The Week that Changed My Life

Each year, I approach this week in February with mixed feelings - for it was in the half term week of 2011 that my life was to change in a way I couldn't have predicted.

This blog post I wrote two years ago, gives more details.

The Day My Life Changed Direction

In a nutshell, the end of the school holiday would see my teaching career come to an abrupt end after the sudden closure of the school I was teaching at. On the following Monday, when the new half term began, instead of walking into my classroom and starting the day's English lesson, I would find myself walking my dog along the river bank, wondering what on earth I was going to do with my life.

That day, as Bonnie and I stood watching the swans that had gathered at the edge of the water, I remember how adrift I felt. I was no longer a teacher but it would be another year before I could call myself a writer. 

Of course, on that first day without a job, I had no idea that an exciting new phase of my life was about to begin - that misfortune would turn to opportunity and that it would be the start of a new career. All I knew was that something I'd loved had come to and end. I felt let down by the way the closure of the school had been handled and I had difficulty coming to terms with it. 

If only I'd known, as I looked for answers in that flowing river, that it would all turn out just fine.That, seven years on, I would be writing fiction for some of the best national women's magazines. Not only that but I would go on to write two novels (one of which would win a major competition) and publish three story collections of which I'd be immensely proud.

These are my two stories in The People's Friend Spring Special, which is in the shops as I write.

But, of course, I didn't know any of this at the time. it was something yet to come. 

As with most things, the new path I've taken hasn't always been a smooth one. Just last year, I had a major setback that shook my faith in my writing. I had two choices. I could let it get me down or pick myself up and use it as an opportunity to make something even better happen... just as I did before. I did the latter.

I'm glad I did.

My novel is now with agents and publishers. It might lead to something big... or it might not. Whatever happens, it's another turning point.

And it's exciting.

Making Twitter Banners and Adverts plus a Bargain!

I've just come back from a gorgeous holiday in La Gomera and it's time to turn my attention once more to writing and also to marketing my Christmas collection, Silent Night. This is especially important as, for one week only, it's on Kindle Countdown at just 99p and if I don't tell people, no one will know about it. So here I am telling you - you can buy it here!

Since publication day in October, and without the marketing department of a publishing house to do it for me, I've had to think up new and creative ways of showing off my book. There are many tools on the internet to help you and, as I've had a few people ask me recently how I went about making my adverts - especially my Twitter banners - I thought I'd devote this post to explaining what I did.

First of all I needed a picture of my book cover but I also wanted some other pictures to use as backgrounds. I used Pixabay for this as it has a wide range of free to use illustrations and photographs - just right for what I wanted.

For example, the background of snowflakes in this Twitter banner was from the site. 

To get the picture the right size and to add text, I used Canva. Although you can use it on a PC or your phone, I found it worked best on my ipad. Canva is a basic design programme and it's very simple to use - it must be if I managed it! I used Canva to size my adverts to fit Facebook posts, Twitter banners and Instagram pictures (you name it, it can do it.)

But I also wanted to use my book cover in a different way. For this I used the free on-line photo editor LunaPic. I made the book cover graphics below using it. 

I also used LunaPic to add the frosted edge to the title picture and to add the snow effect in my Twitter banner below (you'll find it in 'animations').

I used a different program to add a filter to my pictures to give a different effect. For this I use the photo-editor App PS Express on my ipad. I love the way it changed the tone of my advert below from warm to cool.

While I was searching around for new things to use, I came across another fun site called Lumyer. Again I used it as an App on my ipad to create the heart effect on the advert below. I used this one on my Facebook author page. If you want to remove the watermark, you have to pay, otherwise it's free to use.

Not content with animations and gifs, I decided to try using a little fun App called Boomerang. It does what it says on the tin and makes a few second 'boomerang' movie of whatever you photograph. Clever eh? This is the one I made for my Facebook page and also for Instagram.

And there you have it. Lots of ways to advertise your novel without getting boring. I'm sure there are lots of other interesting Apps and websites out there that can brighten up your marketing. If you know of any, please let me know in the comments.

Which leaves me only to remind you that Silent Night is on sale for just 99p all this week. It's had some fabulous reviews which you can check out on Amazon and, if you're feeling festive and would like to take advantage of this offer, you can buy it here.

