Life Cycle of a Writer: Lucie’s Publication Day

These last few weeks have been crazy!

In the run up to my publication day on Friday, things have been manic – juggling university coursework and study, writing guest posts for my blog tour, promoting the book on various social media platforms, working at my local special needs school… it was relentless.

However, all the stress and sleepless nights were forgotten the moment the clock ticked past midnight, signalling the start of Friday May 5th…PUBLICATION DAY!

It was a scary feeling – it still is! I knew people were going to be reading my story, but nothing prepares you for that moment when you receive messages from both people you know, and people you don’t, telling you they have started reading your book. Will they like it? Will they hate it? Will they give me a bad review? Will they just not bother reviewing it at all? Will they think I am wasting my time… all these thoughts and more have been circling my mind for weeks and there is no sign of them letting up. But, I guess, this is just part of being a writer. I need to learn to accept the compliments (which is harder than it sounds when you are so self critical of your work) and grow a thick skin for those criticisms, because, lets face it, there will be plenty of those too.

So what did I do for publication day? Well, I indulged the whole day on social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter… all of them. Talking to my friends and feeling the pride wash over me as I listened to their wonderful words of praise and support. I was so surprised at the sheer amount of support I received on Friday. I knew the writing community was like no other, but I just didn’t expect such a huge network of praise and encouragement on that day. It was amazing – thank you to everyone who was part of my special day.

In the evening I hosted a live Q&A over on Harper Impulse’s Facebook page – please do pop over and take a look if you’re interested (There are two video’s as my phone decided to crash after 10 minutes! The wonders of technology!)

And of course, there was champagne!

The following day I held a small party at my house for my close friends and family and we celebrated in style with champagne, curry, chilli, jacket potatoes, Sambuca, music and disco lights! It was amazing! My friends and family were so generous with their gifts for me and my husband gave a little speech as he toasted me and it meant so much because, anyone who knows my husband knows he is not one for public speaking or showing his affection. I think the champagne helped him out 🙂

And now It is the following week and I have just yesterday started my blog tour. So please do take a look at my guest posts over the next week or so and I hope you enjoy reading them.

What a surreal few days it has been.

I can’t believe I finally did it … I published a book.

Life Cycle of a Writer: Lucie

Oh my goodness, what a crazy few weeks I have had.
For those who may have missed it, last week I revealed the cover for my debut novel, The First Time Mums’ Club, which is out in eBook on May 5th and paperback on July 13th. I absolutely LOVE it! I think it captures the essence of the story really well; fun, friendly, and full of the antics of these pregnant ladies. However, as in real life, these ladies come up against a multitude of problems which make them really question what it is they really want.

Here’s the blurb:

Meet Pippa…

After years of trying and a failed IVF attempt, Pippa is thrilled to see two little lines appear on a pregnancy test. Finally a precious baby to call her own. This is all Pippa has ever wanted…if only husband Jason could show just a little excitement.

Imogen…

A baby is the icing on the cake for Imogen and Alice – proof that their love for each other can overcome any obstacle. But when Imogen starts receiving malicious texts, it’s clear that not everyone is thrilled about the girls’ good news.

And Ellie…

A drunken one-night stand and Ellie’s life is ruined! Pregnant, jobless and the relationship with her best friend, Chris, over- forever. Because Chris just happens to be the father of Ellie’s baby…and potentially the love of her life!

For these first time mums the road to motherhood is bumpier than most!

What do you think?  Sound like a good read? I hope you think so.

I really enjoyed writing this story. It took me back to when my LO was born and the mixed feelings of elation, excitement and sheer terror as this little human looked up at me and I knew that her whole life was down to me and how I helped her to build it. She’s now 10 and I seem to be doing ok – well she hasn’t divorced me yet so I must be doing ok!

photo source: 3Dmemoirs.com

The run up to this cover release was hectic and I have been juggling more than I have ever juggled before. I have many balls up in the air at the moment and I’m trying my best not to drop any.

