Cara Cooper's blog

Bad blogger 'fesses up

2011-12-05T00:20:00.000-08:00

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....

2011-10-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

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....

2011-10-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

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......

2011-09-06T02:57:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-08-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

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!

Are you going to the Festival of Romance in October?

2011-07-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

This is Hunton Park in Hertfordshire, venue for the new Festival of Romance which takes place on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd October. It looks like a beautiful place to hold an event giving readers the chance to meet authors of romantic fiction. I believe this will be the first time such an event has taken place in this country although there are similar conventions in the USA which attract massive audiences. Only yesterday I went to hear author Janet Gover talk about the Romance Writers of America event she has just been to in New York. There, they had readers queueing out of the door and up the street to meet their favourite authors and the conference programme was like a small booklet it was so full. There are all sorts of ways to connect with readers, Facebook, Twitter, blogging but few opportunities to meet people face to face. And yet readers are the people who keep us all going with their loyalty, enthusiasm and addiction to romantic fiction.

The Festival of Romance is a brave new venture with its own easy to use website which encourages discussion and interraction. There will be awards for the Best Romantic Read and the Best Historical Read and the Have a Heart Ball on the Saturday which, as with all these things, will be a fantastic opportunity to wear a posh frock. I wish Kate Allan the organiser much luck with what looks to be an exciting new venture for all our diaries. Here's a link so you can look for yourself.

http://festivalofromanceonline.ning.com/forum/topics/faq-how-does-the-festival-work

RNA Conference 2011

2011-07-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

An excellent conference in the beautiful hills of Caerleon, Wales. I went to so many sessions, my head is spinning but here's a snapshot of what went on... Liz Fielding (photo below in the yellow top), long term Mills and Boon author talked about how putting subtle humour into her books, juxtaposed with more serious subjects has added tone and colour to her very popular stories. Mills and Boon books aren't romcoms, but readers still like a lightness of touch. Jane Wenham-Jones (photo above) chaired an excellent session with Jill Mansell, Louise Allen and Elizabeth Chadwick which covered a variety of issues. The thing I picked up on most was the different methods really successful authors have to come up with the goods. There really is no right or wrong - Jill writes on the sofa, with the telly on, in long hand and plots on the longest piece of paper you have ever seen using coloured post-its. Wonderfully low tech, but it works for her. I was very encouraged at two different talks (firstly by Mills and Boon editors including Flo Nicoll with whom I had a one to one earlier, and secondly by MIRA editors) to hear publishers who were still keen to have submissions which is always nice to know. The MIRA editors made a point of saying how many Mills and Boon authors had gone mainstream and that they were always looking for new slants on established themes - a recent acquisition by MIRA of a werecat (as opposed to werewolf) paranormal was an example of how, if you are inventive, you can create new interest in genres that might otherwise appear to have peaked.

Fiona Harper gave an excellent talk which included tips on how to dig deeper into your characters' motivations to provide a more emotional story and create heroes and heroines who are real and believable. The main thing I got out of this was that you have to know your characters inside out and that it is useful to identify a single phrase with which to sum up a character, eg 'live life to the max'. Then of course you have to dig deep to decide why that individual has that trait. So, for example, they might have lost their parents at a young age which makes them feel that they have to grasp every moment as if it were their last. That though would be just one layer, you always have to dig deeper....

A fun session was given by Louise Allen (seen in the blue t-shirt below) who writes Regency romances and has a wonderful collection of prints from the period. Not cheap (she buys most of them on Ebay), these provide invaluable insights into the period not just the clothes that people wore, but insights eg into how people were grouped. For example one lovely print showing the entrance to Oxford Street near Tyburn in London. Louise explained how she looks with a magnifying glass at these prints many of which are small and very detailed, to get the maximum information and essence of the period out of them. All sorts of things can be of interest, such as curiously the fact that ladies often held their parasols with the handle facing down, presumably to keep delicate silks and other fabrics away from the dusty streets. I couldn't help buying a copy of her book on Regency walks through London even though I had promised myself I couldn't carry another thing.

A warm thank you to Jan Jones and Roger Sanderson of the RNA for a wonderful, inspiring conference with lots of good food and good company.

Hooray, 'Safe Harbour' comes out as an e-book

2011-06-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

Delighted to say Xcite have accepted 'Safe Harbour' as an e-book! Here's the cover. I loved writing this one as it's set near the sea in a little English town with a small sandy beach and a couple of lively restaurants down near the ancient harbour. One of these days, I'll post a photo of the restaurant that was the inspiration although I've never actually eaten there (just realised that and will have to remedy it soon - a tough job but someone's got to do it).

It's my second book set by the sea, 'The Sanctuary' being the other one. Many people are drawn to our wonderful coastline for different reasons. I think for me, being a profoundly city girl having been born and brought up in London, our trips to the Isle of Wight were such a wonderful change they felt magical. Sandown on the island has the most superb sandy beach and shallow pools ideal for trawling with bucket and spade, with tiny white crabs. Seaview has the most wonderful rock pools for children where we once encountered a lobster who had been stranded in one of them and I remember being amazed that it was blue. They only go bright pink when cooked! I absolutely love the sea and my dream would be to live near it. One day.... one day......

What does a romantic novelist look like?

2011-05-27T07:31:00.001-07:00

Hmmm interesting question and one that has caused quite a flurry among the writers of the Romantic Novelists Association. The reason? At the latest London get together of the RNA a Daily Mail journalist was present to do an article along with a photographer. What she came up with, sadly, was the standard, cliched lazy-journalism old tosh about bodice rippers. How many times have we heard that phrase until we are sick to the back teeth with it? Her line was pretty scathing, very silly and talked about those present having blue rinses and twinsets and pearls. You can read the article here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1389272/The-Blue-Rinse-Bodice-Rippers-In-twin-sets-pearls-meet-ladies-Britains-steamiest-novels.html

Well I've been to enough RNA do's to know that there is a range of ages, styles of dress, personalities, characters etc etc and not one of them looks remotely blue rinsed or like Barbara Cartland who, let's face it left the scene decades ago! the best thing about the whole episode is that one of the bright young things, Kate Johnson, sent the Daily Mail a letter which they published together with her holding a copy of one of her books.

I only hope it increases her sales and helps to dispel some of the myths that stick like mud to a blanket! And here is a picture of the lovely Kate.....

Hitting the send button

2011-05-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

So, at last I have had the courage to hit the 'send' button. Let me explain. On 31 March I received back from Mills and Boon feedback on the submission I sent them with a sheikh hero. There were some valuable suggestions and an offer to re-submit if I fancied reworking it. Did I? You bet. But, for writers that can be a terrifying thing. To take apart and unpick the thing you have done, to look at it critically and perhaps ditch reams of writing and rework is heavy going. Then to admit finally that you have polished, amended, improved, rethought, rejigged, and re-everythinged your precious chapters into a form that you think is the best it can be can be can really make you shudder. Even more daunting is to demonstrate a commitment to what you've done by finally whizzing it back off to an editor because this of course, invites a response. So much hope, so many fears, so much work and they may well not like it! I sometimes wonder why we keep on torturing ourselves in this way. But we do and now I am waiting yet again. But, not twiddling my thumbs. I have a serial half written and an idea for a RIVA Mills and Boon which I'd love to try. The greatest cure for that obsessive checking the e-mail inbox disease that we all get when we have a submission 'out there' is to start something new. Which is always a lovely feeling.......

