The Rushford Times - A weekly newsletter from Jodi Taylor
Sent on Wednesdays to paid subscribers and Fridays to free subscribers
This week we have:
Jodi Taylor - Insomnia
Jodi Taylor Book Recommendation - The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell
Out of Time is out in paperback on 23rd April 2026
Time Police Writing Competition - Regulation 847.6 Has Been Breached read the entries
April audio clip competition - guess the book and characters speaking for your chance to win a signed copy of Out of Time
Short Story of the Month: The Great St Mary’s Day Out - a chance to discover some of the St Mary’s short stories
There’s plenty to read this week and you can see everything on the blog too. CLICK HERE for the blog.
I’m accustomed to getting up at two am in the morning because there’s a piece of dialogue running through my brain that I just have to write down. Now. Immediately. Before it all fades away. Because thoughts in my brain have the life expectancy of a frog in a blender. I have to pin them down there and then or they are gone forever.
I’m actually writing this at 2:16 AM on Tuesday the something of April – seriously, do I look like someone who knows what day of the week it is? At least I think it’s Tuesday. It was Monday when I went to bed and I slept for one hour and forty-five minutes and then I spent about an hour thinking about Time Police 7 so yes – Tuesday.
It’s the small hours anyway, there are no lights on anywhere, no traffic, and it’s dead quiet and I’m feeling like the only person in the world.
Insomnia is lonely but at least I put mine to good use. If I ever slept more than three or four hours a day I wouldn’t be half as productive. I keep a pad by the bed and scribble ideas, or doodle, or, when things get really bad – get up and start moving the furniture around.
I don’t mean like a poltergeist or anything – I mean rearranging, I’ll start with a chair and then the coffee table and then another chair – I do have two chairs! – and then rearrange my bookcases, and then fire up my laptop and write up my notes and ideas, toy with the idea of taking up painting again, have another cup of tea, watch the sun come up, and then fall heavily asleep for an hour or so, and wake up feeling dreadful. I’ll have a shower, answer the phone – it doesn’t matter at what time I shower, Hazel invariably calls when I’m in the middle of it. She says it’s a gift. I stare at the damp ring on the carpet, make another cup of tea and get on with the day.
None of that really seems normal, does it?
It’s just that my brain never stops. It actually wakes me up and says, I know how you can get Max out of her latest predicament. You’ll need to rewrite all of Chapter Three and most of Chapter Four, so get cracking.
And I have to do it if I want any sleep at all. I’m writing this in bed, and then I’ll type it up and send it to Hazel because she once told me she keeps her phone by the bed and it will chirp or light up or something and that will be two of us wide awake then.
Maybe not. Seems a bit selfish.
I bought some cheese today. From Stroud. It’s called Three Virgins. The cheese not Stroud. I’ve no idea why it’s called Three Virgins but it’s very nice. My sister-in-law swears by Baron Bigod. An award-winning Brie made by a British company. Me and Gromit – we like Wensleydale – The Prince Among Cheeses.
Yeah – it’s 2.36 in the morning and I’m writing about cheese.
Bloody insomnia.
Jodi x
PS: very much looking forward to seeing some of you at the event at Stevenage Library next Monday 27th April. There are still a few tickets left if you’d like to come. I will be signing books there too.
The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell💙📚
I’ve just finished this book and don’t quite know how I feel about it which, I think, is good. We should all have a bit of a shake-up every now and then. To close a book and then have to spend some time thinking about it is no bad thing.
The White Octopus Hotel is very nicely written and who doesn’t love a perfect hotel that gives you everything you need – including the appropriate clothes to wear for the day, a comb that actually ‘does’ your hair for you, and the perfect lipstick.
It is not, however, a particularly cosy read and the twin themes of grief and regret entwine the story rather like the octopus tentacles that crop up everywhere.
I came away enchanted, bewildered, and thoughtful. I’d love to hear the views from other people who have read it.
