Tag Archives: Lesley Cookman

Inspiration and Beach Hut Surprise

Sophie has fond memories of a windy autumn night when four writer friends sat round the table after supper and (as the wine sank lower in the bottle) got a bit silly—and very, very productive. Inspiration? Oh yes…
Cover of Beach Hut Surprise

I can’t count the times someone has said to me, “But how do you find your inspiration?” It’s very rare that I can answer. But Beach Hut Surprise is an exception. It came to life in an evening of pure magic.

flames in a basket in a small domestic fireplace.

Image by Tim Mossholder from Pixabay

Autumn-going-on-arctic-winter, it was dark by five o’clock. We were looking at the time of year when Anglo Saxon warriors trudged back to the mead hall and feasted behind doors locked against Monsters of the Waste.

My writer friends had come to London for meetings and were going to stay over.

I wasn’t attending (I was almost certain there would be speeches and statistics) but offered sustenance afterwards.

We could all kick off our shoes, hang loose, gossip and and ramble in the sure and certain knowledge that everyone else present was doing the same.

earthen lamp, lit candle covered bya glass on a holder and 4 or 5 scent sticks, smoking

Image by Music Mynk from Pixabay

Forget professional best behaviour. This was basic cuddling down in a human burrow with fellow creatures we liked and trusted.

I’ve done evenings like this loads of times, before and since. Industrial-sized shepherds pie. Choice of wines, in the absence of mead. Cheerful fire. Maybe a scented candle or two.

I always love it. I don’t expect magic though. Continue reading →

Blogging reprise : Lesley Cookman asked us how to blog

As a tribute to the late, great Lesley Cookman, Joanna is reprising her “blogging” blog. Why? Because Lesley loved Libertà blogs and asked Joanna to do one about blogging…

author Lesley Cookman

Lesley, much missed

Years ago, not all that long after the Libertà blog began, our good friend Lesley Cookman — she of the wonderful Libby Sarjeant mystery series — asked me if I would write a blog about blogging 😉

I didn’t. Not then.
And even now, after nearly 10 years and hundreds of blogs, I’m not prepared to tell you how blogging should be done.

What I will share with you, in today’s blog, is my own personal approach. If any of it is helpful to potential bloggers out there, that’s great. Chances are that most of you will already be doing what I do, and doing it better. And if you have other tips to share, do please share them in the comments. We can all learn to blog better.

Choosing what to write about is possibly the most difficult aspect of writing a blog. I can tell you that, after some two hundred-odd blogs, I find that increasingly difficult. But I do have some tricks and tips to help me find a topic. They may help you, too. Continue reading →

Cosy Crime and Other Genres

Sophie reads a cosy paranormal and starts to ponder what makes a book cosy and how  that might usefully apply to other genres

Rosie M Banks toasts her readersThis week I have woken up, clearly rather late, to discover that there are several emerging cosy genres in popular fiction. It all started because I had discovered a non-traditional fantasy and loved it. I mentioned it on a Zoom chat with writer friends.

“Ah,” said Liz Fielding, “my fellow crime writer E A Mayes covered that in an interesting Substack post this week. I think she may even have mentioned that particular book.”

Liz sent me the link. E A Mayes did and she had indeed been talking about my newest Keeper novel, Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree.

blue question marksThe essay is a great read, fascinating and infectiously enthusiastic. It gave me some terrific new titles for my Wish List.

And it set me thinking. How did the Cosy tag arrive?

What does it signal to the alert reader? Or, for that matter, to the anxious writer, panting to keep up. Continue reading →

Cosy Crime? How Can Crime be Cosy? (Or Cozy)

Two French cheeses on a wooden counter, with shelves of individual cheeses in some disorder behind.

Image by corinnabarbara from Pixabay

This week I’ve found myself distracted by wrestling with this conundrum: how can a crime be cosy?

Yes, my current book is proving particularly troublesome. And yes, this problem is a nice distraction from tearing my hair out. But it’s not entirely irrelevant to my work in progress. I discovered this when a kind friend asked about my book, when we bumped into each other at the cheese counter. Continue reading →

A blog on writing a blog? How one blogger does it

woman against background of questionmarksYears ago, not all that long after the Libertà blog began, our good friend Lesley Cookman — she of the wonderful Libby Sarjeant mystery series — asked me if I would write a blog about writing a blog 😉

I didn’t. Not then.
And even now, after nearly 10 years and hundreds of blogs, I’m not prepared to tell you how writing a blog should be done.

