It seems to be September already – I can’t believe it’s six weeks since my last letter, but there you are – it is.

And I have not been idle – well, I have, because I’ve been doing all the things I didn’t have time to do while I was trying to finish number thirteen, like watching TV and doing crosswords and sleeping. (Incidentally – my editor likes number thirteen, so that’s a weight off my mind!) But I’ve also been working. Once a book is finished, I allow myself time to do whatever I like, which is usually working on stuff that might never see the light of day, but which I enjoy doing. And you never know, it might get published one day. But it has nothing to do with crime fiction – that’s what I’m taking a holiday from.

When I began writing, crime fiction couldn’t have been further from my thoughts, and I thought you might like to read the very first story I ever had published. I say published, but in fact it was broadcast by the BBC, and read by an actress called Sian Davies. The Morning Story slot was on what is now Radio 2, and was a daily fifteen-minute short story. The BBC held a competition for young writers, and I won the ‘Romance’ section with ‘Shades of Difference’, but as you’ll see if you read it, it was very far from Barbara Cartland’s idea of romance!

I wrote it when I was about sixteen or seventeen, and I don’t remember if I sent it off anywhere; I suspect it just sat in a drawer somewhere. Then, a few years later, the competition was advertised in the Radio Times, and I dug it out and sent it in. It’s a bit rough round the edges, as you would expect, and it’s very much of its time, so it’s a bit dated now, but see what you think.

I should explain that in the mid-sixties, people couldn’t get married without their parents’ consent until they were twenty-one. And, of course, race issues dominated the news – mostly what was happening in America, but here as well, to some extent, though Britain wasn’t as multi-cultural as it has since become. Certainly the topic was discussed here, though we probably had fewer race-related incidents than we’ve unfortunately had since then. And I set it in Cardiff because I knew that the Tiger Bay area had a large, integrated black community which suited the story; it was important that there should be virtually no cultural differences.

And I’ve been working on other things for the website, which should be put in place quite soon. I had hoped to do them in time for this month, but as I said, the time just seemed to fly past. The expanded book pages are almost finished, so you should have quite a few new things to look at soon. The new-look competition is in place – it’s still the same kind of puzzle, but now the first name out of the hat has a choice of prizes.

I got a big postbag for the July/August competition, which was good – I thought you might have forgotten me during my enforced absence, but you hadn’t. But the puzzle caused more trouble than usual! Once again, I had to ask Pedalo for the answer, since I wasn’t convinced that I was right myself. And as it turned out, I wasn’t right. Like most of you, I thought it was Redemption, or maybe A Shred of Evidence. But it wasn’t. But some of you got it right, and the winners will be notified as soon as possible.

I forgot to mention in my last newsletter that all five winners of the previous competition were in the UK, which was a first! To start with I seemed only to get entries from overseas, so I was pleased that five picked at random were all home players, because that must mean that more people in Britain are visiting the site. But wherever you are, you are more than welcome to enter. I pick them blind anyway, and once I’ve opened them, I often can’t tell from the e-mail address where the entry has come from, so there is absolutely no bias!

I’ve also added some books to Writing Advice: What Books Do I Need? that might be of use to crime writers. And soon – if you can’t already – you’ll be able to click the link to Amazon if you want to buy any of the books I suggest. I’ve removed from the list the ones that seem to be no longer available.

That’s about it – I’ll let you know as soon as I do when Number Thirteen is going to be published, and what it’s going to be called. I hope it keeps the title I’ve given it, but sometimes it has to be changed.

See you in October!

Love,
Jill