Publication Day!

The day has come at last!! My little book is out in the wide world and it feels... BRILLIANT! I have been spoiled by my wonderful publisher Choc Lit as you can see from the picture of the goodies below, and everyone has been so wonderful about how much they have enjoyed my novel so far. (It has been out as an e-book for a little while.)

It has so far only received 5* reviews - thirteen of them! And I have been overwhelmed by the fantastic comments on Twitter, Facebook and on various lovely blog posts too.

I have already been asked for a sequel by numerous people and that's lucky because I am already writing one! Talking of luck, I feel incredibly lucky to be announcing all this news, because although I have worked damned hard and never given up even when the going was really tough, I wouldn't have been able to do it all without  my lovely family, friends and of course getting the contract with such a fantastic publisher.

I have the launch to look forward to now and if you are around in Bristol on Wednesday the 10th of April, pop into Foyles bookshop, Cabot Circus between 6.30-8pm and have a chat with me. There will be chocolate, drinks and cupcakes too!

Thanks so much to all who have made this day happen, it is very much appreciated!!



If you want to buy a copy, please click the link below:

A Stitch In Time

Mandy's Musings welcomes Carol Hedges

I’d like to say a big welcome to writer, Tweeter and lovely lady to boot, Carol Hedges. Carol has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about herself and I for one can’t wait to find out more!

Now Carol, I will try to ask questions which aren’t asked too many times in interviews. Some may seem a bit off the wall, but I find that answers to those can be very revealing about a person. Oh and would you like coffee, tea, gin?

Coffee please, Mandy. Strong, white no sugar -- ooh and do I see biccies? Do I?

Yes there are a few. *wipes crumbs from mouth* There you go, sorry the chocolate ones have...er...gone. Okay here goes...a nice simple one for starters ...

What do you love doing most in the world and why?

Apart from 'nothing at all' which I guess is what most of us would say, closely followed by: eating cake, I have to say writing. (Well, what do you expect?)

Are you superstitious?

Me? Glances over shoulder. No, not at all *crosses fingers* Don't believe in it  - ooh, was that a black cat? And who left that ladder propped up there?

What is the first book you can remember reading and what impact if any did it have on your writing?

It was a book called 'Orlando the Marmalade Cat' by Kathleen Hale. I was 4 years old and had been dumped in the local library while my mum did some shopping. In those days, library books had boring plain covers, so it was impossible to know what was inside. I opened it up - and there were these AMAZING colourful drawings of cats and kittens. I was hooked on books from that moment.

Do you feel as if you have achieved everything you wanted to achieve in life so far?

Well, I haven't bought the villa in Tuscany, the pink Ferrari or the yacht. But I've had 11 books published, and managed to edge myself into social media, which isn't a bad tally for an oldie!

That’s brilliant, Carol you should be so proud. I know you used to be a teacher. How important do you think compulsory standard education is to a person’s long-term development? Would you change anything if you were in charge of the education system?

I think education is so important. If you look back through history, it was the lack of education that caused poor people to remain in poverty, and rich people who could afford it, to keep them there. What I find wrong with the system right now, as I'm sure you, a fellow ex-teacher would agree, is that it is being run by amateur ideologues, who have never set foot in a classroom, and just want to be known for changing the system for the sake of it. Power to the Teachers, I say!!

                            

I do agree! Okay - please tell us a little about why you started writing and something about your latest book.  Also where can we purchase such a book?

I started writing in my teens - can't remember what I wrote, but I wrote. My first book was published in 1992 (Ring of Silver, Lord of Time). It's out of print now. Currently, I have 4 books in the Spy Girl series, published by Usborne. These feature a feisty 15 year old heroine Jazmin Dawson and have been described as 'Alex Rider meets Nancy Drew'. They can be purchased from any good bookshop, or via Amazon. I also have a self-published YA novel e-book, Jigsaw Pieces, which is only available from Amazon.

Can you tell us anything about your current work in progress?

I’m just doing the final edits on a Victorian-lite crime novel called Diamond Girl. It's a kind of homage to all those amazing writers like Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. It's also the first full length 'adult' novel that I've written, so I'm quite excited about it. Not sure of the final format. My agent has first refusal, then I'll try some of the lovely smaller publishers. It'd be nice NOT to have to format it myself - Jigsaw Pieces was very hard work to do.

Would you like to add anything? Please feel free.

