Twenty quid for Japan

Nobody can fail to be shocked by the devastation in Japan. Word like apocalyptic and cataclysmic are flying around. Historians recall the Minoan civilisation was one destroyed by a tsunami.

The threads of modern life are multiple and complex, but fragile, vulnerable to stretching and snapping in seconds. Futurologists predict that tiny individual incidents in […]

The RNA Winter Party

Nicola Morgan, Alison Morton, Liz Harris sharing a joke (Photo courtesy of the Romantic Novelists’ Association)

Dressed in my best party-cardi (it was bitterly cold), I made my way to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers’ building on Birdcage Walk, London. Several other well-bundled up figures were hurrying up the steps, eager to be out […]

The Arvon experience

Lumb Bank

What magic turns sixteen anxious wannabees with doubts a hundred feet high into confident, capable producers of good writing within a week?

In February this year, I booked the Arvon Foundation course ‘Popular Fiction’ 4-9 October at Lumb Bank, Yorkshire. It was to run from 4 to 9 October, with tutors […]