Hello, lovely Romaniacs, and thanks so much for having me on your blog. First things first, I’ve brought my trusty Tupperware container with me, and inside is a cake just crying to get out. Mmm…the heady aroma of a fresh chocolate and orange sponge…
Oh, you mean you’d like me to talk as well? I thought I’d just come to eat and drink tea. No? Oh, in that case I’d love to talk to you, let me just wipe this chocolate from my mouth…
Yes, I’m even happy to put down cake in order to tell you all about my first novel, The Silk Romance, which will be published next week – on the 24th May, to be exact, and I’m counting down the days!

As a former member of the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme, The Romaniacs have asked me along to talk about my road to publication.

I remember once years ago coming home from yet another terrible day at the office, and moaning for the millionth time: grr, I hate my job! My long-suffering husband asked a simple question: what would you actually like to be doing with your life? My answer: writing romance novels. Next question: well, what do you need to do to get there?
I knew what I needed to do. ‘All’ I needed to do was to write a novel and get it published. Oh, the simplicity of those words! The path to making my wish come true has been long and tortuous, but never dull. And the final result is thrilling beyond everything!

It’s hard to say where the path first started, as I’ve been scribbling away for what seems to be forever. Maybe the first time I seriously thought I could make a go of it was when I sent off a first chapter to a writing competition. Sadly I didn’t win, but I received a very encouraging letter from the organisers. The editor who wrote to me talked about my characters as though they were real people.
Entering that competition finally gave me some confidence in myself – something I was sadly lacking – and having confidence in your ability to write is an essential first step.

My next step: joining the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme. There was a story in my head, but I had a lot to learn about how to get it down on paper in a way that readers would really enjoy.
I passed through the New Writers’ Scheme twice. The first year, I sent off just the first three chapters and a synopsis of the novel. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was on the right lines, and my reservations were right. I received a four page, highly detailed letter explaining exactly why the story still wasn’t quite right, and some suggestions on what to do to polish it up.
(If you’re interested in the nitty gritty of my reader’s observations on my particular book, I’ve written a post on my blog outlining exactly what her advice was.)
I took my reader’s brilliant and extensive comments to heart, and rejoined the NWS for another year. I was really excited about finishing my novel, and took both great pains and great pleasure in manipulating the characters and the emotional conflict, to make sure all my reader’s advice was followed.
By the end of the year, I finally had a finished novel. I sent it off to the RNA again, waited with bitten fingernails for a response – and finally, hooray! My reader loved it! Just a couple of tweaks required, and not even any need for a second reading. Hooray again! This should be the part where I jacked in my job and made millions. Oh, if only life were so simple…

I sent off my novel to a publisher and waited. And waited. And waited. And began writing another.
Then I finally heard from the publisher…and it wasn’t good news. They enjoyed my story, but it wasn’t right for their line. So… back to the drawing-board, and back to continuing with novel two. I had confidence in myself now, I had some encouraging words from editors and professional writers, and I had the determination to succeed. What could go possibly go wrong?

One thing I have learnt from my experience in life, above all else, is that we have these neat little plans and we follow them, thinking we are going somewhere, but fate almost always has other ideas. I suffered a terrible tragedy that stopped me writing for a very, very long time. I put away my novel, moved out of the house I’d lived in for twenty five years, bought a smaller place in need of renovation, and spent an entire year doing it up. Painting and digging the garden were the sort of occupations I could engage in that didn’t require any concentration. My mind was shot. By the time I felt able to open my lap-top again, the world of publishing had changed in a dramatic way. Writers such as Amanda Hocking and E.L. James were making massive success stories for themselves with e-books.
I revisited the first novel I’d written and thought, hey – a professional romance author at the RNA really liked this story. Just because it wasn’t accepted at one publisher doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try another. And what about e-books? E-book romances have taken off in an incredible way. So, I started looking around on the internet for other publishers who might be interested. After a lot of research, one publisher seemed to draw me more than all the others. Since starting in 2010, MuseItUp Publishing has made a name for itself as a growing e-publisher, with a supportive and friendly ethos. I submitted The Silk Romance to them. After all, I had nothing to lose…
…and everything to gain. They absolutely loved it, and offered me a contract. Since then, they’ve also offered me a contract on my second novel, The Antique Love. I’m now writing my third.

I wish I could give proper professional advice on how to get published, but I feel I’ve just been stumbling along the road trying my best. One thing I do know is, joining the NWS was invaluable. It gave me confidence in myself and determination to continue writing. I also ended up with a story I really loved. I had great faith in my characters to leap off the page and to be engaging.

Here’s the blurb to The Silk Romance:
Jean-Luc Olivier is a devastatingly handsome racing-driver with the world before him. Sophie Challoner is a penniless student, whose face is unknown beyond her own rundown estate in London. The night they spend together in Paris seems to Sophie like a fairytale—a Cinderella story without the happy ending. She knows she has no part in Jean-Luc’s future. She made her dying mother a promise to take care of her father and brother in London. One night of happiness is all Sophie allows herself. She runs away from Jean-Luc and returns to England to keep her promise.
Safely back home with her father and brother, and immersed in her college work, Sophie tries her best to forget their encounter, but she reckons without Jean-Luc. He is determined to find out why she left him, and intrigued to discover the real Sophie. He engineers a student placement Sophie can’t refuse, and so, unwillingly, she finds herself back in France, working for Jean-Luc in the silk mill he now owns.
Thrown together for a few short weeks in Lyon, the romantic city of silk, their mutual love begins to grow. But it seems the fates are conspiring against Sophie’s happiness. Jean-Luc has secrets of his own. Then, when disaster strikes at home in London, Sophie is faced with a choice—stay in this glamorous world with the man she loves, or return to her family to keep the sacred promise she made her mother.
The Silk Romance is available on pre-order here in the Muse bookstore, and from 24th May will also be available from Amazon and all major e-tailers.
If you’ve enjoyed my post, please call in on my blog: www.helenafairfax.com, or on my Facebook page. You can also email me at Helena(dot)Fairfax(at)gmail(dot)com. I love meeting people 
If you’d like to know a little more about me, here’s my author bio:
Helena Fairfax was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She’s grown used to the cold now and that’s just as well, because nowadays she lives in an old Victorian mill town in Yorkshire, right next door to windswept Brontë country. She has an affectionate, if half-crazed, rescue dog and together they tramp the moors every day—one of them wishing she were Emily Brontë, the other vainly chasing pheasants. When she’s not out on the moors you’ll find Helena either creating romantic heroes and heroines of her own or else with her nose firmly buried in a book, enjoying someone else’s stories. Her patient husband and her brilliant children support her in her daydreams and are the loves of her life.
Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Romaniacs! I love reading your posts, and really look forward to your weekly chat, especially the cake. Although I see there isn’t a great deal left of the one I brought! Hmm…how did that happen?

