Flaming Nora

This week I continued editing my novel The Toffee Factory Girls.  This book is number one in a trilogy about three girls who work in a toffee factory around WW1.  It's hard work editing, but necessary and I've been concentrating hard all week. I met my author friend Annie Doyle for coffee and a catch up at The Word in South Shields. Whilst there I saw my novels in Large Print by the desk. What a joy. Elsewhere this week, I visited Collected Books in Durham where I signed copies of my two cosy crimes set in Scarborough. These are Murder at the Seaview Hotel and Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel. I was interviewed by Simon Whaley for Writing magazine, all about my relationship with TikTok and BookTok and social media in general. I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera  Riverside  for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing  Riverside  weekly since 2016 and you can  find out all about it here. I also kept the  Coronation Stre...

This week I have begun the edits on the second draft of my novel The Toffee Factory Girls.  I have been working in the beautiful River Wear Commissioners Building where I can focus on my work. I also called into Sunderland Waterstones to sign the books on my table (I have my own table - how brilliant is that!?).  If you'd like signed books, they're all there. Sagas and Cosy Crimes. I also took a few days on holiday to gorgeous Ghent in Belgium where I found this amazing shop. My novel The Miner's Lass was spotted on sale in the National Coal Mining Museum. What a thrill. And my new novel The Sixpenny Orphan  was featured again inside my local SR6 magazine. I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera  Riverside  for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing  Riverside  weekly since 2016 and you can  find out all about it here. I also kept the  Coronation Street Blog  ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 blog...

This week I finished the first edits on the first in my trilogy of novels. The first one is called The Toffee Factory Girls.   There's still a long way to go, and it's a slow process that needs to be done carefully. I gave a talk to the Society of Authors (North East) in Newcastle.  The Society of Authors is the union for writers and they offer a great deal of help and support. It was an honour to be asked to speak and I met some great people too. I was also over the moon to find out I was included in an exhibition at Auckland Castle in County Durham where my novel The Miner's Lass was on display. This was to celebrate International Women's Day.   My novel The Miner's Lass is sitting there on the table, with a brief biography about me too.  How wonderful is that! And here is Auckland Castle! I was also the cover girl of local magazine SR7 connect and there's an article about me inside. I was planned to give a talk to Sunderland U3A but with heavy snow forec...

This week I finished the first draft of The Toffee Factory Girls . This is the first book in the trilogy.  There's still a long way to go, with editing and proofreading, before it goes to my publisher later this year. And the story doesn't end there. There'll be more editing to do, more proofreading, until it's as polished as can be and ready for readers in the shops in 2024. And here I am ready to start editing! Two days this week I rented an office in the wonderful River Wear Comissioners' Building in Sunderland. I get SO much work done with no distractions. It's an historic building and very insping to work in. Here are more pictures from last week's visit to Bedlington Library in Northumberland. It was such a joyous day with a wonderful audience. You can tell by the sheer joy on my face! And here I am with award-winning librarian Michelle in the striped top, and Julie who very kindly picked me up from the railway station and drove me to the library and b...