Book Marketing for Dummies

As many of you will know, two week's ago saw the publication of my Christmas short story collection, Silent Night. It's been exciting seeing my third collection hitting the Amazon shelves but books don't sell themselves... oh no.

You can read about my launch here.

I knew that if I wanted to make Silent Night visible to readers, I would need to take action. That means using the M word. Yes, you know the one... marketing. As anyone who has tried to publicise their book knows, without it, you might as well just print the pages out and read them to yourself. Particularly if a) the book is self-published b) it's a collection of short stories c) your book baby is coming out in the two months before Christmas along with everyone else's!

I am by no means an expert in marketing (hence the title of the post) and it's difficult to know what things work without publishing a control book on the same day and doing no marketing, but I will try to help a little.

Below, are some suggestions for those starting out, based on what I've done and learnt so far.

1. Say "Pretty please" to book reviewers

A few weeks before publication day, I put out a request on the fabulous Book connectors Facebook group (if you don't belong to it, you're missing out) asking whether any lovely, kind book reviewers would be willing to take a look at Silent Night. It was a nail-biting wait after I'd clicked 'post' as I know that I'd left it very later to ask and most of the reviewers have a toppling pile of novels waiting to be read from traditionally published authors. Imagine then my delight when several reviewers said they'd be happy to have a read. Who knows, maybe they thought my thirteen short stories would be a quick and easy read after a 90,000 word manuscript. Whatever it was, I was very happy.

Of course the risk is that the reviewer might not like your book (that's the price you have to pay for requesting an honest review) but I'm delighted to say that the first reviewer, Rachel Gilbey from 'Rachel's Random Reads', really enjoyed my collection, commenting that Silent Night is 'a great showcase to Wendy Clarke's writing talents'. How lovely! You can read the rest of  Rachel's review here.

I've also had a review from across the pond. This time from Kathryn at Book Ink Reviews.
She said, 'Within a few pages, you become attached to each of her characters'. You can read the rest of her review here.

I'm looking forward to reading what the other book bloggers have to say when the reviews come in. Next time I won't leave it so close to publication date to ask (I'm aware that Christmas publications have a short shelf life).

2. Don't be afraid to ask to guest on someone's blog

Again on the Book Connectors Facebook group, I asked if anyone would like to interview me on their blog or have me write a guest post for them, linked to something in my story collection. Having hosted over fifty guests myself on Wendy's Writing Now, I didn't feel bad asking and it was lovely how many people were happy to oblige (especially authors and bloggers who have been guests on my own blog). What a lovely supportive bunch writers are.

Here's where I've been so far - many thanks to all of them. Why not pop over and have a read. I love the variety of questions I've been asked.

Brook Cottage Books  (interview)
Clare Flynn                  (interview)
Lynda Stacey               (guest post - Christmas through the eyes of different characters)
Angela Petch                (interview) 
Books and Wine Gums   (interview)

...and last but not least, a huge thank you to Jessie Cahalin from the amazing Books in My Handbag blog. Considering Jessie and I have never met either in real life or on social media before, she has given up an inordinate amount of time to voluntarily promote my book. 

First there was the picture of my collection in her handbag gallery linking to my Amazon page and then a short interview and extract from my book which can be read here. She has also tirelessly tweeted and promoted on Facebook and twitter, going above and beyond what I'd expect and I can't thank her enough.

Here's a picture of Silent Night in my handbag.

I have more guest posts lined up in the next weeks.

3. Learn how to do it properly

A bit late I know but a few days before publication, I went up to London to take part in the Neetsmarketing Social Media for Writers course, run by the fabulous Anita Chapman. Anita has got masses of great advice on her Neetsmarketing blog and you can read the guest post she wrote for me here. I'm pretty good with social media but there's always something new to learn. After attending this course, I came back determined to do numbers 4 and 5 below.

4. Set up a Facebook Author Page 

I've only ever had a Facebook profile page, as I joined Facebook after I started writing and the only 'friends' I had were other writers. However, with a new collection to publicise, I knew I was stepping on thin ice using my personal profile for marketing so decided to bite the bullet and set up an author page so I could put up an Amazon link every now and again without being thrown into Facebook gaol. What I've since learn, though, is that unless you pay to 'boost' your post, very few of the people who 'like' your page actually get to see your post. Grrrr.

If you wish, you can find and 'like' my author page here.

