20 Things I Love Best in the World

We're almost at Valentine's Day and, in honour of this time of year, I thought I'd write a post on the twenty things that I love the most. Some of them won't surprise you, but a few might!

1. My family

2. My dog, Bonnie, and my cat, Bob

3. Opening a magazine and seeing a story of mine in there

4. Dancing

5. Singing in my choir

6. People who hold doors open for me (sorry but I'm old-fashioned)

7. Any Greek Island

8. The Lake District

9. Cream cheese and banana sandwiches

10. Red wine

11. Walking by the river

12. Les Miserables

13. Australian Masterchef

14. My electric blanket in winter

15. Jeans

16. Teacakes

17. My friends

18. Books

19. Roses

20. My blog readers for continuing to support me!

And while we're talking of love, I have two valentine stories in this week's People's Friend. It's unusual for this magazine to publish more than one story from a writer, so I'm very honoured. I actually wrote and sent them last year but missed the Valentine boat, so I had to read them again to remember what they were about!

And finally, if you're in the mood for romance, you can find twelve of my published favourites in my short story collection, Room in Your Heart, which (for the price of a small coffee) can be bought here.

My People's Friend Journey to 100 Stories

This week was a bit of a milestone as I sold my hundredth story to the lovely magazine The People's Friend (bringing my magazine sales to nearly 150). If someone had told me this would happen when I sent off my first story to them in 2012, I would never have believed it.

My People's Friend journey started like this. I sent a few stories at the beginning of the year and received the standard rejection letter - very quickly as it happens. I wasn't downheartened though as I had sent them off without expectation. Looking back at those first stories I realise that they really weren't that good (although I've since used the basic ideas and themes to write other stories that have found a home) and am not surprised they were rejected.

Then I received a letter from a real live editor... oh yes indeed! In fact it was from my lovely editor of three years, Alan. Okay, so it wasn't an acceptance but it gave me hope. I'll let you read the blog post I wrote about this. It's short and sweet and had no comments as I was new to blogging then. In fact I doubt anyone ever read it. It's called Resubmissions, Resubmissions

I must say I chuckled to myself when I read the sentence, 'I think I have become very stubborn about this magazine - I have made it my mission to have a story accepted.' 

Thank goodness I did!

It was then that I decided to try writing about something close to my heart - dancing - which has been a hobby of mine for over twenty years. At the time, I was doing Zumba classes and had also started ballroom lessons so decided to merge both of these into a story.

My passion for the subject must have showed because the next letter I received wasn't a general rejection but  one full of suggestions as to how to make my story better. Here's a little clip of it. As you can imagine, I was over the moon and sat down and made all the changes there and then, sending it out before the next post. A couple of months later, I went on holiday and came back to an email telling me that my dance story had been sold. Dancing Queen was published in The People's Friend Special the following February.

The post I wrote next is still as relevant today as it was then. It's called The People's Friend - A Friend Indeed.

The rest is history really. Having got a feel for The Friend readership, I continued to write and found more and more of my stories accepted. All this time I worked closely with my editor and I know that his invaluable advice has made me a better writer. When magazine editor Angela Gilchrist said in Writing Magazine 'if we see potential in a writer, the fiction team will work very hard with that person to get them their first acceptance' I can do nothing but agree with her.

I went on to write serials for the magazine and even wrote an article for fiction Editor, Shirley Blair, on the subject for Writing Magazine

Writing for the magazine has also gained me a new friend - fellow People's Friend writer and workshop leader, Alison Carter. We share the same editor and when he spotted we lived near to each other, I got in touch. We now meet regularly to eat cake and chat about the writing world and Alan likes to call himself a matchmaker!


In fact I feel very honoured to have had my name alongside Alison's in a People's Friend tweet, advertising their guidelines as Alison is a great writer whose sales far exceed mine. You can read their guidelines here.

I hope that reading this post on my journey to my hundredth sale to the magazine will give other writers encouragement to persevere. The magazine might be called The People's Friend, but the editorial staff soon become the writers' friends.

You might like to get an idea of the sort of stories I've written for the magazine. The ones in my romantic story collection, Room in Your Heart, have all previously been published in The People's Friend as have many of the ones in The Last Rose.

