Tag: writer

Happy News Year!

2025

Happy news to share

Happy New Year to you all. We’ve had gales, rain, snow and sun and we’re nine days in only. I’m looking forward to getting back into my writing theatre, on which I’ll post another time, but for now, I’ll keep writing from the warmth of our home.

I say writing. At the moment it’s all about revising, editing, and learning how to be an indie author.

The Writing Theatre

Change of direction

I’m extremely lucky to have a fantastic support system from my family and friends to my writing family and friends. The Romantic Novelists’ Association continues to provide excellent guidance, advice and opportunities for writers of romantic fiction (which is a broad genre), and its members are kind, wise and generous with their help and offers of expertise. Without this support, the decision to self-publish wouldn’t have been an option for me, but I’m excited and raring to go.

Three years ago, the publisher of my first trio of books, Choc Lit, kindly reverted those books rights to me, bar a few outstanding licenses. It wasn’t just the physical book – it was the audio, digital, foreign and large print rights too. This month sees the final right reverted.

With this deadline on the horizon, and with novel number four, currently titled, Make Your Own Kind of Music (MYOKOM), written, edited and revised to the point I can no longer see the proverbial wood for the trees, and with the added consideration of chronic health conditions and disabilities management, it was the perfect time to rethink my career.

How it’s going

Self-publishing is not the easy route, but the more I research, the more I feel it is a good fit. As a person who manages her spoons (the Spoon Theory), indie authorship will allow me autonomy and the grace of flexibility. Publishers have deadlines, printing schedules and contracts, and I happily signed up to all that ten years ago, but I’m less energetic these days, and struggle more with fatigue. Going at my own pace will reduce the chances of letting people down. Perhaps this is a naïve perspective, as I know how hard my indie author/hybrid friends work, but I have good people behind me (family and friends cheerleading), trusted experts on board and a small, but perfectly-formed team of beta readers waiting for their first look at MYOKOM.

In the meantime, I am updating the previously published novels, starting with Follow Me Follow You, which was my second women’s fiction, but my first paperback. I love this story for so many reasons – the fun my daughter and I had inventing the social media site, EweSpeak, Victoria Noble and her journey in trying to understand her son, Seth, little Seth himself, beautiful Chris Frampton and his unconditional love for his family, and the setting of Chesil Beach and Portland, Dorset. Also, in theory, this book shouldn’t take too long to revise …

My third novel, What Doesn’t Kill You, will be my second release. My debut, Truth or Dare? will take longer. If I had written it today, ten/twelve years on from when I set out to ‘write a novel’, it would have a different feel. A different voice. A rewrite might be involved.

Got it covered

Image I used to promote Follow Me Follow You when it was first published. This was a photograph taken of our son when he was four. I adapted it using an app called Watercolour. To this day, I adore this photograph and it will be forever linked to little Seth, Victoria Noble’s (the main character) son.

Follow Me Follow You will be retitled Follow Me, which was its original name. The exciting news with this is I have received the cover design visuals and they are gorgeous. I have spent the day looking through the different versions, as they all bring something unique to the book, but I have chosen the one with which I would like to proceed.

Once it’s agreed and finalised, I will do the reveal here.

Follow me (see what I did there?) on this blog if you’d like to be one of the first to see the fresh, new cover.

Comms

If you’d like to receive updates in the form of a newsletter, drop me a comment below. Currently, I do not run a newsletter, but I’m interested to hear your thoughts as readers as to how you prefer authors to send out communications.

What’s next?

Right now I’m off to email my talented and clever cover designer, and then maybe have eggs on toast for lunch. Then it will be back to the revisions.

Catch you all soon.

Laura xx

Weymouth and Writing on Publication Day

 

The Smugglers Inn, Osmington Mills, Weymouth, where Gaitman and I had our wedding reception. Declan and Kate spend the night here.
The Smugglers Inn, where Gajitman and I had our wedding reception.
Declan and Kate spend the night here.

Weymouth and writing go together like fish and chips, the sea and sand, and Portland Bill and the red and white lighthouse. I love using scenery from my home town, and Chesil Beach features in both Truth or Dare? and Follow Me, but leading up to the release this week of my debut, Truth or Dare?, I would like to share with you an insight into my life, in fact and fiction.

