Greece is the Word. Have you Heard?

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I've been on holiday and, on my return, had to get stuck into a pile of line edits that my editor sent me just before I went away (I deliberately didn't look at them until I came home in case I went into panic mode). Now the edits are done, I can concentrate on carrying on with novel two. It's taking a while to get into the swing of it but it's slowly taking shape and, today, I reached the halfway mark which I'm happy about.

As always, our Greek holiday was fantastic. This year we tried a new island, Meganissi (sometimes spelt Meganisi) and it was exactly as we'd imagined it - small but perfectly formed. In fact, with its little harbour, hilltop villages, green slopes and pebble beaches (not to mention the flotillas that moored up each evening) it reminded us of our two previous Greek holidays in Ithaca and Paxos. Above, is a picture of the little house we stayed in. We had our own pool with a gorgeous view which we sadly shared with several wasps (Ian got stung between his toes on the last day) and some rather scary looking hornets (which luckily weren't interested in us at all).

So what does this writer do when she's on holiday? Write?

No. 

I read lots, ate delicious food, drank Mythos beer and swam - not necessarily in that order! One day, we hired a little boat. Mooring up in deserted bays and swimming in the crystal clear water was heavenly - until we ran aground and damaged our propeller. As if that wasn't bad enough, we then found, once we'd left the shelter of the harbour and were setting off home, that the wind had picked up and there were waves. I absolutely do not 'do' waves.

The only way I could cope with the journey back was by taking the wheel. It was better than being a passenger and awaiting my fate in the choppy water. "We'll be alright, won't we?" I was heard to say more than once to my husband. Needless to say (as you're reading this) we got back unscathed.

The harbour town of Vathi was the perfect place to have lunch and watch the sailing boats come and go. Each day, we'd choose something different to accompany our Greek salad. These are the delicious courgettes in tempura batter we had for one of our lunches. This year, we also discovered Portokalopita for the first time. It's a type of Greek orange drizzle cake and was absolutely delicious.

To counteract all this lovely food we were eating, we made sure we went to a beach for a swim at some point every day. The beaches in Meganissi are all pebble (ranging from shingle to large white stones) but that is how we like it as it makes the sea even clearer and turns it the most beautiful shade of blue/green. Usually, we'd stroll down at around six in the evening, when the weather was cooler, and have the beach to ourselves but, on a couple of days, we treated ourselves to a whole day at one of the two 'organised' beaches. This meant a sunbed and shade and a beach taverna.

The photo above was Fanari beach with its great taverna playing reggae music (sounds strange but it works). As you can see from the photograph at the top of this post, it looks very Caribbean! The other organised beach we went to was at Spilia. A storm was brewing, which made for a great photo, and we huddled under the sunshades as lightning forked the sky and the heavens opened. It lasted about half an hour and was quite exciting!

So now I'm home again and have been chuffed to find that I've had five stories published over the last two weeks in three different magazines. It doesn't always happen like this I can tell you. I've made a little montage of them because it makes me happy... but maybe not as happy as going to Greece!

Sorry - Am I Boring You?

Have you ever been caught by one of those people who insist on shoving an album of their holiday photos in front of your nose and then rambling on for the next hour about how wonderful their trip was?

Well, I might be in danger of becoming one of those very people. I can't help it - I just can't! When I discover somewhere I love, I want to tell everyone about it, share my photos and say, "But why haven't you been there?"

In the interest of keeping the readers of this blog happy, I shall try to keep it short but there might just be a touch of over-enthusiasm from time to time. Sorry!

So where am I? Yes, you've guessed it. I'm back in my beloved Lake District - the setting of many of my People's Friend stories and also the setting of my second novel. One day, I hope you will get to read it. Actually, you will definitely get to read it as, come hell or high water, and whether it be through a traditional publisher or self-published, I will get this novel out into the wide world.

Whenever we stay in The Lakes, we take our dog, Bonnie, with us. Apart from one year, we've always stayed in one of the little miner's cottages in the village of Chapel Stile (this is where the family in my novel live too). This year, we were a bit concerned that Bonnie (who is twelve and a little arthritic) might not be able to manage the 8 or 9 miles of walking we were planning to do each day. We needn't have worried though as she appeared completely rejuvenated by the Lakeland air. Always in the lead, she splashed in rivers, scrambled over boulders and probably would have herded up the sheep if we hadn't stopped her! Cue cute photo of lambs.

