December Update

It's been a busy time for me recently and continues to be that way. Writing-wise, I'm drawing to a close on novel four. It's a breathless, unforgiving surge to the end and hugely emotional to write. As ever, the characters in the book have become part of my life over the last year and the prospect of leaving them behind (for the time being) is, as ever, strange. It's at times like this I'd quite like to take one or two of them with me and give them another story. But...I already have ideas brewing for my next book and actually can't wait to get started on that next year.

The January edition of Woman & Home magazine is now in the shops and includes me in a rather nice feature on page 62. While I was searching through the contents to find which page I would be on, I didn't immediately notice the little photo of me there among some rather glam women. That's how good the stylist was! Well, he did take four hours to get me ready for the photo shoot. Which took about four minutes! But I'm really very happy with the result and Tell Tale gets a mention, which will hopefully harvest me some new readers.

The Sunday Times Style magazine feature also ran a couple of weekends ago. Typical that it was the one weekend that I didn't buy the newspaper and, when I learnt I was in, all the shops had sold out or sent their copies back! Despite the photoshoot with the Times team, they didn't actually put a pic in with the feature, although there is one on the online version. The piece prompted one comment, I see, with a reader assuming that I must only trust my husband because I go through his receipts. Well, in actual fact, he is quite right. I do go through my husband's receipts. Every month when I do his company accounts. Do I find myself piecing together his movements, what he had for lunch, who he was with? No. Of course not. Because he tells me.

November also saw a nice review of Tell Tale in the Sun. Of course, there were a few jokes from family and friends about me being on page three. I declined that particular photo shoot and opted for the review section instead. Although the lass that day was coincidentally called Sam. The Sun reviewer said Tell Tale was 'a fabulously compelling read'.

Finally, I wanted to mention a writer who I've 'virtually' known for quite some time now. Neil Ayres is not only a lovely, hard-working chap who one day I'm determined to meet in real life, but also damned talented when it comes to putting words together. He's recently released an e-book, which is available for download for absolutely nothing. At this time of year, what more could you want?

His book is a collection of short stories called The New Goodbye and is available here on the Smashwords site for download in many different formats to suit all the gadgety things that we all have these days. The blurb reads:

In this collection of realist short stories, Neil George Ayres details the often overlooked depth of modern relationships. From the self-contained love story of a modern marriage, through to the microcosm of the patrons of a working class public house, all life is here. If you love Raymond Carver or Jon McGregor, you're in safe hands.

I'd thoroughly recommend that you take a look at this collection. I have and Neil's writing sparkles with clarity. The realism and emotion in his words transform chunks of life that we all recognise, reulting in thought-provoking and entertaining tales. It also has a rather classy cover, too. I really wish Neil the great success he deserves.


Finally, if you've emailed me recently and I haven't replied, please do send your message again. Somehow, I managed to lose a huge chunk of my messages yesterday, causing mayhem and many four letter words in my office.

Sam xx