Truth or Dare? begins in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, where I bought my first house. In the late eighties and early nineties, it was a small market town, a fifteen minute drive from the big shops in Central Milton Keynes. I moved there from Watford, primarily because property was cheaper, but also for my job. I was an insurance claims assessor, and Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire were part of my area.

Weymouth Harbour
Weymouth Harbour. I love sitting here on a sunny day, with my family, eating fish and chips, watching the world sail by.

My parents lived in Weymouth, and I visited whenever work, social life, and Rotaract permitted, rising early so during my drive I would see the sun drift over Salisbury Cathedral, and arrive in Weymouth in time to watch the dedicated dog-walkers set their hounds free on the beach. I would reach my parents’ house ready to sit at the family table for breakfast. Sometimes I told my mum I was coming, other times, I’d just pitch up.

I’ve lived in Weymouth for twenty years, on three separate occasions, this latest spell being the longest. I cannot imagine leaving. It holds many precious memories – marriage, births, deaths, friendships.

Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach. Rosie and Josh have a ‘moment’ here.

I love the scenery, the drama, the cry of the gulls. The sea.

It is no wonder Weymouth and Portland feature in my novels. I hope I can do it justice.

Beautiful and inspirational
Beautiful and inspirational

And I hope you enjoy reading Truth or Dare? It’s published today, and is available on Kindle.

Laura x

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Truth or Dare?  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00G3I4PHM

Love’s a dangerous game … 

Kate Blair’s sick of unrequited love. She’s quietly waited for Mickey for the past six years and finding a compass-carved heart, with their initials scratched through the middle, only strengthens her resolve: no more Mickey and no more playing it safe.

It’s time to take a chance on real love and Declan O’Brien’s the perfect risk. He’s handsome, kind, and crazy about her so it’s not long before all thoughts of Mickey come few and far between.

But old habits die-hard. Kate may have started to forget … but has Mickey?

Choc Lit Lite.

Festival of Romance Awards

Festival of Romance Awards 2013. Here are the nominations:

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Press Release

London, 21 October 2013

The shortlists for the 2013 Festival of Romance Awards have been announced. Comprising the Romance Reader, Romance Industry and New Talent Awards, the winners will be announced on Saturday 9th November at the Festival of Romance along with two competitions run by romance publishers to find new authors in the genre; both Piatkus Entice and Carina UK have publishing contracts on offer to writers. Now in their third year the Romance Reader Awards are judged solely by a panel of readers and include novels by bestselling authors on the shortlists as well as books by newer names. Independent publisher Choc Lit and new digital romance imprint HarperImpulse from Harper Collins have been nominated for Publisher of the Year and for the first time there is to be an award for Romance Blogger of the Year, recognising the invaluable contribution by bloggers reviewing books and creating social media buzz around romance reading. Nominated for the Hall of Fame Award for outstanding achievement in romantic fiction is the Romantic Novelists Association which has been representing authors and been a defining, driving and positive force for the genre since 1960.

2013 Awards Shortlists

Romance Reader Awards

Best Romantic Read

Just for Christmas by Scarlett Bailey (Ebury)

Take a Look At Me Now by Miranda Dickinson (Avon)

A Cornish Affair by Liz Fenwick (Orion)

Hubble Bubble by Jane Lovering (Choc Lit)

Is This Love? By Sue Moorcroft (Choc Lit)

Playing Grace by Hazel Osmond (Quercus)

Best Historical Read

The Lost Duchess by Jenny Barden (Ebury)

The Spice Merchant’s Wife by Charlotte Betts (Piatkus)

The Gilded Fan by Christina Courtenay (Choc Lit)

A Bargain Struck by Liz Harris (Choc Lit)

Maid of Oaklands Manor by Terri Nixon (Piatkus Entice)

The Affair by Gill Paul (Avon)

Best Romantic Ebook

It Happened One Night by Phillipa Ashley (Piatkus Entice)

Beyond Grace’s Rainbow by Carmel Harrington (HarperImpulse)

Truth or Dare? by Laura James (Choc Lit Lite)

How to Win a Guy in 10 Dates by Jane Linfoot (HarperImpulse)

Confessions of a Chalet Girl by Lorraine Wilson (HarperImpulse)

Best Short Romance

Come Full Circle by Natalie-Nicole Bates (Books to Go Now)

The Art of Deception by Liz Harris (Choc Lit)

The Rebound Guy by Fiona Harper (Mills and Boon Cherish)

