Tag Archives: Lucy Coleman

SISTER SCRIBES: JANE CABLE CATCHES UP WITH TAKE FOUR WRITERS’ LUCY AND ANGELA

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Carrying on with our catch up with last year’s Take Four Writers, today it’s the turn of Lucy Coleman and Angela Petch.

Lucy:

This year has flown by and I can’t believe it’s August already – eight months since the last of Jane Cable’s series: ‘Take Four Writers’. As we all catch up, I suspect the main theme running through our updates will be that there are never enough hours in the day. But a writer’s life is never dull, and we are blessed!

Writing as Lucy Coleman, by the end of 2019 I will have had two new books out this year with Aria Fiction, the second of which is ‘Magic Under the Mistletoe’ due out on 5 September. Set in the hamlet of Porthkerry, near Cardiff, it begins in a snowstorm. It was inspired by the heavy snowfall in December 2017, which turned much of the UK into a winter wonderland.

A new publishing contract with Boldwood Books will see the first of six novels published over the next two years, beginning with the release of ‘A Springtime to Remember’ in December 2019. The story is set in Versailles, a place that is very dear to my heart.

I’ve also recently returned to blogging and my monthly feature ‘The Happiness Factor’ covers tips on motivation and generally surviving the ups and downs of a busy life. Also fun things – interior design tips, home spa pampering, the aesthetics of your workspace if you work from home, and my best buys. A treat doesn’t need to break the bank, but it can lift the spirits.

I don’t ‘endorse’ products, but share things I’ve purchased which make me smile, or have helped me. One of my best buys recently was a back brace I wear when typing, which has taken away my spells of backache!

If you get a moment, do drop by my website https://linnbhalton.co.uk/the-happiness-factor-blog/ and check it out.

Angela:

The Tuscan Secret was published by Bookouture on June 26th, after rigorous editing. At first I panicked at the structural changes suggested. I had written this book originally in 2012 and had to reacquaint myself with the story. But then I settled and began to enjoy the challenge. Today my editor told me it has sold just shy of 10,000. I could never have imagined that figure as a self-published author. (There’s also been a knock-on sales increase of my other books).

This week I sent my first draft to my editor of the second commissioned Tuscan novel, and the editorial roundabout will again whir into action. Hopefully, what I learned from the first round will ease the process.

Downsides:

  • I’m at least half a stone heavier from spending many hours sitting in front of my laptop.
  • I am developing bad posture.
  • My hubby says my head’s in another world half the time. (It is!)

Positives:

  • I’m loving what I’m doing. There was never enough time to concentrate on my writing before. It’s fun to live in a “what-if” world.
  • I have made great new friends in the writing community.
  • I’m gaining self-belief.
  • Far from being escapist, I firmly believe that writing helps me connect more with the world.

We all know that very few authors make a mint. It would be great to have more pennies and pounds in my bank account… but money is not the only measure of happiness. Connecting with readers (even with those who give less than shining reviews) makes all those hours of being hunched over my writing; all those hours of my head feeling it’s going to burst, my eyes squinty and itching — all worth it. Hand on heart.

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: JULY

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Cass:

“Everyone should be adopted, that way you can meet your birth parents when you’re old enough to cope with them.” So says Pippa Dunn, the eponymous heroine of Alison Larkin’s debut novel, The English American (which has its roots in her autobiographical one-woman comedy show of the same name).

Adopted as an infant and raised terribly British (attending a posh boarding school, able to make a proper cup of tea and in the ‘love’ camp for Marmite on toast), Pippa – now 28 – discovers her birth parents are American. Finally, she begins to understand why she’s so different from everyone she knows.

Pippa sets off for America, soon meeting her creative birth mother and her charismatic birth father. Moving to New York to be nearer to them, Pippa believes she’s found her ‘self’ and everything she thought she wanted. Or has she?

