Welcome!

I've set up this blog so that all my friends, relations and colleagues in the world of writing can keep up to speed with what I'm doing - from now on, I'll never have to say sorry for not keeping in touch.

Or anyway, that's the plan.

So do please link up with me on Facebook and Twitter - https://www.facebook.com/margaret.james.5268 and https://twitter.com/majanovelist

You can find my novels as digital downloads on Apple iTunes, Kobo, Kindle and Nook, and most are available as print paperbacks, too.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Listen up...

Ooh, great excitement - I've just received two advance copies of the audio version of The Silver Locket, which is read by the hugely talented Julie Teal.

Julie has done lots of film (she was in Stephen Poliakoff's Food of Love), television and theatre work, including Waking the Dead and A Touch of Frost. She won a Stella award for her stage portrayal of Paulina in Death and the Maiden.

I'm delighted to have someone so in tune with historical fiction reading my own novel.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Flash, flash, flash!


The big literary news this summer seems to be flash fiction. It's suddenly the thing to be writing, and - what's more - there are lots of competitions out there, inviting us to send in our short, short, short stories and win money!

Exeter-based writer and teacher of creative writing Cathie Hartigan is running a flash fiction competition with prizes. You can find details on her website at www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk, so do enter!

Francine Howarth adds:

At Romantic Friday Writers http://fridaynightwriters.blogspot.com we have themed weekly challenges for romance writers: max 400 word count. Published and unpublished authors participate. It really is a fun thing to do, and members post snippets from published novels or that of WIPs.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Flying high...


... and I mean literally!

Earlier this year, I entered a competition to design a Delft tile for a KLM aeroplane, and - surprise, surprise - I (and about a million other people) won! There's video proof on the link below.

It's quite a pretty plane now. I want to have a ride in it. I wonder if I could get one of my book covers on the side of a rocket or a helicopter or a destroyer or a submarine...
http://www.tileyourself.com/?h=e6a6f0d7-272f-4082-b76a-95d2f9977ba2&l=uk&utm_source=makingoff&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tileyourself

Monday, July 11, 2011

RNA Conference


I've just come back from the RNA Conference, which was great fun. It was lovely to meet up with so many old friends and also to make some new ones. The Caerleon campus was a perfect venue, the food was good, and the drink was cheap. Well, cheapish. Well, not too expensive - when you'd had a few. But I always think two quid for a Coke is a bit steep...

Just so that you all know how glamorous a gaggle of romantic novelists can be, here's a photograph of me and my fellow Choc Lit authors in our best frocks, waiting for the bar to open on Saturday night.

Left to right: Evonne Wareham (she's the new girl - her first novel is out next year), moi, Sue Moorcroft, Christine Stovell, Jane Lovering, Christina Courtenay and Kate Johnson.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Book of the Month - July 2011


My book of the month for July is a collection of comments from various celebrities about pieces of music which mean a lot to them. Compiled and edited by Jackie McGregor, this fascinating collection will raise money for dementia charities, a cause close to Jackie's heart because her parents both suffered from this terrible affliction.

Celebrities who contributed to They Can't Take That Away From Me include Joan Collins, Richard Madeley, Lynda Bellingham, Joanna Lumley - the list goes on and on!

We all know someone who has been affected by dementia, either personally or because they care for a loved one with the disease, so we should all be willing to help raise funds for this worthwhile cause.