Latest News

16th January 2012

My review of 'Creative Alchemy:12 Steps from inspiration to finished novel' by Sue Johnson was published in the Winter 2012 issue of The New Writer (www.thenewwriter.com)

28th December 2011

I was shortlisted out of 182 entries in the Writers' Toolkit Flash Fiction 'Secrets' Competition (www.writers-toolkit.co.uk) with my entry 'Tiger Tim And Me'.

31st July 2011

My review of the book 'No Contacts? No Problem! How to Pitch and Sell a Freelance Feature' by Catherine Quinn (www.catherinequinn.com) was published in the summer issue of The New Writer (www.thenewwriter.com).

8th June 2011

I have an article called "How To Succeed In Micro-Fiction Competitions" in Issue 4 of Leaf Writers' Magazine, details of which can be found at www.leafbooks.co.uk.

16th April 2011

My (controversial!) viewpoint piece about professional writers not belonging to writers’ groups was published in the "Writer’s Rant" column of the Spring issue of The New Writer (www.thenewwriter.com).

3rd March 2011

I was one of the two runners-up in the Freelance Market News (www.freelancemarketnews.com) Limerick competition.

14th January 2011

The New Writer (www.thenewwriter.com) published my article "17 Steps to Self-Motivation" in their Winter 2011 print issue.

13th January 2011

"Cracking Up", my novel for teenagers was Highly Commended (Top 10) in the Earlyworks Press Novels for Children or Teens Competition (www.earlyworkspress.co.uk) The judges described it as "smart, sassy, inventive and insightful" as well as "very funny and compelling".

14th November 2010

You can now read my short story "The Bubble", which was a runner-up in the Earlyworks Press Flash Fiction Competition, in the recently published anthology "Sky Breakers" (www.earlyworkspress.co.uk) along with another of my short stories "Murder in Mind" and my poem "Second Innings".

1st October 2010

How to Multitask for Writing Success, which I was commissioned to write for EssentialWriters.com (www.essentialwriters.com) has now been posted on the website.

25th September 2010

If you want to know the secrets of working with editors, my article on the subject is in the latest issue (November) of Writers' Forum magazine (www.writers-forum.com) available in WH Smith now!

7th August 2010

There is now an interview with me (alongside some well-known literary names including Jacqueline Wilson, Sophie Hannah, Tony Marchant and Anthony Horowitz), on the Essential Words section of the Essential Writers Website (www.essentialwriters.com) Find out how I became a writer, how I found my first journalism job and what advice I would give to aspiring writers.

19 July 2010

I was pleased to be awarded a runner-up prize in the Earlyworks Press Flash Fiction Competition with a story called "THE BUBBLE" (www.earlyworkspress.co.uk).

13th May 2010

Following a top tip that I sent to IPC Media's essentials magazine, I was asked to contribute to their All About You spread.

1st February 2010

The community newsletter that I produce and edit celebrated its first birthday with a special birthday edition.

19th November 2009

I heard that my children's novel (in progress) "Dear Egg" had been shortlisted in the First Chapters competition organised by the Writers' Advice Centre (www.writersadvice.co.uk). 

8th November 2009

"Weight-Less" was published in the poetry section of the November/December issue of The New Writer (www.thenewwriter.com).

10 October 2009

The November issue of Writers' Forum magazine (www.writers-forum.com) featured my article "Profit From Profiles" on the front cover.

7 September 2009

More short story news. I was pleased to be shortlisted in Writing Magazine's Growing Old Gracefully Competition (www.writingmagazine.co.uk) with my short story "Wearing Purple".

10th August 2009

My poem "Weight-Less" was accepted by The New Writer (www.thenewwriter.com) and should be appearing in a forthcoming issue of the magazine.

8th August 2009

My short story "My Family And Other Monsters" won third prize in the Write Space Families Competition.

23rd July 2009

Zymurgy Publishing contacted me to say they are very interested in one of my non-fiction book ideas for The Little Book Of...series. Watch this space!

26th June 2009

I interviewed Dan Tunstall, the author of Big And Clever (a hard-hitting book for teenagers on the consequences of football violence) for my local community magazine. You can find out more about Dan at www.dantunstall.com

3rd March 2009

Freelance Market News (www.freelancemarketnews.com) awarded me first prize in their limerick competition on the theme of work. This followed on nicely from my recent success of having four limericks (all clean ones!) published in The Mammoth Book Of Limericks (Constable & Robinson 2008).