Tag: writing Page 16 of 27

Tackling the Marketing Resentment Loop

On February 19, 2016

Tackling the Marketing Resentment Loop

One of the major hurdles in modern day publishing- particularly in relation to the rise of self published books- is marketing.

Often it isn’t the marketing itself that’s the problem, but finding the time or inclination to do it in the first place.

Most writers, whether they tackle short stories, novels, scripts or poems, are not natural marketers. Let’s face it, marketing means sticking your head above the parapet and shouting ‘Hey, look at me! Look what I’ve done!’ And while not all authors are shy and retiring, many have confidence issues and live far more comfortably in the world of make believe than in the ‘real’ world of commerce.

Okay, so I’m generalising, but the point is, most writers want to write. They (we!) resent the time required to market their existing books when they’d far rather creating a new one.

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In a world where the majority of authors squeeze writing time in between working, looking after families, and doing all the other things that everyone has to do, it is hard not to resent the time spent writing blogs, or on social media, thinking up new ways to advertise our wares.

Once you start marketing it is so easy to get to go to extremes. Paranoia is only a footstep away- as you reach the point where you are afraid to stop marketing!

We all know that books are invisible if you don’t market them- but how much PR is the right amount? If you go an hour without tweeting about your latest epic will all your hard work become suddenly pointless?

arrowed circle

This is how the marketing resentment loop begins-

You write a book-

You discover it doesn’t sell by magic-

You want to write another book but the first needs marketing….but you only have 2 hours a day to wrote- so you market and don’t write-

You start to resent the marketing-

You start to lose the joy of writing-

You throw your hands in the air, and give up-

Six weeks later you are desperate to write-

You write a book-

You discover it doesn’t sell by magic…AND ROUND YOU GO AGAIN.

break-the-cycle

So how do you break the loop?

Set aside a small fraction of your writing time each day to market. Don’t go over that time period.
Cheat. Use systems like HootSuite on Twitter to automatically put out tweets for you through the day without you having to do very much work at all.
Take you mobile phone to the bathroom! Yes- I know- but you’re just sat there- tweet/post on Facebook while you’re unable to do anything else anyway! Basically use any dead time in your day to your advantage, from being sat on the loo, to waiting for the kettle to boil.
Immediately after you have finished your novel/script bite the bullet and use your precious writing time to create a series of guest blogs. Once you have them done you can simply adapt and rewrite them as required, saving you time in the long run. Blog tours are an excellent marketing tool, and if you don’t know enough bloggers to ask to host you, then a large number of services exist to provide this service, such as http://www.writermarketing.co.uk/
If you find marketing is killing the joy of creation for you, then don’t do it. Remember, writing is supposed to be fun. If you’re only in it for the money, then I strongly advise you to try your hand at something new instead!

marketing

If you’d like more advice about all elements of writing work- including marketing ideas- why not check out www.DevonWriters.com

Happy marketing,

Jenny x

My First Time: Tom Williams

By Jenny Kane

On February 17, 2016

In Blog, Fiction, Historical fiction, Interview

My new fortnightly blog series, talking about authors first publishing experiences, continues today with a geat interview from historical novelist, Tom Williams.

First Time

My First Time

I can’t remember the first story I ever wrote. For this blog we’re not supposed to include stories we were made to write at school, but I loved writing stories at school. I wrote stories, poems, essays … I wrote anything and everything. I’ve always enjoyed writing.

When I was a teenager I decided I’d like to write short stories for publication. I bought loads of women’s magazines and read them and then tried to write something that would fit their market, but I never cracked it. This was in the days before word processing so I got individually typewritten rejection letters. I remember they were often on very small sheets of paper. Presumably they sent so many of them out that using small sheets meant a real saving.

That was when I started my world-class collection of rejections. I’ve still got a lot of them, hidden in a box in the loft.

Eventually I grew up (more or less), got a job, got married, and got a life (not necessarily in that order). I’ve always been incredibly jealous of people who can organise their writing round work/marriage/hobbies. I’ve never been able to. I think it’s even harder when, like me, you do a lot of writing in the course of your work. I more or less gave up writing fiction for years but then decided that I would take time out and try and produce the novel I had always dreamt of. It took me almost a year and it attracted the interest of quite a well-known agent who sent me to an editor. I was still very young and had absolutely no idea of how lucky I was to get that far. Instead of persevering, I got increasingly frustrated until the editor suggested that I should rest the book, do something else, and come back to it. I rested it for over twenty years before I decided to have a crack at another novel. When I thought about what I wanted to do, I realised that I could take the story that I had tried to tell all those years ago and twist it round to tell it from another direction. This is the book that eventually became The White Rajah. Yet again, it did find an agent, but, though he sent it to several major publishers all of them politely declined it. It was, they said, a “difficult” first novel. Why not write something more commercial and then tried to sell The White Rajah once I was established?

The White Rajah2

I obediently went off to write something “more commercial” (it eventually became Burke in the Land of Silver) but I was beginning to think that I would be cold in my grave before The White Rajah ever saw publication. Then I saw that a tiny US indie publisher, who specialised in novels for the gay community, was looking for historical works. I had a suspicion that one of the things that made The White Rajah “difficult” was that it featured a love story but also a pronounced absence of any female characters. I decided that a niche indie publisher was probably the way to go so The White Rajah finally saw publication.

[Scrabbles desperately around and finds Jenny’s interview questions. Tries to pull himself back on track.]

What effect did that have on your life?