Many thanks, Helena, and it was our pleasure hosting you. Congratulations on your publishing contract and best wishes for the future.
I have no idea what happened to that delicious cake…

However, I survived – Yay!

What has this to do with writing? Well, as I rummaged through my possessions and clothing, deciding what should come with me and what should face either the dustbin or the charity shop, I decided this was a bit like editing.

It went something like this…

Hard as it was to be ruthless with my packing, it was even harder being ruthless with my WIP but I do feel that both exercises were very worthwhile.  Now I’m in my new home, I just have to do it all again with the unpacking and, no doubt, do it all again with my WIP.

Would love to hear anyone else’s editing tips

Thanks!

Sue

x

This was too much of a marvelous post to cover in one day, so here’s part two of Miranda Dickinson’s interview with her Future Stars!

Q4: Tell us about what you are currently working on?

Neal: My first novel, Dan Taylor Is Giving Up On Women – the story of a guy who thinks he’ll never find the right woman, and then falls for the wrong one – is currently scaling the north face of England’s slush-piles. My work in progress is called Occupied. It’s the story of Rebecca and James, a couple expecting their first baby against the backdrop of a gay sex scandal involving Rebecca’s dad, which draws both sides of the family into controversy. It’s about coming to terms with the fact that parents are people too.

 Emily: The story that I will be working on during Future Stars centres on a young girl named Belle and a young man named Kip. It’s set in 1999 so there has been a fair bit of research, as I was only eleven at the time this is set! The research itself has been so much fun; looking up popular TV shows, music, fashion trends, clubs and so on has been educational as well as nostalgic – I think at one point I refer to the HBO show Sex and the City as “a new American TV show”, which considering it finished in 2004 made me chuckle. Belle and Kip meet by chance over the phone in one of those old red telephone boxes (a case of crossed wires perhaps…?) one night in London’s West End and strike up a friendship that neither one of them will ever forget. There are lots of twists and turns and I’m hoping the centre of the story will touch people. I would love to go a bit more in to detail but fear that might give the game away and I would like the reveal to stay a secret in the book for as long as is possible.

Dominique: The main story I’m writing sounds a bit crazy when I’m trying to explain it, but it’s actually a really simple plot. I’m going to try and not reveal too much. It’s about a regular young woman living in London and her life gets turned upside down. What follows is a medieval fairy-tale of sorts, with a heavy dose of alternative universe, a splash of arrogant prince and a lot of the main character asking what the hell is going on. I’m also working on two other projects. One is a story featuring the Greek God Hermes, set in modern times now that the world has kind of forgotten about the Immortals. And I’ve recently gone back to a short story I started last summer. This one’s about a sea merchant/pirate’s journey to find a legendary treasure. Romance is the main theme in 90% of what I write, but I tend to include a heavy bit of drama, a fight or two, the odd death, lots of cliff hangers, something supernatural or just downright weird, and maybe some deep-rooted family issue just for good measure.

 Millie: Simply, it’s a young adult fiction following a group of teenagers as they try to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. It’s written in first person from the perspective of a teenage girl. She becomes somewhat of the understated leader in her gang and makes the difficult decisions that arise on their journey. I’m trying to make it action-packed but also realistic, too.

 Emma: I have three main novels that I’m working on. Each is quite different from the other. One is about Rosaline, who can communicate with ghosts, sometimes at the most inopportune moments, and there’s a possibility I might like to make this into a series, but I’ll see when I’ve finished this one. Another is about a woman who has moved to L.A., running away from her problems at home, and on possibly one of the worst days of her life, a movie star spills hot coffee all over her and won’t leave well enough alone, especially when she has a past that she’d like to keep there. The third is about Gods and Goddesses of the Greek variety, only not the ones of myths and legends. This is the truth about them and how the vampire legend stemmed from them, too. The story centres on two of them to be precise and them helping someone who is more woven in their past, present and future than they realised or even knew.

Q5: What is your writing dream?

 Neal: I’d love to spend as much of my day as I can writing about all kinds of relationships, in a way that’s hopefully funny (and by that I mean it’s funny, and hopeful…). And it’d be even better if lots of people got to read it. I live in a world of my own half the time, it would be nice to have more people around to visit.

 Emily: I would be lying if I said my writing dream wasn’t to get published and get paid to do what I love to do all the time (although I am aware it is not always as glam as people think!). I cannot wait for the day when I see a book with my name on it in the Waterstones in Ealing, where I hail from. To have people read my stories and tell me they like them and / or could relate to the characters that I have created would be the most magical, rewarding thing and I hope with all my heart whether it is a product of Future Stars or something else, that this happens, and not just for me, but for all of us aspiring writers.

 Dominique: It’s a two-stage process. The first step is just completing a story to the best of my ability and knowing I’ve put everything I had to give in to it. Next is publishing. Which I realize is a massive goal to achieve, but I may as well aim high, right? I’m not going to lie and say I wouldn’t want my work to do well, but the overall dream would be to be able to pick up my book, my very own novel that I’ve put so much in to. That’s when the dream becomes a reality. If people respond well to it, then that’s fantastic. I would love for my written words to get under the skin of someone. Even just one person, and have them actually care about the journey of my characters and know that my little book is sitting proudly on their bookshelf.

