I will be on Garage Talk Online this Thursday. 

Apparently their slots are an hour long, but my edited interview comes in at 1 hour and 23 mins. I'm sure that surprises no-one  who knows me. 🤣

Listen in for news on all my projects. And there is so much still to come... 

News, News and More News

2026 has been busy. So busy in fact that we are halfway through the year and I haven't even updated this blog with all the news of what's been going on in  the last few months!

So are you ready for it? Here goes... The follow-up book to Cursed will be coming out soon. This was a book I was never sure I was going to write. I mean all books have their natural endings, but sometimes... and only sometimes, there is a further story to be told, another adventure to be had. 

That's how it was with Cursed. Constance had found and lost the love of her life several times over and the ending quelled the fire in my heart. Somewhat. But there was always the bigger picture waiting. 

I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't yet read Cursed, but suffice it to say you won't be disappointed in the follow-up, TRINITY, which will be out soon. To view Cursed. click here.  

I have also been busy writing new films and producing AutoAngels. If you haven't caught up with this great new show on YouTube yet, you are seriously missing out. 

In each episode we have a brand new story, a great human-interest narrative that drives our female mechanics to take on the car and fix it for free. Along the way there are some great hints and tips and a truckful of great viewing. Take a look at an episode here.

We were delighted to announce a few week ago that we have the full support of Shell behind us and we have some lofty ambitions to roll out across the UK within the next 12 months. This is us at Shell HQ in London.

As if that wasn't enough, I have been working quietly away behind the scenes to arrange the next Envisage International Film Festival as well as Birmingham Horror Film Festival and its associated Fear and Future Convention. I'm proud as punch to announce that this will now be held in partnership with Evolve Theatre and Dudley College of Technology, in July 2027. More news on that is to follow. 

Finally... I have been getting organised for our Stratford on Avon Film Festival which will be held on the 15th and 16th August at the Bear Pit Theatre. It promises to be as sparkling an event as last year's festival and we have some great films to show. 

So by now you can probably see why I have been so absent from here and I hope I have your forgiveness. I promise not to leave it so long next time!

Carmen x

Science fiction fan?

Envisage International Film Festival is thrilled to announce that the amazing cosplay team, Central Legion, will be appearing at the festival being held at Millennium Point on the 10th-11th January. 

As always they will be available for photo ops and happy to pose with everyone.

£2.50 per block of films. 

£5 full day of films. 

Pay on the door. 

Come and say hi! 

FILM FREEWAY - Pay attention

Hello all you filmmakers, directors, producers and writers out there. Listen up, because this is for YOU. 

You might already know that I run several film festivals; Stratford on Avon Film Festival, Birmingham Horror Film Festival and Convention, and Envisage International Film Festival - and if you didn't, well now you do. 

The vast majority of films we receive as submissions are great, BUT and it's in capitals for a reason - there are many that come into each of the festivals  under the wrong category. Now we are fair and honest people, so when that happens (and because we have the luxury of running three different festivals) we try to contact the filmmaker, offer a free code to transfer their film to the correct festival and out of the one they have incorrectly sent it to. But this is time consuming for both parties and may mean that a film misses a deadline for submission. 

So this is a plea to all filmmakers out there. CHECK the criteria for the festival you intend to submit to. I can't tell you how many family dramas Envisage gets, even though it is clearly marked as a sci-fi and fantasy film festival. And if you don't, and the festival will not transfer the film (unlike us) the reality is that you are likely wasting your money.  So beware!

Thanks!

Get ready for it...

I'm reposting a post from a few years ago because I have just finished editing this book, ready for release. 

The Owners Volume 5 - coming soon. 

I have got to stop crying!

I have just written chapter seventeen, where one of my most beloved characters dies and I am heart broken. I didn't want him to die and I even tried to resuscitate him but his death was central to the plot and unavoidable.

And so I am grieving.

Unfortunately  this is not the only time in the past week I have cried. I watched the film District 9 the other night and it had me in floods of tears as well!

So now I have to add that to the list of film I can't watch without having a blubber. Here are my top ten...and in no particular order.

1. King Kong - I LOVE that hairy beast!
2. Truly, madly, deeply - the actors are so real and it gets me every time,
3. Dirty Dancing - I figure that's a kind of odd one here, but I cry!
4. District 9 - obviously!
5. Ghost - there's a definite Patrick Swayze theme here [ahem!]
6. The Lion King - yes I do know it's animation but when the daddy lion holds the cub up....
7. The notebook - oh my God I cried from start to end
8. I am legend - just because he is so alone [and the dog dies]
9. Schindler's list - they almost had to remove me from the cinema
 and finally,
10. Up - another animation which my children did not entirely understand in all its subtleties but I did.

There are of course many, many others, some of which have yet to be written.