Stranded with the Tycoon by Sophie Pembroke (Mills and Boon Modern)

Best Author Published Read

No One Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday by Tracy Bloom

The Good Sister by Amielise Gable

The Bow Wow Club by Nicola May

The Pollyanna Plan by Talli Roland

The Hollow Heart by Adrienne Vaughan

Cooking Up a Storm by Sue Welfare

New Talent Award

Fate Plays Dangerous Games – Kaye Chaloner

Lucky Kate – Glenda Cooper

The Wildflower of Ravenscar – Wendy Grace

Rock, Paper, Scissors – Jayne Hall

Fifty Not Out – Vivien Hampshire

Boot Camp Bride – Elizabeth Lamb

The Survivor – Shada Lapite

Glitter Red Shoes and Sky Blue Gingham – Anna Mansell

The Bow Wow Club – Nicola May

Baby Number Two – Catherine Miller

Acting on Impulse – Bella Osborne

The Honey Projects – Fay Rusling

Missing Grace – Vanessa Savage

Crazy Little Thing – Kate Scholefield

Broken Jigsaw – Lynda Stacey

Edge of Life – Karen Taylor

Head over Heart – Lucie Wheeler

Romance Industry Awards

Innovation in Romantic Fiction (Publisher)

Choc Lit – for their commitment and support to developing new writers

Harper Collins – for use of different formats; ebook compilations, hardbacks and paperbacks

HarperImpulse – for listening to what romance readers want and connecting with readers through social media

Innovation in Romantic Fiction (Author)

Julie Cohen – for outstanding and captivating teaching methods leading to many of her students receiving publishing contracts

Linn B Halton – for evolving the loveahappyending.com author/reader initiative into an interactive lifestyle magazine

Lindsey Kelk – for excellent social media campaigns and use of short stories to promote her novels

Lorraine Wilson – for being such an inspiration to other writers

Publisher of the Year

Choc Lit – for promotion of romantic fiction and the hero and heroine benefiting the entire genre

Harper Collins – for evolving in the ever changing marketplace and the use of imprints to reach many different readers

HarperImpulse – for going from zero to huge in such a short space of time

Literary Agent of the Year

Carole Blake – for a long, successful career contributing 50 years to publishing

Broo Doherty – for always being the professional and a first class mentor and advocate for her authors

Hannah Ferguson – for her faith in new writers and ability to spot future bestsellers

Lizzie Kremer – for her commitment to the romantic fiction genre

Romance Blogger of the Year

 Tanya Farrell (After The Final Chapters) – for writing honest, funny and no holds barred reviews and using social media to connect with readers throughout the world

Sharon Goodwin (Jera’s Jamboree) – for honest reviews and her active support of new authors as well as more established names

JB Johnston (Brook Cottage Books) – for being unstinting in her support of authors and reviewing tirelessly

Kirsty Maclennan (The Love of a Good Book) – for being a tireless supporter of romantic fiction and continuing to make her blog better than ever

Carol Wright (Dizzy C’s Book Blog) – for being innovative with interviews and seasonal extras and having daily posts that are interesting and varied

 

Hall of Fame

The Romantic Novelists’ Association – for being a defining, driving and positive force for the genre since 1960

Many congratulations to everyone on the shortlists and good luck.

I am thrilled, delighted, and honoured that my debut novel, Truth or Dare? is on the Best Romantic Ebook. I have spent the last two days stunned, breathless, and excited.

I’d like to wish my Romaniac chums, Catherine Miller, Vanessa Savage, and Lucie Wheeler all the luck in the world for the New Talent Award. They are three talented writers.

I would also like to wish my friends at Choc Lit the best of luck, too.7 of 9. The Romaniacs

Two awesome teams. How lucky am I?

It promises to be one heck of a party.

And watch out for Truth or Dare? – It will be on your digital shelf this week.

Laura x

The Italian Job?

IMG_1563The Italian Job? Well, I will be in Italy, and it is to do with my ‘job’; not that I call writing a job. It’s a passion.

After the excitement of my book contract with Choc Lit, I’m getting my head down, finishing book two, and what better way to move a story forward than to participate in a writing course. My fellow Romaniac, Celia Anderson, is attending, and we are being tutored by one of my Choc Lit colleagues, Sue Moorcroft.

