I am back! 
And starting work again on The Right Place this week! 

I have been updating the Arcane Publishing blog and events page so head there for updates on the new Arcane book stock and of course, keep an eye on the Arcane Instagram page! 

I will be posting some updates here throughout the next few months as I try and complete my first draft of my third novel! 
And I keep having so many ideas for my fourth novel, Hell Lane: A Barton Stacey Mystery... I can't wait to get started properly on this one, it's going to be so much fun to write! 

Happy New Year! 
I am just recovering from covid (that scuppered my plans for the first week of 2024!) and only now beginning to plan for 2024! 
2023 has been a difficult year for many reasons and in 2024, I wish to prioritise my own projects and move around a bit more as I do more exploring of the UK and across the Channel! 

This is the year I will finally complete the manuscript of my third novel The Right Place and prepare it for publication on Arcane Publishing in 2025. 

I will resume my work on the MS from next week and will keep this blog updated with my progress as I did for my first two novels, I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth. 

I am currently looking at events to book to sell my novels as well as pre-loved, vintage and rare books!  As soon as I start getting some dates, I will update the Arcane events page. 

And of course, keep an eye on the Arcane Publishing Instagram page where I post as often as possible about the brilliant new books I am constantly adding to my stock of pre-loved, vintage and rare books! 

We had a lovely day yesterday at the always brilliant The Poundbury Independent Market !
The amount of talent on display was staggering, top quality traders were selling their wares and as a bonus, we had loads of well-behaved, super cute canine visitors, which is always a treat!

​But there’s no rest for the wicked – it’s now time to concentrate on my next event – a very, very exciting one for me as it will be in Abbotsbury for the Abbey Farm Christmas Market, where my third novel The Right Place will be set!
I have picked some very special items for this event, and I will be changing the stock around during each day and from day to day. Head to the Arcane Publishing instagram to know more about the stock we'll be taking to the event! 

I do not do events very often as Arcane Publishing, but this autumn, I've decided to go for it. I am therefore thrilled to announce two special events for November:

And on Saturday 25th November and Sunday 26th November, I will be in Abbotsbury for the Abbey Farm Christmas Fair! 
This one is very, very special.
My third novel, The Right Place, which is still a work-in-progress, is inspired by the landscape around Abbotsbury and the PJ Harvey song The Wind, written about St Catherine’s chapel. I have based some of the characters and plot on the lyrics of the song, which itself is based on the prayer to St Catherine.
 
A long time ago, I fell in love with Abbotsbury whilst on holiday, and I kept coming back again and again. In 2012, I wrote the first paragraph of what would eventually become my third novel, inspired by the landscape of Dorset and the  song. I have based some of the characters and plot on the lyrics of the song, which itself is based on the prayer to St Catherine. I loved Dorset so much that I moved to the county several year ago, leaving London behind… Sadly, I couldn't afford anywhere near Abbotsbury and have settled on The Isle of Portland, which is not too far. 
The first draft of The Right Place now stands at 50,000 words but is far from being finished, and unfortunately, it has stayed untouched since August 2021 – I suffered terrible writer’s block during lockdown and have had to prioritise other things since then.
But this year, I will use the even in Abbotsbury to kick-start my writing again and I have given myself the goal of finishing the novel in 2024 and publishing it in 2025. So here is to 2024 and The Right Place! 

For this event, I will have copies of my first two novels, I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth, and I will be promoting my third novel The Right Place, to be published in 2025 on Arcane Publishing. The cover features a specially commissioned painting by Sam Cannon showing the chapel!

I will also bring items specially chosen for the event, with a different stock on each day!
Expect to find vintage and pre-loved books about art, fashion, nature and more, as well as vintage and pre-loved novels, beautiful children’s books and more!
I will post about the event and my stock nearer the time.

I am slowly starting to ease myself into the autumn and picking up the Arcane Publishing business where I left it back in mid-August... Still a lot of work to do which is not Arcane/book-related, but I now can find some time here and there to dedicate myself to a few tasks...

The writing of my third novel The Right Place still hasn't resumed and I don't think it will happen before December, but I have applied to a few exciting events to sell my books and I hope to post about them in the forthcoming weeks... I am particularly excited by one of the them which would be a huge promo coup for The Right Place, but I need to be accepted first so won't say anything more about it! 

