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...
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
A new 5 star review!
It’s always a pleasure to wake up to a new review of one of my books, and this one on Goodreads is from an Australian writer known to me only online. However, we both grew up in Leeds and have many shared memories of how life used to be.
10 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
Christmas is coming!
Thursday evening saw me in the Claro Lounge with friends from Write-On Ripon! We enjoyed good food, good conversation, a Secret Santa and even a mini-awards ceremony. Look what I got! (Blushes modestly.)
14 December, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
Welcome exposure!
As a long-term fan of York Literature Festival (and former member of York Writers), I was very pleased to have this appear in the latest newsletter.
25 November, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
Promoting Yorkshire Authors
This will be our second time at this great venue and we’re all hoping for mega sales of our books. Whether we shall get them, of course, remains to be seen, but what is a writer’s life without optimism?
Update!
Footfall was disappointing, but it was good to meet some fellow authors, especially Chris Gill, with whom I shared a table. If only I’d combed my hair before the photographer did the rounds!
20 November, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
A double-page spread!
I couldn’t have been happier when Laura Coventry contacted me about writing the above feature for The People’s Friend. For one thing, it gave me the opportunity to share photographs that I had been unable, for cost reasons, to include in the book. For another, of course, it spread the word to a much wider audience that I could have reached on my own.
The interview was conducted on the telephone, which explains why a couple of anomalies have crept in. United States law WOULD have allowed me to buy a gun, had I so wished, although alcohol was a definite no no. It also occurred to me when I read the piece that our Greyhound bus tickets would have cost under $100 rather than under £100. The difference isn’t anything like as great now as it was back then, when a pound was worth about $2.40.
However, I’m very pleased with the presentation and hope that it will strike a chord with all who read it and maybe, just maybe, inspire them to purchase a copy. Hope springs eternal, as they say!
18 October, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
What a week!
I enjoy exploring a variety of genres and last week saw me winning first place in Ripon Writers’ Group’s ‘Writing for Children’ competition. Here I am with Jill Freeman, who kindly agreed to be our adjudicator and presented me with the Daphne Peters cup. (Daphne, who passed away in 2020, was a well known children’s writer and founded the Group over 40 years ago.) My story, ‘Sami and Smiley’ was about a sad little boy whose chance encounter with a baby seal gave him hope for the future.
Hard on the heels of that success came Ripon Poetry Festival, in which I took an active part. Reading in the Cathedral in the afternoon was followed by an open mic in the Claro Lounge in the evening, both of which I very much enjoyed. Onwards and upwards!
8 October, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
Ripon launch of ‘1968 My American Odyssey’
What an afternoon that was! Over 30 people here at different times to enjoy drinks and nibbles while listening to extracts from my latest book. Apologies to those not captured in any of the photos. My photographers both had dual roles; Bruce was barman (and didn’t make it into any of the shots) while Richard took care of sales.
David sat down eventually after making sure that the doorbell didn’t go unanswered.
It was good to see so many friends from different aspects of my life, some new and some going back a very long way.
Comfortable seats were at a premium, the weather not being conducive to spilling out into the garden.
I enjoyed holding forth to a captive audience!
1 September, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
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