Authors Electric

 Yes, you might notice a bit of a Rodgers and Hammerstein theme in my blog today. Let's see how many song titles I can fit in! So, starting at the very beginning, I wrote my first blog for Authors Electric exactly four years ago and in that post I told you about some of my favourite things about police procedural books and crime drama TV series. I was setting the scene for what was to come! Crime books are my passion - not just reading them but writing them too. Looking back at my posts, I've definitely shared the highs and lows of writing with you all. January blues have been a consistent theme so I'm hoping to buck the trend next month. But there's also been happy talk when things have gone well with my writing. Thank you for being with my throughout my self-publishing journey for Rewind , the fourth book in my DI Bernie Noel series. It was certainly a steep learning curve as it felt like I had to climb every mountain to get there.  I've also shared the book event...

 Sometimes, things happen in life and then all of a sudden, you realise that you've lost a month - just like that! I'm not sure what happened to October but it disappeared under the weight of hospital trips, two operations and now a long recovery period for my husband. Writing wasn't on my agenda at all. However, I need to get back to it. I was on a roll before and was powering through the soggy middle of the book. Unfortunately, having stopped for a month, I think I'll be wading through treacle when I restart. Will I get to the end of my book by my next post in December? I'll let you know! In the meantime, I do have something to look forward to. I run author events at my local library with the help of the Friends of West Barnes Library and w e have an absolute treat for you this November! Janice Hallett and Joanna Wallace will be joining us on Tuesday 19th Nov at 7.30pm. Janice's debut, 'The Appeal', turned normal prose on its head as the story is cleve...

 September always has that 'back to school' feel. My youngest is about to enter year eleven and my middle child is returning to her final year at university. And I have to return to my writing desk. After a summer of publishing REWIND, watching the football, tennis and the Olympics, going on holiday in Wales and taking in some concerts at the BBC Proms, I really need to get back to writing now. I've spent a lot of the summer thinking about my next MS. I started it earlier this year but had to put it on hold while I finished off REWIND. I'm not continuing my series though (for now) but writing something new instead. Still crime and still police procedural but a new location and new characters. In my head, everything is working but translating that to the page is something else. Will the plot hold together? Will readers like my new characters as much as I do? Will my agent be able to find a publisher who wants to buy it? That's the real question. It's fair to say ...

 Since last year, I've been telling you about my self-publishing journey. I can honestly say that writing the book was the easiest part! These last few weeks have been about getting the formatting correct and that's where we've hit problems. As I write this, we now have the paperback ready on Amazon. Hopefully by the time you read this, the Kindle e-book and IngramSpark paperback will be ready too! Despite the saying - never judge a book by its cover - we all know that we do! And that's one thing that has gone right. So, here's the blurb, followed by the cover. The Blurb When DI Bernie Noel goes back to work after maternity leave, she doesn’t expect to find a crashed car with a dead driver on her journey in. But a gruesome discovery in the boot of the car turns a road traffic accident into something more sinister and personal for the detective. It isn’t long before Bernie is forced to rewind six years and confront her failed covert operation in London. But as she re...

When I posted in February, I'd just sent my MS off to my editor. She came back to me in March with only six pages of notes (when I used her for my debut it was fifteen pages so I consider this progress)! Overall she was happy and we clarified a few issues over a phone call. I started to work on the corrections but as I was working through, I noticed a few odd mistakes that I thought I'd corrected. If you remember from last time, I got Word to read out my MS so I heard the changes I needed to make. Had I forgotten to change them? I then got to a bit where I knew I'd added more detail. It wasn't there. Then it dawned on me. I hadn't sent my final draft. In a hurry to get everything done before going away, I'd send an earlier revision. For a day, it was the end of the world. Complete meltdown. Next day, a friend told me about the Compare option on Word. I tried it but there were too many changes for me to look at. I did my best to remember which passages I'd ch...

 Well, I say March update - really it's all about February as March has only just started.  My beta reader gave me a thumbs up for DI Bernie Noel 4 which was a huge relief. The last thing I had to do before sending it to my editor was a final read through. I did this using the Read function on Word. A fairly nice voice read out my MS to me and it was so helpful. I 'heard' the mistakes which were often small and I probably would have missed them if I'd just been reading normally. My plan was take my time with this over half-term but a couple of members of my family had other ideas.  I'm not very good with spontaneity but my husband and youngest made last minute plans to visit the Netherlands and Belgium and expected me to go to! I was still determined to finish the final read through and managed to do it just in time. It was a huge relief to send my MS off and now I'm waiting for the verdict! We had a good time away and my youngest can add the Netherlands and Bel...

 Happy New Year! To be honest, it's a phrase I don't say with a huge amount of enthusiasm, especially after the last few years. I remember, as we ticked over into the Twenties, having a good feeling about the new year - 2020. How wrong was I! I've always been inclined to a bit of January blues but the last two have been particularly bad. So, how to beat it this year? Well, to start off with, I have a first draft of my DI Bernie Noel book four to edit. It needs quite a lot of work as well as some research. I also have a deadline of sending it to my editor at the end of February. There are lots of others things I need to do as well to get my head round self-publishing. At at the same time, there's another book idea that's brewing at the back of my mind. I see my stories visually so it sometimes helps to 'cast' my characters. James Norton is my baddie so I'm having no problems thinking about him! In another bid to banish the blues, I'm trying to set up ...

