My Writing Room
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What’s Happening
It’s been a whirlwind of a spring, with the American and Canadian publication of The King’s Messenger, and a trip across the pond to celebrate that book’s UK paperback release (and maybe do a little research for the one I’m writing now…)
So, it feels kind of nice to be back in my writing-room, drinking my coffee and staring at walls while my characters do their thing – walking and talking and bringing a new book to life.
This one’s a little different from the one I thought that I’d be writing, and a little different from the ones I’ve done before, but it still has all the same elements my stories tend to have – a touch of paranormal, history, mystery, romance, and a slip between two times.
But it’s in 1920s Brussels, this time, just after the Great War, with a garden, and a small cat, and a stubborn Scottish ghost.
Stay tuned, and watch this space for updates while the story takes its shape.
Currently Reading
My current work-in-progress has me thinking rather fondly of all things ghostly, and while I was at Blue Heron Books this month for Canadian Independent Bookstore Day, I spotted this treasure – A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle, a favourite author of mine – and realized I’d never read it, so I’m correcting that oversight now…
Writing Tip
Follow your heart, not the markets.
It can be difficult to shut out all the voices telling you that you should be writing this type of story or that one, or that such-and-such a genre is dead, or that no one wants to read the kind of thing you want to write. But you honestly have to ignore it all. Just write the story you’re wanting to tell, in the way that you’re wanting to tell it.
Trends come and go. If you chase them, you’ll never catch up, and you’ll lose sight of what makes your stories original.
Follow your heart.
Personal Tributes
Katy Kellgren
Jan Cox Speas
Gregory Clark
Writers I Love
Evelyn Anthony
The fact that she was one of the judges of the prize that launched my own career made the prize itself more precious to me, and the fact that I met her in person at the awards luncheon put me over the moon. Among her many thrillers, The Tamarind Seed remains my favourite, and her series that begins with The Defector, featuring Davina Graham, gave me inspiration to attempt a series of my own. Here’s an introduction to her life and work.
James Hilton
My father first urged me to read Random Harvest, a favourite of his, and I loved it. Add to it books like Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr Chips, and you’ll understand why I’m so in awe of Hilton’s writing. And on top of it all, he was born in Leigh, Lancashire, where my great-grandparents came from, and where I still have family living. Small world. You can learn more about the man in this biography.
Thomas H. Raddall
A fellow Canadian, and sadly overlooked these days, his novels had a passion and a beauty all their own. My favourite is Pride’s Fancy (I’m still awestruck whenever I read his description of launching the ship in that novel…) If you haven’t yet discovered him, do yourself a favour and start here.
Erle Stanley Gardner
My bookshelves are full of old Perry Mason books because few writers, then or now, match Gardner’s skill in depicting American law and the ways an intelligent lawyer can bend it to best serve his clients. Here’s his Wikipedia page.
Daphne du Maurier
A Grand Master of romantic suspense. I love Jamaica Inn the best, though The House on the Strand runs a very close second. There are many good web sites to visit, but here’s one to start with.
Nevil Shute
A wonderful storyteller. Read A Town Like Alice, then try to forget it. You won’t.
To find out more about the man and his books, just click here.
Gregory Clark
There was a time when virtually everyone in Canada turned to the back page of Weekend Magazine to read Greg Clark’s weekly columns – gems of a few hundred words that touched the heart and funny bone with equal skill. Though I was of a later generation, I discovered these stories in my own turn in his many book-length collections, all of which are now in my own bookcase, and among my best-loved treasures, especially his May Your First Love Be Your Last. In addition to his columns, he was a reporter, feature writer and war correspondent, and in his day was considered the most widely-read writer in Canada. I couldn’t find a link that did him justice, so I made my own. Click here for my tribute.
(I’m pleased to report that, since I wrote this, a listing for ‘Greg Clark, journalist’ has appeared on Wikipedia.)
Jan Cox Speas
I still remember every detail of the rainy afternoon when, looking through my parents’ bookcase, I first found Bride of the MacHugh and took it to my room to read it. She was an amazingly gifted writer. Her My Lord Monleigh ends with one of my favourite last lines. When I first included her here, and mentioned that I hadn’t been able to find out much about her, her daughter Cynthia Speas got in touch with details of her mother’s life and work, which I can now share with you here.
Lucilla Andrews
Her beautifully-rendered and memorable novels are snobbishly dismissed as ‘hospital romances’ by people who don’t know better, but they’re much more than that. I absolutely love her book The First Year, and am happy to see that Corgi has reissued her autobiographical No Time For Romance, the book that controversially inspired many of the scenes in Ian McEwan’s Atonement. With the film version of Atonement coming out, I thought it only fair to shine a little of the spotlight where it properly belongs. To learn more about the woman, her work, and her link to Atonement, read this article first, then this list of the similar passages, Ian McEwan’s rebuttal, and this final word on the subject.
Agatha Christie
I think – I think – I’ve read them all, and likely own them, too. And unlike some critics, I think she had a rare gift for characterization. Her people are always very real to me, and some of her plots are beyond brilliant. I have so many favourites of her books, but The Hollow and Sleeping Murder probably lead the pack. Here’s one of many good websites about her.
Kurt Vonnegut
A talented, clever and principled man who was never afraid to point out that the emperor didn’t have clothes on. The ending of Player Piano is classic, and Cat’s Cradle changed my whole view of what fiction could be. Read this tribute to learn more about how he lived and what he wrote and why he’s a favourite of mine. So it goes.
Richard Halliburton
Funny and fearless and like no one else, he died young doing what he loved best – living life on the edge. The books he wrote of his adventures opened up whole worlds to me, and I will never think about the Marathon the same way after reading his own re-creation of the run… Here’s a small taste of his life and accomplishments.
Catherine Gaskin
Her thriller The File on Devlin is another of my treasured reads, and one I love to pass along to others. There isn’t much about her on the internet as yet, but the site Fantastic Fiction does have a brief biography, and shows some of her books. They’re well worth hunting down.
Anne Armstrong Thompson
Mary Stewart
A true master. No one can make me get lost in a book like this woman. If you’ve never read her, try This Rough Magic or The Moonspinners for starters, and you’ll know why I’m so keen to take my characters to Greece. To learn more about the woman and her work, click here.
Discover More
I am a former museum curator who loves restoring the lost voices of real people to the page, and interweaving romance and historical intrigue with modern adventure. (Photo: Ashleigh Bonang)
