View of the Oak from our bedroom window At the very foot of our garden is an Oak. It isn't ours. It belongs to our neighbours Bob and Sue. They love the tree, lighting it during the dark evenings. They're not so keen on squirrels which nest in its branches. On the...

Much of what I have learned about writing has originated in books. Reading novels, poetry and non-fiction form the foundation of what I write. Below are four experts who have affected what and how I write. January wood What to write  or where do ideas come from...

View from Scale bridge of the modern frontages to River Hull 'History is always stranger than we imagine or can imagine,' writes Hilary Mantel. I am writing a historical novel set in Hull. I find it difficult to imagine Hull in 1920 when it was adjusting to the...

The new year is an opportunity for a fresh beginning. In the Northern hemisphere it brings the possibility of lighter days ahead. We ask, What are our aims during 2024?  Yet mornings and evenings remain dark -  opportunities may be hidden. Darkness means many things,...

obviously she hides the signs wears purple whenever masks loss – hearing, muscle, memory whenever occasionally she takes to the woods lies among dead leaves imagining rotting her absence distinction between being and non-being blurred Decorative tree on Maw estuary by...

A Time for Peace was published by Cinnamon Press in October 2016. Set during World War 1 in Serbia, in historical terms it describes an unusual event. Austria occupied Serbia in late 1914, and having fought and lost, Serbia's King and government decided not only to...