 How was your summer? It's probably the question asked most in September as people head back to work and school after the holidays. Of course, the expectation is that you've had a good time and are rested to face the rest of the year. My answer to this question though is that it was a bit crap. More than a bit, actually. It started on a high with attending the Theakston's Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate but I caught Covid and things plummeted from there. My husband caught it from me. We were both ill for over four weeks. It wasn't an easy time for our kids.  We had to give up Proms and theatre tickets. We watched a LOT of TV, including the Prom we had to miss. Thankfully, we were well enough to go on holiday to Croatia last week. Croatia In amongst all of this, I was waiting for an email from my publisher. The book I spent all of last year writing had finally gone in to a different editor. Unfortunately, the news wasn't positive. Lots of things to like but not f...

 It's that time of year again when crime authors and readers gather together in Harrogate for the Theakstons Crime Writing Festival. This year was special as it was the twentieth year of the festival, proving the popularity of crime fiction. For me, it was my fifth time and I think my favourite. I travelled up a day early to beat the train strike. It was quite eerie walking round an empty site at The Old Swan on Wednesday evening. Peace didn't last for long though and the place quickly filled up on Thursday. I opted to go to a few panels but I also took part in Grill A Killer, organised by former Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett, where I got to put my police procedural skills to the test! Working in pairs, we had ten minutes each to try and catch out our murder suspect. I was about to ask a crucial question when our time ran out and we had to hand over to the next pair. But I was proved right at the end! I also attended a Christmas party! Really! It was a launch for Janice ...

 June is Crime Reading Month! The Crime Writers' Association has joined forces with The Reading Agency to promote it. There are lots of events up and down the country and you can find out more by going to  crimereading.com  . It's seventy years since The CWA was created so there's plenty to do. And of course, I've arranged something too. This is the perfect time to launch Murder In Merton: Crime Writing Events. First up, this coming Saturday 10th June 2-4pm at West Barnes Library, we have a Crime Authors Fair. With Sarah Clarke, Lucy Martin, Biba Pearce, Amer Anwar, Alex Khan and ML Rose. The authors will be free to chat with readers, with a more formal talk from Amer Anwar at 3pm. Books will be available to buy and there will be refreshments at a small cost. Entry is FREE and no booking is required. There will be a competition too! On Tuesday 20th June 7-8.15pm at Wimbledon Library, I'll be interviewing Robert Gold, Olivia Kiernan and Saima Mir about their latest n...

 Having written three police procedural books, and watched copious amounts of 24 Hours in Police Custody and 999 What's Your Emergency? , I've learned a fair amount about policing and what happens in the first few days of an investigation. But there's always more to learn. I'm currently in the middle of a four-week writing course run by Graham Bartlett, a former Chief Superintendent with Sussex Police. In his time on the force, he's been a beat PC, a detective, and then in charge of policing in Brighton. To say he has a lot of experience is an understatement. He's an advisor to authors such as Peter James and Elly Griffiths and has recently had two fiction books of his own published. Graham understands the balance between authenticity and adrenalin-pumping drama. Still, as we all know, if the errors are glaringly obvious, we're likely to shut the book or turn off the TV. For the course, Graham gives us the scene and it's up to us to interpret it. We dec...

Huge apologies for missing my slot! I'm normally on the 7th of each month but my daughter came home from uni for reading week and I lost track of the dates. On the 27th February, we welcomed Elly Griffiths and Lesley Thomson to West Barnes Library. Here's my report on the evening. Well, it's been eighteen months in the planning but it was definitely worth the wait! We had a fabulous evening with Elly Griffiths and Lesley Thomson at West Barnes Library. Of course, I'm struggling to remember today what was said but I have a few snippets to share with you plus lots of  photos. But before I regale some of the evening, here are the blurbs for the books. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths When builders renovating a café in King's Lynn find a human skeleton behind a wall, they call for DCI Harry Nelson and Dr Ruth Galloway, Head of Archaeology at the nearby University of North Norfolk. Ruth is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-compli...

 I love Happy Valley. I really, really love it. Sally Wainwright is the most amazing screenwriter. She knows her characters inside out. She knows exactly what Sgt. Catherine Cawood would say or do in a situation and Sarah Lancashire knows exactly how to deliver it. After only the first episode, everyone's calling for another Bafta for Sarah Lancashire, and rightly so. Then, I watched the first episode of Silent Witness (I haven't seen the second one yet). I couldn't believe the contrast between the two. The plot's a bit convoluted and 'out there' but that wasn't the main problem for me. It was the dialogue. It just didn't work. It was stilted and didn't flow. (And they still don't cover their heads in crime scenes grr. ) It's series twenty-six for Silent Witness  now and unsurprisingly, there are no consistent writers. So no one knows Nikki Alexander inside out. Watching as an audience member, I wanted to shout when Nikki (as a visiting lectu...

