You know me, out and about every chance I get. This time I’m off visiting the Frost magazine as the opening article in their writers on the road series. You can read it here.

Our first campervan adventure of 2023 started in 2022 and took us to Stonehenge, where we spent the night. The weather wasn’t great, and we noticed a few people giving us amused glances. Why? There were hundreds of other people doing the same thing – the official car park had 16 coaches in when we arrived there and the camping spot was equally busy.

Looking at the photos of us in our matching, hooded waterproofs I wonder if they thought we were part of a very small, slightly peculiar religious sect. One that’s only just discovered selfies.

I often observe people doing apparently weird things, make up my own explanations and put them in stories. As I’m aware that some of our exploits look strange if you don’t know us and what we’re up to, maybe I should try seeing them from other people’s point of view and do the same?

I didn’t have the best start to the New Year. A planned visit to friends was cut short because I had to return home for emergency dental treatment. That’s gradually taking effect, so hopefully things will just keep getting better for 2023. One thing which helps me believe that could be true is that I arrived home to find a copy of Ireland’s Own containing one of my stories in.
Whatever kind of start your year got off to, I hope the rest of it is even better.

I have a story in the current issue of Yours Fiction. The title is Careful What You Wish For. The warning in the post title is because, although I wish I could show you the illustration I’ve not yet tracked down a copy, and so am using that as an excuse to share some photos from our recent trip to Scotland. These were all taken in the grounds of Culzean Castle.

I’m taking part in a book Fair in Newbury on 3rd December, where I’ll be signing copies of Acting Like A Killer (and a few other titles). If you’re in the area it would be lovely to meet you. No hard sell, I promise!

One of my stories in the current (December) issue of Take A Break’s Fiction Feast is Autumn Mist.

I quite like mist. Not such think mist as Kelsey got stuck in, but the sort which hides part of the view and turns the familiar into something else. I know that when the weather changes everything will be back where it was, but until then it allows me to look at things differently – which sometimes means thinking differently.

I’m happy to have two stories in the current (December) issue of Take A Break’s Fiction Feast. No, sorry – I can’t introduce you to the model!
The idea for this came after I heard someone, who is prone to exaggeration, that she and a friend shared absolutely everything. I wanted to say that was rubbish, but instead I did what I always do in these situations and wrote her into a story.
Someone at the magazine decided that the theme of the story is ‘traditions’ which got me wondering all kinds of things, so that’s them going into another story.

We’re currently touring Scotland in our mobile writing retreat (campervan). I have been writing, honest. There have however been plenty of distractions, such as the lovely, wet and steep Crarae garden. Who knows, maybe I’ll set a story there one day. If I do, I’ll have plenty of photos to remind me what it’s like.

This hallowe’en, as often happens, we’re away in our campervan. Previously we’ve spent it parked by a ruined abbey, in woods full of owls, on a picturesque island with bats swooping overhead… This year we’re in a forest up amongst the tallest Scottish mountains. Perhaps you can see how I’ve managed to write so many ghost and other spooky stories? (You can one collection here – links to the others are in my previous post.)

I’m pleased to have a suitably spooky story in the current issue of The People’s Friend.  Isn’t the illustration nicely atmospheric?

I had the idea for this post when we got some new neighbours. They seemed nice, as in fact they really are, but as I described them to my husband I couldn’t help thinking that if we were all characters in a story then there would be some kind of catch or twist and wondering what it might be. Once I start thinking along those lines, I just have to get writing.

If you fancy some spooky, but not too scary reading for hallowe’en then one of my collections could be just right.

Ghosts, sixth sense and things not of this world aren’t always scary, though they can be. Some help or warn, frighten or comfort those who perceive them. Others are here for their own purposes, waiting for a chance to move on. We might see, hear or feel them, perhaps they’ll only reach us through our subconscious.

Are ghosts memories and echoes of the past, contacts from another time and place, or figments of our imagination? Whether you believe in them or not, ghosts, spirits and mysterious spooking happenings all provide stories. These collections each contain 24 of them.

Get them as paperbacks or ebooks here –

Slightly Spooky Stories I

Slightly Spooky Stories II

Slightly Spooky Stories III

Slightly Spooky Stories IV