A bit of an old wall that gives me joy every year.

The Diggers, religious and political dissidents led by Wigan-born Gerrard Winstanley, on this day 1649 took over common land at St George’s Hill in Surrey to grow and distribute food, but landowners sent armed men to attack them. Eventually the colony was abandoned.

Things only got worse when I got to the archives. Some interloper had taken my preferred locker. The wotld is going to wrack and ruin.

It is quite scary when you are in the reference room of the library and the microfilm reader is so old and noisy, you gradually become aware that the one other person in there wants to kill you.

I have been an adult for quite a long time and yet ... out walking the dog (black lab) in the woods this morning, I met a neighbour walking hers (white golden). I felt sorry for her with how dirty her dog was. Home and towel-drying mine was like the fight scene in the pig yard in Peaky Blinders.

One of my books. All royalties go towards helping women and girls in Afghanistan

Am listening to a v. enjoyable audio book, have just been told how much a character enjoys cycling to work 'with the wind in his face' and I suspect a lack of research on this one.

Surely Mr Benn should be one of the un-touchables, protected by Act of Parliament, never to be messed with.

THIS should be the LEAD story on every news outlet. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Any ideas what accent I should try to put on, in my attempt to get the voice search function of my TV to see if there are any episodes of 'Bergerac' available? It is having absolutely nothing to do with mine.

How to reduce the costs of and reliance on oil… …but also how to make a city safer, more peaceful, more liveable and successful.

3/3 Once more the baker, the lack of connection. But now with a pair of hooded monks silently entering a church in the background. Vrel's streets are never comfortable. Today is his day.

The new Arnold Clover coming in May. More details shortly. All I say for now is this is the first book I've written in which a dachshund isn't just a key witness but the one who unlocks the key to the whole thing.

Is there any chance at all that the BBC, being a news service, could stop opening items with "Trump says ..."? They'd be as well reporting on the utterances of Tinky Winky.

Border Collie Fist day back at the Work They Love and Live For 😍

Another in my series of libraries This one in Ireland in honour of St Patrick's Day: Marsh's Library in Dublin #SomethingBeautiful #LoveLibraries #EveryLibraryMatters #Libraries #Library #LibrarySky #libsky #StPatricksDay

Poorin o rain. Glad the dog's not my problem this morning.

Have just finished watching One Battle After Another and I continue to be bemused by the American film industry. Guns and car chases and Leonardo di Caprio running about in a tartan dressing gown. For 2 1/2 hours.

Sitting alone in my study, writing, I am suddenly aware that I frequently wave my arms about, and pitch back and forth in my chair before launching myself, muttering madly and punching the laptop keys, into another paragraph. I am astonished that anyone writes anything in cafés, in public.

Gaze in awe upon my daughter's Iron Age roundhouse.

What I have learned today that surprises me: once bottled, whisky ceases to age and its character remains unchanged.

Should I take in the washing when I get home?

'Read Scotland' bag from The Highland Bookshop in Fort William. So many of my favourite writers on here (I would add Andrew Greig and Iain Crichton Smith and some others). You could not pay me enough money to get this bag off me.

Just a note to anyone who's coming to see me and Anna Caig at the Highland Bookshop in Fort William tonight, I have just found out that the event starts at *7 p.m.*, not, as I had understood and as advertised on my schedule of events, at 6. Apologies for any inconvenience. 🙄

Drumochter Pass. Highest point on the British rail network. Nearly got it.

Gap site on Edinburgh's Princes Street: tell me your stories.

In Northumberland, waiting for Pieter de Hooch to appear with his paintbrush.

Capital of my country. Still takes my breath away.

Setting out on 3 days travel, determined to eat healthily & travel light, I packed only 1 novel. A lengthy connection at Inverness sent me to Waterstones 'for a birthday card'. I emerged with an 800 page pbk rammed into my bag, then had coffee & large iced bun in station. It was not yet 1/2 past 9.

It's competition time! 📚 We're giving away an entire set of the 2025 #WolfsonHistoryPrize shortlist. For a chance to win, you must: 1) Follow us on Bluesky 2) Like and reshare this post on Bluesky Entries close 13/03/2026 10AM GMT. UK only.