I am nearing the end of my second year at Anglia Ruskin University where I am studying a BA (hons) Early Childhood Professional Studies degree. It is hard work, but I am getting there. Even though I can see the end in sight (just 6 weeks left of the semester) these weeks are very VERY busy. I have coursework due in (a portfolio and two essays) and also over this summer I have to start researching and thinking about what I am going to do for my dissertation as I begin my final year in September. I have some ideas already and I know I want to try to incorporate my love of words with my love for childhood – so maybe something literature based. I’m not sure yet. So there will be no rest over the summer with that – alongside writing book two which is out towards the end of this year (around September, I think).

I have also signed up for some voluntary work and some paid work at my university to help broaden my experience and learn new skills.

One other thing that I have signed up to do that I would like to tell you about is that I am now a student blogger for my university. I love being a course rep and blogging for the university as a student was something that I felt would enrich my role there even more. So I will be blogging once a month about various things ranging from my course, to trips I go on, events I attend and how I manage to fit in studying around family life and a career as a writer. If you want to read my first post, it’s available here.

So that’s me. Frantically juggling many different passions I have but loving them all as I do!

Have a happy Tuesday!

Love Lucie xx

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You can preorder Lucie’s debut, The First Time Mums’ Club, here.

Lucie is also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

And she blogs for Anglia Ruskin University, here.

All That is Left of Us Blog Tour: Meerkat Research

Creating Owerdale Zoo: The Research

When I first pitched this book to my editor, the zoo was always going to be central to the story. In essence it was going to be a tale of three mums who regular met at the zoo to catch up. This was the original pitch:

Never work with animal and children, but a weekly coffee can’t hurt, right?

When three old school pals meet at an antenatal class, they decide to support each other through motherhood and get an annual pass to the zoo to meet once a week. But as past secrets come out, and a meerkat becomes a changing bag stowaway, will they make it through their maternity leave as friends, or enemies?

The book evolved from the original idea to be focused on Dawn who is acting as surrogate for her sister-in-law, Rebekah. But the meerkat idea was still going to be central and turned into the best research I’ve ever had to do.

At the point of only having a story outline, I needed to do some research to find out as much as I could about meerkat behaviour. In All That is Left of Us, Dawn’s son, Archie, is obsessed with the Owerdale Zoo meerkats and spends every Saturday morning documenting what they’re up to so it was important to have as much knowledge as possible.

When it came to research, books and documentaries weren’t going to be enough so I contacted Paulton’s Park to see if they could help. They have their own mob of meerkats so I asked if anyone would be able to answer some of the weird and wonderful questions I had in relation to the storyline. Thankfully, they were really helpful and I met with the livestock manager, Geoff Masson, and he helped answer all of my questions regarding meerkats and their behaviour. I’ve tried to portray them as accurately as possible and any mistakes are my own. I have to confess to this being one of my favourite parts of the novel. The friendship Archie has with the meerkats is very real and his relationship with animals reflects that this is a story of love in its many forms, even the ones we don’t understand.

I really hope any readers of All That is Left of Us enjoy the relationship between Archie and his meerkats as much as I enjoyed researching and writing about them.

Now I just need to decide what research to incorporate into the next book.

Catherine xx

CATHERINE CONTRACTED BY CARINA!

Catherine & her two beautiful girls

We have superb news for you.

Our very own Catherine Miller has signed a two-book deal with Carina UK!

We’ve been celebrating in style at the Romantic Novelists’ Association annual conference and at Romaniac HQ, with wine and cake aplenty.

Catherine

 We are absolutely delighted for you.

Many congratulations on your wonderful news.

Baby Number Two is a fabulous read and we cannot wait to see your first book baby making its way in the big, wide world 😀

Now, lets hear from the chilled-out mum-of-two and lovely lady herself …

 WAHOO!

Much love,

Your Romaniac Buddies

xxxxxxx xx

RNA, NWS : Joan Hessayon Award

As you may know, The Romaniacs all met through the RNA‘s New Writers’ Scheme back in 2011. Since then we’ve all made great strides in our writer careers and, amazingly, last year three of us achieved our ambition of becoming published authors. This has meant ‘graduation’ to full membership with the RNA and sees us eligible for the Joan Hessayon Award; the winner of which is to be announced at the RNA summer party in London on 22 May 2104.

