Chilling By The River

After three days of full-on treats, and rather more walking than we'd promised ourselves, today is a fairly unstructured day. We are meeting friends for lunch, but otherwise the day is ours.

Serendipity Day

Today we have plans for the afternoon and evening, but leave the morning to look after itself, heading in the general direction of Covent Garden. For people who usually know exactly where we are going - and how long it will take to get there - it is an unusual experience.

Where Have All The Years Gone?

The main protagonist in my current work-in-progress, which is set in 2004, lives in Vauxhall and works out of an office in St Thomas' Hospital. So we start our day on Westminster Bridge, strolling along the embankment, taking in the sights she would see on her journey to and from work and trying to work out what the skyline would have looked like eleven years ago.

Country Mice Go To The City

"Let's promise ourselves we won't walk our feet off this time," says Michael as we pack our cases. I happily agree, knowing we will blissfully abandon our promise as soon as we hit the city. It happens every time: Paris, Barcelona, Granada; every city looks small on the map, but turns out to be much larger in reality.

A Broad Abroad: Why Do I Do This?

Before I 'gave up the day job' to write full-time, I spent many years travelling around Russia and the former Soviet Union countries. I had some wonderful experiences, met some amazing people - and yet, there were times when the thought of yet another trip, yet more nights in strange hotels in strange cities, became a bit too much. This piece was written on one such occasion.

Elizabeth Chats With...Julia Gibbs

Being a self-published author isn't about doing everything yourself; it's about taking responsibility for everything yourself—making sure you have the right team members in place to cover the parts you can't do yourself. This month I'm chatting to someone who plays an important role, not only in my team, but in that of lots of other authors (and I'm going to check this posting very carefully for typos before I hit 'publish'). This month, I'm chatting to Julia Gibbs aka Proofreader Julia.

Read, Reflect, Review...

You know how sometimes a topic seems to crop up in lots of different places at the same time? Well for the past few days, everywhere I turn, I bump into conversations about book reviews.