The final request for an edit arrived in the same week as the Referendum. It took less time than the other edits but even so I was surprised that there were errors. Overall, the majority of mistakes I picked up were spelling and punctuation. Spell check had helped...

Jan's request for a 2nd edit came before we went on holiday. I was surprised at how much work there was to do. This wasn't about altering the way the story was told but ensuring the layout, punctuation and spelling were correct. I noticed errors in clarity I hadn't...

Last September, I emailed Jan at Cinnamon Press the final draft of A Time for Peace. Before the end of 2015, I sent her the map of Serbia my niece, Rachel Duckhouse drew, as well as a list of acknowledgements, a brief account of the Historical Background and the...

'Freeing the Writer Within' by Natalie Goldberg was one of the many books I used to inspire me. Natalie noted a connection between the physical act of moving the pen and the heart that moves it. It helps get away from the rational side of the brain which can be overly...

I currently have two writing notebooks: one for prose, the other for poetry. A Time for Peace was written on A4 size and I chose vivid covers: pinks, blues, patterns. A notebook is a safe place to play. Some writers carry one with them. Others make notes on their...

When I read that during the First World War in Serbia, a British woman became a soldier I was fascinated. I looked up her story and my first attempt at this novel, was of my own hero, Ellen Frankland, becoming a soldier. Only I wanted her to face more obstacles. I...