Celia J Anderson – Sweet Proposal

Laura E. James – Truth or Dare?

Sue Fortin – United States of Love

We are in fabulous company and wanted to wish everyone the very best of luck. We are looking forward to the evening very much and to meeting up with all the other attendees, especially the other new writers.  Here is the full list of nominations.

Alison May

Eileen Hogg

Elaine Everest

Helen Phifer

Jane O’Reilly

Jennifer Young

Jessica Thompson

Jill Steeples

Jo Thomas

Kathryn Freeman

Lin Treadgold

Pauline Bennion

Susan E Willis

Teresa Morgan

Congratulations everyone on becoming published

and

very best of luck!

 

Truly, Madly, Deeply – The RNA Anthology

I am delighted to announce the release of the Romantic Novelists’ Association new anthology, Truly, Madly, Deeply, published by Mills and Boon and available in paperback with 24 stories, and as an extended eBook, containing an additional 11 stories. A bumper selection of all-new specially-selected stories from the leading lights of commercial women’s fiction as well as some exciting new names!

My short story, Bitter Sweet is included in the digital extension, and I am thrilled, honoured, and privileged to be part of such a great anthology, alongside wonderful authors for whom I have deep respect.

The blurb:

24 specially selected stories from bestselling authors including Adele Parks, Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews, Miranda Dickinson and many more. From wedding days to special anniversaries, steamy one night encounters to everlasting loves, Truly, Madly, Deeply takes you on an exciting romantic adventure where love really is all you need. Plus, eBook edition includes 11 additional stories!

It’s a must-have!

Please join us on Friday 21st from 09:00 at our Facebook Online Launch Party, and on Twitter, using #TrulyMadlyDeeply and #RNA

Here are the all important links:

Mills & Boon:

Facebook

Twitter

Mills & Boon: Truly, Madly, Deeply

Amazon:

Paperback

eBook

iBooks

Google Play

Kobo

Enjoy!

Laura x

Romaniac Shorts – Out There For Everyone To See

Now the Romaniac blog is 2 years old, we’re toddling around in Shorts.

Our cover depicts each Romaniac. Can you guess who has which shorts?

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Laura: This is stuff of fantasies, so I chose the red Daisy Dukes, 6th on the line. Remember Daisy from The Dukes of Hazard? I’m never going to get away with wearing tight shorts, so I’m dreaming the dream, baby. Oh yeah.

Jan: An easy choice for me. Turquoise is my favourite colour. Proud to be flapping on the Romaniac line … 

Sue: I opted for the pretty green flowery ones. Whenever I’m thinking up plot ideas, I always doodle flowers, so it seemed the obvious choice.

Lucie: I’m a red head … so naturally I went for orange shorts!

Debbie: It has to be the plain green ones for me, to go with my old green wellies for when I’m ‘at one with nature.’

Celia: Mine are the denim cut-offs – one of my friends’ mums once asked me if I was dressed by Oxfam when I was wearing my best pair. Um … yes, actually …

Catherine: Mine are the yellow polka dot shorts for two reasons. 1) Excellent for the cabaret shows I perform for the twins. (The most effective way to keep two girls happy.) 2) They disguise the milk deposits.

Vanessa: My daughters helped with suggestions when I was colouring up the shorts on the cover and they chose the red with white polka dots for me!

Did you guess correctly?

Romaniac Shorts is available as a download from Amazon, at £1, here. We hope you enjoy our briefs 😉

xx

Birthday Celebrations in Romaniac Shorts!

You won’t believe it, really you won’t. I still can’t quite believe it myself. But … The Romaniacs are TWO YEARS OLD today.

Two! Our blog has been running for a couple of years now and still every day, we pinch ourselves at the immense support we receive from you all.  Thank you SO much.

