BLOGGING

For far too long I've been using my blog simply as a platform to post my news. And you have to agree, there has been a lot of news to post. Yet when this blog first started, over five years ago, my intentions were very different. My original plan was to write a kind of diary of my journey to becoming an author. Along the way I became so busy being an author, that I lost my impetus to blog about it. To report on my journey has begun to resemble a list of boasts - CWA Dagger Award shortlist, accolades in journals as diverse as The Times and Star magazine, on both sides of the Atlantic, voted and selected for Best Fiction lists, hitting Number 1 on kindle and iTunes, and regularly appearing bestseller charts on amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith, amazon... yes, I'm boring myself. So my blog petered out, apart from the occasional interviews with other authors, and sporadic  posts about yet another promotion, special offer, or bestseller list. Only this week, COLD SACRIFICE was a 'Buzz Book' on iTunes, ROAD CLOSED reached the Top 10 on kindle, and DEATH BED was selected for the amazon kindle summer promotion, reaching Number 3 in crime and thrillers.

It's time to get back to the original purpose of this blog, and explore issues concerning the world of publishing, from the perspective of an author. I have no 'inside knowledge' beyond what I can gather from my own experience. So here's where I am right now.

My debut, CUT SHORT, came out in 2009 as an A format paperback - small, cheap, with a monochrome cover. By 2011 my first three titles had all become bestsellers, and my publisher 'branded' the series, bringing out all the titles in the series in B format, with lovely colourful shiny matching covers. You can see them all on my website LEIGH RUSSELL  if you want to see how smart they look. The row of covers on the virtual shelf on my kindle isn't quite the same.

Here's my little bookcase at home, like a trophy case, only hidden away upstairs where no one else can see it, with 15 editions of  my books on display plus three bookmarks. If you look carefully on the extreme left, you can see the eye on the proof copy of the first edition of CUT SHORT is looking in the opposite direction to the one on the spine of the sale copy.

When CUT SHORT was first published, a fellow author advised me to ask my publisher to bring it out as an eBook. Wait for my next statement... I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about! I'd heard talk of 'eBooks' but it was all something of a mystery to me then. Six months later, the eBook duly came out. The same process occurred with ROAD CLOSED. By the time DEAD END was published in 2011, eBooks were firmly on the map. The eBook was available to download on the same day the print book hit the shelves. Meanwhile, sales of eBooks began to overtake the print version. I'll deal with my response to that in another post. DEATH BED was due to be published in 2012. The eBook was released on December 2011, six months ahead of the print book. The same happened withSTOP DEAD, and that pattern seems to be continuing for the time being. I can't say "for the foreseeable future" because things are changing so fast, it's hard to look ahead.

Sales of eBooks are growing. Some statistics cite them as representing 20% of the market in a rapidly growing sector, other sources say they are now at 25% of the market.

In a statement accompanying its fourth quarter and full year results for 2012, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos neatly summed up where he sees the future of book retailing heading–especially for his company. “We’re now seeing the transition we’ve been expecting,” said Bezos. “After 5 years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast – up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%.”
(US Publishers Weekly, January 2013)

From the perspective of an author, it makes little difference in terms of income. The standard percentage royalties an author earns from sales of eBooks is higher for an author than on print books, as the publisher's overheads are far lower. Certainly the sales on eBooks are potentially huge compared to those of print books. My own books have sold hugely in eformat compared to the sales of my books in print.

Personally I'm in two minds about eBooks. I'm thrilled to be earning a living from my books, if a modest one. But I still love the look and the feel of physical books.

Oh, and the links here are to the eBooks on kindle... but you can find links to the print books as well on my website: WEBSITE

Large Print Books

Following the publication of Cut Short in large print, Road Closed is now available. I hope many people who struggle to read normal sized print are now getting to know Geraldine Steel.
Road Closed in large print

Why Crime Fiction?

