Last time I blogged I was about to head to the River Mill Retreat for a few days to work on my new book. It was bliss – as always. Paul Maddern is a great host and I can’t wait to go back. Until I do, it will be a busy bookish time…

Tomorrow I will be meeting a book group at the Giants Causeway, which is chaired by Claire Savage (author of children’s books Magical Masquerade and Phantom Phantasia), to discuss The Bones of It. I’m very much looking forward to it. A real highlight of writing is when the world in your head becomes a world that other people can enter too.

At the moment I am delivering poetry workshops in schools for Community Arts Partnership. It is always a lot of fun and has inspired me to set aside the novel and finish my own poetry collection, which is highly personal to me in a way my fiction is not usually. I hope one day soon to be able to share it with you.

On Saturday 5 October, I will be delivering a workshop for adults in Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Bellaghy. It is on the theme of Truth, in keeping with this year’s National Poetry Day theme, (NPD is on Thursday 3 October).

Also, that week – Wednesday 2 October – I am delighted to be chatting about Female Crime in an event for Aspects Festival, Bangor, alongside Catriona King and Sharon Dempsey.

Then Sharon and I will be flying over to Boston to take part in Boston Book Festival on Saturday 19 October in an Emerald Noir event. I’ll be looking for lots of inspo for the next project while I’m there.

I can’t wait! I will be reading from Bank Holiday Hurricane, my collection of short stories.

Hopefully this will all keep my mind busy so I’m not thinking too much about The Sleeping Season. We’ll be working on the cover soon…

I’ll do a cover reveal.

Stay tuned for that!