Some good news!

2011-04-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to say that one of my pocket novels, 'Healing Love' is about to be released in digital format by Xcite, an imprint of Accent Press. Here's the cover, it's set in a GPs surgery with a doctor hero who has more than a few family problems to deal with. I'm so pleased about this digital publication on many fronts. Xcite were shortlisted for Imprint and Editor of the Year 2011 in the Bookseller Industry Awards and they reported a nine-fold increase in e-book sales in 2010. They and their Managing Director, Hazel Cushion are extremely forward looking and know exactly what readers want. I'm proud to be associated with them and wish them every success. It's also nice to see a British publisher forging ahead. They are based in Wales not far from where I recently went for Kate Walker's course on writing romance and where I shall be going in the summer to the Romantic Novelists Association conference. As soon as I work out how to put buttons on my blog which zap straight through to Accent to purchase the book I'll do so. Technology's never been my strong point but I'll do my best!

Changing direction

2011-04-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well, my Draft in 30 Days blogged about earlier has hit a snag. But, at least it's a nice snag. That's because whilst I was at the beginning of starting with Karen Weisner's method an e-mail dropped into my in box. It was from the editors at Mills and Boon. I had submitted the first three chapters and a synopsis for a sheikh novel way back in August last year. True it took them some time but they have said that they like the basic idea, think it's fresh and intriguing but they had a few problems with it. If I wanted to work on the problems and re-submit they'd be happy to have a look. Would I? Ohmigod yes I would!

Looking at it critically and taking their comments on board I have only kept the first chapter and had to ditch the other two altogether. Before now I have found that incredibly hard to do, but this time, with the benefit of their comments I found it easy. After all, they know their stuff and if that's what they want I must try and meet it. The rewrite is going slowly but surely. Slowly because I am now being more critical of myself. This morning for example, I looked with a real eagle eye at what I had produced yesterday. I'd gone and done exactly what they had asked me not to do in the feedback - basically, I had moved the relationship on too quickly. As an individual who likes to complete a task as soon as, I realised that I sometimes do this for my characters. But, Mills and Boon readers like the suspense of not knowing how the relationship is going to go. They want it to twist and turn and meander and for their heroes and heroines to really work at it. So, again, I ditched large amounts of what I'd done and wrote the scene again. I think it works much better this time and realise that culling sometimes has to be done. I look on it now not so much as a waste of time but as a means of writing myself into a scene, testing out my characters. Let's hope it does the trick. Oh, and that photograph, it's of my teeny, weeny summerhouse which I hope, when I get a minute to kit out with a table and chair so that I can write in there in the warm summer months..... if they ever arrive that is!

To Marry a Prince - Book Launch

2011-04-03T00:05:00.001-07:00

Okay, I know I should be updating this blog on how my First Draft in 30 Days attempt is going but it's the weekend and all work and no play makes an author a dull girl. So, yesterday I upped and went off to the King's Road branch of Waterstones in Chelsea for a swanky book launch, all fizz and chatter. 'To Marry a Prince' is Sophie Page's sparkling new take on royal weddings. With the opening page bearing the promise 'Britain as it might have been......' the first chapter introduces us to Bella. Feisty, independent she's spent the last year toiling on an island on the other side of the world dressed in shorts, muddy t-shirt and her hair hasn't seen conditioner in months. Scrubbed up though and having enjoyed the tender loving care of a good hairdresser she accompanies her friend Lottie to a society party and that's when the fun begins.... With the world soon to enjoy the wedding of commoner Kate Middleton to Prince William, Sophie's lovely book with its royal blue and gold cover is totally topical and I can't wait to read the rest of it.

One of the nicest things about book launches is the chance to chat to fellow authors and here's a photo of me with Carol Townend. A super knowledgeable historian, Carol writes medieval novels and is at present writing a series for Mills and Boon based in medieval Constantinople. She regaled us with tales of her trip to Istanbul to do research, just one of the fun things about being an author. But it also highlighted all the hard work that goes in to any novel and the extra element that goes into historical novels. Carol is keenly aware of the need to get her facts right as well as getting the romance element between the hero and heroine perfect.

So, a great evening was had by all, the champagne flowed, we were surrounded by books and my dear husband and I toppped it all off with dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in the King's Road, a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace where THE royal wedding will very shortly take place. Huge thanks goes to Sophie and all the lovely staff at Waterstones and the greatest luck to her for mega success with her book.

Day 4 of A First Draft in 30 Days

2011-03-28T23:42:00.000-07:00

One interesting thing I have found with this method is that it really gives you foundations that you build upon. Normally I rush in full pelt, feeling that getting words on paper is the most important thing. Building them up, 1000 done, 2000 done, first chapter done is hugely rewarding. But, if what you build starts to shake and tumble at chapter 3 or chapter 13 then making it firm and solid again is so difficult. With this method, I find that every now and then there's a sort of lightbulb moment so that something I've already started can be built upon. I'll give you an example. Themes - I never really consciously think of a theme for my book. But with this one, it's started to emerge for me that as my hero is an architect, and architecture is all about planning the perfect building, that theme can run through the book. Each time I think of a new step forward in their relationship, I can think of it like a brick being cemented in a wall, or light coming in through a window, or a door being opened to their personalities. Okay, so that's a bit whacky, maybe a little cheesy, a bit odd and off the wall (well, it certainly is for me as I'm a very straightforward individual, not at all poetic or given to fancies). However, just being in that frame of mind, has given me some sort of theme which I hope to run with throughout the book. Perhaps it will make the finished article more real? Who knows, but it may give me some nice metaphors which are things I always struggle with. It's certainly made me look at my hero in a different light. Who wouldn't fall in love with a man who could build them the most perfect house to live in, a house just with them in mind? I never usually think my characters through this fully so am feeling positive about Day 4, and am realising that this mulling over the story from all angles is part of what Karen S Wiesner's method is all about. Also, that when I tried this method the first time, I fell at the first post because I thought that you had to complete every stage completely before you moved to the next. Silly me. Because if I had read her book properly in the first place I would have acknowledged that she clearly said that some of your worksheets can be half empty, you don't make them perfect the first time you write them down. But you do build on them. So now, off to the dreaded plot sketches, not looking forward to this bit because I think it's going to be difficult, hence my looking for every delaying tactic possible. Oh, and have I had my breakfast yet? Nope. I'll just get that sorted then before I move on to those dreaded plot sketches........

