Hey there, lovely reader, I've been rotating between writing and doing my jigsaw this week. Early into a new book, I take lots of breaks to allow for ideas to pop into my head. Sometimes they arrive, sometimes they don't. And maybe it's just a good excuse to take...
Hello lovely people, I'm' sure you're busy setting up your holiday, so I'll be brief. I absolutely love my jigsaw advent calendar and plan on making my own next year. Sitting on my sofa with a tray and a small jigsaw puzzle to put together in the warm with something...
Hey there, lovely reader, My, my, it's been an exercise in humility these past two weeks. I've had to suck it up, get outside my comfort zone, accept I don't know stuff, and prepare myself for looking like an absolute fool on numerous occasions. A couple of weeks ago,...
Hey there, lovely reader, I have returned from a very wet, chilly, and windy UK. In the two months, I got a lot done, much of which involved managing manly men and their trucks and tools, dirt, and physical exercise. If nothing else it kept me warm in the cold. I also...
Hey there, lovely reader, Welp, earlier today, the new Inspector Graham went to my editor. We will work on it a little more, I will commission a cover illustration and a blurb, pull everything together, and then it will be released. Oh, and I have to choose a title....
Hey there, lovely reader, It's been very quiet for me these past weeks as I bury myself in writing. I did manage to stay up to watch fireworks on July 4th, though. They are launched from San Francisco Bay and we live at the top of the hill (mountain?) overlooking it....
Hey there, lovely reader, It's been another busy writing week. I'm cracking on. Some days things flow, other days it's a struggle. A good night's sleep always helps. 😉 What I learned this week I cracked on apace with the latest book this week. I'm still in the phase...
Hey there, lovely reader, It's been a busy week for me. I braved a new hairdresser. When the person who'd cut my hair for over twenty years retired, I was a bit lost as to what to do until I decided I would do something really retro: I decided to go back to the...
Hey there, lovely reader, I was planning to leave on Saturday for three lovely months in the UK, but COVID had other ideas. I'm over the worst, but evaluating my plans – whether to hop on a plane as soon as I feel up to it, or shift the trip to later in the...
Hey there! I am busy getting ready for my trip to the UK at the beginning of next month. I've decided to go for three months so I don't have to rush my plans and because we're having construction done on our house which will not be conducive to writing. This way I'll...
Hey there! It's still pretty chilly in the mornings at 7 a.m. when I go out for my walk but the blooms and blossoms are beautiful. These are from my deck guarded conscientiously by Shaun the Sheep. What I learned this week The above beautiful photo is of Audrey...
Hey there! Happy May! In one month today, I touch down in the UK for two months. While I'm there, I will be traveling with family and also continuing the project I started last summer – to clear a family member's house of no longer wanted items. I'm looking...
Hey there! I hope you are having a lovely week. I recently shut down my social media accounts for a test. I was looking for ways to cut down distractions from writing. I've found that I've filled my time with more writing and reading, finishing off three books this...
Hey there, lovely reader, Last month was a banner month for me, my most successful since I started writing nine years ago. It's very exciting for me to see so many people around the world discover Annabelle, Graham, Roxy, and Diana for the first time, especially in...
Hey there, lovely reader, I enjoyed one of my twice a year visits to the movies last weekend. I forgot my earbuds which was troubling for the previews, but the film I went to see was gentle and quiet for which I was grateful. The film was One Life about the story of...
Hey there, I am bereft. After twenty years, my hairdresser is retiring. He lives in Miami and has decided not to travel to the Bay Area anymore. When I first went to him, I had hair down my back and I wanted a change. I dropped my kids off to preschool and without...
Hey there, lovely reader, I was having lunch with a friend last week and we were talking about how, twenty years ago, when we were raising very young children, computers for kids were still in their infancy. We discussed how lucky we were that our children loved books...
Hey there, lovely reader, It was New Years Eve 2022. I was heading to an early morning doctor's appointment. It was dark. No one was about. It was raining. As I went down the hill, I noticed rainwater accompanying me on my journey, but I didn't worry too much. I got...
Hey there, lovely reader! It's the end of 2023. Many people count down the days but I think every day is precious. 🎇 As the year ends, I'm feeling grateful. 2023 has been an amazing year for me and that's all down to you. If you’ve bought one of my books, left a...
Hey there, lovely reader! Are you nearly done with your holiday prep? I don't have too much to do having such a small family and it's just about done. 🦌 We are limiting gifts this year to one from each person (3) plus our Secret Santa gifts, also three. Our Secret...
Hey there, lovely reader! Ack, I managed to plant my bulbs this week but forgot to water the Christmas tree. I love a profusion of daffodils in spring, but gosh, do I procrastinate putting them in. I finally got it done at the weekend, but then realized the tree was...
Hey there, lovely reader! If you're in the US, I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving last week. Ours was just as I like it, nice and quiet. A friend told me about her plans for having twelve people over and then moving to someone else's the next day, and I had to tell...
Hey there, lovely reader! Gosh, it's noisy here today. We've got a couple of world leaders meeting for a summit two miles away and the air is full of planes and helicopters. Add a few police sirens and this author is struggling to concentrate. Today, I have updates on...
