Still life, with kartofellen chips😋

Two weeks in Austria and not a flake. Half a morning in the Lake District and...

Golden hour and (faux) Goldsworthys on Clougha Pike

We are thrilled to reveal Farnham’s First Five Pages 2025 longlist! Congratulations to all longlisted authors and thank you to everyone who entered 🖋️ B.A. Paris Louise Morrish Gill Thompson & Melanie Whipman #farnhamlitfest #firstfivepages #writingcompetition #newwriters

Excited 🤗 ##amwriting

I'm researching a novel set in Italy in 1943, and have just discovered that the rank title of the senior German Commander in north Italy was 'Reichssicherheitshauptamt', which makes me very glad I'm writing from the allied perspective 😅

Overjoyed and honoured to have won this. Congratulations to Caroline and Jacqui and all my fellow short-listees, and my thanks to the judges and everyone at Farnham Literary Festival

Jackie Leven sang "sometimes you write the great songs through sheer force of will, sometimes they flood into your heart like night rain beating on a windowsill". My morning has all been about force of will - 600 words in 3 hours, dug out of the rock one at a time #amwriting

Not sure how I've managed to get myself into this mess but I'm concurrently writing my WIP; writing the opening scene of my next WIP (to set the vibe for later); rewriting a previous novel from 1st to 3rd; beta-reading a friend's new novel 😰.

##amwriting Writers, you know that thing where you have an idea, so you start writing that idea down, and then eventually it's no longer just an idea but a place you visit every day? Well, its taken 30,000 words, but now my WIP is the place I go each day 😊

Like many writers, I consider 800 words a day to be the gold standard (though more is fine, of course). I'm in the process of removing a character from my WIP, so today I've worked really hard and LOST 800 words. But that's still progress, right? #amwriting

I was (as they say) today day's old when I discovered that the Mississippi Delta is NOT the delta of the Mississippi 🤯. My 'A' level in Geography suddenly feels like one big lie.

Early purple orchid, Morecambe Bay, Lancashire (but sunlight courtesy of Cornwall, or possibly even the Mediterranean!)

Acer corner is absolutely my favourite part of our little garden 😍

I'm a day late to the #histficmay but...my WIP is set in Estonia in 1782. My previous novels have covered East Germany 1945-89, Venice 1575, and early medieval Persia. I'm just a magpie who goes wherever the great stories are!

#HistFicMay. "My master is making angels. He's up on the scaffold, tense as a fist, transfiguring the rough-sketched lines into dazzling, languorous creatures of light and love and grace". [Jacopo's Contract]. Don't suppose I'll ever write a better opening paragraph...

Thank b*******cks for that #hcafc

#HistFicMay 3. The past is NOT another country. Despite differences in faiths, lifestyles, politics we have our forebears' psychologies and feelings. I gravitate to telling stories that show this, that allow readers intimate, empathetic connections to my characters.

#HistFicMay 4. I write short ghost stories sometimes. And I collaborated on a YA fantasy, which finished Top 100 in Cheshire Kids 25, but which I'd expect to self-publish, using this wonderful cover art from my very talented neice Alice😊