BOOKWORMS AND VILLAINS

LOCKDOWN AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM You would think that being forced into various states of lockdown since March 2020 an independent film editor, writer and more recently an author of novels set in an eccentric English bookshop would find plenty of time to write - and I actually had planned to have at least six more novels in my bookworm series published by now - but in fact I am still dipping into writing book 9 - Lockdown at The Secondhand Bookworm- and have several more chapters to complete. It's annoying really because I really would like to have written the numerous titles and stories planned but it's not meant to be. Today however, I have been reading through my manuscript hoping to get in some writing over the Christmas holidays which could take me to the finish line, despite the noise, ups and downs of living in a mad house with very noisy people. I would like to share a big section from the first chapter in Lockdown, setting the scene for the story because it describe...

In The Secondhand Bookworm used and antiquarian bookshop (Castletown) at Christmas, Nora Jolly and her colleagues prepare the shop for the season. Following the pattern of the previous two novels in the series, we spend a week with Nora as she enjoys all the book-related events, festivities and customers as well as things taking place in her personal life. The Duke is finally introduced. He will eventually be Nora's boyfriend, fiancé and finally husband in the series as it develops. My plan is to have James buy a little shop up the hill, the Fudge Pantry beneath Nora's flat, where Nora will specialise in a specific topic of books. Nora and Cara are due to purchase the two bookshops from Georgina soon after book 9 so an additional bookshop run by Nora in a new location up the hill not far from The Secondhand Bookworm will be fun to write and it's about time Nora gets her own shop. Christmas at The Secondhand Bookworm is book 3 in my bookshop series. The novels are an easy re...

November 2021 Fresh from a weekend of recreational designing (last weekend actually) are several NEW covers for my 'The Secondhand Bookworm' series of novels. As a designer (I mostly work on DVD covers for Mary's Dowry Productions) I enjoy refreshing the covers of my novels: The covers I have worked on last weekend are: The Secondhand Bookworm Nora and The Secondhand Bookworm Christmas at The Secondhand Bookworm Summer at The Secondhand Bookworm and Halloween at The Secondhand Bookworm Most of the covers have been updated on Amazon now. I have made the colours brighter and included characters on the front. It embodies the contents better. I started writing the novels back in 2008 for my bookshop colleagues. In about 2014 I continued the series as a hobby. They get better as they go along. While there is romance it is 'friendship romance'. I keep the content clean. The novels look at friendship, work environments and ludicrous customers and scenarios in a bookshop. M...

  AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON KINDLE AND KINDLEUNLIMITED: VALENTINE'S DAY AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM BOOK 8 IN THE ENGLISH BOOKSHOP SERIES I was happy to receive my manuscript yesterday from my proof-reader and set about doing the amendments. I then uploaded the finished book to Kindle and Kindle Unlimited for anyone to enjoy (hopefully). Here's the burb: It’s Valentine’s Week in Castletown, so Nora and her colleagues at The Secondhand Bookworm are getting into the spirit of things, displaying as many romantic books the bay window shelves can hold, by offering free, carefully chosen (!) Love Heart Sweets from a red bowl on the bookshop counter, and by using charming smiles and fluttering eyelashes (much to Humphrey’s amusement and Harry’s delight) to lure eager browsers, buyers and bookworms into the famous three story shop, with its rickety winding staircase, its numerous creaky rooms and its delightful, narrow corridors crammed to the top and bursting at the seams with books upon...

Writing progress in The Secondhand Bookworm Series - Thursday 13th August 2020: NEWS! NEWS! BOOKWORM NEWS! This week I sent the finished manuscript of Book 8 in my series of novels set in an English bookshop to my proof reader Anne! It is called 'Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm' and takes place a few weeks after 'Book Club at The Secondhand Bookworm', following six days with Nora Jolly in The Secondhand Bookworm's used and antiquarian bookstore during Valentine's Week (a new festival put on in the fictional County of Cole). Once the manuscript is ready for release I shall make it available on Amazon to download on Kindle, to read for free with Kindle Unlimited, and to purchase in paperback - I have to say I love the Amazon paperbacks, they do a great job. I have now started writing the next book which is called 'Lockdown at The Secondhand Bookworm' and follows on from Valentine's Day, covering several months of lock-down with Nora Joll...

Book Eight in The Secondhand Bookworm will be available to download and read with Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited or in paperback within the next few weeks - Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm! I am now reading through the first draft of the manuscript which is great fun. I started the series back in 2008 for my work colleagues and reworked and continued it for my sister and I, for friends and colleagues and, having made it available publicly through Amazon, for those who enjoy reading the eccentric, often funny, ins and outs of a used bookshop in an historic town in England. Valentine's Day takes place over six days during Valentine's Week in Castletown, with The Secondhand Bookworm participating in the County of Cole's newly established festival. Lots of things are happening, with market stalls, street performers, displays, romantic talks, walks and of course, Valentine-themed books - tongue-in-cheek of course with lots of madness. I am now ready to move on...

As of July 2020, I'm now having fun writing Book 8 in my series of novels set in an English bookshop and based upon my ten years running a used and antiquarian book shop - Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm, which sees Nora Jolly, her friends, family, co-workers, regular customers and new faces spending Valentine's Week in Castletown. There are lots of themes in this story, including the many festivities that occur about the historic town during the week. Most especially, a blast from the past returns to Nora's life in the form of Braxton Parker-Hodge who now runs The Otter Shop down Market Street and is still obsessed with Nora. Nora's brother Milton comes to the forefront as he spends the week outside The Secondhand Bookworm in his cupid costume selling tickets to The Jolly Theatre in Little Cove. And, although the Duke of Cole spends most of the week in Myanmar, he's back on Thursday in time to whisk Nora up to the castle for the spectacular Valentine...