The Embarrassment Of An Inappropriate Crush

I was listening to Liza Tarbuck was on Radio Two a couple of weeks ago. I like Liza. She's jolly and funny and around my age (as opposed to everyone else in the known universe who is now at least a decade younger). I imagine she'd be a laugh if we went out for a coffee.

On her show, she asked listeners to phone in to admit to inappropriate crushes.

One woman phoned in to confess to fancying Dougal from The Magic Roundabout when she was younger.





A man admitted a crush on Marina from Stingray.

I'd think they were making it up, but I do actually know someone who used to fancy the Columbia lady when he was younger (yes Camera Boy, I'm talking about you).

 And my very best friend growing up had a soft spot for Joe90.

As for me, well, where to start... My taste in men has always been considered slightly odd - and it started with (in the best firemen-loving Minxy tradition) the firemen from Trumpton. Yes, the whole lot of them - Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb. With the possible exception of Barney McGrew - who I think might be the one with the beard (an older guy was one thing, but a fireman with a beard was not attractive to a young girl - and, in my defence, I was very young).

With age, my tendency towards inappropriate crushes is improving - in that those crushes are now, embarrassingly, out of control inappropriate. Take Flynn Rider from Tangled - I'd run off with him in a heartbeat, despite the fact it's wrong on so many levels (he's too young, he's spoken for, he's a thief and...he's an animated character).

Then there's the illustration of the hero in my story in The People's Friend Annual 2013. Seriously, he might be a drawing, but he's knitting pattern gorgeous. (Unfortunately, I can't show you here because it's inside the book and I haven't cleared copyright with the artist.)




And Severus Snape - I'd knock him flat in the rush even with his greasy hair. Always.





Of course, no list would ever be complete without the wildly inappropriate John Barrowman. He might be age appropriate, but he's spoken for and... Well, here in his own words (at 2 minutes 15 seconds) is exactly why I'm not right for him:




So, who's brave enough to join me in fessing up? (Please do or I'll just end up feeling incredibly foolish.)

Tweaking Dreams

The publishing world is constantly changing, and it is important, I think, for every writer to constantly re-evaluate their options. The urge to write, and to be published for many of us is the culmination of a long held dream, and as such an emotional one. But when it comes down to publishing today, there are more options available than ever before - so we must examine our dreams, and if necessary, tweak them!
When I was starting out, my dream publisher was any publisher that would say yes to publishing my book. I had my sights set on the Big 6, because that was where every writer wanted to be published back then.

Unfortunately, the Big 6 didn't feel the same, they weren't clamouring for my first book, or even my second. But smaller publishers were interested, and I signed up. The dynamic was one of an eager writer, excited and delighted that a publisher wanted to sign my books up. I was looking for approval, wanting validation that my writing was good enough. The publishers chose me! This approach couldn't be more different from my approach today.

Currently, I have six novels and one book of short stories available on Amazon. Two are with a small publisher, two are backlist titles, previously published and now self-published, and two I chose to self-publish. All the novels have been professionally edited, with good looking covers, created by a professional cover artist.

My self published book, The Morning After, is my biggest seller, and has the most amounts of reviews, the majority of them good ones. I love this book, and loved writing it. And instead of looking for approval from the publishing industry, I took it straight to my editor for her feedback. She loved it too, and our feeling about the book have been reflected by the most important people in the whole process, the readers.

My backlist titles have done way better sales wise since I self-published them. I'm in KDP Select, and have found that this avenue has revitalised them in a way I never could have dreamed.

So today, I urge every writer looking to sell their book, to re-evaluate their options. Instead of thinking "will a publisher like it?" think, "which publisher gives me something extra, something I can't achieve on my own, by self-publishing?" This could be whatever you need it to be: global reach, popularity, validation, money, publicity.

If I were choosing a publisher, I'd be looking for a transparent, fair cut of the royalties tied to a good, strong publicity machine, that will help discoverability. I would also be interested if the publisher could offer me a presence on shelves in bookshops, and a marketing plan that utilised the power of the internet to significantly build my presence in secondary ebook markets.

I don't need the validation of the Big 6 anymore. Self publishing has given me feedback from my readers, which is much more important. I may self publish all my books from here on in, or work with a publisher on certain projects. I write because I want to. Because I need to. But once a book is finished, I want to share it with readers. And if I don't choose carefully, readers may never find it, amongst the sea of books out there. This has been a long post, I could have said it all in one line:

You are the writer. You choose.

Author Spotlight - Christina Courtenay

I am exceptionally pleased to introduce you all to Christina Courtenay, especially since I got the chance to meet her in person at the London chapter meeting of the RNA in early July (and since she celebrated the release of this book by sharing champagne and chocolates with us!).Her latest book, The Silent Touch of Shadows, is a recent release from publisher Choc-Lit.

