The Literary Sofa
Writing
Paris Mon Amour – Cover Reveal and First Page
With only five weeks until publication of my novel on 13 June I am very excited to unveil the beautiful cover today. It’s been fun to hear early readers guess how it was going to look but I bet nobody expected this! It’s nothing like I imagined and yet it conveys the feel of the novel brilliantly. Like … Continue reading
Writer’s guilt and why I don’t recommend it
I don’t usually bang out a blog post and press Publish but sometimes it’s the only way. Also, I generally avoid saying or becoming embroiled in anything with the faintest whiff of controversy on Twitter which, much as I love it, is fertile territory for misunderstandings and unintentional slights. Believe me, I’ve managed to misread … Continue reading
Conversation with Joanna Walsh
My latest guest Joanna Walsh (@badaude) has been on my radar since she founded the high-profile #readwomen campaign in 2014, but it was only on reading her recent article on ‘self-writing’ in The Irish Times that I realised how many interests we share as writers and humans who happen to be women. The impression was confirmed … Continue reading
What Elena Ferrante’s writing means to me
After an Easter trip to southern Italy that was directly inspired by Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels (and feeling bereft on finishing the fourth and final one at Christmas), I recently mentioned on Twitter that I was planning a blog post on what this extraordinary author’s writing means to me if I could find the words. And … Continue reading
Guest Author – Tom Vowler on the Short Story
One of the great things about running my own blog – as I have sometimes gently pointed out to those who tell me off for not featuring the ‘right’ books – is that this is the one place I’m not answerable to anyone. The right books for me are those I genuinely rate and believe in, and too often they … Continue reading
Guest Author – Sanjida Kay on Switching Genres
This isn’t the first time Sanjida Kay (AKA Sanjida O’Connell) has stepped in to keep the Literary Sofa warm whilst I’ve been frantically busy with my writing – the final version of Paris Mon Amour is now with the proof-reader! – and once again I am very grateful to her. When Sanjida told me she had switched genres … 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
Interior Life Part Two – Empathy in Fiction
It’s been four months since my post Interior Life Part One. I didn’t forget to write this promised follow-up on empathy in fiction – the topic is never far from my mind. Like many of you I have the dual vantage point of being both reader and writer, and for all my love of plot and … Continue reading
Words and poetry and me
It’s no surprise that last week’s post by Isabel Rogers on What a Poet can teach a Novelist was a huge hit. The idea for the post came from the input Isabel R has given me with my writing and to judge by the reaction, she could probably have set up a specialist editorial consultancy … Continue reading
My Writing Room
In case any of my followers who aren’t on social media are interested, this week I had the pleasure of being Avril Joy’s guest in her Writers’ Rooms series and you can read the post here. If you’d like to see yours featured, Avril welcomes everybody and makes the very important point (I believe) that a … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 