In practical terms, not a lot. I think everybody imagines that their first published book will change their lives, but it’s very rare that it does. It got some nice reviews and enough people bought it for JMS to ask me to produce a sequel so I did. That was Cawnpore. For what it’s worth, I think it’s the better book, but I’m happy to have written both of them.

Cawnpore_edited-1

Does your first published story reflect your current writing style?

Yes and no. I finally took the advice I had been offered years earlier and tried to write something more commercial. So I’ve written three books about a (very) heterosexual spy in the time of Napoleon and am working on a fourth. Apart from the fact that these are historical novels, they have practically nothing in common with the first two books. At the same time I produced another book in the original series, Back Home, which will be published by Accent in April. That’s totally in the style of the first two. It was never originally conceived as a trilogy, but it has worked out very naturally. The three books have different subjects but they are all seen through the eyes of John Williamson. We meet him first as a young man setting out from England for adventures in the Far East and then, in Cawnpore, as an established figure in British colonial administration who sees everything he has worked for being destroyed in the Indian Mutiny. The final book sees him back in England, closing the circle of his life. It’s fair to say that they’re not cheerful, but I honestly think they’re worth a read.

What are you working on at the moment?

Another book about my spy, James Burke. This time he will be fighting in the Peninsular War.

Tom Williams

Bio

Tom Williams used to write about boring things for money. If you wanted an analysis of complaints volumes in legal services or attitudes to diversity at the BBC, then he was your man. Now he writes much more interesting books about historical characters and earns in a year about what he could make in a day back then. (This, unfortunately, is absolutely true.) He also writes a blog (http://thewhiterajah.blogspot.co.uk/) which is widely read all over the world and generates no income at all. Besides making no money from writing, Tom makes no money out of occasionally teaching people to tango and then spends all the money he hasn’t made on going to dance in Argentina.

Please save Tom from himself and buy the bloody books.

Here are links to the published stories about John Williamson.

The White Rajah: myBook.to/WhiteRajah

Cawnpore: myBook.to/Cawnpore

Back Home will be published in April.

TW1 Burke at Waterloo

And here are the stories about James Burke.

Burke in the Land of Silver: myBook.to/LandofSilver

Burke and the Bedouin: http://mybook.to/Bedouin

Burke at Waterloo: myBook.to/BurkeWaterloo

Burke in the land of silver

Many thanks Tom. Great interview!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

The Magic of Reading: Blog Tour Post from Mary O’Sullivan

By Jenny Kane

On February 16, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, crime, Fiction

I’m delighted to welcome Mary O’Sullivan to my site today as part of a Blog Tour to celebrate the release of her brand new novel, Thicker Than Water.

Over to you Mary…

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The Magic of Reading

The cover was shiny hardboard, red, measuring twelve by eight inches. On it was depicted a woodland scene with towering trees , bluebells , sun rays slanting through branches, Red Riding Hood skipping along , and the evil wolf peeping from behind a tree trunk. When I opened the first page, a kitchen popped up. It was a cosy scene, Red Riding Hood packing a basket of goodies to bring through the woods to her Gran. The four year old me felt I was walking into that kitchen and onwards through the woods, as page after page popped up and invited me in. Yes, I was afraid of the Big Bad Wolf – I still am – but my pop-up fairy tale book introduced me to everything that is magic about reading.

Maybe you read factual books to inform yourself. Tracts and theses on everything from the half-life of Uranium 238 to the feeding habits of the lesser spotted dogfish. Or self-help books to improve the quality of your life. Or perhaps biographies and autobiographies to examine the lives of the rich and famous. I do too, but my passion is fiction. I read to escape. Not that my life is so awful I need a respite from it, but books can bring you to places you would never otherwise visit and into situations totally outside your experience. You and the author of the fictional work form a pact as soon as you read the blurb on the cover and decide you need to know more. You travel the fictional journey together, from page one through to the end. I have taken that road with many authors since I began reading. Some I have forgotten, some disliked and some I have loved so much I have read them again and again.

What a difficult task it is to say which books of the hundreds I have read, I liked best. The World According to Garp by John Irving always comes to the top of the pile when I think of works of fiction which have had a big influence on me. The main character in the book, TS Garp, had a very unusual upbringing. His mother wanted a child, but not a husband. She chose a brain-damaged soldier as the sperm donor. The only word this soldier could say was Garp so that is what she named her child. A radical feminist, she worked as nurse in an all-boys school. As he grew, Garp developed a love for wrestling, writing and Helen, the wrestling coach’s daughter. While he struggled with his writing his mother penned a novella which became a bestseller and made her a feminist icon. Garp continued to write and look after his sons while his wife went out to work. There you have a bare outline of the story, which goes nowhere near describing how brilliantly Irving carves the characters out of beautiful prose. He sculpted such unique people – Garp himself, Jenny, his mother, Roberta Muldoon, the transsexual ex-football player. What I learned from this novel was that acceptance of difference in others enriches life. I also learned never to take life or love for granted. There will be no spoilers here but the ending of this novel shook me to the core. I have re-read the book five times and yet I get emotionally swept up in the ending every time. The World According To Garp is also a film (1982) starring Robin Williams, whom I thought was brilliant in the role, even though he did not match the mental image I had forged of Garp.

