Yep, only 20 weeks until Grace & Serenity is out in the world. The manuscript is currently with the copy-editor, and I'm starting to work on a new book - something I've had hanging around for the last year which had to be set aside when all the work on Grace started.

Obviously, with a book due out and another in the early stages, I've got plenty of time on my hands 😉, So it was serendipitous that an email plonked itself into my in-box last week from Crisis, a charity which aims to end homelessness here in the UK. They were advertising their latest fundraising event, and I signed up.

I will be walking 620,000 steps during March! 

It seemed like a good solid number, until I started telling friends and they looked upon me with horror. But I think I can do it. I walk a lot, because I don't drive, so I chose a number that would be an actual challenge. Plus, I work in a gym, so if I'm struggling, I can walk on the treadmill or simply round in circles. A friend sent me this article about how walking helps you think, so it might even aid me in the writing of the next book!​

​My new short story, Click, has just been published on the fantastic Fictive Dream website - a girl watches her family disintegrate through the lens of her camera.

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It's a family business, and everything is done by hand - from filling the moulds for the bars to sprinkling on the different toppings. It's fascinating to watch the small number of employees - only three when I was there - knowing how far and wide their product is sold.

​Photos: my Bakewell Tart Brownie and huge vats of chocolate. I could have watched that chocolate swirling around all day!

​After a flurry of excitement over the past couple of days, I'm finally settled - and coherent - enough to share my latest news...

My novel, Grace and Serenity, is going to be published in July 2020 by Vine Leaves Press!

This is me signing the actual contract!! I look a lot more calm and composed than I felt.

Vine Leaves published my short story collection, You. I. Us., and I'm delighted to be working with them again - and especially to acquire another of Jessica Bell's amazing covers.

If you want to keep updated on the book's progress, use the box at the top right of this page to sign up for my newsletter - I'll be sharing snippets from the book, offering early review copies, and having a celebratory giveaway in the near future (chocolate, it'll be chocolate 😋) The next newsletter will be out on the 12th August.

Ever since I put my blog in hiatus (this is not my blog, my blog has a link on the bar above, but it's on hiatus so there's no point clicking on it😁 ), I've felt a bit adrift from the writing community, from all my wonderful writer friends who are releasing books and doing other wonderful things. I'm feeling unconnected.

However, I'm heavily editing a novel, going on fantastic day trips with a friend and discovering the amazing towns we can get to via train, baking(ish), and reading. All of these things were getting a little lost in my attempts to keep up with the blogs I was following - I still read them from time to time, but I don't engage as much as I used to.

At the moment, I have no idea how to balance blogging again, or even if I want to - and I'm slowly coming to the conclusion there's no point to this update at all!

So, here's a small sample of what I've been doing recently x

I'm definitely doing a happy dance right now! My novel Small Forgotten Moments has placed 2nd in the inaugural Retreat West Novel Prize. My prize is a full critique, and I can't wait to read it. Click here to read the official announcement.

Congratulations to Nick Petty and Rachel Rivett for their 1st and 3rd places.

Many thanks to Amanda Saint for spending most of the winter reading and re-reading the eight shortlisted novels. If you have a novel hanging around, this year's competition will open soon.