We are celebrating today in usual Romaniac fashion. Can you guess how? Go on, have a go …

Yep, you guessed it – cake! And lots of it, too! The diets have been put on hold and we plan to devour our weight in cake, biscuits and chocolate. Oh, and then there’s the champagne. Got to have a bit of fizz on our blog birthday.

We’re even having a ‘bring your baby to work’ day, just so that we can make it more of a party. So, we have all the Romaniac children having a boogie, too.

I’ve got to say, it’s a lot of fun here and we would be so happy for you to all join us in a celebratory toast – go on, take a glass – and raise it up high.

To all things writerly, what a wonderful two years it has been. And also (no, don’t drink yet, there’s a second part) to our wonderful support network of friends, without whom, we would not be where we are today.

*CHEERS*

Oh, wait! In all the celebrating and, ahem, drinking, I almost forgot to tell you about our other exciting news. As from today, you will be able to purchase an anthology of short stories and flash fiction penned by none other than our lovely team. That’s right, we have all pooled together our creativity and have created an anthology for you. For those who missed our blog last week about it, let me explain …

Romaniac Shorts is a collection of short stories and flash fiction that stretch across a number of different styles and genres. Each member of The Romaniacs has included at least two pieces for you to enjoy. We feel this anthology is fresh, exciting and most of all, a bargain at the mere price of £1 and it is available to purchase for your Kindle as from today.

We each believe that the Romantic Novelists’ Association has played a major part in getting us writers to where we are today – it was even how we met in the first place. We are so thankful to the RNA and especially to the New Writers Scheme which has seen us all as members at one time or another. Some of us even going on to be full members! *fanfare and confetti*

And so, to show our appreciation for such a wonderful and encouraging organisation, we shall be donating a percentage of our proceeds from this anthology, to the RNA, to help encourage and grow other writers. The remainder of our proceeds shall be passed to Dyslexia Action.

We know how isolating, frustrating and difficult writing can be at times and there are some people out there who have the additional struggle of dyslexia and such like. So we are very keen to help those who need it the most, which is why we have chosen the RNA and Dyslexia Action.

We hope you will help us help them by purchasing Romaniac Shorts and most of all, we hope you enjoy it!

Please do get in touch with us and let us know what you think.

Now, where did I put my cake …

Lucie x

Romaniac Shorts: Fashionably Brief

Romaniac Shorts: Fashionably Brief.

There has been much excitement at Romaniac HQ, but in keeping with today’s title, we’ll be brief.

Next Thursday, 13th February 2014, our blog will be 2 years old, and we have a very special celebration planned.

Romaniac Press has gone into production, and we are releasing our first anthology:

Romaniac Shorts

It’s a diverse collection of short stories and flash fiction, ranging from romance, to crime, to fantasy,  and we are thrilled to see one of our early ideas finally come to fruition.

Romaniac Shorts will be available as an eBook, through Amazon.

All profits from the sale of Romaniac Shorts will be divided between Dyslexia Action, and the Romantic Novelists’ Association .

We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have received guidance, advice, and friendship from the writing world, and we always aim to give something back. We hope this goes a little way to saying thank you.

Please enjoy our briefs.

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Truth or Dare? by Laura E James. Published! Play the game, if you dare!

There is much excitement at Romaniac HQ today; party hats are on, balloons blown up and plenty of cake and fizz to hand. We are so proud of our Laura – her gritty contemporary novel TRUTH OR DARE?, published by Choc Lit UK, is now available! A split era story where love is a dangerous game and, sometimes, the wrong thing is done for the right reason.

To celebrate this, we’d love you to join in with a game of Truth or Dare?.  Here’s how to play:-

Choose one of the questions below to answer truthfully. Leave your answer either in our comments section or on Twitter using the hashtag #ToD.

If, however, you feel you cannot answer truthfully, then take the dare! Simply click on the curtain to reveal your dare. Again, leave ‘evidence’ of your dare either in our comments section or on Twitter with the hashtag #ToD.

We will be joining in too and can’t wait to see your answers.

Question 1

What is the worst excuse you have given for cancelling a date? 

