My book is a bestseller*

* in Crouch End. Hey, it may not be the New York Times bestseller list, but it made me proud when I walked past my local bookshop, Prospero’s Books, and saw my book at #4 on the Bestsellers Chart. I…

Radio interview

I was interviewed by Jo Thoenes on BBC Oxford yesterday. I had done radio and TV a few times when I was at the Wall Street Journal, but it was different talking about myself. I was a lot more nervous…

Sheer egoism

Yes, I went around bookshops looking for my book on the shelves. And I started taking photos of it... OK, so it's not very cool. It's not something I could picture Salman Rushdie or Iam McEwan doing. But I enjoyed…

Launch!

I realised I haven’t written anything here for a week. The official reason is that I was busy – the unofficial reason is that I was in a constant state of nervous anxiety and couldn’t concentrate on anything for more…

Books arrived!

When I first decided to quit my sensible career job and focus on writing, I suppose this is the day I had in mind. At the end of all the early mornings and late nights and rejection letters and self-doubt…

Article in The Bookseller

There was a nice piece about my novel On the Holloway Road in The Bookseller recently. It’s the main business magazine for the book industry in the UK, so hope it will get some people’s attention. There’s a scan of…

Night Bus published

My short story Night Bus was recently published in issue 13 of Smoke: A London Peculiar. Among all the young, drunk people on the top deck of the night bus, one quiet, middle-aged man stands out as different, and starts…

House style

The editing is finished. The book is at the printers. An enthusiastic blurb appeared on the Legend Press website, so presumably they’re happy with it too (or perhaps they’re just happy it’s at the printers). I am relieved and scared.…

Proofing

Have been immersed in reading the proof copy of my novel for the last few days. I hate this part. Not reading my novel – it’s not that bad! No, what I hate is proof-reading, editing word by word, line…