With Gajitman and his techno army in charge back at base, I shall be crafting my art, and learning new skills, as well as practising my swimming and sampling the local fare.

I know, but somebody has to do it.

There will be photographic evidence of hard work, I promise. Until then, have a great week and enjoy the sunshine.

Helen Ellis Photography
Helen Ellis Photography

Take care.

Laura x

I Have News

Evening Sun in PenrithGood morning. I have news.

I am delighted to tell you my first novel, ‘Truth or Dare?’ has been accepted for publication by the marvellous Choc Lit, under their new Choc Lit Lite imprint, and I couldn’t be happier.

Choc Lit are a well-respected, award-winning, independent publisher, with great work ethics and fantastic authors, and one with whom I feel honoured to be linked.

I’m quite sure none of this would have happened had I not joined my local writing group, Off The Cuff, or the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme, and owe everyone involved my thanks. If you are an unpublished writer of romance, the NWS is the scheme for you. Find out about it here.

Through both groups, I have learned such a lot about writing, and life, but best of all, I made enduring, solid writing friendships, including my online support group, The Romaniacs.Romaniac Tee Shirts

Then there are those wonderful friends and family at home, who for the last six years have listened to me without glazing over, and encouraged me to keep going.

You are all stars, and not once have I found writing a lonely experience 🙂

Thank you.

And thank you, Mum.

Take care.

Laura xx

Thank you for this photo, Shelly xxx
Thank you for this photo, Shelly xxx

 

 

Laura Gets Flash

IMG_2244Last week I blogged about my local writing group and the skills I’ve learned through attending Off The Cuff. It was this group that introduced and explained Flash Fiction to me. Wikipedia defines it as “…a style of fictional literature or fiction of extreme brevity.”

I have written stories as short as 25 words, and entered competitions with tales of 500 words. I’ve tried a 6 word story, but am not yet skilled enough to produce anything of value in this range.

As an over-writer who loves to hack and slash scripts down, flash fiction satisfies my desire for concision. It focuses the mind, and helps develop the ability to identify the relevant points of the story.

The following is a 10 minute, 100 word story, written at Off The Cuff. It’s not been tweaked – this is how it was presented.

From Hero to Zero 

Handsome and rich. I had everything; Hollywood ranch, private jet, two Oscars. I had glacial white, virginal girls pleading to be walked on the red carpet.

My days were full of action. My nights too.

My face appeared on billboards, my palm prints on the Walk of Fame. My life was documented in magazines, news clippings, movies. “The greatest action hero of all time”, the tag line to my name.

And then I met her.

She taught me there’s no value to property, fame, or notches on a bedpost.

I’d rather possess nothing, and have her love.

Zero.

Not hero.

 

It’s not perfect, it possibly breaks all sorts of rules, and it’s not award-winning stuff, but that’s not why I wrote it.

Jubilee street party

 

I wrote it because I love to write.

Take care.

Laura x

Always On My Mind

IMG_1191Yesterday was the first day of spring. A time of renewal.

Today is the first anniversary of the loss of my mother.

Not much has changed, and yet, everything has.

I’m still vulnerable to attacks of naivety, anxiety, and concerns I might have said or done the wrong thing, but I’m the end of the line. There is no more ‘I’ll hear what Mum has to say about it’. That doesn’t stop me wondering. The advice and guidance she offered throughout our life together is drawn upon every day. ‘This time will pass’, features often.

As a family, we have moved forward, and we’ve taken my mum with us.

As Lilo and Stitch say, ‘Ohana’.

Laura x

 

 

 

 

Feel The Love

The weekend of November 16th sees the start of the 2012 Festival of Romance, in Bedford.

I attended the inaugural Festival last year in Watford and had a thoroughly brilliant time. I met authors, publishers, editors and a group of ladies who, with me, were to become The Romaniacs.

The Festival format is a little different this year with Regency Romance hitting Bedford town centre and workshops and events divided between venues.

Friday night is the Festival of Romance Awards and Ball and I am thrilled to announce my current work in progress, ‘Follow Me’, has been shortlisted for the New Talent Award. Not only that, but five of my fellow Romaniacs are also on that list.

In total, twenty five new writers are in the running, so there’s plenty of great competition out there.

Many friends are up for a variety of awards and it is fantastic their hard work is being highlighted in such a positive way.

