Surprise Insights

I had a really pleasant surprise when I looked at my Twitter feed yesterday and noticed the word 'Pitkirtly' lurking in among all the politics and name-calling. I don't mind getting into an argument about politics on occasion, in fact as I worked on the family history book I've been writing this month while I …

Why do I do it?

Even by my standards what has happened this month has been a bit strange, to say the least. I would like to blame Camp NaNoWriMo, another of these writing months that I like to sign up to, but actually this time it is mostly my own fault. Unfortunately I went into April with two unfinished …

Writing about the 1950s

This post is part of a historical fiction promotion by a number of writers on the 12th and 13th of November 2016. Here are some links to take you to cheap and free ebooks that fall into the historical category: The 99cent Historical Fiction eBooks  http://www.histfiction.com/history-blog/99-cent-historical-fiction-promotions The free Historical Fiction: Free Historical Fiction eBooks http://www.histfiction.com/history-blog/free-historical-fiction You …

Notebooks

I had a slight panic attack earlier this morning when I realised that my favourite notebook - the one in which I unexpectedly wrote 'Mysterious Pitkirtly' - had mysteriously disappeared, probably during The Great De-Cluttering of spring 2016. Last week I had to carry out an excavation to find the little case on wheels without which …

Gardens and parks

Cat and dogs at Gardening Scotland

Thanks to everyone who has so far downloaded a copy of 'Death in a Cold Spring' - I am pleased to say it has two very nice five star reviews already. Unfortunately our real spring here is still a bit on the cold side, and the cats and I were sitting in the conservatory on …