juliachalkley

In Print

I’ve been working on the Part 2 of getting published – getting ‘Shilling Cove’ out in paperback. Not as easy as I thought. I really didn’t want to put the book up on Amazon, but as someone said to me recently – everyone uses Amazon because it works. Having had a look at the alternativeContinue reading “In Print”

In all the excitement, I forgot…

It was just seven weeks ago, but it feels like a year. On the last weekend of March, we went to the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference 2026. Every welcome bag contains a Goals sheet like the one above for delegates to fill in and remind themselves what they mean to do by the timeContinue reading “In all the excitement, I forgot…”

Finally!

Finally, I can call myself a published author! I started this blog back in November 2020 on the prompting of a fellow writer. She had been on an author branding course and passed on her knowledge to the rest of us. One of her key points was ‘Start a blog’. So I did. At theContinue reading “Finally!”

The usual March amble

Every year I go to the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference in March for the last time, and every year I find a reason to go back. By the time I left the conference last year several people had come up to greet me and I’d stopped others to say hi. The number of peopleContinue reading “The usual March amble”

The world waking up

The photo above is my cack-handed attempt to capture the extraordinary sight I saw on February 18th last year. I was out in the garden on a sunny day and saw red dots on a beech tree. As I got closer, I could hear what sounded like hundreds of bees buzzing around, and actually yes,Continue reading “The world waking up”

The New Year starts here

Maybe a little late to wish a happy new year, but I will anyway. The year still has that hopeful feeling to it, a long time before we start to ask where the year went and what are we eating for Christmas dinner? Aubergine moussaka this year. Even the cat refused turkey scraps by theContinue reading “The New Year starts here”

This One’s for All You Spammers

Yeah, this one’s for all you scammers out there. I’ve had five or six posts over the last few years, but the pace is picking up; I’ve had four in the last two weeks and one of them was a prize winner. Usually I get an email through the contact section of this page thatContinue reading “This One’s for All You Spammers”

Gladstone’s Library

I have just returned from a writing holiday like no other. I’m trying to describe it, and there’s no sentence big enough. You’ll see the photo at the top of the page and understand it’s a library, but… this is Gladstone’s Library. You can start with the fact that it is a library and moveContinue reading “Gladstone’s Library”

It’s That Time of Year

Coming up to Hallowe’en again, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the orange and black brigade have started up their annual whoo-hoo party. I had a manager who always got very upset by the fact that people marked Hallowe’en in any way at all; in his view they were inviting evil into theirContinue reading “It’s That Time of Year”

I’m Baaack

In the final words of the Lord of the Rings trilogy; “Well, I’m back.” We’ve just returned from a holiday that took us back to places we had been to before. Usually, I prefer to go to somewhere new. But the memories associated with this area is so good that I couldn’t stay away. Let’sContinue reading “I’m Baaack”