 Millie: Ever since I was about ten years old I’ve always wanted to walk into a bookshop and see my name on one of the spines of the books there – to know that the words inside are my own, and the story written has stemmed from my own imagination.

Emma: The same as most writers really – to be published, to see my books on the shelf of a shop, to have people read and love what I’m writing and to have people be excited to see what I write next, like I do with my favourite writers. But what would completely make my writing dream is to have written a sentence that resonates with someone so much that they use it as a favourite quote.

Thank you Future Stars and Miranda!

Find out more about everything the Future Stars get up to, plus news about Miranda’s books and other courses and prizes here:

http://www.miranda-dickinson.com and http://www.coffeeandroses.blogspot.com

Miranda Dickinson is already a star – writer of four bestselling novels, this year she’s launching a mentoring scheme, an online writing course and a short story competition (the New Rose Prize) … oh, and she’s also writing book 5. There was much excitement in Romaniac HQ when Miranda launched the Future Stars initiative – an amazing opportunity for aspiring authors to be mentored by Miranda for a whole year!

You can find out more about all of these on Miranda’s blog and website: 

http://www.miranda-dickinson.com 

http://www.coffeeandroses.blogspot.com

I know I wasn’t the only person eager to find out more about the chosen Future Stars, and how their year with Miranda was going, so I was delighted when Miranda agreed to bring her stars for a visit to the Romaniac blog (although it got VERY crowded and they completely cleared us out of cakes), so without further ado, I’ll hand you over to Miranda Dickinson and her Future Stars…

Vanessa x

Thank you Romaniacs for hosting my magnificent seven! I’m delighted to introduce you to my Future Stars:

Neal Doran

Emily Glenister

Dominique Hall

Millie McGarrick

Emma Warburton

together with Kate Rhead and Ritzi Cortez

Q1: How did you feel when you discovered you were one of the Future stars?

 Neal: The news came at the end of what had been a pretty lousy week, and I’d been so busy with my proper job I hadn’t had a chance to do any writing in ages. It was such a boost. I was with my two boys at an indoor play centre when the announcement was made. They had to restrain me from overdoing it on the bouncy castle…

Emily:  I remember exactly where I was (not surprising given it was about three months ago). My boyfriend Harry and I had just woken up and I knew that this was the Saturday we would find out who had made it on to the Future Stars list. I’d prepared myself the night before that there was a high possibility it wasn’t going to be me so as not to be disappointed. On that Saturday morning, I picked up my phone saying to Harry, “I know I haven’t got it, but that’s ok because at least I’ve had the chance to be part of it,” etc. There was nothing at that point mentioned in Twitter so I checked my email, where there was an email waiting from Miranda sent in the wee hours of the morning saying I had won a place! I remember screaming, rugby tackling Harry to the ground and crying (all very dramatic, I know!). 2012 was definitely not “my year”, so to have something finally go my way so early on in 2013 was such a wonderful feeling and a huge weight off my shoulders. My tummy was in excited knots for the whole day as I bounced around Covent Garden and Soho drinking my body weight in celebratory champagne cocktails (any excuse)!

Dominique: I’m not even sure there’s a word to best describe my feelings. Especially since I didn’t even consider my winning a place to be a possibility when I entered. I think I may still be in some state of shock, it takes me a long time to process major life events. Maybe I could follow Peter Andre’s example and makeup a ridiculous word by cutting and pasting two together. “Overatic” (overwhelmed and ecstatic?) No, that’s terrible. I now feel the need to apologise for my appalling use of the English language!

Millie: Surprised, because I figured that there would be lots of entrants and the chance of me being accepted was really slim. I also felt proud though because I knew that I had to be doing something right to get this amazing opportunity.

Emma: It took a week for it to really sink in. It gave me a massive confidence boost that maybe one day my writing will be good enough to be on the shelves of a bookshop. In fact I imagine the feeling was probably the same as being offered a publishing deal!

Q2: What made you decide to enter the competition?

 Neal: Everything Future Stars offers seemed to be what I needed when I saw it – help with writing and advice on managing all the social media stuff that’s so important to writers these days. And Miranda seems so enthusiastic and positive, it sounded fun! Add to that she’s had, what, 78 best sellers in the past three years? The woman knows her stuff.

Emily: I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember so anything on the internet which has the words “writing” and “competition” always catches my eye! Though admittedly, I’ve never entered one before and I think this has something to do with never quite following through with one story before – so many ideas come in to my head and I find myself moving on to another one before completing the other! What made me enter Future Stars with this particular story was that it was the first story I had stuck to without getting – for want of a better word – bored with it. I went through the whole storyline in my head and knew exactly what I wanted to happen. That’s never happened before so I thought it must be a pretty special one and I ought to do something with it!

Dominique: It was one of those ‘what have you got to lose?’ moments.

I heard about the contest a few days after it was first announced and downloaded the application form straight away. I then stared at said application form for a few days wondering how to answer the questions, until I finally decided to just be true to myself with my answers. I didn’t have anything to lose after all. I didn’t even tell anyone that I was entering, but that also had something to do with the fact that nobody knew how passionate I am about writing. Although I’ve been scribbling short stories since high school, before this contest I had never confessed to another soul how much writing means to me. Acknowledging this out loud was the very first thing Future Stars did for me.

 Millie: I had nothing to lose, so I thought “Why not?” Also, my mum played a big part in convincing me to send in the application. I knew it would be amazing if I got accepted despite the slim chance but I decided to take my own advice and go for it: because if you don’t even try you will never get anywhere.

 Emma: Being mentored by Miranda. My writing still needs a lot of work, so to have the chance to pick the brain of a published author I have read and admired is completely invaluable to me. Especially when you hit that dreaded wall in the middle of writing a novel and need that little shove to keep at it so that you get your first draft down.

Q3: What do you hope this year working with Miranda will bring?

