What’s in a name?

To those of you who on occasions scan my musings I hope over the past six months, I’ve managed to keep you royally entertained. Long may it continue – I hear you shout. Nevertheless, the be-all and end all of a author’s life is to sell books and despite the brilliant reviews for 'The Year …

MarySmith’sPlace ~ Whatever’s next means more waiting! Cancer update#39

Mary Smith's Place

Monday, 16 August: Just a quick update to let everyone know how my meeting with the oncologist went today.

A biopsy of the lump in my neck, formed by three small lymph nodes, had shown metastatic adenocarcinoma; the CT scan was to find out where else the cancer may have spread.

The good news is that it seems not to have spread anywhere else and is, so far, confined to those lymph nodes.

Chemotherapy isn’t really an option. I can probably explain why not after I listen again to the recording of our meeting but as the recording is over an hour I’ll have to search for relevant bits to pass on. The oncologist does seem to think, however, that a four week course of targeted aggressive radiotherapy could be a useful treatment, even if not curable.

I need to replay our discussion, in particular listen to the probably…

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Be Bold and Break the Mould

Is the watchword for the fabulous Ursula Williams so for anyone sufffering from the doldrums do listen as she chats to four guests about their technicolour past. In this episode I welcome four of my absolute favourite guest to a chat about their adventures and plans for the future. Come and listen to Barbara Spencer sharing …

My guest today is Catherine Kullmann

A few facts about Catherine A romantic novelist who writes historical fiction, Catherine was born and brought up in Dublin. After a courtship conducted mostly by letter, Catherine moved to Germany to be with her new husband who was German, and her children were brought up there. Prior to her move to Germany she had …

Ancient mossy wall in the forest, Somerset, England

Flourish Trip

Ancient mossy wall in the forest, Somerset, England

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My Guest Today is Author Stephanie Churchill

(first published in Two Sides to Every Story 2019) A few factsStephanie Churchill grew  up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and earned a degree in political science and history at a private college in the wilds of Iowa’s cornfields.  After graduating, she worked at a small boutique law firm in Washington, D.C. in the fields of international …

My guest today is Seumas Gallacher

(First published in Two Sides to Every Story Blogspot December 2019) Today my guest is Seumas Gallagher who I met up with first in St Pancras Station, almost under the statue of John Betjamin, which, if you have read any of Seumas' poetry, is appropriate.A Journey to myself – writing my autobiography   For authors, the …

Digging for nuggets of gold!

I can't be the only person who gets stuck for words now and then or in my case every moment of the day - especially WordPress Wednesday. The plain fact is that I am no longer creative. Having exhausted 50 years of experiences stored in my head, the 'hide-away-in-your-house regime, adopted by the oldies of …

In Pursuit of Fame?

Why does an otherwise normal person decide to commit their life to writing a book? The answer to that question would form a vast mound of paper because we all have different reasons for setting pen to paper. This week BBC 4 showed the first of several programmes about Ernest Hemingway, one of the heavyweights …

Launch: Barbara Spencer’s Carinatae series

INTERVIEW BY M.N. STROH Award-winning author, Barbara Spencer, originally considered herself destined for a life of mediocrity. Instead her venture to the West Indies in 1967 became the precursor to a colourful career spanning three continents, where she found herself caught up in riots, wars, and choosing Miss World. Now, a prolific writer of many genres, including …