This is a hilarious yet poignant story where you are laughing out loud one moment and holding back tears the next. Pippa’s journey is very funny, yet deeply moving, and I highly recommend The English American to anyone who loves to finish a book with a smile on their face and a warm feeling in their heart.

 

Kitty:

I’ve been in editing mode this month so have listened to audiobooks to relax, sitting there as the words wash over me reminds me of story tapes and childhood and I quickly sink into a blissful state.

Helping me do this was Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere.  Having read rave reviews and knowing it had been optioned made me curious and I was greatly rewarded for being so. I got utterly caught up in the story of the families in this book, Ng’s characterisation deft and skilful with surprises around every corner as she explores themes of motherhood and social class.

I’m currently listening to Sally Rooney’s Normal People and again can’t help but admire the way she captures that insecurity and self-doubt of adolescence that lies behind the masks we don. Two remarkably skilful writers that I highly recommend.

I’ve also devoured Jill Mansell’s Don’t Want To Miss A Thing – in book form. As ever, Jill Mansell can be relied upon to be utterly perfect as she delivers that hit of escapism and brings a smile to your face. Faultless.

 

Jane:

I’ve been reading two books set in Italy this month; both romances and both by members of our ‘Take Four Writers’ team from last year. But apart from that they couldn’t have been more different and it was a joy to be reminded how broad the church of romantic fiction is.

The first was The Tuscan Secret by Angela Petch. This is a dual timeline between the present day and the Second World War and the historical part is loosely based on Angela’s husband’s family. Tuscany is a part of the world she knows very well and her love for it shines through in the achingly beautiful descriptions of the settings. This very gifted writer can certainly take you with her, both in terms of location but also the richness of the story. It’s a much loved trope (daughter is left to discover mother’s secret after her death) and so well told I really missed the characters when I had finished reading.

In complete contrast Lucy Coleman’s Summer on the Italian Lakes is a thoroughly modern love story. After a rather nasty bout of writers’ block, romance author Brie Middleton agrees to help out at a summer retreat on Lake Garda, and of course love is just around the corner. What I particularly liked about this book was the ‘shape’ of the romance – it wasn’t formulaic or predictable – but to say more would be a spoiler. The characterisation was fabulous too and it makes a great holiday read.

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – BALANCING, SHINING, HURDLING, REFLECTING

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The final word from our four writers and a heartfelt thank you to them all for sharing their writing years. Ladies – you’re an inspiration.

JACKIE BALDWIN: BALANCING

This month for me has been all about trying to balance the competing demands on my time between the day job, writing the first draft of my third crime novel and getting sorted for Christmas. My heart says write but my head says shop, clean and do the ironing! I have never been good at splitting my focus.

Tis the season to be jolly! I am a member of a wonderful crime writing community called Crime and Publishment in Gretna. Some of us are published whilst others are working on a first draft or at the submission stage.  After our Christmas meal we went round the table celebrating everyone’s writing wins, both big and small. It was heartening to hear how far we have come since our first year in 2014.

For me this time of year is always a time for reflection. To remember those people and animals who are no longer with us but lit up our lives, to be grateful for those who are still here and to think about where I want to direct my energies in the brand new shiny year to come.

It has been a pleasure to share my writing journey with you all this year. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

ANGELA PETCH: SHINING

December Frost:  sparkly, ice-cold, sharp, and a fitting way to skate away from a year of monthly reports. I shall miss them: it’s been a way of focussing during quite a year.

December 1st, I launched my self-published “Mavis and Dot”, and, promoted by a Blog Tour, it’s going well. My shiny new banner helped pull in interested readers. On the following Saturday, I manned a successful book stall outside Arundel Cancer Research Shop. All profits from M and D are destined for this charity.  A sequel has been requested; I’m thinking up scenarios for the two ladies.

Edits for Bookouture are 99% done for the first Tuscan novel commissioned for Spring 2019, (no title yet), and I’ve written a couple of chapters for the second. The rest is in my head. This year I will pin to paper.