 Neal: In my Future Stars application I made all sorts of bold claims about using the year to finish my second novel, and either getting an agent for my first or going down the road of self-publishing. The scary thing now is that I’ve got to do it. And with seven of us in Future Stars, I think it’s going to be pretty cool being part of a gang, albeit a gang that chats about overcoming plot obstacles rather than one that shares shivs and gets into turf wars. At first, at least…

 Emily: I hope I actually finish my story! My main objective for this year and the Future Stars experience is to have a finished manuscript in my hand by the end of it. Even if nothing comes of it by way of being published, I will have finished a story right to the end for the first time and that will be really special for me. Also, I would like to build my confidence and persevere even when I’m not sure about something rather than just chucking it in at the first writer’s block hurdle – something that happens all too often!

Dominique: I know that I need to have more self-belief in my work and I’ve already started working on that. In my application form I said I needed help with structure, as it’s one of my weak areas. I’m an OCD planner so I have overall plot notes, character notes, individual chapter notes. I even have a map and fictional royal line drawn up for the main story I’m working on. I need to learn to maintain a solid structure throughout the plot. I also have a tendency to waffle (which I’m doing right now, I know) and include stuff that doesn’t need to be in the chapter. Miranda has also given me loads of helpful information about the industry too, which is brilliant because the whole professional writing world is really daunting and it helps to know I have a successful ‘insider’ to help with my queries.

Overall, I believe working with the ever positive Miranda will give me the drive I need to actually finish a manuscript and know that I put everything I had into it.

Millie: I hope to discover more about me and my writing, in terms of my strengths and bits I can improve on. I’m only young so I’m hoping that I can learn a lot from Miranda’s experience of publishing and writing.

Emma: I’m a serial starter. Or at least that’s what my husband keeps calling me, because I start something, get distracted easily (especially when a shiny new idea strolls into my head and I’m struggling on the current project my mind is on) and then take months to go back to finish it. So I’m hoping that working with Miranda will help me to focus (and that she’ll harass me) when I’m tempted to be distracted.

 Come back tomorrow to find out what the Future Stars are writing at the moment and what their writing dreams are… See you there!

A massive Romaniac welcome to today’s featured author Tracy Bloom, who started writing when her cruel, heartless husband ripped her away from her dream job shopping for rollercoasters for the UK’s leading theme parks, to live in America with a brand new baby and no mates. In a cunning plan to avoid domestic duties and people who didn’t understand her Derbyshire accent, she wrote NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY. She soon found however that her new American friends took a shine to her British sense of humour and encouraged her to share her words with a wider audience. NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY went on to be successfully published internationally providing Tracy with a new dream job, making people laugh and sometimes cry through her writing.
Back in good old England now (desperately missing drive-through Starbucks, 30- Rock, NPR and people who talk to you in the street without thinking you’re a weido) and cracking on with writing about other people who screw up their lives in a hilarious fashion including a sequel, NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX AFTER A BABY.
And now, here’s Tracy to take us through her path to publication:

AROUND THE WORLD WITH NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY – TRACY BLOOM
Picture the scene – my first taste of success as a writer. I’m sitting in a fancy restaurant – by which I mean there isn’t a chicken nugget in sight. My publisher sits at the head of the table. A grand dame of the industry weighed down by precious metals and with hair that has definitely not been blow dried by herself. I glow with pride as I sign a copy of my book despite the fact I can’t read a word of it. Here I am celebrating seeing my novel in print for the very first time in … Milan, Italy. I’ve spent all day trailing bookshops, taking pictures of my book, trying to convince shop owners that I am the author and not some eccentric English lady who can’t speak Italian yet convinced she’s written an entire book in their language. This is not how I expected things to be.
I guess it’s fitting that I didn’t begin writing in my native England. Marriage, a baby and a husband sent to work in the USA for three years slung me out of my previous career developing theme park rides and attractions, and potentially into desperate housewife territory. As I gazed around the leafy suburbs of Connecticut I remembered I’d once had a dream to write a book. And so I did. Armed with ideas and a very British sense of humour I joined a creative writing class and NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY began to take shape. The tale of childhood sweethearts having a one-night stand when they meet years later at a school reunion seemed to strike a chord. When two classmates had a row about whether my lead character should stick with her younger boyfriend or rekindle her teenage romance having discovered that either men could be the father of her baby, I knew I had something.
Eventually it was finished and I skipped class to sweat over letters to potential agents in London. Not that I thought I’d get one, I just fancied getting some transatlantic mail. As it turned out one wanted me and my book. Champagne corks popped. It was a dream come true. I didn’t realise that dreams rarely materialise in the way you imagine them.
My agent (I will never get used to saying that) took my book to Frankfurt Book Fair and I waited impatiently to hear when I would be able to buy it in Waterstones. Then the news came that it had sold to the highest bidder in a German auction and a pre-empted bid had secured it a home in Italy. Not long afterwards Brazil grabbed hold of it followed by Poland. Initially I was crushed that I wouldn’t be seeing my book on home territory until the reality of being published abroad sank in. Someone in Brazil, a country I had never even visited, thought I was funny, thought I could write and wanted other Brazilians to read my story. That, I decided, was pretty cool.
One edition after another, my book appeared in print in languages I couldn’t read with covers so diverse it was hard to reconcile it as the same book. It was as though I had given my book up for adoption and it was having this whole fantastic life without me that I was unable to participate in.
Until this year. The massive changes driving uncertainty in the publishing industry had been blamed for my book not finding a home in the UK. However as a new era in publishing emerges, those changes have provided the opportunity for me to finally get published here. With the support of my agent who also represents Sophie Kinsella and has helped Kate Harrison achieve massive self- publishing success with her 5:2 Diet Book, my novel is now available in English on Amazon. Finally I can tell people to go and read my tale of a one-night stand that leads to utter chaos. Best of all I can understand the reviews and comments for NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY without having to resort to Google Translate!

Book Description
Never has a one-night stand led to such chaos!
Childhood sweethearts Matthew and Katy agree they must never see each other again after they end up in bed together following a school re-union.
So all is forgotten… until eight months later when a shock meeting at an antenatal class forces them to confront the fact that Matthew could be the father of Katy’s baby. Oblivious to the mayhem unfolding, Matthew’s highly-strung wife frets over giving birth to twins and Katy’s much younger boyfriend refuses to take fatherhood seriously.
Love and life are messy but Katy and Matthew take things to a whole new level as deep emotions begin to resurface and hormones run riot. How will they navigate their way through this almighty cock-up?
Available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracy-Bloom/e/B00BSRA0TA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1367435905&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Tracy-Bloom/e/B00BSRA0TA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1367435161&sr=8-1

NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY has been published in Germany, Italy, Poland, Serbia, and will be released in Brazil this Summer.