Day 3 of A First Draft in 30 Days, setting sketches

2011-03-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Feeling reasonably pleased with myself as I've finished my character sketches for my hero and heroine and done a general setting sketch (with, yes folks, a little pen drawing even though I'm no artist!) of my manor house by the sea. It is based on somewhere I've stayed and love, not a million miles off the coast of England. I've managed to incorporate into the fictional property many of the things I need to carry the plot and the relationship forward. I've also done the research list which isn't extensive, but I need to find out something about architects and awards which I know precious little about. I'm also watching Country House rescue on the TV which is not only invaluable for clues about how grisly inheriting a stately home can be in terms of cost but is also interesting in terms of character studies. So many people hang on to huge unwieldy buildings even though they cannot pay their upkeep because they have a strong sentimental attachment to the houses and their own family's history within the house. Anyhow, that's my excuse for watching tv when I should be writing....... and I'm sticking to it!

The next part of the draft is much scarier because it's plot sketches. As I only ever have the vaguest of ideas in my head usually when I sit down to write, the idea of planning out my plot beforehand fills me with horror. Still, I'm not going to give up now. Watch this space.......

Day 2 of First Draft in 30 Days

2011-03-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

I am blogging about my attempt to write a first draft in 30 days using Karen S. Wiesner's book because I want to impose some discipline on myself. By posting regularly, and making my attempt public it will force me to keep with it. Psychology's a funny thing isn't it. If you declare something openly it's that much more difficult to go back on it.... I hope! Anyhow, I'm sort of on track. Yesterday, I did a character study for my heroine, and a pretty full one at that. So full that I didn't make a start on my hero but then I couldn't really picture him. Today though, there was an article in one of the Sunday supplements with a photo of Orlando Bloom. He looked so lovely I thought, 'that's him, that's my hero.' So, off I go. If I can do a character study of him, however brief, PLUS a couple of setting sketches and a little bit about what research I have to do, I will be on track. Wish me luck!

A First Draft in 30 Days

2011-03-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's true, I am trying to bring a bit more structure to my writing. I have just sent another novella winging off to my editor and again, I simply wrote by the seat of my pants. I hope they like it but for my next project I am determined to approach things with a bit more discipline. Some while ago, after an RNA conference, I travelled back on the train with a new Mills and Boon author. She had used a book called 'First Draft in 30 Days' by Karen S Wiesner. I skim read the book and thought it made a lot of sense. But being sometimes a lazy writer who likes to rush straight in when she has an idea, full of enthusiasm but little in the way of a plan, I put the book on a shelf and forgot about it.

Since then, I have had two or three ideas brewing and cannot focus on which one I want to run with. So, I got the 'how to' book out again and am determined to take more time over planning this next book. The reason is I want it to be multi-layered, I want to make my characters have more dimensions, many, many dimensions in fact so that the reader has the pleasure of peeling each layer away. That's something I like in my reading and would like to do more in my writing. Particularly after attending Kate Walker's workshop, I have seen that because romances are all about people and their internal conflicts the construction phase has to be pretty rigorous. Karen Wiesner's book has worksheets on constructing full lives for characters, on creating multiple settings in fact on building up an entire portfolio about your book before you even put fingers to keyboard. I have always wanted to be more focussed in my writing so perhaps the time has come. I'll keep you posted but until then, I am out to buy myself a lever arch file to put all those worksheets in and am feeling very optimistic about being more disciplined and hopefully more productive as a result!

Guilty Pleasures

2011-03-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

No, this stunning guy is not my Guilty Pleasure - I'm a happily married woman! But, Stephen Muzzonigro does feature in a great little documentary which screens on TV on 12 April 2011. He is one of the models who appears on Mills and Boon covers and helps to sell one somewhere in the world every four seconds. The film is an exploration of those who read Mills and Boon, those who write them and others like Stephen who are all part of selling the dream. The documentary blends the cinderella world of M&B with real life stories of some of the readers. There is Shumita Didi Singh whose fantasy hero became her husband then left her for a younger model. And there is Hiroko Honmo in Japan, happily and boringly married to her staid husband. Hiroko takes ballroom dancing lessons so she can fantasise about a more glamorous world with her ballroom dancing teacher. Their stories are touching, funny, sad and joyful in equal amounts. Real life is so much grittier and we see the lovely Roger Sanderson, the UK's only male Mills and Boon writer giving his slant on why the books are so popular and how difficult they are to write. We also see the delectable Stephen bursting the fantasy bubble when he reveals that keeping those fantastic muscles rippling keeps him locked away in the gym most days and that he has to push away his plate of chips and pick at salad to keep young and beautiful. It's a beautiful film and I went to see it at the ICA gallery in London which was screening the Birds eye View Film Festival featuring films made by women. Julie Moggan the Director has made a sensitive, funny and sad tale which is structured just like the best M&B books and thankfully in the end, for most of those featured has a happy ending aaaahhhhh.........

Pure Passion Awards 2011

2011-03-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

The winners of the eagerly awaited Pure Passion awards were announced yesterday. Of particular note for me were Louise Allen who won the Love Story of the Year award for her historical book, 'The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst' and Penny Jordan who won an Outstanding Achievement Award. The reason is that not only are they both excellent writers who have had considerable success but that I know both of them have done a lot to help budding authors. Louise through her work for the RNA and Penny who I met ages ago at a writing course for would-be Mills and Boon authors in Wales. Penny spoke without notes, at length and just gave us the benefit of her knowledge. It was a wonderful weekend and I met such nice people there. As a writer, giving advice and help I know can be a two edged sword because such things always take time and time is one thing an author never has enough of. There are always more books to be started, more to be polished/edited, more to be promoted, finding the time is a constant battle. So, if I were able to give a special award it would be to all those writers who have been kind enough to spare the time to give help and advice.

Show don't tell ,,,,,,, and the King's Speech

2011-03-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

'Show don't tell', is a mantra which all we writers are told again and again but it's often difficult to do. So often I find myself writing a whole paragraph or even a whole page and then realising I haven't shown at all, just kept on telling and have to go back to revise. But today, I heard a fascinating radio programme about the history of cash - coins and notes - and there was a lightbulb moment which demonstrated exactly what people mean by that phrase. What's that got to do with the King's Speech you wonder? Well, they were talking about Edward VIII, the king who abdicated to marry the woman he was crazy about - the divorcee, Wallace Simpson. He was the one who left his brother, the one with the stammer to have to take the crown. The newspapers often gave Edward a bad press saying he was vain and self obsessed but I often wondered if that was just sour grapes at him deserting his duty. However in the radio programme they talked about how on coins and notes, the monarch of the day always faces the same way. Also that tradition is that when a new monarch appears they are always portrayed as facing the opposite way to the monarch before. So, as our Queen always faces to the left, when the next monarch comes on board he will face, by tradition, to the right. However, when Edward VIII was due to be king although it was his turn to face to the right, he had all the currency minted with him posing facing left BECAUSE..... his profile was more handsome facing that way. All that tradition was knocked aside for his vanity. That to me was a perfect 'show don't tell' story! He must have been a bit of a twonk.....

Meeting Heidi Rice in Selfridges

2011-02-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

I had met Heidi before at Romantic Novelists Association events but this was going to be something special. Heidi had been asked by Mills and Boon's PR people to help promote them in Selfrdiges, London where I believe she is now Writer in Residence which sounds incredibly grand. And actually it is. I had forgotten how lovely Selfridges is. I'm usually a John Lewis girl and I know Harrods very well because I used to work there. But Selfridges is something else. A real emporium totally full of wonderful goodies.