I offer my congratulations to everyone whose name has appeared on a shortlist and thank Kate Allan, Chief Organiser, and the committee for all their hard work in producing a weekend of romance.

For those who cannot make the event, I hope you enjoy your own weekend of romance.

Take care.

Laura x

Riotous Kittens & Rampaging Ideas.

On Saturday 13th October 2012, I attended an Advance Novel Writing Course, run by Julie Cohen. It tickles me that it was held in Reading. I know it’s pronounced Redding, but still.

I enjoyed the whole experience – the early morning drive, meeting like-minded souls and learning how to improve my writing.

The main thrust of the day for me was finding ways to build up my hero in ‘Truth or Dare?’ I’ve been working on ‘beefing’ him up and increasing his point of view, but felt I’d reached a point where anything I added would be waffle. As writers, we know that everything we put in a story must move it forward. Through Julie’s exercises, I have found depths to my hero that need exploring and sides to him I hadn’t considered. This excites me. I have so many ideas, I’m having to rein them in a little, just until I have them under control.

I type this as my two recently acquired kittens, Rascal and Sheldon, run riot around my house. If I can get them sorted, I’m hoping my ideas will lie down and also submit.

Right, kittens. You first…

Take care.

Laura x

To Submit or not to Submit?

To submit or not submit? That is the question I asked myself thirty times.

I am a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme. It is a fantastic organisation which offers friendship, advice, the chance to meet other writers, agents and publishers and once a year, have one’s manuscript critiqued. The deadline for the critique is August 31st. Well done to everyone who submitted.

At the beginning of this year I had a plan; By July I was going to have a second story written and submitted to the NWS. It started well as I joined in with a challenge set by author Sally Quilford entitled 100k in a 100 Days. The aim was to write 1000 words each day for 100 days, starting on January 1st and ending on April 9th.

By March, I had 60,000 words written, most of which belonged to the work in progress (WIP). My writing came to an abrupt halt late March, when I lost my mum. Everything that followed knocked writing off the agenda.

I could not get back into the work in progress. The last scene I’d written concentrated on the hero’s grief having lost his family. It was not a place I wished to visit. With that in mind, I decided not to submit to the NWS. I emailed the organiser explaining my situation and received a lovely reply which left the door open for me to send in a partial (a non-completed story) and a synopsis if I felt able.

As time progressed and life settled into a new groove, I turned to writing short stories. They were perfect for fulfilling the desire to write without draining my emotional reserves. With aspects of my life hanging in the balance, I derived satisfaction from starting and completing a project within a short time span, and it appeased the guilt of not tackling the WIP knowing I was keeping my hand in.

There’s the telling word – appeased.

In hindsight I think those who know me well realised I was struggling with the idea of not submitting. I had 60,000 words saved in Drive C. I had neglected them. My poor, desperate hero, like me, had to start dealing with his grief. I could not leave him in his state of disbelief.

I began to think about the story once more. I mentioned one or two ideas to my wonderful Romaniac chums, who as ever, were supportive, funny and pillars of rock and again the suggestion was made that I should consider sending in a partial. I then received the same advice from two established members of the RNA.

Have you ever had that feeling someone is trying to tell you something?

At the beginning of July, struck by a bolt of insanity, I declared to my family and friends I would be submitting to the NWS and I would work for as long and as hard as I could to finish and polish the manuscript. I had six weeks, after all.

This Tuesday I didn’t go to bed. I stayed up reading through a revised and rewritten 52,000 words, replacing over-used phrases, correcting chronology mistakes and fixing typos and cut and paste errors.

I went to bed at 07:00, Wednesday, rose at 09:00, and at 11:00, handed the NEW padded envelope, fattened with my partial, to the post office assistant.

It was the first time I’d been out of the house in days.

Okay. So I didn’t manage to write the whole story, but I reached a point about a week before when I knew it was not going to happen. Perhaps I should have written the entire book before editing, but I wanted to submit more than a first draft. I appreciate it is not a final version, but I have presented my work to the best of my ability.

What have I learned? Support, advice and encouragement from family, friends and writing chums are invaluable assets when faced with the impossible, and I thank you for providing all three in lorry loads.

Scrap that. Make it juggernaut loads.

No. Container loads.

And what of my hero? He is out of his disbelief phase and he’s through with the guilt, but he is sinking lower than the Titanic. I wonder if like the sun, he will rise and see the dawning of happier times?

Laura x