“Art is never finished, only abandoned” Leonardo DaVinci – Driven by Deceit Book 5 of the #AShadeDarker series of #domesticsuspense #psychologicalthrillers #newrelease

“Art is never finished, only abandoned,” is a quote attributed to Leonardo DaVinci. It highlights the fact that perfection is unattainable and creative work is only completed when the artist chooses to stop and let it go.

This is something I really struggle with when writing. When to let go. In my day job I am a completer of things. I am project driven. I like to see something right through to the end where all the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted. When all the figures balance and I can walk away and know the job is finished. I like to cross the task off in my diary and know there is nothing more I could have done to improve it.

Oh, how very different writing is. I am getting better. With my first book, A Single Step, I dilly dallied over publishing it for months, years. I kept rereading it and endlessly editing. Tweaking, changing, rewriting. Obsessing*.

The quote, “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again,” is famously attributed to Irish playwright and author Oscar Wilde.

I can relate. Often I’d spend an afternoon rewriting a whole paragraph. Turning it round and round only by the end for it to look remarkably similar to how it was when I started work on it. What a waste of time because, in fact, there are diminishing returns on all that extra effort.

But still that manuscript had to be prised from my hands.

As I said above, I am getting better. The schedule I am on to produce one book a year with the A Shade Darker series is helping with that. I still obsess over the fact I might have left something out. Something important. Once written, a line or thought will often pop into my mind while shopping, or when out with the dog, or in the middle of the night, and I’ll think ooh, that sounds better, I’ll use that and I’ll make a note of it and add it to the pile of other such scribbles. Often when I check through the manuscript (again!) to include all these important notes, I find they were the words I’d used in the first place, or, yes, I had already included that. Clearly my brain is just doing its own little double checking thing.

Occasionally, though, these random thoughts that spring to mind have indeed saved me from actually publishing something that makes no sense at all. Like in Before the Dawn, when on a dog walk I suddenly realised that character’s arms couldn’t possibly be hanging where they were as they’d been tied at the wrists! Phew. That was a moment. Major embarrassment averted!

So, the lesson is to always pay attention to the weird thinky thoughts that come to me. To always write them down, because, you know, memory… And to always just do that last check through to make sure your brain isn’t trying to save you, yet again.

And on that note, I have just added all my final (I hope!) scribbles to Driven by Deceit (Book 5 of the A Shade Darker series). I am currently doing a final read through and will then set up the files on Bookfunnel to send it out to my wonderful ARC (Advance Reader Copy) readers. (I should add that by this stage the book has already been through its beta readers, its intrepid editor and its diligent proof reader.)

But my eagle-eyed ARC readers will spot another load of errors. ‘Tis always the way, and I love them for it.

Driven by Deceit will be published on the 1^st May 2026 as its story is told through the month of May. The eBook is available for preorder from your favourite retailer by clicking HERE or on any of the images scattered throughout this post.

Crack the façade… Expose the truth…

A toxic arrival. The villagers enthralled. What will it take to show the reality of what lives among them?

Laura Brown has already had a tough year. What she doesn’t need is someone making it worse. But when her friend’s cottage is rented out, that’s exactly what happens as her life, and the village she loves, are invaded by someone from her past.

Laura has learned how to react to her abuser. With silence. With indifference. No one else sees the danger in their midst. That is until her friends are affected and the time comes for Laura to remember who she really is.

With the help of a mysterious visitor and Laura’s friend, Harry O’Connor, a plan forms, but when a lack of discretion threatens to derail it, Laura finds help comes from the most unlikely place.

Driven by Deceit is a gripping domestic suspense novel. If you like character-driven action, suspenseful storytelling and unexpected twists, then you’ll love this psychological thriller.

Driven by Deceit will also be available as a paperback and hardback but those formats will be launched on the 1st May and can’t be pre-ordered.

Thank you for your continued support. It means a lot.

Georgia x

* And I can tell you now. I don’t reread any of my older books as I’d start editing all over again.