5. Try out a new social media

After going on Anita's course, I decided to try a new social media - Instagram. To be honest, I had absolutely no idea what it was or how to use it. I do now... and it's so simple! Basically, you post pretty pictures (after making them as good as you can by using the different filters) then adding relevant hashtags. That's it. Simples. So far I really love it but how does it work with book marketing? Every now and again, I've put up a picture of something book-related (my book cover, or the bookmarks my husband has made for me)

Then I've added appropriate hashtags and mentioned the link to Amazon that's in my bio (you can't add live links to your photo). It's too early to say whether this is working but it gets your book info in front of a new and diverse audience.

6. Make some good adverts

This is one I made earlier. It's my favourites and I think it deserves a Blue Peter Badge. It's a Twitter banner which I made on my ipad using Canva. I just love this site. The trick is to make several different ones and change them around frequently. I also try not to bombard people with 'buy me' posts but slip them in amongst other things.

7. Don't be scared to mention your book

I took my bookmarks and a sample copy of Silent Night to my choir practice. Many of the ladies are in the age bracket who read the magazines I write for and have bought my other collections. I've had several paperback sales already. These ladies may not be on social media and if I hadn't told them about Silent Night it would have been a market I'd missed. Think about who goes to your pilates/badminton/swimming club - might they like a book like yours?

And that's it... so far. 

The only marketing tip I've left to try is the Amazon Countdown price drop (I've used this promotion for my other collections with varying degrees of success). It will be happening very soon... watch out for it.

So, if you're a dummy at marketing like I was, why not try giving some of these things a go. They might not get you into the best-seller list but at least you'll have fun trying.

If you have any marketing ideas that have worked for you, please feel free to put them in the comments.

Merry (Christmas) Publication Day to Me!

At last it's here! Publication day for my Christmas short story collection, Silent Night.

Yes, I know it's only October but unless I launch my collection into the wide world now, Christmas will have been and gone in the blink of an eye and no one will have read it.

Thinking about Christmas when it's not (if you see what I mean) is nothing new to me. All thirteen stories in this collection have been published in national women's magazines (The People's Friend and Take a Break Fiction Feast) so were written in the middle of summer - some as early as June!

So, how do I go about writing something Christmassy when the thermometer is showing 27 degrees, I'm skulking in the shade and the thought of a crackling log fire might just send me over the edge? Well, imagination is the key. I don't play Christmas songs, read A Christmas Carol or stare at Christmas cards hoping for inspiration. Instead, I close my eyes and take myself back to my childhood, remembering the excitement of waking up to a stocking on the end of a bed or the smell of a turkey in the oven. Don't get me wrong, not all my stories are written from a child's point of view - in fact, the stories are seen through the eyes of many different characters: male, female, young and old. It's just that this is my way of capturing that special Christmas feeling. A feeling that can be woven through every Christmas story I write, even if I know that very soon I'll be jetting off on my summer holidays.

Putting this collection together hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be. I wanted Silent Night to be around the same size as my other two story collections, Room in Your Heart and The Last Rose, which meant thirteen stories. It was trying to choose the thirteen from the thirty published that was the problem. In the end, my husband said, 'Why don't you just pick your favourites?'

So that's what I did. 

The next few weeks will be exciting - as you read this I shall be busy writing guest posts and answering interview questions. I'm very grateful to all the people who have invited me onto their blogs and I can't wait to start visiting. I've got so used to being the blog host that it makes a lovely change to be the guest.

Let's crack open the bubbly and I'll leave you with a short extract from the story, 'On My Own'.

I wake to a weak light filtering through the curtains. Looking at my watch, I’m surprised to find that it’s nearly ten. My morning is usually dictated by Ryan’s morning routine so to lie in bed and know that the day ahead is my own, gives me a delicious thrill. As I lean across and pull open the curtains, I gasp. The sky, yesterday a battle-ship grey, is now a clear winter blue and seems to go on for ever and, in the distance, is the sea view I had been promised.

Christmas Eve. The thought fills me with excitement as it did when I was a little girl. I run down the stairs two at a time to make a cup of tea to take up to bed. As I enter the living room, I see the half empty bottle of Chablis and the tree jauntily displaying its home-made decorations: silver fir cones, golden flower heads and white cut out snowflakes shimmering with glitter. It’s a far cry from the white and pink baubles we bought in Selfridges. It wouldn’t look out of place in a primary school but I love it.