TRUTH

OR

Question 2

If you had the chance to make one of The Romaniacs your slave for the day, who would it be and why?

TRUTH

OR

Question 3

What is the longest period of time you have gone for without either washing, brushing your teeth or not wearing any deodorant?

TRUTH

OR

Question 4 :

If you could go on a romantic dinner date with one of your colleagues, who would it be?

TRUTH

OR

Question 5:

What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you, ever?

TRUTH

OR

HUGE congratulations, Laura.

Truth or Dare? is an absolutely fantastic read. Wishing you every success you deserve.

Laura E James
Author of Truth or Dare?

Truth or Dare?

Love’s a dangerous game … 

Kate Blair’s sick of unrequited love. She’s quietly waited for Mickey for the past six years and finding a compass-carved heart, with their initials scratched through the middle, only strengthens her resolve: no more Mickey and no more playing it safe.

It’s time to take a chance on real love and Declan O’Brien’s the perfect risk. He’s handsome, kind, and crazy about her so it’s not long before all thoughts of Mickey come few and far between.

But old habits die-hard. Kate may have started to forget … but has Mickey?

 

Thank you to everyone who joined in with the fun. So you can still see the dares and responses, we’ve copied them all below : –

 

8 thoughts on “Dare 1”

1. Kate Freeman

24/10/2013 at 10:20 am | Reply | (Edit)

Aggh – I chickened out on all the above, and now I have to riverdance in my kitchen! But my kitchen has big glass doors and outside that are three (hunky) builders putting up a conservatory for me. Please, I don’t have to do this in front of them… do I?! Later, she promises, when they’ve gone! Laura – I wish you loads of success and I’m really looking forward to reading Truth or Dare (much more than I am doing a river dance!).

• The Romaniacs

24/10/2013 at 11:38 am | Reply | (Edit)

Thank you, Kate – you’ve made me lol in my kitchen, where there are no hunky builders, just a doorstop. I’m looking forward to seeing your dance  Laura xx

1. Sheryl Browne (@SherylBrowne)

24/10/2013 at 11:19 am | Reply | (Edit)

I’ve taken the dare! I blame The Romaniacs! #ToD @TheRomaniacs @sherylbrowne #lahe http://youtu.be/mLn6j8yq2VU PS. My postman thinks I am officially mad! GOOD LUCK, LAURA!!  xx

• The Romaniacs

24/10/2013 at 11:41 am | Reply | (Edit)

I want you at every party I ever hold, Sheryl! Laura xx

1. Cathy Bramley (@CathyBramley)

24/10/2013 at 11:39 am | Reply | (Edit)

I did the dare. Well I had to really, I’ve never cancelled a date (call me needy) and anyway the dog enjoyed it (the riverdance – not the date, what sort of woman do you think I am??) tsk

• The Romaniacs

24/10/2013 at 11:44 am | Reply | (Edit)

Thank you, Cathy. Nothing like an early morning workout. Was it anything like an early morning workout? Just asking Laura

1. Cara Cooper

26/10/2013 at 8:28 am | Reply | (Edit)

Still in bed at the moment and my teenage daughter would be too embarrassed to see me doing that so have to bottle out I’m afraid!

• The Romaniacs

26/10/2013 at 4:48 pm | Reply | (Edit)

I bet you’d pull it off though, Cara  Thank you for popping in. Laura xx

Dare 2

2 thoughts on “Dare 2”

1. beverleyeikli

24/10/2013 at 12:05 pm | Reply | (Edit)

Why are there no pictures? Hmmm, maybe I’ll post mine tomorrow….

• The Romaniacs

24/10/2013 at 12:18 pm | Reply | (Edit)

I’ve seen pictures, Beverley – they may appear here later… Laura x:-)

Dare 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dare 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dare 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thought on “Dare 5”

1. Laura James (@Laura_E_James)

24/10/2013 at 12:58 pm | Reply | (Edit)

I took Dare 5. Rather than divulge my most embarrassing experience, I ate curry powder. Go to https://twitter.com/Laura_E_James to see