They are available in both ebook and paperback and can be bought here from Amazon.

Writing Targets 2015

It's that time of year again. Two weeks ago, I looked at my 2014 writing goals and discussed whether or not I had achieved them. This week I shall be setting in stone (or on screen) the goals I talked through with Tracy at our teacake session... were we really in the tearoom three hours! You can read Tracy's own goals here.

So (deep breath) here are my 2015 writing targets:

1. Continue to write one short story a week.

2. Write at least 40,000 words of my novel by August to enable me to submit something for the RNA New Writers' Scheme critique (I could say write the whole novel but I'm being realistic here). I intend to try to write at least 500 words of it on at least four days a week - this way, it won't seem a chore. I'm hoping I'll write more but we'll see. Can I say I'll start next week, Tracy? *hangs head in shame*

3. Go to the RNA conference. Although it may seem a small goal, it is a big one for me - for reasons I have given in this post. I've already printed out the form and it should be in the post tomorrow.

4. My final goal is to publish at least one more collection of my published magazine stories. I've been thrilled with how well Room in Your Heart has been received and have been asked many times whether I'll be doing another collection. This is already in progress and my second collection will be available soon... so watch this space.

I hope my 2015 goals are manageable but I've learnt from last year that I need to be flexible. If there's something that's not working then I'll change it. After all, targets are just that... something to aim for.

In other news I have a story in the People's Friend Special. It's a historical story about a quarryman's family and is once again set against the backdrop of the Lake District's beautiful pikes. The illustration is by Michael Thomas.

Also, I've just heard that my first People's Friend serial (written a year ago) is in the process of being illustrated by the very talented David Young, which might mean that it may be published soon. Can't wait!

My Goals of 2014 - Did I Succeed?

At the beginning of 2014, I sat down over teacakes with writing chum Tracy and set myself some writing goals for the coming year - you can read the original full post here.

The goals (in brief) are below and I have commented on whether or not they have been achieved.

Goal: Increase my story output to three stories every two weeks.
Achieved? Yes and no. I managed this for several months until it became stressful! I realised that by forcing myself to write more stories, I was concentrating more on quantity than quality and unless my story is my very best, I don't want to send it. I also realised that by writing more stories I had to come up with more ideas and this started to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure. With this in mind, I dropped back to one story a week again - this feels just right and the ideas come naturally now.

Goal: Achieve my hundredth sale by the end of the year.
Achieved? I sold 102!

Goal: Write another serial
Achieved? Yes. Serial number two was accepted by The People's Friend and is almost completed.

Goal: Write a novel
Achieved? Umm... no. I started - really I did - but there was always something else I wanted to write. I'm a bit disappointed in myself but will try harder next year!

Goal: Publish a collection of my short stories in time for Christmas.
Achieved: A gold star for this as Room in Your Heart was published in September (available here.) It was only ever meant to be an ebook but after many requests, I published a paperback version as well.

So, as you can see, it was a mixed year but on balance, I was very happy with my achievements.

But do you know what the best goal of all was? It was to meet up with Tracy once a month to discuss targets and put the writing world to rights. We've managed every month for the whole year and I couldn't have a better writing buddy. I'll be posting my new targets for 2015 very soon - so look out for them.

In Praise of National Short Story Week

What is National Short Story Week? Basically, it is an annual awareness event, whose aim is to focus the attentions of the public and the media on the short story and short story writers, publishers and events. Find out more about it here.

The short story is considered by some to be the poor relation of the novel but this couldn't be further from the truth and this week is a good time for the myth to be dispelled. There are wonderful anthologies and collections of short stories around, written by known and lesser known authors, and what better time than National Short Story Week to read some of them or add them to your reading list.

So, what have I been doing for National Short Story week?

This month, I was very excited to publish my own collection Room in Your Heart (romantic short stories previously published in The People's Friend magazine).

First, I had my launch party which, if you couldn't attend, you can read about here

Then, I wrote an article in Writing Magazine about my experiences of putting together my collection for kindle.