* * *

What is your writing process? 

Usually I start with a key scene, which for some reason or other has come into my mind and won’t go away until I’ve written it down. This gives me my main characters and their problem/conflict and can be anywhere in the story, so not necessarily an opening scene. That means I’ll have to work backwards/forwards from that point on to build the rest of the story, but I don’t mind. It’s a bit of a chaotic way of doing it, but it works for me!

Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping? 

I reread what I’ve written the day before and normally that will pull me into the story sufficiently to keep going. If I’m starting something new, I’ll read the research notes with (hopefully) the same result. And if I’m between stories, I’ll either reread some story ideas (which I keep in a special folder – always have to write them down while I remember!) or watch a movie, which often sparks ideas for me.

Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer? 

Er, no. I’m one of the world’s couch potatoes I’m afraid, totally allergic to the word exercise! I do walk my dogs every day, but as they (a) have very short legs and (b) two out of the three don’t like going for walks much, this doesn’t really give me much exercise. I keep promising myself I’ll do power walking or take up zumba/yoga/pilates but somehow it never happens ... (Just like I never seem to stop buying chocolate either  )

Do you believe in writer's block? 

Yes, but whenever I experience it myself, I just go and work on a different story for a while and hope that will “unblock” the other one. I usually have more than one story on the go at any one time. It’s best not to think about it and just get on with something else, then the subconscious will usually fix whatever the problem was with the first story. If it doesn’t, I skip to a part of the story I know I can write and go back to the difficult bit later.

Have you ever used an incident from real life in a book? If so, did it get you into trouble? 

My latest story The Silent Touch of Shadows features a ghost who is based on a real one and some of the incidents when the heroine sees him happened to the owners of the house the real ghost haunted. I didn’t get into trouble for using these though as I asked permission first.

In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be? 

It’s much more about marketing yourself than I thought and I seem to spend a lot of time doing everything EXCEPT actually writing the next book! Before you’re published, you have no real demands made on you and can just write or not as you like. You basically write for yourself. Whereas after you’re published, you have to think about things like your USP and genre (it’s my experience as a reader myself that if I read a book I like, I’ll want more of the same from that author) so you ask yourself “is my next book going to be similar enough to the first one to keep readers happy?” And “is book number two going to be good enough as follow-up?”

Promotion is no longer a dirty word. In what ways do you strive to reach more readers? 

I’m on Twitter and Facebook, I have a website (and a blog which I’m afraid I’m not very good at keeping on top of) and I’m on four group blogs – the Choc Lit Authors’ Corner, The Heroine Addicts, Historical and Regency Romance UK and Historical Fiction Excerpts. I find it much easier to blog as part of a group and hopefully it’s more interesting for the readers too. Apart from blogging, I occasionally do talks and book signings – I’ll be speaking at the Historical Novel Society Conference 2012 in September for instance.

What is your top promo tip for other authors? 

Just grab any chance that comes your way (like being a guest on lovely blogs like this one!)

What did you learn while writing this book? 

Perseverance! This was one of those stories that just wouldn’t leave me alone and I never lost faith in it, even though it took me a long time to get it just right.

What was the most fun part of writing this book? 

Writing two stories at the same time and trying to weave them together. I love reading time slips and writing one was just as great!

And just for fun: what would your hero’s honeymoon destination of choice be?
Well, as I have two heroes (one in the past, one in the present) I’ll have to give you two answers – Jake’s destination of choice would probably be a deserted island where he could be alone with Melissa (they have children/pets/great-aunt etc around them all the time, so he’d want to get away from that), whereas I think Roger would just have whisked his bride off to his own home, away from all her horrid relations! Neither man would care much about the surroundings, as long as they could be completely alone with the woman they love.

Many thanks for having me as your Spotlight guest!

Blurb:

What will it take to put the past to rest?

Professional genealogist Melissa Grantham receives an invitation to visit her family’s ancestral home, Ashleigh Manor. From the moment she arrives, life-like dreams and visions haunt her. The spiritual connection to a medieval young woman and her forbidden lover have her questioning her sanity, but Melissa is determined to solve the mystery.

Jake Precy, owner of a nearby cottage, has disturbing dreams too, but it’s not until he meets Melissa that they begin to make sense. He hires her to research his family’s history, unaware their lives are already entwined. Is the mutual attraction real or the result of ghostly interference?

A haunting love story set partly in the present and partly in fifteenth century Kent.

You can find Christina on her website and on Twitter.

A Silent Touch of Shadows is available in paperback from Amazon and Amazon UK, and on Kindle for both the US and UK.

News and Views

Today's post is just a general round-up of news from the net.

Kate Jackson has posted an announcement this morning of a new imprint at DC Thompson called Easy Reads which should excite writers (and readers) of category-length romances. I love the covers!
Sally Quilford also has more on this on her blog.

