Writing Outdoors

Raggerty and Pinoccio

Two of the scariest things from my childhood were Raggerty from Rupert Bear and the old illustrations from my 1961 edition of Pinoccio. These images stirred terrifying concepts in my young mind and have brewed in my head for decades. They now form the inspiration for the third chapter of my third novel, Lore...

Edn™ has now been published

14, April 2018

Edn™ has now been published. You can buy a copy here. Here is the finished product, alongside my first book - Crawley:

Morning Writing

Cat Love

Editing Lore...

Merman Research

I love this image of a merman. It is exactly how I envisioned the creature washed up at the start of my new novel Lore. The drawing is by Arthur Rackam and you can find more of his great artwork here.

Folklore Research

Lore - Making a start on my 3rd novel

Lore Begins...

Holidaying in a remote region of the Isle of Skye, overlooking the sea. No internet, mobile phone or even a TV signal for a week! Lovely to be able to switch off from the world and just chill though. Also, this lack of modern distractions can make for a very creative experience.

Conjuring up fresh ideas for a new novel at Greshornish, Skye

There is something very hypnotic about the sea. Watching its waters stirs the imagination. And with a window seat with a view as magnificent as this, you can bet I spent a good few hours just watching the waves and wildlife that lived here:

My window view for a whole week :)

Whilst I already had an idea for a short story about a merman planned out, having so much free time to just sit and ponder, I fleshed out and expanded upon that tale and soon had the beginnings of a full length novel concocted in my head.

Scribbles

Friday, November 24, 2017

Some Serious Editing Ahead...

Monday, November 06, 2017

Sida cordiolia

October 29, 2017

I have decided to use this photograph I took of a Sida cordifolia leaf for the final design of the book cover for Edn™:

A Sida cordifolia leaf

As the alien plants in the novel have a purple phosphorescent hue to them, I have again inverted the image in Photoshop. I particularly like straggly plant fluff clinging to the stem in the photograph, as it illustrates the extra-terrestrial spore and regenerative power of the plants very nicely indeed. I hope.

My latest Edn™ cover design

Cats Seem To Be My Constant Writing Companions

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Half-way through draft 2...

Distractions

Thursday, October 12, 2017