Outwalkers published!
Out now, and looking very handsome. I’m delighted with it. More about it here.
The proof is in my hand
It’s so exciting to get hands on a real book-shaped object finally, after the years of grind, and the sheaves of paper, and the months in front of a screen. This is what it’s come to, these pages all bound and shiny. I had a great time in Oxford at my publisher, David Fickling Books, …
Outwalkers nearly out there…
…see the Bookseller here. Exciting, and so nearly real now!
Amnesty short story competition
Borders have never been more fiercely debated, defended, contested, climbed over, tunnelled under, drawn and redrawn than they are today. So there is no better time or place for a short story competition on that theme than right here and now. So if you have an idea, a spark, an image for a short story …
Northern Retreats
I spent the best part of January 2016 in spectacular Hawthornden Castle (see earlier post for photo), Lasswade, Scotland: the writers’ retreat set up by Mrs Drue Heinz, that offers month-long residencies to writers: uninterrupted time to write. Snow on the ground, a hot water bottle on my lap while I wrote, ancient stones, deer …
NW Scotland research trip
Made a glorious trip in May 2016 to NW Scotland, in aid of research for the end of my new novel, Outwalkers. Mostly my work involves me sitting for long hours on my own at a desk, surrounded by books, paper, notes, staring at a screen and battling my sentences. So having a legitimate work reason …