After that comes A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole – one of the funniest books I ever read. For humour I would put it up there with P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster ;Somerville And Ross , Experiences Of An Irish RM. ; All Creatures Great And Small by James Herriot (Alf Wight). Humour is particularly subjective but these books always make me laugh. They take a poke at pretention and that I enjoy. Confederacy of Dunces is as entertaining as the others – in fact the main character Ignatius J Reilly , a lazy , unemployed thirty year old , an intellectual snob, still living with his mother but yet imbued with a totally overblown confidence in his own genius , is a fantastic comic creation . It is the real life story of Ignatius’ creator, John Kennedy Toole which makes this book very special to me. Confederacy Of Dunces was published in 1980 – eleven years after the author’s suicide. O Toole had submitted his manuscript to many publishers and was rejected by all. Who is to say that those rejections led to his suicide, but at 31 years of age he took his own life. The book was eventually published through his mother’s perseverance and with the help of Walker Percy, a tutor at Loyola University. It won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction 1981. Such a tragedy that John Kennedy Toole wasn’t there to reap the rewards. I think of him when I get rejections and remind myself that while things might look bleak now, good luck might be just a breath away. An interesting fact is that several attempts have been made to adapt the book for film – all of which have ended in tragedy, leading people to think the book/film is ‘cursed’. Given my own superstitious nature, I suspect that John Kennedy Toole does not want his book adapted and is influencing the outcome from beyond —-maybe.

That is just the tip of my book list. There are all the Dicken’s books , especially Great Expectations ; Jane Austen from Sense And Sensibility through to Northanger Abbey; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – I fell in love with Heathcliff at ten years old and I still feel the same ; the novels of Walter Macken , Leon Uris , Beatrice Coogan ; the short stories of Frank O’Connor ; the poetry of Ogden Nash and Wilfred Owen. And on and on—.

I am so grateful to my parents who gave me the gift of reading appreciation and to the authors with whom my reading journey continues and who never, ever fail to entertain, uplift and facilitate my glorious escape from the routine of daily life.

Thank you to Jenny for hosting me on her blogspot today and to Lucy Felthouse for organising my visit here

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Excerpt

Excerpt from Thicker Than Water

Here, in Rainbow Cottage high up over Ballyderg town, Jan had found relaxation. Ever since she could remember, possibly since she had been born, she was driven by an inner spring of energy that constantly bubbled up. She was always on the go. Tasks to be completed, decisions to be made, energy to be burned up. It was these hills, the still and brooding giants with wispy cloud hair, which first soothed her into sometimes slowing down. Changes swirled around them, the seasons, the weather, light and dark, but their core stood firm against outside influence. Eventually she had absorbed that lesson.

From the plate glass window of the lounge she watched a car wind its way up from the valley. She went into the kitchen and switched on the kettle, knowing from experience that the green tea they both enjoyed would be brewed by the time he arrived at the cottage.

Gerard Shannon parked in his usual place ten minutes climb on foot to Jan’s cottage. He stood and inhaled deeply before striding out. He always enjoyed the exercise but today he felt breathless, tormented, an iron band of tension squeezing his chest. If only the success and control he had in his business life applied to his private life also. If only he had been honest all those years ago. If only he could be honest now.

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Blurb

Blurb for Thicker Than Water :

When local teenager, Keira Shannon and her father, business man Gerard Shannon, go missing, the town of Ballyderg unites to search for them.

As the search continues rumours of domestic violence, extramarital affairs and criminal behaviour are rife. The crisis causes families and lifelong friends to doubt each other.

The only certainty left is that the town has been visited by evil. Or has it? Could it be the evil one has always lived there sharing history, laughter and tears? And if so, who could it be?

Buy Links

Amazon buy links : http://authl.it/3st

Tirgearr Publishing : http://bit.ly/1J6E7ZV

Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1RpGnhf

maryosullivanauthorpic

Author Biography:

Mary worked many years as a Laboratory Technician. Her hobby, her passion, has always been writing. Busy with family and career, she grabbed some moments here and there to write poetry and short stories. She also wrote a general interest column in a local newspaper.

As the demands on her time became more manageable she joined a local creative writing class. It was then, with the encouragement of tutor Vincent McDonald, that the idea of writing a novel took shape. She began to expand on a short story she had written some years previously. It was a shock for her to discover that enthusiasm and imagination are not enough. For the first time she learned that writing can be very hard work.

Mary now has six traditionally published novels, nine eBooks and hopefully more to come, inspiration permitting.

Social Media Links

Please visit my web page at : http://www.maryosullivanauthor.com

Chat to me on Facebook at : http://www.facebook.com/authormaryosullivan

Follow on Twitter at : https://twitter.com/authorosullivan

*****

GIVEAWAY!

Make sure to follow the whole tour—the more posts you visit throughout, the more chances you’ll get to enter the giveaway. The tour dates are here: http://www.writermarketing.co.uk/prpromotion/blog-tours/currently-on-tour/mary-osullivan/

ENTER HERE!!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/8b9ec5be150/?

***

Many thanks for such a fabulous blog!

Jenny xx

My First Time: Gilli Allan

By Jenny Kane

On February 3, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

Today I’m beginning a brand new series of interviews on my blog. Every fortnight (novel deadlines willing!) I’ll be asking some of the best writers in the business about their very first time…Their first time getting published that is.

Kicking off this blog series is the fabulous Gilli Allan…

First Time

My First Time

Can you remember writing the first story you actually wanted to write, rather than those you were forced to write at school? What was it about?

I started writing ‘books’ when I was still at primary school. I was copying my older sister. She adored the Regency romances of Georgette Heyer, and decided to write her own.

Gilli & Lod133 - Copy

I don’t recall if I gave it a title, but mine was set in the unspecified olden days. Two women and a girl embark on an excursion to visit a lighthouse set on a rocky outcrop, surrounded by sea. They are trapped there by bad weather. I don’t recall what reason I came up with, if any, to explain their original desire to visit the lighthouse (patently a plot device to isolate them) other than that it was the kind of jaunt I thought well-brought up ladies of the time might engage in to fill their time.

