Category: Uncategorized

  • Who cares?!

    I’ve read several articles this week about the importance of a book’s beginning and how to write a compelling first line. This is interesting to me as a writer because I (naturally) want to captivate readers, and it’s fascinating as a reader because I absolutely agree that the opening of a book is crucial: if I’ve liked…

  • Why I’m no good in a book club

    Maybe people who know me would roll their eyes and mutter, “Of course” at this, but it turns out I’m a bit of a contrary so and so. I love getting book recommendations and finding new books and authors I can fall in love with, but I don’t like being told what to read. This…

  • The Comfort of Old Friends

    I got book vouchers for my birthday in November, and more for Christmas. Whilst the days have been filled with lazy holiday vibes I’ve been checking Twitter recommendations and I now have a well-stuffed Kindle. So why do I find myself dipping back into my battered paperback of Steven Gould’s Jumper, which I must have read 8…

  • Get on with it!

    I’m an impatient reader. I think I’ve mentioned this before – if you haven’t captured me in the first couple of paragraphs I’m off: too many books and far too little time. Which means I love the sampling feature of ebooks – I can have a quick read on-line, or download the start of several…

  • Call in the Professionals

    The thing is, until someone who does know points it out to you, you often don’t know what it is you don’t know. Using experts – and/or the perils of not doing so – is a common theme in self-publishing discussions. Most people agree that not paying for professional help in editing and cover design…

  • Self-medicate with a book

    I’ve been feeling down lately. Nothing major, probably due to the gloomy weather, lack of sunlight and Christmas stress. But I’ve also been reading a lot of dystopian fiction which it occurred to me might not be helping. When I finish a book and need to take a look out of the window to ensure…

  • Teasers v Spoilers

    WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BRIDGE SERIES 2 (ALTHOUGH IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THAT YET, WHY ON EARTH NOT?!) This post has been brewing for a while, because I keep having to grumble when people who should know better spoil books or TV programmes. Why on earth would you want to destroy the reading experience…

  • Perseverance

    There was joy and jubilation in the Haye Household this week as my book baby headed off into the big, wide world. Given my long, long journey to publication, and given how much easier it would have been to give up many times along the way, the virtues of perseverance have been uppermost in my mind…

  • To be, or not to be…

    If you’re a reader, you won’t need the initials TBR explained. Our to-be-read piles are discussed with fellow readers in tones of mild to moderate alarm, as though they might one day take over our houses, our lives and eventually the civilised world. But I love my TBR pile. The idea of running out of…

  • Becoming a writer

    This week I visited the Write Romantics’ blog, where they discussed what they had wanted to be “when they grew up”. The blog was titled “life before writing” and they all had very different careers in mind. I was fascinated by this, because for me there wasn’t a life before writing – all I’ve ever…