Me on the sofa at BBC breakfast talking about NaNoWriMo
So it’s National Novel Writing Month again, and I seem to be all over the place talking about it. Sorry about that. It’s all totally heartfelt though. For lots of people, it’s is a great way to get a novel out into the world. But I am aware that it’s not for everyone. Some people like to take their time on their first drafts, planning and thinking as they go.… read more
Keith and Sandy 'helping' me edit Every Vow You Break
First, my excuses for not posting in over a month – ‘very bad for the blogging profile’ according to internet wisdom.
From 19 – 22 July, I was at Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, appearing on the New Blood Panel. It was a great honour to be chosen (by Val McDermid, no less!) to speak alongside SJ Watson (whose book Before I go to Sleep is deservedly taking the world by storm), Gordon Ferris (of the gritty Truth Dare Kill) and Melanie McGrath, (of the marvellous White Heat).
(Ahhhh. A gorge on brackets, normally as forbidden as carbs on the Dukan Diet)
WHAT A WEEKEND!… read more
She loves it! She couldn’t put it down! She’s excited about working on it!
That’s good, then. I’ve just got to wait for her notes then I can make it better. It’s a strange time. I’m desperate to get at it, but I can’t touch it yet, because I need Leah’s notes. So I’m going to have a bit of a’ holiday’, redesigning OldMan’s website, doing his posters and flyers for his Edinburgh Festival run and thinking about novel#3.… read more
The upside: pasta and pesto, home made by LittleSon
The title of this post is taken from OldMan’s facebook status update for the weekend, addressed “dear novel writing”.
Yesterday I sent the second draft of novel#2 off to AgentSimon, and I also hand-delivered the corrected paperback proofs of Cuckoo to Headline Towers (the paperback is out on 13th October 2011).
The past month has been insane – I have worked sixteen hour days, seven days a week to get novel#2 into a presentable state. … read more
Photo by Peter Chrisp
So it was my book launch on Friday. And what a night!
Alison with some of the best Parmesan cheese in the world
Brighton Waterstone’s hosted the event, Headline very generously provided the wine and my sister in law, Alison Crouch, provided the food, which was a highlight of the night. She imports Parma ham, Mozzarella, Parmesan and Salume from Italy and France and sells them in Borough Market and online. … read more
They've arrived! Real books, nestling on a fleece
Guilt! Guilt! I’m a bad, infrequent blogger.
I am busier than I ever thought it was possible to be. I mean it’s only one book that’s being published on March 3. And I’m working on the second draft of just one other book, to be delivered at the latest by the end of March, but ideally in the middle of the month.
Two things. That’s not much. When I was web designing I was juggling five or six projects all the time. … read more
Somewhere I have been other than at my desk
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. The reason is that I’ve been busy writing the second draft of novel#2. This means that a) my typing fingers are too exhausted at the end of the day to do a blog post and b) there’s nothing worth blogging about, because all I do is write.
That’s not strictly true, because I have had a little trip to New York, and some lovely nights in and out with friends and family.… read more
I have finally stopped myself procrastinating and started the read through of draft one, novel #2.
Before starting, I:
Oh my god. Leah sent over the cover art and, as you can see, it is fantastic. I am so excited and so relieved.
A little history. For the past fifteen years, I have been making a living as a website/graphic designer and illustrator. I have even designed some book covers for old man: The Author, my arm, an oak tree and ENGLAND. When people heard my novel was being published, an early question was ‘are you going to do the cover?’.… read more
