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.

A Stitch in Time...

OK so here it is for your delight and excitement, my new cover for A Stitch in Time to be released by Choc Lit in April 2013.  As you can imagine I am a little bit pleased to be signed with this award winning publisher as I mentioned in a previous post Cloud 9 . I just love the cover and the designer Berni has done a fantastic job as usual! Can't wait for April, but at least I can feast my eyes on this lovely cover until then and imagine it on the shelves!!!

Blurb: A stitch in time saves nine…or does it?

Sarah Yates is a thirty something history teacher, divorced, disillusioned and desperate to have more excitement in her life. Making all her dreams come true seems about as likely as climbing Everest in stilettos.

Then one evening the door bell rings and the handsome and mysterious John Needler brings more excitement than Sarah could ever have imagined. John wants Sarah to go back in time…

Sarah is whisked from the Sheffield Blitz to the suffragette movement in London to the Old American West, trying to make sure people find their happy endings. The only question is, will she ever be able to find hers?

An Interview with Cathie Dunn

Today I am delighted to have the wonderful Cathie Dunn, historical fiction and romantic suspense author over for a chat.

Welcome, Cathie, can you tell us what or who inspires your writing?

Thank you, Mandy, for hosting me today. I’m thrilled to be here.

From an early age onwards, I’ve devoured books. I was a huge fan of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Adventure series and loved Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking (and her independence). Their books inspired my love of adventures.

Later, I discovered the romantic suspense novels of Victoria Holt and Barbara Erskine, the dramatic novels of Daphne du Maurier and the wonderfully exotic historical novels by M M Kaye. By that time, I knew I wanted to write, and historical and romantic suspense / adventure was to be ‘my’ genre.

Have you always written or is it a more recent development?

I started jotting down ‘ideas’ in my late teens, half-hearted attempts that ended up in a drawer. I nagged my mother into buying me a used typewriter and the stories developed. For many years, I didn’t do much more about them, until, in my late 20s, I started all over again. Since then, I’ve completed a Creative Writing course at Lancaster University, as well as short historical courses at other universities. I joined writing and critique groups and learned the value of peer feedback and support, and their brutal honesty. It helped hone my skills in terms of both writing and critical editing.

Which do you enjoy most and why, historical fiction or romantic suspense?

I love both, in different ways, both as a writer and reader. Historical fiction allows you to focus primarily on historical events - both real and fictional. I love writing about political issues, battles and campaigns; I find them fascinating to research. My favourite authors in that field are Sharon Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick.

In romantic suspense, you focus less on the secondary events, but instead on the characters and the intrigue. As a reader, you ‘feel’ the story more, you sense the tension, you experience what the characters go through. You find yourself reading faster and faster, keen to get through it to know what’s about to happen. In writing romantic suspense, you ‘show’ more than you do in generic historical fiction.

Your most recent work is the romantic suspense novella Silent Deception, can you tell us a little about that and where it's available?

Back in early May, I spotted a call for submissions for suspense novellas from a major romance publisher. The deadline was two weeks later. I took the challenge.

Trying my best, I managed a first draft in that time, but it wasn’t anywhere near the standard I’d wanted to submit. So I decided to self-publish the novella, re-wrote it, ran it past my critique partners who duly tore it to shreds, and eventually I ended up with a version I was happy with.

Silent Deception is a romantic suspense set in Victoria Cornwall, the first time I used a location I haven’t visited. Yet. The novella is currently available as an ebook on Amazon only.

What is the most useful piece of advice you have ever been given in life, regarding writing or anything else?

What an interesting question. I think it would be: ‘Be true to yourself.’ This can be taken both for life in general as well as for writing.

I’ve seen writers change their style to try fit into a specific publisher’s box, only to fail again and again. Sometimes, you can’t force it. If it doesn’t sound like your natural voice, it doesn’t ring true. Go back, start again, and listen to your intuition. Often, writers can find their inspiration again and discover a small change can make a difference.

What is the one piece of useful advice you would give to an aspiring writer?

Don’t give up! This business can break you, so you’ll need to develop a thick skin. (I know, easier said than done. I’ve been there.) Not finding the right publisher, low sales, poor reviews all put a damper on our feeling of proud achievement as our book is released.

Provided you novel is well-written, edited many times over, proofread, with a quality cover and interesting plot, you should not feel bad about it at all. It’s an incredible feat, so continue to feel proud about it.

Over the years, I’ve heard many writer friends ask: ‘What’s the point? I might just as well give up.’

My response to that is: ‘You love to write? People enjoy to read your books? Then that’s all that matters.’

Are you working on anything at the moment?

I’m currently working on two projects. One is a medieval Scottish romance novella, the other a full-length contemporary suspense set in Idaho, US. Switching from historical to contemporary has its challenges, but I’m ready to face them. And then, of course, I must get to the sequel to Dark Deceit.