Thanks. I think I'd just like to end this lovely visit (by the way, you did say there'd be cake, but none has appeared so far) by saying a big thank you to everyone who has made me so welcome on Twitter, Facebook and on their blogs. There are some truly amazing people out there and I've made some wonderful friends. So thank you all.

Thank you so much for being my guest today! *mutters * I never mentioned cake.

Mandy's Musings Welcomes Alison Morton

Thank you for welcoming me to your blog, Mandy.

Tomorrow, my debut novel, INCEPTIO, is published. Hooray! Three years of slog – researching, writing, and polishing – have led to this exciting moment.

That's fantastic! Tell me, how did you become a writer?

I’ve played with words most of my life - storyteller, playwright (aged 7), article writer, local magazine editor and professional translator. Something clicked in my brain one evening in the darkened auditorium of our local multiplex on half-price Wednesday. We were watching a particularly dire film. The photography was gorgeous, the story total rubbish.

‘I could do better than this,’ I whispered in the dark to my other half.

‘So why don’t you?’

Three months later, I had completed the first draft of INCEPTIO, the first of my Roma Nova alternate history thrillers.

 I knew I needed to learn novel-crafting skills so joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme in 2010. Participation in two RNA conferences, an Arvon Foundation course in commercial fiction and the Festival of Writing at York all helped me develop my writing. And I met some knowledgeable, generous and fun people along the way. My history MA had taught me how to research and my six years in the Territorial Army trained me to do ‘guns and mud’. Perfect preparation for INCEPTIO.

My husband took early retirement, I sold my translation business and we decamped to France in May 2010. Surrounded by peace, fresh air and sunshine, I have written two further books in the series. I write most mornings after a short spurt on social media, and do domestic stuff in the afternoons. In the evening, I’ll write a few more lines or research but more likely mess about er, ‘interact with professional colleagues’ on Facebook and Twitter.

Ah yes...I tend to interact with professional colleagues quite a bit too . So, what advice do you have for other writers?

Bash the story out and tell the story; it’s the most important thing. Put it away for at least six weeks, then do the first self-edit, checking the plot structure, deleting the dreadful parts and working on the sloppy bits. Then back into the drawer and start the next project. A few weeks later, take it out of the drawer and scrutinise each sentence, word by word, forcing each one to justify its existence. Then you have something to work with.

So Roma Nova – that’s about Romans?

Stories with Romans are usually about famous emperors, epic battles, depravity, intrigue, wicked empresses and a lot of shouty men with sandals, tunics and swords. But project the Roman theme sixteen hundred years forward into the 21^st century, and with a feminist twist - how unlike ours would that world be?

Inventing a different development in history is not for the faint-hearted. I firmly believe you have to know your history reasonably well before sending it in a different direction. I’ve been a ‘Roman nut’ since I was eleven, fascinated by my first mosaic. More importantly, I know what I don’t know and am prepared to track it down.

Can you tell us a little of what INCEPTIO is about?

It starts in New York – present day, alternate reality. Karen Brown, angry and frightened after surviving a kidnap attempt, has a harsh choice – being eliminated by government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to the mysterious Roma Nova, her dead mother’s homeland in Europe. Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety, a ready-made family and a new career. But a shocking discovery about her new lover, the fascinating but arrogant special forces officer Conrad Tellus who rescued her in America, isolates her.

Renschman reaches into her new home and nearly kills her. Recovering, she is desperate to find out why he is hunting her so viciously. Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to spring it...

INCEPTIO is released tomorrow as both paperback and eBook, in the UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inceptio-Alison-Morton/dp/1781320624

Wow that sounds so unusual! I like the idea of a place ruled by women! Do you have other irons in your productive fire?

Yes. I’m working on PERFIDITAS, the second book in the Roma Nova series.

Thanks for being my guest today, Alison. Can't wait for tomorrow!

You can read more about Alison, Romans, alternate history and writing at:

www.alison-morton.com, www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor and follow her on Twitter @alison_morton

Where do you write and does it matter?

As some of you may know, I write. As some of you may also know, I am not a great believer in leaping out of bed, getting showered, dressed, breakfasted and dashing off to a specified area of the house set aside for the writing process. 

Even though I use a modern laptop - (the above picture is just for illustration purposes)  I don't have an office, room, or indeed, shed to write in. I know that many of my writer friends do and feel that it is necessary,  nay, crucial to get their creative juices flowing. A special designated spot away from all distraction is a must for them. Now, I don't like distraction, so why, oh why do I choose to sit on the sofa in my dressing gown alternating between writing, Twitter and Facebook? I have done a post on procrastination in the past, so I won't do one here, but I guess it all ties in to what I'm saying. (see what I did there? No? Hmm neither do I.) 