Initially, I was only going to bring the story collection out as an e-book but was persuaded to publish it as a paperback as well. I am so glad I did as my collection can now be read by everyone - with or without an e-reader.

Having Room in Your Heart as a paperback has meant that I was able to show the collection to my lovely local bookstore: The Steyning Bookshop. It's a fabulous place to browse and buy books and I was thrilled when the owner asked if she might have a few for her display for short story week - as a self-published author, this is a great honour.

The fabulous Cobblestone Tea House in my village, (where I meet with my friend Tracy once a month for teacakes and writerly chat) and where the seed was sown for the collection, has been really supportive too. They were delighted to promote Room in Your Heart by having my book on show and bookmarks for visitors to take home. I can't thank these local businesses enough.

Having a paperback has also meant I could sell books to members of my local choir and dance groups (I felt very proud when I was asked to sign them). The support I have received from local people has been overwhelming and I am very grateful.

I don't want to finish this post without mentioning the short story magazines. Without them, I would not be doing what I love best - writing short stories! There are fewer now than there used to be but those that still print short stories are much loved by their readers.

Room in Your Heart is a collection of my People's Friend romances and one of my book reviewers said, '... after enjoying them all so much I think that this is one magazine that I really should start reading.' which says it all! You can read her full 5* review here.

But enough about me. I want to share with you two wonderful anthologies which I am sure you'll love:

Fugue a collection of contemporary short stories which includes a story by my good friend Tracy Fells and
Winter Tales an anthology of uplifting stories, by the Write Romantics, with proceeds going to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

There are many more wonderful short story collections which have been written by my writing friends and I would love to name them all but won't as I would hate to leave someone out. What I will do though is leave you with this thought: whatever your reading tastes, find some time to read a short story this week - I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Why I said No No to NanoWriMo

For anyone who stumbles upon my blog and doesn't know what NaNoWriMo is, here is a short description taken from the horse's mouth:

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. 

'On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.'

I thought fleetingly about a novel. In fact, I fleetingly think about my novel every day. I started it in the summer... it reached three chapters and then stopped. It stopped because I was too busy wring magazine stories, my serial, a Writing Magazine article and putting together my short story collection, Room in your Heart.

You would think that NaNoWriMo would be perfect for me then - the push I needed to get up earlier and go to bed later in order to write the novel alongside everything else. Why then did I turn away from the yearly event that could have seen its completion? I considered it - I really did, so why eventually say, "NoNo" to NaNo?

It was simple really. When I taught English to my year sixes (could it really be nearly four years ago?) I would often get them to highlight key words in a text or on the questions of test papers. I did the same thing. Let's look again at the definition above. The words that stand out for me are highlighted: Fun and seat-of-your-pants.

I'll look at 'fun' first. I am lucky that I don't have a 'proper job'. I can be flexible when I write and try and balance my writing with other things (dog walking, my choir, Zumba and FitSteps and my dance classes) not forgetting grandma duties! I love my writing time simply because it is not forced on me. I realised that if I gave up some of the things that balance my writing life (even if only for a month) I would be a very sad writer indeed, probably bored out of my mind and with chronic back ache. Not a lot of fun in any of that!

When I looked at my calendar, I also saw that the first weekend of NaNo, I had a theatre trip in London with my mum on the Saturday and a charity tea dance on the Sunday. I could do these things or write an enforced 1,667 words or worse - do these things and have to make up the word count later in the week. I could feel myself getting stressed before I had even begun.

The other key word was 'seat-of-your-pants'. Now, don't get me wrong, I love that word. I plan my articles meticulously, but when it comes to writing fiction, am a pantster. So what's the problem? Well, the 'seat of your pants' element for NaNo is to just write... anything! Although I often start writing with just the seed of an idea, I cannot just write and write. I edit and change as I go and when I have finished, there is very little I change (I am talking short stories here). If I felt I was just writing words for the sake of it, I would lose the will to write.

I have heard of writers who have been jubilant to have completed their 50,000 words only to have their manuscript languish in a drawer because they know it was rushed and needed complete re-working or they were sick of the sight of it. Many people plan their novel meticulously before the beginning of November to give it a better chance (a very good idea) but one which wouldn't work for me being the aforementioned panster!

