The Literary Sofa
Competition
10 Years of the Literary Sofa
This week is the 10th anniversary of the Literary Sofa and this is my third attempt to write something coherent about running the blog. It’s brought on an attack of the feels that I wasn’t expecting. The reason? Because it turns out to be impossible to separate my blogging life from my writing life from … Continue reading
Book Pitch Spotlight – Call for Entries
As part of the Literary Sofa’s fast approaching 10th anniversary celebrations, in early October I’m hoping to dedicate a post to 50-word book pitches* from unagented writers, featuring the 10 best ones in my opinion – and it is only my opinion! They will be chosen on the strength of the pitch, not my personal … Continue reading
Literary Lunch Competition 2019 – now ended
*COMPETITION NOW ENDED* Every autumn I run this competition to celebrate another year in business on the blog, which turned 8 a couple of weeks ago. There was too much going on at the time, with my Month of Canadian Fiction and last week’s guest post by Ken Elkes on Flash Fiction, both of … Continue reading
The Literary Lunch 2018 blog anniversary competition *now ended*
*UPDATE* THE COMPETITION HAS NOW ENDED! Thank you for all the shares, entries, and appreciation. The winner is Zarina, who has a great blog of her own, Page to Stage, and I’m really looking forward to our lunch. So many brilliant recommendations resulted from this year’s competition – including many I hadn’t heard of – … Continue reading
Favourite French Things and Paris Mon Amour competition winners
MERCI BEAUCOUP to everyone who entered the ‘favourite French things’ competition over the last couple of days, to the many who didn’t but shared it anyway, and hello and welcome to lots of lovely new followers. This was a great way of getting to know people, and whilst I was planning to just list the winners … Continue reading
Paris Mon Amour competition – win signed advance copies
On Monday I returned from a week staying in the 5th arrondissement in Paris, a very enjoyable mix of long walks (totalling 99km, no less), art exhibitions, inspiration for my next novel, seeing friends and spending Easter weekend with my family – most of it in glorious spring weather. I’ve written many pieces about Paris and … Continue reading
5th Blog Anniversary and Literary Lunch Competition – NOW ENDED
THANKS to all who entered the Literary Lunch competition for your fantastic book recommendations and kind words. The winner picked by random generator is Peggy Riley. Today is the 5th anniversary of the Literary Sofa, and instead of saying ‘I can’t believe it’s gone so quickly’, I feel the opposite. Running this blog has had … Continue reading
#parismonamour favourite Paris places
Everything’s really hotting up in the countdown to release of my debut novel Paris Mon Amour on 13 June. In fact, I’m in Paris now, on a five-day trip combining work and pleasure (hard distinction), seeing old friends and new. Today (Thursday 21 April) and tomorrow I’ll be tweeting about locations from the novel under the hashtag #parismonamour. Get into the spirit by … Continue reading
New year, new books, new horizons
Just a quick note to wish all my subscribers and readers a very happy new year! I hope you had a good break with some time to read as well as all the festive stuff. We spent a wonderful cosy week in the last home of Swallows and Amazons author Arthur Ransome in the southern Lake District with lots … Continue reading
Literary Lunch Blog Anniversary Competition 2015
Four years (and according to WordPress, 200 posts) ago I started the Literary Sofa blog without a clue what I was doing or where it would lead. Four years later I am still really enjoying it as a way of sharing my love of good books and connecting with other readers and writers both online and … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 