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...
A fundraiser for Swanwick
Hard on the heels of my previous post, I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to this year’s Swanwick anthology. The featured authors all love the School and were only too pleased to have some of their work included.
My own contribution was a couple of short stories with very different themes. In The Boy on the 36, a commuter who’d much prefer to be left in peace is forced to share a seat with a sad child about to go into foster care. As the journey progresses, an unlikely friendship is formed. The Nowhere Man begins with a murder in Amsterdam. Laura, passing through with a U3A tour group from Yorkshire, seems the most unlikely of suspects.
I apologise for the quality of the image above from my author page. Flattening the book to scan it would have broken the spine, something I abhor as much as turning down corners instead of using a bookmark!
16 August, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
Our saint rides again!
St Wilfrid’s Day is the high point of the Ripon calendar and I felt very privileged to be among the parade judges this year.
It was a tough job to decide between the entries, all of which represented many hours of hard work, but we examined them from different vantage points along the route before getting back together to hand in our individual scores to be collated.
Ripon City Swimming Club took first place with their RipOn de Janeiro float.
3 August, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
Ripon Theatre Festival 2026
For the last couple of years, poetry has been included in the Ripon Theatre Festival programme. Today we had three pop-up events and the photo shows me reading a couple of my poems at the final one. Very appropriately, it was held at the marvellous Little Ripon Bookshop, the owners of which are well known for their support of local writers.
11 July, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
Coffee with Crime
Today I attended one of the regular events hosted by Valentino’s at the behest of the Little Ripon Bookshop and it was a particular pleasure to reacquaint myself with A.A.Dhand. We first met some years ago at a York Writers’ session, when Amit was on the brink of the great success that he was to enjoy later. So inspiring was he to listen to that we quite forgot to take our usual break halfway through.
That’s why it was my great pleasure to recommend him to Swanwick Writers’ School as a speaker, where he brought the house down. Not only did he receive a standing ovation from the delegates but also an invitation from the Committee to return as a course leader.
In August this year, Amit will once again be among the guest speakers, and I know that there won’t be an empty seat in the Main Conference Hall of the Hayes. The humorous and highly self-deprecating way in which he outlines his transition from pharmacist to bestselling author will have the audience in the palm of his hand and I shall endeavour to be on the front row!
30 June, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
Writer Beware!
I’d like to warn other writers of a scam that I might well have fallen for. It took the form of a long, detailed and very plausible email inviting me to take part in a radio show to discuss my latest book. Manna from heaven to any author, you would think, but followed by the suggestion of taking up the ‘opportunity’ to be showcased, at which point the warning bells started to ring. The scammer who targeted me was posing as Mattea Roach, who is a genuine presenter with CBC, and I’ve discovered since that fraudsters have impersonated other employees.
Writers who follow up the ‘opportunity’ are told that the interview will only take place once one of the ‘promotional packages’ has been chosen AND PAID FOR. Then, of course, it never does. The victim is left not only very disappointed but also considerably out of pocket.
5 June, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
A brighter future
The removal of a cataract from my right eye has been a revelation. Aware that it might have muted colours to some extent, I wasn’t prepared for the surprise that greeted me when I looked into my wardrobe the next day. A pair of ‘red’ trousers bought on impulse but never worn have turned out to be bright pink and will soon be on their way to a charity shop. Even more remarkably, one of my favourite dresses (seen above) has a blue stripe that I’d always thought to be dark green. As the operation itself was quick and painless, I can’t wait now to get the other eye treated and see if more surprises await me.
There has to be a story in all this, so watch this space!
15 May, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
Flying the flag for local authors!
Sudip, Leah and I were happy to man a stall at the annual Sights & Sounds of Ripon event, which took place in the Cathedral and other venues throughout our little city. A great number of local organisations were represented and the sun shone all day. What more could we have asked for? Well, maybe a rise in temperature – the stone slabs beneath our feet were quite unforgiving – but there was free coffee for stallholders courtesy of Ripon Community Link’s Walled Garden project.
15 March, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
I Want a Crocodile… Well, what child wouldn’t?
I’m very happy to have contributed a poem and a short story to this book and hope it sells enough copies to benefit the children supported by the chosen charity.
25 February, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
Dine and Dashers get their comeuppance – at least in print!
Hearing about the losses inflicted on hardworking café and restaurant owners by ‘dine and dashers’ has inspired my latest story, which is in the 20th January 2026 issue of Woman’s Weekly.
I’m particularly taken with the lovely illustrations.
On a more serious note, though, my heart goes out to all the hardworking people robbed by cynical and callous individuals and groups. What may seem trivial to the latter can be a devastating loss to a small business and even tip it over the edge into bankruptcy. The closure of a popular café, restaurant or pub also has a negative and far reaching effect on the local community, something difficult to quantify but still important.
14 January, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
The oxygen of publicity!
Once again I have to thank the indefatigable Graham Chalmers for a write up of one of my books in our local newspaper syndicate. It appeared a few weeks ago on the website, but I was very pleased to be tipped off by a friend this morning that it was also in print.
8 January, 2026 - Make the first comment on this story
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