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A humongous, sincere thanks to every one of you who downloaded my debut novel, Parallel Lives. And thank you for all the great reviews. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate them…but I will. I’m massively grateful!

To anyone who hasn’t downloaded it, perhaps it’s because you’d like a lovely paperback version instead? No problem. If you click this link, you’ll head off to the Global Wordsmiths site, (they’re my wonderful editors and distributors) and voila, you can order a copy…or as many as you like!

Anyway, I could hardly believe it when I saw that Parallel Lives hit the number sixteen spot on Amazon in the Lesbian Romance section. I took a photo shot of it as a keepsake because it feels like a huge achievement to me. It’s been scary releasing a debut novel and trying to compete with all those wonderful, well-known, much-beloved authors out there. One day, I’d love to see my name up there with them…hey, I can dream, can’t I? But to all you lovely readers who’ve downloaded it so far (and those who have been reading on Kindle Unlimited)—you’ve made my year. Thanks again.

Happy reading! Back to edits for book two of the Opening in Time trilogy for me 🙂

I can’t believe it’s the 1^st September 2018. What a momentous day. It took a long time to get here, but it’s finally happening.

My book, Parallel Lives, is released today and available all over the world! I’ll certainly be celebrating tonight. It seems weird because I’m not at home in the UK—in fact, it’s my last day in Budapest after taking a couple of weeks to cruise down the Danube from Bucharest. I’ll tell you about that some other time.

I’m contemplating biting my nails, but luckily I had them gelled before I came away. Seems sacrilege to bite them off and anyway, having tried it I found the gel stuff got stuck between my teeth! Not very flattering. And I paid a lot of money for those teeth…

Whether you read it in paperback, eBook, or any other means, I hope you enjoy it as much as the prolific lesfic reviewer, LESBIreview did (read her thoughts here).

Click on the links to get your hands on an eBook or paperback copy. I’m looking forward to reading what you think!

Not only for my book, Parallel Lives, which is released on 1^st September, in case anybody had forgotten, but…

My bags are packed, and I’m ready to go. I’m off on an adventure: Transylvania here I come. Hope there’s not too many vampires around at this time of year. After that, a leisurely river cruise down the Danube from Bucharest to Budapest. Haven’t done a river cruise before so it’ll interesting to compare to a sea cruise—possibly much calmer.

I’ll try and post some pics along the way, depending on the internet connection.

Whatever you’re doing, have fun!

It’s giveaway time!

To celebrate the September release of my debut novel, I’d like to give away an eBook copy of Parallel Lives. All you have to do is comment on this blog (or anywhere else you see this competition running) with what you’d like your name to be in a parallel existence!

I’ll pick a name at random on Friday 10th August and let you know you’ve won! Easy pickings!

I’ve indulged in daydreams and fantasies all my life. In my case…that’s a bloody long time.

I’ve fulfilled a lot of my dreams, apart from the most important one. My book. That one was shoved onto the back-burner years ago. An unrealistic goal––a bit like turning pro. golfer at sixty-eight. But isn’t that what dreams are all about?

Destiny—now that’s one of my favourite words: I met my very first editor, Victoria Villaseñor, at a local library where she was delivering quick novel consultations at the time. Long story short––I asked her if she’d edit my book. It was called Mirrorland. She said it was nothing like a mirror land, so I changed it to Parallel Lives.

Genealogy: I’ve always been fascinated by this subject. What’s that got to do with writing?

This is a family photo of my great, great aunt Phoebe. Yep, she’s a Komodo dragon! In fact, I visited her earlier this year whilst cruising around Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.  Komodo dragons have an incredibly thick skin with armoured scales…and that’s what you  need when you get your edits back.

But I love a challenge. Bring it on.

Consequently, Parallel Lives has been through many incarnations, and through Victoria, I met Nicci Robinson, her editing partner-in-words, who changed it up some more. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the term BOGOF…if you’re not, it means “buy one, get one free” ––that’s not quite the case, but on many an occasion I’ve said it to them, and it’s given me a bit of satisfaction. Less lethal than a bite from the Komodo dragon.

It’s taken a few years to get Parallel Lives to the stage it’s at. It had a word count of over five hundred thousand words. Yes, you read it correctly. I guess that’s why editing is such a crucial part of the procedure. Hence…it’s become a trilogy! I’ve just finished the second book which has gone off to those “nasty people” who seem to find some sort of sadistic pleasure in telling me where I’ve gone wrong.

I opted for self-publishing because I wanted to keep the characters and plot as they are, and I didn’t want a watered-down version of my book.

I can describe the whole process as the most thrilling experience of my life. It’s even surpassed the buzz of my first solo in a little plane!

Parallel Lives is out on 1^st September 2018 and is up for pre-order on Amazon right now. Lesfic reviewer, Kitty Author, had an ARC copy and thought it was an “exceptionally well written story of love, personal discovery, and passion.” You can read more of what she said by clicking here. Please give it a whirl.

And remember:

It’s never too late to realise your dreams.