Have you been left itching for more after our Further From Festival? Bit of a history buff? Tomorrow afternoon @shonamaclean.bsky.social will be here in Linlithgow to discuss her new historical novel The Cromarty Library Circle! Tickets are still available in the shop & here tinyurl.com/ShonaMaclean

And today I discover I accidentally re-gifted that fancy honey I was looking forward to having on my toast this morning. Alas.

Even though the Further From Festival is over, we're not slowing down! On Wednesday, at 2pm, we'll be joined by the wonderful @shonamaclean.bsky.social for an afternoon discussing her new book The Cromarty Library Circle! Tickets are still available in the shop or at tinyurl.com/FFTMCSGMaclean

For a more cheerful post than the one about scammers, this was me yesterday, matching my coffee mug to The Sunday Times books section.

On the advice of my agent: a notice to other writers warning them not to be taken in by scammers contacting them, claiming to be me, offering to advise on or collaborate with their work. I never do this. It's not me. I feel so angry about those who'd cheat others who work hard and have a dream.

Note to visitors to Scotland: if conversation ever lulls, utter the words, 'Perth Railway Station', and sit back. I've been promoting my new book this week & posting on Insta. Most engagement by far is for a pic of 1/2 my face, a blurry clock, & remark on the inevitability of Perth Railway station.

Hilton of Cadboll - replica Pictish stone by an ancient chapel site that was used for the burial of unbaptised infants and suicide victims upto the 18th century. This is a fascinating stone for its central depiction of a woman. Original in National Museum #Scotland #medievalsky #archaeology

Just a reminder, as the issue has come up again today - I never email or "reach out" to authors I don't know personally to ask about their work or offer to assist them, for money or otherwise. It's a pity these scammers don't put their creative energy into doing something positive.

St Andrews. Where I had a great evening at Toppings bookshop last night, but utterly failed to get any photos, so here is a not great photo of the beautiful formerJ Innes booksellers instead.

Huge congratulations to @shonamaclean.bsky.social on the publication of "The Cromarty Library Circle". Impeccably researched and beautifully written, intriguing and absorbing. The moments of heartbreak come quietly, shaped by the times and by human weakness.

On the train from Dundee into Fife, and a chap along the carriage is regaling his partner with tales of the Tay Bridge Disaster ...

A happy accident. I was set on unwinding with an Ardbeg after a long day's travelling and talking. My hotel had run out though, so I picked one of their local malts instead. Aberfeldy. Perfection in a glass.

Scenes from my booklaunch tonight at Cromarty Courthouse Museum: what the public saw, and what I had lying a few feet to my right, which they didn't see.

Just a week to go until @shonamaclean.bsky.social joins us here in Linlithgow to discuss her brilliant book The Cromarty Library Circle! It's a historical novel telling the unforgettable story of how one tumultuous year changed everything in a small Scottish town. Tickets: tinyurl.com/FFTMCSGMaclean

The bookmarks, with'library card' on the reverse, that my publisher has made for my new novel. Please offer your suggestions for filling up the card with a character from one of your own favourite historical novels. I'm starting with Claire Clairmont from 'Clairmont' by @lesleymcdowell.bsky.social

I’ve been running a feature called Bookshelves of Scotland on Instagram. Writers of Scotland have shared their bookshelves. This week my guest was Natalie Jayne Clark, the author of The Malt Whisky Murders. #writersofscotland #bookshelves #bookshelfie #scottishwriters

A proof of my new book, which launches tomorrow night, followed by a 1930s hardback edition of the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, just fell on my head. Not the signs I was looking for, tbh.

Being able to reach essential local services should not be a luxury. By setting up a Pavement Fund, we can maintain and improve access to our public places 🐾 Read our full manifesto: walkwheelcycletrust.org/holyrood26 #Holyrood26

Out and about with the new book in February and March.

Husband has just about lost his voice lecturing me about my use of olive oil instead of WD40 to fix my bike lock. Will not accept the logic of the olive oil being in the same room as I was when I remembered I needed to fix the bike lock.