Hey there, lovely reader! I hope you enjoyed Halloween. I had a blast! I stayed in, doled out candy, and reminisced about Halloweens of years past which were SO much fun, they are permanently etched onto my memory. This week I am revisiting a story I've told before...
Hey there, lovely reader! As we move into the holiday season ?, I am thinking of next year – what I want to do, achieve, who I want to spend my time with, how I want to move forward with my life. I reach a milestone birthday next year, a number I find...
Hey there, lovely reader! I went to the pictures last week to see Kenneth Branagh's A Haunting in Venice. I don't go to the movies that much. It's too loud. I am probably the only person who takes her earbuds with her, switches them to noise cancellation, and can...
Hey there, lovely people! I went to a neighbour's party last weekend. I've lived on this street for 27 years and this was only the second one I've been to. In that time, older people have moved away and families have moved in. There are more young children here than I...
Hey there, lovely people!, I'm back from the UK and back to business here in the US. Got a bit waylaid by the obligatory virus one picks up while travelling and also by a kitty who was pleased to see me, but I am back at my desk and beavering away. What's next? My...
Hey there, Phew! Have I been hot, dirty, and dusty these past few weeks? I am helping a relative declutter her home. It's been hard, physical work – quite the opposite to the type of work I usually do – but very satisfying and, I hope, helpful. Help...
Hey there, I'm off to New York for my son's graduation on Saturday. We're staying all week to enjoy the sights, a show or two, and a couple of escape rooms. I can't wait! The ceremonies are taking place at Radio City Music Hall and Yankee Stadium, two places I haven't...
Hey there, Thank you so much for all the well wishes. I am well on the way to recovery now. COVID plus pneumonia was no fun, but our Starry looked after me and, well, who could resist that cute face? Writing isn't physically strenuous, so I have been able to work in...
Hey there, Greetings, When you receive this, I'll be touching down again in San Francisco, two months after leaving for a trip to the UK. Someone asked me how the trip had gone. It has been by far my longest visit since I left the country nearly 27 years ago, and I...
Hey there, Well, what an adventure I've been on. Since I last wrote to you, I've gone from being stranded by snow to navigating a fiery dystopian hellscape. But I tell you, to an author, it's all grist for the mill. Expect my experiences to be featured in a story or...
Hey there! This week I have answers to some questions, and of course some photos. There won't be a newsletter next Thursday because I'll be in Paris with my son who is flying in from New York. We will meet at St. Pancras International and take the train under the...
Hey there! Gosh, this week's been busy. I feel I've finally mastered the basics of living out in the sticks. I know when the freshly-baked cakes are delivered to the coffee shop. I've eaten in the pub. I've discovered there is a bus tracker app. (OMG. There. is. a....
Hey there, Golden gang! I hope you had a gorgeous week. I have been beavering away in my cottage writing. I've also been hanging out with my family and catching buses. Or not. I had planned to show you pictures of a nearby town today. It's a terribly pretty place, but...
Hey there, Golden Gang, Another week has passed, and I've had a lovely week. Friday evening fish and chips with a friend, afternoon tea in the cottage with another. The mornings are getting lighter and the evening sunsets from my cottage are wowsers. What goes on...
Hey, hey, hey! I'm writing today from a converted cow barn half a mile outside a North Bedfordshire village in the UK. The village was where I got the inspiration for Annabelle and Upton St. Mary and I hope to share with you over the coming weeks some of the village...
Hey there! Are you nearly done with your holiday prep? The final Golden bird returns to the nest later today and the fun (and food!) and games can begin. On Christmas Day there will be calls to my English family, gift opening (with sausage rolls and mimosas,) followed...
Hey there! Hey there, Golden gangstas! I am continuing to pull my holiday season together. I simply love Christmas. It is my favourite time of year. It will be the four of us again this year and we are staying in California. We like our family time quiet. Christmas...
Hey there! I hope you are doing well. I am still in the UK, dodging the rain, still in awe of the green scenery after a three-year dry spell. I have been quiet this week. I injured my foot a few days ago. It has forced me to stay home for a few days, but not to worry,...
Hey there! I bought a ticket to the UK last week and jumped on a plane inside twenty-four hours. I am currently in a coffee shop charging all my devices as it buckets down outside. I am damp but connected to the interwebs. Business continues as usual. All is good....
Hey there, Something happened a few years ago. I wrote about it. It's cute. And completely true. A magical (and true) story I moved to California on October 30, 1996. Virgin Atlantic flight VS019 arrived at SFO at 2:50 p.m. to be exact. I sat in seat 49C. Five years...
Hey there, I had dental treatment last week. I'm adjusting to my new mouth and grateful for pain medications and sedation and skilled dentists on the forefront. I'm not a fan of the dentist. And as I had been waiting in trepidation for over sixteen months for this...
Hallooooo! Gosh, it feels like I have been gone a long while. I hope you are doing well, and enjoying your summers. I've been hearing from some of you about your trips to Cornwall and Jersey. Seeing the photos makes me very happy. What I've been doing I have been as...
Hey there, oh dear reader! It's windy where I live. In the afternoons, I can barely stand upright when I go for my walk and have to cover my head with my hood, holding it at the neck to keep the wind out. It is lovely and sunny though, so inside it is very nice. Next...
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