Authors Electric

 August has been a strange month, which has traditionally been the case in Edinburgh anyway with its multiplicity of summer festivals. This year I managed not to go to any of the official Festival or Fringe shows, but I did get to a Book Festival session which was excellent and also gave me an idea of what the 'new' Book Festival venue is like (it's very nice).  I had started the month intending to finish a novel in my historical series, but something made me change my mind, and instead I shelved it at 40,000 words and started work on the 25th in my mystery series. I wasn't sure what made me do this, although now, a few weeks after my change of mind, I feel it was the right thing to do, because I've taken my series characters up to Highland Perthshire and I wouldn't have wanted to leave it any later than the autumn to do this because of the weather! Also I love Highland Perthshire and ideally I would have gone there myself this year, but after catching something...

  I’m writing this blog in the peace and quietness of my study. Behind me is a stack with maths books for four children, paper tape to keep one of my children happy building stuff, a Viking helmet that needs a bigger box and Velcro dots to be attached to pictures. A few years ago I found writing a wonderful release at the end of a manic day. Just me and my laptop, daydreaming up stories when the kids were in bed. Such a peaceful, private hobby. Occasionally, hubby would bring me a glass of wine or one of the kids would wake up with some complaint, but my evenings were spent serenely and relaxed. Since then, life has taken on all kinds of twists and turns. My fun stories became a little more involved. I thought more about my characters and what they would like for dinner. Before I knew it, I had a novel and a publisher willing to look at it. I tried to explain that English wasn’t my first language and they were very tactful about what exactly they meant by ‘substantial editing...

Some punks, deriding mainstream publishing           There's been a lot on TV and radio recently about punk rock. Not sure why, probably some anniversary - the media do love their anniversaries, bless 'em. I was never a punk myself, I was far too weedy and straight-laced, but I can't help feeling a certain nostalgia for an era when anyone could simply shout at a microphone, stick two fingers up at the establishment and call themselves a musician... Hang on...           Does that ring a bell with anyone? Might there be parallels between the punk movement of the 1970s and the self-publishing movement of the, err, what would we be, the '10s? Both were kicked off from an unexpected direction. Both caught on in a way which makes wildfire look like a 20W lightbulb. Both initially had their svengalis and their fringe pundits. Both were looked down upon by the press and the critics, apart ...