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Silent Night, it is available on Amazon HERE as an ebook or
paperback (perfect for popping into a Christmas stocking)

Writing Targets 2016

As usual, at the beginning of the year, writing chum Tracy Fells and I sat down in our local cafe, in Cobblestone Walk, to set our writing goals and give each other a stern talking to. Unlike the previous years, I came armed with this: a lovely little book just asking to be filled with potential achievements (you see I like to stay positive!).

Last year, I realised that any goals set needed to be straightforward and not overambitious if they were to be achievable and not stressful and I think I got them about right (if you haven't already seen how I did you can read last week's post here).

So here they are (gulp) - my writing goals for 2016!

1. To have written 50,000 words of novel two by the end of August (ready to submit to the RNA New Writers' Scheme reader).

2. To write at least two short stories a month. You may have noticed this has been reduced from last year's one a week but I have to be realistic as I'll be writing them alongside the novel.

3. Publish at least one more story collection - I'm really pleased with how well Room in Your Heart and The Last Rose have done (if you fancy reading them, the link is at the side) and so many people have asked when the next one will be appearing that it would be rude not to, wouldn't it!

4. Find an agent. This probably should have been at the top of the list as it is my ultimate goal for 2016 now novel number one is complete. I've already started the process... so fingers crossed.

And there you have it - four (hopefully) realistic goals for the year. One thing I do know though is that if I don't achieve any of them I am not going to beat myself up about it. At the end of the day the most important thing is that I carry on enjoying my writing, my wonderful circle of lovely writing friends and being in the privileged position of being able to entertain readers with my work... here's my latest story in The People's Friend Special.

You can read Tracy's 2016 goals 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.

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

 

 

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.

Feel the Fear and Use it

When I put this picture on the blog, I had to stop my heart racing. To most of you, it is just a picture of a tunnel but to me it signifies everything I fear: blackness and small spaces and crowds. It's a problem that has seen me refuse to use the London underground, visit caves or basically go anywhere with no natural light or the potential to be trapped in darkness.

Unlike some people with claustrophobia, I can pinpoint the exact moment my problem started. I was very little and had arrived in France for a holiday with my parents. I'd fallen asleep in the car and been carried into the gite we were staying in and put to bed. When I woke in the middle of the night, the room was dark... in fact it was so pitched black it felt like I could touch it. I remember holding out my hand to try to push it aside. My first thought was that I had gone blind, swiftly followed by the fear that maybe I had died.

Still thinking I was in my bedroom at home, I got out of bed and felt my way around the wall to where the door should have been but it wasn't there and neither was the light switch. I can feel the mounting panic even now, over forty years later. Of course, I know now that the reason the room was so dark was because the French shutters on the windows had been closed so that no light was able get in. To this day, if I am staying anywhere away from home, I have to make sure that the there is at least a chink of light coming into the room through the curtains.

Fast forward thirty years and I am on a tube train with my sister. It's rush hour... it's hot... the train slows... then stops... the lights flicker.

I won't tell you more because it would spoil it for anyone wanting to read my latest story, 'Out of the Dark', in The People's Friend Special. The story came about because I was determined to take my fear and turn it into something positive. I decided to write about what would happen if someone like myself were forced into a situation where they had to confront their worst fear.

I'm pleased with 'Out of the Dark' because I was able to take the essence of my fear and use it to help write the important scenes, such as the one at the tube station. 

Interestingly, the story itself is a big departure from what you might expect from a People's Friend story. There are no cosy kitchen scenes or kittens - just someone trying to overcome a fear to help someone they love. There is also another reason this story is different from the norm but I can't tell you that either without spoiling the ending. Never underestimate the type of story this magazine will accept.

Claustrophobia can still be a problem for me at times (just ask my husband) but I am trying to manage it and I think I am a little better than I was but the moral of this story is to think of something that has happened to you that has caused extreme emotion: fear, hate, jealousy, sorrow and use it to bring your stories to life. You'd be surprised at how affective it can be.

On a lighter note, I have a very exciting announcement. My second collection of short stories, The Last Rose, will be published on 2 March  and everyone is invited to the launch party on my blog next Monday. It will be open house all day and there will be music, good food and the chance to win a free paperback. Hope to see you there!