Category: Reflecting

Time Away From The Desk Is Vital #writing #nature #mentalhealth #health #exercise

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Picture shows bluebell woodland path with beautiful sunrise through the trees and shafts of light

Word of the Month: Exercise

Now I’m no athlete, that’s for sure, but maintaining a degree of physical fitness is important to me. I’m fortunate and grateful to be in good health and of course I’d like to keep it that way. So taking time out of my working day at the writing desk for some daily exercise seems to me to be a no-brainer.

And my go-to form of exercise is definitely walking. I get out for a walk most days and usually walk for an hour or so. I’m lucky enough to live in a lovely Scottish village with woodland, riverside, hill and country track walks on my doorstep. So it’s no hardship to get out walking and I really don’t have to force myself to do it. In fact I miss it if other stuff gets in the way and I can’t get those vital steps done.

However, the walking thing isn’t only about getting my heart pumping and keeping those muscles and bones strong. It’s about my mental health and my creativity levels too.

For me, nothing beats a brisk walk for working off all those pesky stress hormones. Walking in the outdoors, hearing the birds sing, seeing the sky, the trees, and feeling the sun, wind, or even the rain (I’m in Scotland remember), all help to clear the head and lift the spirits.

But as well as the physical and mental benefits, I’ve found there’s a third benefit to be had. I’ve discovered that the creative part of my brain likes a walk too. I’ve lost count of the number of times when, while out for a walk, I’ve solved that pesky problem I’ve been having with the plot of the novel I’m working on at the time. Or I might have a light bulb moment about a character or a tricky piece of dialogue. And, I have to say, I’m rarely actively thinking about my writing when these breakthroughs and ideas pop into my head. It just happens.

So, yes, here’s to exercise and its multiple benefits.

Writing

And speaking of writing, I’m busy doing the final quarter of the current work-in-progress – and I’m loving how the story is unfolding. The working title is Happiness Cottage. It’s a contemporary romance – of course – and it’s set in a fictional village the Scottish Borders. I’m intending for it to be the first in a series of books all set in the same place with a different main couple in each. So although the books to come will all be able to be read as standalones, there will be a chance for series followers to catch up with characters they’ve met in previous books.

I’m enjoying the sparks that go off whenever grumpy farmer Aidan is with Australian visitor Lori and can’t wait to right the romantic ending.

However, setting up a series and inventing a whole community including a village and its neighbouring town is quite a challenge. But more about both these aspects in future posts.

Reading

Another great form of exercise in terms of our brains is, of course, reading. Along with the walking, and the writing it’s another thing I couldn’t do without and I always like to share the best of the books I’ve been reading here on the blog. And this month it’s a shout out for An Italian Island Summer by Sue Moorcroft, a favourite author of mine. Safe to say I loved it. I loved the Sicilian island setting, the two troubled main characters and the oh so romantic story. I can highly recommend this book as the perfect summer read.

From the back cover:

Will one summer in Sicily change her life for ever?

After her marriage falls apart, Ursula Quinn is offered the chance to spend the summer working at a hotel on a beautiful island off the coast of Sicily, Italy. Excited by a new adventure, she sets off at once.

At Residenza dei Tringali, Ursula receives a warm welcome from everyone except Alfio, son of the Tringali family. He gave up his life in Barcelona to help his mother Agata with the ailing business, and is frustrated with Ursula’s interference – and she in turn is less than impressed with his attitude. As they spend more time together, though, they begin to see each other in a different light.

But what with Ursula’s ex-husband on her tail, family secrets surfacing and an unexpected offer that makes Alfio question his whole life, there’s plenty to distract them from one another. Can she face her past and he his future, and together make the most of their Sicilian summer?

It’s available in paperback and ebook in bookshops and online.

Reflecting

So, yes, for me as writer and as a human being exercise in all its forms – whether it be for the body, mind or the imagination are all vital.

As always feel free to comment below with your thoughts on exercise or anything else you’d like to respond to from this post. And thank you for reading!

MY NEWSLETTER

And don’t forget, if you want a more intimate and focussed round up of my current writing such as updates on the work-in-progress, sneak peeks at same, early notification of publication dates, giveaways and lots more, do sign up for my author newsletter. And when you do you’ll receive A FREE BOOK of some of my romantic short stories as a thank you. Just click HERE and fill in your email address. 

MY LATEST BOOK

My latest novel is contemporary romance Baby Steps.