Contact Details:
Website: http://www.tracybloom.com
Twitter: @TracyBBloom
Email: tracybloom@hotmail.co.uk
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tracybloomwrites

So, Katherine, we find you here in the Romaniac lair at last, and looking terribly glamorous as usual. Welcome! Did you by any chance bring cake? Only I’ve been a bit busy and the cake tin seems to be empty…you’re shaking your head sadly, guess that one’s  a no then.  Never mind, settle yourself down and relax. The garden’s looking lovely, we might even be able to open a window today and enjoy the sunshine. The girls have asked me to give you a gentle grilling – here are our questions:

What was the first complete book that you wrote, and at what point in your life did this happen?

Hi, Romaniacs – I wrote my first manuscript after the birth of my daughter when I was 24. I loved the experience of it so much that I couldn’t wait to write another one. I’m afraid I didn’t know much about plotting so it was mainly a story that contained the things I liked to read—a strong alpha hero, a heroine with a fabulous sense of fashion, lots of steamy sex and a bad guy who was always menacing them.

Was the road to publishing difficult for you?
I don’t think so. I just always knew I’d be published some day and when I got a rejection letter I’d l think well they just don’t get me.  My second manuscript almost got purchased so I knew I was on the right track. Then when I started writing my third manuscript I decided that if I was going to be any good at writing I needed to master romance or suspense before I tried to merge the two. I made the third manuscript a straight romance. It featured a single mom, a sexy construction worker who moved in next door and her adorable son. I still love that story! It won the Georgia Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence and became my first sale. I was aged 26. 

Do you have an agent?
Yes. And I like her a lot. I’ve had three agents over the course of my career.

Where were you born and brought up?
I was born in Haileah, Florida (that’s in the South just north of Miami) but was raised in Central Florida a little bit west of Disney world. My parents are very down-to-earth people who liked living life their own way so we always lived in the country. I grew up with the Green Swamp in my backyard and orange groves all around me.

We didn’t have any neighbors so my sisters and I were each others companions and my mom used to lock us outside in the summer and make us play.

I think those days really fired up my imagination and probably laid the groundwork for me to become a writer.

Does the place that you live influence your plots and characters?
Sort of. I think the places I’ve lived (Florida, Chicago, IL; Dallas, Tx, and Southern California) have all influenced me but really it’s the people I’ve met that have the most impact on me.

Where is your ideal writing spot?
Ideally at my desk, but when I find that distractions like the internet get too much, I move to a recliner I have in the corner of my office or the coffee shop. I don’t play games or waste time if I perceive someone else can see me.

What home comforts do you need to help you to write?
I need something to drink either hot tea (I’m American so usually drink Raspberry Zinger) or coffee and lots of it.

What inspired you to start writing?
My daughter inspired me to start writing. I’d always dabbled in it but when she was born I was working as a secretary and not really loving it. And I wanted her to see me doing something I loved instead of hating going to work every day. So I started writing with the intent to publish.

How do you begin to create your characters?
Usually I have an idea of a character in my head that’s pretty strong so I know where they are coming from. Then I just answer a few basic questions that lay the groundwork for my story. They are What does he/she want? (This is the Goal) Why do they want it? (Motivation) Why can’t they have it? (Conflict) Once I have these three things for the heroine then I do the same thing for the hero and I make sure that they want opposing things because people who are at odds on the page make it more exciting. And it become natural conflict instead of forced.

Who is your favourite literary hero?
I’m not sure if you mean author or fictional character so I’ll give you both. My author heroes are Margaret Atwood, Jayne Ann Krentz and Baroness Orczy. My favorite fictional characters are Claudia Kincaid from E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Elizabeth Gilbert from Eat Pray Love which is her memoir.

Do your family read your books?
Yes they do. My mom skips “those” parts, my grandmother before she passed away used to tell me to write more sex, and my daughter says she just doesn’t think of me writing them. 

Which celebrity would you like to send one of your books to, and which book would you choose?
I think I’d send it Sandra Bullock because she takes on projects and is passionate about them. I’d send her Bare Facts which is the first in a series I wrote that was a sort of homage to Charlie’s Angels.

How many works do you have in progress at once?
I only work on one book at a time but I am contracted for more than one book that I’ve written proposals for. So right now I’ve got five books in the hopper but am only working on one of them.

If you had no constraints of time and a guarantee of publication, what sort of book would you write?
I’m writing books I love right now. So more of the same. 

Do you have writing buddies?
Yes, I do and I miss them terribly because we live so far apart now. I’m a member of a very cool group called the Evelettes (Eve Gaddy, Lenora Worth, Julia Justiss and Denise Daniels) and then I have my Puffs—self-named after the PowerPuff Girls Bubbles aka Nancy Robards Thompson, Blossom aka Mimi Wells and me Buttercup!

Do you have any say in the cover designs for your books?
I fill in a very lengthy art fact sheet but usually that’s it. For my single title books I had more input and often got pictures from the photo shoots.

Now for some quick fire questions:

Sunbathing or swimming?
Swimming, I was a competitive swimmer for a long time.

Hugs or kisses?
Both but kisses win out.

Roaring log fire or funky high tech gas version?
Roaring fire.
Chocolate cake or crisps?
Cake I suppose but I can’t resist a bag of Ruffles.

Veggie burger or steak?
Steak

Spring, summer, autumn or winter?
Summer and the beach, baby!

Films or TV serials?
Films

Holiday venues – chill-out or active?
I like both.

Best ever holiday?
Venice with my husband and kids last summer.

Favourite ever dress?
Red cocktail dress that dipped to a low V in the back. I think it was a Laura Ashley dress I bought it on sale in New Orleans and wore the heck out of it. 

