Life Imitating Art?

Gosh, is it a year since my last blog? To be fair, 2022 has been one of the worst years of my life. My dad's rapid decline into Alzheimer's and moving into residential care, getting their bungalow sold and helping my mum move into sheltered housing, and culminating in facing and dealing with childhood trauma this last couple of months.

I've just got my teeth 'done'. After a childhood accident, I had extensive cosmetic dental work in my teens and early twenties. Now, as I'm approaching 60 at ever-increasing speed, my young, cool and scarily-experienced dentist at my new shiny modern dental practice told me my bridgework was failing and the remaining teeth would not support a simple repair/replace job. So after much discussion, I opted for full dental implants and had the surgery a few days ago. It's not been an easy journey as I've never really dealt with the childhood trauma; I haven't slept properly for a month or more and the whole experience is occupying 95% of my brain right now as I sit on the sofa on sick leave from work and looking like a hamster. I'm seriously considering some counselling in the New Year. Things can only get better!

But the reason for the title of this post is to do with the actual surgery. I opted for for full sedation and was slightly amused when they told me it would be midazolam. In the second book of my series Paying the Piper, that's the drug my bad guys use to sedate Michael when they have to take him into town to meet with other bad guys. I researched delivery methods and effects and I'm pleased to say I got it spot-on! One syringe into the cannula in my elbow and I felt like I was two bottles of wine down on a good night out. Apparently I had another two syringes and I don't remember anything of the first couple of hours. Andy says he could see my blood pressure dropping as the stuff was going in, which considering my BP was probably stratospheric at the start, can only be a good thing! After that I was conscious and I recall vague snippets of conversation and things happening, but I wasn't the least bit bothered by any of it - it was like watching a movie.

So a drastic way to do research. But why let an experience go to waste? I might as well let something positive come out of it. At least I got it right as I'd hate having to do a rewrite! Onwards and upwards.

Rat's Tale

The sound of footsteps woke him. Not the noise they made on the linoleum of the hospital corridor outside his room, but the rhythm – the way they stopped, there was a dull thud and then they started again, closer to his door now.

He was a light sleeper. He always had been; the instinct for self-preservation was far stronger than the need to rest, but since the shooting, it had been worse and despite the armed guard outside his door, he still didn’t feel safe in the private hospital room. Too many people wanted him silenced for him to feel safe anywhere in this country now.

That dull thud. Exactly the noise a body might make as it fell off a chair onto the floor. An armed guard’s body perhaps?

Fuck.

He was wide awake now – as wide awake as he could be, with the cocktail of antibiotics, painkillers and whatever else they kept giving him at regular intervals. Eyes still closed, he heard an almost imperceptible squeak as the door to his room opened.

Lenny turned over in bed, yawning, letting his eyelids flicker open briefly to see a dark silhouette against the light from the corridor. The door swung shut silently. He listened for the sounds of movement, breathing, anything to give him a clue about who was in the room and where they were.

There was no way he could run, no chance of being a match for anybody physically. It was less than four weeks since he’d been shot and he’d only recently lost the Frankenstein line of staples snaking down his side. There was still a long and messy scar. With his right arm in plaster from palm to bicep, more bruises than he could count only just fading from his face and body and he was in no position to fight off an attacker.

And I don’t think he’s come for a chat.

Picking Those Literary Scabs!

It's like picking a scab. You think it's healing, the wound is clean and you know you should leave it alone and forget about it, but you just can't resist picking at the edges, opening it up and making it bleed. Just because.

So it is with writing. When I wrote Hamelin's Child, it was a one off story. It was complete in and of itself with no loose ends to tie up. Everything got resolved one way or another. But when I self-published, people - fans! - started emailing me to ask what happened next. Friends who'd read it wanted to know what life was going to throw at poor Michael next, so I wrote a second book Paying The Piper. And then a third Calling The Tune.

And now it really is over. There is no more. Michael's story is told - rather satisfactorily, if I do say so myself... The ebooks and paperbacks are out and selling well. I'm doing a good deal locally with gift wrapped paperback sets at a discount. And I should be moving on and finishing some other projects.