I met Heidi with two other would-be M&B wannabes. We chatted in front of a lovely display of covers of their books, some of which went back for years. We had coffee and I felt, for once, like a lady who lunches. Heidi gave us a good overview of what the genre requires and the display with wonderful old bookcovers and titles was well worth seeing. We even got a free copy of Heidi's latest, 'Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger.' A great day!

Kate Walker's Advanced Writing Romance Course

2011-02-21T01:56:00.000-08:00

I have just returned from this fabulous course given by Kate Walker, here we are enjoying a cup of well earned coffee. Kate is the extraordinarily successful Mills and Boon author - and author of the '12 Point Guide to Writing Romance.'

In a hotel overlooking the bay at Fishguard Harbour in Wales we covered so, so much over the weekend - I am exhausted and exhilarated in equal measure. Kate seemed to have boundless energy and shared the secrets of her craft generously, with authority and endless enthusiasm. This was an advanced course, and there had been a course before it which included things such as writing the perfect synopsis and the submission letter. This course however was more of a detailed examination of the craft of writing romance. Although Kate is a Mills and Boon author, anyone wanting to write romance would find this course invaluable. Beforehand we had been asked to submit three chapters and a synopsis and were given Kate's written and oral critique which is worth its weight in gold. There was other preparatory work - this wasn't a holiday folks! We had read one of her books and were asked to make notes examining minutely: the opening; characters; conflict; point of view; foreshadowing; setting; and the ending with the aid of useful notes indicating the sort of questions we should be asking ourselves as we both read and write romance.

In workshops we covered the list below. Kate has a fluid style and is happy to answer questions and so the course was tailored skillfully to those attending. Just making this list recalls the terrific amount of things we looked at:
A sort of recipe sheet listing the ingredients to enable you to construct your hero/heroine
Six ways of creating character
Ten ways of using your new character in a story
Query letter basics
How to write a synopsis in 8 paragraphs
How to bring conflict into your story
Internal conflict
External conflict (ie. what they both are and are NOT)
A Four Act Structure
Points to consider when writing sex scenes
Emotional punch - twenty ways to help create it
Emotional Intensity - what is it?
Tips for showing not telling
8 "Moments" you absolutely need to deliver to your readers.... and 1 you should hope for
Tips for writing a great first chapter
Five reasons romances go wrong
The main thing I got out of it was the ability to read and analyse a romance AS A WRITER - an invaluable tool in being able to construct one's own romance with all the emotional pull necessary to provide page turning quality. I hope to goodness some of her magic dust sprinkles my way. But most of all I realise that what's needed is sheer hard work - blood, sweat and tears! But what you end up with is so satisfying for both the creator and the reader who enjoys it, it is all worthwhile.

The hotel was great with lovely staff and endless food (those super deserts won't help your waistline) and the whole thing was organised by Gerry at www.writersholiday.net who even taxis you to and from the station..... Thanks Gerry!

I'm going to be on TV!

2011-02-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

Just had a really fun but very hard week at work culminating in the recording of a show for ITV1 called 'Auction Party' with Laurence Llewlyn Bowen acting as auctioneer. He was lovely, funny, good tempered the whole time and really good looking - hero material in fact!

My day job is working in a charity and we were asked to compete against another charity by ITV. The idea was to go out and buy old furniture then do it up to see how much we could make to raise funds. We also had, in a week, to find about 100 people who would come along and spend their money. Immediately our team went into overdrive, sanding, cleaning, polishing, painting and upholstering. We spent hours in the shed choking on spray paint and white spirit. It was freezing, and on the day it started to sleet I wondered whether there weren't easier ways to raise funds! In the end though I and my other team members, Annie, Jazz and Neville stepped up to the mark, loads of people came and some of the things looked really good. Both teams raised loads of money but I mustn't say who won until the programme goes on air in the Spring. The other team, as you can see were young and gorgeous and had borrowed some of the dresses from Strictly so completely upstaged us! I am on the right hand side in both photos and have now been shamed into embarking on a SERIOUSLY strict diet.....

Revisions,revisions,revisions

2011-02-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

So, there I was at Christmas working hard on instalment 2 of the serial I am writing for People's Friend. Set in Italy in the Spring it was quite hard to create the right atmosphere whilst we were in the midst of the worst snow for years. I managed to get it off before the festivities began, fingers crossed, hoping there wouldn't be too many revisions. But now we're in the cold, dark days of January and back it's come with no less than five major revisions! Plus they really don't like the synopsis. Plus my wordcount was too much. Aaaargh!

I went off to boil my head, my spirits sank and suddenly the month felt chillier and darker than ever. I had loads of revisions for instalment 1 and they are such hard work, it feels like unravelling knitting and having to do it all over again. But, once I'd had a chance to sleep on it, I sat down with a strong coffee and read the e-mail again. The editors at PF are so nice, they tell it straight like it is but always say how revisions are part of the process for serial writing. Also, this is my very first serial and they HAVE bought the first instalment so I guess they're happy to keep working with me. Hopefully if I keep focussed, listen to what they ask for and stay positive, I'll get there in the end! So, head down. It's a new day. The sun's shining. Time to look at those revisions and polish, polish, polish. Here's a photo of gorgeous, lovely, Sorrento to keep us all going until the summer comes.

Winter

2011-01-11T08:25:00.001-08:00

I'm not crazy about winter in England - it always seems to go on too long and to be too dark and cold and wet. This year we had some excitement with the earliest and heaviest snowfall even in the London area for decades and not only did we get one lot, we got two. Now, I love snow not only does it look fairy-taleish whilst it's falling but it makes even the dirtiest London streets look fabulous. It's also very inspiring for a writer to have a sudden new possibility for all sorts of plot twists. The last bout of snow that we had which closed airports inspired my book, 'Leaving Home' which is about Flora who is all booked to fly out to a new life in America. Until, overnight, the airport is closed and she is delayed long enough to be sucked into a family tragedy which leaves her with her sister's baby and a whole new set of problems from the ones she is running away from. I really enjoyed playing around with the idea of one simple circumstance changing the course of a person's life. The snow is all gone now and we are back to our usually drizzly and mild winter weather. Frankly, I preferred the snow, but here is a photo of Christmas lights in Covent Garden to keep us going until the lighter, warmer days come along.

My new book, 'Tango at Midnight' is out!

2010-12-10T03:31:00.000-08:00

Well, the rotten snow's still here - normally I love the stuff, but it's been around far too long now. At least I had the joy of seeing my new My Weekly Pocket Novel on sale on the shelves in Tesco and they'd almost sold out! Even better, it was accepted almost instantly for release in large print so I've got the release of that version and a lovely new cover to look forward to. In addition, I've had the first instalment of a People's Friend serial accepted so I guess that's a sort of hat trick. To top it all, one of my fellow members of the Romantic Novelists Association posted that she had not only read 'Tango at Midnight' but that it had passed a few enjoyable hours while she'd been hospital visiting. That's the wonderful thing about writing. There's a magical alchemy about putting your thoughts out there and connecting with someone in a really positive way. You may never meet them in person but that doesn't matter. It gave me such a boost, I am getting right on with instalment two of the People's Friend serial which is set in warm and sunny Sorrento, Italy and I so wish I was there now......