Thanks for giving us an insight into your life, Katherine– come back soon. I’ll make sure there’s cake next time…

Thanks so much for inviting me to your blog.

Hi Pauline, thanks so much for visiting us here at Romaniac HQ. First things first: Tea or coffee? And we have some freshly baked yummy chocolate brownies, if you can force yourself…

Hello Jan, thank you for having me here at your fabulous offices, so trendy! As for tea or coffee, any chance I could have green tea please? And I’ve skipped breakfast so I could overindulge in your scrummy chocolate brownies… mmm… they look too good to eat, but I’ll risk it!

Green tea, it is! And maybe a “small” glass of fizz later (just to celebrate your latest novel, of course…)

So exciting that you’ve recently published Storm Clouds Gathering. Can you give us a little teaser about the storyline?  

Now I am going to warn you, there is nothing worse than asking me about my new book, but please tell me to shut up if I go on too much …  Like most of the books I’ve written, it is filled with emotion that gets right to the heart. In my latest book, the storm clouds are gathering, silently and slowly, too far away to worry about. Or so it seems. But ignoring what is brewing will have dire consequences for the people caught up in the maelstrom. Shirley Burton is too busy cheating on her husband, having a laugh and looking for fun to alleviate the boredom of her childless marriage. Kathleen Mitchell is too wrapped up in running around after her beautiful family to worry about her health. Anne Simpson has two things on her mind: her forthcoming marriage to Paul Betham, who seems to want to control her, and her career, which she does not want to give up. The question is, can Shirley really expect to deceive her husband and get away with it? Can Kathleen hold it all together, and is Anne able to have the best of everything? As I said, I love to write with deep emotion and Storm Clouds Gathering is a story of human emotion, passion and heart-rending grief. Set against the backdrop of the mid-sixties, these three families will be tested to the limit, as betrayal, loss and love threaten to change their lives forever.

How long did it take you to write this book?  Was there lots of research involved? 

It took the usual time for me, around 10 months. What caused me a problem to publish a book in 2012 was that, I began to write another book and after 25,000 words, found I couldn’t go any further at that time, so I began Storm Clouds Gathering and then the words just flowed. Regarding research, I spoke to family members and I also drew on my own experience from that period of time. On top of this, I found a truly wonderful man via the internet who had helped me with answers about working in the woollen mills in the 1960s.

The cover is beautifully eye-catching.  Do you choose your own designs, Pauline?

I work very closely with Cathy Helms from Avalon Graphics and I give Cathy ideas of what I am looking for. I also trawl through the photo directories online looking for pictures that will give me what I have in my head. Cathy then turns my thoughts into beautiful covers.

You live in super, sunny Lanzarote and we’ve loved hearing about your weekly book signings and readings. How did that all come about and how do you find the marketing side of writing, in general? Any little tips you can share with us?

Oh my, I’m no expert at giving tips for marketing, I just do what I hope is good for me to sell my books. Living here on our fabby little pebble in the ocean, I’ve got to know one or two holiday complex owners. This led to me going to chat with the tourists staying in these super places about my books. I take along with me professionally printed leaflets, bookmarks to hand out and, of course, my books to sign and sell. I love meeting the people and getting their feedback on my books. And to my utter surprise, they enjoy meeting an author!

What first sparked ‘the writer’ in you?

I’ve always been a writer. As a little girl I wrote poems and, once, a song. It was sung at one of our school assemblies when I was in junior school. Sadly the teacher named the song writer as Pauline… but it was the other Pauline in my class. At eleven years old, I was mortified they’d got the name wrong. I was also a writer for many years at work. I was a communications manager in the international oil industry, which I loved every minute of.  These days, I enjoy writing fiction, though one could argue, I’ve always written fiction!

Tell us about your involvement in, and the subsequent success of, Indie Author site Famous Five Plus?

Oh you mean my little baby! I started FFP back at the end of October 2011. The idea was to offer Indie authors a platform to showcase and share their experiences and at the same time, support others in the knowledge they would be supported in return. That concept has not changed.  FFP continues to grow and whilst it takes up far too much of my time, I believe it is worth it. There are some wonderful authors in FFP who just need to have enough exposure to really make it big.

What do you like to read when you’re relaxing, poolside?

I love reading, but relaxing, what is that? Laugh! I love murder mystery and thrillers, but in between being frightened to death with a likely stalker of someone intent on murder, I read a lot of indie author books too. I have a Kindle these days, as living on my pebble it is so much easier to download a great read instantly and there are some fab books out there.

If you could pass on just one piece of writerly advice, what would it be?

Just do it. Write and enjoy every minute. Get those words and ideas down, but when it is finished and you want to publish, please always talk to an editor – a publishing editor. Not only will he or she make your book shine like a diamond, but you will learn so much more too.

And in true Romaniac fashion, some quick-fire, fun questions for you:

Dream Dance Partner?

Pasha Kovalev from Strictly.

Rolls Royce or Ferrari?

Ferrari.

Champagne or Cocktails?

What a question, champagne… love it!

Murder Mystery Weekend or Paintballing?

Murder mystery – no contest!

Favourite place in the UK?

Now that is tough as I’ve lived in several different places and I’ve loved them all, so sorry can’t choose an answer to this one.

Sarong or Shorts?

As I spend every day in shorts, it has to be shorts, but not the baggy sort.

Paella or Tapas?

Mmm… another toughy.  I love both. Sorry, can’t choose on this one.

Three words that best describe Pauline Barclay?

Energetic, optimistic and smiley.

It’s been fabulous chatting with you, Pauline. Best of Romaniac luck with Storm Clouds Gathering.