What I will share with you, in today’s blog, is my own personal approach. If any of it is helpful to potential bloggers out there, that’s great. Chances are that most of you will already be doing what I do, and doing it better. And if you have other tips to share, do please share them in the comments. We can all learn to blog better.

Choosing what to write about is possibly the most difficult aspect of writing a blog. I can tell you that, after some two hundred-odd blogs, I find that increasingly difficult. But I do have some tricks and tips to help me find a topic. They may help you, too. Continue reading →

Escape With Rupert Bear

The Chinese curse of May You Live in Interesting Times well and truly struck this week, didn’t it? I have tried to keep away from news media, I really have. But the appalling tragicomedy that is our current government just wouldn’t leave me alone. And then I re-encountered Rupert Bear.

I was really grateful to my friend and fellow writer Lesley Cookman for spending a happy few hours in the Rupert Bear Centenary Exhibition at the Beaney (House of Art and Knowledge) in Canterbury. She came back and told our Zoom Circle all about it. Continue reading →

Book descriptors : but what do they actually mean?

TBR pile of booksThis week, in connection with something unrelated to this blog, I came across a lot of book descriptors. By that, I mean the kind of words that are supposed to identify types and genres of fiction. Now I think I know what’s meant by romance or historical or saga. But some of the others? Um. Not so much.

So this blog is about a failing in my education. I need to get my head around these new and unfamiliar words to describe fiction. Who knows, I may even be writing some of them?
But if I don’t understand the book descriptors, how will I ever know?

Uplit, or Up-Lit, or Up Lit (Take your pick on spelling)

One of the first book descriptors I fell over was Uplit. I tried the dictionary. Nope. (It asked me if I’d meant to type uplift. Sigh.) Continue reading →

Cosy Crime Novel, the Continuum

Lockdown seems to bring out the frustrated book clubber in loads of people. Over the last few weeks people keep asking me if I’ve read this cosy crime novel which is:

  • a murder mystery
  • a phenomenal success
  • in spite of being “only a cosy”.

Well, of course, say to a romantic novelist that a book is “only” anything and we’re onto our skate board and off to the nearest bookshop, out of sheer fellow feeling.

So, yes, I’ve read it. Now.

Of which more later*.

Cozy as a Term of Art

woman walking away, rose, cosy crimeBut that made me realise that I’ve always wondered about “Cozy Crime”. [US spelling because, at least in origin, it seems to be a US term.] I mean, what’s cosy [British spelling because this is me talking now] about crime?

By definition, crime is antisocial, the antithesis of cosy. Crime hurts people, sometimes terminally. It deprives them of something or someone they value and may well make them reassess their whole lives.

What’s more, crime can throw whole groups of family, friends and neighbours into turmoil. 

Maybe that’s why “crime” is often modified to  “mystery” when used in this sort of  label. Continue reading →

Springing into Summer, Today, Tomorrow, One Day Soon?

Today the Libertà hive are in celebratory mood, springing towards summer by relaunching our collection of novellas, Beach Hut Surprise.

In spring, says the poet, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. (Actually it was Tennyson in Locksley Hall, written when he was twenty-five and presumably knew what he was talking about. At least in the Young Man Department anyway.)

This spring, after a grim year of Covid 19 and at least three lockdowns, most of us, even the least romantic, are starting to think of Getting Out A Bit. It gives us hope. Continue reading →

What to choose for Reading in Lockdown?

Rather to my surprise, people have been asking me to recommend books for lockdown reading. Virtual strangers, some of them. I suppose they think a writer reads more than other people. Well, to keep abreast of the competition, if nothing else.

Now, I like talking about books. And I am congenitally incapable of ignoring a request for help.

But this particular question throws me into a quandary. I mean I can happily spout for hours on books I love. As you probably know. But…

Finding a story that somebody else might like, especially someone I barely know (not to mention that someone’s son, daughter or grandchild) is hard. To be honest, it has left me  with eyeballs swishing about, looking for the escape hatch.

So far I’ve blundered through, hauling up titles from the cellarage pretty much at random. Do people want books they can read together? Or are they trying to read to block out the effects of too much togetherness?

With a very uncertain Christmas coming, I thought I’d try to be a bit more disciplined.

New Lockdown Bookworms?

Continue reading →