It’s available as an ebook and as a paperback and you can buy it HERE

If you’ve read it already please do consider leaving a review at the buy link above. Reviews no matter how brief are so helpful and I appreciate every one.

To find out more about all of my books just go to the BOOKS page HERE on the website.

Happy, Grateful and Enjoying Being Back At The Writing Desk #writing #reading #romanticfiction

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Word(s) of the Month(s) Joy and Gratitude

This month’s post is a wee bit of a cheat as I didn’t write an April post so this one is doubling up to cover both April and May – hence there are two words of the month.

The reason for April being a no show here on the blog is a good one, and it’s also the reason I chose the word JOY to sum up the month. And what was that reason? It was the joy of having some full on family time.

Yes, for the last month, here at the Stormont residence we have had some very important visitors in residence. The Australia dwelling daughter, son-in-law and their two children – our granddaughter (age 11) and our grandson (age 9) – were back in Scotland for a visit. Due to Covid getting in the way this was their first visit home in 6 years and me and Mr Anne hadn’t seen them since our trip to Australia a year ago.

So, safe to say, everything else in my life, including writing was put on hold for the duration. We had such a good time together – catching up, sightseeing in Edinburgh and other places as we showed the children parts of their Scottish heritage, and just generally making new and special memories.

One of the most memorable moments was when Australian granddaughter and grandson met our other granddaughter, their Scottish cousin (age 3), for the first time – such a special moment.

I was also moved and impressed to discover Australian granddaughter writes a journal, and grandson loves writing stories. Definitely gladdened my writing heart.

We all had so much fun together, catching up and making new memories. It was magic and yes, so very joyful.

And now that our visitors are back home in Australia and I’m left with those lovely new memories for which I’m truly grateful. So GRATITUDE seemed like an apt choice for May. I’m feeling grateful for my whole wonderful family, both immediate and wider, for my amazing friends, for the beautiful part of the beautiful country I live in and for being able to work at my dream job as a writer of contemporary romance novels.

And on the subject of writing, it’s good to be back at the desk once more…

Writing

I must admit I had to re-read the 24 chapters I’d already written in the work- in- progress just to remind myself of the story so far. I actually enjoyed the read (which was a relief) and it’s so good to be back with my two main characters – Scottish farmer Aidan and Lori an Australian visitor who is staying in one of the farm cottages. Their journey to falling in love and admitting their feelings for each other is a tricky one but they’ll get their happy ending, I promise.

I’m planning for this book – working title, Happiness Cottage, to be the first of a series set in the Scottish Borders. And I have lots of ideas for the subsequent books already. All in all the writing is as always exciting, joyful, challenging, and blooming hard work. But I do love it and, as I said, I feel so grateful to be doing it.

Reading

Despite everything else that’s been going on, I have still managed to find some time to read. There have been a mixture of genres – romance of course but also non-fiction and, most unusually for me, science fiction.

And it’s the science fiction one that I’ve picked as my book of the month. It’s The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone. It was a magical, uplifting and thought-provoking read and I loved it. I loved it so much I gave it to my husband to read, he loved it too. It then went off to Australia with my daughter – her verdict will arrive in due course.

From the back cover:

Connecting will change everything…

Lennox is a troubled teenager with no family. Ava is eight months pregnant and fleeing her abusive husband. Heather is a grieving mother and cancer sufferer. They don’t know each other, but when a meteor streaks over Edinburgh, all three suffer instant, catastrophic strokes…

…only to wake up the following day in hospital, miraculously recovered.

When news reaches them of an octopus-like creature washed up on the shore near where the meteor came to earth, Lennox senses that some extra-terrestrial force is at play. With the help of Ava, Heather and a journalist, Ewan, he rescues the creature they call ‘Sandy’ and goes on the run.

But they aren’t the only ones with an interest in the alien … close behind are Ava’s husband, the police and a government unit who wants to capture the creature, at all costs. And Sandy’s arrival may have implications beyond anything anyone could imagine…

Other Book News

In other book news two of my lovely writer friends have new books out/about to come out and I can definitely recommend both of these contemporary romances to you.

The first one is Escape to Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen and will be published on 11th May (the Kindle version can be preordered now)

From the back cover:

When successful university lecturer Alison Wells’ life unexpectedly falls apart, she follows in her brother’s footsteps and escapes to the coastal town of Bellbird Bay on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Neil Simpson loves teaching and his position as principal at a prestigious boys’ school in Brisbane. But when scandal rocks the school, and he learns his father’s health is failing, he has no choice but to return to his hometown of Bellbird Bay.