We have a list of our favourite walks, and every time we holiday in the Lake District, we like to revisit four of these and then add on two new ones. We don't do high level walks but beautiful low or medium level ones with stunning views such as this one at Buttermere. I must admit, I'm pretty proud of this photo.

One place I've been wanting to visit for ages is Cathedral Quarry. It features a lot in the novel but I've never actually been there - just researched it online. Once inside, it made me realise that nothing can ever beat seeing the real thing. The quarry is reached through a tunnel which opens up into a forty foot chamber called 'the Cathedral'. Those more adventurous than me can take a torch and explore the other tunnels... but I prefer to see a bit of daylight.

As usual, when we weren't exploring, we were eating. We discovered a wonderful vegetarian restaurant in Ambleside, called Fellinis, whose dishes looked as if they should grace an art book. It was linked to the local cinema so we took advantage of their combined meal and cinema offer and followed our delicious meal with a viewing of the film The Literary Potato Peel Pie Society. I'd been interested in seeing is at my People's Friend serial, Charlotte's War was also set during WW2 in Guernsey. I'm ashamed to say our long walk that day, a big meal and a glass of wine got the better of me and I might just have closed my eyes once or twice.

We also liked to stop off somewhere on our walk for afternoon tea. Well, it would be rude not to wouldn't it. This might be the reason we always come back the same weight as we leave, despite all the exercise!

My husband and I hated saying goodbye to The Lakes at the end of our holiday but I know it won't be long until we return. In the meantime, I have already written and submitted my latest Lake District inspired story to my editor at the People's Friend and hope he enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Which leads me onto writing news. Since I last posted, my stories have been published in these three magazines.

Also, I am The People's Friends 'Writer of the Week' and have been interviewed for their website. If you'd like to read it, you can find it here.

Inspiration Behind the Story - The Beloved Sea

"You never blog about the inspiration behind your stories anymore," someone said to me recently and, when I looked back on my blog, I realised it was true. I think the reason I haven't is that on the weeks when I've had a story in a magazine, I've had other news to tell or a lovely guest has visited my blog for an interview. 

To rectify this, I'm going to talk today about the inspiration behind my story in this week's People's Friend Special, called The Beloved Sea (Yay, they didn't change the title!). 

The story was the result of a holiday in Cornwall my husband and I had last year. During our week there, we (and Bonnie of course) walked a lot of the South West Coastal Path and one walk took us to the picturesque village of Mousehole - full of windy cobbled streets and granite cottages bustling around a harbour of colourful fishing boats. Despite its loveliness, our walking book told us that there was a sad story linked to Mousehole for, over thirty five years earlier, a tragedy had befallen the village.

It was on Saturday 19th December that disaster struck. The MV Union Star had suffered engine failure and was being swept towards the rocky coastline. A distress call was put out and the Penlee lifeboat, 'Solomon Browne', was launched from the lifeboat station near Mousehole. Sadly, after four people had been rescued from the stricken ship, neither vessels survived the storm and all involved lost their lives.

Wanting to find out more, my husband and I went to visit the disused lifeboat station at Penlee Point which has been left as a memorial to the brave lifeboat crew of the Solomon Browne.

I found the story very moving, especially after finding out that, within a day of the disaster, enough people from the village had volunteered to form a new lifeboat crew.

As we walked back along the coastal path, watching the waves pound the rocks below, I decided that when I got back from my holiday, I would incorporate what I'd learnt into a story of my own. 

Using the village we'd walked around as my backdrop, I wrote a present day story looking at how a young wife coped with being married to a lifeboatman - one whose family has been touched by the tragedy of 1981. 

It was a story of bravery, family loyalty and, above all, love.

That story was The Beloved Sea.

Playing the Waiting Game

I'm playing the waiting game at the moment... and I've realised I'm not very good at it. As my husband always says, when I want something, I want it straight away.

You see, my second novel is out there. The first three chapters are with a few agents and the complete manuscript is with two more, as well as a couple of publishers (two of whom are also reading my first novel as well). I know I should chill... take up crochet... meditate. Anything to take my mind off the wait - but it's hard.

Every time the phone rings, I jump.

Every time the email pings, I jump.

Every time a Twitter message comes through, I jump.

I'd make a good kangaroo.

You'd think I'd be good at waiting - after all, I've had five years experience in waiting for magazine editors to buy or reject my short stories - but, somehow, the wait to hear about the novels is worse. 

I brought up this topic in a Facebook post last week and author, Emma Darwin, came to my rescue. She'd recently written a blog post on this very subject and thought I might like to read it. It's actually aimed at writers with agents who have sent their manuscripts out to publishers but is equally relevant for those of us waiting to hear from agents. You can read it here.

