My latest Wednesday wandering was to the fabulous gardens at Coton Manor in the village of Coton, which is in Northamptonshire in the English Midlands. It had been many, many years since I had last paid

Just recently I had reason to re-visit a question that has bumped around in my head on previous occasions, namely is it a good or bad thing to make use of local dialects in my writing. Image I was reading

My regular weekly wandering this week took me on a visit to see the last major architectural project completed by the fabulous Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) at 78

There are so many things involved in being an indie author that, at times, it can feel close to overwhelming. So, how do I go about avoiding overload and burn out? Image When I sat down to start writing

I like cold pizza. I know people, strange, weird people who may have come here from outer space, who don’t like cold pizza. On the other hand, I don’t like cold Chinese food, but I know people who do and

Many months ago now I realised I needed to get out and about more. Sitting at my desk all day, every day wasn’t really good for me. It’s turned out to have been a good move but it seems the pool of things

My Wednesday Afternoon Wandering this week took me to the town of Rugby, which is in the English Midlands, in the county of Warwickshire, about 85 miles north of London. There are quite a few pubs in the

I am about two-thirds of the way through writing a new book in an existing series and I know already this will be the last book I write in that series. I’ve loved writing these particular stories, but

I recently re-read Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles and there are a few things I’d forgotten since first reading it many years ago. Image For one, it’s told from the point of view of Captain

I am writing the third book in my Alexander Templeman series of old fashioned espionage thrillers and something happened this week which, when it occurs, always leaves me with a bit of conundrum. You see,

Seeing how we are fast approaching the festive period I thought I’d do some digging to see how many crime and mystery novels I could find that are set during the Christmas period. Turns out there are quite

I've got a bit of treat today for all you petrol heads out there. For this week's Wednesday Afternoon Wandering I paid a visit to the British Motor Museum. It had been a long time indeed since I'd last

When you first set out to write your own stories all the focus is on doing precisely that, writing, and quite frankly that’s what I am sure all us authors would like to be spending all our time doing.

Re-writes and edits are an essential part of putting together a new story, but we authors don’t all do things the same when it comes to this part of the process. In fact, compared to some, I might seem

I'm a bit of a tree fan and have planted quite a few in our garden. It ought to be no surprise, therefore, that I'm always keen on visiting an arboretum and, having spent most of this year telling my wife

When I’m not writing, I spend a fair amount of my time reading, both fiction and non-fiction. In fact, I’d like to spend more time reading, but, you know, day-to-day life keeps getting in the way. Reading

I think we all like a fair, don’t we? I know I do. All those fabulous rides, the screams and laughter, the food, the drinks, and the happy smiles on the faces of children and adults alike. Well, it just

I have, for some time now, had a well established writing routine, which sees me show up at the same place and time each day. But I recently shifted some furniture around in our living room and soon realised

For my Wednesday afternoon wandering this week I paid a visit to the home town of William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, which is in the English Midlands. Although I only live about a forty-five minutes

From time to time I like to take one of those personality type tests. It can be amusing as well as informative to see the results. I did one of these a while back and had forgotten about it until I stumbled