UPCOMING COLLECTION OF ROMANTIC SHORT STORIES

I'm busy compiling my collection of romantic short stories, which I hope to launch by December 14th! This will be available in print or as an e-book.

WRITERS MEET

I’m off for coffee with a few writer friends in Starbucks this morning. Because we all have busy lives, we are only able to meet occasionally, but when we do, we get so much out of sharing our latest writing projects and future publishing plans.

It’s not a large group, usually only three or four writers at a time, but we are all interested in writing in one form or another. And it’s not a formal group. It’s casual and spontaneous, with one or other of us deciding, let’s get together. No stress. No demands. Only support and encouragement. I always come away from our little meetings with my writing fully charged!

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING

It’s disappointing to hear that traditional publishing might not be all it was cut out to be any more! My writer friend Tanya R Taylor (Author of "Cornelius" - Amazon #1 Best-seller in Teen & Young Adult Multigenerational Family Fiction) shared some information she found on the web from another author, who says she was traditionally published for several years with a very large publisher. Tanya reports that this author got decent advances, but did encounter some problems. One of the books didn’t do as well, because somehow a retailer ordered it from the wrong publisher and no one noticed the book wasn't being carried by the retailer until release day. Then another retailer told the author’s publisher they would no longer be carrying their midlist authors, only the New York Times bestsellers.

Tanya says the author went on to be self-published and apparently sales are steady.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE MY FIRST NOVEL

I have written since the age of nine, wrote a full length children’s adventure story book when I was eleven, put out a colouring book for a shopping mall, wrote a book about two little boys’ on an island, had many feature stories and articles published over the years, and kept trying to get my short stories published. However, it wasn’t until my short story “Love at Sunset” was published in the July 19th, 2013, "Summer Collector's Edition" of "The Lady" Magazine, London, England, that my fiction really started to take off and I decided to write a novel.

The Editor of “The Lady” described my short story “Love at Sunset” as “hugely popular”. A friend in the U.K. mentioned it was reminiscent of the popular British television series “Last Tango in Halifax” about a couple in their seventies rekindling a relationship. And some readers told me that they would love to know more about the protagonists, so at the end of May 2014, I decided to develop a romantic suspense novel out of the short story.

Once started, it was much easier than I thought it would be! I got caught up in the characters and their lives and became excited about the novel. I was so excited, I started writing the book at the beginning of June, and the first draft was finished by the end of July! I worked hard on redrafting and my novel was finally ready to send out to prospective literary agents and traditional publishers by October 2014.

So far, I’ve sent out over sixty queries and submissions. One agent wrote that she had read a big chunk of my book and she loved the characters, the settings and the storyline, but she offered some suggestions for improvement. I made the changes and sent the novel back to her again. Despite a couple of follow-ups I haven’t heard back from her! This agent had even offered to let one of her assistants contact me with a critique, but I didn’t hear from them either.

I had one encouraging reply from an American publisher, who emailed me that my query had been forwarded to their committee for review. Most other responses were kind and encouraging, but probably generic!

I am determined to get my novel published, if not traditionally, by the wonderful world of publishing that has opened up on the internet. So look out for an announcement on this site that my novel “Love at Sunset” is to be published!

WELCOME!

Welcome to my new blog! I write romance. I love to create large as life characters and to set my stories in interesting locations. My aim is to write well and entertain my readers. I never send out a piece of work until it's the very best it can possibly be. I hope you will join me on my journey through the exciting world of writing and publishing!