Writing about writing…

People have been kind enough to ask about how I write. Back in the days when I wrote short stories, I was featured in Writers News for my taut plotting and sub-stories and detailed characters. They read all sorts of things into the story they were writing about that I hadn’t noticed were there, but hey, what do I know?

All I know is that people interest me. I love reading the local papers because you see acts of heroism, both obvious as in rescuing people from the sea and in fighting the bossy souls whose sense of self-entitliement amazes me and leaves me wishing that there was such a thing as a naughty step for politicians, those who work for the state and developers. Only I suppose it’d be very crowded…

Living close to the sea helps too, because we talk to each other here, and hearing people’s stories is inspiring. Like the loving daughter of a lifeboatman who decided at his funeral that she’d carry on his legacy, and now volunteers at the local museum, which is well worth a look if you ever come to Poole, because it includes the first lifeboat to reach Dunkirk. Incidentally, we saw our other Dunkirk little shop heading off for a tour round the harbour last week, and that was very moving because it was taking older people, whose dads had been rescued by them.

That’s how we discovered that my husband’s family is a lifeboat family, and we’re here in Poole as old inhabitants, even if we came here via Upper Parkstone. Looking at pictures of the former crew is incredible because I can see my late father-in-law and husband in them, and it explains why my daughter is drawn to the sea and the lifeboats. They’re our charity, so we carry on the tradition in our small way.

Of course, that sense of the need to belong comes into my books. So, in my own little way, does feminism, and I did get a little cross when a man told me that my books weren’t very feminist. I asked him to define what he meant, and he felt it was because my characters aren’t thrusting career women. I kept smiling (aren’t you proud of me?) as I pointed out that Gloria Fenton runs the Swansmere Estate. Nadine Jordan runs the Triangle tourism group and Kim Kinsella runs a large chunk of the British Secret Service. There are also countless small businesswomen making successes of their shops and businesses and falling in love in the process. And, most of all, I asked sweetly, who are you to decide what women should be? Surely, equality means allowing people to be who they are, rather than having to fit into anyone else’s mould?

I pointed out how much cash we who care for others without expecting to be paid save the government. That’s £162 billion each year, which is almost equal to the cost of the National Health Service. Given everything the government can’t afford when it comes to caring for people, you’d think they’d be celebrating and valuing us, would’t you? But nope…

Anyway, I’ll get off my soap box, and on to the things that matter, because I don’t think I convinced him and he definitely didn’t convince me. Little Master, the gosling who I rescued when he was kidnapped by a crow who had evil plans for him, is now fully fledged in his adult plumage. The ducklings whose mums were brought up by a flock of geylag geese after their mum abandoned them have brought up their own ducklings goose-style, so they’ve all survived, which makes a nice change. The heat has passed to be replaced with wind, so I shall go for a walk along the Harbour today and listen and bring stories back to you, because romance is the fastest growing genre for a reason.

In the end, it’s about hope and new beginnings and the fact that when two people love each other, they can stand against the world and be each other’s safe haven without needing to stop them from adventuring. Ask any military or naval or air force wife or husband about that. Or a lifeboatman’s partner. Or the firemen and women like the ones who risked their lives to put out a nasty fire close to me on Friday. Or police officer’s partners. Or anyone else who runs towards the things most of us want to run away from…


And here are this week’s special offers, at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US. As always, anthologies are available for those who can’t get these. I didn’t make the system, but this way you, and everyone else, can buy 3 books for £2.99 any time you like!

There are the first 3 from my Christians Cross cosy paranormal series; Bloody Murder, Devil to Pay and The Missing Maiden. This one is based in Dorset history and folklore and is about the unchancy places you find here. I’m not kidding, because I heard about this from a lovely lady in a clothes shop when I realised I needed a new cardigan because I hadn’t brought one with me on a day that wasn’t as warm as forecast. I was off up to Maumbury Rings on the way to see a Roman reconstruction when I nipped in there, and she said I needed to watch it because it was unchancy. I asked politely what she meant by that because it wasn’t a word I knew, and was told as if it was the most natural thing in the world that there were places where things didn’t happen by chance and history could break through. I knew just what she meant, and was scribbling frantically while my children learned to make a testudo (a tortoise shape defensive formation) and painted shields and listened to talks.

Then there are 3 later Amy Hammonds - The End of the Beginning, The Perfect Home and Two Graves, which are set around the time of Covid. You’d think they couldn’t find trouble while they were renovating a bungalow, wouldn't you? Ah, but this is Peter Cunningham…

Anyway, have a good week and sorry for the micro-rant. Be who you want to be and don’t take any nonsense, because heroes and heroines don’t have to be sung about to exist. I like singing about them, so I have no plans to change and here’s a picture of the seaside to calm us all down! The seagull was sneaking closer and closer to the bait shop while looking oh so casual, and I somehow don't think he was planning to pay for the bait. And yes, the bait shop does sell ice cream too. If you ask what that catches, then I'll happily say wirters!