Is Your novel Out on Submission - Welcome to Hell 


On the good news front (after a bit of waiting) I have, in the last month, sold eight stories - which I'm really chuffed about. The three hundred mark is moving ever closer!

If you're interested in reading one of my stories, The Beloved Sea will be published in The People's Friend Special this week.

Back to the submissions. My favourite piece of advice from Emma is, 'Find companions in misery'. So... are any of you waiting to hear about something too?

Like buses...

I was thinking the other day how good news in our writing world comes like buses. One day, there is no bus in sight (and you begin to imagine you'll be standing at that stop waiting for forever) and then the next minute two of more come along.

I had that feeling recently. I'd been working on my novel and had been subbing less magazine stories than usual during the previous months. Because of this, I hadn't had a sale for a while and my stories hadn't been appearing so frequently in the magazines. It was only to be expected but it made me sad nonetheless.

Had my stop become obsolete?

Were the buses favouring the stop round the corner with the new bus shelter and the shiny stop sign?

Then... just like those buses... good news came around the corner and pulled up at my bus stop. The driver waved two story sales at me and, just as I was preparing to leave that bus stop the following day, he waved two more!

"Oh, and you have two stories out this week," he said before pulling away.

And I did!

Yippee!

I'll try not to complain about having to wait for a bus again.

My story, 'On the Shore' and 'The Gift of Hope' can be found in this week's The People's Friend and The People's Friend Special.

Making Your Hobbies Work for You

The title of this post is a little misleading when put with the photograph above as it gives the impression that baking is my hobby, when in actual fact it isn't. Quite the opposite in fact. I just wanted to get across the idea that sometimes what you do in your leisure time can double up as a money earner.

Back in January, my daughter and I went on a fabulous bread making course at The Artisan Bakehouse in West Sussex. I didn't blog about it before because I knew it would make a great feature for The People's Friend. Although I'm better known for being one of their regular fiction writers, I have, on occasion, written articles for them when the mood takes me. .. and this was one of those times.

I sent my pitch to the features editor to see what he thought and caught him just as he was about to go to a meeting with the rest of his team (now that's what I call good timing). He pitched it to them and luckily they all liked the idea and told me to go ahead and write it. The resulting feature, Better Baking, is in the latest People's Friend Special (out this week). The full feature has a picture of my daughter kneading dough. I'm not sure whether she'll thank me for including it but, hey ho, that's what comes of having a writer for a mother.

Anyway, the point I want to make is that although the things you do outside of your writing life might seem everyday, or uninteresting to you, they may be of great interest to someone else. I could easily have been put off writing this feature as many people already know how to make bread, but the secret is to put you own spin on it. In my case, it was the fact that I am completely useless at baking. In order to give the features editor a clue as to the slant I would be taking, I gave the pitch the title 'Can't Bake, Will Bake'.

After reading my feature yesterday, it gave me an idea for another which I pitched today, so keep your fingers crossed.

My baking day also resulted in a short story... if I manage to sell it, I will have got back the money I paid for the workshop. A bonus!

The other lovely thing is that in the same issue of the magazine, I also have two short stories (It's certainly given me a boost in a week when the novel writing has felt like a bit of a slog).

Neither of my stories are hobby related... but I do have a garden and a dog!

Let's Celebrate a New Writing Year!

Hap... Hap... Happy New Year! 

I hope 2017 brings you everything you hope for.

On Wednesday, in time-honoured tradition, writing chum, Tracy Fells, and I got together to set out our writing goals for 2017. As we sat in our favourite cafe with our coffee and teacakes, we found ourselves looking back to the same day one year ago. We remembered how excited we were at having finished our novels and how the talk was all about where we would be in a year's time.  

2016 was to be 'The Year of the Novel' for us both but, as everyone knows, things don't always go to plan. I was incredibly lucky to find an agent fairly quickly but getting a novel ready for publication, in a format that everyone is happy with, hasn't been a simple process. I haven't talked a lot about it recently as things have been a bit up in the air.

Anyway, this leads me on to my targets for 2017 (or rather lack of them).

I will be putting my yearly targets on my blog but not until I've met with my agent in a couple of week's time. They have a new project they want to discuss with me and until that has happened, I can't really plan anything. You'll have to watch this space.

In the meantime, 2017 has started with a bang! I've already had two story sales and, at the time of writing, have five stories on sale in the shops - one in The People's Friend Special, two in Woman's Weekly Fiction Special, and two in Take a Break Fiction Feast (I can't imagine that happening again!). One of the stories was a ghost story but two were a new genre for me - crime mystery.

