A Look Back at 2014

I thought I'd take a look at all the lovely things that have happened in 2014 (this won't include general short story sales or publications).

January - The year started well with some serious goal setting with writing chum, Tracy Fells. Had my my first article published in The People's Friend and tried (and failed) to get to grips with Scrivener.

February - Was interviewed by the The People's Friend for their website. Went to a Jive weekend on the Isle of Wight.

March - Finished my WW2 serial for The People's Friend. My choir Cantatrice won two classes at the Worthing Music Festival. Article published in Writing Magazine on how to be a good blog host.
 
April - Went to a modern jive weekend on Hayling Island. Took my grandson to London for the first time.

May - Was featured in an article in Writer's forum on how to break into serials. Went to Bruges and visited the Flanders Field battlefields of WW1. Met People's Friend writer Alison Carter. Went on holiday to the beautiful Lake District.

June - Had stories published in four magazines in one week. Karen Aldous guested on my blog.

July - Natalie Kleinman was a guest on my blog. Samantha Tonge was a guest on my blog.

August - Met fellow writer Patsy Collins. Sue Moorcroft was a guest on my blog. The two year anniversary of my first story sale. Had a story published in The People's Friend 2015 Annual.

September - Went on holiday to the Dordogne. Author Cally Taylor was a guest on my blog. Was featured in Phil Barrington's 8 days a Week article in Writer's Forum. Went to the paperback book launch of Juliet West's Before the Fall. Went on Della Galton's 'How to Market Your Book' course.

October - Launch party for my romance collection Room in Your Heart. Had and evening with Mary Berry. Kath McGurl was a guest on my blog.

November - went to the RNA Winter Party with author friend Deirdre Palmer and met many on-line writer friends. Had an article published in Writing Magazine on how I put together my story collection for National Short Story Week. My cover designer Sarah Hughes is guest on my blog.

December - Sold my 100th womag story!

All that is left is to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

An Interesting Couple of Weeks

Lots of nice things have happened since my last post - so I thought this one could be a lot of bits and pieces of news.

My most recent news is that I have a story in both the weekly People's Friend and the Special. The first, which is called A Gift of Hope, is one of my WW1 stories. It's written in first person from the male perspective (which I really like) and although short, is one of my favourite stories. I absolutely love Jim Dewar's illustration.

The second story, One More Step, was one I was asked to write for Andre Leonard's great illustration. It is semi-autobiographical and I will be sharing with you the inspiration behind the story in my next post.

My story, 'Holy Toast' is in this month's Take a Break Fiction Feast and is a humorous piece, which is unusual for me - but I though it might be fun to have a go at something new. I'm now trying to think up some other ideas that might work as a light-hearted story, so I can have another go.

Also, I am pleased to be featured in Phil Barrington's 8 Days a Week article in Writer's Forum - where I am giving the female perspective on multi-tasking.

In other news, I was very excited to go to the paperback book launch of Juliet West's fabulous 'Before the Fall'. She is a marvellous speaker and an inspiration to us all. While there, I met up with one of my favourite authors, Ann Weisgarber, author of 'The Promise' who had come over from America - fabulous to chat to her.
 

I also  drove two hours to Della Galton's course on 'How to Market Your Book'. Della was a guest on my blog a while back and you can find her post on the link at the side. It was lovely to meet her and also fellow womagwriter, Kath McGurl. It was a great course but I hope that Della's statement that 'short story collections don't sell', won't be true!

Last but by no means least, my new ear grommets work... I can now fly pain free - yippee!