Changing Places

It’s been a busy weekend here on the farm, but the previous weekend I was enjoying the sunshine at Fishguard. It’s become a big part of my year attending Kate Walker’s course, organised by Writer’s Holidays. It was a bit different this year as I no longer attended the weekend as an unpublished writer. But how could I miss the opportunity of meeting up with old friends and making new ones?

I always enjoy a morning walk in the winter sunshine, because we are usually very lucky with the weather. Just look at this sunny photo from my Sunday morning walk. Such a dramatic difference from the pouring rain of yesterday.

On Saturday evening I signed copies of my second book, Claimed by the Sheikh and it was so lovely to be able to give away copies and hopefully inspire others to keep writing and chasing their dream of publication.

Thanks to Vasiliki for the photo.

I was also a little sad, thinking that it would probably be my last opportunity to attend this unique writing weekend. After all, I’ve attended for so many years and have achieved my dream of publication! So I was thrilled and very honoured to be invited to attend next year, not as a student, but as a tutor. How could I refuse such an offer?

The course I will be running is The Novel Workshop and I’m looking forward to preparing for this over the next twelve months, remembering all the stumbling blocks I found along the way and the questions I needed answering. More details and booking information can be found at Writers’ Holidays.

The long, but fun filled road to publication.

A year ago this week, I had a wonderful dream-come-true moment. The Call. Finally after seven years of writing and many ups and downs, I had achieved my ambition of publication. I'd known I wanted to be a writer since I was about nine years old, but only seriously began pursuing that dream eight years ago.

So what set me off on that path of determined persistence?

Thirteen years ago, I saw an advert in my village for a new writing group and as my children were young then the meeting time of Monday afternoons was perfect. So along I went to that very first meeting, and met Brenda Old, the founder member of what is now known as Cwrtnewydd Scribblers.

I soon began to write short stories, which I loved doing, but I kept wishing I could write a book, to get from the very first page to the last. It seemed perfectly natural to want to write romance as my favourite reading since my teenage years, was Mills and Boon.

 Occasionally, we had guest writers at our Monday afternoon meetings, but the day Liz Fielding joined us, set in motion a chain of events which not only focused me on my dream of writing a book, but helped me achieve it. Liz brought with her a book and that was, Kate Walker’s 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance.

I went home and set myself the target of completing my first book by that time the following year. But before I began I sat down and devoured The 12 Point Guide. Imagine my excitement when I read about courses Kate Walker ran for Writers’ Holiday in Fishguard, which was only a short drive away. One phone call later, I was booked up – and with the course being just a matter of weeks away, I began my very first attempt at writing for Mills and Boon.

The Watermill at Posara

The next few years passed in a whirl of manuscripts submitted both to Mills and Boon and RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme. I also attended Kate Walkers course each year and discovered the amazing Watermill in Tuscany where Sharon Kendrick teaches romance writing each May. Through these courses and conferences, I’ve made wonderful friends, travelled and learnt so much, but above all, had an amazing time!

I am also very fortunate to have met up with a wonderful group of writers online, known as The Write Romantics. Together we have formed a very supportive group and my success is only a small part of the success of the group as a whole. Not only have The Write Romantics got lots of debuts to look forward to this year, but they produced a brilliant charity anthology, Winter Tales – which is still available, by the way!

Things began to change in September 2013, when I entered my story into So You Think You Can Write and that entry took me to the Top Ten and finally to being offered a two-book contract, the second of which, Claimed by The Sheikh, is out now.

One year on from that fantastic moment, I now have three fabulous book covers. My fourth book has just been accepted and will be available later this year. Currently, I am working on my fifth book – and enjoying every minute. I hope you will enjoy reading my books!

This was made for me by Amanda Shivratten - thanks Amanda!

A Writers' Lunch in Cardiff

Yesterday I traveled to Cardiff to meet with writers from the area. It was a lovely sunny day and a chance to catch up with friends and meet new ones. We dined on Italian food and toasted my new career with Mills and Boon. It was a lovely day!

It was also a chance to thank Liz Fielding, who writes for  Mills and Boon Modern Tempted. Her latest book, For His Eyes Only is available now - and well worth a read.

I first met Liz when she visited my local writing group about eight years ago. Listening to her rekindled my desire to write for Mills and Boon.

For that talk, Liz had brought with her a book which changed everything. That book was Kate Walker's 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. It is now one of my most read books and is always to hand!

I went home enthused by all that Liz had said and began reading the 12 Point Guide. Imagine my delight when I saw that Kate was teaching romance writing at Writer's Holiday in Fishguard - just a few weeks later. I promptly signed up and the rest as they say, is history!

The 12 Point Guide is now available as an e-book and more information can be found on Kate's blog.

Shattering the Silence

Have you ever had to keep a secret you were just bursting to shout about? It's hard, let me tell you.

At the beginning of last week I got a telephone call to say that my entry into So You Think You Can Write competition had been selected as a Top 10 finalist. I was just about stunned into silence at that point, but to be told to keep it a secret for a week, until the announcement was made on the website, was torture.

 

I tried so hard to get on with normal life and working on my latest story but I just couldn't settle to anything, not with a secret like that bubbling away inside!