Determined not to be a burden to her brother and his new partner, Ali is considering her options when her world and Neil’s collide. Having avoided commitment all her life, Ali is unprepared for the force of her attraction to the man who is trying to come to terms with the upheaval in his own life.

As fate conspires to keep them apart, can this small town work its magic on these two lost souls?

And the second one is Watching from the Wings by Christine Webber and is available now as a paperback and as an ebook.

From the back cover:

Watching From the Wings is a heartwarming tale of devotion, friendship, joy and passion, but also one involving disappointment, duplicity and betrayal. We all have our own journey of love. Katharine’s is more complex than most. And she comes to realise that she has always chosen the wrong door whenever she had the chance to exit by a more promising one. At the age of 62, can she make a fresh start, or is it too late?

Reflecting

It’s indeed good to take time to reflect, to feel the joy and gratitude in life and to use it to build resilience for when times get tough as they inevitable do. It’s one of the reasons that, as it says in the main headline for this put-it-in-writing blog of mine, that I include reflection, along with writing and reading in all of my posts.

And that’s it for this month. But before I go I just want to add my gratitude to you. Thank you for visiting my blog and for taking time out of your day to read this post. I really appreciate it.  As always feel free to comment below, including sharing what brings you joy and/or gratitude.

Thank you again for reading!

MY NEWSLETTER

And don’t forget, if you want a more intimate round up of my current writing such as updates on the work-in-progress, sneak peeks at same, early notification of publication dates, giveaways and lots more, do sign up for my author newsletter. And when you do you’ll receive A FREE BOOK of some of my romantic short stories as a thank you. Just click HERE and fill in your email address. 

MY LATEST BOOK

My latest novel is contemporary romance Baby Steps.

Baby Steps is available as an ebook and as a paperback and you can buy it HERE

If you’ve read it already please do consider leaving a review at the buy link above. Reviews no matter how brief are so helpful and I appreciate every one.

To find out more about all of my books just go to the BOOKS page HERE on the website.

Simplicity in Life and in Writing: Decluttering , Reorganising and Keeping it Simple #mentalhealth #writing #tidymind #reading #clutter

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Simplicity – word of the month for February

I’m a writer. I like words. Artists may say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think a single word can say a lot too. So when I was thinking about my blog posts for 2023 and getting a bit bogged down with ideas, I decided to keep it simple. I would go for a one word theme for each month’s post. January’s one was Pause -hence no blog post last month as I took some time out to think through my writing plans and priorities.

And this month I’m sticking with the ‘keep it simple’ principle and February’s word is Simplicity.

Simplicity in my writing life

According to Wikipedia, the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore, simplicity should be a key goal in planning and design, and unnecessary complexity should be avoided. Keeping things simple is a great way of minimising stress. Getting rid of the mess, the stuff that no longer has any purpose, focussing in on what matters – all of theses things are beneficial to our quality of life in general and especially to our mental health. Now, I reckon I’m pretty good at keeping on top of any build up of clutter in my house. I regularly tidy out cupboards and drawers and donate/recycle/dispose of any items that are no longer earning their space – and whenever I do, I feel better for it. But I’m not so good at the decluttering thing when it comes to my writing.

The clutter

I’m currently writing a contemporary romance that I’m hoping will be the first in a series. I’ve never written a series before – not one where the 2 main characters will be different in each book – but the setting will remain the same. And I must admit for a while there I was finding it quite hard to get on with telling the story of book 1 without being distracted by possibilities for future books in the series. I had so many scrappy notes – on post-its, on random bits of paper, in notebooks …

I’m also trying to get better at marketing my novels. There is so much advice out there about how to do this, lots of courses, lots of experts and my head was spinning trying to decide what route to take in order to achieve worldwide acclaim (okay, maybe not worldwide acclaim but just maybe reaching more readers). And as with the series notes above, I was drowning in notes – whole folders of them – and for so many different avenues.

And thirdly, my workspace was, until a week ago, driving me nuts. The layout wasn’t working, the cupboard was full of yet more folders of stuff – stuff I hadn’t looked at in ages, stuff I couldn’t even remember was there.

The declutter

So I set about simplifying all three problem areas.

First up – the series plan:

I made a list of character names and personalities/lifestyles to go with them.

