Loving Netta Wilde publication day countdown. Only four days to go.

What was that something cataclysmic something? Find out below:

‘Dad’s been thrown out.’

Netta’s mouth formed a perfect O. Then, her entire face screwed up into a squiggly question mark. ‘He’s been… What?’

‘Arianne’s locked him out and she won’t let him back in.’

‘But it’s his house. How can she lock him out of it?’

‘Dunno, but she has.’

‘Oh.’ With nothing left to say on the matter, Netta closed her mouth. Her ex-husband had been thrown out by his partner, the awful Arianne. Comeuppance had taken its time, but it had been worth the wait.

21st November is almost upon us.

Time to start the countdown to the big day. Just a few snippets from Loving Netta Wilde this week to get you geared up for launch day. What better place to start than the very first paragraph:

Five minutes ago, it had been a normal Friday morning. Five minutes ago, Netta had been poised to walk through the door, get into her car and go about her usual Friday business. She’d even got as far as picking up her keys and opening her mouth to say goodbye to Liza who was on her way downstairs in her pyjamas. But the look on her daughter’s face signalled something cataclysmic had happened and, in that instant, it stopped being a normal Friday morning.

Check in again tomorrow to find out what that something is.

I had such a great night last night in coversation with Heide Goody, Rachel McLean, and Sally Brooks at The Heath Bookshop.

I was so busy enjoying my self that I forgot to take pics, but some were taken so I’ll share them as and when they arrive.

In the meantime, have a look at this rather splendid and unique bookmark, presented to me as a souvenir of the evening by the lovely Claire of The Heath Bookshop. Isn’t it a beaut?

Author copies. Aren’t they gorgeous?

You can order your own copy now.

As Christmas is on the way, I may even be giving away one or two signed copies to my Readers’ Club. Have you joined yet?

Started the day with a bit of book signing today. Five lucky winners from my Readers’ Club will soon receive a signed book each from the Netta Wilde series.

Sally Brooks, Hazel Ward and Rachel McLean in conversation.

Thursday 7th November 6.30-8pm

The Heath Bookshop, Kings Heath, Birmingham

We are really spoiling you with this one! A triple author event!

Sally Brooks – Swiping Right (and other disasters)

Hazel Ward – The Netta Wilde series

Rachel McLean – Deadly Christmas

This will be a really lovely evening so do come and join us and listen to these 3 wonderful authors in conversation with fellow author, Heidy Goody.

Get your tickets quickly for what will be a very popular event!

Edie Pinsent’s green bucket hat has had many uses. Her great-nephew, James, once declared that she looked like an acid house stoner in it. She told him it served its purpose and neglected to mention that it was highly likely she knew more about acid house stoners than he did.

Today, I’m using it for a prize draw. Five lucky members of my Readers’ Club will each win a signed book from the Netta Wilde series.

If you’ve entered the draw, check your mailbox today. But don’t worry if you haven’t won this time round. There will be other opportunities in the not too distant future.

Not a member of my Readers’ Club yet? Tsk tsk.

You can join here

A bad cold and a touch of sinusitis has meant it’s been a bit difficult to focus on the writing this last week, so instead I indulged my other creative urges and finally got round to sorting out a new cover for Being Doogie Chambers.

When we commissioned a cover designer for the series, Doogie’s cover wasn’t part of the brief but I’ve been wanting to make one that aligns more closely with the new ones since I saw how lovely they were.

Here it is. I hope I’ve captured the essence of younger Doogie without spoiling your idea of him. What do you think?

By the way, if you’ve yet to read Doogie’s side of the story, you can get it free when you join my Readers’ Club

Today’s the day. At last, the Netta Wilde series is available again for you to buy. You can also read it on Kindle Unlimited.

If you’ve been waiting for ages, thanks for your patience.

At the end of every month I send out a newsletter to my Readers’ Club. I cover all sorts of things from book news to what’s going on in my life right now. July’s newsletter was mostly about some of the characters in the Netta Wilde series, or more specifically, how I came to choose them.

You might be interested to hear that the idea of Netta came from a short story I wrote while taking a fiction writing course. The story was about a woman who has nothing else in her life beside her job who finds out she’s about to be made redundant.

The character intrigued me so much that I wrote a second story about her being told in the middle of a restaurant that her family didn’t want her anymore. After that, she just seemed to be the obvious choice to base my first novel on.

If you’ve read Being Netta Wilde, you’ll know those two stories found their way into the book. If you haven’t read it and you like the sound of it, it will be available from 12th September in eBook, paperback and large print formats, but you can pre-order it now. It will also be in Kindle Unlimited from that date.

By the way, if you haven’t already joined my Readers’ Club, you can do so here. You’ll get a free novella to help with the wait for 12th September.