HONNNNKKKKKKK!

HONNNKKKK!!!

The fireworks are being lit, the cake is coming out of the oven and the glasses are overflowing with pop as The Romaniacs celebrate the paperback release of our lovely Jan Brigden’s As Weekends Go.

 

Laura: Many congratulations, Jan. What an exciting day! Your first paperback. And isn’t it gorgeous? I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a signed copy. I am thrilled for you. So well deserved, my lovely, hardworking friend xxx

Catherine: Congratulations, Jan! The honkometer cannot withstand such excitement! This level of celebration may be enough to put it into early retirement! Enjoy the day and we’ve stocked up on additional cake to mark the occasion! Xxx

Vanessa: HUGE congratulations, lovely Jan. I hope your day is filled with cake and champagne – I can’t wait to add the wonderful As Weekends Go to my Romaniac shelf!

Sue: Honkity-honk-honk-honk! Congratulations, Jan on the release of your paperback. It’s a fantastic story and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. It will take pride of place on my bookshelf with the other Romaniac publications! I also get to stroke Alex Heath!! Well done, my friend, thoroughly deserved. xx

Celia: Sooooo excited for you, our lovely, talented Jan! Loved the Kindle version and can’t wait to see the book in paperback form, in all its glory. Massive congratulations and honks. Very, very proud of you and all you’ve achieved xxxx

Lucie: How amazing is this, Jan? I am SUPER proud of you, my friend! I cannot wait for this to be on my shelf. You are an inspiration and I hope you are celebrating in true Romaniac-style with plenty of fizz and HONKS! Love you lots xxx 

 

With love from The Romaniacs

xxxxxxx

 

 

Life Cycle of a Writer ~ Jan Brigden ~ Interviewing your Characters

In the early stages of drafting As Weekends Go, I gobbled up every nugget of writerly advice going – I still do – you never stop learning and any guidance is invaluable.

I’d already created detailed profiles for each of my main characters, some secondary characters too, i.e. ages, physical descriptions, family backgrounds, schooling, jobs, habits, likes/dislikes, friendships, relationships, star signs. A further suggested exercise that proved brilliant for me was “literally” interviewing them. Instead of writing a structured Q&A for each, I let them chat away on the page (so to speak) to see how they viewed themselves, to hear their voices and obtain an insight into specific personality traits, hopes, values, etc.

Here’s a brief glimpse at two of the main cast members – random facts in no particular order –  to further illustrate what I mean :

“Hi, I’m Rebecca Stafford, married to Greg for four years, no children as yet, but having now moved into our new home, we plan to start a family, which I’m so excited about. I just hope Greg’s workload reduces. He’s been so stressed lately – a bit snappy too, (between you and me) – and could really do with relaxing a bit more. I do worry about him.

I’d say I’m a good listener, diplomatically honest, as I hate to hurt people’s feelings. I’m quite a home bod, and I love the company of my friends and family, especially my best friend Abi who I’ve known for years. I dress in what suits me. I’m not a dedicated follower of fashion as they say, but I do take pride in my appearance.”

“Hello, I’m Alex Heath. Describe myself physically? Well, I’m very fit  – in the sporty sense (I wasn’t being vain!) as my profession demands it. I’ve always been active, trained hard and appreciated all the challenges and rewards it brings. I’m not really into the celebrity thing and shy away from publicity even though I know it’s all part of the job. I think it’s important to stay grounded, have good friends and family around me and never forget what a privilege it is to be doing what I love.

I’m a good judge of character. Some people say I can be stubborn, (my mum, usually!) which maybe I am, but it helps me to focus on what’s important. Nobody likes being taken for a fool, do they? Do I like being rich? Well, it certainly has its advantages. I’d be a liar if I said otherwise, but I’m level-headed with money; prefer spending it on other people than myself.”

***

Now I know these exercises won’t necessarily be for everyone. Admittedly, a lot of the pre-interview detailed character profile information I didn’t actually use in the book, i.e. Rebecca’s favourite film or her opinion of her first boss, but it did give me an insight into how she might react in certain scenes, or to the various people she met, whatever the situation. Same with Alex. So too, with my other main characters.

I did the same thing for my second book which I’m currently writing. If you think interviewing your characters is something that might help you develop your own stories, then give it a try. I can definitely recommend it.

