If there was an Olympic Gold Medal for talking my Mum would win it hands down, perhaps I'd get the Silver though

There are many things in this life I love and two of them are writing and talking, the latter my husband says I have inherited from my mother.  She loves to talk and will talk to anyone about anything. At ninety she is still totally independent, and still chatting to the man at the bus stop, the woman on the bus, the young couple in the cafe, the girl behind the counter, the cleaner in the shopping mall and anyone else she comes across on her travels. It doesn't matter who they are or what they do, Mum will talk to them.  If there was an Olympic Gold Medal for talking she'd win it hands down every time.  Whether she listens to their answers is, of course, another matter.

I have inherited her desire to communicate with many different people, which is of great benefit to a writer, and especially a crime writer, because curiosity about other human beings is an essential requirement for the job. Sometimes this can be stifled because one of the other requirements is to sit down at a computer terminal and write for long periods of time, which is a lonely business. To balance this I like to go for long walks, pop into cafes, and travel on public transport where I can  always engage someone in conversation and learn a little more about their world.

I also love to give talks to all sorts of groups of people: retirement associations, clubs, U3A groups, reading clubs, libraries, whatever and wherever.  I am passionate about what I do - write crime novels - and I am passionate about my heroes: DI Andy Horton in my marine mystery crime novels; Adam Green in In Cold Daylight and Alex Albury in In For The Kill.  I believe that passion shines through when I am talking to groups about my novels, my life as a crime writer and how I write.

My next formal speaking engagement at present isn't until November but I'm hoping to slot one in in September at Waterstone's on the Isle of Wight, and there will probably be a couple of radio interviews in between.

It is also time to organize the diary for 2012, when I will have a new DI Andy Horton published, number seven in the series.  I'm looking forward to getting out there and talking and meeting lots of different and interesting people. Here's hoping my Mum continues to do the same, God bless her.

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