It was one of those Red Letter Days over the weekend. Having very kindly sent me an advance copy of my first-ever paperback, my lovely publisher, Choc Lit, then sent The Box to my house.
This is what was inside.
What an incredible moment. I took out the first copy and passed it to Gajitman, with the next two copies going to our children – not that they’re old enough to read Follow Me Follow You yet – it is an adult contemporary romance after all. Their copies will remain on the bookshelf for a while. They are not too young to ask for signed copies, however, and so their wish was my command.
‘How shall I sign it?’ I asked. ‘I’m your mum. I can’t sign it L E James …’
‘Put Mum and L E James,’ my daughter said.
So I did. My first-ever paperback, with my first-ever signature: Mum. L E James. I’m not intending on doing that in all of them … 🙂
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped make my dream come true. I consider myself very lucky to be doing what I love, surrounded by the people I love, in a place that I love.
I spent three days last week preparing for the release, including writing blogs in celebration. In the Choc Lit Corner I asked: what defines a first love?
Along with first loves, Follow Me, Follow You is about healing and recovery – not just for the characters, but for me as the writer.
I was 60,000 words into the first draft when I lost my mum two years ago, and with the wind very much knocked out of my sails, progressing the journey of Victoria Noble and Chris Frampton became a struggle. But I never gave up on them. I set them ashore and kept them safe until the storm had passed.
When the seas grew calmer, Victoria and Chris continued on their way and in September 2013, they reached their final destination.
Typing ‘Ends’ was a significant and emotional moment. I’d done it. I’d finished the story I was compelled to complete, connecting together two ends of an intricate, complicated and personal circle – one tied to my mother, the other to the last book we ever discussed.
And a piece of me healed.
As a result, I’m very attached to Victoria and Chris, little Seth and Rick, lovely Frank and direct Olivia, and I wish them a long and healthy life on the virtual shelves, in the real world.
Chesil Beach
Then come September, I’ll be standing on Chesil Beach, saluting the clear, blue skies with the paperback in my hand, acknowledging the journey we’ve all taken.
I know. It’s a corny title, but it suits this post.
As I passed SplatCat Rascal on the landing today, and having only moments before finished reading Shani Struther’s The Haunting of Highdown Hall, I got to thinking about the use of animals and pets in novels.
In Shani’s story, I met Jed, a dog. He is a wonderful companion to the heroine, Ruby, and I confess, I formed an attachment to him from the off. As writers, we know everything we put into a novel must have a purpose – to move the story forward, give insight into our characters, cause and/or resolve conflict, set the scene – and Jed has a purpose. You’ll have to read the wonderful book to find out what, but he’s not there for his cuteness alone.
I am here for cuteness alone.
Declan, my hero in Truth or Dare?, has a cat called Toto. As much as Toto would have loved a major role, he was written in for three small, but significant reasons: to show the hero’s caring nature, to illustrate to the reader Declan possesses the ability to form attachments, and to act as Declan’s confidant. Declan talks to Toto and shares with him his innermost thoughts. I do it all the time with Daisy and Rascal …
In my work-in-progress, What Doesn’t Kill You, Griff Hendry, the male protagonist, has an old English sheepdog. Why have I written a dog into the story? My hero is a man who needs a dog. Without Ozzy, Griff feels incomplete. They’ve been together for a few years and they are best buds. Sometimes Ozzy is the only one who responds to Griff. Sometimes Ozzy is the only member of the family Griff totally understands. Ozzy never criticises, never moans and is always happy to see his master, but the old English sheepdog is the one who, albeit unwittingly, compels Griff to give serious consideration to his strongly-held beliefs.
What have animals brought to your novel? What’s your favourite book where the animal is the main character?
And yes, before you ask, Black Beauty made me cry.
Follow Me, Follow You, my new paperback with Choc Lit, has no animals … wait a minute … Did I hear a baa?
Take care.
Laura x
For more photos of SplatCat Rascal and friends, please follow me on Pinterest. The Board is called Mad Cats and Englishmen.
Lisa Eveleigh, Gillian Green, Lyn Vernham and Matt Bates: The role of booksellers, publishers & agents in a new book buying age.
It was fabulous – a concoction of workshops, discussion panels, friends, food and wine. I never fail to learn at these events. My friend and fellow Romaniac, Sue Fortin has posted a wonderful round-up of the weekend here. The RNA has a great post here.
At one point of the proceedings, there was an interesting, unscheduled chat about how comfortable we feel saying we write romantic fiction.
