What do Writers Have for their Birthday?

 

Today is my birthday. Happy Birthday to Me! Do you like the card one of my friends bought me? I love the fact that the girl has a W on her jumper.

 

Interestingly, this has been the year of the writerly birthday present. First, and best of all, I got this.



 

You probably can't tell from the photograph, but it is the diddiest computer I have ever seen. It fits in a shoulder bag and is going to be brilliant when my neighbour starts her planned building works and I can't concentrate in the house. My diddy computer and I will find a nice park bench or a cosy café to have our J K Rowling moment.

 

I also got this cushion, which I am using at this very moment. I'm hoping it will give me lots of inspiration... at the very least it should stop me from getting back ache.

The final present for an aspiring writer, I have to blame Kath McGurl for. She had posted a picture of herself on Facebook using mini steppers just like these and I thought they would be just the thing to combat writers bottom. I don't know if they'll work, and I haven't tried them yet, but sometime we'll have to have a race on them, Kath!



 
I had a lovely day. I spent the morning with friends celebrating both my birthday, and a good week for magazine sales, over coffee and then went to Borde Hill Gardens to see the beautiful camellia and magnolia displays in the afternoon. This is my mum admiring one of the blooms. The walk nearly didn't happen as she forgot how to use the satnav - but all's well that ends well and we had a lovely time.

 

Finally, before I go, I just wanted to let you know that I am guest today on the Romantic Novelists Association (RNA) blog, talking about writing serials. Do please come over and join me there. The link is here

 



Over the Garden Fence - Guest Post Patsy Collins

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Patsy Collins onto my blog. When I started Wendy's Writing Now, in the summer of 2012, Patsy was one of the first people to welcome me to blogland and has supported my blog ever since. Isn't that lovely.

Patsy needs little introduction as many of you will have come across her in the pages of the women's magazines or on her successful blog, Words About Writing and Writing About Words. Last month she took over the bible of the woman's magazine writer's world, Womag Writer's blog, so I am sure we shall be seeing even more of her!

Today though, Patsy is here to talk about the publication of her new collection of short stories, Over the Garden Fence. So without more ado, we shall begin.


Can you give me three words to describe your new collection?
 

Bouquet of stories!

 

I see that both Over the Garden Fence and your previous collection Up the Garden Path are garden themed. Could you tell my readers what it is with you and gardening?

I'm a very keen gardener; I have an allotment where I grow loads of herbs, fruit and veg and a flower garden at home which is designed to attract wildlife. When you're passionate about something it tends to work its way into the writing (you may have noticed a lot of my characters eat cake).

Also the allotment is a good place to think up stories. I'm not sure if it's to do with the fresh air and exercise, or the fact that I generally have my hands full and never have pen and paper with me when I'm down there.

 

Have you based any of your stories on real gardens?

I had to think about that one. They all seem real to me but I generally design a new garden for each story, just borrowing features from ones I remember.

'Teacher's Pet' and 'Everything is Fine' which are both in this collection are set in real gardens though - the fabulous rose garden at Mottisfont Abbey (Hampshire) and Greys Court (Oxfordshire) respectively.

 

You have recently taken over the popular Womag Writer’s blog and most of the stories in Over the Garden Fence have previously been published in women’s magazines. How long have you been writing for the womags?

My first sale was in 2005 - a story called 'The Garden' which is in 'Up the Garden Path'. I'd collected quite a few rejection letters by then though. All my rejections are shredded and added to the compost heap, so they eventually become pretty flowers and juicy strawberries.

Sales were widely spaced to start with, but each yearly total has been an increase on the previous one which is very encouraging.

 

Competitions are mentioned a lot on your blog ‘Words about Writing and Writing about Words’. Do you enter a lot of competitions yourself and have any the stories in the collection been winners?

I do enter quite a lot of competitions, usually free ones which naturally attract a lot of entries (almost all the competitions I blog about are free to enter). A couple of the stories in this collection have been placed in competitions and my first novel was published after a competition win.

The winning story in the current Writing Magazine is mine and one of the characters is a gardener. That'll be in the next collection.