I'm really excited about all these new romance imprints opening up, and all the new opportunities for writers. But I'm also reminded of Anne Ashurst's cautionary words in her closing speech at the RNA conference: always read the fine print and be sure what you're giving away and what you're getting in return. This applies to any publishing house, and Kathryn Rusch recently posted this interesting blog post on how we each have our own, very different dealbreakers.

In other news, Maeve Binchy died this week, aged 72. The Irish Times carried this article in tribute to her. Another great loss to women's fiction.

I came rather late to the news of the eBook debate that stirred at the recent Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, but nevertheless found this blog post by Stephen Leather rather entertaining.
There's been a great deal of talk recently about copyright issues regarding images used on blogs. Dear Author carried a cogent post explaining the issue earlier this week, and social media guru Kristen Lamb came up with a solution.

And finally, for the view ...

No copyright images here - this is a picture I took at work today. I know I complain about the day job and how much it interferes with my writing, but there are compensations. Apologies for the poor quality, but the only camera I had on me was my cell phone.

Author Spotlight - Elizabeth Bailey

The minxes are delighted to have Liz Bailey here with us today, answering the minxy questions. She'll be telling us too about her new release, A Georgian Romance called Mademoiselle at Arms.

What is your writing process?
I tend to work to a general outline, with some data culled from research. I need character names, though not necessarily much info about the characters. I don’t plan too much because I find once I get going that new ideas are generated by what I write. I don’t really know what a scene will end up doing, so I just start the scene and see where the characters take me. I like to finish the first draft - unless it goes badly wrong! - and then work it over until I’m happy.

Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?
With experience I think it’s easier to knuckle down. I try to write a first draft on my Alphasmart (really simple little computer with four lines of text and no distractions) so that I can’t do anything else. Then there are the endless cups of tea. However, if it’s really not working, I leave it and do something else that day.

Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?
I don’t, but I walk into town several times a week, and I do a Lotte Berk class once a fortnight usually (though it should really be once a week) to keep my back in good shape. But I take breaks and move which helps a bit.

Do you believe in writer's block?
I believe in treacle! Most writer’s block, in my experience, is caused by going wrong somewhere in the story. You have to trace back and find it. You can also be stopped in your tracks by negative comments, especially about a work in progress. So I don’t let anyone read it until I’m happy with it. But treacle books are hell on earth. They just don’t flow and that can go on indefinitely. You just have to write through it.

Have you ever used an incident from real life in a book?
I’ve been using incidents from real life to create a spy thriller for a client, and I have used something from my past. If so, did it get you into trouble? Well, I’ve handed the spy book to another writer now, so if there’s trouble, it won’t be me!

In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?
The problems don’t stop. They multiply. You think once you’re published, everything will be roses, but it isn’t. There’s no guarantees in this business and you can be dropped as easily as you were picked up by a publisher. You still have to meet editor’s requirements, and you still have to wait for acceptance. The good thing is that you have track and agents and editors will take you seriously.

Promotion is no longer a dirty word. In what ways do you strive to reach more readers?
I’m learning this game. I do social networking - twitter, Facebook and Goodreads - and blog tours are good. I’m so astonished at how generous bloggers are in doing reviews and helping with promotion.

What is your top promo tip for other authors?
Don’t be afraid to ask! If you don’t ask, you won’t get. Just try it.

What did you learn while writing this book?
I originally wrote this book a long time ago, and I think I learned a great deal while editing it up to current standard. For one thing, I realised just how much craft I’ve learned in the intervening years. There’s so much to writing and you get better all the time, but it’s only when you go back to something you did years ago that find out just how much better you are now.

What was the most fun part of writing this book?
Having a heroine who is fearless and incredibly accomplished with weapons, as most young ladies of her era had little or no knowledge of firearms or swords.

And just for fun: what would your hero’s honeymoon destination of choice be?
I think Gerald would take his bride to a very English seaside resort where she’d probably start chasing smugglers!

Mademoiselle at Arms

Threatened with a pistol by the young lady discovered in a deserted mansion, Major Gerald Alderley is instantly intrigued. Who is the beautiful intruder? And why does she disguise herself as a nun? What circumstance has thrust her into an enterprise both foolhardy and dangerous? The girl’s French accent places her with the émigrés from across the channel, except that Mademoiselle insists she is English.
Set on unravelling her secrets, Gerald begins a relentless pursuit, hunting down every possible clue - much to the indignation of Mademoiselle. When her life proves to be in danger from the villainous émigré Valade, Gerald has his work cut out. For Mademoiselle Melusine, engaged in a desperate battle to prove her true identity, believes she is well able to take care of herself and is determined not to be rescued.

Mademoiselle at Arms is available here for Amazon.uk, and here for Amazon. com

Thank you so much for being our guest today, Liz!