Thanks so much to Jane and my trio of friendly authors. New friendships made, new goals formed. Good luck to us all, happy Christmas and 2019.

 

CLAIRE DYER: HURDLING

So, another year has gone by and I’m definitely a year older, but no wiser I fear!

Some highlights have been (in no particular order): my kids are doing OK; Mr Dyer is well and busy; my cats are still my friends; my novel The Last Day was published and I’ve been working on another two books since which has been both a challenge and a joy; it looks like there may be a new poetry collection in 2021.

Some lowlights have been (in no particular order): my mother’s dementia; the state of the nation; I don’t seem to be ageing like Dame Judi Dench, more like Ena Sharples; Hollywood still hasn’t called to offer to make my book into a movie!

And, as ever, there have been hurdles as is the case of the writer’s life. No sooner are we over one, then another appears. Sometimes they trip us up; sometimes we sail over them, landing gracefully on the other side a bit like a gazelle. And, as ever, there’s no saying which the next one will be as I sit here at the year’s end with the echo of the starting pistol and the crowd’s roar in my ear.

LUCY COLEMAN: REFLECTING

As the year draws to a close it’s a time when I reflect upon the highlights and low points of my working year. But more importantly it’s when I set new goals for the year ahead.

It has been my second most successful year as an author to date, for which I’m incredibly grateful. Hitting the no. 5 spot in the UK Kindle chart with ‘Snowflakes Over Holly Cove’, my second novel writing as Lucy Coleman, was beyond any dream I ever had. The goals I set are never about the results, but about the work required to keep honing my skills.

My goal for 2018 was to write four new books. Tick. And the first novella in a new little project with a new pen name. Tick.

My goal for 2019? Four new books and the second novella.

I write because it’s my passion and I write from the heart. The happiness and fulfilment is in the creation, because it is a little like the lottery. In this case fate is in the hands of the legion of wonderful reviewers and readers who choose your book. And that’s humbling.

Wishing everyone a 2019 filled with happiness, love and good health. And to the incredible Jane Cable and my fellow writers, you are all an inspiration!

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – DIVIDING, EDITING, DREAMING AND TOURING

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CLAIRE DYER: DIVIDING

This month I’d like to talk about my ‘other’ life. I see myself as both a poet and a novelist and people often ask which I prefer being. My answer is always that I like them both the same. However, there are big differences in the way poetry and fiction are published and so this does inevitably alter things.

For a start a poem is a constantly changing thing. Even when it’s been in print, a poet can change elements of his/her poem when it’s republished or collated in a collection. Secondly, putting together a collection takes YEARS! Novelists think it takes an age to get a book published, but collections of poetry can take mini-lifetimes. My last one, ‘Interference Effects’ kindly published by the very wonderful Two Rivers Press took five years from being a spark in my eye to a book in my hand.

The collection I’m working on at the moment contains poems first written in 2014, the manuscript is due to be delivered to the very wonderful Two Rivers Press in June 2020 and it will be a further year or so before possible publication. And this is fine because it takes patience, love and a whole heap of courage to be a poet. However, all this fades to nothing when a line comes that sets your hairline fizzing or you stand in front of an audience and read something that makes them laugh, gasp or (even better) weep.

Poetry books may be slim, time-consuming, delicate and easily lost in the noise of mass paperback sales, but they are things of beauty nonetheless.

 

LUCY COLEMAN: COUNTING

Finally welcoming in the good news this month, as a loved one is out of intensive care. It feels like a dark shadow has been lifted and the sun can shine again. Miracles can happen!

I’ve hardly moved from my desk with line edits and a cover reveal for A Greek Affair, in preparation for its release on the 28 December 2018 by Harper Impulse. And copy edits for The Writing Retreat on the Italian Lake, due for release on 5 February 2018 by Aria Fiction.

And my first audio book, for The French Adventure, is due out on 29 November 2018.

The good news keeps on coming and there’s even more, but authors get used to sitting on things for a while. So, my lips are sealed. But after the darkest of Octobers, I feel that Christmas has come early and I’m truly counting my blessings!