The romance is between the girl of the party, and the son of the lighthouse keeper. I don’t recall the names of my hero and heroine, and to be honest, I don’t think there was much in the way of romance. At this point in my life I had no idea how to convey the journey from attraction to actual cuddling. But even more than the difficulty of visualising a budding love affair, I was put off by the sheer amount of boring stuff I felt I needed to get through, before I could even arrive at my romantic interludes. It remained just a few pages long, and most of the pages were doodles and illustrations.

GA 2

What was your first official publication?

I was a wife and a mother by the time my first completed book – JUST BEFORE DAWN – was published, but I hadn’t spent the intervening years as a frustrated novelist. To all intents and purposes, I stopped writing when I went to Art School. After a few alarms and diversions I worked as an illustrator in advertising, eventually going free-lance. It was only when I was on a career break to look after my baby son that I began to consider what else I could do to earn a living from home. It was theoretically possible to be a free-lance artist from home, but there were big obstacles. This was before the internet – before PCs in fact – I didn’t drive, and we didn’t live near a tube station. The idea of travelling into central London, with a toddler in tow, to pick up and deliver jobs – jobs which were typically wanted first thing the next morning – was very unappealing.

Then I remembered my teenage passion and Gilli Allan, the author, was born.

GA 3 1986

What affect did that have on your life?

I‘d enjoyed my job. And obviously, getting married and having my son was a huge and deeply fulfilling alteration to my life. But beginning to write a novel with the serious intention of getting it published was utterly magical in a completely different way. I was on a continuous high, enthralled and enchanted, as the words poured out of me without interruption. I felt taken over by some guiding spirit. I had no doubt whatsoever that the book would be published. I submitted it direct – the complete manuscript, wrapped up in brown paper and string, plus return postage – to 7 publishers. When it was returned to me, generally with kind and encouraging rejections, I ironed the thumbed pages and sent the same script out again. The eighth immediately entered into negotiations with me. The book was published almost exactly 2 years after I typed “the end” on my final draft.

From then on, my self-esteem went sky high. I became far more confident and assured. I found it easier to make friends. I had ambition. I knew where my life was going. I was proud to be able to say I was now “a writer”.

Does your first published story reflect your current writing style?

Yes and no. When I first started to write seriously, my intention was to write a category romance aimed at Mills & Boon. I did incorporate many of the elements I thought necessary – an alpha hero, plus many a piercing look and rapacious kiss – but the plot took me over. I knew I was heading in an unconventional direction, but my story was far more important to me than ticking all the right boxes. Unsurprisingly M & B rejected my tale of an unmarried girl who, as the book opens, is going through a miscarriage. Fortunately, a new publisher – Love Stories – had just been established. Their aim was to publish un-clichéd romantic fiction, characterized at the time as the “thinking woman’s Mills & Boon”. What I was writing and what they wanted to publish fitted like a hand in a glove.

Love Stories also took my second novel – ‘Desires & Dreams’, an even darker tale. When, a couple of years later they ceased trading, unable to get their books into bookstores, the seal had been set on my own brand of romantic fiction. I like to write novels that have a love story at their heart, but I am uninterested in prettifying or simplifying the downside of love, life and relationships. I once wrote this as the introduction to a blurb and it sums up what I am trying to do.

Life is not a fairy tale; it can be confusing and difficult. Sex is not always awesome; it can be awkward and embarrassing, and it has consequences. You don’t always fall for Mr Right, even if he falls for you. And realising you’re in love is not always good news. It can make the future look daunting….

What are you working on at the moment?

This is a culture clash novel. I have no title but my elevator pitch is Educating Rita meets Time Team. It is about the academic (desk) archaeologist, working in an old university, coming up against the Essex girl (left school at 16) conference organiser. But I am only a third of the way in and – given I’m an into the mist type of writer – everything could change. Watch this space.

I’ve given the link to the paperback of Just Before Dawn. Theoretically it should be available – it’s there on Amazon – but to be honest I don’t know if it actually is, if you click buy.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Just-before-Dawn-Gilli-Allan/dp/1898030456/

Bio

Gilli Allan started to write in childhood, a hobby only abandoned when real life supplanted the fiction. Gilli didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge but, after just enough exam passes to squeak in, she attended Croydon Art College.

She didn’t work on any of the broadsheets, in publishing or television. Instead she was a shop assistant, a beauty consultant and a barmaid before landing her dream job as an illustrator in advertising. It was only when she was at home with her young son that Gilli began writing seriously. Her first two novels were quickly published, but when her publisher ceased to trade, Gilli went independent.

Over the years, Gilli has been a school governor, a contributor to local newspapers, and a driving force behind the community shop in her Gloucestershire village. Still a keen artist, she designs Christmas cards and has begun book illustration. Gilli is particularly delighted to have recently gained a new mainstream publisher – Accent Press. LIFE CLASS is the third book to be published in the three book deal.

Links

To connect with Gilli:

http://twitter.com/gilliallan (@gilliallan)

https://www.facebook.com/GilliAllan.AUTHOR

http://gilliallan.blogspot.co.uk/

LIFE CLASS: http://myBook.to/LifeClass

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Class-Gilli-Allan/dp/1783752548/

TORN: MyBook.to/gilliallansTORN (universal) or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Torn-Gilli-Allan-ebook/dp/B00R1FQ1QE

Cover FOF

FLY OR FALL: myBook.to/GilliAllan (universal)

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Many thanks Gilli- fantastic interview.