Sheiks......... love 'em

2010-10-24T23:29:00.001-07:00

A while ago, I posted photos for my new sheikh story that I am writing hoping to send it to Mills and Boon. At last it's going really well, racing along in fact. I've got more into sheikhs as I've researched them. I never realised (stupidly it's true) how fabulously, ridiculously, fantastically wealthy some of them are. But they also fit the Mills and Boon requirement of being a consummate nurturer. Here, for example is Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Nuaimi, of the United Arab Emirates, better known as the Green Sheikh. He's actually rather cute, don't you think, whether he's looking thoughtful and all concerned about things green, or whether he's kneeling in the snow freezing his poor old knees off and praying? He sounds almost too good to be true, as he's not only Mr Environment but is also big on charity works and is opening a hospital, looking after disadvantaged youngsters in the UAE etc. I could sooooo warm to a guy like that, particularly if he had a couple of billion in the bank, sigh.... Oops, enough of this dreaming, must put the washing on, empty the dishwasher and get showered and on my bike ready for the day job......

Such a perfect day.....

2010-10-18T03:50:00.000-07:00

Oh joy, for my birthday, my husband said, 'I've booked a table at the Savoy.' We don't often indulge but he is a believer in marking special days with memories rather than things. In fact he finds things weigh him down and is always urging me as a hoarder to clear stuff out. So, off we tottled to the Savoy on the Strand which has been closed the last few years due to refurbishment at the staggering cost of £200 million. The original ancient site was a hospital, which eventually declined and was described by The sixteenth-century historian Stow as being misused by "loiterers, vagabonds and strumpets". Which one of those were we, I wondered, all done up to the nines?!

I really would love to set a Mills and Boon in a luxury hotel like the Savoy. There was the gorgeous art deco inspired River Restaurant where we had lunch, all the pretty girls and wonderfully handsome young men who see you to your table, there was the Russian family looking mysterious and fur-collar clad, there was the view of the Thames blazing in Autumn sunshine and there was the mouth-watering food. Finally, there was the birthday cake, complimentary and so rich we had to take it home in a little white box because neither of us could stuff any more calories in. Of course you don't have to have a special birthday to enjoy the Savoy. You can save up your pennies and go for a cup of coffee and spend ages lounging on the gorgeous sofas, lapping up the atmosphere whilst you watch the clientele and the staff bustle past giving you any number of ideas for a romantic novel. Well, that's my excuse anyway for going there as much as I possibly can! Ps - note that in my hand I hold a bag from Hotel Chocolat with a few goodies to take home. Next week, I'll diet, always next week........

Where do you get your writing ideas from?

2010-10-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

Ever since New Voices I have been mulling over new ideas. Could I get one to work? NO. But finally, things are beginning to come together. The first thing you have to do of course is find your hero. A bout of insomnia has given me a precious hour to sift through smouldering guys and finally I found him. Zaki is a sheikh in a distant nation of sandstorms and snow tipped mountain passes. He loves his semi-desert nation more dearly than he loves his own life. And here he is on the few occasions he gets to relax.

I am desperately working on the opening chapter which will either be set in the mountains, or the blistering desert. Either way, I know I shall have fun once I finally stop procrastinating and actually get something down on paper!

Writers are often asked, 'where do you get your ideas from?' and I find the web and the newspapers are both fertile ground for starting up your imagination. So, where do you get your writing ideas from?

Mudlarking on the Thames

2010-10-06T00:36:00.000-07:00

My (new) husband and I celebrated our first anniversary by staying at the hotel we stayed in on our wedding night, the Grange City Hotel next to the Tower of London. Purely by chance that weekend is when they always hold the Thames Festival. It's great fun and a wonderful way of celebrating the Thames. I absolutely love the river. For our wedding reception, we took a Thames barge from Tower Hill down to Greenwich. During the Thames festival, there are stalls all the way down the South bank and they close one of the bridges, lay it up with clothed tables and have a massive open air picnic. One of the most interesting stalls was one set up by a guy who goes mudlarking. In the past, mudlarks, mainly young children would make a pathetic living raking over the mud at low tide to find anything they could sell. Rivets from the boatmaking at Limehouse to sell to scrap metal dealers, canvas and rope and even fat thrown overboard by ships cooks could all make a farthing or a halpenny. These poor destitute children would work in rags through the bitterest winters scraping a paltry living, and the mud on the Thames still tells a million stories and still makes a living for some. The guy we met digs up bits of china, old clay pipes and makes pictures of them so that people can own their own small bit of history. In the picture above you can see odd white china figures like ghostly corpses which I thought were dolls. In fact, they were some of the first 'promotional' items given away with soap powder. He has also used one of the commonest finds on the river, pins (you can see them scattered over bits of old clay pipes) which were made by children and used to fix elaborate clothing throughout the ages. Apparently, an Elizabeth neck ruff could take a thousand pins to fix into place. There will soon be a TV series made about mudlarking and then the banks of the Thames will be heaving. So if you want to get there now, while it's relatively quiet and find your own piece of history, all you need is a licence from the Port of London Authority which costs around £40 for three years.

New Voices results

2010-09-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Rats! I didn't get placed in the comp, in fact I didn't get anywhere, not a whisker of success. Still with 800-odd entries and some really terrific ones at that I have to admit defeat gracefully. Well, not defeat exactly as we all live to fight another day. I still have a partial with M&B and we can all submit again through the normal channels. It's just so nice to have a quick response rather than have to wait. Nevertheless, Romance HQ have taken pity on us all and offered a further ten entrants the chance of having their chapters critiqued. All you have to do to enter the draw is to go on the New Voices website and log in your request to be included - they will then pull names from the hat. So, guys, it's not all over. Good luck yet again!

New Voices - finally, I posted my entry......

2010-09-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Phew!!!! After ages of writing, re-writing, throwing what I'd done in the bin and starting again I have finally posted an entry on to Mills and Boon's New Voices competition site.

It's incredibly difficult knowing how one's writing will be out there for all the world to see. Strange really, as I have a number of things published with My Weekly and People's Friend but of course these have been passed by an editor and purchased. That gives you faith in yourself. But to put something up that no editor has read and approved as worth having is an entirely different matter. Anyhow my cheesily titled entry is 'Cougar Mum, Cub Dad.' Yes I know it's an awful title but it does what it says on the tin. I wanted to do something different and thought the idea of an older woman and younger man might buck the trend a bit although of course that is a trend that is happening in spadefuls in real life. Mills and Boon are pretty good at keeping up with trends which is one of the things that makes them so successful. So, if you fancy going to have a read of my entry, it's at romanceisnotdead.com and you just have to put my name or that cheesy title into the search box for it to come up.

It's been great looking at the entries although I have been so busy with other things I didn't have nearly enough time to read as many as I wanted or to post comments but I have looked at a couple of really excellent ones, far better than mine. The M&B dream is not dead, just slumbering....... Good luck to all the entrants and hurrah to everyone for making it such an interesting comp.