But the hardest of all are the ones you write for yourself...

Have a great weekend and do something fun. I sure hope to.

Finalists announced!

I'm thrilled to be announcing that AutoAngels is a finalist for this amazing award.

To be recognised for the work we are doing, and so soon after our launch is just amazing. Keep your fingers crossed for us! 

Bigger and bolder than before!

This year our film festivals are bigger and better than ever. Stratford on Avon Film Festival now has an evening awards ceremony with buffet and free drink from the bar for an incredible £22.

Not to be outdone, Birmingham Horror Film Festival now boasts a horror convention alongside the film festival and has even more news to come.

There is still time to submit films to both festivals and for traders to book the last few remaining tables - but be quick!

Hear me talk about my books and other projects.

This Sunday at midday you can hear me talk about my most recent books, films and other projects on the Listen with Lee show on Black Country Radio.

http://www.blackcountryradio.co.uk/.../black-country-xtra/

It's also available on demand at https://www.blackcountryradio.co.uk/.../black.../on-demand/

Thanks to Lee Benson for being an amazing interviewer and for inviting me onto his show.

Dreaming Big

Several years ago I bought a house which was in a really bad state of repair. I knew it would be a tonne of work. But I had no idea of the nightmares that would arise in what appeared to be an idyllic spot. 

Follow the journey with me in posts coming soon. 

 

             

Happy World Book Day!

 

I had intended to publish another book, Volume 4 of this series in fact, for World Book Day - in other words, today. 

But if you've scrolled through these blog posts, you'll have seen how busy I've been. And the truth is that what you are seeing here, is only a fraction of the projects I have underway. 

So hold onto your hats as there's more to come. And I promise Volumes 4 and 5 of this series will be out soon. 

WE HAVE LAUNCHED!!

 For the past two years I have had to keep something under wraps as we filmed episodes and prepared for the big reveal. 

Yesterday we went live. 

AutoAngels means so much to me. The ethos of helping people and giving back to the community is at the heart of nearly everything I do. But it's not just about fixing cars for people, it's about encouraging people to enter the world of mechanics and STEM in general. 

So please take a look, subscribe and share - because we all need some angels in our lives. 

Come talk to me about my latest book releases.

Tickets can be purchased here or via Facebook.

 

College and school talks

In the coming months I will be popping up here, there and everywhere, as I give talks at a number of schools and colleges about writing, publishing books, writing for film and TV, and running film festivals. I'm absolutely thrilled to be encouraging and ushering a new generation of  creatives into the industry. 

People have a skewed idea of what working in this industry is like. Some think it's a never-ending barrel of laughs, like the blooper reels from films and TV series we see so often on social media. Some think it's a hard, hostile, dog-eat-dog environment, and others think it's all champagne, red carpet events and glamour. The truth is of course, a lot more complex. 

I personally have gone full circle, more or less. When I was at school I wanted to be an actress and so at eighteen I left for London and the glamour that supposedly waited there. I never imagined that all these years later I'd be working on the other side of the camera, and that in 2025 I'd be busier than ever. 

Merry Christmas and may 2025 be as interesting as 2024 but in a nicer way...

 Merry Christmas one and all. 

I'm not going to lie, 2024 has been a challenging year but then, haven't they all? There have been some real highs and some spectacular lows. 

I set up Filmmakers United CIC and Envisage International Film Festival which is already receiving lots of film submissions, and I have realised a tonne of things, both metaphorical and actual. I've watched some amazing films whilst hosting the Stratford on Avon Film Festival and the Birmingham Horror Film Festival and I've been nothing but impressed by the standard of the films and documentaries. 

Now that I'm watching and rating the submissions that are pouring in for Envisage International Film Festival, I'm humbled by the talent I see around me, so much so that recently whilst watching a much acclaimed film on TV by a globally-known director, I ended up comparing the new films to that older one. 

The acting in the old film is still phenomenal but everything else has suffered the curse of the passage of time. The dialogue was dated, the camera skills clunky and it was too heavy in close-up "dramatic shots". But more damning was the attitude and concept of the film which centred around the fact that a man had been imprisoned for rape but - and get this -  it was most likely wrongful imprisonment because the prosecuting lawyer "had buried" the fact that the "girl was promiscuous". Sorry, what? 

I'm not going to delve into societal changes which are now reflected on our screens - that's a whole different conversation. My point is that line would never have been written in a modern film - and the world is a better place for that shift. And yet I am jarred by the realisation that I have found myself emotionally back where I was in my twenties, striving forward, desperate to change the world for the better, but this time filled with less hope and more acknowledgement that I am but a minute speck in the universe. 