Happy reading,

Jenny xx

Redemption Song Blog Tour: These are a few of my favourite things…

By Jenny Kane

On February 2, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

Today I am delighted to be hosting the brilliant Laura Wilkinson as part of the blog tour for her brand new novel, Redemption Song.

LW 3 Blog tour listingsFINAL

These are a few of my favourite things …

I love all of my characters – even the baddies. They are my creations, after all. I adore the ones who won’t leave me alone no matter what; those who muscle their way into scenes and start taking over despite my best efforts to keep them in the margins; those who surprise me with their resolve; those who drive me half mad with their irrational fears and insecurities; those who make me laugh and cry.

Love ‘em all or not, in common with many other authors I do have my favourites. As a mum I treat my boys equally and love them all to bits. (It’s a wonderful thing, love, isn’t it? Like the universe our capacity for it is infinite.) But I don’t have to be fair and equal with my characters and there are those whose hold on my affections is stronger than others: Elizabeth in Bloodmining; Mandy in Public Battles, Private Wars (I adore Mandy); Ethel in Public Battles, and now Joe, Saffron and Ceri from Redemption Song.

Joe is my male lead and he is just the kind of man I’d fall in love with were I younger and not already married – apologies to the BigFella! Joe is a good man gone bad, a man fighting his way back to a truthful, fulfilled life. He’s resourceful and vulnerable, sensitive and creative, smart and modest, very good looking, and much, much stronger than he realises. He’s bigger and better than he thinks he is and this is, in part, what makes him so attractive. Saffron, my female lead, is also stronger than she gives herself credit for and despite her initial grumpiness she is also kind and wise and decent. Like Joe, she’s damaged, trying to carve a path to a better future. She’s gorgeous. I love Saffron but the female character I’d most like to go out with for a drink (or three, knowing her) is the woman who befriends Saffron when she first arrives in Coed Mawr: Ceri. She is characterised by Joe (before he knows her) as a Welsh Vicky Pollard, which isn’t quite right. She is feisty, and she does swear too much, but she has an enormous heart and her candour is disarming. I love her.

But as I write I find myself thinking about Rain, Saffron’s mum, and Allegra (what fun to write she was!) and Eifion and Miss Shawcroft and all the wonderful things about them. Perhaps I don’t have favourites after all; I’m almost certainly still far too close to really tell. With distance I’m sure to miss some more than others. But will absence make the heart grow fonder, or will it be out of sight, out of mind? Will they stay with my readers long after the final page has been turned? Only time will tell. Until then, I’m off to get to know a bunch of newbies. Back to the Work-in-Progress.

Redemption Song Final

Thanks so much for having me over at your wonderful blog, Jenny.

Laura has written three novels. Her third, Redemption Song, is published on 28^th January 2015 by Accent Press. A fourth is due in early 2017.

Blurb

If you lost everything in one night, what would you do?

Saffron is studying for a promising career in medicine until a horrific accident changes her life for ever. Needing to escape London, she moves to the Welsh coast to live with her mother. Saffron hates the small town existence and feels trapped until she meets Joe, another outsider. Despite initial misgivings, they grow closer to each other as they realise they have a lot in common. Like Saffron, Joe has a complicated past…one that’s creeping up on his present. Can Joe escape his demons for long enough to live a normal life – and can Saffron reveal the truth about what really happened on that fateful night? Love is the one thing they need most, but will they – can they – risk it?

Redemption Song is a captivating, insightful look at what happens when everything goes wrong – and the process of putting the pieces back together again.

To buy the e-book: https://Mybook.to/RedemptionSong

To buy the paperback: http://mybook.to/RedemptionWilkinson

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If you’d like more information about Laura and her work visit:

laura-wilkinson.co.uk

Twitter @ScorpioScribble

Facebook: Laura Wilkinson Author

Goodreads

Instagram

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Many thanks Laura- great blog.

Happy reading everyone.

Jenny x

Introducing a New Blog Series: My First Time

By Jenny Kane

On January 30, 2016

In Blog, Books For Children, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, crime, Fiction, Historical fiction

This coming Wednesday sees the dawn of a new (fortnightly) series of blog interviews on this site, called My First Time. I have to admit I rather excited about it!

First Time

Each fortnight I will be asking an author- often established, but sometimes brand new- about their very first story writing and publishing experiences. The series kicks of this week with the brilliant Gilli Allan.

Putting the interviews together has made me reflect upon my own publishing experiences.

I wasn’t very good at English at school. I am a little dyslectic, and always struggled (and still do) with spelling. It was a big a surprise to me as anyone that I started to write.

It began when I suddenly had time on my hands after my children went to school, and I scribbled down a story for fun.

User comments

I entered the world of publications in a rather backwards sort of a way. There was never any talk of agents or having to have representation. I just bumbled from being a short story hobbyist- to someone who was paid to be a short story writer, to someone who got an email one day asking if I’d ever thought of writing a novel!! And here I am- still no agent- still bumbling- still writing…

make sense

I am interested to see how many other people ‘fell’ into writing, or if everyone else was grown up and did it the ‘proper’ way!!

So why not join me this Weds, and every other Weds after, to discover just how some of you favourite authors found themselves slaving away at a keyboard for hours each and every day, living in fictional worlds that- let’s face it- are often much nicer than reality!!

See you on Wednesday!!

Jenny x

Guest Post from Jan Ruth: Sweet Nothings

By Jenny Kane

On January 29, 2016

In Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

Today I’m delighted to welcome Jan Ruth back to my site with a wonderfully equine blog.