Whoa! Thanks for having me and letting me eat most of the scrummy chocolate brownies. Along with the champagne, they were simply delicious. A huge thanks also for allowing me to ramble and for making me feel so welcome. It’s been wonderful. Have a fab day and please leave the plate and glasses. I’ll wash up, it’s the least I can do!

http://www.paulinebarclay.co.uk/

http://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/paulinembarclay

Follow Pauline on Twitter: @paulinembarclay

http://www.famousfiveplus.com/

See the trailer for Storm Clouds Gathering… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCwnvAK4DxA

Recently, the Romaniacs were offered a challenge. It wasn’t cake based (although it has to be said that we are world famous for our capacity for eating scones and are expecting the Guinness Book of Records to be in touch very shortly). No; this gauntlet was thrown down by the dynamo that is Harry Bingham of The Writers’ Workshop. He wondered if we would like have a browse around his fabulous new website – Agent Hunter – and give the viewpoint of a bunch of aspiring writers.

            Well, The Romaniacs are always up for a challenge, and we are no strangers to languishing on the slush pile from time to time, so we dived in. We are generally very impressed with this new facility, but I’m going to shamelessly steal some snippets from the site to give you an overview first:

Now for The Romanics’ opinions:

We really like the filter system for narrowing down the right agent for your genre. The site looks comprehensive, user friendly and informative.

Two small points to consider – we would like an option on the left hand side that says ‘Don’t mind’ or ‘Unimportant’, when asking the things like how many clients we’d like the agent to have, and all the other questions like that. Also, under ‘Agent Experience’, we think it would make more sense for the answers to be ‘less than 5 years’, ’5 – 10 years’, ’11-15′, ‘More than 15′ – for example. We all really like the agent/agency bios. It’s a very user-friendly site with good links to other information/pages i.e The Writers’ Workshop. The FAQ section seems to have most things covered.

Agent Hunter seems to have given the whole searching for an agent or publisher nightmare a more personal feel. It can be very daunting trawling through various books and websites for specific agents/guidelines. We think the subscription fee is very reasonable too. The mailing list option is also good, to stay in touch with latest news/offers.  

Overall, we think it’s a great idea, and it certainly speeds up the search for a relevant/suitable agent. It has given us all a good feel for which agent to pitch to, and has actually tempted us to submit.

Thanks, Harry, for the opportunity to explore this exciting new website – we’ll probably bump into you in there as we hunt for the ‘Look into the agents’ living room’ button and search for the coffee shop facility.

Good morning, Donna – it’s good to see you here at Romaniac HQ. Make yourself at home – just brush the Hob Nob crumbs off the sofa and put your feet up. Scone? They’re cherry ones today. I think I might have accidentally finished off the clotted cream though…

Now, let’s find out what makes you tick. Your website’s great, I know a lot about you already but we’d better fill everyone else in too. 

When did you start writing and what inspired you at the very beginning?

I’ve always loved telling stories, even as a child. Unlike a lot of writers, I didn’t grow up surrounded by books. But I loved Jackanory on TV, and on a Saturday morning I used to get loads of girls’ comics like Bunty and Jinty, and devour all the stories. You can learn a lot about conflict and cliffhangers from reading those weekly serials! Funnily enough, after I left school I got a job writing photo love stories for a teenage magazine. I started writing my first novel when I was 20, and was finally published two days before my 40^th birthday. I’ve sped up a bit since then…

Reading this, I think we’re both from the same era! I loved Bunty, and Jackanory too. But what era would you have chosen to be born into, if not this one?

I don’t know about having to live my whole life in a particular era, but there are loads I’d like to visit. I’m a massive Tudor buff, so I would love to go back to the court of Henry VIII and find out what it was really like. And of course, I would love to visit a hospital in 1930s and pick up some ideas for my Nightingales books. Although I’m not sure about being a patient, since they didn’t stand much chance in those days!

Do you see yourself as mainly character or plot driven?

Characters are most important for me. It’s the characters and their conflicts that drive the plot. People are interested in people. If you don’t care about a character and they’re not real for you, then it doesn’t matter how much life or death drama you put them through, it’s not going to work.

Do your characters ever do things you’d rather they didn’t, or that you hadn’t anticipated?

All the time! It can be quite spooky sometimes. Your character does or says something and you think, ‘Now why did they do that?’ And then later in the story you realise that they’ve actually laid the foundation for an intriguing new subplot or twist that hadn’t occurred to you. Of course, it can also be massively inconvenient when you really need them to act a certain way for the sake of your ingenious plot and they just won’t play ball! In which case it’s probably best to listen to them, I find.

Looking back at that answer, I now realise I have the voices of various people in my head, who I truly believe are real and have minds of their own. If I wasn’t a writer that would be quite worrying, wouldn’t it?

Which three books would you take to a desert island and what treats would be in your picnic hamper?

Is it wrong that I can think of the food more easily than I can think of the books? Treat wise, there would have to be salt and vinegar Kettle Chips, Galaxy chocolate and Fruitellas. Also, we have a bakers in York called Thomas’, which does the best Chelsea buns in the whole world. Seriously, if you’re ever in York I urge you to get one. You will not be disappointed.

Right, now on to books. I guess I would have to take a survival manual, because being a city girl I am completely lost in the wild. And by wild, I mean anywhere that doesn’t have an M&S within walking distance.  I might also take one of my 1930s nursing manuals, because they show how to perform life-saving treatments with very little resources. For enjoyment, I would have to take Riders by Jilly Cooper. It’s my all time comfort read.

Just booking train ticket to York. With you on the Jilly Cooper choice too. Still on the subject of reading matter, which book, famous or otherwise, have you always wished you’d written yourself?

Something that has stood the test of time, with a story that still resonates, such as Jane Eyre. To be able to impact on people emotionally is a great gift for a writer – I love it when people tell me I made them cry! From a royalties point of view, I wouldn’t have minded coming up with Harry Potter, though…

Which has been your most romantic character so far, which the most heroic and which the most unsettling/sinister?

Nick Riley in The Nightingale Girls is my perfect romantic hero. He’s a real bad boy with a vulnerable heart. From the response I’ve had from readers, they all seem to like him too! Everyone wants him to get together with my heroine Dora, but they may have to wait awhile before they get their happy ending (if they get it…). Dora is pretty heroic – she’s a tough East End girl who’s overcome all kinds of obstacles to follow her dream of being a nurse. Nursing wasn’t an option for working class girls at the time, and she has to fight to prove herself every day. She’s the one I most identify with, because when I was young everyone said working class girls like me couldn’t be writers, either. I’m not sure about unsettling or sinister characters. I’ve written plenty of nasty people, like Helen’s overbearing mother Constance Tremayne or vindictive Sister Wren. She manages to do a fair amount of damage in The Nightingale Sisters, especially to the new Night Sister. But I always try to give them a human side too, or at least a reason why they behave the way they do, otherwise you end up with a cartoon villain.

