Hi everybody! Editing is very much on my mind at the moment. I’m in the middle of a very interesting editing commission, and, at the same time, I’ve been working on the copyedits of my own book – A Bitter Remedy – which is now out for review as an uncorrected proof. (It’s also available […]

(This is a piece that appeared on the Crime Cymru website’s blog on 5th August, 2022. If you’d like to see similar posts from other Crime Cymru authors, go to the ‘blog’ tab on the website and select ‘topics’. ) This year’s winner of both the Gold Dagger and the Historical Dagger at the Crime […]

In this latest post on editing, I thought we could take a look at development editing. A development edit does what it says on the tin. It helps the author develop their book in right way. A novel is a complex system and there’s a lot to get right. Let’s have a look at some […]

In my last post on writing, I suggested that there might be at least six different things that might constitute ‘great writing’. In the next few posts, I’ll be putting each of these areas under the spotlight and looking at how an editor can help with each aspect of a book. So let’s shine an […]

Hello! Welcome to the first in a series of pieces about editing. I’m hoping that these blog posts will be of interest not only to aspiring novelists but also to readers. I’ve realised, from giving talks, doing Q and A’s with reading groups, and appearing at festival events, that readers tend to be just as […]

As I mentioned in my last post, today’s the day when I launch my new advice, editing and mentoring service for authors which I’ll be running alongside my own writing. So, what am I offering? Firstly, like all freelance editors, I’m offering a whole book appraisal. I’ll read your book with an editor’s eye and […]

When I started writing novels, back in the early ‘nineties, I had no obvious path to publication beyond raw ambition. I had no contacts in the industry, there was no NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and the only creative writing MA in the country was the University of East Anglia’s very exclusive offering (no genre […]

To celebrate the launch of Not One Of Us this month, Historia magazine asked me to write an article and I chose to focus on John and Henry Harries, the wizards of Cwrt Y Cadno, on whom I based a character in the novel. If you’d like to read it, just click here.

The fourth in the Teifi Valley Coroner series is now available to pre-order in paperback from your local independent bookshop or Bookshop.org! Just to whet your appetite, here’s a longer version of the blurb you’ll see if you go through Bookshop.org: ‘Harry Probert-Lloyd, is struggling. With the blindness that drove him home from London, with […]

Crime Cymru will be putting on Wales’s first international crime fiction festival – Gŵyl CRIME CYMRU Festival – next year in Aberystwyth but before that we’re running a free online festival this year. between April 26th and May 3rd. You can find our whole, exciting programme on the website here. Our guests include household names […]