Over to you Jan…

SWEET NOTHINGS

My passion for horses, whispering, and the inspiration behind the Midnight Sky Series

Just when you think you know everything about a subject, along comes someone to blow apart a lifetime of assumptions. Monty Roberts’ father was virtually destroyed by his son’s belief in ‘horse-whispering’, as a far more humane and less exhausting method of breaking and training horses. It’s no secret that Monty took a severe beating for it.

A remarkable man, Roberts went on to foster disadvantaged children, using much the same wisdom and insight he’d learnt through studying horses and their social groups in the wild. It’s too easy – and often misguided – to bestow animals with human emotion, but maybe trust is rooted in the same place in humans as in horses, and observation and interpretation is all that’s required to make a valuable connection, regardless of language. And isn’t whispering usually far more effective than shouting? Much the same as writing good fiction; and if we’re talking analogies there’s nothing worse than clunky dialogue. Is Natural Horsemanship simply natural dialogue?

Guido Louis Leidelmeyer: “In the words of the horse: ‘Listen’ by observing me, and communication between us will come naturally and silently. In my words: Can I help you do that?”

As with most things that work well, it’s based on a simple concept of alignment with nature. Horses like to hang in a crowd (herd), follow the leaders – usually the older mares – and be out in the open simply because if there’s a predator, they’re more likely to bolt, than stand and fight. That’s about it. If a horse is singled out he is more likely to turn to us without fear or aggression once he comes to realise that we are not predatory, and as a surrogate leader can offer the ultimate protection. And that’s where the ‘following’ or ‘joining-up’ comes in.

jan Ruth

This principle works with wild/un-handled horses as well as re-training by reiterating the relationship of horse and leader for equines who have formed bad habits, or those with anxiety issues.

Actually, most bad habits stem from anxiety and a lack of leadership. It’s a little like your pet dog – and dare I say children, too? – needing to know they’re safe and secure place in the family pack, although the body language between dogs and horses is rather different. Flattened ears in a dog is more likely to mean subservient greetings whereas a horse … well, watch out!

Not everyone agrees that these principles are quite so cut and dried, and as is often the case with a lot of unquantified skills, there is perhaps some sixth-sense at work gleaned from years of experience. There are many equine behavourists who claim the ‘following’ principle is flawed. But the proof is in the pudding. I’ve watched Guido use these techniques on a couple of riding-school horses – both of whom he’d never ‘met’ – with amazingly fast results: 20 minutes to resolve a problem with electric clippers on a mare which had for some 12 years, aggressively avoided the issue. The owner was quite rightly, open-mouthed. But the problem isn’t solved in its entirety, as Guido explained: Tilly’s owner needed to learn and understand the process for herself, and as is the case with most success stories, a certain measure of self-belief is required. It’s this psychological leadership which is perhaps where the sixth-sense bridges that gap between human and equine.

Midnight Sky Cover EBOOK

Horses have been a lifetime’s passion for me. No surprise that they feature in most of my novels, more so in MIDNIGHT SKY and the sequel: PALOMINO SKY. Both books draw on the principles of horse-whispering and the power of self-belief – but I take on this theme in a fictional sense rather than a technical sense. It’s so easy to swamp the narrative with too much unwanted detail. And yet, it’s the minutiae of life which underpins the storyline in PALOMINO SKY. As with horse-whispering, it’s the observation of perhaps something seemingly inconsequential which can change an entire situation. If you’re not horse savvy or enjoy only a passing interest, I’ve tried to portray the equine aspect as secondary to the storyline in these books. On the other hand, horse enthusiasts will hopefully embrace the setting!

MIDNIGHT SKY is currently 99p/99c myBook.to/MidnightSky

PALOMINO SKY is released this week myBook.to/PalominoSky

Palomino Sky Cover LARGE EBOOK

PALOMINO SKY

A golden promise for the future in a lonely palomino mare, but life deals a cruel hand for James and Laura.

James is still running from the past after the loss of his wife, and a devastating accident forces him to face his final demons, but at what cost? Laura is forced deeper into his rural world – a life she once despised – but discovers empathy and hope in the palomino mare she calls Song.

Repercussions abound for Maggie too, when the full extent of her daughter’s dangerous liaison comes to light, leaving the entire family in turmoil. Will James and Laura ever find a golden future, or has life dealt too vicious a blow?

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Grey Horse

Many thanks for such a lovely blog Jan,

Happy reading,

Jenny x

20 Questions

By Jenny Kane

On January 23, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

I was having a long overdue clean up of my laptop this morning and came across this interview I did as a guest blogger some time ago. I had such fun with it, that I thought I’d update it and share it afresh.

The questions come from a friend I asked to pretend she didn’t know me! Yes- I know that’s a little bit mad- but I’m a writer- insanity is only ever inches away!!

Do you just write as Jenny, or do you have multiple personas?

I currently have one other ‘me’ as well as Jenny, and that’s Kay Jaybee- an erotica writer of the ‘full on’ persuasion. (There may be another ‘me’ coming soon- I’ll say no more for now…)

who am i

Are you more like Kay or Jenny in real life?

Jenny- no question!

Do you love coffee as much as the characters in your first Jenny Kane novel, Another Cup of Coffee?

Even more than they do! I can’t write without a coffee close at hand, and I have to have one first thing in the morning or my day doesn’t go well!

How do you take it?

Black- nothing added- Americano for preference

How many cups do you drink a day?

Too many

Brazz Taunton

Do you really write in cafes and coffee shops like JK Rowling?

I really do. I even have my own corner in my local cafe- there’s a plaque on the wall to prove it! Not only that, but I am now employed by a brilliant group called Phoenix Somerset to visit Independent coffee shops and blog about my experiences there. Dream job!