Except...

I just can't resist picking at that scab...

And it's not Michael anymore. Now it's Lenny's turn. My bad-boy needs to tell his own story. We got a glimpse of it in Calling The Tune, but he needs his own space to talk.

It won't be a novel, I don't think. Maybe a novella. Probably ebook only unless I can find a way to make a paperback viable at short length. It's tentatively titled Rat's Tale and my brain is once again in overdrive.

Watch this space...

Calling the Tune is Now Available to Buy!

Aaaand it's out. Calling the Tune is now available in paperback and ebook at amazon.co.uk, amazon.com and smashwords. Other e-retail sites will follow as soon as they are approved. Cover design by the awesomely talented JT Lindroos who has designed all the covers in this series.

"Don’t believe what they say: money can buy everything – and I have lots of it.” 

It’s Eddie’s trial and Michael is reliving events he’d rather forget. Giving evidence means he can’t hide, and there are still people looking for him and old debts to be repaid. It was never going to be easy.

Face to face with the man who raped him, Michael runs from court, but he’s not alone. Close behind him is trainee reporter Becky, and the story she wants will make or break her career after a telephone call sends Michael running for his life.

But running away never solved a problem. Michael realises he has to face his demons head-on if he's ever going to move on with his life – and now he's on a collision course with his worst nightmare. 

Following on from Hamelin's Child and Paying the Piper, this novel contains adult material.

Calling the Tune

It’s Eddie’s trial and Michael is reliving things he’d much rather forget. Giving evidence means he can’t hide, and there are still people looking for him and old debts to be repaid. And when trainee reporter Becky follows him out of court, she gets more than a story when Michael is on the run for his life.

But running away never solved a problem. Michael realises he has to face his demons head-on if he's ever going to be able to move on with his life - and now he's on a collision course with his worst nightmare.

Available in ebook and paperback towards the end of 2013 - let me know if you want to be added to my email list to be notified when it's out. I don't spam - it's a one-time only per book email, I promise!

Review Time

I don't make a habit of cross-posting from facebook - but just have to make an exception here with a message from the lovely (and talented) Kate Hanney....

Well, Debbie, I've just finished Hamelin's Child and I'm shell-shocked! My emotions are raw, you've pulled and pushed them all over the place over the last few days, and I now need to some time to recover! Really, I absolutely loved it - it's upset me, it's even given me nightmares, but it's just brilliant. You must be so proud; having such an effect on your reader is no mean feat, and you've done it so skilfully. I've left a review on Amazon, and also downloaded Paying the Piper ... but I might need to let my emotions settle for a day or two before I brace myself and start reading it. x x 

There are days when I love this writing lark!

Work In Progress!

Quickie update as I haven't posted for a while. I don't know whether anybody actually reads these posts, but last month's stats shot up to over 2,500 views, which is something of a record for me as I generally get about 1,000 hits a month. I'm not that interesting...

So the new book will be called Calling the Tune and will complete (oh, yes it will) Michael's story. It will hopefully tie up a few loose ends, introduce at least one new character and provide a resolution to events that have happened. There'll be a blog post over at Authors Electric on 6th July (my monthly day to post) which will talk about book titles and how they work for me.

Just over halfway through writing. I have a couple of beta readers, I hope (haven't asked one of them yet) and with any luck it will be out in e-book and paperback before the end of the year, depending on how long edits take. I've also just approached my designer about a cover.

I may even post a few more extracts. Watch this space ...

Meanwhile, my garden looks like something from a terrorist training camp. Where else would you see an array of black hoods on a washing line? It's that time of year again -

Moulton Crow Fair! 

Calling The Tune

“I don’t believe this.” Michael looked as if he was about to stamp his foot. “Are you screwing him?”

Amanda's hand shook for a fraction of a second and she put the mug of tea down.  “I really don’t think that’s any of your business, Michael.” She was clearly several years older than Michael, and Becky wondered what the dynamic was here. She didn’t look his type at all and yet she was nervous and in some way needed his understanding, if not actual approval.

It didn’t look like she was going to get either. “Do you still not understand?” He was practically yelling at her now. “He’s part of the problem.”