New opportunities at Embrace

2010-09-02T05:42:00.000-07:00

One of the really good bits of news for all of us romance writers and readers is the opening of opportunities with Embrace, a new imprint of Salt Publishing. At a time when there is a lot of gloom around about supermarkets grabbing book sales and dominating the market, e-publishing is really coming into its own. Embrace have two different 'heat' lines and have just acquired their first manuscripts. They offer useful tips for new writers on their website at embracebooks.co.uk and are not afraid to look at innovative and adventurous romance. I'm sure we all wish them the best of luck with a really exciting new venture.

Stuck with your writing? Try this.......

2010-08-21T06:35:00.001-07:00

One of the most wonderful ways to kick start your brain is to go on a writing retreat. It doesn't have to be something mega-organised. In my case it's just 3 or 4 friends. We choose somewhere low cost, preferably in the country but with access to civilisation (a Costa and a little high street are enough) and we all go and stay for 1 night to a week. Importantly where we go has no telly and no wifi access. Painful but useful.

It also gets you right away from home life which although lovely simply eats into writing time. It also means you set your own clock and your own agenda. I am an unreasonably early bird, my best any time from 5am onwards. When on retreat, I can simply roll out of bed and onto my writing chair, fire up the laptop and I'm away. At 11am I might feel like some company. If I then see one of my writing friends sitting outside nonchalantly on the bench in the little garden opposite the bedrooms where we stay, I can take my coffee out and have a natter. The afternoon's a bit of a dead time for me writing-wise as I always experience a dip. That's when I will stroll out into the country for some excercise (to counterract writers' bottom which is a horrible complaint leading to lardiness and pins and needles in the buttocks). Or I tottle off to the shops to have a quick float around and to buy something inappropriate for a lady of my years such as blue nail varnish. Then back for some more writing before dinner. We tend either to nominate one of us as cook for that night or to go out to the local pub. It's amazing how much you can achieve when in such a cocoon, ideas flow, words pour out and things get FINISHED. I'd recommend it to anyone. But the best thing is if you go with writing friends they will not only understand your dilemmas, rejoice in your triumphs but also they'll be happy to talk to you about that niggling plot twist or that elusive character slant. Now my family are lovely but quite frankly all that stuff bores the pants off them.......

My new toy...... the Ipad

2010-08-07T02:19:00.000-07:00

Well, actually it's not a new toy so much as a work tool. The Ipad. The much trumpeted about beautifully designed light as air little computer you can put in your handbag. I have been given it by my lovely husband as an early birthday present. Why early? Because I am shortly off to a writers' retreat where we just sit and write each day and I have a ton of projects I am working on. I need a light word processor with a good battery and so, we bought the Ipad. So, how's it performing? It looks and feels wonderful and is great for searching the web. On the word processing front however, there are a couple of glitches. Firstly, you have to download a word processing programme and pay exra for it - yes folks, everything costs extra with the Ipad. Secondly, the programme Iwork Pages has certain fundamental flaws for a writer. The first one is that there is no word count facility. Why not Steve Jobs? Why on earth when you invented this lovely thing did you leave out that very simple, absolutely essential for the writer tool? So I beetled off and investigated the web to see how to get around this. There is after all a way around everything. Yup, you guessed, you have to download yet another app which has a word count facility. I duly paid my pennies and downloaded. But, can I work out how on earth to use it? No, and what's more doing so has taken up writing time. So, back to the drawing board..... It is however a wonderful piece of equipment, slim, light as a feather and the battery life is great. Also, it has a natty keyboard/dock which has been pared down to the bone in inches but where the keyboard bit is actually full size and incredibly easy to use. So, marks out of ten? Eight so far but nice, very, very nice.

A slow boat to Bilbao

2010-08-01T01:43:00.000-07:00

Have just enjoyed our very first cruise. Well, okay, it was just a mini-cruise and we spent only four hours in Spain but it was still absolutely wonderful. We sailed from Southampton and it's about a million times easier to get on and off a ship than it is a plane. None of that rigorous security, going through endless scanners with your shoes off and queuing for hours. The ship had loads of wonderful places to sit - our favourite was looking out of the back (is that stern or aft or even bow, I have no idea!?) and watching the wash from the giant propellors underneath. Very soon, you begin to chill out and we sat happily there for many hours whale and dolphin watching. The Pride of Bilbao has for 10 years been a base for a conservation charity devoted to dolphins and whales and the guy running it gave an interesting talk during the voyage as well as making announcements whenever the creatures were in view. But, the highlight for us was when we went out very late one evening just to look at the moon. It looked stunning, full and creamy with its reflection glistening for miles on the sea and the water was so calm, it was quite quiet. Until that is, we heard splashing and there below us was a dolphin leaping in and out of the water, just having fun. It was magic, sheer magic. What's more, a four day crossing gives ample time for writing and I got the revisions for my magazine serial well underway. We loved it and will definitely be saving our pennies to go on another more substantial cruise.

GOOD NEWS!

2010-07-23T20:29:00.001-07:00

Back in May, I sent off a) an idea to a magazine for a serial b) a short story and c) a completed draft of a pocket novel to My Weekly. Then, I sat back and waited....and waited.....and waited. Also I checked my e-mails not just every day or every hour but yes, practically every minute. But it wasn't just days which ticked by with no news, but weeks and then oh horror of horrors, months. Two to be precise. Obviously my precious manuscripts hadn't arrived. Was it too soon to chase? If I chased would I be seen as a troublemaker, a stalker, a pain in the a"*+! I'd spent so long sitting tight. I must be a failure, no one wanted my rotten stories, I should just give in and give up. That was whispered in the cold dark hours by the horrid gremlin who sits on all writers' shoulders whispering sour nothings in our ears. But instead of listening to him, I shoved the little devil off my shoulder and into the mud where he belonged. Then I stamped on him and ...... got out my laptop and started something new. Because that's what you have to do when you're waiting. Luckily I had the RNA conference to look forward to. And, it was while I was there that my gorgeous husband 'phoned me to say that a package had arrived. Yes, it was from the magazine I'd sent the serial to. 'Rip it open, take a look,' I urged my husband. 'They liked it,' he said, 'they want some revisions. Nine in fact. But they liked it!' Hurrah. Then, lo and behold, also while I was at the conference an e-mail came through to say that My Weekly had accepted my latest novel, 'Tango at Midnight.' Double hoorah!!!! But, the moral to this story is that I kept writing, even when I thought all my efforts had turned to dust and that editors hated me. You've got to keep that wagon rolling even when you think all is lost. Because it's not. What's more, even if I'd have had rejections which I would have felt rotten about, I'd have still had something new to keep me going. Here by the way is a photo of me at the RNA gala dinner at this year's conference in Greenwich sent by my good, good friend Penny. And there also looking very serious is my gorgeous husband who loved every second of attending the Greenwich dinner and, as one of the few men at the conference, basked in having been given a round of applause by all the girlies on our table, simply for being there!

A tale of two Elizabeths.....