What is your favourite hot drink – apart from coffee?

Coffee is the only hot drink I like- I HATE tea, and I’m allergic to milk, so can’t have hot chocolate, latte etc

Favourite colour?

Purple

Boots, trainers or heels?

Boots – I am not sporty, and I’d break my neck in heels. I am very clumsy!

Another Cup of Coffee - New cover 2015

Are the characters in Another Cup of Coffee based on real people?

Almost all of them are.

Which ones?

My lips are sealed.

Spoil sport- give us a clue?

I knew three of them at University- although I obviously wrote exaggerated versions of them- and they are all still my friends and totally lovely.

What did you study at University?

I did an Archaeology degree and then a Medieval History for a PhD.

Ohhh- like Amy in Another Cup of Coffee did…?

Yes- just like Amy did- well, the archaeology bit- I think I can guess the next question!

So are you Amy?

I am a little tiny bit, but only a little bit. I more like the character of Kit, who writes for a living (or tries to!)

You feature Kew Gardens in the book, have you been there, or did you just research in on Google?

I’ve been there many times. I love just wandering around the various greenhouses- and sitting in the cafes of course!

Kew

What would you say always surprises people when they meet you?

That I wear hearing aids. I am 80% deaf.

Do you prefer being Kay Jaybee- Queen of BDSM Kink- or Jenny Kane- Writer of book chocolate?

I love being both of them – it is wonderful to be able to create such different styles of work, and thus- hopefully- make more people happy when they read! (Well- that’s the plan!)

What is Jenny going to do next?

The final book in the 5 part Another Cup of Coffee series is due out this summer. Another Glass of Champagne is a full length novel which concludes the adventures of Amy, Kit, Jack, Megan and friends. I am about to start the publishers edits for this. I am also busily drafting the sequel to Abi’s House– which will be called Abi’s Neighbour.

Apart from the writing, I am helping to organise the second Tiverton Literary Festival, which will run from 8th-12th June.

What is Kay doing next?

Kay’s erotica is largely on hold for a while, as it is Jenny’s turn to tap away at my computer keyboard- except for on Wednesdays. On ‘Wicked Wednesday’ I write as Kay all day- I am currently writing a new novella- but my lips are sealed as it what it will be about!

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You can buy all the ‘Another Cup of…’ stories from all good retailers, including Amazon.

For example,you can buy the first in the series, Another Cup of Coffee here…

Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Cup-Coffee-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783751126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377605533&sr=8-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee

Amazon US – http://www.amazon.com/Another-Cup-Coffee-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783751126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377605667&sr=8-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee+jenny+kane

***

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Interview with Caroline Dunford

By Jenny Kane

On January 19, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, crime, Fiction, Historical fiction, Interview

It’s interview time! Today I have the lovely Caroline Dunford dropping by for coffee and cake. So why don’t you take five minutes out of your day and join us for a cuppa?

coffee and cake

Do you model any of your characters after people you know? If so, do these people see themselves in your characters?

One of the risks of admitting you’re a writer at parties is you are often immediately asked where do you get your ideas? If you answer truthfully, that you get your ideas from your life experience, and your questioner isn’t yet too full of party cheer, then more often than not your questioner will sidle off looking nervous and muttering about having left the cat in the fridge, or something equally unlikely. They are, of course, terrified you will ‘put them in a book.’ There are those who offer themselves up as excellent characters for books or who have the best ideas for a book, and these are the ones writers tend to sidle away from.

I would like to put on record that I cannot write other people’s ideas. If it doesn’t come from the murky depths of my own subconscious then it simply doesn’t work for me. Like any writer I use my experiences and they are exactly that; they are how I experience my world. There is no way I could ever possibly write about anyone else accurately. Even if I chose to base a character on someone I knew, it would be based on how I saw that person and almost certainly not how they saw themselves.

As a writer I make up inner thoughts and motivation for my characters, but I have no ability to scan the mind of anyone else and collect this information. It would be a lot easier (though possibly libellous!) if I did. This means even if I did base a character on someone I know I can pretty much guarantee they would never recognise themselves. But I don’t. All my characters come from my thoughts, feelings and imagination. When I am writing they become like voices in my head. Even sometimes adding events and speeches to the story that I certainly had not planned on writing. They become alive to me. I know them so well because they have come from me.

All this is a little embarrassing to admit. I do have some pretty awful characters in my books and they must reflect a dark part of my psyche. I can only console myself with the thought that I also have likable and estimable characters in my stories too. These, hopefully, form the most influential part of my psyche in everyday life. Though I suspect Euphemia, my murder mystery heroine, is far braver than me. We are definitely equally stubborn. I only hope I am not as naïve as she can sometimes be – a naivety that invariably leads her into danger.

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What type of research did you have to do for your book?

When I am writing a historical novel I research the period – the events, the clothing, the ideas of the era and everything else I can get my hands on. However, I am not an historian. My desire is to create a compelling story and I am more interested in building my characters – their loves, foibles, ideas, fears and ambitions – than anything else. For me the historical era is important because it not only frames these, but also informs them. I also need to know their world, in particular who the important people in their lives are and what they are like. It is often out of the interconnecting personalities that the stories take form.

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Which Point of View do you prefer to write in and why?

In the Euphema Martins Mysteries I use the first person. Euphemia has a unique voice that uses slightly more archaic speech and is invariably full of slips (and even innuendos) that she is unaware of. It is enormous fun as a writer to create these. While Euphemia is saying one thing, the reader is understanding another – and this is often where the humour lies.