I listed various tropes – such as enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, forced proximity

I matched the listed characters to each other and to a trope

I chose which of those characters would get a mention in book 1 and any settings such as their workplace that might need to be mentioned in book 1 too  – such as the medical practice or primary school. I noted at which point in book 1 (if any) they would need to be mentioned.

Result – much less brain fluff when writing and an easy reference point at hand on my desk. Way cleared for progress.

Second – the marketing

I went through all the emails about marketing courses, the notes for the courses I’ve already taken, and looked at the strategies employed by authors who write similar novels to me.

I made a short list of priorities/preferences for developing the marketing of my books in future and made a plan for how to achieve that.

I got rid of the masses of stuff  – electronic and on paper that I’ll never get round to reading or doing.

Result – no more physical and mental clutter weighing me down and preventing any decision making. I now have a simple plan with three priorities for developing my knowledge and expertise in book marketing.

Third – the workspace

The photo above is of my newly sorted, reconfigured and much more simple writing room. I spent a day sorting through the cupboard and the desk drawers and then with the help of bigger and stronger other half completely changed the layout of the room. I even moved the pinboard and the pictures on the walls. And I’m loving this new, much more efficient, streamlined and simplified space.

And again, a cleared physical space also equals a cleared headspace.

So, as you can see, KISSING is working for this romance author. Here’s to simplicity!

Book of the Month

Still on the theme of simplicity – there are surely few, if any, more simple pleasures than reading. It’s certainly my go-to downtime activity and here on the blog I like to share my most recent favourite read. And for February’s post that book is:

 Queen of Grime by Helen Forbes. This is a first rate crime thriller set in Edinburgh. You can buy it HERE

From the back cover:

The Queen of Grime is about to pay. Big time.


Erin Flett is used to clearing up the sad debris of forgotten lives and tragic deaths. A crime and trauma scene cleaner from a deprived Edinburgh housing estate, she’s made a good life for herself and her daughter. But a secret from the past is about to catch up with her.

Ten years ago, Erin told a desperate lie with serious consequences. Now, someone else knows, and they’re determined to make Erin and her loved ones pay.

Following a terrifying late-night attack, the tension mounts until Erin doesn’t know who she can trust. As she struggles to keep her family safe, little does she realise just how close the danger is…


Queen of Grime is the first in a new series introducing Erin Flett, crime and trauma scene cleaner, and a rich cast of characters, set against the backdrop of the city of Edinburgh. With an occasional undertone of dark humour, it is a tale of family lies and family ties, friendships, secrets and loss.

And that’s it for this month. As always feel free to comment below, you could share your way of keeping things simple, or your own book of the month, or any other observations that occurred while you were reading this. Thank you for reading!

MY NEWSLETTER

And don’t forget, if you want a more intimate round up of my current writing such as updates on the work-in-progress, sneak peeks at same, early notification of publication dates, giveaways and lots more do sign up for my author newsletter. And when you do you’ll receive a free book of some of my romantic stories as a thank you. Just click HERE and fill in your email address. 

MY LATEST BOOK

My latest novel is contemporary romance Baby Steps.

Sparks fly in this love-against-the-odds romance

Estranged from her mother, cheated on by her ex and grieving the loss of her brother, emotionally distraught Sophie Campbell decides she needs to focus on her career as a researcher for a TV and radio broadcaster. What she doesn’t need is a man in her life. And as for marriage and children – definitely not.

Honourably discharged from the British army following life-changing injuries sustained while serving in Afghanistan, Steven Jackson is rehabilitated and embracing life to the full. Working as the manager of a support centre for military veterans brings him a great sense of pride and achievement. But he wants more. He wants to meet the love of his life, and to one day be a husband and father.

When Sophie and Steven meet through work, there’s an undeniable chemistry between the two thirty-somethings. But will Steven’s open, caring and patient ways be enough to break down Sophie’s barriers and allow a relationship to develop between them?

Set in the Scottish city of Glasgow, Baby Steps is a contemporary romance which tells a story of love against the odds.

Baby Steps is a spin-off novel from Anne Stormont’s Skye Series of novels. Sophie is the daughter of Rachel one of the main characters in that series and features as a character in the supporting cast, as does Steven. However, Baby Steps can be read as a standalone.

Baby Steps is available as an ebook and as a paperback and you can buy it HERE

To find out more about all of my books just go to the BOOKS page HERE on the website