Her Husband’s Lover Playlist – Why

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In which I explain my reasoning behind choosing the playlist I posted yesterday:

playlist-composite

Straight to You

Nick Cave

As part of writing Her Husband’s Lover, I wrote what I now see as a ‘warm up novel’.

This novel is now filed in ‘strong but wrong’. It strayed into a dark, dystopian territory – too far for me. It wasn’t time wasted though – I took certain parts and brought them forward into the ‘right’ novel, and am refashioning a lot of the discarded scraps into something quite different.… read more

Her Husband’s Lover Playlist

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Last month, I was invited to put together a playlist of songs that inspired Her Husband’s Lover. This was for a great local radio programme – The Write Songs, hosted on Radio Reverb by Gilly Smith. Here is the playlist. Tomorrow I’ll talk about the reasoning behind the choices, and later this week I’ll link to the radio programme. Enjoy!

CUCKOO – just 99p

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cuckoo_cover_final

My first novel Cuckoo is an Amazon Kindle daily deal today, Saturday 27 August. Buy it now for just 99p.

Rose has it all – the gorgeous children, the husband, the beautiful home. But then her best friend Polly comes to stay.

Very soon, Rose’s cosy world starts to fall apart at the seams – her baby falls dangerously ill, her husband is distracted – is Polly behind it all?

It appears that once you invite Polly into your home, it’s very difficult to get her out again…

A brilliant debut novel… a riveting and spooky story that keeps your eyes locked on the page, and leaves you feeling shaken and out of sorts  Heat Magazine, March 1st, 2011

 

Possibly the most glamorous thing I have done as a writer….

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I am helping my parents move out of their home of 40 years. You’d think that would be hard work, but it appears that if you choose the full pack and move option as they have, it actually mostly involves sunning myself in a Cambridgeshire garden whilst Pickfords men around me toil. So I am amusing myself by looking forward to possibly the most glamorous thing I have done as a writer, ever.

The marvellous The Bookish Supper Salon and Dadaprojects are taking me and a wonderful group of bookish types to Bassano del Grappa and Verona on 29 April for a long weekend of cooking, eating, drinking, sightseeing, reading, and talking about books.… read more

Adapt and Survive – me and the #RTYDS

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with Farnham Youth Theatre, about 1988. (I'm centre back). The production was Stephen Lowe's Touched.

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?

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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!

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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

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Edinburgh International Book Festival 2014 Brochure Cover

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

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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