A reader asked me: “What are you going to write next?” My response was two of those funny little faces – you know the one that rolls its eyes and the one that clutches its head? Yes, like that. At the time, I couldn’t face another stint of the truly hard work required to get a book into print and out there for people to buy…I hope.

By the way, it’s now also available on amazon.co.uk where there’s a heartening 5-star review. Thank you for that. Readers like to read reviews.

Still, the reader’s question was serious and deserved a serious answer. The next book may be the one I thought of two years ago, but which turned out as The Dark Pool.

I’ve noticed that books have a tendency to take control at some point. They start writing themselves. It happened with Legs when the character Claudia wrote her own dialogue in my head, and took over from the shy girl I’d planned. Claudia was so strong-minded, I just sat back, typed, let her have her way… and eventually I gave her quite a different role in “my” story.

So, back to the point: What had I thought of writing, two years ago? I had the idea of revisiting The HIghland Clearances and started by reading some background books. Then I realised that John Prebble had written the definitive history, and Nigel Tranter had written his historical fiction The Flockmasters.

I didn’t have the brass neck to compete with writers of their caliber; and so I took a different track. . . fiction, with the central character a young woman historian, writing about The Clearances. My book became partly her story. It includes some of her research and references to what happened in the 18th and 19th centuries; and my heroine personally faced the threat of becoming a victim of Highland Clearances – 21st century style.

But while my fictitious heroine was doing her research… well, so was I; and I have notes on scraps of paper. (She had her notes on a disc. She’s much more organised than I’ll ever be.) She (well, I, actually) even gave it a title! Her book Shame on the Nation became a great success in my fiction. Could I now write Shame on the Nation – all of it? I gave it at least 10 chapters when I referred to it in The Dark Pool. Hmm. At least it would be an interesting summer project. What do you think?

Let me know. I’m on Facebook as well as e-mail.