Thriller writer, archaeologist and traveller
Four days of panels and author interviews, up to three parallel sessions and a lively atmosphere where writers and readers of crime fiction mingle in equal quantities; that's Crimefest. I could fill the blog with simply a list of speakers and topics, but instead will focus on a few inspiring writing ideas coming from the... Continue Reading →
Conferences and festivals come thick and fast this time of year. Normally, April sees the Crime Writers' Association annual conference, but it wasn't to be held this year. As soon as we heard the news, half a dozen of us in the conference bar decided to bag the now vacant slot in the calendar. Over... Continue Reading →
Suddenly we’re out of winter and into conference season. It’s a joyful time of travel, meeting friends and colleagues, and talking writing or archaeology (and sometimes both). Conferences and festivals tumble one after the other in the run-up to Easter, which is why I haven’t been blogging and now have a backlog to report on.... Continue Reading →
AI answers are now appearing on Google searches. I don't trust them, wonder where they get their data from and always dive in and look for references myself. As an experiment I went into 'IAsk AI' with the following question: 'Who is Jason Monaghan?' It was pleasing that it identified me as the subject of... Continue Reading →
2024 has whizzed past and I finished it at home with a particularly nasty flu that dodged around the jab, so those Old Langs had to Sine themselves. The year was packed with writing, travel, archaeology and new experiences, so no wonder it felt hectic. Tucked under a Game of Thrones fleece (known as 'Game... Continue Reading →
Here's a selection of the books I've read this year which stand out in the memory. Not all are 'new' as I read what I come across. These are all books read for pleasure, and many were recommended by friends. My favourite book of the year, gripping from start to finish and the only one... Continue Reading →
I've just pitched into another draft of my next non-fiction book, which has the working title A Roman Small Fort on Alderney. It's the result of research and excavations stretching back to 2008 and I've been picking up the text and working on it for the past eight years or so. It now has a... Continue Reading →
Coming away from watching Wicked the movie (part 1) I chewed over the decision to break the film into two halves. As I'm also well into the second half of writing my next novel these thoughts have some relevance to fiction writers too. The first part of Wicked contains the most crowd-pleasing songs, opening with... Continue Reading →
#12 in an occasional series on writing non-fiction (with a little fiction thrown in) Eagle-eyed followers of this blog will notice that #13 came out last week and #12 follows it. The simple reason is that I didn't have a cover image to hand. Does it show? So, book titles. You probably set out writing... Continue Reading →
#13 in an occasional series on writing non-fiction It is tempting to write your book straight out, beginning to end. At which point you realise you have uncovered a great deal more information than you can fit into the main text without breaking up the flow. This is the purpose of Notes and Appendices. Footnotes... Continue Reading →