 

Do you have a favourite story from your collection?

I think it's Black and White. For one thing it breaks a few womag 'rules' - I killed the main character in quite a nasty way and was mean to a cat (twice) yet still got it published in Woman's Weekly. It also uses the idea that what you do in life influences how happy you are, which is a bit of a sub theme in a lot of my stories. The garden it's set in is lovely too. I had fun creating that one and baking and eating all the cakes the character makes. When it comes to cakes, my research is thorough.

 

Having just brought out my own story collection, I can see we have different writing styles – what would you say your signature style is, if you have one?

I agree that our writing is different. I'm not sure I have a recognisable style, if I do it isn't something I do consciously. Generally my stories are uplifting and usually they're about fairly normal characters and situations; the kind of people the reader might know in real life, doing things they might do themselves in places they might visit.

 

You’ve published the collection in both ebook and paperback. What did you find trickiest about each?

The formatting! It's not really that difficult if you haven't already done something weird to the document, you take your time and carefully follow all the instructions, but ... Luckily friends and fellow writers came to the rescue after seeing anguished tweets and blog posts.

I'm always amazed at people's generosity with their time and knowledge, in some cases being of huge help to a person they've never met and/or assisting those who're competing in the same market.

 

Your novel, Escape to the Country, which I enjoyed very much by the way, has a farm as its setting. Is it possible that gardens or gardening could feature in a future novel?

Yes! Gardeners or florists have a role in them all so far, but gardening hasn't been the main focus (and it's not something I've done deliberately). I'd like to have a gardener as a main character though. A sequel to Escape to the Country with Jayne as the main character is a tempting idea. Those herbal potions of hers have potential, I think.

 

What would Patsy Collins like to be doing in five years time?

Spending all my time writing, gardening, travelling in our campervan ... oh, did you mean something different from now? I've done a few talks/workshops for writing groups and will be giving a talk to a reading group in the summer. I'd like to do a bit more of that kind of thing.

 

Thank you so much for joining me on my blog today, Patsy.


Patsy Collins lives and writes on the south coast of England. She's the author of hundreds of published short stories and three novels. When she's not writing she likes gardening, photography and cake eating. She shares her home with her husband and head with her characters.
 

 

Over the Garden Fence is available from Amazon here

 

How to contact Patsy:

 

Website here and here

Facebook here

Twitter here

 

 

Charlotte's War - My First People's Friend Serial

Today is a very exciting day for me as instalment one of my serial, Charlotte's War, has just been published in The People's Friend magazine. It is a romance set on Guernsey during the German occupation of World War 2 and David Young has been illustrating it for me.

After I trotted off to the newsagents this morning to buy myself a copy, the rush I got from seeing it was the same as when I saw my first short story in print. I couldn't wait to get it home to read - not because I love my own writing but because I wrote it over a year ago and I couldn't actually remember what happened! When I looked back on my computer, I found that I started writing the first instalment in July 2013! As you can see, from writing the first words to seeing the serial in print is not a speedy process! You can read my blog post written on the day I had my serial accepted here.

The People's Friend are running an advert this week on Classic FM (South and Midlands) and they are using an excerpt from Charlotte's War - with sound effects! I spent a morning listening to classical music (not something I would normally do!) and wondered why the advert hadn't appeared (I'd been sent a schedule so knew roughly the times). It wasn't until I heard on the traffic news about road works in Yorkshire, that I realised my computer was tuned into the wrong region! Luckily for me, the magazine put a link on their website and anyone interested can listen to it here.

It's strange but thrilling to hear even that tiny part read - shame my name wasn't mentioned though.
 

I have a story, Rhythm of Life, in the same magazine set in the 1920s jazz age. It was one I wrote to accompany this lovely illustration by Len Thurston.

I find that magazine publications are a lot like buses - they often come at once (not that I'm complaining). I also have a story, Home Grown Wisdom, in the People's Friend special - also out today. The illustration is by Ruth Blair and the inspiration behind this story was my lovely father-in-law who has spent most of his life in his vegetable garden!