I was also excited to discover that the People's Friend have made a new audio of one of my stories, Out of the Dark. I loved this one and found it very moving as there is a lot of me in it (I had to hold my husband's hand when the reader got to the tube station scene as it brought back unsettling memories).

You can listen to my story here. 

Ever Built a Tree House? The inspiration behind my People's Friend Story

When my husband was a boy, he loved building things: dens, camps... you name it. His garden had a swing and a small lawn where he used to camp out on summer days but what it didn't have was a tree house and that was because it didn't have a tree.

Luckily for him, and his like-minded friends, at the end of the road was a wood and this was where they would go to play. Dens and camps were dutifully constructed and so too was a tree house, right in the arms of a chestnut tree.

I asked him what they used to build this house with its bird's eye view and he just said, "Oh, you know - old packing cases and stuff that was lying about."

Actually, I didn't know. Never having had a head for heights, a tree house was not something I'd ever wanted or considered building. I was happy playing with my Tressy and Cindy dolls on the safety of my lawn.

When my own girls were little, their father built them a Wendy House. It was just like having a tree house except it was not in a tree. I'd sit inside it with them and read them stories (something I'd never have been able to do if the house had been built in the boughs of the apple tree next to it).

This must all have been in my mind when I wrote my story, Magic Moments, which is published in the latest People's Friend Special. It's about a boy whose father builds him a tree house. It's his place of refuge - especially in the days after his father death. It's only when he invites a special someone to join him for tea in his special place in the treetops that his family can start to heal.


When I think about it, trees must be a thing of mine as I've written two other stories, The Willow Tree, and Up a Tree which have both been published in The Friend (under other titles). Another is with them at the moment!

Have trees featured in your own childhood at all?

Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and a Publication

If you're thinking this blog post is going to be all about food... then you're probably right. I love food and what better place to eat it than in Italy. We've been gallivanting again - this time to Sorrento and then on to Positano on the Amalfi Coast.

This is a picture of the breakfast room in our hotel in Sorrento. We stayed three days and the hotel was very quiet as it was still early in the season. We never saw anyone else at breakfast and it would have been rude not to have tried a bit of everything, wouldn't it? 

Our room looked out onto a lovely little square with a church on the corner. The balcony was a great place to watch the wedding that took place there on our first morning. 

While we were in Sorrento, we visited Capri, Pompeii and Herculaneum. What fabulous places. We also ate gorgeous food like the gnocchi and clams below. Hmm... it's making my mouth water just remembering it!

We then spent four nights on the Amalfi Coast, staying in the gorgeous town of Positano. As you can see, it is built on a steep terraced hillside - all narrow streets and many, many steps. We were staying right at the top of the village so every day we had to walk back up the hill. The view over the rooftops to the sea was stunning but we certainly felt our calf muscles by the end of the holiday. 

We visited the charming village of Ravello and the town of Amalfi, whose cathedral (and especially the crypt) was so richly decorated it took our breath away.

 

While I was away, I missed Bonnie. Luckily the bed and breakfast's resident dog Dylan was on hand for a cuddle.

It was a wonderful holiday and when we came home, I found I had a story in The People's Friend Special which was a lovely surprise. Now it's back to some serious writing as my stock of stories is running low. As always, I have a story in my head inspired by my holiday -
it was something I overheard on the beach in Positano. Before I do that though, I have a novel in need of some serious edits so I'll sign off now.

Waiting in the Wings - a musical inspiration

When fellow writer, Elaina James, asked me if I would like to participate in a blogging event (based around music) to link in with her guest blogs on the Mslexia site, I didn't hesitate to say yes. The only problem was, I was spoilt for choice as music is a big part of my life. I have been a member of my local Choir, Cantatrice, for over ten years and dancing (to a variety of different types of music) has been my hobby for even longer. Not surprisingly, music has featured in many of my stories in some form or another.

It was difficult to choose which to write about but then a piece of good fortune revealed itself. Elaina told me that her blog series was about chasing your writing dreams and that she'd written it from the perspective of a lyricist with stage fright (the final blog post focusing on the accidental chance to turn her words into a song with music). What a stroke of luck, for my story, 'Waiting in the Wings' had just been published in The People's Friend Special. It fitted the theme perfectly as the main character was a lyricist.

