I’m delighted to say that since my last blog on Blood and Bandages, excellent reviews have continued to appear on Amazon Books. All About History has added its voice saying that, ‘Blood and Bandages is easy to read and a unique perspective of WWII,’ while Books Monthly described the book as a ‘Superb account of… Continue reading…
To mark last Friday’s release of Dunkirk the movie, I’m re-publishing a blog I wrote in May 2010 on the RNLI’s role in the rescue. It’s an eye-opener and I hope you enjoy it. Last week, I featured the Royal Escape Race, and on Friday went to Brighton seafront to watch the start. It was surprisingly… Continue reading…
I hope you enjoyed reading the inside story of Blood and Bandages. William and I have now moved onto the book’s marketing phase and last weekend, we had great fun at the Armed Forces Day in Worthing. William and I set up our stall. (courtesy of Brian Woodford) While we were there we… Continue reading…
So there I was, paralysed with writer’s block with a deadline looming. Up until then, I thought you got writer’s block when you ran out of ideas. Not so. It’s when you feel an overwhelming sense of helplessness and a complete loss of confidence. You can only think of one thing, that you were… Continue reading…
So there I was, paralysed with writer’s block with a deadline looming. Up until then, I thought you got writer’s block when you ran out of ideas. Not so. It’s when you feel an overwhelming sense of helplessness and a complete loss of confidence. You can only think of one thing, that you were a… Continue reading…
In place of this week’s final episode of the inside story of writing Blood and Bandages – fighting for life in a RAMC Field Ambulance 1940-1946, there will be a live Facebook feed of tonight’s book launch. To watch tonight’s events, you only need to click on the link above or copy and paste the following… Continue reading…
I couldn’t finish the book. However, Karl French had identified one outstanding chapter. I tweaked that and prepared a pitch, synopsis and a CV. Although I had created something to show, I lacked the confidence and skill to sell the book in person. Luckily, I had my good friend, Sandra Clark, to turn to. Sandra was… Continue reading…
I felt upset and hurt, but it was a blessing in disguise. The book had taken over my life. If I wasn’t researching it, I was thinking about it. If I wasn’t thinking about it, I was writing it. If I wasn’t writing it, I was interviewing William and if I wasn’t doing that, I… Continue reading…
The story had to have a heart. It also had to have a publisher. To achieve that, I needed to demonstrate that the book had 1. a unique selling point, (USP) 2. an engaging style, 3. an audience, 4. and a writer with knowledge of the publishing industry. I knew that the book had a… Continue reading…
I fudged it. I couldn’t give up scriptwriting. I loved it too much but neither could I ignore my new found obligation. Pragmatism was required, so in my naviety I just added, ‘write Bill’s book,’ to my to-do list. I determined to give it 100% effort to match that given by those of whom I… Continue reading…