 

ANGELA PETCH: DREAMING

What about a monthly report starting with:  I’ve been dozing in my hammock on the island of Zanzibar, wondering what to do next. Ha ha! More like – I’ve been wondering how on earth to tackle my to-do list.

“Mavis and Dot” are on a blog tour and I’m relieved my two ladies/babies are appealing to readers. When you read comments from complete strangers like: “I could really see this gem of a book as a fantastic movie…”; “A must read…”; “This book was a total joy from beginning to end…” your heart has to sing. It justifies hours of sitting hunched over a pc. This month has been a mine-field of formatting issues but lovely authors have helped.

But I’m a hybrid and have just come off the phone from a chat with my editor at Bookouture. No peace for the wicked: I have major edits to carry out on my re-write of “Tuscan Roots”.

Where’s that hammock?

 

JACKIE BALDWIN: TOURING

November has been fairly busy as I have been on a Deadly Intent tour around some of the many libraries in Dumfries and Galloway with my partner in crime, Lucy Cameron. It’s been a lot of fun getting out and about to meet readers and some of the libraries have totally spoiled us. In Wigtown, for example, we were all treated to freshly baked scones with jam and cream!

As part of Book Week Scotland, we’re reading along with some other authors at a gin/rum night at The Selkirk Arms in Kirkcudbright, which, coincidentally, is where my second novel, Perfect Dead, is set.

On 29th November, I’ll be on a wee jaunt to Edinburgh for Noir at the Bar which is always a fun night and a chance to discover some great new crime authors.

Finally, I’m pleased to report that my third novel is firmly back on track after all the thrashing about with it last month. I’ve now nailed down the plot which nearly got the better of me and I’m pushing on through the first draft.

See you next month!

 

 

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – DOWN, DEEPER, DOWN – AND LIGHT

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LUCY COLEMAN

It’s been an emotional month. With a close family member in ICU for over two weeks and still critical, our hearts have been breaking. In the middle of this my other half and I had stomach flu and then structural edits arrived on my desk. The bug cut our hospital vigil short, so we text and support the ‘supporters’ by phone.

Aside from passing on messages to the wider family, my way of coping is to write. I channelled all that emotional turmoil into my edits and then into my current work in progress. All we can do is pray for a good outcome and when you can’t physically be there to help, it’s important to keep busy.

Writing for me is escapism. But I don’t avoid the harsher side of life and most of my novels reflect the mixed bag fate dishes out. What I’ve learnt this month is that there is a lot of kindness and love in this world, and often it comes from strangers – nurses and doctors who are there when you most need them. It’s truly humbling and a remind of how precious life is.

 

CLAIRE DYER

And so I’ve been faced with something that can bring a chill to any author’s heart – the rewrite. I have written a novel. It has been seen by quite a few people and one of these people has suggested that it would be stronger, better, more commercial were I to … It’s quite a long list!

But rather than recoil, I find myself embracing the challenge. They’re right. The book will be stronger, better, more commercial if I make the suggested changes. The only problem is, can I? Not as in may I, or do I want to, but am I able to? It seems a huge task. Six strands need editing, all the possible knock-on effects of these edits need to be spotted to ensure consistency; I have to match the tone, voice, spirit of the original even though time has passed and other things have crowded into my mind.

And so I’m going in. Will let you know how I get on!

STOP PRESS: some weeks have passed and I think I’m done. The six strands have been buffed, honed, added to, had stuff deleted from and I’m exhausted. I’ve re-read the book what seems like a gazillion times. I’ve loved it and I’ve hated it. I’ve wept from despair, and also because the story has come from somewhere deep within where a lot of sadness is. It is a different beast from the novel I started two years ago and I too am altered. I hope we’ve both changed for the better, but only time will tell. I have certainly valued the experience in a bizarre sort of way. However, now it has to go off into the world and we all know what that means …!

