Light of inspiration: Orfordness

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It’s impossible not to be inspired by the Orfordness Lighthouse. Always a friendly presence, it stands like a lone giant on a bleak stretch of shingle near the village of Orford in Suffolk. The fact that after more than 200 years of service it’s now perilously close to destruction with the sea eroding the beach around it, only adds to the wild beauty and charisma of the place. Despite the removal of the lamp following decommissioning, it’s still a wonderful symbol of hope and light. Read more

Review in Salad Days

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The leaping sprites on the cover of Salad Days match my mood perfectly! What a delight to see The Mirror of Pharos featured in the autumn edition of this brilliant magazine. Read more

Image: Pixabay

Harnessing butterflies – festival fun

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It has been a year of firsts with milestones zipping by since the publication of The Mirror of Pharos. My first launch, blog tour, interviews and school visits have kept me pumped with excitement – and produced enough adrenalin to power a rocket ship to Mars! Read more

First News review

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There’s something magical about book reviews directly from children themselves. This one appeared in First News, the most widely-read publication for kids in the UK. It’s by ten-year-old Maggie Cole from Dorset, a budding writer and a wolf lover herself. Read more

‘Booklove’ – the magic of a blog tour

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Discovering the book blogging community has been one of the joys of publication. The benefits of a blog tour, how to go about organising one and the vital role of bloggers in the publishing industry are all discussed in the following post, written for publisher Matador. Read more

Twist in time at Bushmead Primary

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Meeting the kids in the school where I once dreamed of being an author was the closest I’ll ever get to time travel. Brooke and Freya, two budding young writers at Bushmead Primary, described it as a ‘once in a lifetime’ event. ‘Her expressions were fantastic when she read aloud,’ they wrote. ‘The teachers said it was the quietest we ever sat!’ It was exciting for me too – like meeting versions of my younger self. Read more

A wolf for World Book Day

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What’s the best surprise you can give an author on World Book Day? Maggie Cole knows the answer. When the snow thawed and the big day finally arrived, she went into school dressed as Alpha the wolf from The Mirror of Pharos! Read more

What the reviewers say…

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One of my favourite children’s authors, Ursula Le Guin, once said: ‘The writer cannot do it alone. The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.’ Read more

2018 – Year of the Wolf

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‘I have a secret to share. From the treehouse where I often work, there’s a great view of Radwinter Church and the land where I used to farm. If I’m lucky, whilst I’m scribbling away at a story, a grey wolf sometimes appears, roaming across the fields – large as life. As the wind stirs the leaves, he stops and looks up, as if he senses someone hiding in the branches. Then his amber eyes blink and I see him lift his nose to catch the scent and meaning of the words I’m writing …’ Read more