After scraping some money together and an awful lot of planning, I managed to take a trip to NYC for my birthday. Actually stepping on that plane was something I never thought would happen. Two weeks earlier my mother’s arthritic pain had reached a new high and she was due a knee operation. To ensure she’d be safe on her own for a few days, I put certain things in place and people to call should she have problems.
Continue reading Planes, Trains and Automobiles: A New York City Birthday
House full of crap? Got nowhere to put new books, clothes or furniture? It’s time for a clearout!
If you’re playing Jenga every time you open a cupboard, you need to topple that tower and rid yourself of some of the building blocks. Don’t let procrastination prevent you from freeing yourself from the chaos of a messy and claustrophobic home.
Ever receive an email from a retailer requesting feedback after you’ve bought something from them? Have you noticed this practice become more common in recent months?
I sure have.
Julia McKenzie as Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple
We have books for children, young adults and now new adults. Where are the books for the more mature person? Middle-aged parents and grandparents as supporting characters are abundant in fiction, but human antiques are much more than just their parental status.
Over the years I’ve come across a few common issues that can be easily rectified. Authors can’t always control every aspect of their work, but they can darn well try. Here are 7 ways in which non-fiction writers can help themselves to better sales.
When we’re young, we always want to be older. If we’re five, we say we’re nearly six. If there are adult clothes around, we will dress in them. Makeup, that goes all over the face. But when our friends start getting their periods, we want to start ours too. We want to be part of the club. We want to feel like adults.
Continue reading We Need to Talk About Periods #MenstruationMatters
Whenever a series I love moves to hardcover, I groan. Not just because it means either paying extra for a space-hogging misfit with a cover that doesn’t match the rest of the series, or waiting another year for the paperback to be released. This transition, to me, usually means extra pressure on an author to deliver on a series when they may have run out of inspiration.
Continue reading Does moving to hardcover mid-series signal a decline in quality?
For everyone who has a great, still living father, Father’s Day is an enjoyable day. For everyone else it’s filled with grief and resentment.
I fall into the latter group.
Continue reading Father’s Day – my least favourite celebration, but finally something positive
Am I the only pessimist to feel this way towards the new Booklikes feature? Who will be the first to attach a ‘big smile’ to a 1-star review? Including even a slightly negative emoji when adding a book to your shelves or a currently reading update will, at some point, earn a reader the ire of the book’s author and their fans.
Here’s my response to (from Ink, Bits and Pixels, aka The Digital Reader) on why indie stores are on the decline in the UK.
Continue reading Why are Indie Bookstores on the Decline in the UK?: A Response
Literary Ames 