 

 

Love Jan x

Life Cycle of a Writer Round Up

Our last round-up of what we have all been up to was before Christmas, so as another cycle of this feature comes around, it’s time for us to summarise the last few months.

Sue: My major event has got to be becoming agented, when I signed with Kate Nash of the Kate Nash Literary Agency. I’ve also completed and submitted book 4 to my editor, completed structural edits and am currently awaiting the next round of edits. I have a publication date of 21 April but as yet, we haven’t agreed on a title. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share that soon. 

Laura: I attended my first festival as a published author, leading a panel on ‘The Small Publisher as an Option.’ This was at the Purbeck Literary Festival on Valentine’s Day. On Thursday 25th February, along with Sue and Catherine, I visited Chichester Library chairing our Romaniac Life Cycle of a Writer talk, which was great fun. I love getting out there and connecting with readers and writers in person. I’ve been working on my presentation for the next festival, the Weymouth Leviathan Maritime Literary Festival, where I’ll be giving a talk on The Coastguard Versus Pulpit Rock. This will take place on Sunday March 13th. And my third novel, What Doesn’t Kill You was released at the end of November 2015, and is the first title to be released under Choc Lit’s new imprint, Dark Choc Lit.

Celia: My latest book, Moondancing, came out digitally in January with Tirgearr and I was thrilled to be included in a paperback anthology of short-listed stories for the Exeter Story Prize with ‘Naked in the Rain’. I’m currently battling with the synopsis and doing a final revision of my new, darker romance and thinking about having another attempt at rewriting a children’s novel.

Jan: I’m proud to have featured on several fellow writers’ blogs since Christmas, which has been lovely and has given me the chance to chat about all sorts of subjects; my background, blogging with The Romaniacs, how my Libran personality traits affect my writing and, of course, about my debut novel As Weekends Go. I’ve also been getting involved with lots of research for Book 2, some of which has been a real eye-opener!  My mojo as far as actually cracking on with the writing of Book 2 still seems to be playing hide and seek with me a little bit, but I’m sure as we go into March, I’ll rediscover it. 

Vanessa: My main writing acheivement so far in 2016 is to have completed a major re-write of my work-in-progress! It’s now gone over to my lovely agent and I’m back to obsessively checking my email in-box as I wait for feedback! I have this week bought a new notebook so I’m now officially ready to start thinking about a new book and I’ve been enjoying writing some flash fiction and short stories.

Catherine: I absolutely CAN’T believe my debut novel is out next Thursday. I’ve been busy finishing the first draft of my second book and prepping for the launch of Waiting for You. It’s been a somewhat crazy period of time, but then that’s pretty standard these days.

 

Motivation Monday – 8th February

Happy Monday everybody! Time for some of us to share our targets for the week ahead – writing and non-writing related!

Vanessa:

1. I’m on target with my edits – I need to finish the final polishing of the wip this week ready to…
   
2. Send the wip off to my agent!!
3. Finish a short story for a mid-Feb deadline (still on the list from last time!!)
   
4. Non-writing related: when the wip has gone off, do some very neglected housework!
   

What are everyone else’s plans for the week? I’ll let you know how I got on on Friday!

Vanessa x

Jan:

Well, my targets for this week are: 1)  To complete and return my answers to some fab questions posed to me by a fellow writer for her blog. 2) To chase up some research enquiries for Book Two. 3)  To gear myself up for my next dental appointment this coming Thursday (second half of root canal treatment, oh joy of absolute joys!).

Catherine:

1. Write 5,000 words minimum to be on target for book deadline.
2. Relocate my twins and myself to my mum’s house while my husband stays behind and we have new heating fitted in the house.
3. Write another TTD list for all the things I need to do in the run up to P Day! Just over a month to go!

SFTW: AS Weekends Go

WAHOOO!

This is a very special Something For The Weekend.

It’s publication day for Jan Brigden’s debut As Weekends Go!

As Weekends Go won the Choc Lit and Whole Story Audiobooks Search For A Star competition 2014/2015, and we are immensely proud of and thrilled for Jan. It is a fabulous novel, with a stunning cover. Jan’s warmth oozes from the pages.

Under normal circumstances, Jan is custodian of the Romaniac Honkometer, but we liberated it from HQ so we could do this:

HONNNNNKKKKKK!!!!!