Before I go, The People's Friend are looking for new serial writers. If you want any tips on writing longer pieces for this magazine, an article I have written on the subject, with pearls of wisdom from fiction editor Shirley Blair, should be in Writing Magazine soon.

Have any Writing Tips?

Since publishing The Last Rose, I've been lucky to have been invited as a guest on some lovely blogs (see last week's post here) and a question I'm often asked is what writing tips I would give to new writers wanting to break into the magazine market.

Here is the answer I often give:

 Write the story you'd love to read. Rather than trying to fit in with a style you think the magazine will want, try and find your own voice. It you love your story, it's more likely that a magazine editor will too.
 

But this is just my own advice and there are a lot of writers out there with years more experienced than me, writing for a lot of different markets. 

With this in mind, I though it would be fun to compile a top tips list covering three different categories: magazines, novels and competitions to publish on my blog.

Could you help? 

Just leave your tip as a comment below, starting it with the name of your chosen category (just a sentence or two would be great) and I will use the ones I feel are the best in a future post. Thank you in anticipation of all the lovely advice you are going to give!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Busy, Busy, Busy

I hope you won't mind that I haven't written a proper blog post today but I thought that instead, I would point you in the direction of the guest blogs and interviews I've been doing over the past couple of weeks since publishing my short story collection, The Last Rose. I would hate you to have missed them.

I'd like to thank all of the lovely people who have welcomed me with open arms onto their blogs. Please do pop over and have a read - you never know, you might find out something you didn't know about me!

These are the lovely people I have been talking to:

The Write Romantics

Anne Harvey

Write Minds Write Place

Karen Aldous

Ben Adams

Never Too Late to Write

Also, thank you Tracy for a generous bit of promo.

Please do support these great bloggers - I like to think of us all helping each other.

Stories for Special People

Last week was very exciting with the launch of my second short story collection, The Last Rose. The stories are about family and friendship but it was only recently that I realised how many of them have been directly inspired by my own family and friends: things we've done together, something they've said or just distant memories.

In today's blog post I am going to give you a little snippet of some of the stories and tell you how the special people in my life helped them to come about.

Saying Goodbye to Summer:

Without a backward glance and with no uncertainty in her young mind, Summer had left her a blown kiss and a heart full of memories.

Summer is leaving for university, but the description of that moment was based on the day my own daughter left home.

New Beginnings:

Dear Nan. I am finding it hard to sleep even though Mum sings to me and rocks me. I didn't mean to make her tired but I miss her when she puts me down in my cot. Maybe I'll sleep better tomorrow. Love Alex.

My close friend's daughter used to send her text messages from her new baby grandson. Her wonderful anecdotes about her family have inspired many of my other stories.

Just Maybe:

She rested her arms on the stone wall and breathed in the sweet scent of jasmine that, despite being September, was still in full bloom. Behind her, a yellow lilo drifted across the pool. Bliss.
"If you've taken my ipod, you'll wish you'd never been born!"

I wrote this after my lovely step-daughter decided our two families should go on holiday together to 'bond'. We're still thinking about it!

Links in a Chain:

"Is this yours?"
Erin nodded and her eyes filled at the sight of her beautiful necklace - so precious because her mother had given it to her - but broken now.

My daughter and I wear identical thin gold necklaces. One day, I noticed she wasn't wearing it and 'Links in a Chain' was the story I came up with as an explanation. (It's her birthday next week and I've bought her another... shhh.)

A Growing Family:

"Same old book, Nan?"
"Of course. I wouldn't use anything else. Now hold your head straight." Lifting his head a fraction, she placed the book flat on his head before making a new mark with her pen. "Still growing, I see."

My door frame shows height marks for my children, step-children and grandchildren!

The Last Rose:

Ron sees me looking at the flower beds.
"As you can see, I don't really know what I'm doing. Glad used to have it all worked out in her head. She knew what was tall and what was short and everything was in its right place. It's not exactly what she would have had in mind."
"Well, I think it's marvellous," I say, and I mean it.

My father-in-law loves his vegetable garden and left the flower planting to my mother-in-law. When she sadly died a few years ago, he carried on with the flower garden in her memory. It may not be as well planned but it's always a riot of colour!