  Well, here we are, almost at the end of 2022. At the beginning of the year, I didn't know what to write. I decided to try something different, and finally, in October, I finished the first draft. It's probably been the hardest book to write so far and has ended up being the longest - 101.7k words. It's in need of a significant trim and I already have it down to just over 99k. About another 9k words to go! I had hoped it wouldn't have taken so long but I think I'm a slow writer. Have I enjoyed writing it? Not much, until the summer when I introduced a new narrator, thanks to a chat I had with a fellow author. At that point, the story opened up and I could see a way forward. It's ended up quite different from the outline I wrote at the beginning of the year. So, what's next? Clearly a lot more cutting and general polishing. It's only two weeks until the end of term and I want to try and get as much done as possible, before our current family of three exp...

Before the Covid pandemic, I was organising author events at my local library along with the Friends group. We went online for a few sessions during lockdown but then it fizzled out. However, we're now back and on Thursday 20th October at 7.30pm, I'll be chatting to David Young and Amanda Lees about their new WW2 books. I'm excited but also daunted for a few reasons: What if no one comes? I haven't been to check on the sign-up yet so no idea on current numbers.  What if I've forgotten how to ask relevant questions? I have done a few online panels over the last couple of years but there's something about in-person events that make my throat dry up and incoherent words babble out of my mouth.  What if I can't get authors to come? This seems less of a problem. Authors seem very keen to meet with readers again and libraries are ideal places to do that.  Lastly, and most importantly, can I still remember how to make cookies? My triple choc cookies (Lorraine Pasca...

 ... not me, obviously! I didn't stand a chance against Richard Osman. He wasn't there so I couldn't even get a photo with him. And that trophy was whisked away quickly so any plans to steal it were thwarted. Not that there were any plans. Thoughts maybe but no actual plans. Still, it's a great honour to be nominated and on the plus side, I didn't have to lug home a heavy glass trophy. Not winning didn't mar the experience of the Theakstons Crime Writing Festival though. It was great to see old friends and make new ones. I might not have won but I did a giveaway on Twitter for people to find me at Harrogate. One couple studiously followed my location tweets and eventually found me in the queue for a panel. In my relief to hand over the heavy bag of books, I forgot to sign them. So they had to find me again! When in Harrogate, Betty's is a must. Their hot chocolate was divine as always but I did find another cafe that also served superb hot choc! They even ha...

 Did you watch the final of Britain's Got Talent on Sunday? If so, you probably noticed the very talented Eva Abley. Just fourteen years old, she performed stand-up comedy. Hard enough for any teenager but even harder when you're disabled. Eva has cerebral palsy and was more than willing to poke fun at her disability. In the semi-final, she joked that people with disabilities can learn to drive at sixteen - she can't even push a shopping trolley straight. She was utterly refreshing and reminded me a lot of Rosie Jones. In fact, the world of entertainment is an area where, hopefully, progress is being made for disabled performers. A few years ago, would we have considered a deaf celebrity winning Strictly Come Dancing? Earlier this year, blind comedian, Chris McCausland, presenting a BAFTA award with Lee Mack,was brilliantly funny with Lee having to tell Chris what to say as he couldn't read the auto-cue himself. And one of my favourite characters in Call the Midwife , i...

It's been a very long two years, hasn't it? One of the things I've missed most during this time is literary meet-ups e.g book launches or book festivals. Moving online helped a bit but being in person makes such a difference. I had three book launches online. They worked well as they reached people far away but for me, it was hard not seeing people. Last year I made it to Theakston's CrimeFest in Harrogate. It was lovely to go but a lot of people were missing and the vibe just wasn't the same. This July though, things should be back to normal and I've just booked tickets for the panels I want to go to. I decided to do this rather than buy a full pass as it's cheaper this way. Excitement is building on social media as we discover who else is going. It's like being kids at Christmas again. Of course, one of the best things about Harrogate is Betty's. No trip to the crime festival is complete until you've sampled their superb hot chocolate! Are ther...

On Thursday 10th March, I took part in my first in-person literary festival. I was at the inaugural Farnham Literary Festival, running an introduction to crime writing workshop at St. Mark’s Church in Hale. A big thank you to Stella Wiseman for inviting me to take part. It was so lovely to meet with a group of writers as we looked at the basic ingredients needed for a crime novel – plot, characters, setting and authenticity. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than just that but there’s a limit to how much you can teach in two hours! There were three writing exercises related to plot, character and setting. I was very impressed with the plots that people came up with using the starting line, ‘So, what have we got here, Barton?’ The storylines included police officers, a dog walker, a school child, canal barges, cable ties, a car crash and that’s just what I remember off the top of my head! Of course, I don’t know everything there is to know about writing crime fiction, so I included to...

I'm part of a group called First Monday Crime and we have author events on the first Monday of most months. Tonight it's my turn to moderate and I thought I'd tell you about the books I've been reading for this event. 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead. 56 DAYS AGO Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores. 35 DAYS AGO When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who - and what - he really is. TODAY Detectives arrive at Oliver's apartment to discover a decomposing body inside. Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime? I loved this book! Not just a Covid novel but THE Covid novel that all...