And now for a few words from the Romaniacs …

Laura: Jan, many congratulations on the release of your debut. It’s a huge achievement and I am absolutely delighted for you. Not only are you a wonderful writer, but a genuine, supportive and warm-hearted person, who I am very lucky to be able to call my friend. Have an incredible day – take it all in, enjoy it, have fun, and watch AWG fly 🙂 xxx

Vanessa: HUGE congratulations, Jan! I’m thrilled to bits for you and your wonderful book. Enjoy publication day!! xxx

Debbie: Woo hoo!  HONKETY HONK! Dearest Jan, I’m sounding the ‘honkometer’ on your behalf today. Our little treasure; you’re the first to encourage, support and congratulate our fellow writer friends. Today the spotlight is on YOU although knowing you as I do, I don’t suppose it will come easily being centre stage, seeing as you’re always one to hide your light under a bushel! However for today, I wish for you to bask in the celebration of your publication day, immerse yourself in the experience and revel in the celebrations our writer friends cast in your direction.

This is what you have been working for, Jan. It is so well deserved and I’m sending you, my lovely Romaniac friend, heartfelt congratulations and every success with XXXX. This is your moment!  This is the time …

Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life’s dream. And no-one deserves it like you! xxx

Catherine: I was slightly concerned that as chief honker in Romaniac HQ that the rest of us wouldn’t be able to use the HONKOMETER without Jan backing us up with some kind of IT support! Turns out we only needed to give it a jiggle to sound the honkets! And they are so well deserved after all your hard work and support! Like the girls said, bask my lovely, for today is your day! 

Sue : Ah, my lovely friend, I am so pleased for you!!!!!!  As everyone knows, you are such a fabulous supporter of other writers and here at Romaniac HQ we are thoroughly delighted for you. I absolutely can’t wait to read As Weekends Go and I definitely want a turn of the Honkometer – if I can wrestle it from the others! Have a brilliant day! xxx

Lucie: oh my goodness, Jan! Your debut novel is up, up and away! And fly it will! You are an incredibly supportive, genuine, kind hearted person who deserves every second of this. You are always there, bigging everyone else up. Now it’s YOUR turn to enjoy it. This is SO well deserved, I’m so proud of you. Love you millions xxx

Jan, our lovely supportive buddy – you so, so deserve every success in the world. You never fail to prop me up when I’m down, you’re hugely talented and I’m sure you’re going to be a honkmungous success as a published author (see what I did there?) Love you squillions, Celia xxx

 

Congratulations, Jan 😀

Love from

The Romaniacs

xxxxxxx

Part Twelve: In The Romaniac Sparkle Spotlight Is …

Jan Brigden, Katy Haye & Therese Straker

 

 

In our final part, we meet Romaniac, Jan Brigden, YA author, Katy Haye, and Therese Straker, who sums up Conference and the RNA beautifully.

We hope you’ve enjoyed these interviews, and we thank everyone who took part, viewed and shared.

All the interviews can be found on our vlogs page.

Here’s to next year’s RNA Conference.

Cheers.

The Romaniacs xx

Life Cycle of a Writer: OUT OF THE OFFICE

It’s an OUT OF THE OFFICE Life Cycle of a Writer this week, but unlike our Ce, who was in an office on her out of the office day, our lovely Jan Brigden is out-out  of the office.

If you peer into the dark, deep edits cave, you’ll see a twinkling light and you’ll hear the tappity tap of the keyboard.

Jan is in the midst of her first-ever edits, preparing her debut novel, As Weekends Go, for publication with Choc Lit.

Receiving your first editor’s report can be both scary and exciting. It’s not just about getting your head around the structural changes and rewrite, it’s about understanding the process, and learning the correct terminology, such as stet – a term used to request the retention of the original word or phrase, rather than use the suggested change. But, like the first day in a new job, once you’ve located your desk, the coffee machine and the rest room, everything else falls into place.

Jan is doing a fantastic job, and we’re sending supplies of cake and tea, delivered by pulley system so as not to disturb her, and enthusiastically, if quietly, waving our red and white pom-poms to cheer her on her way. When she leaves the edits cave, we’ll whip her straight down to the health spa for a much-needed dose of vitamin D and obligatory pampering.

It’s all part of the life cycle of a Romaniac writer … xx

 

 

Jan Brigden: Winner and Contracted Author!