The story starts with Chris, a young songwriter, trying to write lyrics for a radio competition. He knows they want something upbeat but, because he has just split up with his girlfriend, the only words that come into his head are sad ones - words they said to each other during the breakup (I drip feed these random lines into the first part of the story). His mother sees the screwed up lines on the floor and tries to encourage him. 'Keep at it,' she says. 'Follow your dreams.'

In the second part of the story we are introduced to an older Chris who is now a successful lyricist for musical theatre. One of his best known musicals is being revived and he has been asked to write a new love song for it but once again he finds the words stalling - this time due to the death of his friend and composer, Ben.

I don't want to tell you everything, in case you intend to read it, but in the end Chris manages to write the new song for the show, using the lines he wrote (and threw away) all those years ago - but which his mother kept. 

This is the final verse:

I never knew that words could cause such sorrow

Don't tell me now, wait until tomorrow

You leave a trail of footprints on my heart

I know I loved you too much from the start

Maybe I should have been a lyricist!

So, moving on to the inspiration for this story. First of all, I love musical theatre - my mother and I have seen just about every musical over the years and some of our favourites are ones with lyrics by Sir Tim Rice (Evita being my all time favourite). In fact Joseph was the first musical I ever saw and I was even in a production of it when I was about eleven.

If you follow this blog, you will already know the story but last December I was adjudicator for the SWWJ short story competition and was invited to their Christmas tea in London to award the prizes. Imagine how delighted I was to hear that the other guest was none other that Sir Tim Rice. (You can read about the day in my blog post here.)

As the society's guests, we sat at the same table and it was lovely to have the opportunity to talk to him. During tea, Sir Tim asked me a lot about my magazine writing and mentioned that his mother had liked The People's Friend. I remember how even then a story idea was forming in my head.

After the tea, Sir Tim gave a speech about his early career and, when he talked about his musicals, I couldn't help wondering how he came up with such wonderful lyrics time and time again. Had he ever had writers' block? It made me think about my story again - what if the main character couldn't find the right words because he had a broken heart?

So there you have it - that meeting was the inspiration behind my story, Waiting in the Wings... Wouldn't it be lovely if Sir Tim read it!

This blog post is part of a music themed blog event organised by Elaina James, a guest blogger on Mslexia. 

Her author page on Mslexia can be found at www.mslexia.co.uk/author/elainajames.


Details of participating bloggers in this event can be found on Elaina James’ blog.

The Two Brothers - Inspiration Behind the Story

Last week's break from writing in the Lake District did the job as I've managed to write two stories since I came home on Sunday. 

I came home from the Lake District refreshed and have managed to write two short stories (you can read my post The Perfect Writing Break here) which is just as well as at the weekend, my husband and I are sneaking off to Hayling Island for our annual modern jive weekend... yippee!

Today, I saw that I had two stories in The People's Friend Fiction Special. Both of these stories have stories attached to them (if you see what I mean) and today I though I'd tell you the inspiration behind one of them, The Two Brothers, as it is particularly dear to my heart.

As most of you will know, the last year has been spent writing my novel. It's been a steep learning curve, getting enough done to submit it to the RNA New Writers' Scheme, finishing it, writing a synopsis, sending out submissions in order to find an agent for it and, most recently, doing considerable edits and writing a blurb for the agent who believed in me and my writing.

My novel, at present called The Marbled Book, is set mostly on the Greek island of Mystos. Now Mystos doesn't actually exist, but it is based on the islands of Skopelos and its smaller sister Alonissos (as well as parts of other islands I've visited over the years). When I wrote the book, I'd never been to either of these islands but pictures I'd seen of them during my research looked perfect. 

By September, when the novel was almost finished, my husband and I decided to visit the islands in order for me to complete the research. I would be able to immerse myself in the sights, sounds and smells of the two islands (you can read my blog post on it here).

Whilst on a day trip to Alonissos, I discovered there were two smaller islands off the harbour town of Patitiri. They were called The Two Brothers. All through the holiday, the question floated around in my head - why were they called the two brothers and could I make them into a story when I got home?

I didn't want the story to be contemporary (it would have encroached on my novel) so I decided to set it just after the second world war. A guidebook I'd bought had mentioned the failure of the grape harvests around that time and I decided to work my story around this. Of course, as the title suggests, the story is about two brothers. It's a love story but also one of sibling rivalry.

But what of the two small islands of the same name which I mentioned earlier? Well, legend has it that there were once two giants called Otus and Efialtes. When they were children they liked to play at skimming stones into the sea. From these pebbles grew the Sporades islands. I knew it would be a perfect story to weave into my own fiction.

The special will be out for the next three weeks if you want to find out more about the story.