In my early days … okay, two years ago … I was slightly ill at ease telling people I was a writer. It had nothing to do with the genre – I am incredibly happy to be reading and writing romantic fiction – it was more that I had nothing solid to show for my efforts. In April 2012, when my 1500 word story, Bitter Sweet, achieved the runner-up position in Choc Lit’s short story competition, I had my first writing credit, and it was a little easier to speak the words, albeit it quietly, ‘I am a writer.’
Penrith 2012
Later that year, at the RNA conference in Penrith, the lovely Miranda Dickinson presented a workshop and everything I’d experienced, she too had been through, but she was a writer, and the more she said it, the easier it became to repeat and believe.
I left that presentation motivated and inspired, and still have the postcards Miranda gave out that day, asserting ‘I write, therefore I am a writer.’
Things have progressed for me since then, with Bitter Sweet finding a home in the RNA’s Truly, Madly, Deeplyanthology, stories in Romaniac Shorts, publication in Choc Lit’s Love Match, with a second anthology from them out soon, my debut novel, Truth or Dare? digitally published last October and my first paperback, Follow Me, Follow Youdue out this September. All my stories are romantic fiction.
I’m hoping you’re reading this and picturing me talking about it to you, my eyes wide with excitement, my speech a little too fast for clarity, because I love what I do. I love writing.
And I love writing romantic fiction.
I believe in self-fulfilling prophecies and affirmations. I believe that by saying something often enough, that dream, that hope, will happen. Whether caught up in the enthusiasm or reacting to the broken record, others start to believe too, and things happen.
Yes, we make our own luck, seek out the opportunities, put ourselves forward, but we need to believe in ourselves and in what we do to have the energy to pursue the dream. And that energy and belief will draw people in.
Negative energy will repel.
My name is Laura James, and I write romantic fiction.
My mum, who was an avid reader and booklover, introduced me to Jill Mansell’s and Sheila O’Flanagan’s books a number of years ago. It was in Jill’s Good At Games, which I read first and enjoyed so much I devoured from cover-to-cover, where I first came across the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Jill wrote so enthusiastically about the organisation, I was compelled to investigate its website. I was thrilled to discover some of my favourite authors were members, and there was a scheme for new writers. As someone who believes there’s a novel in everyone, and as a person who’s penned poems, songs, comics and plays from a young age, I’d hit gold.
Jill Mansell showing an example of her novel planning.
In 2013, my debut novel, Truth or Dare? was released and published as an eBook by Choc Lit.
In September this year, my second novel, Follow Me, Follow Youwill be released digitally and as a paperback. A dream come true.
Exeter Library
The evening of chat at the library was entertaining, informative and engaging, with the three ladies sharing their experiences and knowledge about novel writing. For me as a writer, their advice was invaluable, and as a reader I cannot wait to get started on their new books.
This truly was a RLD.
I am so pleased I was finally able to thank Jill in person for the inspiration she provided and for shining the light in the right direction.
And I’m so glad my mum had an excellent taste in authors.
I say that like I need an excuse to enjoy chocolate, but it’s not an excuse, it’s a reason.
My dependency on chocolate goes in phases. Believe it or not, there are times when I don’t fancy it.
Sorry. I should have warned you to sit down before I made that confession. I tend to go for savoury more than sweet – salted, buttery popcorn, cashews, black olives. I wonder if chocolate-covered black olives would be palatable …
But fear not, I’m experiencing a long phase of chocolism at the moment. I’m wondering if it’s my age, or if it’s because I’m a writer. Or perhaps my body is in desperate need of trace elements contained in a Galaxy bar.
There is never enough to share. Just saying.
I do enjoy a hot chocolate in those chilly, icy months. I had one last week at my son’s school sport’s day. Yes, I know it was June, but I was blue with cold. And I have a frozen shoulder.
You think me doth protest too much?
Hot chocolate is a soothing drink and was used as a form of medicine way back when. It’s feeding and comforting and smooth.
As I was thinking about this post, I realised both Truth or Dare? and Follow Me, Follow You have hot chocolate mentions and scenes, and all for different reasons.
In Truth or Dare? Declan makes the drink for Elle as a peace offering and an invitation to talk:
He pushed himself up, approached the kettle and prepared two hot chocolates. Two minutes later, he was on the landing, outside Elle’s bedroom, tapping on her door. ‘Elle?’ He gave her a moment to reply, but was met with a silence that was becoming too familiar. ‘I’ve made us hot chocolates.’ He heard rustling and shuffling, two floorboards creek and a nose blow, indicators Elle had been lying in bed crying; another familiar scenario. Yesterday, Elle propped Declan up, supplying cups of tea and plates of toast. Today, it was his turn to be strong. It wasn’t a conscious decision to alternate, but thank goodness they didn’t sink to the bottom together. They were a source of support for each other, and for that, Declan was grateful. The door opened.