Becky stepped between them. “Hey, Michael - calm down.” She wondered where the man had gone. Who is this guy?

But Michael’s attention was focussed entirely on the woman in front of him. “He worked with Mal Pearson. You know – the psycho nut-job who tried to rape you?”

“That’s not fair.” Amanda took a step backwards.

“Well how about the fact that he worked with Eddie? He still works for Carl. Did none of it matter to you? What I did for you, to try to keep you out of this?”

Becky grabbed both his wrists. She didn’t think he was violent but she’d seen this before, this simmering rage. Danny was like this sometimes when the world didn’t live up to his expectations. “Michael. Stop it. Now.” She held his arms tightly, pulling them down to his sides. “Look at me. Focus.”

Amanda had tears in her eyes. “Of course it mattered,” she said softly, “but—”

“No,” Becky interrupted. “I have no idea what you’re both talking about, but you’re not going to get any sense out of him right now. Leave it.” She steered him across to the window. “Focus, Michael. What can you see outside?”

“What?” He shook his head, trying to pull away but she wouldn’t let him.

“What can you see outside? Describe it.”

“Where?”

“Anywhere. Just talk.” Behind her she heard Amanda slip out of the room.

“Garages.”

“What colours are the doors?” Come on, Michael. Work with me here.

“Who cares what—”

“Tell me.” She was still holding his wrists tightly.

“Green.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“They’re not all green, are they?”

“Blue, I guess. And a brown one at the end.” His voice lost some of the anger. “OK, I’m good. You can let go of me now.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. I promise to behave.” There was a tiny note of humour in there.

Becky let his wrists go and he turned around, sitting down on the window ledge. He pulled the elastic from his hair and combed it with his fingers absently, like it was some kind of security blanket. Way past fucked-up.

Synchronicity

I never know what I’m going to write. Many writers plan their books and stories, meticulously researching and outlining each chapter or scene and making sure that everything is heading in the right direction before they even start to write. Others have a vague idea where they are going to end up but aren’t yet sure of the route they might be taking.

Me – I fly by the seat of my pants. I really do have no clue of where things are heading until they get there. I find things out as and when my characters do. And sometimes I have to think my way around an idea for quite some time, pass it from hand to hand and look for the opening.

So it is with this latest novel. The third of the trilogy that will bring Michael’s story to a conclusion. It wasn't something I was planning to write at all, but people who have read Hamelin's Child and Paying The Piper have said they want to know what happens to Michael and whether he makes any sense out of his life. Well, I don’t do walking-off-into-the-sunset style happy endings, but I do have some Ideas.

So, since this appears to be a crowd-sourced novel, let’s start with a title. Following the theme so far, I was thinking of something along the lines of Calling The Tune. Or A Different Tune. Any other ideas or suggestions would be most welcome…

The funny thing is, I was mulling over the first 8,000 words so far and trying to think who or what Michael is going to be fighting against this time around. I can’t just rehash the same old story – that’s cheating and I don’t write like that. So it has to be something new, something relevant, something that ties in the unanswered questions from the first two books (Who exactly is Jackson working for? Who wants Michael so badly and why?). And then in the opening chapter of this 3^rd book, Michael sees Eddie across the courtroom and Eddie smiles at him and I’m wondering what it is exactly that he knows. And I’m remembering a throwaway comment from Hamelin and only now realising its significance. Isn’t the subconscious a wonderful thing?

Here’s a draft snippet from the scene…

And there he was. Eddie. The first time he’d seen him since the day the drug squad had busted through the door in the flat over a year ago, when he’d woken up with Lee to a room full of police. More than a year fell away in seconds and he just couldn’t tear his eyes away. The man looked no different – still the same blond hair and a smug expression on his face as if he knew exactly how all this was going to play out.

Somebody coughed. The spell broke and he glanced around the courtroom. His dad was in the back of the gallery with his sister Kate. Twelve jurors stared at him like he was some kind of museum exhibit and even the judge was watching him.

You can do this, Redford. You can. He was not going to let them win. He looked back at Eddie. The man met his eyes and smiled.

Coming Out as a Writer ...

As those of you who read my blogs (and facebook posts) know, I've always been a little reluctant to "come out" as a writer, particularly locally, where I suppose I'm something of an active member of the community - school governor, member of various village committees etc. And then my wonderful new neighbours/friends started gently pushing me - and making me drink far too much wine. So I did a paperback as well as an ebook. And then a jewellery party turned into a book-signing...

The trouble with print-on-demand (POD) publishing, is that you don't have stock. Books are printed as and when you need them, or a customer orders them. Which is good as you don't have a huge outlay for books which - let's face it - may never sell. CreateSpace is a US company and while a customer can order a book in the UK from Amazon and have it printed and shipped in the UK, to order stock at "cost", I can only order from the US. And unless I want to wait 6-8 weeks, the postage rates are so high that it becomes almost impractical to do it at all.

A book signing is scary. I reckoned that people would have a look out of curiosity and maybe think about reading a sample on Amazon later on, so I had a load of postcards printed up (aren't QR codes amazing things?) for them to take away. And I ordered 6 books which was about all I could afford, given that they might be sitting around in my study for quite some time.

The week before, I happened to glance at my invoice and realised that the date I'd paid for delivery by was not the date they were actually delivering. Note to self: screen shot any other orders I make and always check every detail. So - book signing and no books? Help! Back to Amazon and with no time to order from the US, I had to order 6 books from Amazon UK as a customer and pay for priority delivery. Of course, these books cost me more, but I will get a royalty for each sale as if they'd been bought by any other customer.

The books arrived. And I complained. My US proof copy had been awesome, but these just looked - cheaper, somehow. The cover wasn't printed perfectly on the spine and the overall quality was inferior. To be fair to Amazon, they offered me a credit discount which I accepted. Note to self: quality control is everything! If I hadn't needed them urgently, I'd have returned them - but then if I hadn't needed them urgently, I wouldn't have bought them in the first place, would I? As it was, my profit margin dropped sharply as I ended up selling at a lower cost - but I wasn't doing it for profit.

I realised several things at the book signing:

1. Very few people knew I was a writer - and they were impressed. I mix socially with a lot of writers so had forgotten that most people aren't.
2. People read all sorts of things - and not necessarily what you'd expect. They weren't totally put off either my books or me when I tried to tell them I write dark and nasty stuff and not chick lit...
3. Not everyone has an ereader. And they don't know or care about Amazon samples and "look insides" and other things. They are not even that bothered about quality - of the physical book, I mean, not the content. They just want to read a good book. I hope those who took a postcard away will still look me up online and find out more.
4. My friends who have read my stuff really do like it and aren't just saying so to soothe my fragile ego! I'm getting pestered for the next book to be out in paperback - which will happen as soon as I get some more reviews for the ebook (so I can grab another pull-quote for the cover of the paperback)

I sold all 6 of my books. When my CreateSpace stock order finally turns up, two books are already spoken for. I've "come out" as a writer in my little Cheshire village. All in all - a success, I think!

Piper is Live!!!

Paying the Piper is the sequel to the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award long-listed thriller Hamelin's Child.

Kindle only right now at amazon.co.uk and amazon.com, but it will be available in other formats as soon as I can sort it. Check out the Buy Links page which I'll update as other markets arrive.

Paperback will take a few weeks.

Thanks to everyone for their support.

And thanks even more to the wonderful SM Johnson who has featured me on her blog today! Awesome that somebody 'gets' my writing so completely.

Paperbacks & Planning Applications

So Hamelin's Child is now available as a paperback via amazon (all sites - just replace the .co.uk with .whatever in the url). Costs a bit more than the ebook, but that's down to the printing process; physical paper and book-binding costs money unfortunately and then there's the postage. But it does look good and I'm very pleased with the result.

And Paying the Piper is (finally) on a last read-through on my kindle. I think I've dealt with all the feedback from my wonderful beta-readers (Marj & Laura - you are so much appreciated!). So if I can put aside real life at some point, I will try to get it uploaded shortly. As I've said before, if you haven't already, then do let me know if you want me to email you when it's available.

Real life? I'm currently embroiled with our local action group Moulton Matters, trying to oppose a planning application to build almost 150 houses on the edge of our lovely small Cheshire village on two fields that are used by dog-walkers and nature-lovers. Feel free to add your voice at the Cheshire West & Chester's website if you'd like to object to dumping a huge housing estate onto an infrastructure that is already creaking (primary school is full with a waiting list, narrow roads often gridlocked at peak times, Victorian drainage system full-to-literally-bursting, no jobs nearby, one small village shop with no car park). There are plenty of brownfield sites nearby perfect for re-development - but they make less profit, so they'd rather grab our greenbelt instead. Feel free to support us - you don't have to live here.

Moving on ...

I was hoping to have my new thriller Paying the Piper out for Christmas. Sadly that's not going to be the case - way too much editing work required, but I want it to be the best it can possibly be, so I'm not rushing; it will be out just as soon as it's ready and I can move on. I'm living in a weird literary limbo right now and I can't quite bring myself to drop this particular ball - I'm not a good enough juggler to manage several projects at once.

But it's given me time to reflect on other stuff. After over 17 years in our lovely Cheshire cottage, we're thinking of selling up next year and moving on. I've never lived this long in one place before and I'll be sad to leave, but it's the right time to downsize, especially if we want to fund daughter's continued stage career! I'm open to anything property-wise and the internet is an amazing tool - where would we be without rightmove.com? Last time we did all this, it was paper-based, getting sent house details in the post and buying property newspapers. I think we'll stay local but whether it will be old house or new build, estate or not, project or ready-to-live-in, I have no idea. Exciting times! So long as I have a study of sorts, I'll be fine.

Paying the Piper

Coming very soon to an ebook store near you - well near to your computer anyway ...

This is a follow-on from Hamelin's Child, and is set six months later on Michael's 18th birthday.

Michael is piecing his life back together. But it's hard and sometimes other people's troubles can seem easier to deal with. When he meets Amanda at the cashpoint, it's a chance to focus on someone other than himself, and finding Amanda's missing husband and baby may just be his salvation.

But the shadows of his past won't let him go. The bank account they've set up for him is full of easy cash and Eddie's old boss Carl can help Amanda. And suddenly Michael is in deeper than he ever imagined possible.

If you'd like me to let you know as soon it's available, leave a comment or drop me an email.

The Enemy of My Enemy

I was going to title this post Shades of Grey, but I reckon we're all a bit sick of grey, aren't we? Although it would be just as apt a title.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Allegedly. Or in other words if you are working towards a common cause - or taken in its literal sense, to defeat a common enemy - you must both be on the same side. But what if there are shades of evil? What if you align yourself with the lesser of evils to defeat the greater of evils? What if you're not sure which is which anyway?

I've done it again with my current WIP Paying the Piper. Yet again, what starts out as black and white soon dissolves into shades of grey, when the bad guys start exhibiting good qualities and the good guys decide that actually the police aren't really going to be of much help here, and annoying little details like the Police and Criminal Evidence Act just get in the way. The police have to make sure that an arrested person gets proper meals and sleep and legal advice. The bad guys just beat the shit out of them and get their information much quicker. Now if you're running out of time and you have a choice, which option are you going to go for?

So Amanda has to decide. Let correct legal proceedings dictate the time it takes to get account information from an internet forum, or ally herself with the charismatic Lenny, who may be more interested in the large sums of money at stake and possibly preventing a star witness from turning up at a drugs trial that's been twelve months in the making. And Michael may just be stuck in the middle.

Pond Life

There were big fish and little fish, but Amanda couldn’t make Lenny out at all. He acted like he was in charge of the pond and yet he was way too young to be anything like as high up the food chain as he liked to think he was. Was that good or bad? Amanda didn’t know. But he did seem to have something of a code of ethics which made him a considerably better prospect than psycho Mal.

“Now, if you want to leave, that’s fine. I’m not going to stop you. But I could really use your help to find Michael first. You seem to know what you’re doing with that computer. And you might be a good influence on Caro here. The silly cow’s clearly not going to listen to me.”

“I said I’d go and talk to Mal,” said Caro sulkily, “but I’m not going to let you torture him, Lenny.”

“Why not? It’d do the little shit some good.”

“I love him!” Caro wailed, but Lenny wasn’t falling for that one.

“You don’t love him; you didn’t love me. You just like sex. Have some self-respect, Caroline. If you want to bang someone’s brains out, at least make sure he’s got some first. Either brains or money, anyway.” Lenny stood up. “Go and talk to lover-boy, then. Tell him from me that unless I have Michael back in one piece in the next 12 hours, I’ll give the local drug squad the names and addresses of all the people he supplies, and I’ll make sure everyone knows where the information came from. And if you’re not back here within a couple of hours you can go make your own deals, as you won’t be getting any more from me.”

May Update

I've neglected this blog a bit lately. Been busy writing, setting up part of the new AuthorsElectric website and other mostly mundane things. If you look at the Authors Electric blog site, you'll see we've had over 23 thousand hits in the last 30 days. That's a lot of people looking at our stuff! Mostly due to the concerted efforts of those AE members who did a massive free book promotion to coincide with World Book Night.

So - sales of my ebooks are still riding high. I've started thinking about a cover for Paying the Piper - maybe this will provide some much-needed motivation?  JT Lindroos did my covers for Edge & Hamelin and he's kindly agreed to do Piper for me too, so there'll be some continuity and it will actually look like a follow-on novel. Watch this space!

Delivery Deals

“Where’s Melanie?”

            “Who?” The woman turned in the doorway. She seemed genuinely puzzled.

            “My daughter,” Amanda elaborated. “Is she here?” In a moment she’d ripped open her bag and tossed the envelope onto the table. “There. Now tell me where my baby is.”

            “I was going to make coffee.” The woman came back into the room. “But you seem to be in a hurry. I don’t know anything about Melanie, I’m afraid.”

            “Do you live here?” Michael asked.

            She shook her head, blonde curls bobbing. “On and off.” Opening the drawer in the sideboard, she pulled out a tablecloth and spread it half-folded across the table. Then she picked up the envelope. “It’s been opened?”

            Michael could see dark roots in her hair as she sat down. “I wanted to see what we were carrying. Do you have a problem with that?”

            “Depends. Do you know what this is?” She extracted the interior polythene bag. “Of course you do, Michael. After all, you’ve probably used enough of it, haven’t you?”

            “Where’s your loo?” interrupted Amanda, making him blink and realise he’d been staring at the drugs. Fixating on the drugs. This isn’t fair.

            “By the stairs.” The woman waved in the direction of the other door out of the conservatory. She looked up at Michael. “Have you had any of this?”

            “No, I’m—”

            “Clean. Yeah, they all say that. Do you want some?” she continued. “Delivery perk. There’s distilled water in the fridge. Mum thinks it’s for my contact lenses.”

            This was her parent’s house, then. That made more sense. But did rich daddy know what darling daughter was up to? He wondered whether she was a user herself – what the expensive-looking, low-cut but long-sleeved top was covering up.

            The scars on his arms were itching.

One Year Indie

I sent my first indie ebook out into the world at the end of February 2011. I'd been thinking about it since the previous Christmas, but getting a kindle as a birthday present in January gave me the final push I needed. Firstly it was a collection of short stories, Maniac, with a cover by the amazingly-talented Pete Gorrell. This was my test-ebook, to get a feel for the amazon upload process and how it all worked. And then, after a last-minute edit, panic and crisis of confidence, my two wonderful beta-reader friends Lallie & Jake gave me the final push I needed to launch my novel onto the unsuspecting public.

So what happened next? I flirted with the amazon forums for a few weeks before they got anti-author. In lurking there, I met a some interesting people and was lucky enough to connect with writer, agent and editor Al Guthrie, who politely told me that he'd love to feature my book on his blog, but I needed to redo my cover. With his help and that of his recommended designer JT Lindroos, we came up with the awesome current cover for Hamelin's Child.

In June, I was invited by award-winning fantasy writer Katherine Roberts to  join her at the start of a new writing initiative AuthorsElectric, a blog by traditionally-published writers self-publishing their backlists and/or new works. As someone who has never been traditionally published (though I've had a couple of near-misses), I was chuffed to be asked and have been contributing a regular monthly post ever since.

In September I published a YA fantasy Edge of Dreams with another Lindroos cover and uploaded all 3 to smashwords.

In October, a paid-advert with E-Reader News Today generated more than 500 sales of Hamelin over a few days. Apart from that peak, sales have been steady, with mostly great reviews. In fact the only negative review I had on Goodreads was more to do with subject matter than writing and that's fair enough. I know it's a marmite novel and that's why it has a warning in the book description. Sales of the other two books are nowhere near as high but then I don't promote them much - I haven't quite worked out how to be both an adult thriller writer and a YA fantasy writer and I'm still paranoid that a YA reader might come across my thriller (despite the fact that one of my readers said he'd be happy letting his teenage daughter read it).

Over the first few days of this month, sales have rocketed - I have no idea why - but I'm currently selling more than 3 times my normal numbers each day. There've been rumours of issues with amazon's KDP process, so maybe I have somebody else's sales figures! Either that or I'm on an also-bought list somewhere, but long may it last!

And what's on the horizon? I'm mid-way through Paying the Piper - a follow-on to Hamelin's Child, plus there's another YA title Flashpoint in the pipeline. Then I have a traditional high fantasy that I spent several months working on with an editor from Orion many, many years back. Real life got in the way and said editor departed publishing for a life in the country. But given that I've built some kind of platform now, I might try the traditional route for that one - just to test the water. I'm also writing the occasional short story for anthologies and competitions.

So one year on. I'm a published author. I've made some money - not enough to give up the day job, but better than nothing. And was it worth it? Hell, yes!

Giving Characters Their Heads

I'm maybe a third of the way into Paying The Piper, the follow-on story to Hamelin's Child. I'd say sequel, but it isn't - and although it will be a more satisfying read if the books are read in order, it isn't essential and either book will stand alone.

Some old characters (no, they didn't all survive the first novel and no, I'm not saying who did), some new, but in order to write a new story and not just a rehash of something that's gone before, I needed a new point-of-view character - somebody with whom the reader can identify and provide a fresh perspective; somebody whose own issues and problems are fundamental to the story. Enter Amanda, who made the mistake of sleeping with her boss at the Christmas party. Of course her husband has found out and done a runner with their nine-month-old baby, after cancelling their credit cards and emptying the joint bank account. So she's come to London to find her in-laws because she knows that's where Paul will be. And that's where she meets Michael, who's totally freaked out after receiving a prison visiting order from the thoroughly nasty Eddie, who we've already met.

But there are plans being made for Michael - at both ends of the food chain. He's offered a job by Eddie's old boss and refusal isn't an option. Meanwhile up in Manchester, daddy's princess Caro is dealing heroin with bad-boy Mal. She's taken a fancy to Michael and what Caro wants, Caro gets. One way or another.

Now I know Michael inside out. I've lived with him through the terror of the past 12 months and watched him rebuild his life with the help of his counsellors. And Amanda is straightforward enough so far: in her black-and-white world, there are no shades of grey. I'm not quite sure yet how far she will go to get her daughter back or when she will realise that real-life isn't like the television and the good guys don't always win. But she was also going to be a new love interest for Michael, despite the age difference.

And then Caro breezed into the story. She was supposed to be one of the bad guys but quickly made it clear that underneath she's really rather sweet, and if you could just get her away from her violent bit-of-rough boyfriend, she'd be halfway to respectable. But Caro's dad has money and Mal isn't going to let go easily. And Michael is already realising that Caro may be the one person who can really understand him.

I don't need all this sexual tension, thank you very much. I certainly don't want to be playing Amanda off against Caro. But I'm going to have to give them their heads and see where it goes at least for the next few chapters, before I try to rein it all in a bit. Mal is in control of the situation right now, Michael has a hot-line to London and Amanda's about to throw her teddy out of the pram and call the police. At least she would if Mal hadn't just trashed her mobile....

Back later!