You know all about dialogue tags, right? They're the words we use to indicate who said something and (sometimes) how they said it. And among writers, most of the controversy surrounding dialogue tags comes from the latter. In particular, there's a vehement school of thought that says if the dialogue itself is good enough, everything the reader needs to know about how it was said is automatically implied – in which case, 'said' is the only dialogue tag a writer should ever need. But is that true? This week I'm going to explore the question … with a little help from Frank Loesser.

In place of this month's Sunday Showcase, something a little different. And no, it's not just an excuse to reference that Journey song.*

They say that if you believe in yourself enough, you will eventually succeed. They are, of course, lying. You only have to watch an X Factor audition to know that self-belief is not the only prerequisite for success. And even among those who do have some talent, not all will make it. Which leaves those of us possessing any modicum of self-awareness with a dilemma. To succeed, not only do we have to believe in ourselves, and believe that we're worth believing in; we also have to believe that we deserve success more than others who are equally worthy.

Welcome to a special Valentine's Day edition of Barren Island Books. In honour of the occasion, we've gathered together five wonderful romance authors to be exiled to five different remote islands. But here's the twist: not only will each author be given her favourite romantic novel to take with her, she'll also get to choose a fictional character to share her exile. From Edward Ferrars to Edward Cullen, there's no-one we can't bring to life for the benefit of our guests! So without further ado, allow me to introduce our first author …

Sadly, my reading list has had to take a back seat since this time last month, what with baby, new house et al. In fact, I can't think of a single book I've managed to finish – or at least, not one I'd be willing to present to you under the title Recommended Reads. So instead, here are a few of the books on my list for which I have high hopes. If you've read any of them and they didn't live up to your expectations, please let me know below. I need some way to prioritise :-)

I've recently been nominated for two awards. Yay me! The first is the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, for which I was nominated by not one but two wonderful writers and fellow fantasy lovers, Tricia Drammeh and Lindsey J Parsons.

The second is a brand-new and super-shiny award, the Flight of Fantasy Award. This one is specially for fantasy writers, and was created by another amazing writer and all-round lovely person, Sophie E Tallis.

Both these awards ask me to list a certain number of things about myself. So, rather than cheat and let some of the points stand for both, I present to you The Ultimate Super-List of Everything You Always Wanted To Know About A.F.E. Smith … And A Little Bit More Besides.