Geraldine Steel - Number 1 female detective on amazon kindle

Most of us would be hard pressed to say anything in defence of real life crime, so how can we account for the popularity of crime fiction? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. As the author of a crime fiction series, I’m more than happy to see my books selling so well. But the contrast in attitudes to crime in reality and in fiction is interesting.
In real life I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to blood and guts, don’t eat meat and would quite possibly have been the world’s worst nurse had my life taken a turn along that career path. But let me loose on a fictitious murder scene and I’ll do my best to describe it, blood and all, with perhaps the odd spot of mutilation to heighten the tension by establishing just how evil my killer is. I daresay readers familiar with my books will nod and smile at that, but if I’d said I intended to embark on the odd spot of mutilation in real life, I hope their reaction would be rather different!
In his review of my 2011 novel Dead End in Crime Time, Barry Forshaw wrote that my books “take the reader into the darkest recesses of the human psyche.” Yet introduce me to anyone vaguely violent in real life and I’ll walk away, quaking, and not look back - correction, I’ll run. By contrast, my fictional killers might unnerve the boldest of readers.
Why are so many peaceful readers avid fans of murder stories like mine? To what can we attribute the powerful appeal of crime fiction?
At the most basic level, crime fiction explores the clash between good and evil. Often characterised as emerging as a genre in the nineteenth century with Wilkie Collins, solving crime has its roots in fiction long before that, as far back as Beowulf and the myths of ancient civilisations, and throughout the centuries crime has played a key role in establishing conflict and tension in literature.
Centuries before Wilkie Collins, Shakespeare’s plays were packed with crimes: fourteen killings, nine of them on stage, severed limbs, rapes, live burial, insanity and cannibalism – at least one atrocity for every 100 lines in the rarely staged Titus Andronicus. It all makes those “darkest recesses of the human psyche” in my books seem quite tame.
The conflict between good and evil is something that touches all of us at some point in our lives. In hopefully insignificant ways we engage with it on a daily basis dealing with injustices and inequities that plague our lives. Children frequently protest: ‘It’s not fair!’ Experience teaches us that life is indeed not fair, yet the notion of a just world is an attractive one, a world where we know where we stand and life makes sense. If only!
It seems to me that the appeal of crime fiction is attributable to a combination of suspense arising from the conflict between good and evil, and the reassurance of knowing that in the end some sort of moral order will be restored. With our modern obsession with originality of plot (Shakespeare never had that problem!) we’ve moved away from the Conan Doyle model of the infallible hero detective with Sherlock Holmes the precursor of Superman as well as Poirot and Rebus. Current fiction is peppered with flawed detectives. They may not be the superheroes of the past, but reflect our relatively sophisticated understanding of human nature.
The same is true of the bad guys. Where Conan Doyle introduces a snarling villain whose face was “marked with every evil passion” so there can be no doubt about who is the villain of the story, some contemporary authors present killers not as stereotypes of evil, but as damaged people. The killers in my own novels are an example, as much victims as the people they kill.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I present my killers in a sympathetic light. There can be little sympathy for someone who takes another person’s life, but I try to see the world as my killers do, and understand behaviour which I can’t condone. Unless I see the world through my killers’ eyes, I can’t create them as plausible characters.
But we can’t blur the distinction between good and evil. As detectives become less than perfect, and villains become increasingly three dimensional characters, there is still a clear line between pursuit of justice and morally unacceptable conduct. With moral guidelines prevailing less in society, perhaps the popularity of crime fiction is not only more understandable, but more important than ever in helping provide us with a moral compass for real life.
This article was first published in Crimespree Magazine 21st June 2011
http://crimespree.blogspot.com/2011/06/good-and-evil-in-crime-fiction.html

Other recent articles and interviews:

E-BOOKS: JUST A FAD OR THE FUTURE OF FICTION?
"We asked bestselling crime writer Leigh Russell for her insight into the eBook phenomenon"
Read the interview in InTouch Magazine (Cyprus) (July 2011)
http://www.freeintouchmagazine.com/in-this-months-issue.html
 
21st CENTURY FAHRENHEIT 451
Leigh Russell writes in Crime Time (July 2011)
http://www.crimetime.co.uk/mag/index.php/showarticle/1937

Waterstones

Cut Short, Road Closed and Dead End at Waterstones in Guildford where I signed 76 books today. Who says we don't love our bookshops?

Amazon promotes Road Closed

Amazon are promoting Road Closed on Kindle - £1.20 until 2nd May.

Here's the link if you'd like to check it out - http://tinyurl.com/RoadClosedKindle

ROAD CLOSED made it to the TOP 100 TITLES on Amazon kindle!