And finally - the image of the perfect bloom in the story is inspired by the beautiful apricot rose in my mother's garden.

So many special memories... so many special people.

With Mother's Day coming up, if you would like to spoil that special someone, you can buy The Last Rose here
Available for Kindle or in paperback.

The Last Rose Launch Party!

Welcome to the party to celebrate the launch of my new story collection: The Last Rose. No, no, you’re not the first to arrive and I can see by the bottle of bubbly that you’re holding that you’ll probably not going be the first to leave either!

Let me take your coat and pour you a drink... oh, I see you already have one. Well, that’s the spirit. The pink champagne goes beautifully with my rose theme, doesn’t it?

Yes, the place is rather grand isn’t it but I thought I’d push the boat out as it’s the second book I’ve published. I’m glad you’ve chosen to dress up for the occasion – that hat really suits you and I haven’t seen earings like those since I was last in Primark.

I’ve made a bit of an effort myself. Do you like my nails? I can’t pick anything up but luckily Tracy Fells is here to help out. “More canapes over here please, Tracy. What do you mean we’ve run out? Have a rummage around in your very large rucksack - I’m sure there must be some more hiding at the bottom.”

I thought, instead of a buffet, we’d have a sit down meal. Don’t the tables look beautiful. Patsy Collins said she'd make me some rose table decorations but this is all she managed to come up with.

Please find yourself a seat at the table, there are some fabulous cakes and desserts which will be coming round soon. No, there’s not point in fighting to sit next to Della Galton or Teresa Ashby, they are not going to give away the secrets of their success. And just because Shirley from The People’s Friend is here, doesn’t mean she wants you to hand her that submission... go on put it away!

While the orchestra is tuning up, let me tell you a little about The Last Rose. It’s a collection of thirteen short stories about family and friendship and all the stories have previously been published in either The People’s Friend, Take a Break Fiction Feast or Woman’s Weekly. Are there any stories about my own family in here? Well, the marks on the doorframe in my story, ‘A Growing Family’ can actually be found in my kitchen and both my daughter and I have identical gold necklaces just like the mother and daughter in 'Links in a Chain'.

There should be something in The Last Rose for everyone: some, like 'The Writing on the Wall' and 'All Our Yesterdays' are thought provoking, others such as 'Look at Me' and 'Feels Like Coming Home' are poignant. If you like humour, though, 'The Toast of Maida Vale' is the one for you. Hopefully, whatever your taste, you will not be left wanting.

Why family and friendship? Well, they are both very important to me. Here are some little people who many of you will recognise – my grandchildren. They are three of my favourite people in the world and fabulous for exploiting when you have a book to market. If you’d just stand over there little ones and hold up the book so everyone can see and look cute... that’s the way!

Sorry, I’m going to have to leave you for a moment as my editor, Alan, has just arrived with some music for the DJ to play later. Oh dear, it looks like he’s brought his whole 80's collection and I have a horrid suspicion that Kajagoogoo might be in there somewhere – I’d better have a quiet word.

What a fantastic cake! I’d like to say I baked it myself but... well, you know me too well to know that to be true. Do help yourself to a slice... oh, all right two then... and while I have you captive, I’ll read you a snippet from one of my stories: 'The Writing on the Wall'.

The word appears slowly. As I pull away wet strips of wallpaper, the wall beneath is slick and shiny with paste but with every upward sweep of the scraper, the letters become more defined. Some letters are written large and others smaller. The writing is bold and defiant, written across the blank canvas of the wall with a flourish. The light is going and dusk has fallen by the time I uncover the final letter... REMEMBER. Remember what?

No, of course I’m not going to tell you the rest. If I did, there would be no reason for you to buy it here, would there? I’m not that silly! It's a bargain at £1.99 don't you think? Don't like Kindle? You're in luck because The Last Rose is available here in paperback too for £4.99... just for you! Thank you so much for coming to my launch party. If you do read it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon... I'd be really grateful.

 

I'm afraid I'm going to leave you now and mingle but I'll be back soon. In the meantime, thank you for coming and enjoy the party!