A predictable question, but we’re very nosy here. Where do you write and what’s your ideal writing routine?

I have an office, which is basically the back of the garage. I used to write in the spare bedroom, but I spent far too much time nosing out of the window at all the goings-on in our street. Now my office has a tiny, high strip of frosted window overlooking a brick wall so I can’t focus on anything but work! I like to start writing early in the morning – I get most of my best work done before lunch. In the afternoon, I get sidetracked into domestic stuff, answering emails or hanging about on Twitter, so I hardly get anything done.

I know the feeling! Here’s another of our favourite questions. Do you have an agent, and if so, was he/she hard to come by?

My agent is the lovely Caroline Sheldon. We got together about four years ago. I’d already had a few novels published under the name Donna Hay, but then my agent retired and I became a bit jaded and realised I wasn’t enjoying writing contemporary stuff any more. I gave up writing completely for a couple of years but then I missed it so I called up Caroline because lots of people had told me how nice she was. And they were right! It turned out to be serendipitous for both of us, because a few days after our meeting she met an editor who was looking for someone to write a series of novels set in a hospital in 1930s – and Caroline thought I might be up for the challenge.

I love a happy ending. Now, what would be your dream job, apart from writing all day with an endless supply of money thrown in?

I’ve always fancied being a beauty therapist, because it must be nice to spend your day making people look and feel better. Everyone enjoys a bit of pampering, and working in a spa seems like a fairly stress-free environment.

Quick fire questions –

Gin or champagne?

Gin, definitely. In fact, the answer is almost always gin.

TV or theatre?

Much as I would like to sound highbrow, it has to be TV.

Austen or Bronte?

Bronte. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jane Austen. But the Brontes have always fascinated me.

Bubble bath or power shower?

Bubble bath, when I get the chance. But sadly it’s mostly showers.

Book or Kindle?

Kindle on holiday, but you can’t beat a book the rest of the time.

Chocolate cake or exotic fresh fruit salad?

If you’d said any other kind of cake I would have gone for that. But I’m not a big fan of chocolate cake. Chocolate, yes. Cake, yes. But not together. Oh no. I quite like the sound of those cherry scones you mentioned earlier, actually…

Late nights or early mornings?

Early mornings. But I remember a time when they were one and the same thing. I’d stay up all night then rock up to work in a party dress. These were the days. Couldn’t do it now, though.

And finally, what comes next for you?

My new book, The Nightingale Sisters, is out any day now. It follows on from The Nightingale Girls, but it’s a stand alone story, so you don’t have to have read the first to enjoy the second. I’m just finishing off the third book in the Nightingales series, which is due out in October. After that, I have another two Nightingale books to write. Although there might well be more…

Thank you so much for letting us see a snapshot of your writing life – I’ve packed you some fruit cake for on the way home. See you again, I hope, and good luck with your next project.

Thanks for having me, I’ve had a lovely time. Although if I’d have known there was cake involved I would have bought you a Chelsea bun from Thomas’…

The Nightingale Sisters is published by Arrow Books. It’s available from Amazon  – http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Nightingale-Sisters-Donna-Douglas/dp/0099569426/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1

Find out more about Donna by visiting her website –  http://www.donnadouglas.co.uk/

You can also follow her on Twitter – @donnahay1 – or read her blog – http://donnadouglasauthor.wordpress.com/  

We’d like to know where you are and what you’re doing with your hero or heroine, right this moment, and then, we want you to divulge your most favourite position with them.

We’ll get the ball rolling, for want of a better phrase.

Laura : In Follow Me, I’m in a wooded english garden, overlooking Chesil Beach, with a Hollywood Action Hero sprawled at my feet, on the veiny ground. And my favourite position? In bed, with a thoughtful, gentle and humorous Irishman, at The Smugglers Inn, in Truth or Dare?

Sue : Well, I’ve managed to extract myself from the kitchen and now find myself on Felpham Beach in West Sussex, skimming stones with Donovan, a criminal psychologist.

My most favourite position? An autumn evening, sat on the beach, snuggled under a blanket with said criminal psychologist; wind blowing, waves crashing and moonlight dancing on the whites of the waves.

Debbie: Well, I’m hard at work on my WIP for the NWS with ‘James Hardaker.’ We’re in the emerald green hills of the Yorkshire Dales, one of my favourite parts of the world (and where I was brought up.) Spring-time in Berrywood means my vetinary hero is currently zipping around the country lanes tending ewes who are having a hard time lambing!

By co-incidence I’m visiting the Dales next week for a little more inspiration. It is sooo beautiful in that part of the world.

As for my favourite position, well, that has to be in front of the log burner! Either on the rug or sofa…

Catherine: I’m never doing it again. Oh, sorry. May have got the wrong gist. My latest heroine is struggling with the idea she might have fertility issues and will end up with her legs up in stirrups as a result. Not quite what you were hoping for with this post. So I’ll go back to a creek in Kuringai Chase National Park. An isolated spot outside of Sydney, Australia where my hero and heroine meet in Miles Between Us.

Celia: In Little Boxes, I’m on a very special bench at a country park by a beautiful lake in Peterborough with a man who can’t commit to a passionate relationship…yet. The weather is chilly but the temperature between the lead players is set to sizzle. And my favourite position – horizontal in a Travelodge.

Jan: I’m standing, mesmerized, rooted to the spot halfway down a red-carpeted sweeping staircase in a glorious York manor house, staring into the eyes of a tanned, athletic Yorkshireman. And my favourite position? Lying face down on a massage table, mentally reliving every delightful second of it…

I can recommend all of these positions

Now it’s over to you…where, how and who?

Laura xx