I have no answers really. There is a large part of me that would love to abandon the sofa for the heady heights of a shed, but alas I am without the means to achieve such a place. There are other rooms in the house however (I am not chained to the sofa with heavy duty manacles) and with very little effort I could make another space welcoming and conducive to juicing the creativity. I must turn over a new leaf and at least get dressed before beginning work for the day. Perhaps then I would feel like I was actually doing a job and wouldn't be tempted to see what the latest is on Twitter and Facebook?

So dear readers, where do you write and does it really matter? I am sure Carol Hedges will have a thing or two to say...she normally does.

2013 a year to remember...

I am just putting finger to keyboard to say Happy New Year to everyone who might sometimes sneak a peek at this blog. I am neglecting it woefully and for that I must apologise.  There are one or two things keeping me from updating regularly. I have been editing, (for my forthcoming novel A Stitch in Time due to be published by Choc Lit this April), writing, spending time with my marvellous Ronan Pie (grandson) and preparing the house for selling. And, yes, as usual - I have been 'faffing' (I LOVE that word) on Twitter and Facebook!


I can't wait for my novel to be published and am so excited about actually seeing my book on a shelf..in a shop - yes a real shelf in a real shop! I am also very excited about the prospect of moving house, and thrilled to little mint balls about the prospect of meeting my second grandchild in July. I think 2013 will be a momentous year filled with excitement, hope and new challenges.

So what are you most looking forward to this year? I would love to know.

The Next Big Thing

My fellow Chocliteer, and fab writer, Liz Harris, kindly asked if she could pass The Next Big Thing baton on to me. I was delighted to accept and would like to talk about my ‘next big thing’, my novel A Stitch in Time which will be published by Choc Lit on the 7^th of April next year. 

I can only hope that my novel will be as warmly received as The Road Back, Liz’s evocative tale of forbidden and lost love in Ladakh, a beautiful setting just north of the Himalayas.

So here goes:

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I have absolutely no idea. Well, that’s not strictly true. I have always been interested in time travel, and watched things like Dr who and Ashes to Ashes. But the idea just popped into my head as they often do, about 3 o'clock in the morning.

What genre does your book fall under?

Commercial Women’s Fiction – (romantic comedy/fantasy)

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

That’s a tricky one. Probably somebody like Kate Winslet for Sarah, as she’s no nonsense, witty, but quite vulnerable at the same time, and Adam Rayner (the guy who plays Aidan in Hunted) for John Needler, as he looks very much like him and is strong yet caring.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Sarah Yates yearns for more excitement in her life, but travelling to the ends of the earth through time and space while trying to keep a new love...well, that’s more than any woman can take...isn’t it?

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Six weeks! Yes, I know that is stupidly fast, but it just wrote itself. I just switched on the laptop each day and left it. When I got back home it was done...That was a joke by the way.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I can’t think of a book, but I guess the old Quantum Leap series is the closest. Only people over thirty-five would probably remember it I think!

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I think it should appeal to a wide range of people as it has bits for everyone. It has humour, romance, suspense, and because of the time travel aspect, should be of interest to readers of historical fiction too. Sarah travels to the Sheffield Blitz, The Old American West, Edwardian London and London again in 1928.

There are two very exciting and interesting writers who have agreed to run with the baton in the next few weeks and tell us all about their next big thing. Liv Thomas will do hers on Monday the 12^th of November and Trevor Belshaw will do his on  Monday the 19^th of November.

My thriller, Righteous Exposure - Crooked Cat Publishing can be purchased from Amazon for £1.99

In a contemplative mood today and found this poem. Wrote it a few years ago...

For All to See

A belly ripe with life,

swollen, heavy as a century suspended in minutes.

Rampant red stretch-marks circumnavigate a globe of

earth fruit.

Skin yearning to burst.

She observes, delights in, a twisting fist pushing out - distorting the round,

though restricted tightly by our largest organ.

A foot follows, rippling the contour, then retreats

restores, silently announcing ‘I’m here’.

A mirror reflects years forward, no longer rampant red.

Pale silvery threads fold in amongst memories, hanging, drooping.

Dreams hanker for taught veldts, chase pancake flat plains.

Inside out, the baggage of ageing...

for all to see.