Eulogy for my home town

After much thought, I decided to set my novel Save The Last Dance For Me (or it could well be called A Suitable Young Man - I haven't made up my mind yet), in my home town of Horwich in Lancashire. My logic was that I knew it well. When I lived there in the 1950s/1960s, it was a vibrant thriving town with a couple of mills and the Locomotive Works and many traditional independent shops. I found that using it as the location for my novel, it became as much a character of the book as any of the other characters.

Sadly, the Locomotive Works, then the main source of work for Horwich men, closed about 1968 followed soon after by the mills. 

I haven't lived there since 1967 but have returned there many times, especially with my mother before she died. Now that I live in Derbyshire, hubby and I try to go back at least once a year to tend the family grave and spend some time with a friend I've known for 60 years. 

Last weekend, we took a short break holiday to the area and on Saturday morning, as usual, took a walk around Horwich. It seemed as if every other shop was shuttered and the rest of the town looked shabby and careworn. One of my abiding memories had been the independent ironmongers', Buchanan's, with its pervading smell of firewood and paraffin. We were so sad, on Saturday, to see that, too, was closed and shuttered. It seemed to me then that the heart and soul of Horwich has gone. There's no doubt it my mind that the town has been killed off by the nearby retail park of Middlebrook.

At least, Horwich lives on in my memory and in my book!

Progress Report on Save The Last Dance For Me

After months of a fairly radical rewrite of certain parts of Save The Last Dance For Me, I have finally printed off all 323 pages (91,000+ words) and sent them to the New Writers Scheme of the Romantic Novelists' Association. This is the third time I have had it critiqued and, as such, will be the last. I wait with baited breath the ensuing report.

One of the changes I made was to the title. It is now called A Suitable Young Man. Which of course my hero is definitely not! This is because he has a rival who is definitely A Suitable Young Man.  As the novel is set in the mid 1950s when mothers were definitely keen on their daughters finding and settling down with A Suitable Young Man. Back then, if you weren't courting seriously or engaged to be married, you were considered to be 'On The Shelf'. Sounds archaic now, but that was how it was then. 

I'm now looking forward to getting back to my follow-on novel, Bittersweet Fellowship. It will be good getting to know my characters again.

Update on Save The Last Dance For Me

Phew! Good news, I have finally finished the latest rewrite/edit on Save The Last Dance For Me. It has been quite an effort mainly because, as I reported last year, I needed to rewrite the time line and add quite a few new scenes. My next step is to rewrite the synopsis to fit in with the new timeline. Synopses are not the easiest things to write. One has to write in the present tense and somehow encapsulate the essence of the plot without giving too much away. 

Once I have done that, I will be sending it off (for the last time) to the New Writers' Scheme of the Romantic Novelists' Association in order for this latest version to be assessed by one of their readers. It will be an interesting wait to see if this latest rewrite works. Watch this space ...

Other news on the RNA front is that I have once again booked for the Conference to take place in July at the University of Sheffield. I'm looking forward to that, especially as it's practically on my doorstep this year, Sheffield only being about 15 miles away from where I live.

Good News - 'Uncertainty' now reduced!

I'm pleased to announce that my trio of short stories, Uncertainty has been reduced in price to make it available to more people. I had thought that it was overpriced to begin with but I did state that it was a learning experience. After several attempts, it is now a more marketable price. Many apologies to those people who bought it at the higher price.

One thing I would ask is that if you buy it at this new price, could you please be so kind as to post a review telling me what you think. A line or two will suffice.

I'm looking forward now to publishing some more of my short stories on Amazon. 

Bolsover Castle - Return of Cavendish's Horses

I'm lucky enough to live in the historic Derbyshire town of Bolsover, dominated by Bolsover Castle. Built on a limestone escarpment overlooking the Scarsdale Valley, it is hard to miss on the approach to the town.

The present castle was built on the site of an ealier Norman castle as a 'Pleasure Palace' , a 17th century holiday home, by Sir Charles Cavendish, younger son of Bess of Hardwick. His son, William Cavendish, was passionate about horses and it was he who built the stables and riding school. Here he championed advanced dressage techniques, known as 'Haute Ecole'.

Now, Cavendish's Horses are returning to English Heritage-owned Bolsover Castle. From Easter weekend, a spectacular display of these techniques will be demonstrated in the historic riding school twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays.

On Thursday, 21st March, I was privileged to see a full dress rehearsal and it was wonderful. With the riders in 17th century attire, the horses enjoying all the attention, accompanied by atmospheric music and authentic-sounding commentary, it was an experience not to be missed. I can thoroughly recommend this experience.

Published on Amazon Kindle!

Haven't posted any blogs for a while due to one problem or another. But I now have something positive to report!

On Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, I have now published 'Uncertainty', a trio of short stories where not everything is as it seems. I'm excited about this as it's a new venture for me and it's another learning experience. For one thing, at £1.53, I think it's overpriced for what it is but there didn't seem to be a facility for pricing it any less. But if you're a member of their Prime lending scheme, you can obtain it FREE for the next couple of days.

So remember the name, Anne L Harvey, and the title, 'Uncertainty'. It's important to me, as a writer, to receive feedback so I would welcome a review. Many thanks.

How to publish an ebook in a day

Last Saturday, I attended an amazing workshop on 'How to publish your ebook in a day' at the Writing School in Leicester. It was a very hands-on computer workshop using Sigil a freeware eformatting program and Calibre another freeware program, this time for ebook management. Fascinating stuff! As Calibre can send my work direct to Kindle, I'm hoping to download a short story to my Kindle to see how it looks in print. If it's ok, I'm hoping to publish it via Kindle Direct Publishing. My book 'Save The Last Dance For Me' may well follow.

I'm still working on the rewrite and hope to get it finished in the early part of 2013 but progress has been slow for a variety of reasons, too lengthy to relate here.