Check out this blog- thanks, Helen! http://fictionisstrangerthanfact.blogspot.com/2011/04/crime-spree.html

This week's interviews

Interview on Harrogate Festival website http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/yourebooked/2011/02/youre-booked-spoke-to-leigh-russell/
Interview on The Rap Sheet
http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2011/02/steel-at-it.html

Writers and Readers

I received my PLR statement today. Around 3,000 people borrowed my books from libraries in the UK in the year to June 2010.
Who says libraries aren't popular nowadays?
As an author, it's hardly surprising that I spend a lot of time writing, but these days authors also spend a lot of time talking. As a relatively unknown 'name', my events vary and sometimes I chat to half a dozen readers in a library reading group, always an enjoyable experience. But here are a couple of photos, both taken at a recent talk I gave where more than 200 people turned out to hear me talk about my books. You can just about see me, a tiny dot on the stage.

Maybe one day I'll even see a queue of more than two people waiting in front of my table at a book signing...

Did I say people?

Who moved the goalposts?

We have a strange glitch in our television which causes it to default to Sky sport whenever I leave the room. Curiously it never happens when my husband is out - almost as though the television knows! Thanks to this mysterious glitch, I do sometimes watch cricket and football (while busy on facebook, blogs, email, etc and yes, sometimes even writing…)
So I thought, for a change, I’d share a few of my musings on cricket and football.
Cricket seems to me very similar to life, in being almost completely incomprehensible. Occasionally I have a glimmer of comprehension, but then it’s gone in the toss of a cricket ball and the swing of a bat and I’m baffled again. Yes, I can understand why people compare cricket to life. Just when you think you understand something, you realise you don't.
Football is altogether simpler to understand. There’s a goal post at each end of the pitch and – well, you know the rest and if not, well, don't ask me. The goals are a standard size and are always in the right place. In short, football couldn’t be less like life because in life the goal posts move all the time.
Less than two years ago, I thought I’d be happy just to see a book of mine published. Cut Short hit the shelves. I thought I'd be happy if a few copies were bought. Cut Short promptly sold out – and sold out again - and again. I thought I'd be happy if the book had a few good reviews on amazon. Cut Short was well reviewed, and not only on amazon but in the papers. It was shortlisted for a major award.

After all the accolades, I thought I'd be happy if Road Closed did half as well. Good reviews started to roll in and Road Closed quickly sold out.

Over that hurdle, with sales and reviews better than ever, and I’m wondering about how Dead End will be received...

Will I be happy if just a few copies are bought?

What a year I've had!

It's January 2011 and time to review 2010. And what a year it's been!

Looking back, I can't believe how much has happened. No wonder I'm feeling tired!

Cut Short sold out for the fourth time (or was it the fifth?) and was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger, which was a real thrill. I went to Harrogate to hear the announcement and met two charmers, Ian Rankin and Mark Billingham.

Cut Short is being reprinted again, this time in B format, with a new cover which was decided on in 2010, to match the cover chosen for Dead End. When Road Closed is reprinted again, it will have a matching cover, so 2010 was the year my books were "branded" (!)

I was lucky enough to have lots of online interviews and the reviews for both books continued to be amazingly positive!

I finished Dead End in 2010 and the MS for my next book, now with my agent.

2010 saw two bestsellers, two more books written, two new covers and an award nomination. In addition, I was very happy to receive lots of invitations to appear at literary festivals, talk to writers groups and judge competitions, visit bookshops and libraries, and talk to colleges and book clubs.

2011 will doubtless be as busy but I don't see how it can be as exciting!

Help Needed - Support Bookshops!

December was a busy month - until the snow struck. So far I've had to cancel 5 author events this week, in different branches of Waterstones. I really hope readers in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor support their local bookshops which have plenty of Cut Short and Road Closed in stock. Please feel free to contact me for a scanned signature, either for yourself or as a Christmas present, if you can get to Waterstones. They need your support. This week, which should have given them a boost, has been a disaster.
In more positive news, here I am earlier in the month awarding the trophy to John Ward, winner of Watford Writers short story competition, which I was invited to judge. The standard of all the entries was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I'm delighted to have been invited to judge the 2011 competition!


And here are a few more Watford writers - a very talented bunch.












