Some exciting news for 2024!

I'm starting the new year with a brand new website! 

Go to: https://www.joanne-morley-hill.com for all my latest news, blog posts and more.

Hope to see you there soon!

Famous last words?

How many times have you heard someone say, “I wish I could write a book” or “I’m sure there’s a book in me”? 

One of the things my mother said when she was dying of cancer was, “I never did write that book, did I?” It was something she’d often talked about. She had wanted to put down in black and white all the remarkable events she’d lived through. But she never did, and by then it was too late. 

So why is it so hard to write a book? What stops people doing it? Well, to be blunt about it, it’s bloody hard work. It takes effort - a lot of effort. You need to put your bum on that chair and work. And keep working until you’ve got at least 50,000 words that make some sort of sense. And then you have to keep rereading and rewriting until you’re happy with it. It’s no exaggeration to say it took me about three decades to finish my novel The Glens of Carnegie, from the first moment I put pen to paper to when I finally clicked Publish. 

So after all that effort, why did I decide to go down the self-publishing route and not submit the manuscript to a ‘proper’ publisher? Well, mainly because I consider the themes in the book synonymous with the time in which it’s set (mid 80s to mid 90s), and therefore perhaps not appropriate or palatable for today’s readers. And apart from that, I was tired of looking at it and wanted it out of the way. If it hadn’t been accepted and it had remained languishing untouched in a folder, it may never have seen the light of day. And I might have been one of those people who, in their final moments, say, “I never did get round to writing that book, did I?”

Extract from my novel The Glens of Carnegie

‘You don’t say much, do you?’ said Tab, lighting a cigarette and taking a puff.
‘Is that bad?’ said Jess.
‘No, not at all. In fact, it’s what I like about you. You’re a good listener. Hey, sorry. Do you want one?’

Jess declined.

The Glens of Carnegie is available now on Amazon.

What's new, Sassenach?

If you're stuck for something to watch of an evening, why not try Outlander?

Without giving too much away, a young woman finds herself in Scotland at the time of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. The series follows her adventures. But this isn't your typical historical drama. With a strong cast and equally strong Scottish accents, this show will leave you breathless. After every episode, I can't wait to find out what happens next.

The Scottish landscape is also breathtaking. Perhaps I'm biased because I live close to where the series was filmed. (I recognised a former college pal of mine amongst the throng of extras!)

Be prepared for smatterings of Gaelic and French without subtitles, and some scenes of sex and violence which, I hasten to add, are in no way gratuitous. There's nothing in there that isn't relevant to the story.

It's a slow-burner - I wasn't hooked until at least episode three - but stick with it and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Work in progress

In my spare time (I have a day job), I find myself snatching moments here and there to do little bits of work on my writing projects. That’s in between catching up on social media, putting washing in the machine or taking the dogs for a walk. As you can imagine, progress on my novel is very slow - a pencil mark here, a sticky note there (I’m on my third or fourth round of edits. Sigh!). Sometimes I might even do some work on my next children’s book. But most of my spare time is spent in deep contemplation about life, the universe and everything, and wishing I could get those darned things finished! 

Nonnie - The Quiet Little Mouse

I'm not very good at keeping my blog up to date, there's so little time! However, I thought I'd take a minute to throw in this link to my book Nonnie - The Quiet Little Mouse. It's available for Kindle and in paperback. I hope you enjoy it!

Keep a look out for my next book, The Glens of Carnegie, a thriller set in Scotland and Spain. Announcement coming soon!

What now, Darling?

The Darling River in Australia has all but dried up, according to a BBC report. This is due to industrial-scale cotton farming. Fish are dying in vast numbers and other types of wildlife are dying out. The people who depend on the river for their livelihood are struggling to survive. The problem is being made worse by severe drought, while other parts of the country are getting floods. Global climate change is most certainly playing a part.

It is distressing to see the dried-up river bed of the Darling, and the plight of the people who live on its banks. We are heading for a global catastrophe if industries don't reduce the damage they are causing by industrial-scale farming and other kinds of mass production.