So now you know why I didn't join the thousands of writers taking part in NaNo this year but of course this is just my own personal opinion and what is not right for me, will be perfect for other writers... and who knows, maybe one year I'll join in.

So, I will finish by wishing everyone taking part good luck... and a comfortable cushion!

Meet My Cover Designer - Guest Post Sarah Hughes

I would like you all to give a huge welcome to my very talented cover designer, Sarah Hughes. Sarah graduated with a degree in illustration from the University of Lincoln in 2013 and is now pursuing a career in illustration.

I am absolutely thrilled with the cover Sarah has created for my short story collection, Room in Your Heart, and thought it would be nice if she could give us an idea of what it's like to be an illustrator and the steps behind creating a book cover.


What made you decide to be an illustrator?

I always wanted to do something art related. Throughout school and college, I dabbled in various art and design subjects and it was just a matter of narrowing down my choices. The freedom of all that illustration can encompass is what ultimately led me to choose that route - along with the ability to bring in elements of the other subjects should I want to.


Tell me a little about winning the cover design competition at Lincoln University.

There was a competition to design a cover for a children's novel, The Strange Encounter of Sally Shakespeare and Toby Tinker by Adam Rawlins, that was being published by a local publishing company (Hawkward Books). They targeted our university in particular for entrants so I was up against most of my classmates. Ultimately, the publisher and the author felt I had best captured the essence of the story, without being too direct, while also suiting the audience. They thought the cover looked nice too - but you could say that about plenty of the other entries - so these were some of the specific reasons mine stood out for them.


I absolutely love your cover design for my romantic story collection, Room in Your Heart. Can you take us through the process of how you designed this cover, Sarah?

Well, first I read a couple of the stories from the book to get a feel of what kind of personality the cover should have. From there, it was a case of getting out a bunch of ideas, starting with quick thumbnail sketches. These were then narrowed down and I worked with what was left to create more finished, detailed artwork before narrowing these down again, deciding on the final design and turning them into the finished image.


How do you work with the author in order to create the perfect design?

I involve them in each of the narrowing down stages so I know that I'm not completely off track and that the author is getting what they want. Also I make sure I have enough information to understand what an author wants from their book: sometimes there are nuances in genres and I don't want to misrepresent the author's work. For example, for this book the genre was romance but romance can be epic, chic lit, family drama... and those would all call for different covers, so getting a feel for the author's work is important to me.


How many drafts do you have to do before settling on the final design?

It mostly depends on whether I have a clear idea of what I want the image to look like early on or if I need to work through different ways to do things to find what I'm looking for.


How important do you think a cover is to a book's success?

Pretty important. I'm sure if a book had the worst cover on earth but was a truly spectacular book, then word of mouth would eventually get it to where it deserved. Generally speaking though, there are a lot of books out there and a good cover is one of the best ways to stand out amongst them.




Would you say you had a signature style?

Not quite as signature a style as some illustrators but there are some elements to my work that reoccur. It's more related to the way I use colours and create the art than having a specific way to draw things. I do eventually hope to fine-tune my style to a point where someone who knew my work would recognise something else I had done as mine. I would like to build up my signature style over time.


Are there any books you have seen where you've thought... I wish I'd designed that?

Maybe in terms of money but seriously, not really. If I like a cover that much, I'd be more likely to save it to a folder somewhere on my computer as inspiration, than wish I'd done it.


Where would you like to be in five years time?

Well, I would love to be at a point where I have published a graphic novel and have a steady stream of requests for book covers. I would also like to have a line of my illustrations on T-shirts in a high street shop and designed album covers and posters for musicians. There are quite a few pathways illustrators can branch down and I doubt in five years I'll have made a success of them all but I would like to get the chance to work on a variety of projects. Mainly, though, I would just like to get to the point where I can be making a living wage out it this, meagre or otherwise... preferably otherwise!

Thank you very much, Sarah, for being my guest this week and I wish you every success in your career.