And of course I've been out and about book signing at least once a week in December - here's a photo taken at Waterstones in Staines

and WH Smith's in Watford (photo courtesy of the Watford Observer)

We braved a blizzard to reach Waterstones in Hemel Hemstead. (If you enlarge the image you can see an unusual 3for2 offer...) We struggled to make it home again, ending up with the front of the car wedged against a kerb at the bottom of a hill. We managed to reverse away from the kerb by putting a pitta bread under each wheel - luckily we'd stopped off for some shopping on the way! While stuck, we met a girl who had abandonned her own car at the foot of the hill. As she as going our way, we were able to offer her a lift home! (We did holding her ransom note but she told us her family had no money to speak of. All they could offer was one small child. Having had two of our own, we reverted to our original offer and dropped her home.)

We made it to Waterstones in Harrow yesterday. Here's an old photo taken there in June 2010 (we forgot to take one today). Add a thick cardy and a fleece to my outfit, and a few more white hairs and wrinkles, and it could have been taken today!

WH Smith's in Harrow today, back to Waterstones tomorrow, and then I'm done!

Apologies to Waterstones in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor for being unable to get to you this week. I hope to visit you all early in 2011.

I'm done - what now?

I've delivered the MS for Dead End to my publisher and am back to polishing my next MS, which is virtually finished.
On paper (sorry!) I've achieved a heck of a lot in 2010 with Cut Short shortlisted for a major award, Road Closed well reviewed and selling as fast as Cut Short, and not one but two more books written.
So as the year draws to a close, I should be feeling pretty pleased with myself.
But (one of the most powerful words in the English language. Like an inconspicuous pivot, almost invisible, it turns everything around) I'm feeling deflated, low, dejected, fed up. (Love blogging where I can repeat, reiterate, witter on in horrendous prose, unlike my 'professional' prose or, as Katie Price allegedly calls it my "book words").
How do other writers react when they reach the end of the monumental (sometimes monstrous) creative effort that goes into writing a book?
Do you party? crawl away and hide? or indulge in rambling on a blog?
This isn't only a question for writers, of course. It applies equally at the conclusion of any task that has required effort. How do we enjoy achievement when the work is done? or do we only feel alive when we're facing challenge? What about the challenge of coping when the challenge is over? (OK, I'll stop now.)

A Serious Business

In unusual circumstances, books can be published within weeks. Michael Jackson’s biography was clearly prepared in advance and given regular updates, right up until his death at which point I seem to recall there was a race to be the first to have a book on the shelves.
For most authors, the process takes longer. There is a time lag between delivery of the final manuscript and publication. So the manuscript for Road Closed was delivered in December 2009 for publication in June 2010.
Addicted to writing, I started on Dead End as soon as Road Closed was finished. By writing I refer not only to the secretarial task of committing words to paper or screen, but also to the thinking, research and editing that go into producing a book.
A year has passed and YESTERDAY I sent Dead End to my publisher for the proofs. The story that has dominated my thoughts for the past year is now out of my hands. Finished. Handed over. Delivered. Submitted. Gone.
Am I pleased with what I have achieved? Am I excited about the publication of my next book?
As is so often the case, reality is proving very different to my expectations. I would have expected to feel deliriously happy at submitting my manuscript - but “terrified” might be a more apt way to describe how I’m feeling right now!
True to form, I’m already working on my next book, due with my agent in a month’s time. I’m currently working on final edits for the book that follows Dead End. I’ll have to wait more than a few weeks to see that one in print but, in the meantime, you can guess what I’ll be doing... yes, the killer in my fifth book is already clamouring to be written.
The last thing I want to do right now is think about Dead End, as it prepares to be launched into the public domain, to run the gauntlet of reviews.
While writing is fun, I am beginning to realise that being an author is a serious business.
http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php

Pathetic Fallacy

When I was a student (a very long time ago) I remember learning about the Pathetic Fallacy in literature, where natural events reflect human experience: Lear, a former king, naked in the tempest; storms at times of emotional turmoil in Thomas Hardy, and so on. I was thinking about the pathetic fallacy while driving into work this morning in ominous weather. I don’t enjoy driving in the best of conditions and at this time of year I always start to feel a little nervous. What if the roads are icy and my car skids...?
This kind of anxiety may be pathetic in itself, but being a worrier frequently feeds into my writing and I wonder if being subject to Shakespeare’s “horrible imaginings” goes with the territory of being a crime writer. Readers often ask how I think up plots for my crime novels and the answer is simple; I start with a ‘What if...?’ question, imagining a worst case scenario. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have a job in an office. One evening you are the last person to leave. Going to bed you remember that you left your mobile phone on your desk at work, so you go in early next morning to arrive before any of your colleagues. Entering the office you discover a dead woman sprawled on the floor. Only a few people have keys to your office, and no one admits to knowing the murder victim.
This raises a number of questions. Who is the unknown victim? Why was she killed? You were last out at the end of the day and first in next morning - does suspicion fall on you? How do the police find the killer? If you write answers to the many questions raised by the body in the office, a basic crime thriller will virtually write itself.
Of course it’s not that simple. It takes a certain type of imagination to develop a starting point like this into a plausible novel with intriguing plot twists and convincing characters, and requires a lot of thought. So life as an author can be hard work, and success has imposed increasing demands on my time until there are times when I watch my life slipping out of control, like my car on an icy road...
As for the road ahead, if anyone had told me eighteen months ago that I would have two bestsellers to my name now, I would’ve laughed. But here I am. So I’m taking my journey as an author one day at a time with no idea what the future might bring. At least my car didn’t skid this morning - although if there was any ice on the road I wouldn’t have seen it through the dense fog up ahead...


http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php

Good News and Bad News

I've all but finished the edits for DEAD END and am getting quite excited about publication in May. It's not that far off! In the meantime, ROAD CLOSED is being reprinted, and CUT SHORT will be reprinted in a new format in June.
With all the focus on preparing for publication, the promotion goes on. It is not an exaggeration when I say that I regularly receive invitations to give interviews. Just today I had approaches from journalists on two local papers covering areas where I'll be signing near Christmas, saw a post I'd written go online on the Harrogate Festival website, heard about another guest post going online at the beginning of December, received a PDF from Mystery Women who had asked me to write a Guest Author Post for their online magazine which will be sent out next week and I'm waiting to see a feature about me in the Times Educational Supplement in December.
Here's the link to my post on the Harrogate website:
http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/yourebooked/2010/11/my-beginnings-by-leigh-russell/
And links to two other interviews which came online this week, both print copies published a few months ago. This one is from Hertfordshire Life http://hertfordshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/crime-pays-for-watford-author-27276/
and In Touch Magazine in Cyprus where not only is the article headed 'An Exclusive Interview with Best Selling Author Leigh Russell' but the type is in a lovely purple font! Love it!
http://www.freeintouchmagazine.com/uploads/3/0/3/5/3035922/leigh_russell_interview.pdf
On the down side, I wasn't invited to join a panel at Harrogate Festival - one day, when I've made my name, I hope to be there. In the meantime, it's back to the edits...

Reviews

I feel it's time to explain my gripe with the review of Road Closed that has appeared on amazon.ca. To begin with, I can't help but wonder why this reviewer didn't post a review of Cut Short - which he admits he liked - but only felt moved to write a review of Road Closed because he enjoyed it less. Are there genuinely reviewers out there who feel they should only review books they don't enjoy ? How is that helpful - or is this just an individual venting his own feelings about life's inevitable disappointments? Well, here's my venting in return!
The second issue I have with all this is that I know I have many fans - including quite a lot in Canada who have contacted me via twitter and facebook. Canadian fans have even complained on facebook and twitter that they were unable to post positive reviews of Road Closed on amazon because they hadn't purchased from there. So the one poor review continues to stand there alone.
Road Closed has received glowing reviews from critics writing for The Times ('confirms her promise as a writer') The New York Journal of Books ('refreshingly compelling and original') even some reviews which prefer Road Closed to Cut Short ('an even better read than Cut Short' to quote The Secret Writer). I could go on, but you can see a host of good reviews for Road Closed on my publisher's website
http://www.noexit.co.uk/titles.php/itemcode/526
Of course not everyone is going to enjoy my books and a lot of people may well dismiss them for any number of justified reasons, and that's fair enough.
What I find unfair is that when I wanted to post a list of quotes from reviews in The Times, The New York Journal of Books, etc, on amazon.ca to point out that Road Closed has received some positive reviews, amazon.ca blocked it. As the author it seems I am not allowed to post reviews from journals like The Times - even though the reviews aren't mine. I can't even comment on the review that someone else has posted.
I don't expect everyone to like my books and I'm quite happy to accept some inevitable 2 star reviews among the 5 star ones, but what is happening on amazon.ca does seem to be a complete misrepresentation of how Road Closed has been received.
Is it coincidence that out of Cut Short and Road Closed sales on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com and amazon.ca the sales rating of Road Closed on amazon.ca has been consistently poor compared to all the others since that one negative review was posted?
So thanks a lot, amazon.ca, for not allowing me to post anyone else's reviews about my book. Maybe it's time you reviewed your policies.

