’m not saying that I have a secret recipe or a silver bullet. If that were truly the case, then I mayn’t be sharing it in the spirit of competition.

It’s been my endeavour to ensure variety in my protagonists, not that the task is easy. Billionaires tend to come in very few shapes and sizes, not literally of course.

I’ve often been asked by friends, family and fan following: Who do you picture when you describe the heroes in your books? Or another frequent favourite: Who do you consider the sexiest man alive? Which in turn prompted me to open a link sent by the Creative Director of DHP with a list of the men voted The Sexiest Man Alive.

One of my fondest beliefs, persevering through my years as a teacher, unshaken by my experiences at work (more of that later), and undeterred by inexplicable events like buffoons willing elections (I won’t say to whom I’m referring), is that everyone, and I do mean every single soul on our soil has talent.

Memories. Inescapable in many ways, the most fortunate of us have a healthy mix of both good and bad events from our past that rear their heads to savage or sweeten our days. The happier ones – I like to invoke them when I’m feeling low, either in confidence or emotion.

Air travel. Who would’ve thought that anyone could miss it? Truth be told, when I was a child, I used to love flying. The air of excitement, packing for a trip, even the wait at the airport and the sweet smell of the cabin, are all very pleasant memories.

Are there things that I want to share, bursting to impart knowledge, wisdom or facts that may be of interest to my fans and general reading public? That last bit stopped me, literally, in my tracks. What on earth will you darlings want to know about me?

Before I launch into my first foray into writing tips, let me start with a simple set of statistics, one personal, mostly professional. Unless you’re an established author, and sometimes even if you are, sixty percent of readership engagement begins with the cover.

I’m not sure how many of you read my last blog – Catharsis, but for those of you who didn’t, it was a touch serious, referencing uglier memories from faux pas to more serious transgressions. While these inspired events in my books, I thought I might go the other way and speak about the lighter side of life.

I suspect that most readers tend to visualise the main characters, and often the side characters as well, while reading a book. The book cover is a helpful guide – sometimes. In the older days, when covers tended to be sketches rather than images of real people, it was harder, I suppose. But the thought occurred to me while I was watching a romcom – The Ugly Truth starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, what do readers do when they read my books.

What place does honesty have in a relationship. By the same token, how important is communication during the beginning of one?

I have theories. I have experiences. And then there is reality or rather, people’s perception of reality. Let me start with the theory and we can go from there.

Let me get this one controversy out of the way and we can get a move on. It’s not that I’m afraid of dragging on an argument, but the topic’s a bit like marmite – you either buy into it or you don’t.

I love clichés – within limits, of course. The recent announcement that a vaccine is around the corner that will possibly put an end to the COVID crisis reminded me of two – it’s darkest before dawn, and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.