2010-07-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

I was really delighted to be at the Romantic Novelists Association 50th anniversary conference to be able to see Elizabeth Fearon win the Elizabeth Goudge Trophy for her short story. The theme was based around an anniversary and Katie Fforde who is in the photo presenting Elizabeth Fearon with her trophy said that the story made her cry - wouldn't we all love to be able to write fiction that inspires such a reaction?! Apparently the standard was extremely good this year so a hearty cheer to all those who entered. I can't wait to read Elizabeth's story and look forward to seeing it in print as soon as she's placed it. Also in the photo is Jan Jones who deserves our congratulations for being one of the main organisers of what was a wonderful, wonderful conference.

50th Anniversary Romantic Novelists Association Conference

2010-07-12T03:47:00.000-07:00

What an absolutely superb conference! Jan Jones and Roger Sanderson who have quite enough to do being successful writers also run this show every year. This 50th anniversary conference in beautiful Greenwich surpassed all the others I have been to with a superb location and wonderfully hot weather. Also the talks were superb. One particular one which I enjoyed was that given by Sarah Duncan whose 'A Single to Rome' and 'Kissing Mr Wrong' I shall be rushing out to buy. I'm sure she writes as well as she speaks, with boundless enthusiasm and huge energy. I'm summarising her points here for anyone who didn't make it to Greenwich. She runs writing courses and I would urge you to look them up at http://www.sarahduncan.co.uk because for me, her talk on its own was worth the cost of the conference. Sarah covered the following points:

1. Dreams - how many of us have dreams of starting our own business or moving abroad? How many of us do it? THOSE are the sorts of characters people want to read about - characters who take action.
2. Caring - think about the people in an earthquake thousands of miles away that you read about in the paper, and think about a close friend who has maybe had an accident. Who do we care about more? We care about the person we know and that is what a good author has to do, make their reader care.
3. Emotion - Go deep into your characters' emotional state. Your characters have to be fighting for things the other people ie. your readers care about. The film 'Gladiator' was given as an example (and any excuse to watch that again is a good one!).
4. Qualities - If we overheard a conversation about ourselves, what would we want people to say about us? That we were loyal, honest etc. Give your characters similar qualities BUT no one is a cardboard cutout. We all have shades of good and bad. Likeable characters however, ones that people want to read about have redeeming qualities, they are self aware and they make amends.
5. The lift test - when you persuade someone to read a book, you are stealing their time. Think about your characters. Would you want to be stuck in a lift with them? Think of the people you could be happy being stuck with and write down why. It is those sorts of people your readers will be happy to spend time with.
6. Cherries and cake! - No one likes a cherry cake where all the good bits have sunk to one place. Think about where you pleace your good bits in a novel and don't chunk them together, spread them about a bit.
7. Suspense - make people wait. Don't set up a problem for your protagonists and then solve it on the next page.
8. Ending your chapters - when you read bedtime stories to children chapters often end with them all snuggling happily to go to sleep because that's what the parent who buys the book wants the child to do. We don't want to send our readers to sleep. We want to force them to start a new chapter and keep reading so they have to buy lots more of our lovely books. Think carefully where you put your chapter breaks, encourage that page to turn!
9. Tea drinking - there can be too much of it, try and keep your characters active.
10. Flashback - be very wary of it. It can act like the accelerator or worse, put the action in reverse.

Well, that, in a very small nutshell was Sarah's talk, but I do urge you, if possible to go and hear her, she's a new speaker to me and one of the most absorbing ones on writing fiction I have come across.

Surrey or the South of France

2010-07-06T03:56:00.001-07:00

This glorious field of lavender is a fairly recent addition to the countryside just outside London at Banstead in Surrey. Or is it? I've only tried one historical novel but historical references are all around us and this is one of them. This part of Surrey was once famous for its lavender fields which would have supplied the lavender sellers on the streets of London with bunches of the fragrant flower. Resonances of the past are all around us but often only apparent to us in our busy daily lives if we really look for them. Lavender sprigs are depicted in the area in Wallington's Christmas lights and on Mitcham borough council's coat of arms but it's a long while since the flowers have been grown in this area en masse. The 25 acres of lavender fields at Mayfield lavender www.mayfieldlavender.com are stunning this time of year and well worth a visit. They've also given me a nice idea for a book which when I've finished the one I'm working on I shall tackle and I have a feeling the research, being surrounding by the evocative scent of lavender will be sheer joy!

Society of Authors reception

2010-07-02T08:45:00.001-07:00

Today, on one of the hottest days of the year, I went to the Society of Authors new members' reception. They are based at 84 Drayton Gardens in Kensington, one of the loveliest parts of London. It took me a while to join the Society of Authors because I wasn't sure what benefit they would be. However, today's reception was well worth the price of entry - I am easily swayed by a nice array of nibbles and lashings of wine! But, of course as with all these things, it's all about meeting people and talking about things of mutual interest. There were so many different authors, the fiction ones being in the minority at this particular reception. There were quite a few art historians having a lovely time researching in places like Venice. There was also a psychotherapist who'd published her third book on child psychology and there was a guy who wrote comedy. So, a pretty mixed bag. The most useful thing about the mixture of individuals for a fiction author I found was that there are times when you need just a few nuggets of specialist knowledge to make your characters come alive. I would take bets that the Society of Authors has representatives from practically every profession on earth and being a member will I'm sure be a useful way to find someone if I ever need to make contact with - say - a landscape gardener or a specialist in musical instruments. They were a really friendly bunch and they run regular seminars on things like e-publishing. An incredibly useful service offered by the Society is that they will, for free, look over any publishing contract clause by clause. That alone I'm sure is worth the cost of membership! They can be reached at http://www.societyofauthors.org/ .

Internal and External conflict for Mills and Boon

2010-06-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

I have been lucky enough to get a slot with a Mills and Boon editor at this year's Romantic Novelist Association conference. To make the most of it, you are invited to submit a first chapter and a synopsis and I have just sent mine off.

Now, I tried Mills and Boon years ago, I gave it my best shot and although I came close-ish with a request to see the whole manuscript (after submitting the required three chapters) I ended up with a rejection.

Part of the reason, I am sure, is that I did not understand the difference between internal conflict and external conflict. After many years which has included on/off flirtations with writing for M&B, reading many examples and attending a couple of sessions at writers weekends listening to their editors and authors I believe I have now got to grips with internal/external conflict. So I will try and do my bit for other aspiring writers to explain it here.

An external conflict is basically one that someone or something else can resolve. So, if your hero and heroine have been marooned on a desert island because of a plane crash someone else could send in a rescue craft. If they are in conflict with one another because of a case of mistaken identity, a simple conversation with one of the other characters (or with each other) could put the situation right. More importantly, with external conflict the reader will be able to see that there are easy-ish ways out of the problem. A Mills and Boon can of course contain both external and internal conflicts but the internal ones are by far the most important. They are the problems which are not nearly so easy for the hero and heroine to extract themselves from - their own internal conflicts. Internal conflicts are the things inside us shaped by our personal histories that make us the people we are and on occasions form blockages to relationships.