Recently having had Covid for the umpteenth time I missed a social event I was due to attend and afterwards I was told I was missed. I think the surprise on my face showed. I can't imagine anyone missed me at all. And yet this year has brought great validation for my work from both my peers and from those much more established and higher up the industry ladder than I. 

My little animation got five film festival nominations, one of which was from the Royal Television Society no less, and I have genuinely lost count of the amount of people who told me they were touched by it. TV commissioners have gone out of their way to tell me how much they love my scripts and people I have worked with have given genuine praise and  congratulations. I've been told over and over that I'm a joy to work with and that my work deserves success and yet I feel like a coiled spring inside. 

All my life I've aimed to make the world a better, kinder place. I've rescued animals, I've volunteered for charities, I've done a tonne of stuff that might have impacted one or two lives for the better, but never really made a huge difference anywhere. My plan remains to use the profits from my various companies to do the job better. But there is still so much cruelty everywhere. I turn on the news and am bombarded with sickening images and stories. Instagram and social media in general is a scroll through cruelty interspersed with vacuous people sharing pointless posts. 

I spent two days this week trying to find the owners of a very ill cat I'd found before it got put to sleep; I rescued lots of pigeons and birds which didn't make it and my soul aches with the seeming futility of it all. And then yesterday I saw the most beautiful, lush fox in my garden, and I was reminded that there is still so much beauty in the world. So much to still keep fighting for. 

Next year I shall be launching several new books and have a lot of exciting news to announce so until then I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. But if you are like me and not currently filled with the joys of the season, just remember you're not alone in feeling more than a little blue. 

Until 2025... x 

 

Envisage International Film Festival

Two days ago I pressed a button which set a chain of events into motion. Perhaps you'll remember that I said I had 5 big announcements to make? Well this is the first of them. 

Envisage International Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing all independent productions of a science fiction or fantasy nature. If you've never really thought about those genres then let me be more specific. This includes space opera (think Star Wars and Star Trek, A Space Odessy, etc), dystopian works (the likes of The Handmaid's Tale, The Hunger Games) and so on. 

As a writer of science fiction it's always fascinated me when people tell me they don't like science fiction or fantasy genres... and then tell me the films and TV shows they do like, such as Avatar, Fantastic Beasts and Stranger Things. Because guess what? Those things exactly fit the genres I love so much. 

So back to Envisage. It's brand new and brought to you by the team behind Stratford On Avon Film Festival and Birmingham Horror Film Festival. It's going to debut at the amazing Millennium Point in Birmingham, and its entry fees are super affordable, starting at £5 for a micro short submission. 

So what are you waiting for? Get submitting. Click here to read more about the festival. 

Coming soon...

 I have loads of exciting news but right now I'm not at liberty to tell. So here's a quick peek at just one of my big announcements coming soon. 

Guess what this is...click here.

Sad but not sad...

        

Just James didn't win an award in its category at The Royal Television Society but I really didn't mind. 

To be nominated alongside three other animations from large, established and very professional teams was enough for me. One day Rodders, one day...

More award nominations

Just James has been nominated for a further two awards! I can't tell you how much this means to me - I'm absolutely stunned but very thrilled. 

As well as the Royal Television Society nomination, it has just been announced by Birmingham Film Festival that it has been nominated for "The Audience Vote Award" and also "The Bull Award," which is presented to the best film of the entire festival! 

And don't forget, I also write books. 

What's next?

 

There's a new book coming soon. Girl Displaced is a Young Adult romantic mystery and I hope you'll love it. 

Here's a little excerpt:

He looks up sharply. He hadn’t known that I’d seen Caelan then. I immediately wonder why that is and then almost just as immediately dismiss it. Why should meeting me be such a big topic of conversation between the cousins?

“I saw Caelan in the church grounds yesterday,” I say and watch how he tries to keep the surprise from showing on his face.

“He didn’t say.”

I feign nonchalance. “Why would he? I mean you barely know me.” The beauty of the English language is profoundly satisfying under the circumstances. He can’t possibly know if I mean ‘you’ as in him, singular, or as a plural covering both of them. Which is just as well, because I don’t know which way I mean it either.

“How much more of you is there to know?” His question is equally simple. Equally ambiguous.

I force myself to laugh lightly. “Not a lot really.” But we’re both aware that he didn’t mean it like that. His eyes travel to my lips and I think that at any moment he will kiss me…

So while you are waiting for this one, take a look at some of my other books you might have missed. 

To read a bit of Cursed for FREE click here.

To read a bit of any of my other books click here. Alternatively you can 

put my name into the search bar of Google or Amazon. 

AND MANY MORE...

I know that I have just announced that I have a new company, but there's even more news coming. The Stratford-upon-Avon Film Festival is almost here.

Get your tickets now.

Screenings 2024 | S-O-A-FilmFestival (stratford-on-avon-filmfestival.com)