People often ask me where I get my ideas from and whether what I write is based on my own experience.  When I did my first creative writing course with the OU there was an emphasis on ‘writing what you know’ but I soon found that what I know is actually quite limited;...

Kate Fletcher 3 – Bad Seed – was published on February 25th which just happens to be my birthday.  It was a strange day because I had two completely different things to celebrate in completely different ways.  For my birthday my partner and I went to Newcastle for a da...

I’ve written before about how much I appreciate Carlisle’s book festival, Borderlines.  I’ve had the opportunity to hear some of my favourite authors speak and have discovered quite a lot of new writers through attending events.  Tickets are reasonably priced and the w...

William Blake wrote in Proverbs of Hell ‘You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough’.  Writing the ending to a novel always makes me think of these words because I never seem to know what is enough, what is more than enough or what isn’t qui...

When I started writing Closer to Home it wasn’t really intended to be the first in a series.  It was simply a way of telling a story that had been kicking around in my head for a few years. However, I discovered that Kate Fletcher and Dan Hollis had got under my skin a...

‘Closer to Home’, my last novel, is set in a mining town in South Yorkshire very much like the one in which I grew up.  In fact, much of Thorpe is based on Conisbrough although I don’t use the town’s most famous feature – the castle – as I thought that might be too muc...

Just over a year ago I was interviewed by somebody from my local newspaper about my writing and my latest book.  During the course of the interview he asked about my partner and whether we share a study space.  He had an image of us in a cosy room with wing-back chairs...

On holiday in Italy, sharing a table with strangers, the conversation inevitably turned to what we all do for a living.  Two of my dinner companions were retired but keen to discuss their previous occupations while I listened, part intrigued and part anxious about what...

One of the things that I find most difficult when starting a new writing project is deciding on a title.  When I was at school, teachers used to say 'Just write – the title will come later'. I’ve often offered the same advice to my own students but it’s a suggestion th...

Tomorrow my latest novel, Closer to Home, will be published.  It’s been available to order for just over a week and I’ve been watching its Amazon sales rank with a slight sense of disbelief as the number keeps going down (that’s a good thing).  It looks like people are...