After a hiatus of a couple of months (see my previous blog Time to 'Fess up' for the reason why), I've finally got around to pulling together some of my short stories and publishing them with Kindle Direct Publishing. This is it:
MEDLEY consists of eight stories, six of which were written to a theme suggested by Writing Magazine/Writers' News competitions. Several of them were shortlisted to final judging stage. Apart from one, an adult fairy story, all are about real people coping with real life.
For further details, go to www.amazon.co.uk./dp/B00F988258
Enjoy!
Yes, it's confession time. I've had my reader's critique on A Suitable Young Man/Save The Last Dance For Me from the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme for a few weeks now and said nothing about it. The reason I haven't mentioned it before is because the reader had written quite a harsh report, leaving me devastated and demoralised, especially after such a good report last year.
However, while at the RNA Conference, I had a lovely chat with the New Writers' Scheme, Melanie Hilton (who writes Regency romances as Louise Allen.)
She agreed that the report was harsh but said that, had the reader not believed it was worthwhile, she wouldn't have written such a comprenhensive report. Melanie also confessed that even after having numerous books published, she still gets reports like that from her editor!
She advised starting with the easier edits; that way the rewrite wouldn't be as daunting. In fact, when I finally looked at the manuscript, I discovered that the reader had comprehensively annotated pages in much the sam way I would imagine an editor would do. These suggestions are extremely helpful and it's those I will be making a start with. Once I've done those, I'll look again at the report to see how much of her other suggestions I can take on board.
Although my heart quails at the thought of yet another rewrite, I know that it has to be done if ever I am to be published.
Ha! That got your attention, didn't it? Actually, I was talking about last weekend (12th-14th July) when I was a delegate at this year's Romantic Novelists' Association Conference. The steamy experience stems from the fact that the air conditioning in The
Edge Conference Centre had broken down. Although portable air con units and fans had been hired, we still steamed in the extremely warm temperatures. Here are some random thoughts of the weekend.
Who designs a building with windows that don't open especially when, predictably, the air con breaks down during the hottest weekend of the year - meeting up with old friends and making new contacts - established authors are some of the nicest people around and so generous with their time - the abundant greenery of Endcliffe Student Village - interesting and informative workshops - pity I had to come out of a couple before I flaked out - spendid Gala dinner on Saturday night with everyone dressed in their finest, fancy shoes, plenty of wine - hard-working organisers and committee members - sitting out in the blissfully cool night air - regret that I hadn't taken my comfy old sandals and paying the price with swollen feet and blisters - saying goodbye to everyone - regret that it was over with for another year - roll on next year!
Yours truly at the Gala Dinner.
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!
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.
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.
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.