I am happy to announce that on Sunday 24th September, I will be helping my partner-in-crime Matt ArtPix on his stall at the fabulous Loulou's Vintage Fair at Paintworks in Bristol (I love that area of Bristol as it's got the wonderful Arnos Vale cemetery too!). The last Loulou's vintage fair in the city was back before Covid hit and it was a roaring success, so we hope that this event will become a regular feature in our events calendar! I will be posting about the stock I'll be taking on the day on the ARCANE INSTAGRAM PAGE so head there for some lovely books! 

More announcements to be made soon, so watch this space! 

I will be away from my websites and social media over the next few weeks and months as I try and raise the funds that will allow me to complete and publish my third novel. 
I am planning on going back to draft 1 of The Right Place in the winter and hopefully publish in 2025. 
The bookselling side of Arcane Publishing (selling preloved, vintage and rare books) is slowing down as well for a few months as we think about how to further develop the venture in these challenging times... 
Watch this space! 

I had a lovely day yesterday at the Shire Hall Summer Market in Dorchester!
It really is a beautiful and interesting venue. 
Thankfully, I will be back there as a punter soon to see their exhibition Smugglers: Beneath the Surface. 
One of the featured Dorset smugglers will be Isaac Gulliver, the real-life “King of the Dorset Smugglers” who is the inspiration behind Algernon Sinclar, the ancestor of Sir Ron Sinclair, owner of the Genius Loci manor house in my third novel, The Right Place.

I hope to pick up the first draft again at some point in the winter. My goal is to make 2024 the year when I finish off draft 1, edit the book and publish it towards the end of the year/early 2025. Never say never... 

This is the cover of my much-neglected work-in-progress, my third novel, The Right Place.
It is Dorset-based and inspired by the song "The Wind" by PJ Harvey about St Catherine's Chapel in Abbotsbury.
I have taken the lyrics of the song and used them to build up the back story of one of my main characters. And of course, the chapel itself plays a central part in the novel.
Back in August 2021, I grinded to a halt at 50,000 words and haven't touched it since, because writing novels sadly doesn't pay the bills.
I started working on this book 10 years ago, and it really should be published by now... And there's a fun fourth novel behind it which is clamouring for attention too!
The cover is a specially commissioned, original artwork by West Dorset-based artist Sam Cannon Art and the cover design is by Matt ArtPix. The font you see here will probably not be the final one as we will need to play with it a bit longer before we get to the final one.
I hope to be able to go back to my first draft this autumn or winter, because I can feel that this time, if I start again, I can complete it.
I have changed the publishing schedule at least 6 or 7 times since its inception, so I will no longer use a pub date in my promotional material! It will remain on "TBC" for the forseeable future.
I will have copies of my first two novels I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth for sale on my stall at Shire Hall Museum 's summer market on Saturday 15th July, though. More on this later! 

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

This quote appears at the top of the “About” page on this very website, and it is not a random one: since as far as I can remember, this is the way I have been living my life. And it was lovely yesterday to see so many young people at the Bristol Alternative Market daring to be different, and so many traders selling their wares. There was some fantastic art, loads of clothes, records, and so, so much more! The Trinity Centre is a truly fantastic venue, a real gem!
Thank you to the people who bought books, especially to the ones who purchased copies of The Book of Thoth! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This book has a special place in my heart!
The next book, The Right Place, inspired by the PJ Harvey song “The Wind”, should be published in early 2025, but I can’t promise anything as the publishing schedule has been changed to many times!
Also, a special shout-out to the young girl who bought the “Black in Fashion” book and who is going to study textiles and make clothes: good luck! I love it when young people are creatively ambitious!
Yesterday reminded me of the 10+years I spent as a music journalist in London writing for alternative culture/music magazines, and of how alternative venues/clubs/events have always been so safe and welcoming to anyone who dared to be different or were different being of no fault of their own. Long may it last!
I don’t do a lot of markets, but I still have one left to do under the Arcane Publishing banner this spring/summer and I will announce it in a separate post. It will be much closer to home this time!