Then finally it was the day, which meant keeping the secret a bit longer until the beginning of the day in New York when the website was updated. Once that was done it was time to tell everyone and anyone.

I have been assigned an author mentor, Maisey Yates, who will be reading my book and helping me to promote it. Also Laura McCallen, a Presents editor is championing my book too and you can find her on the 50 Editors page of the website.

I have worked hard towards the dream of becoming a Harlequin Mills and Boon Presents author, attending courses with Kate Walker here in the Wales, organised by Writers' Holiday and with Sharon Kendrick in Italy, organised by The Watermill.


I have met some fantastic people and made wonderful friendships through my writing and would love to push that dream to the limit and become published through this competition. If you'd like to be part of that dream you can vote each day for my entry Behind the Scandalous Façade until 25th November and my complete book is there for all to enjoy.

If you want to read and vote you can do so HERE!

Happy reading and voting!

My Name on a Book

Seeing your name on a book must be a wonderful feeling and that's just what I did during my weekend away. The only problem - this book was edible!

I arrived in Fishguard on Valentine's Day, and my birthday, for a weekend course with Kate Walker on writing romance. Whilst other diners where having quiet moments the early arrivals to the course were singing Happy Birthday to me. It was a lovely and unexpected surprise.

I saved the cake to share with the other romance writers in the group and on Saturday afternoon we had enjoyed a piece of the book.

 

 

It was an intensive weekend, with all aspects of romance writing covered. The group was fantastic and it was lovely to meet new writers as well as catch up with friends. Going to The Fishguard Bay Hotel and taking a course with Kate Walker each February has become something of an annual event. One I always learn from and enjoy immensely, but this year it had that extra special feeling. So thank you Kate for such a lovely cake, all your hard work to make such a fantastic course and thank you everyone who was on the course for making it the best weekend course so far!

 

Finally a big thanks to Writers' Holiday for organising the weekend. Can't wait for next year!



Writing Romance in Fishguard

Last weekend I was in Fishguard attending Kate Walker's Advanced course on writing romance. As a group we looked at digging deeper into the emotional heart of the story. It was a weekend full of fun and laughter as well as a lot of hard work. Kate herself worked harder than we did, putting together a brilliant weekend. Now we have to put in the hard work and use all we've learnt, which is exactly what I've been doing every spare minute since I returned.

The sun shone during the weekend, making it feel like a day in April rather than February. The hotel is nestled in the trees above the ferry port and the views across the bay are stunning. A perfect place to relax, write and have fun.

So if you are interested in writing romantic fiction I suggest attending the next course in 2012. Details here.

Writing Weekend

Last weekend, I attended a weekend writing course in Fishguard, although the snow that fell on Friday nearly stopped me from going. Thankfully the main roads were clear and I reached a sunny Fishguard.


The course I attended was Kate Walker's Writing Romance. I think it's an absolute must for anyone wanting to write romantic fiction. Next year an advanced course will be run by Kate in Fishguard and I look forward to meeting up with many of those who attended this year. I have been so full of inspiration since returning that all my spare time has been devoted to writing, which is why I'm a bit late blogging about the weekend.

Socializing with other writers is also very much part of the weekend, as the other courses offered ranged from painting, to short stories and poetry. Meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces is so much fun. I'd recommend it to every aspiring writer.

As I started with a bleak snowy scene, I'll leave you with the view from the hotel on Saturday morning.

Romance and Valentine's Day

As today is Valentine's Day I thought I'd blog about why I write romance and where I am now with my writing.

I often wonder if it was because I was born on Valentine's Day that I love romance so much, but really I just can't help it. Whether it's a book or a film, I just love romance and want to immerse myself in it all the time.

I was in my late teens when I discovered Mills and Boon romances. I read as many of the historical romances as possible and one day wondered if I could write one. So I sent away for the guidelines, then in the form of a cassette and made quite a few attempts at my own romance, but these early scribbles remained just that. It was all so much harder than I thought.

As life moved on, my desire to write was put to one side, but I always read as many romance novels as I could. I married and had two children and it was when my youngest was two the need to write resurfaced and I applied for a home study course on creative writing. This took me from article writing, to short stories and onto the novel, where I had to submit the first chapter of my novel, which was of course a romance.

Shortly after, I met Brenda, who was starting a writing group in our village, the group, Cwrtnewydd Scribblers is still going now after over seven years. As a group we looked at writing romance and had local published author, Liz Fielding join us for a workshop. Liz writes for Mills and Boon's Romance line and we had just a few hours in which to gain an insight into what goes into a romance novel. This was when the need to write romance became ever stronger and I soon had three chapters completed. This time my story was aimed at Mills and Boon's Romance line - or Tender as it was then.

Liz Fielding also introduced me to Kate Walker's 12-point guide to Writing Romance. In this wonderful book, I discovered that Kate Walker was tutoring a course, for Writers Holidays in nearby Fishguard. In fact I shall be there again next weekend.

Ever since that first course, I have been completely dedicated to writing a romance which will hopefully, one day, be just what an editor at Mills and Boon is looking for and have now completed four books with the last three being aimed at their Modern line.

So really, you could say that writing romance has been a lifelong ambition of mine. Have you an ambition that has been with you since childhood? Maybe you have achieved yours?