It seems like Christmas 2023 was only two months ago yet here we are with just over three weeks to go until Christmas 2024. I remember my parents saying that time speeds up as you get older and I’m finding that to be the case. It’s scary!! But I do love this time of year. October, November and December are my favourite months. Apart from Halloween. I don’t like that.

Yesterday I put up my tree. I must say I’m a bit disappointed in it. It’s a Quasimodo Christmas tree: misshapen!! It was in a net when I bought it … Read the rest »

Social Media is a funny old place. I’m slowly learning not to voice opinions on X (formerly known as Twitter) as there are some very nasty people out there. Troll is the term, I believe. Sometimes the most innocent comment can result in a tirade of bile from a stranger on the other side of the world. Or just a few miles down A12. I have recently learned to love Mute and Block. Rather than dignify their comments with a reply and get into a to and fro of insults I just wipe them off the face of my … Read the rest »

It was with great, great sadness that I heard the news of the death of Anna Scher MBE earlier today.

Anna has meant so much to so many people over the years and there are dozens and dozens of actors, directors and producers who owe their careers to her and the time they spent learning from her at the Anna Scher Theatre.

I have much to thank her for. She always encouraged me to write. She was supportive of the plays I wrote for our weekly classes and the Festival of Plays held at the end of each term. She … Read the rest »

Well, hello! It’s been a while, I know. It’s been more than a year, which is unbelievable. I haven’t been doing anything wonderfully exciting that I can use for an excuse, I’m afraid. Just procrastination. Days spent mindlessly scrolling on social media, feeling envy at all my writer colleagues who are producing successful books but unable to light the touch paper to my own creativity. I’ve become very attached to baby gorillas. I just love them but I realise I’ve spent an unhealthy number of hours gazing at them. However, there IS another book coming sometime in the future.

What … Read the rest »

I have to admit it: I’ve lost my writing mojo. I have been dragging my feet over the research for my work in progress, which is the fourth and final book in the Dagenham Story with the working title of A Town in Essex. Much of this procrastination is down to the huge amount of research needed as it’s set in Dagenham during 1930s and 1940s, so not only am I having to research what happened to the town and its people during that time, but also what was going on nationally and internationally and as we all know, with … Read the rest »

Just two more sleeps until fabulous author Lizzie Chantree releases her latest book entitled, The Woman Who Felt Invisible.

What a gorgeous cover! Let’s take a look and see what it’s about…

It’s an exciting, romantic story of love and new beginnings. Learning to love herself and be content on her own is the first step. But will Olivia be able to leave her past behind, follow her heart and find lasting happiness? A read full of humour, romance and tear-jerking reality.

Have you ever felt invisible? 

Working as a stationery supervisor and a sitter to a pair of internet … Read the rest »

Today I am blowing my own trumpet and ringing my own bell! Anne Williams – beinganne.com – is not only one of our most esteemed bloggers but one of the nicest people in the World of Books. I have always found her to be supportive of authors and her reviews interesting, appreciative and fair. So I was delighted to see she was the first blogger on my blog tour for A Village in the Country, organised by the no less wonderful Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources.

I awaited her review – and almost fell off my seat when I … Read the rest »

So, a week on from the famous/infamous Series 6 Episode 7 and the dust has almost settled after the shock/surprise/disappointment that the Fourth Man was non other than Ian Buckells.
My initial reaction was one of disappointment and disbelief. How on earth could the bumbling Buckells be the brains? But I have had time to rewatch that final episode and it actually now all makes sense.
He wasn’t the brains – just the fourth man – a corrupt police officer motivated by greed. And trapped because he couldn’t spell the word definitely.
Watching the interview scene again I was able … Read the rest »