Bad blogger 'fesses up

Oh dear, I have been such a bad blogger lately. I only have two excuses, but they are good ones. The first is that I and a number of other pocket novel writing friends have started up a blog called thepocketeers.blogspot.com. It's been great fun and has really geared up now. At present we are doing an advent calendar of all our favourite heroes. It's been difficult to choose which ones to post because they're all lovely in their own ways.

The second reason for not being a regular blogger is that I have been so busy writing and reading. On the writing front, I was asked to come up with a 25,000 word novella for a deadline which was six weeks away. Then, just as I was about to settle down to write it within a timeframe I felt comfortable with I was told that the deadline was being brought forward. Aaaargh! Well, I did manage to come up with it earlier but was biting my fingers that it wasn't good enough. I was sooooo relieved when it was accepted, over the moon in fact. I have to say to any aspiring writers that when you make it and are commissioned to produce writing to order this is one of the things you have to cope with. There is though a real sense of satisfaction. Also, I've been working on my People's Friend serial and have sent off instalment three with both fingers and toes crossed. I have also been working on a novella set on a desert island which has been particularly good to write in these cold, chilly winter months in London! I was also commissioned recently to write a short story which I have sent off and am waiting anxiously to hear on. So, I haven't been sitting on my laurels. And that's my excuse folks!

I do hope everyone else's writing is going well.

Catch up....

I haven't blogged on here for ages for various reasons. The first is that my husband has left me..... well, for the moment anyway. He's gone abroad to work and I shan't see him for ages so all is eerily quiet. Writing is a good time filler for these long, cold evenings and I shall be able to use the extra time wisely. I've got a lot on the go at present - a novella which had a deadline of 30 November but my editor has asked me to have it in earlier eeeek! Then there are edits to the 3rd instalment of my People's Friend serial set in Sorrento, Italy. Just before that I'd finished the dirty draft of a pocket novel which will have to stay on the back burner whilst I finish off these other things. But that's a good thing as it's as well to leave time between doing the first draft and editing it. Then you come back and read it almost as if it's been written by a stranger and you can be more objective about your own faults and what needs fixing. So, busy, busy. Missing my husband terribly but at least I'm keeping occupied!

Twist in the tale stories .... how to write one

We're talking womags here, women's magazines. They are a great place to try and showcase your fiction, or to sell an idea that isn't big enough for a novel or a novella. And one of the most interesting stories to try is a twist in the tale. Now, I'm no expert because I've tried and failed many a time. But I do like to read them and am always intrigued about how authors manage to come up with such clever blind alleys and passages down which they lead a reader and then surprise them in the end. It's a bit like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Well, someone who has had success with them, Diane Fordham has posted on her blog, just how she crafts one. It's great stuff, so here's the address to put in your browser http://dianefordham.blogspot.com/ so you can have a go yourself. A number of UK mags take them such as 'Take a Break's Fiction Feast. They're very popular so good luck at creating your own twist in the tale!

Festival of Romance, the RNA blog and my new book....

Oh dear, I have been a bad blogger of late. Blame it on the time of year because everything gets so busy once the kids get back to school etc. My big news is that 'Tango at Midnight' is out at last in large print. It has a lovely cover and will now go into libraries. I know libraries are suffering at the moment but I think they're a wonderful resource that should be protected and am more than happy that my taxes should go to preserve them. My other news is that I was featured on the Romantic Novelists Association blog with a photo taken by my super teenage daughter who is a talented photographer, particularly of portraits.

The last thing is that I have finally booked for the Festival of Romance which is taking place in Hertfordshire on 21 and 22 October. I have a feeling in my waters (hmmm, not too sure about that phrase!) that this is going to be a big thing in years to come. It is the first event in the UK specifically for readers of romance. In the US there are similar events with huge followings. There has been so much work and energy put into the Festival that I expect great things. Well done to Kate Allan who has worked so hard to make it a reality. Just post this in your browser to find out more http://festivalofromance.co.uk

Now the holidays are over......