 

JACKIE BALDWIN

There have been many highs in this writing year but this month has not been amongst them. I discovered that my lovely Golden Retriever, Poppy, who has just turned six, is terminally ill and not expected to be with us long. A real blow to us all. As a result, I don’t have much in the way of news as I have been staying close to home.

I have been tying myself into knots over the plot in my third book and may well have to abandon it completely and start again. I’ve been thinking about it so hard I might have broken my brain. This must be what writer’s block feels like, a creeping paralysis of creative thought. I have to believe that it will pass and the pieces will gradually fall into place.

I hope that by this time next month I will be writing up a storm again!

 

ANGELA PETCH

The mountainside is a picture of fiery golds and rich reds as we start to pack up our Italian house for winter. We might return for New Year, which is celebrated in Italy with delicious feasts. Maurice and I enjoyed a much-needed five-day break last week in the Abruzzo region, walking up the majestic Gran Sasso, visiting devastated hill-top towns in this earthquake area.  I have a fascination for ruins and they will feature in my third Tuscan novel, very much in the planning and research stages. While we were away, no writing was done. And that is good, but my mind was still absorbing sights, sounds and new ideas.

Mavis and Dot is going on a blog tour with Rachel’s Random Resources in mid-November, so I’ve been busy with interviews and making the final decision about the cover. I’m really pleased with it and I used a professional designer this time. Watch this space.

 

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – CONNECTING, SIGNING, RETREATING

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LUCY COLEMAN… CONNECTING

My second novel writing as Lucy Coleman for Aria Fiction is now staring back at me from my bookshelf. And I will admit that it’s still a huge thrill for me, even though it’s my thirteenth.

Snowflakes Over Holly Cove begins and ends at Christmas, but the year in between is an emotional rollercoaster.

The first reviews are in and one reviewer said it brought tears to her eyes. Why? Because of the mention of eggnog in one emotional scene.

In real life it’s the little memories that often attach themselves to the silliest of things. In this story, for the character Tia, it reminds her of her mother… and the sentiment and connection touched that reviewer’s heart, too.

An author can’t ask for any more than that. I’m feeling truly blessed and reminded why I write. And that is reader power. Reviews touch authors’ hearts, too!

 

ANGELA PETCH… SIGNING

Whoops! It’s been quite a month and I almost missed my Frost deadline. (Visions of ed, visor pulled down to cover glower, tapping fingers on her desk…sorry!)

I’m now officially a hybrid author. I can’t explain how happy I feel to have signed a two-book deal with the Bookouture “family”, as they describe their publishing team. My first novel is to be edited and reissued June 2019 and a new Tuscan novel, released April 2020. They have been understanding about deadlines. How lucky am I?

I’m exchanging ideas with my cover designer for “Mavis and Dot”, but as soon as I self-publish and launch on December 1st, then it is action stations with Bookouture. I’m so excited.

Other news: a successful first “Write Away in Tuscany” ended five days ago – exhausting but exhilarating. Eight writers travelled to our corner of Tuscany and we shared scrumptious Italian food and writing sessions. We are running it next year with modified content. Bring on 2019…

 

CLAIRE DYER… RETREATING

Last month I went on a writing retreat at Tŷ Newydd in North Wales (http://www.literaturewales.org/our-projects/ty-newydd/). It was the sixth time I’d spent time there, having previously attended both poetry and prose tutored workshops. This one was slightly different in that there was no formal element to the week. Our facilitator, Julia Forester, gently guided us, provided the chance to have one-on-one chats with her and ran a couple of sessions on submitting work and managing our time. The rest of the week was spent blissfully either working on our current projects, walking the footpath down to the beach, visiting local places of interest, chatting to one another over cups of tea or swimming in the sea. The food and company were both delicious.

My aim in going was to work on some poems I hope will form the basis of a new collection. The subject matter was hard and painful. In addition, my home life, rather than retreating to a safe distance and leaving me alone, intruded when both of my children had issues they wanted mum-input on and, seeing that being a mum is my main job and being a writer is my second job, I had to respond.

