Debut Novel Competition - and photo

Following a lead on a fellow writer's blog, Sally Jenkins' blog, in which she mentioned a Debut Novel Competition, I decided to submit Save The Last Dance For Me. There's no entrance fee (highly unusual!) so why not!

I've had a go at scanning the newspaper photo in but the result isn't good. Unfortunately, the newsprint from the reverse of the photo is showing through. Still I'll include it for anyone who's interested. I'm the one to the left of the photo with the dangly earring and large nose! (Thanks Dad!)

 As I said in my previous blog, it looks like Princess Anne and I are sat at the same table but in fact, we were on adjoining tables. Maggie Chilton is a member of a Chesterfield Guild and she is also a former National Chairman of the Townswomen's Guilds. If anyone reading this is interested in the organisation, perhaps with a view to joining, you might like to look at their website, Townswomen's Guild

Another disappointment - but in company with royalty!

Well, I heard back fairly quickly from the publisher I sent a synopsis and three chapters to of Save The Last Dance For Me. Unfortunately, they said no. However, one spark of hope was that this time it reached the commissioning editor for consideration. On to the next publisher on my list!

The disappointment was tempered quite well by the fact that my photograph appeared in our local weekly newspaper, the Derbyshire Times, and it looks like I am sitting at the same table as Princess Anne. In fact, we were at adjoining tables! It was also featured on the Derbyshire Times website. I would like to have posted the link but no doubt the web page will have changed by now. I'll have a go at scanning the pic in then adding it to a blog.

The other bit of news is that I have started on the redraft of my new novel. I need to get that done in the next few weeks in order to submit it to the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers Scheme. Someone actually said to me 'Why bother writing another one when you haven't sold the first one yet?' The answer is simple, I can't not write! I always have to have some project or another on the go. And as long as I continue to enjoy writing, what harm is there? You never know, I could end up selling the first one on the back of the second one! One lives in eternal hope.

A right royal occasion plus a sigh of relief!

I don't think I said in my profile, but another of my interests is the Townswomen's Guild (a bit like the Women's Institute but with an undeservedly lower profile). I am a member of our local Guild and although it is a small Guild, we are an active and friendly bunch. On Tuesday, 10 May, another TG member and I went to a national event held in Newark, Nottinghamshire. The theme of the day was 'Women of Vision' about how the movement had started soon after women got the vote. The morning session was presented by a semi-professional group who used  women's clothes of the period to demonstrate the transition from the Victorian suffragette to the thoroughly modern miss of the 1920's. It was both amusing and informative - and we loved the clothes! During the afternoon, various TG members presented their own favourite Women of Vision. These included Bess of Hardwick; Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust; Sister Dora of Walsall (not Warsaw as it said in the press releases!) With us for the afternoon was our Patron, the Princess Royal, who said she had thoroughly enjoyed her time with us. For all of us, though, the highlight of the day was a personal introduction to Princess Anne! We were all organised in small groups with a leader who then introduced each member as Princess Anne came round to  each group. Everyone said how pleasant she was, no airs and graces, and very chatty. Read about the day here. Chatty Princess charms

My other snippet of news is that this last weekend, I finished the first draft of my follow-up novel, Bitter Sweet Fellowship! I shall leave it alone for a few weeks, using the time to catch up with a few jobs I've put off to complete the task. Then it will be down to a rewrite/edit. Just to finish the first draft gave me a lot of satisfaction though.

A senior moment? or sheer stupidity?

On Saturday, 14th May, I should have been going to Birmingham to meet up with fellow writers' from the Romantic Novelists' Association. Like everyone else, I'm being careful about money these days. According, I ordered my train tickets online in April. Imagine my horror when the tickets arrived and I found that I had ordered them for 12th May not the 14th! I am doing something else on the 12th which is why I got confused. I immediately rang up to ask if I could change them for the 14th but was told it would cost £10 a ticket (ie there and back) which would cost almost as much as buying new tickets. So, rather than incur more expense, I am not going. I'm most disappointed as it's always encouraging to chat to fellow writers. Is it any wonder I felt totally stupid?

Disappointed but not discouraged

Well, I heard back from that publisher to whom I sent a synopsis and three chapters. Unfortunately, my style of writing didn't suit their kind of books. Ah well, at least I received the courtesy of a reply. However, as you can see from the title of this blog, I am not discouraged. Today, I've sent out a synopsis and three chapters, plus a query letter (and one of my flyers!) to another publisher. 

It occurred to me that, having mentioned my novel, Save The Last Dance For Me a couple of times, it might be nice to put a blurb about it on this blog so here goes.

The year of 1956 was a cataclysmic one. It was the year of the Hungarian Revolution when ordinary people dared to rise up and question their masters only to be crushed by military force. It was the year of the Suez Crisis which heralded the end of the British Empire.

It was the year that introduced the youth of Britain to rock n'roll and its early proponents, Bill Haley and Elvis Presley.

It was also the year that brought together Kathy Armstrong, a well brought-up grammar school girl and Nick Roberts, a Teddy boy from one of the meanest streets in a Lancashire mill town. In the new Elizabethan age, Nick realises there is more to life than dance halls and drinking and Kathy learns that Teddy boys can be dangerously exciting.

Report from Publishers & Readers Day

My friend and I enjoyed the Publishers and Readers Day. However, there was a problem in that of the several workshops we could have attended, three of them that we particularly wanted to go to, were at the same time in the morning! It would have been better, we felt, if another session, perhaps in the afternoon, could have been arranged for them. We said as much in our survey forms. We did attend two workshops, both of them listening to various East Midlands writers talking about their books and reading from them. From a writing point of view this was good for me. 

 I did hand out my flyer to a few publishers, not as many as I would have liked, because several of them were only interested in poetry, guide books or pamphlets. The good news is that one of the publishers suggested I send in a synopsis and three chapters. This morning, that is what I have done! I've just checked my emails and have had a personal response from someone there. I found this encouraging instead of the usual auto-response. 

Fingers - and toes! - crossed.

 

This coming Saturday, 12th March, I am attending a Publishers and Readers event with a friend organised by Derbyshire County Council in Matlock. Besides workshops with various local writers, there will also be stalls of various independent publishers from the East Midlands. I'm hoping it will be an ideal opportunity to promote my own novel Save The Last Dance For Me. To that end, I've had great fun compiling a flyer with contact details, a photograph, and a blurb about the novel. I'm quite excited about the finished result. I've done a couple of years studying desk top publishing at a local adult education centre so it was good to put my skills to work. Wish I could post the flyer on here but it would take up too much room.

I'll let you know if I have an favourable comments!