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I get wonderful emails from readers, but this charming account especially moved me.

Dear Ms Gulland

Some people have said that I should not make the following admission but I
have, on a number of occasions, fallen foul of female acquaintances when I
have occasionally admitted that, as a male baby boomer privately educated in
the UK, I tend to overlook books by female authors. I can only be truthful,
and have always put it down to education and "conditioning" by the boys'
school I attended, along with its male-dominated reading lists.

On Friday last I found myself in the Sydney City Library and decided, on the
spur of the moment, to borrow the first book by a female author that my eye
landed on. It was "The Many Lives...." and I have not been able to put it
down over the weekend. It has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable
"penances" I have ever received.

You will probably be disappointed that I did not buy the book, but I do
intend to buy the sequels.

Thank you.

Stephen Baddeley

When asked permission to quote his letter on this blog, Stephen added:

My city library does have the balance of the trilogy on the shelf, but only the third book was available when I checked. It is ever thus with lending libraries, so I reserved the 2nd part of the trilogy and naturally took possession of the Last Great Dance ...

Last weekend I couldn't wait to follow the sequence and started the third book regardless. Apart from work and golf, I haven't put it down, and I have had to explain to fellow golfers why I have been reading these books at the club before each round, rather than gathering with them on the veranda for a drink before the round!

My imagined reader is a woman, but I like to think that my novels appeal to men, as well.

Thank you, Stephen!

Going into seclusion

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I've been hitting my targets — although Chapter 7, which must be finished on Sunday, is proving challenging. I'm pleased the way the story and the characters are blooming.

But writing makes me dumb in the world — "walking into chairs" is how Margaret Atwood once put it — yet the stuff of life keeps piling up and must be properly attended to. For this reason, I've just now decided to have my VA answer my fan mail for me (in her name, of course). Reading and answering letters from fans is a great joy, a task I'm passing on reluctantly. It's temporary, I reassure myself, until I emerge from this "the swamp."

Big questions

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I mentioned earlier that I would answer reader letters today. (I've been lax!) It's a chore — but invariably a pleasure.

One young reader wrote with these questions:

I have always had a vague interest in writing historical fiction. How did you get into it? Do you have another job besides writing? How did you find a publisher?

I answered:
I got into writing novels because I love books and I wanted to write. I was a book editor at the time. I found an agent before I found a publisher, but it took many, many, many years. My advice is to persevere and just do it. Create a novel that you would want to read. Don't even think about trying to publish it until you have written five drafts, and all the readers you recruit to read it love it. It's rare to be able to publish a first novel, so think of yourself as being a student of writing. Writing is enough of a reward in itself.