In Follow Me, Follow You, out September 2014, Victoria remembers her dad supplying mugs of hot chocolate in times of upset and sadness. It provides her with strength. It’s her go-to drink when she needs bolstering.
A waitress, wearing regulation black, and sporting a Santa’s elf hat, placed one hot chocolate and one lemonade on the table. Victoria smiled her thanks, and reclined. The bench, though dressed with cushions, was uncomfortable, but its style was in keeping with the rest of the interior; dark mahogany beams across the ceiling, white wooden sash windows, and porthole lights. Christmas decorations hanging overhead like jungle vines brought colour, but it was the heat and glow from the central log burner that gave the room its warmth. The place had character. More than Victoria remembered. Not that she’d paid much notice to it in her youth, her eyes and mind being all about Chris.
And on this day, it seems appropriate to add I’m published by the wonderful Choc Lit.
For our daughter’s fourteenth birthday, we took a family trip to the Harry Potter Studios in Watford. I grew up in Watford but moved away a little before Leavesden Aerodrome was turned into a Warner Bros studio lot. I have family in that direction, so we have driven passed the site on occasion and seen the famous purple Knight Bus.
Our daughter is a life-long fan of the Harry Potter series and can answer any trivia question thrown at her. I, on the other hand, have never read the books or seen all of the films. I know. It’s a crime. I apologise. It’s something I will rectify once I’ve liberated the books from our daughter’s bedroom. I might have to carry out an early morning raid …
London Book Fair. Andrew Davidson, seen here with a photo of his etched cover for the most recent Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone cover. The new designs, all by Mr Davidson, are aimed at an older reader.
The thing is, I admire J K Rowling. Not long after I started writing novels, I watched her bio pic and even allowing for artistic licence, I found it an emotional and inspiring story.
So, yes, I was excited to be visiting the studio, but I was thinking in terms of the films, looking forward to seeing the sets, the costumes and our daughter opening the doors to the Great Hall (a birthday treat). What I didn’t expect was my emotional response to a quote from J K Rowling, posted on the wall in the queuing foyer.
It positively choked me. I had goosebumps, shivers and a deeper understanding of what it is to be a writer.
Everything we saw at the studio started as a seed of an idea in a writer’s head.
The day took a completely different turn for me, and I looked at everything through a writer’s eye. Perhaps I should have been doing that from the start, but we were there to see the incredible animatronics, Diagon Alley and Privet Drive, and we did, and they were amazing, but I love the fact we were reminded that Harry Potter, the boy wizard, first appeared to us on a page in a book.
Thank you so much to friend and fellow Romaniac, Celia J Anderson, for inviting me to take part in the Meeting My Main Character blog hop.
Celia introduced us to Mab, from her debut novel, Sweet Proposal, and you can meet both ladies here.
What is the name of the main character? Is she real or fictitious?
Victoria Noble is a fictitious thirty-five-year-old. Known as Vicky Paveley in her youth, the divorced mother is the director of the highly successful EweSpeak.
When and where is the story set?
The story begins in London, but swiftly moves to Weymouth and Portland, in Dorset, my beautiful home county. Chesil Beach plays a major role in my character’s life, as it does in mine.
What should we know about her?
Having been let down and betrayed twice by the male of the species, Victoria has pulled the plug on romance. She wrestles with the work-life balance, throwing most of her energy into maintaining her business, and her relationship with her four-year-old son, Seth, is at breaking point.
What is the main conflict? What messes up her life?
Left to raise a child with whom she has little connection, everyday life is a struggle for Victoria. There is huge conflict between her and Seth, and simple tasks such as giving him a bath and putting him to bed create anxiety and tension. He is resistant, belligerent, and on occasion, violent. Victoria believes she provides well for him, but realises it’s not enough when the draw of her EweSpeak office is greater than his cry for love.
If the men in her life had kept their promises, she wouldn’t be caught in the vicious circle of daily battles with her son. She holds one man in particular responsible ‒ Chris Frampton, Victoria’s first love.
What is Victoria’s goal?
To let go of the past, stop blaming others for her mistakes, and heal the damaged bond between her and Seth.
Paperback due out September 2014, published by Choc Lit.Â
Thanks so much for tagging me, Celia – I’m now passing the baton to my friend and fellow ChocLiteer, Alison May – find out about her main character here –http://alison-may.co.uk/blog/ and also the lovely Christine Stovell, whose new release, Follow A Star, is available for pre-order http://homethoughtsweekly.blogspot.co.uk/
I’m looking forward to reading about their main characters.
