This is a post of two halves, with a little extra bit in the middle - you can skip to the heading 'Big Announcement' if you like. As I began to think about planning for 2026, I realised that this was also a good time to reflect on 2025, and also that January itself is …
Inching Gradually Forwards
(I have a feeling I've used this post title before - inching gradually is often the only way I can make any kind of progress!) Although I knew I would probably not be able to do a lot of writing during my scheduled hospital stay, I didn't realise there would be absolutely none, and very …
The Horse with Two Names
Here's a quick update on my writing progress. First of all, having reached the end of the first draft of 'Heiress in Exile' I am now gradually working through some edits, which this time seem largely to consist of changing people's names (and the names of houses in one or two cases) which I had …
Almost there – choose a cover!
As mentioned already elsewhere, I feel as if I might be reaching the end of my current novel, Heiress in Exile (Misplaced Heiresses 3) which is set in the spring of 1821, in Cornwall. I'm now hoping to be able to get most of the editing done while cat-sitting next week. I've been considering the …
End of Year Report – Writing Version
It's the last day of 2024 as I write this. A lot has happened in my life this past year, and I have covered some of the other stuff in a post on my McCallum Ogilvy blog. But basically, although I've had to cut down on some other activities, I seem to have managed to …
A Sort of Retrospective
Because I'm in the middle of writing 'Pitkirtly XXVIII' [still no title but I'm hoping one will spring out and ambush me when I least expect it] I am keen to find any excuse for procrastination, and this is why I found myself thinking about which books I've most enjoyed writing. This often becomes clear …
Announcing THE GREAT CALAMITY
I’m happy* to announce that my latest novel ‘The Great Calamity’ is now available in ebook format from the places listed below, and that a paperback version is working its way through the Amazon publishing labyrinth and should be available before too long. This book is a bit different from my others but during the …
June catch-up – what’s happened to summer?
First the good news - having seen someone questioning on Twitter whether self-published writers really only sell 250 books on average, which sparked a discussion about whether this meant 250 altogether or per published book, I decided to check my Amazon author reports page to see how many I had sold overall. I was slightly …
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The Search for a Title
Happy Easter! As we progress towards April, I bring the news that I've reached 49,100 words in the novel known until now as Pitkirtly XXVII. It has been harder than usual to think of a title for this one, partly because my initial idea for the storyline was based around roadworks, which turned out not …
February – more daylight and return to Pitkirtly
As we settle into what is in Edinburgh a cold, wet February, I've started writing something new. I hope regular readers will be pleased to hear it's the 27th of the Pitkirtly Mysteries and is provisionally called The Way to Dusty Death. (But I hope a different title emerges as I go along - I'm …
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Cecilia Peartree - woman of mystery 