Busy days and nights ahead.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Cathie!

 Thanks very much for having me here today. 

Cathie's website

Amazon link to Cathie's books

A Brilliant Read!

A few weeks ago I was kindly sent a pre-release copy of  Christina Courtenay's The Silent Touch of Shadows by my publisher Choc Lit  I had never read any of Christina's before, but I knew she won the 2012 Best Historical Romantic novel of the year award (RoNA) for her novel, Highland Storms.




It was when we had the lovely hot weather, (yes I know it's hard to remember what that was like) and I took the book up the garden with a glass of wine (yep, I know that's hard to imagine for me, I usually only drink fruit juice) and sat under the pergola. I had planned to just have half an hour's break before I carried on with my own writing, but once I opened the book I couldn't close it again. Well, I could physically of course, but I didn't want to leave the intriguing story and beautiful writing.


The Silent Touch of Shadows is a haunting love story set in the present and 15th century Kent. Melissa Grantham, a single parent and genealogist is troubled by vivid dreams after a visit to her aunt's ancient Manor House. The dreams are so real that she feels as if she is somehow actually back in the fifteenth century, and  sharing a connection to a young medieval woman. The connection is so real that Melissa can practically feel, touch and smell the past. The feelings the woman has for a forbidden lover troubles Melissa also in more ways than one. Unable to get the ghosts of the past out of her mind, she harnesses her professional skills to try to solve the mystery of the Manor and her dreams.


Having read this fab story I can see why Christina Courtenay won her award. Her story telling in general and description of the historical period in particular, makes the reader believe they are there alongside the main protagonist every step of the way. If you want an unusual and intriguing love story then look no further than this book. I loved it!


The publication date is the 7th of July - deffo a date for your diaries :) 


You can also get it on Kindle now - The Silent Touch of Shadows

Cloud 9

Well, I think I have at last calmed down enough to actually blog about my recent book deal with Choc Lit Publishing! http://bit.ly/K4kulA

I have been on Cloud 9 for the past four weeks or so since I had the wonderful news about my novel A Stitch in Time. And to be truthful, I don't think it has sunk in properly yet. Everyone has been congratulating me and many fellow writers and friends have been so a lovely to me on Twitter and Facebook. At times I just couldn't believe that it was actually me they were congratulating! It seemed surreal really. The Choc Lit team are just wonderful too. They made me feel immediately welcome and I am over the moon to be joining such a fantastic group of talented people.

This year has certainly been good to me so far. In February my e-book Righteous Exposure was released by http://crookedcatpublishing.com/ and now this! If I could bottle and sell this feeling, I'd make a mint.

It seems that it really is true that hard graft and determination pay off. My motto is - Never give up and never forget your dreams. At times that has been really hard to stick to, but I am so glad that I did. I can hardly believe that this time last year, I was still writing the novel which will be published early next year!

So I'd just like to say thanks to all my friends and family for your support along the way. I just wish I could get you all together for one enormous party!

Cheers! xxx

Blog Lucky 7 Challenge

I have been tagged six times in this challenge and kept forgetting to do it!

This morning was the 7th tag so I thought I'd better get on with it!I was tagged by Debz Hobbs-Wyatt @BridgeHouseDebz who selected my short story for publication in 2010. That was the first time I was ever published and will always be grateful to her for giving me that chance! She is one half of Bridgehouse Publishing, http://bit.ly/30rEK a fantastic writer and also critiques manuscripts.

The instructions are:

Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
Go to line 7
Post on your blog the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating
Tag 7 other authors to do the same

Here is the seven line extract from page 7 of my WIP - Somewhere Beyond The Sea

Was I dreaming? I felt again the stubble of an unshaven face brush my cheek and then the pressure of a mouth over mine. My lungs expanded under the force of a breath from alien lungs. My stomach twisted, I rolled on my side and retched a spume of salt water onto the beach. I coughed and sucked at the chill night air. A hand rubbed my back, another grasped my forearm, tried to control my shaking body. A man’s rough voice in my ear.

“I knew you’d make it. That was the seventh breath I put in you. Seven’s a lucky number...thank god you’re alive.”

I had made it? I was alive? Then I remembered what had happened. Despair flooded through my heart like a rip-tide. A brace of rabbits lay on the sand a little way off, the moonlight glinting in their dead eyes. They were lucky.

Now over to the next seven! (pleased don't feel obliged, guys - just a bit of fun!)

Trevor Belshaw @tbelshaw

Joanna Cannon @JoannaCannon

Rachel Carter @RachCarter

Kirsty Stanley @kirstyes

Linn B Halton @LinnBHalton

Philip C James @PhilipCJames

Russ King @RussWrites