First of all, many, many thanks to author Freda Lightfoot and the Romantic Novelists Association for interviewing me on their blog - just type this address in to access it http://romanticnovelistsassociationblog.blogspot.com/.

Now the holidays are over, boohoo. But, aren't they marvellous for our writing. I always go away with good intentions and take all my writing stuff, notebooks, ipad, keyboard, files for keeping bits and pieces so that I can remember locations. Sometimes I write like a demon. At other times I just gather info and photos. This holiday was spent at a very generous friend's tiny house in Spain they have just bought near Roses and El Bulli the once famous restaurant now temporarily closed. They bought it from an elderly couple and it hasn't been refurbished in years. Imagine our dismay to get there to find that not only did we have to negotiate very narrow, windy, hilltop roads with sheer drops into the sea but..... there was no water. I say no water but actually there was water in the well, but the level had fallen below the pump. For the first few days, in temperatures in the high 30's we managed with bottled water and humping huge bottles of seawater the ten minutes' walk from the sea so that we at least had water to flush the loo. Once however we had got hold of a couple of buckets, we started drawing water up from the well. Boy, was that hard work! I have never sweated so much and never appreciated a running tap so much. We also ran out one evening and I was concentrating so much on not spilling any, and not slipping I didn't realise how dark it was getting. I suppose my imagination ran wild, particularly as I had just read a very gruesome Stephen King story about a man who chucks his wife down the well. When I heard a noise behind me, I nearly had a heart attack. It could have been one of the wild boars who will reputedly sometimes fall down wells if the covers are left open.

We survived in the end and in fact it was a rural and out of the way idyll overlooking a beautiful bay where the swimming was superb. It would be a superb setting for a novel and I know I'll use it one day. I might however go at the beginning of the summer when the well is full, rather than at the end of it!

Where do you get your ideas from?

For me, location can be fantastically important in generating ideas. I am lucky enough to have just come back from holiday in rural France. As there was a big party of us, we rented a huge old house sleeping twelve. You can see it above along with one of the extravagantly painted bathrooms. It was reputedly was the home of a French Count who operated a paper making works which was sited at the bottom of the garden. The works included a high red brick chimney, a number of seriously atmospheric derelict old buildings behind trees and a river running at the end of a large expanse of lawn. My imagination went wild. So much so that I whisked my Ipad out on holiday and started a pocket novel which I am now 10,000 words into. The subject matter? Why, ghosts of course! How could there not be ghosts in such a wonderful ancient place with bats roosting in the cellar and a mysterious walk-in attic. So many lives must have lived and played out their dramas there. I took loads of photographs, here are some and I have such a clear picture in my mind of the place that my characters are all firmly ensconced and playing their parts. I would love to get this finished while the ideas are still fresh and absolutely love ghost stories. I have sold two in the past, very successfully, so do please keep your fingers crossed for this novella.

Writers bottom and ...... zumba

Writers bottom is potentially a bit of a problem for those who spend large amounts of time sitting, tapping away. But finally, there's a solution. ZUUUUMBAAA! Classes are spring up all over the place although they're not exactly classes because you don't have to learn zumba as such. Basically it's a fusion of a number of different dance styles, salsa, merengue, cumbia and all you have to do is follow the leader. My zumba teacher Ashley is a dancer, so he makes the moves look good (on him anyway!) and he makes it terrific fun. We all jump around like crazy for an hour - an hour is all I could manage believe me - and end up sweating like horses which have just run the Grand National. The thing is, you definitely know you've done some exercise but it's only taken you an hour. It's far less boring than the hideous gym with its endless hours plodding on a treadmill and part of the fun is watching how everyone else interprets the moves. Some are wigglers, some jumpers, some always half a step behind and others like me look as if they don't know what's hit them.

Zumba is, though, the perfect antidote to writers bottom so I'd say give it a try!