Hello, and thank you for visiting my site. I hope that you'll return often and always find something of interest about my world and what inspires me to pick up a pen. (This is a figure of speech, unfortunately. My handwriting is terrible!) Here's what I've been up to recently...
My desk companion
All kinds of desk companions are available, from pencil holders to Piranha plants made of felt. (This is not a joke. You’ll find one on offer at http://desertbus.org/giveaway/232) Mine is Tabitha. Sometimes asleep, sometimes regarding me with a fixed stare and sometimes blocking the screen – generally when a mealtime is approaching – she invariably joins me as soon as I sit down at the computer and stays there until I move away. Her brother Tom appears at the first sound of activity in the kitchen but is generally busy about his own affairs during the rest of the day.
William Burroughs, Raymond Chandler, Jean Cocteau, Colette, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Ernest Hemingway, Patricia Highsmith, Samuel Johnson, Jack Kerouac, Doris Lessing, Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain are amongst the many cat loving writers I know of. Someone may come up with an equally long list of writers who can’t/couldn’t stand the creatures, but please don’t bother. We probably wouldn’t ever have got on!
20 April, 2013 - There is one comment on this story
A sunny day in Emmerdale
After all the snow we’ve had in North Yorkshire this year, it was a real pleasure to bask in some spring sunshine. Filming goes on five days a week in all weathers, so cast, crew and ‘extras’ are a hardy bunch, but smiles were definitely broader this afternoon. Maybe the fact that the weekend was looming also had something to do with it!
The shoot coincided with the birthday of one of the children in the cast, who had brought along a huge cake to share with everyone. I do admire the professionalism of these young actors and the sterling work put in by their chaperones.
My main task today was to wander down the street with my Emmerdale partner – a lovely man whose blushes I’ll spare here, but you can look out for us together on the show – and examine the vegetables on the stand outside the shop. Tough job, but someone’s got to do it!
In case you’re wondering, the clothes are my own and I’m indebted to a talented friend for the pretty scarf she gave me for Christmas. As Emmerdale is set in present time, I’m informed in advance what sort of thing to wear. However, as episodes are filmed several weeks before transmission, this takes some careful planning when I’m deciding what to take along. Each outfit has to reflect the supposed season while still catering for the vagaries of North Yorkshire weather!
19 April, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story
A morning with Peggy Riley
As part of its programme of literary events, The Little Ripon Bookshop hosted a ‘meet the author’ session at the Spa Hotel this morning.
Writer and playwright Peggy Riley held the audience spellbound with a reading from her novel Amity And Sorrow, which she described as being about God, sex and farming. This seemed a strange combination indeed, until she explained that it’s the story of a mother and two daughters fleeing from a fundamentalist religious cult. Taken in by a sympathetic farmer, they have to come to terms with life in the outside world.
Originally from Los Angeles, birthplace of many a cult, Peggy has taken features from several to invent one of her own for the book. I have yet to read it, but the many glowing reviews already posted on Amazon have ensured that I shall.
13 April, 2013 - There is one comment on this story
Featured in the local press
Laura and I sat for an hour over coffee last month and this is the result of her many pages of shorthand notes. I should point out for those not able or wishing to read the whole article that she means ‘crafty’ in the sense of pursuing a craft and NOT devious! As I share the glory with Paul Richardson, you’ll be able to read all about him and then scroll down to the second half of the article to find what Laura wrote about me.
The Ripon Gazette’s own photographer was on holiday, so Gary from the Yorkshire Post came round with his camera and set me up in some very ‘writerly’ poses in my unusually tidy study.
11 April, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story
Now for something completely different!
Just to prove that I don’t always write tales of murder and mayhem, I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to my story ‘The Leading Lady’, included in the latest issue of The People’s Friend. The inspiration came from one of my mother’s anecdotes about her time in amateur operatics and I think she’d have been delighted with the illustration. I certainly am.
10 April, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story
Writers’ Forum
I’ve long been an admirer of prolific writer Sally Quilford and hope one day to meet her in person. It was partly due to Sally’s advice and encouragement since we became Facebook friends that I went ahead with a plan to group some of my short stories into collections and upload them onto Amazon.
That being so, I was proud and delighted when Sally invited me to contribute some thoughts on competition writing for her column last month.
9 April, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story
Check Out My eBooks
