I am delighted to welcome my friend and pony book expert Jane Badger to my blog today. In this guest post Jane, author of the pony book bible Heroines on Horseback: The Pony Book in Children's Fiction, describes how, after decades' collecting old pony books, she has begun re-publishing some as ebooks. The first one she has chosen to release in her new venture is Dream of Fair Horses by Patricia Leitch. I remember reading this when I was about twelve - the age of the protagonist Gillian Caridia at the beginning of the book. I remember absolutely loving Gillian's story at the time. But sadly my battered copy was lost over the years, and so I had never re-read it. Until now. I began the ebook l

Hello! A common question authors are asked is where they find inspiration for their books. The answer is, in my experience, everywhere and nowhere. Everyday life offers rich pickings, and sometimes an idea for a plot can come from an item I’ve seen on the evening news, a snippet I’ve heard on the radio, a story I’ve read in the paper – or even an interesting-looking person sitting at the table next to me in my favourite café. Sometimes ideas come to me while I’m driving to work or out riding. Occasionally I’ll have a flash of inspiration while I’m gardening, or even cleaning my teeth! But last autumn, when I set about writing the eighth Riverdale book, I suddenly realised I was al

Hello! To celebrate next week’s launch of the eighth Riverdale book, The Mystery of Riverdale Tor, I am holding a giveaway! I am offering one lucky reader in the UK a chance to win a signed paperback copy of the first three Riverdale Pony Stories in one beautiful box set. That’s The Lost Pony of Riverdale, Against all Hope and Into the Storm. Hours of reading pleasure! And I will throw in some of my beautiful new bookmarks designed by the talented Mr Wills, too! All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to head over to my Facebook page, like the page and comment on the competition post, which you'll find pinned to the top of my feed. For readers outside the UK there

Hello! Preparing for a book launch is always a hectic time, and because I want to make the launch of The Mystery of Riverdale Tor my best launch ever, I have a lot of fun stuff planned. As you know, the book is already available to pre-order here, and will be released on Wednesday 20 March. In the meantime, I am busy sending out review copies, planning promotions and organising a giveaway to celebrate the book’s publication. One new thing I am trying for the first time is a blog tour. These are digital versions of the traditional book tour, where an author visits bookshops telling people about their new release. In a blog tour, authors reach new readers by visiting different blog

***The Mystery of Riverdale Tor available to pre-order now!!*** Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Hello! Well, I wrote the first words on Friday 24 November 2018, and today, almost four months later, the eighth book in the Riverdale Pony Stories, The Mystery of Riverdale Tor, is available for pre-order on Amazon! It has been a much quicker process than its predecessor, The Hunt for the Golden Horse, which was 13 long months in the making, on and off. So the writing of this one has been positively rocket-fuelled!! I am so pleased with the results, too, and I can't wait to share Poppy and Cloud's latest adventure with you all. Here’s the blurb to whet your appetite... I am planning lots to

Hello! Today is World Book Day and to celebrate here's an EXCLUSIVE extract from the new Riverdale book, The Mystery of Riverdale Tor. So forget all your chores for a while, find a comfy spot, and dive right in! Charlie picked up the paperback copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles, smoothed the dog-eared cover and looked sidelong at Poppy. ‘You know what Thursday is?’ ‘The day after Wednesday and the day before Friday?’ Charlie tutted loudly. ‘It’s World Book Day, that’s what it is. And you know what happens at school on World Book Day?’ Poppy’s face cleared as she guessed what he was up to. ‘You dress as characters from your favourite books?’ ‘Exactly! So I was thinking I might go as Sh

Hello! I have some very exciting news to share today - I can finally reveal the title and cover of the new Riverdale book! And here it is...The Mystery of Riverdale Tor. Once again the cover has been designed by my super-talented husband Adrian. I spent an enjoyable few hours scrolling through hundreds of photos of grey horses to find the perfect picture, finally settling on this one. I felt it summed up Cloud’s free spirit and beauty perfectly. What d’you think? Last time I posted I said I was hoping for a February release. I’m afraid to report that it’s taken a little longer than I planned. Unfortunately, life has a habit of getting in the way of my writing! The book is currently with m