An excellent book by Penny Jordan, one of the acknowledged queens of Mills and Boon which I read years ago concerned a woman who had been raped by an ex husband. This had lead to her finding it almost impossibe to let another man near her, even one to whom she was deeply attracted. This afforded all sorts of opportunities to display the hero's sensitive, persuasive and very Alpha characteristics - those of the ultimate nurturer. I am at present reading a fabulous Mills and Boon by Annie West (www.annie-west.com) 'Scandal, His Majesty's love-child', about an Arab prince - sheik books are enduringly popular - the ultimate escape!

Annie West's prince has many redeeming characteristics but these are hidden behind a cold exterior borne of a childhood with a brutal father. Given that sort of history he has built a wall around himself brick by emotional brick which our heroine is very slowly having to knock down. I will not reveal any more as it is on the shelves now and do not want to destroy an excellent read. But this is an good example of internal conflict, mainly in this case the hero's, which prevents him forming strong relationships. These sort of internal conflicts are difficult for us all to address and require the characters to undergo a considerable amount of change within themselves but of course they cannot do this on their own. The other half of the pairing has to help them through the conflict to a happy conclusion and thereby lies a good read! Fiendishly difficult to write, I take my hat off to all the Mills and Boon authors who do this so well.

London to Brighton Cycle Ride - we did it!

2010-06-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we all survived the 54 miles from London to Brighton even though it took us ten hours! You'd think ten hours in the saddle would be excruciating and although it was, all time seemed to go out of the window as you just focus on the goal of getting there. Bit by bit, mile by mile.... It's a bit like writing a novel, word by word, chapter by chapter ...... you just have to keep the faith and know you will get there in the end. Here's a picture - I'm the short fat one - of our team at Ditchling Beacon. At the top of Ditchling you are rewarded after a hideous climb (which we walked up, we were too exhausted to cycle up that massive hill) with stupendous views of the South Downs dotted with poppy fields. The other reward is that after that it's about 9 miles all the way downhill into Brighton. Will I do it again next year? Don't know! This year I was on the back of a tandem where you have someone to chat to and can forget the pain. Not sure if I'd make it on my own. I'll see how I feel in 12 months time when the agony has worn off a bit!

New book 'Leaving Home'

2010-06-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

Hurrah. Complimentary copies of my latest new book, 'Leaving Home' have arrived on the doorstep from those lovely people at Ulverscroft. In the Linford Romance Library range, there is a lovely picture on the cover of a very happy young lady. As it's a feelgood romance (albeit with a few bumpy moments along the way) it's great that the cover has a warm feel about it. Thank you Ulverscroft, and D C Thomson (My Weekly) who originally published it as a novella.

Elephants in London

2010-06-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

London is full of elephants! Elephant Parade 2010 is all about raising money for the endangered Asian elephant. Walk more than a hundred yards in the West End and you're bound to come across one of the elephants. Last night in the ten minute walk from Covent Garden to Charing Cross we spotted two. They're everywhere! Brightly coloured, painted or, in the case of the elephant twirling around on its electric turntable in the window of Coutts on the Strand, encrusted with Swarovski crystals and little pearls. This is the most luxurious I've seen so far and very pretty he was too, http://www.elephantfamily.org/ are the charity raising awareness.

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbyeeee......

2010-06-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

I am terrified, petrified, that awful rising wall of terror hits me whenever I think about it. Yes, I have signed up to do the 54 mile London to Brighton cycle ride this Sunday. Nooooooo!!!!!!

I have got myself a gel saddle, and a gel saddle cover and will shortly go out to buy myself a pair of gel shorts or whatever other padding it is they slip into those hideously unattractive black lycra short-thingies. I do actually have a massive gel bum sad to say but somehow it never seems to be quite enough cushioning. I shall be on the back of a pink tandem and have been told I must not peddle and I am not to try and steer. I have also been told, rather menacingly by the front part of the pairing, 'I will know if you aren't pedalling'. Drat and there was I thinking I could put my feet up, cross my legs and catch up on Facebook and a bit of e-mailing!

The longest run I've ever done is 8 miles in total and that nearly killed me so heaven knows what I will be like physically and mentally after tackling the hills around Brighton. Ah well, tis now or never I guess. Why on earth I didn't choose to just go down on the train like sensible people and tottle on down to the front with a bag of chips to welcome all the lunatic cyclists in I don't know. Instead I shall indeed be one of the puffing, pink, pelvically pulverised who limp of their machines at the end and never want to see a bike again as long as they live. The only good thing is that we have raised nearly £600 in sponsorship for Mind, the mental health charity.

So, wish me luck as you wave me goodbyeeeeee........

Writing a Mills and Boon

2010-06-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

Oh, I've tried, and tried and tried..... But not for some time. At one time I'd tried so hard, I thought I might have made it as my whole manuscript was requested after sending them my initial three chapters. There was one problem though. I'd only written the first three chapters! I foolishly dashed off the next nine chapters and whizzed them off. A rejection letter whizzed back. It taught me a lesson though which is that at least 90% of success in writing is completion. Also that it's one thing to produce three fizzing chapters. It's quite another to produce a whole, coherent, gripping, well-crafted twelve chapters. There is loads of advice around such as this great and succinct summing up of the alpha male on the Mills and Boon website at http://community.millsandboon.co.uk/forums/write-stuff/how-write-modern-romance (After reading that, I'm in love with him already). Also, as one of my writing friends so succinctly put it, 'never leave their side'. That is, the hero and heroine and I think those four little words sum up one of the essences of a Mills and Boon, so thank you Jan S, it's something I keep remembering whenever I start to veer off on a pathway away from my two main protagonists. Never leave their side........ I'm 8881 words in so far, around two chapters and I've stuck with them all the way like their consciences, on their shoulders, interpreting their every move and studying their every motive. Only 41,119 words to go...........

Short story competition - The Lady with Mills and Boon and the National Trust

2010-06-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

Good news for all short story writers. The Lady in conjunction with Mills and Boon and the National Trust is launching a short story competition. It's all part of the drive the National Trust is making to pull more people into their properties by emphasising the romance element. Personally I find their houses and wonderful gardens a constant source of inspiration as a writer. The most atmospheric recently was a trip down to Ightham Mote a medieval moated manor house on one of the few balmy evenings we had recently. We had mistimed it and got there just as the property closed. But a secluded walk nearby took us to the back gate of the house from where we could peer in and see the grounds, deserted under a golden evening haze. In the silence you could feel you were looking through a window into the past. Magic! Details of the competition can be obtained from The Lady's website by following this link http://www.lady.co.uk/?q=node/94482. Stories should be no more than 2000 words and the closing date is 31 July 2010. This is excellent news since The Lady recently stopped their regular fiction slot following the appointment of a new editor to the magazine. Maybe this latest move means that they are reconsidering their break with fiction. We live in hope......

Waiting for a result ........

2010-06-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

Why have I decided to Blog? I guess every writer feels they have something to say, and hope that there is someone out there who wants to hear it. That's one reason to blog. The other, in my case is that I have four things out there waiting for a result. That is four pieces of writing. Firstly I have a novella with a publisher, then I have a proposal for a serial with a magazine as well as two short stories which I have sent off to magazines. The wait is horrendous and in the meantime I feel I need to do something constructive. So, here I am creating a web presence. People tell me blogging can be fun so, here goes, and welcome to my blog!