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Early last month, Brey and I went on a personal writing retreat to a lovely spot on the Norfolk Coast called Bacton. We rented a cute little wooden house with a spectacular view of the ocean, which was only a few steps away. I got to exercise outside every day, and I wrote nearly 20,000 words on my alter-ego's fake-romance book, The Sister Act.

Now, I can forgive a lot for a view like this: the tiny bedrooms, the creaky bed, the windows that wouldn't open, the front door that sometimes didn't let you unlock it to name just a few.

But then the owner asked me directly (via email) for feedback...

The thing is, if you want genuine feedback, ask away. But if, really, what you're looking for is someone to wax lyrical about your fabulous place and gloss over the obvious cracks, then maybe just ask your mom for her opinion. Don't ask someone like me, who values honesty and directness above many other qualities.

Now, I gave my feedback in a very friendly way. I can't imagine renting my place to total strangers; people just don't seem to take the same amount of care in a rental place as they do at home. So I empathised with her struggle to maintain the place too, and I reinforced that I'd like to make future bookings.

Her response? "Thank you for your observations, some of which I accept. However, obviously this accommodation is not for you in the future."

Ho hum. I guess she simply wanted her ego stroked, which brings me nicely to the point of this little anecdote: reviews.

As authors, we put our word-babies into the world, and we hope they don't crawl but run into the open arms and minds of global readers. And we give copies to readers for free in the hope that their reviews will be positive and drive sales. So we ask for feedback.

Which is why we can't throw the word-baby out of the pram when some of that feedback is less than positive. Okay, so there's really no need for the reviewers trying to audition for Anne Robinson's job (is that her name? The mean woman who used to have a variety of TV shows). Anyway, the point is, we put ourselves out there, and everyone is truly entitled to their opinion, even if we don't like it or agree with it. Reviews are part of the process, part of the joy and the heart-crushing sadness of being an author. You can't let them get to you, and you definitely shouldn't let them stop you writing.

Learn from them if you can. Ignore them if you want. But we certainly shouldn't reply with "Thank you for your observations, some of which I accept. However, obviously my writing is not for you in the future." 🤣🤣

And to all you lovely readers out there who take the time to write reviews and leave stars, no matter their content, thank you. Time is a precious commodity, and if you're using it to give us feedback, we very much appreciate it!

Anyhoo, you can still grab a sneak peek of Escape in Time by clicking on the button below to head over to BookFunnel. I'm deep into edits on Change in Time and should have that and Death in Time finished by the end of May for an early double release. So if you've been waiting to grab the whole trilogy, stand by!

​Pre-order here right now. 🙂

We're still trying to maintain our excitement for this. Brey is a US citizen with a Mexican surname, so she's actually terrified to go back into her own country after hearing about people being "disappeared" left and right. If you're in the US right now, we feel for you. Is it as bad as what we're hearing? Are US citizens with Mexican heritage being deported on their way to teach at their college? Because that's what we're hearing, and it's scaring the crap out of us and making us seriously think about our upcoming trip and whether it's worth the risk. We've got friends in Cali telling us to cancel, and Brey's mom in Texas telling us we've got to come...

And if we don't travel, does that mean we're letting them win? We'd love your input from the other side of the Atlantic.

GCLS 2025 Countdown!

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Ciao for now, lovely peeps, and remember, le bonheur c'est maintenant!