Writing in the third person, that is setting yourself up as a narrator outside the story, has the advantage that you can move more easily between events. In the Euphemia books the reader only ever experiences what she experiences. The biggest problem in writing as a narrator is that it is harder to get your audience to emote – they are just that one step removed from the action.

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Do you prefer to plot your story or just go with the flow?

In a murder mystery I need to know who the murderer is and I also generally know the main turning points in the story. However, Euphemia and her friends are pretty well formed now after nine books, and they do have a tendency to hijack the plot. Of course, I only let them do this if I think they have come up with something more exciting than I have!

What is your writing regime?

There is only one thing you need to do to be a writer and that is write. It would be lovely to wait from the muse to spring into your mind, but in reality writing novels is a lot about plotting and planning, and agreeing with your editor what you are going to supply. Remember publicity for a book can be created before the book is finished! However, if the story is right then I find it will come alive at your fingertips. But this still means every morning sitting down at the laptop even when you would much rather be reading in bed. Sadly, I find my muse responds to coffee and perseverance rather than wishful thinking.

What excites you the most about your book?

Honestly? Finishing it! I love it when I have a complete story, fully edited and ready to go. I can feel proud of my hard work. No matter how much I love writing when I am creating a novel I am always terrified I won’t be able to complete it, so reaching the end is a huge relief. It’s sort of like sitting a very hard physics exam very time you write one. And I was never very good at physics. I have to work hard to get it right!

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Bio

Caroline has been creating stories since primary school when she first learnt that creating fictional games could gain her friends! She has held a variety of jobs, but most notably journalist, where she learnt the art of making deadlines, and psychotherapist, where she gained a valuable insight into the human condition. She lives by the sea with her supportive (and long suffering) partner and two sons, both of whom think writing a book is no big deal.

Links

Caroline is @verdandiweaves on twitter

Her facebook fan page is Caroline Dunford fanpage

All her books are available from Amazon uk at http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_13?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=caroline+dunford&sprefix=Caroline+dunf%2Cstripbooks%2C170

And amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_13?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=caroline+dunford&sprefix=caroline+dunf%2Caps%2C255

A Death for a Cause

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Cause-Euphemia-Martins-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B015ZM4A2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452035955&sr=1-1

Coming May 2016 A Death by Arson

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Arson-Euphemia-Martins-Mysteries/dp/1783757159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452036026&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Death+by+arson+Caroline+dunford

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Highland Inheritance

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Highland-Inheritance-Caroline-Dunford-ebook/dp/B00M0FZMAG/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452036100&sr=1-15

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Playing for Love

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-Love-Caroline-Dunford-ebook/dp/B011OG0L3O/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452036100&sr=1-16

ALL OF THE ABOVE ALSO AVAILABLE DIRECT FROM

https://www.accentpress.co.uk/caroline-dunford

Young Adult Fantasy

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The Mapmaker’s Daughter

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mapmakers-Daughter-Caroline-Dunford-ebook/dp/B00J5JE346/ref=sr_1_12?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1452036321&sr=1-12

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Many thanks for such a great interview Caroline,

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny x

My Writing Space

By Jenny Kane

On January 16, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Historical fiction

I love my writing space. Tucked away in the corner of one of the many coffee shops in the Devonshire town where I live, I sit at the same little wooden table every day, writing words of romance and friendship.

I’ve never been able to write well at home. There are just too many distractions, too much housework to do, too many boxes of work (I have a part time job as an educational blogger and data imputer which I do from home), and consequently too much guilt connected with what I ‘ought to be doing’ ready to interrupt my imagination.

Coffee good or evil

My writing has always flowed at its best in an atmosphere of bustle. I like to be surrounded by happily chattering people, enjoying a break from their ‘real’ lives, while I let my invented characters take control of my pen-wielding fingers. Sometimes, I admit, the café can get a bit too noisy. However, that is no problem at all. I simply lower the volume around me by taking out my hearing aids- being deaf sure does have its benefits sometimes!

I even have, thanks to the lovely staff within my ‘writing’ café, a brass plaque on the wall above my writing space, engraved with the words, Jenny Kane’s Corner.

Jenny's Corner Costa

How amazing is that?! So now I am officially the cafe’s writer in residence; and as I sit and write in my little space I feel rather like one of my all time favourite literary characters; Winnie-the-Pooh! For just like him, I have my own corner!

Every week day I am at my desk so early that I have no fear of anyone else being sat there. At the weekend however it is a different matter, and I have to take my chances. I don’t mind other people sitting at my table- after all, I don’t own it – and I am perfectly OK working at other tables- providing I have coffee to hand. Today- right now in fact- as I sit at a table next to my usual writing spot- my heart goes out to my poor little desk!

A group of rather unpleasant teenage girls are sat there, happily flicking hot chocolate everywhere, while putting on make up they don’t need to wear, listening to music that would make my ‘Kay’ persona blush, while making unsubtle gestures at a group of teenage boys at the opposite end of the café. (My heart goes out to them as well, because they look like a nice set of lads who just want a quiet catch up after a week at college)

Of course, the girls will get fed up and leave soon; I’ll get out the cafe’s disinfectant (I more or less live in here, so I know where all the cleaning stuff is), and my lovely writing space will be a happy sanctuary of words once more.

And there are three plus sides to their unpleasant use of my lovely space-

1. I have something to blog about today.

2. Next time I need to write about the more thoughtless members of our teenage population I’ll have a memory to use as story fodder!

3. It never hurts me t be reminded how lucky I am to have such a space in the first place (not to mention, how lucky I am to have such well behaved children!)

Always a silver lining!!

Happy reading,

Jenny x