated to revealing and debating our most urgent physical, mental and social challenges.

This year it is running simultaneously in Brighton and Manchester, and each weekend there will be a themed book event in each city.

If you are nearby, please do come along – we’ve booked some fantastic writers – from novelists to memoirists, academics, graphic novelists and professional practitioners.… read more

Edinburgh Here I Come

Posted onAugust 5, 20141 Comment

I am SO EXCITED!

During the Festival Fringe we have regularly rented a house or flat in some cheaper part of Edinburgh to accommodate family, friends and company members while my husband Tim puts on a show at the Traverse.

This means a part of my August has often been spent in a mad rush of shows, galleries, and keeping the children happy (Edinburgh Dungeon, Zoo, etc.) while the old man works. Hours, perhaps even days, have been spent eating chilli nachos and drinking Hendricks and tonic in the Traverse Bar, waiting for the next show, or for Tim to be interviewed, or meeting actors, playwrights, directors and bookers from around the world.… read more

Blog Review Round Up

Posted onJuly 3, 20144 Comments

Some of the quotes. Click on the image to enlarge it

Tonight is the launch party for The Long Fall. I’m too excited to write today, so instead here’s a round up of all the lovely bloggers’ reviews so far. I have been completely knocked out by the support of the blogging community – not least because all of that work and care comes from a love of books, nothing more or less. It’s totally heartening.… read more

Blog Tour Day Seven: Extract

Posted onJune 23, 2014January 9, 2017Leave a comment

Well, we’re exhausted after the geographically challenging but enormously exciting Long Fall Blog Tour. It’s going to take weeks to recover!

The final stop off is in rural Herefordshire at Chocolate Chunky Munkie, blog of Jenny, 34. Her favourite genres are Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Dystopian, Vampires and Shape Shifters, but luckily she also likes Thrillers and Female Literature. Her very popular blog has hundreds of reviews, as well as giveaways and interviews.

The Long Fall gig is an extract from a bit further into the novel.… read more

Blog Tour Day Six: Dos and Don’ts

Posted onJune 22, 20142 Comments

Sorry, this should have been posted yesterday. I was in York, though, doing a panel for the Festival of Ideas, ten days of over 120 mostly free events,with talks from world-class speakers, performances, exhibitions and interactive experiences for people of all ages.

I was talking about fly fishing.

Not really. I was talking about crime writing, with Colette McBeth, Tom Harper and Aly Monroe, chaired by Helen Cadbury.

There was quite a bit of travelling involved between Brighton and York, and there’s my tenuous link into my blog tour day six, which is my Dos and Don’ts for Travellers, a collection of top tips I have collated over many years of heading off at any opportunity, including my backpacking year off trip in 1980 that provides the backdrop to The Long Fall.… read more

Blog Tour Day Five: Extract

Posted onJune 20, 2014June 20, 2014Leave a comment

My friend Ms Emma Kilbey finds a particularly shocking passage…

After a serene, heatwave-smoothed passage back home across the Irish sea, today’s Blog Tour stopoff is Erin’s Choice.

Erin is 23, and loves books. Her favourite genre is chick lit, but thankfully she can sometimes be persuaded to read the odd bit of crime fiction, too. There are hundreds of reviews, author interviews and guest reviews on her blog – no mean feat, as she has only been going for two years.… read more

Blog Tour Day 4: My Top Five

Posted onJune 19, 2014June 19, 20141 Comment

So, to celebrate publication day, the blog tour stops off today at The Madwoman in the Attic, A great blog by Lisa D in Ireland. Lisa is a book obsessive, and writes for websites, print and radio. History is her passion and she’s currently working on a novel set, like The Long Fall, in two time periods.

My piece is about my top five domestic noir novels. As you will find out, I had a lot of difficulty choosing …… read more

Blog Tour Day 3: GIVEAWAY!

Posted onJune 18, 2014Leave a comment

This is not a watercolour! It's my photograph of the actual view from the beach in Ikaria.

This is not a watercolour! It’s my photograph of the actual view from a beach in Ikaria.

Today, the Long Fall Blog Tour van stops off at The Book Trail, with a great article about the travelling aspect in the book and a giveaway.

Born out of a love of books and travel, The Book Trail is a blog after my own heart. Subtitled discovering the world, one book at a time, it features reviews and articles on books that involve journeys or have a strong sense of place.… read more

Julia Crouch

Novelist: the queen of domestic noir