It's been just over a year since the publication of The Rose of Florence, and it's taken some time to organise my thoughts for Book #2. Should I do something

As most of you will know, Florence was the biggest inspiration behind The Rose of Florence, and I'm always fascinated by the settings and history behind other authors' books. Today,

We all have at least one book within us. Isn't that what they say? How many of us believe that to be true? I, for one, was extremely dubious. It

It’s a great privilege to share my musings with you, and today I offer some culinary contemplations for your delectation! My debut novel, The Rose of Florence, is an

In August, you may remember I mentioned travelling to Imperial College, London as a contender for the Joan Hessayon Award for debut novelists. It was a wonderful experience, and I

Finding your tribe is important in any part of life, and I have frequently mentioned that my "writing tribe" is the Cariad Chapter of the RNA. Inspiration by the bucketload,

Well, it wasn't me! The winner of the Joan Hessayon Award for new writers was a lovely lady, called Katy Turner, for her novel "Let's Just Be Friends". I couldn't

Those of you who follow my social media posts will know that I've been lucky enough to be announced as a contender for the Joan Hessayon Award for debut novelists

It's been a while since there have been any posts from me, for which I apologise! You may know that there have been some problems getting these posts out to

In the true tradition of every great series, just when you think it's over...it's not! The same goes for my series entitled My First Book, featuring some great local

26th April, 1478 A day like many others in Renaissance Florence. A Sunday. A day when everyone went to Mass, to kneel, to pray, to take communion. But it was

I was recently asked to write a short overview of The Rose of Florence for a book club, so that they could get a flavour of the story before I

In the last of my series of blogs from authors talking about their experience of publishing their first book, I'm delighted to welcome Jan Baynham. Jan is a fellow Cariad

For the third in my series of "My First Book" interviews with fellow authors, I am welcoming another Cariad Chapter member, Emma Bennet. I am very envious of how Emma

This week, I'm delighted to welcome Jane Cable to my blog. Jane is a fellow member of the Cariad Chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and during the time I

It's finally happened! My First Book has been released into the wild! To celebrate, I'll be hosting a series of blogs from authors, who will be telling us about their

As promised, this month, I'm sharing a series of blogs from other authors, who tell us about their experience of publishing their first book. It seems only fitting that my

Early in 2019, I started to jot down a few words, thinking that I might eventually make a reasonable short story. Well, many months of work, many sleepless nights trying

On the night of 3rd November, 1966, the people of Florence went to bed as usual. The heavy rain was nothing unusual for a November night, but this night was

Writing is a lonely business...or so I've been told. That hasn't been my experience, so far. Authors are a social and supportive bunch, keen to boost each other when

When you first have an inkling of an idea for a book, everything seems so simple, but writing and publishing a book is a whole new world, not for the

700 years ago, on 25th March 1321, the "Supreme Poet", Dante Alighieri died. He is widely considered to be the father of the Renaissance, and his most famous work is

If you are a bit of a meat-lover, like me, one of the highlights of visiting Florence is ordering a Bistecca alla Fiorentina – a Florentine steak. Being faced with such

Even though he was only 3 during the time of my story and therefore doesn't feature in it, Michelangelo was probably the first to fire my interest in the Italian

Apologies for mentioning the C-word, but COVID has been hard on so many walks of life, including the business of a busy tour guide. However, sometimes a bit of good