Happy New Year and Happy New Decade to all my readers

The last decade has been a momentous one for me in so many ways – a period of dramatic change. I began 2010 living in London, working as a management consultant, working hard to recover from the impact of the global financial crisis on my business. I loved my work and had the privilege of working with some of the most interesting and successful companies on the planet. My work took me all over the place – including Singapore, Switzerland, Holland and Denmark, the USA, and all over the UK. There was huge variety – I worked on projects from fashion to broadcasting, from skincare to the transportation of hazardous chemicals – and just once – even publishing!

At the same time, on the side, I ran a second business with three friends – an online website dedicated to encouraging making and mending things rather than the endless cycle of buying stuff and binning it and buying more. It was called Make it and Mend it aka MIAMI. We even had a book deal with FW Media based on making and mending through the seasons. Looking back now we were probably about five years too soon. Here’s the four of us, enjoying a catch up

 Beginning to write

Over the first five years of the decade I also wrote fiction. I didn’t take it seriously at first. In fact, the other day I found an early draft of A Greater World dated 2010, which I’d put in a folder marked Rape and Pillage – which just about sums up how terrible it was. I started to read it but after a couple of pages I couldn’t bear to go on as it was so dreadful! It was only when I stopped thinking about it as writing “a trashy novel” and then set out to write as well as I possibly could that I made some progress. That and subsequently getting an agent who saw some promise in my work but pulled no punches in her critical feedback which helped me improve the book.

I self-published A Greater World in June 2014 when the agent hadn’t sold the book. Soon after, Kurinji Flowers followed and from then on I was sure it was what I wanted to do. When I moved out of London in 2016 I made the decision to give up my consulting work (all that business travel loses its allure when you’re away from the major transport hubs) and concentrate exclusively on writing. MIAMI followed soon after – all four of us had other commitments and decided to call it a day. January 2016 also marked the death of my mum after a long struggle with dementia. Losing her was probably also a cue for re-evaluating what I wanted in my life.

The image below shows the original covers of these books – both since relaunched. At the top of the page is the new version of A Greater World along with Storms Gather Between Us, both published by Canelo – and seen here on the shelf of a bookshop in Rye. I am hoping the Canelo books will offer me a chance to get to new readers especially those who prefer print formats and bricks and mortar bookstores.

New friends

So, the second half of the decade has been dominated by my writing life. I now have ten published historical novels and a collection of short stories. Two were trade published and the rest self – or as I prefer to describe it  –Indie published. Having spent twenty-odd years running my own business being indie is a natural for my control freak tendencies. I enjoy working with my publisher – but no one is ever going to pay as much attention to the marketing of my books as I do.

Writing has also brought me a whole new world of friends and colleagues. The unexpected bonus of what most people rightly assume to be a solitary pursuit is that the other solitary scribes are incredibly warm, welcoming and supportive. I have made so many dear new friends – many of whom I get to see face to face but some of whom I’ve never met and possibly may never do. I became a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors – probably the single best decision I have made as a writer, the Romantic Novelists Association – full of fun and friendship, and the Historical Novel Society – great conferences. I’ve also met and made friends with numerous authors through Facebook groups, Twitter etc, which has led to all kinds of opportunities, including a soon-to-be-revealed Secret Project. In the picture below I am at the RNA 2019 conference with fellow authors, left to right Emma Darwin, Carol Cooper and Jean Fullerton.

Not so nice over the decade has been my health. I developed an ability to break bits of myself – during those ten years I broke both wrists, my left leg and then most recently my left ankle. I also had to come to terms with a chronic and incurable blood condition requiring lifelong medication – hard at first but I rarely think about it these days. Here I am in the pic below, still in London after breaking my leg – with my nephew Fred.

While business travel may have gone (apart from book-related trips) I have not neglected my love of foreign travel. Over the decade I have had three trips to India, journeys to Morocco, Australia, the USA, Bali, Madeira, Montenegro, La Gomera, Italy, Portugal, Holland and several times to France. Last year I also completed a four-month round-the-world voyage which ticked a lot of places off the bucket list.

What of the future?

I’m not going to plan for the whole decade – but in 2020 I plan to publish two more books. I am off to Egypt for a trip up the Nile next month and am so excited. I’m determined it won’t be my only holiday – I’m mulling over where next. Ideally it will give me material to inspire another book – I doubt that will come from Egypt but you never know! There are two other things I want to do – get back into painting and playing the piano – both neglected in 2019.