“I was intrigued by this one, mostly because I thoroughly enjoyed the books in this series, but the Welsh setting was a clincher that gave me many laughs, as I live in Wales. The author managed to keep the stereotypical characters to a minimum, and the Welsh phrases were just enough detail. I find the ability to write different plot elements and characters and keep them engaging is awesome. If this is the last, then it certainly makes a superb ending.”
Five-star Amazon review
CLICK HERE to read the entries
It’s time for another fun writing competition. This time we want you to invent the TIME POLICE Regulation 847.6, then write the incident that caused the rule to exist.
Tone: Deadpan bureaucratic logic meets total time-travel disaster.
How It Works
Write Regulation 847.6 (overly specific, official sounding).
Write the timeline incident that forced the Time Police to create it.
Show the chaos escalating logically but absurdly.
Style Guidelines
Formal report tone
Ridiculous problem treated seriously
Increasingly specific details
Bureaucracy making everything worse
Your Entry Should Include
A named officer or department
A time-travel mistake
Escalation into disaster
The creation of Regulation 847.6
Recommended length: 400–800 words
Minimum: 200 words
Maximum: 1,200 words
Example Regulation
Regulation 847.6: Officers are prohibited from scheduling overlapping historical revolutions without prior clearance from Administrative Chronology and a completed Form 847.6-C (Revolution Sequencing).
So get your thinking caps on, write your regulation and then a short report explaining why it was created.
The prize will be a £50 gift card from Bookshop.org
Closing date is 30th April and the winner will be chosen by reader poll from 1st - 12th of May with the winner announced in the May 13th newsletter.
CLICK HERE to enter
APRIL - GUESS THE BOOK COMPETITION
Guess the book and characters speaking for your chance to win a signed copy of Out of Time
Put your knowledge of Jodi’s books to the test with our audio clip competition. Listen carefully to a short extract and see if you can identify the book and the characters speaking for a chance to win a signed copy of Out of Time.
Audiobooks are hugely popular among Jodi Taylor fans, bringing her stories to life through distinctive voices, character-driven performances, and immersive narration. For many readers, audiobooks offer the perfect way to enjoy a favourite series while commuting, walking, or relaxing. They make stories more accessible, flexible, and engaging than ever.
Tune in, trust your ears, and see if you can name the book and the characters behind the voices.
The Great St Mary’s Day Out - available in Kindle and Audiobook formats - also included in The Long and Short of It anthology
Astonishingly, Dr Bairstow has declared a holiday. Even more astonishingly – he’s paying for it.
Needless to say, there are strings attached. They have to record the 1601 performance of Hamlet, with Shakespeare himself in the role of the Ghost.
It doesn’t go well, of course. With Dr Bairstow and Mrs Mack turning a simple visit to a street market into a public brawl, Professor Rapson inadvertently stowing away on a vessel bound for the New World, and Shakespeare himself going up in flames, it would seem that Max, of all people, is the only one actually completing the assignment.
Jodi Taylor says…
‘I challenged myself to get the words “Dr Bairstow” and “selfie” in the same
sentence. Challenge accepted!’
Buy now from Bookshop.org - UK USA
I had two strokes in Septeber and October last year and lying in hospital found I COULD NOT READ. very scary. It came back after 4 days and I could read TP6 on kindle. But I have since found I sleep much better: the only positive to have come out of this experience. Very odd. My daughter sleeps badly and has made the best of it: she gets up, makes tea and curls up in large comfy armchair (brought especially as therapeutic indulgence) and does exquisite cross stitch. She has an entire large chest of drawers full of WIP ( works in progress) so is never short of things to get on with. She also is a shift worker, now known as the only member of herteam to Like doing the 11 to 7am shift. Doing switchboard at a hospital. Tea is wonderful for that 2am wakefulness
Jodi -
I do the same thing - no matter how tired I am, when I go to bed, I sleep for 2 hours and then am wide awake! I'm up for 3-4 hours then sleep another segment or two before giving it up completely! And yes, my mind never stops....