If you are interested in discussing illustrations for your own project or would just like to find out a bit more about Sarah, she can be contacted here:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SH_illustration

Website: http://cargocollective.com/sarahhughes/

Room in Your Heart, a collection of romantic short stories, previously published in The People's Friend, is available for Kindle and in paperback here

Room in Your Heart Launch Party!

Welcome to the party to celebrate the book launch of my romantic short story collection: Room in Your Heart. Let me take your coat and please take a drink from the tray. Bubbly all right?

I hope you don't mind me leaving you for a few minutes but others are arriving and I just need to let them in. Why don't you help yourself to a canapé while you're waiting? They were freshly baked this morning - I bet you're impressed as you know I don't bake very often!

Right, I'm back now - hope you've been OK talking amongst yourselves but my special guest: proofreader, photographer and writing chum Tracy Fells, has just arrived with her very large ruck sack and I needed to make sure it was put somewhere out of the way. What was that? Patsy Collins has blocked the neighbour's drive with her campervan? Not a problem, the neighbours are all here anyway. Love the outfit, the colour really suits you - mind if I ask where you bought it? Thought so.

Yes of course I'll tell you something about Room in Your Heart - I'm glad you asked. It's a collection of twelve romantic short stories, all previously published in The People's Friend. Which story did I like best? Oh, that's a difficult one but I think it has to be the first story, Read These When I've gone. There's something very poignant in Rachel and Mark's shared memories of their early married life and it was one of those satisfying stories that just rolled off the keyboard.

Oh, do please excuse me, I think I heard the doorbell ring again...

Back again - sorry to break off our conversation. Let me introduce you to my People's Friend editor... I really think you should take off that bobble hat, Alan, you'll get awfully hot in here with all these people. No, I'm sorry, Susan, bribing him with a glass of red wine will not guarantee a sale - even if it is a particularly good Burgundy. It's a shame Shirley couldn't make it but I'd like you all to raise a glass to her in her absence.

Ooh, I might be getting a bit tipsy, but I think I could be forgiven as this is the publication of my first book.

Ah good, Sally Jenkins has arrived. You really must meet her - if it wasn't for her book: Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners, Room in Your Heart would probably still be floating around in cyberspace! What was that, Sally? You want commission? Sorry, but until someone buys Room in Your Heart, you'll have to make do with a sausage roll.

Let me take you over to meet some other very important guests - Marianne Wheelaghan, who runs the writing class where it all began, and two of my creative writing teachers, Natalie Scott and Ann Hamilton. Who's this lovely young woman? Oh, it's Sarah Hughes my cover designer - I know it's fab, isn't it! Next week Sarah will be special guest on my blog, so don't miss it if you want to know more about the work of an illustrator.

Do help yourself to a petit four - quick before Alan eats them all! While you're eating, I'll give you a little taster of Read These When I've Gone, the first story in the collection.

Rachel is sitting in the corner of the restaurant by the window, staring out at something I can’t see. Although still only dusk outside, the waiter has lit the candle and I look to see if its light catches the diamond in her engagement ring before remembering she won’t be wearing one – or her wedding band. The menu is open in front of her but I can see she is not reading it; instead she is staring at the reflections in the window.

You'd like to find out what happens? Well, you're in luck as Room in your Heart can be bought here!

Just going to put on some music. Must leave you for a moment to grab my husband for a dance... did you know we met at a dance class? Well that's another story (one that will be told in an article I wrote for The People's Friend). Anyway, without him, this book wouldn't have even got as far as cyberspace - it would still be sitting on my laptop waiting for someone clever to turn it into a book!

Thank you so much for coming to my launch party. If you buy and enjoy, Room in Your Heart, please consider leaving a review on Amazon... I'd be really grateful.

But enough about me, I'm monopolising the conversation, what about you? The story collection is all about love so how about telling me the most romantic thing that has ever happened to you.

Now for my Gwyneth Paltrow moment. Room in Your Heart is dedicated to all the special people who made it possible:

My lovely husband, proof reader and technical wizard, Ian.
Marianne, Natalie and Ann from Writing Classes
Illustrator Sarah Hughes
Shirley and Alan from The People's Friend
Tracy fells at The Literary Pig
Sally Jenkins' Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners