My thoughts about books, writing, life and so many other things….Judy Leigh/ Elena Collins.
When I first started writing, I was delighted by all the positive reviews about older protagonists. There weren’t enough of them. Evie Gallagher in A Grand Old Time was seventy five. Nanny Basham in The Age of Misadventure was older. The Five French Hens were in their seventies. Then an anonymous negative comment on social …
Continue reading Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth.
How the house I live in was a huge influence in The Witch's Tree
I’m an avid reader. I’m the sort of person who will read everything: all genres, crisp packets, adverts on buses. I have my preferences, of course – I love anything by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Shakespeare, Jeanette Winterson, Ian Hancock, Roddy Doyle, Sarah Winman, the Brontë’s, Zola, Turgenev, Cecelia Woloch, Kamila Shamsie and lots more. Reading …
Continue reading My top ten reasons why I love writing novels…
I’ve been asked the question a couple of times in interviews: why do you write about older protagonists? My first reaction is that I don’t – I write about people, all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. I’m comfortable doing that, as long as I know what I’m writing about. This in itself …
Continue reading Why some of my protagonists are older people..
In complete harmony with my rock and roll lifestyle, I'm keen to celebrate my novel coming out in paperback today. Available at Waterstones, Tesco, Amazon, at all good bookshops throughout the UK, 'A Grand Old Time' has finally hit the shelves. I have been on book tours, had radio interviews, been featured in newspapers, on …
Continue reading My novel is out today! But how should I celebrate?
Like most writers, I started young, with a pen and any paper I could find to scribble on. I wrote my name on the kitchen walls when I was two and had a slap for my efforts. I penned poems on empty Corn Flakes boxes. I filled jotters with an assortment of stories. In my …
Continue reading How I became a novelist – the journey so far
Last night was lovely. Perfect ingredients: London skyline, champagne, a real home-made cherry clafoutis (baked with love,) a giant cut-out campervan. A team of Avon angels, lots of smart independent booksellers and hundreds of great books. Wine. Canapes. Speeches. And me. My first Indie event with HarperCollins Avon was such great fun. I met the …
January isn't most people's favourite month. I've heard a lot of people complaining about it. It's cold. Christmas has gone and won't be back for a long time so it seems like there's nothing to celebrate. It hasn't snowed. It probably won't. A holiday to somewhere warm would be nice but.... So, with a brief …
Continue reading My top ten to bring us in from the January cold
I am fascinated by etymology and I enjoy juggling with words but, as a writer, I try not to create blatant stereotypes in my characters. The word stereotype comes from the 1798 French adjective, stéréotype, which is a "method of printing from a plate." It has come to mean a set idea that people have about what someone or something …
Continue reading Three authors, three ‘Russians’ and my own novel
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this. In actual fact, I am now on 81,000 words and coming to …
Continue reading When my novel is an unweeded garden that grows to seed
That quintessence of dust 