I have been away from my site as I have been in my edits cave working hard on making book 2, Follow Me Follow You, the best it can be, but I’ve stepped blinky-eyed into the daylight.
Helen has had to leave everything she’s ever known behind; her home, her family, even her own name.
Now, returning to the UK as Ellen Newman, she moves to a small coastal village, working as a nanny for Donovan, a criminal psychologist. Attractive, caring and protective, this single father and his sweet daughter are a world away from Ellen’s brutal past. She thinks she’s escaped. She thinks she’s safe.
But Ellen can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.
Strange incidents begin to plague her new family, and their house of calm is about to become one of suspicion and fear. Who can be trusted? Who is the target? Who is closing in?
Closing Inhad me from page one. It’s a gripping, fast-paced read, set on the south coast. I’ve seen some of the area about which Sue writes, and her descriptions are spot-on. Her love for West Sussex is apparent, and a delight to read, as are her interactions between a child and an adult.
The mutual warmth and love between Donovan and his eight-year-old daughter, Isobel, leap off the page. Ellen, a nanny, is a natural with children, and it’s obvious how much she cares for Isobel.
I am always moved by the way Sue captures the beautiful intimacy between a parent and child.
The two main characters are perfectly matched. Ellen, determined not to be a victim, has to battle her past with every weapon in her arsenal – strength, reserve and courage. She is not weak, but her vulnerability draws the reader to her.
Donovan is a great hero – he’s strong, caring, confident, and knows what he wants from life. He’s a criminal psychologist, but that brings its own problems, and recriminations. Would I feel safe in his arms? Yes. He’s hot. That’s all I’m saying.
The touches of humour made me laugh out loud, the twists and turns kept me swaying and guessing, and the action left me on the edge on my seat. I had to find my Kindle charger as there was no way I was going to let the battery power run out before I’d read the entire book.
It was a fab way to spend my day. A perfect reward. A brilliant read.
I highly recommend Closing In.
Thank you, Sue, for taking me on a thrilling journey.
The day has finally arrived!! Nikki Moore’s debut novel with HarperImpulse – Crazy, Undercover, Love – is released as an ebook today, 24th April 2014.
If you like pacy, sexy romance and fancy a long weekend in Barcelona with a smoking hot guy this one’s for you! Want to know more…?
When uber-feisty career girl Charley Caswell-Wright takes on the assignment as PA to the gorgeous Alex Demetrio, CEO of Demetrio International, she’s there under entirely false pretences; to get her life back on track. Having lost the job she worked so hard to earn, she’s determined not to give it up so easily, especially when she didn’t deserve to lose it in the first place.
Mr Dreamy CEO is her only chance of clawing back her career – and her reputation. So she has to keep things strictly professional… boy, is she in trouble!
What people are saying about Nikki’s other stories…Â
The Love Letter and A Day in the Life… HarperImpulse short story collection Be My Valentine, with Teresa F Morgan and Brigid Coady, attracting 4 and 5 star reviews.
‘I loved all 5 stories and will look out for more books by each author.’ CometBabesBooks, Amazon
‘Whilst I enjoyed all of the stories, I particularly liked Nikki Moore’s … her voice as an author really resonated with me and I can’t wait to read more of her work.’ Kate Beeden, Goodreads
Nikki’s short story A Night to Remember in the Mills & Boon/Romantic Novelists Association anthology Truly, Madly, Deeplywhich has also attracted 4 and 5 star reviews.
‘My favourite story was A Night To Remember. I think what drew me to this … was its resonance with real life. I’m not going to spoil the story but I could feel the emotions spilling out of the page – it was beautiful.’ Beckie, http://www.beckiesbookmix.blogspot.co.uk/
Nikki Moore lives in beautiful Dorset and writes short stories and sexy, pacy romances. A finalist in several writing competitions including Novelicious Undiscovered 2012, she graduated from the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers’ Scheme after four years and and has contributed to their magazine Romance Matters. She has far too much fun attending the annual RNA conference and has previously chaired a panel and taken part in a workshop at the Festival of Romance.
She blogs about some of her favourite things – Writing, Work and Wine – at http://www.nikkimooreauthor.wordpress.com/ and believes in supporting other writers as part of a friendly, talented and diverse community.
You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NikkiMooreAuthor or on Twitter @NikkiMoore_Auth and she invites you to pop in for chats about love, life, reading or writing!
What an incredible moment. I took out the first copy and passed it to Gajitman, with the next two copies going to our children – not that they’re old enough to read Follow Me Follow You yet – it is an adult contemporary romance after all. Their copies will remain on the bookshelf for a while. They are not too young to ask for signed copies, however, and so their wish was my command.
