Book Finds - September 2016

We all love it when someone recommends a new author or a new book to us. Well, I've decided to try and do one post each month where I tell you about books I've found and loved. Some of them might be bestsellers, but I'm suspecting that many of them won't be. What would be brilliant, is if you all share your 'find of the month' in the comments. Deal??

Okay, well the books I'd like to recommend to you this month are:

• The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
• Stuart - A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters
• Betrayal by Karin Alvtegen

How was Bloody Scotland? (part 2)

Day 2: Saturday 10th September
This was going to be a busy day! Not only was I booked in to see three shows, I had my Spotlight slot too.

The preparation for my Spotlight slot was not helped by the fire alarm going off at 4.45am (false alarm) but nonetheless, I arrived as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I could for the rehearsal, and met some of the other Spotlighters: Les Wood, Shelley Day and Michael Grothaus. Rehearsals went well and once we were finished, I had a quick tea with Les Wood (a fellow physiologist as well as a writer!) before heading off to see Alex Gray interviewing two forensic pathologists: Dr Marjorie Turner and Dr James Grieve. Another excellent session, mixing information, humour and some serious aspects too.

How was Bloody Scotland? (part 1)

Well, the short version to that question is: absolutely brilliant! The longer answer's coming in 2 parts...

Day 1: Friday 9th September
Hubby and I arrived in Stirling for lunch, after which I contacted Gordon Brown, one of the organisers, to say I was there and to ask what time I should register. He texted me back, telling me to go to the Albert Halls for ~4pm and we could sort out registration later. As it turned out, he didn't need me to go to the Albert Halls at all (he thought I was going for a rehearsal, but I was due to rehearse on Saturday). However, it did mean that I got to meet some of the other Crime in the Spotlight authors and hear them read their extracts, which was excellent. Rehearsals over, we all toddled back to The Golden Lion to register and have this picture taken of us in the Waterstones book shop in the hotel:

Photo by Eoin Carey for Bloody Scotland
L-R Sandra Ireland, Stephen Watt, me, Eva Holland
Liz Mistry, Daniel Pembrey

Music while you work...

Writing essentials: music and caffeine

The other day, I was discussing listening to music while writing, with my writing buddy (Stuart Lennon - you can check out his blog here... http://stuartlennon.com/ Don't worry. It opens in a new tab so you won't lose me).

I can get addicted to a particular play list or album when I'm writing and then that music is forever associated with whatever I've been working on. Sometimes it's because the lyrics or the music are very apt; sometimes it's because the music is already associated with a location in the piece I'm writing. For example, when I was writing the Malawian scenes in The Wrong Kind of Clouds, I had Lucius Banda's "Freedom" album on in the background, because on a couple of my trips to Malawi, that was playing everywhere. Much of the rest of that book is associated with 30 Seconds to Mars' album "This is War" just because that's what I was listening to while I was editing it.