Today is my first opportunity to write for the Avalon Authors Blog. This will be a monthly contribution until the publication of my first novel for Avalon Books, Wait a Lonely Lifetime.
Compost
The natural world has a way of dealing with trash. Gardeners call it composting. Green warriors call it recycling. Publishers call it pulping. Writers call it so many different things, I can only list the a few of those I’ve heard recently: material, research, edited cuts, bits. What’s your way of dealing with the parts […]
Guest Blogging: 28 April 2011
I’ll be a guest at Four Foxes One Hound this coming Thursday, writing about how Wait a Lonely Lifetime developed from an idea to a soon-to-be-published novel. http://fourfoxesonehound.wordpress.com
Pruning Pomegranate II
Rich, fertile soil, a shining sun, chance encounters: these all add up to possibilities. But one day of sun isn’t enough to encourage the budding of a dormant bush. Most of my garden is budding, flowering, blooming and generally running over with life. My pomegranate is not. After a reminder that the pomegranate, in Armenian […]
Current Reads – April
The Long Good-Bye – Raymond Chandler. This is my introduction to Chandler’s novels and I’m hooked. I love it that I knew who the killer was before Philip Marlowe revealed the truth and why Terry Lennox did the noble thing. I’ve never been a fan of crime fiction, not since I read a P D […]
Wait a Lonely Lifetime: A Novel
My novel, Wait a Lonely Lifetime, is set in Firenze and San Francisco. “…a terrific romance.” At the end of this month, I will be a guest at Four Foxes One Hound and blogging about the process of ideas: what happens next? So many inspirations, so much time. This book grew from ideas over a […]
Reflected Glory? Not!
A New York-based publisher (nameless for now) has offered me a contract for my novel, Wait a Lonely Lifetime. This news is now 48 hours old. Where have I been? What have I been doing? How am I taking this so much in my stride? This is a life-long dream come true and it feels […]
Books & More: Reviews & Comment
Mazatlan Confidential Sweet Spot, Linton Robinson Linton Robinson’s novel of corrupt politicians, Mazatlan Carnival and baseball has all the credentials for a block-busting read: gritty, graphic and gripping. This is a fortuitous find among the many thousands of titles that are published every year and well-worth the effort. Fans of Elmore Leonard, Raymond Chandler and […]
Intrusive Writer Syndrome
Earlier this month, the latest issue of my writers’ association’s journal dropped onto the coir mat behind my uPVC door. As I do, I skimmed through the table of contents and flipped through the pages. One article caught my attention and I sank into the chair at the breakfast table. I’m not revealing the association […]
Current Reads
Sweet Spot, Linton Robinson – like going to bed with a migraine and waking with Green & Black’s Organic Dark. Unexpected pleasure. This Side of Paradise, F Scott Fitzgerald – they didn’t teach this in my school.