Interview and Review

http://margotkinberg.blogspot.com/2010/10/guest-post-interview-with-leigh-russell.html
Thank you to Margot and her Confessions of a Mystery Novelist

and a new review says CUT SHORT 'a very good read' ROAD CLOSED 'an even better read' http://thesecretwriterblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/movers-and-shakers-author-leigh-russell.html

Thank you!

Reaching the End

How do other writers manage to finish a book? How do you?
The first in my series, CUT SHORT, wasn't planned in advance - I simply ran with an idea. Before writing the second in my series, ROAD CLOSED, I did a detailed plan and went further with DEAD END which is coming out in 2011, and wrote a ten page synopsis before I wrote the first draft. I have done the same for the fourth in my series.
Now, with 63 of the 64 chapters written, the first draft of my fourth book is almost complete. I know what to do and could easily finish the first draft in an hour at the most. So what's stopping me? It can't be described as 'writer's block' (whatever that is) because I know exactly what to do. The words are already there in my head just waiting to appear on the page.
But once they're typed - that's it.
Then, of course, the next stage begins, going over what I've written and checking details - names, dates, etc - editing expression, polishing the wording, thinking about the structure - there will be lots of work to do.
But the first draft will be finished.
So what is stopping me from finishing? Why is it so hard to let go? I'm enjoying writing my current MS so much I just don't want this to stop. If I wasn't writing a series I don't think I would ever reach the end of this book... at least until an idea for what is going to happen to Geraldine in the fifth book starts buzzing about in my brain... and I already have an inkling!

New York Journal of Books

Check out the new look New York Journal of Books on
http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/road-closed

"Road Closed is the second crime novel by Leigh Russell, featuring Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel. We were first introduced to Steel in the gritty and totally addictive debut novel, Cut Short, and once again Russell is in top form with this new crime thriller...
Like all good crime and thriller writers, Russell gives us just enough morsels of information in each page-turning chapter to whet our appetites for the bigger banquet at the end of the book. Road Closed is a gripping, fast-paced read, pulling you in from the very first tense page and keeping you captivated right to the end with its refreshingly compelling and original narrative. The rapidly building fan base of Russell and Steel will be on the edge of their seats waiting for the next installment, tentatively titled Dead End."

Being Busy

It’s been a while since I posted here, not because I forgot about my blog, but because I’ve been very busy, as usual, with book signings, interviews and, of course, writing! First, and most important of all, is the writing news.
CUT SHORT has been reprinted (again!) since it was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award for Best First Novel (yes, I still get a kick out of typing that.) Next year it is going to reprinted in a larger format complete with inside covers and everything.
ROAD CLOSED – which has been receiving absolutely fantastic reviews! - is currently having its first reprint (yes, already!)
DEAD END is on my publisher’s website with a publication date next June and discussion is ongoing about the cover. A decision has to be made urgently as my publisher is off to the Frankfurt Book Fair next week and wants to take the details of DEAD END with him.
Book 4 – no, I’m not revealing the title yet, although I do have one – is almost finished. I’ve written 80,000 words and have 2 chapters and some polishing to do.
And after that? I’ll be going through edits for DEAD END, and hoping lots of people will like my books and t his crazy brilliant experience will keep on keeping on. I’m loving it!
Here are a few recent photos of what I’ve been up to.
Giving a talk at Watford Writers Circle

An interview for a local paper
And while I’ve been busy travelling around the UK book signing over the past few weeks – York, Newcastle, Guildford, Chichester, Hemel Hempstead - and selling out everywhere I’ve been, my books have been out and about too. Here’s a lovely photo of CUT SHORT in
South Africa!
This week I've been invited to go along to a book club that have been reading CUT SHORT (I hope they liked it!) approached for another interview by a national paper, given my views on the design ideas for DEAD END (which is ultimately a sales decision not an artistic one) and written a few more chapters of my fourth book.
And on top of all that, I’m back at school. It’s certainly a busy life!

ROAD CLOSED

ROAD CLOSED is being reprinted - selling as fast as CUT SHORT!