Hello!

Happy Daffodil Days!

Book News . . .

I’m excited to report that there’s now a publication date for my YA novel, Nourish! It will be out in July 2026, published by the very lovely Habitat Press (who brought out my last book, Dirt). Soon I’ll have a cover design to reveal, watch this space…

If you’re a keen reader and you’d like to support my work, please consider joining my Advance Reader Team! I’ll send you a free eBook to read ahead of publication and invite you to help me reach new readers by writing a review or sharing posts on social media. If you like the idea of free books and sneak previews, hit reply and let me know.

Reading recommendation

One of my favourite writers for readers of all ages is the legendary Ursula K Le Guin. She wrote novels, poetry and short stories for both adults and children.

Her adult novel, The Dispossessed, is a hugely influential, thought-provoking and important piece of fiction. For writers, her book Steering the Craft is an indispensable manual full of inspiring exercises, including a brilliantly clear explanation of ‘the five narrative points of view’!

For kids wanting to try her writing, I’d heartily recommend the weird and fantastic story, A Wizard of Earthsea, which is the start of a series of six books:

Ged was the greatest wizard in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

A Wizard of Earthsea was first published 1971, it’s an absolute classic, and is now also available as a graphic novel by Fred Fordham.

Lazy green wins #20

March is the month of the Big Plastic Count!

From 9-15th March, thousands of people will be counting every piece of plastic packaging they throw away. We’ve done this in my household before and it’s always a bit of a shocker – but the goal isn’t to shame us, the purchasers, it’s to promote change at governmental and industrial levels. Large-scale data-gathering is a really important part of identifying the scale of the problem – and it’s a great activity to do with kids!

Perhaps this isn’t the laziest win, I’ll admit, but it isn’t exactly hard work! If you already rinse and recycle, it’s barely any more effort to do a tally chart as you go along – or chuck all your plastic in a big bag and count it up at the end of the week. Sign up here!

Will join in with the Big Plastic Count? Let me know if you get involved, I’d love to know how you get on…

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Until next time, Happy reading! Laura