The Literary Sofa
About Me
Seven years to publication, seven things I’ve learned
In view of the appreciative response to the above piece I wrote for the Writers’ Workshop (York Festival of Writing) blog, I thought I’d also post the link here on the Literary Sofa. Thanks again to WW for hosting me and for their important role on the journey to publication of my debut novel Paris Mon Amour. … Continue reading
Publishing my debut novel Paris Mon Amour
How does it feel? everyone keeps asking me, to see my first novel Paris Mon Amour published? A week has passed and I’m still not sure I have the words to convey it, but I’m going to try. For me, the dream and ambition of getting a book published was never primarily about notching up an achievement, … Continue reading
What the French taught me about sex (and writing it)
It’s nearly a week since my debut novel Paris Mon Amour came out and I’ll be writing about that incredible experience very soon… But in the meantime – and because I was way too busy to post this week – here are some of the pieces I’ve written elsewhere to coincide with the release. Given the longevity and popularity … Continue reading
The Deal – Paris Mon Amour, 13 June 2016
As a novelist it’s not surprising that I have a vivid imagination. I also have a handy ability to visualise success even when it is nowhere in sight. So along with the dress I designed years ago in my head for my fantasy book launch, I have often imagined penning this post to share news of … Continue reading
Interview for the Booktrail: Languages, travel and foreign fiction
Following our real life meeting at a launch last summer, Susan, who runs the excellent Booktrail blog, recently invited me for a virtual ‘coffee and cake‘ and a chat about our shared obsessions which include languages (I think she speaks more than I do), travel and both foreign language fiction and novels in general which have a … Continue reading
The Writing Process – My Interview on Ruth Hunt’s blog
As promised, for those not on Twitter or who missed it there (easily done!) here’s the link to an interview I’ve just done for Ruth Hunt’s series on The Writing Process. Thanks to Ruth for inviting me to take part and for asking such great questions – the other posts in the series are very illuminating. Ruth … Continue reading
Everything looks different now – the final rewrite post
I never planned three posts about my big rewrite but having talked about it at the start and the halfway point, I feel I should sign off. At the same time, it slightly feels like cheating, because this should have been the triumphant post saying it’s finished. I wanted to have it done by now, but … Continue reading
Word of Mouth – Isabel Costello interviewed by Claire King on Book Blogging
Thanks to Claire King, debut author of The Night Rainbow (Bloomsbury) and a past Literary Sofa Guest for interviewing me about book blogging. I really enjoyed our conversation, especially talking about the links between blogging and writing fiction. Here’s a link to the interview if you’d like to read it. As I mentioned, I really do … Continue reading
A Solitary Writing Week
As you may recall, at the start of 2013 I set myself the challenge of re-writing my oft-rejected-but-apparently-not-that-bad novel after calling in the professionals. I spent weeks messing around with coloured pens, stickers and Post-It notes re-structuring the story and when (I thought) I had it right, I pinned them on a board so they couldn’t … Continue reading
Why am I doing this again?
I only talk about my own writing on this blog when I reach a significant point. A year ago, I wrote about how it felt to finish my first novel. In the summer something unrelated prompted me to reflect on my early experience of rejection. This time the milestone was when I decided to stop … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – April 2021