Jan Brigden. Contracted author.

 We’ve had a WILD weekend at Romaniac HQ, celebrating the doubleplusgood news that our lovely, wonderful, talented

JAN BRIGDEN

is the WINNER of the Choc Lit and Whole Story Audiobooks Search for a Star Competition,

with her contemporary women’s fiction novel, As Weekends Go,

and

JAN HAS SIGNED WITH CHOC LIT!

We are beside ourselves with joy and are eating cream buns and chocolate cake with great abandon.

Time for more G&T cup cakes?

Jan – we wanted to congratulate you on your well-deserved success and we cannot wait to see your debut published.

Many, many congratulations 😀

Love,

The Romaniacs xxxxxxx

Book Launch: The No-Kids Club by Talli Roland

Today we help celebrate the launch of the fabulously talented Talli Roland’s latest novel ‘The No-Kids Club’

 

 

Blurb:

At almost forty, Clare Donoghue is living child-free and loving it.

Then her boyfriend says he wants kids, breaking off their promising relationship. And it’s not just boyfriends: one by one, her formerly carefree friends are swallowed up in a nonstop cycle of play dates and baby groups. So Clare declares enough is enough and decides it’s time for people who don’t have children to band together. And so the No-Kids Club is born.

As the group comes together—Anna, who’s seeking something to jumpstart a stale marriage, and Poppy, desperate for a family but unable to conceive—Clare’s hoping to make the most of the childless life with her new friends. But is living child-free all it’s cracked up to be?

 

 

Congratulations, Talli,  and very best of luck from us all! Xx

Follow Talli on Twitter : @talliroland

Oops! Typo Alert …

At HQ, we often cringe or have a giggle at various typos we’ve either seen or made. In some cases they’ve even been for the best. After all, our very own blog name derived from one and it’s hard to imagine us being called anything else.

Here are a few of our finest …

Jan : 

“Sweat ‘n’ Sour Chicken.” (Eeeew! Thanks but no thanks!)

“Brianstorming Session.” (Poor Brian!)

“Thanks for the fiend request.” (Ooh, you little devil, you!)

Celia :

“Blinty” is my all-time favourite Romaniac-page blooper. I meant to say “blimey” at the time but much prefer blinty these days. Also like the times when one of us gets a word wrong in a thread and then everyone continues to use the typo for weeks afterwards. As they say, you don’t have to be insane to be a Romaniac, but it certainly helps …

Laura:

Pooked. I have no idea what I was meant to be typing, but it ended up as pooked. I pook, he pooks, we pook, they pooked. Answers on a postcard please … One of my main typos is if, when I want it to read of. ‘Oh, what’s become if …?’.  When I was a wee, young thing, I’d often muddle things up. We read the paper news and put the vase on the sill window. Finally, slightly deviating, we had to correct our son, who mistakenly believed the attack on Pearl Harbor happened in Poole Harbour. STOP PRESS. Yesterday, as we passed the beach and noticed the traditional seaside puppet show, my son asked, ‘Who is Punching Judy?’

Clearly, it’s in the genes.

Vanessa:

My most recent typos have been in emails rather than the work-in-progress – I sent an email to Dear Lousie instead of Louise. Funnily enough, I never got a reply…  I also wrote headlice instead of headline in another mail (luckily I caught that one before it went out). Hmmm… my typos seemed strangely related *scratches head*

Debbie:

I reckon I can trump Jan’s use of ‘sweat.’ My mum once wrote to me, ‘sweat dreams.’

And on this topic, there’s a quote that makes me smile:-

“There are two typos of people in this world: those who can edit and those who can’t.” ― Jarod Kintz

 Sue:

Whilst I can’t think of anything specific, and there has no doubt been many, I do have one I regularly make. Since a child I have always had a tendency to get the letters ‘m’ and ‘p’ muddled, or should that be puddled up? Usually, I spot it straight away, but there has been the odd occasion when it’s got through. This doesn’t make for great reading when I’m trying to say something like, ‘She was missed.’ or ‘I miss you.’ or ‘He had been missing for a week.’  

I have to say, out of all the typos, ‘Romaniacs’ and ‘Blinty’ are my favourites.

 

 

What are the funniest, most toe-curling typos you’ve ever seen or made?

Go on … you know you want to tell us!