And what did this prove? We may go on retreat but we take our real lives with us. The writer’s life means we have to fit our writing in around other stuff and that this other stuff informs our writing. An ivory tower might sound a nice idea, but I think one would be both impractical and uninspiring!

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… DRAFTING

Hello again! Another busy month. I’ve been getting on with the first draft of book 3 in my DI Frank Farrell series. It always takes me a while to get into the rhythm of writing a new book but I’ve settled into it now and at the exciting stage where I don’t yet quite know what’s going to happen!

On 5th September, I was up in Edinburgh to read an extract from my work at’ Noir at the Bar.’ It was a criminally good night with a great variety of crime writers both published and unpublished.

This weekend I was at ‘Bloody Scotland’ in Stirling. It provides a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones in the crime writing and crime reading fraternities. A particular highlight was the Pitch Perfect Session where eight writers have exactly three minutes to convince a panel of agents and publishers that they must read their book.

See you next month!

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – EVENTING, TALKING, PLAYING, UPLIFTING

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JACKIE BALDWIN… EVENTING

Hello, again! This month has been super busy as my son got married on the 11th August. The week before I was so stressed I thought I might spontaneously combust but the day itself was utterly magical! I am now trying to keep the peace between my son’s cat and our two dogs who are not his biggest fans.

On the writing front, the paperback of Perfect Dead will be released on Thursday 23rd August. I am not having a launch as the day before that I am doing an event in Waterstones, Dumfries, with the fabulous Lin Anderson, who is ‘Tartan Noir’ royalty. The event has only recently been confirmed, so imagine my shock when I was meandering along the High Street in Dumfries and came face to face with a large poster of myself and Lin Anderson out on the pavement!

After that, it will be time to knuckle down and get on with the next book in the series.

Have a great month!

 

CLAIRE DYER… TALKING

This month I want to talk about talking. I don’t mean chatting to our friends over coffee or a nice cool glass of Chablis but talking about our books on our hind legs in front of other people.

It’s a very odd thing to do. After all, most writers are notoriously private people and so, to be exposed to actual readers and other writers is odd. Well I find it so anyway.

Why should this be so? Well, I’ve grown used to my books. They are incredibly special but it’s kind of embarrassing to talk about something so familiar, it’s like describing an old pair of jeans, you wonder whether anyone else will really be interested.

After all, by the time a book is published, its author has read it about a million times (OK, I might be exaggerating, but it feels like it), it has been pulled apart, put back together, tweaked, cajoled, buffed and polished to within an inch of its life and therefore, when asked, ‘What’s your book about?’ or ‘How did you think up your main character?’ or ‘Why did you end the book that way?’, it is, strangely, sometimes hard to find the right words.

 

ANGELA PETCH… PLAYING

This month, after the excitement of RNA Conference, I moved south to the Sussex Downs to stay with our eldest daughter, waiting for the birth of her third child. The heat was comparable to our hot weather in Tuscany but the surroundings very different. I had no time for writing, immersed as I was in the world of two and four-year old toddlers. Lego, cars, story reading, bottom wiping, cooking and washing filled my time. We played pretend games, which is not a million miles from being a writer, and all the while, I stored snippets in my head for future stories. It was a privilege to be in England when baby Finn arrived on August 1st.

Instead of creative writing, I’ve managed to squeeze in admin for the first Write Away in Tuscany that takes place at our Tuscan home from September 11th – 18th. I’m back in Italy now, finalising details. Mavis and Dot are being honed in the meantime and Cancer Research is supporting my campaign for funds for the launch of these two ladies.

 

LUCY COLEMAN… UPLIFTING

The arrival of the school holidays means coping with weekly sleepovers, then frenetically trying to catch up with a growing ‘to do’ list. But it’s important to me to grab as much quality family time as possible.

Writers spend a lot of their time living in a world they’ve created. I’m lucky in that I write about life, relationships and the pursuit of a happy ending. I set the mood by playing soft music and having an essential oil diffuser wafting out rose geranium and lavender. It’s uplifting.

This month has been all about preparing for the release of Lucy Coleman’s ‘Snowflakes Over Holly Cove’ on the 18 September 2018. But it’s also a nervous time for an author.

It’s a story about loss and finding love, and as cosy as a mug of hot chocolate! Set in Caswell Bay on the stunningly rugged Gower Coast, it’s one of my favourite places to walk…

 

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: CELEBRATING, RESEARCHING, WEEDING, WAITING

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JACKIE BALDWIN… CELEBRATING

A very exciting month! Publication Day of Perfect Dead came and went in a blur. I embarked on a blog tour organised by the fabulous Love Books Group. I’d already submitted the guest posts and extracts in advance so all that remained was trying to keep up with all the posts on social media. I also managed to trip over a boulder and smash up my face again, leaving me looking like I had taken up cage fighting!

I have to say, though, that publication day was not even close to being the highlight of my month. My proudest moment by far was watching my lovely daughter graduate in zoology from Aberdeen University. It was such a special day for all of us. I’m now home catching up on my blog tour before escaping to a Greek island on Friday to try and calm down!

 

LUCY COLEMAN… RESEARCHING

I’m a Gemini, so when asked what I wanted for my birthday I said ‘A trip to Versailles’ because I have an idea for a contemporary love story. I’ve been there twice before but I needed to soak up the ambience again – and grab photographs!

The final proof read of my next book, due to be released by Aria Fiction on 4 September 2018, arrived the day before I left for my holiday. But authors take their work with them, anyway, so after foot-wearying days my bedtime reading was sorted.

The palace at Versailles is enchanting, opulent and the stuff that dreams are made of – I fell in love with it all over again. Coming home I had to hit the ground running. New graphics to produce, two work-in-progresses on the go and a contract to sign … exciting times! But now I want to write about Versailles …

 

ANGELA PETCH… WEEDING

Suddenly, the writing road ahead is a flat path through wild flower meadows instead of a craggy climb. I always find calm in Tuscany where we live for six months each summer. After an initial panic over the edits needed for “Mavis and Dot”, I went for a long walk to untangle my thoughts and to face reality. I’m now acting on comments from my editor and Beta readers and rewriting sections. I’ve got my trowel out and I’m digging out the weeds, rearranging the beds. And I want “Mavis and Dot” to be as perfect as I can manage.

My husband helped devise a spread sheet for my illustrator. Her main job is busy editor of a Sussex based Arts Magazine called Ingenue, so she was pleased to work to a schedule. She hit the bullseye with two illustrations she subsequently sent and produced smiles of delight and relief.

 

CLAIRE DYER… WAITING

This month I want to talk about waiting. As a poet and an author I, like many others in the same fields, do a lot of it!

Consider this: I submitted some poems to a well-known literary journal in March of 2017. They accepted one of those poems in February: that’s eleven months of waiting. Also, I sent my agent a manuscript last September and waited for her valued and considered feedback which I got in December and it was well worth the wait! That manuscript then went on journeys out and about into the big wide world and there was more waiting and, as I write this, I still don’t know where its future might lie.

There are many more examples. In answer to the usual, ‘Where are you at the moment?’ the standard writer’s reply is ‘I’m waiting for my agent/editor/publicist/’ and/or, ‘I’m waiting to see the cover/get my first reviews/hear about a TV deal.’

Then there’s the fictional world of say, ‘The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair’ by Joël Dicker where the fictional author is hounded by his fictional agent who calls constantly asking, ‘Where is the manuscript you promised me?’

I’m not sure how one goes from the one who waits to the one who is awaited, but there’s something tantalising about imagining this. Just think, one day I may get an email which says, ‘Dear Claire, We were wondering if your new book is ready as we have the perfect cover for it.’