The Story Behind The 'Skint Old Northern Woman' Newsletter by Trisha Ashley

Many years ago I started up a newsletter called Skint Old Northern Woman (after the magazine Charlie and her sisters set up in Every Woman for Herself.) You can tell it was a long time ago, because I actually posted out a lot of them and the ones I did email I had to send in little batches or my server thought I was a spammer. This got a little time consuming when we reached the thousand mark... 

It was a way of saying thank you and keeping in touch with all the kind readers who supported me through the ups and downs of my career.

The newsletter group slowly grew and grew...but I never forgot the names of the early subscribers, many of whom I now know on here or twitter.

And some of them I also know via Amazon books - and that is the wonderful thing. Some of those early subscribers were already published authors, some were writing but not yet published, and others just readers, but dreaming....

Then, as the time of the ebook blossomed, I began to see more and more of their names as published authors and thought 'There you are - well done!'

Lately, my kind publisher has put out my newsletters for me, with my input - and now I'm over my op and getting my act together, I hope to contribute a whole lot more - and I'm still that same Skint Old Northern Woman inside - who else would I be?

Trisha Ashley

Trisha Ashley's Sunday Times bestselling novels have twice been shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance, and Every Woman for Herself was nominated by readers as one of the top three romantic novels of the last fifty years.

Trisha lives in North Wales. For more information about her please visit www.trishaashley.com, her Facebook page or follow her on Twitter.

My First Writing Retreat by Sophie Claire

Do you ever wonder how much you could achieve if you weren’t constantly interrupted by the demands of daily life and could concentrate solely on your writing? Well last weekend I did just that when I went on a writing retreat for the first time. It wasn’t anything official – just a group of us who booked into a Bed & Breakfast in the grounds of a monastery in Yorkshire.

Beforehand, I was excited at the prospect of immersing myself in writing for 3 days and being in the company of writer friends, although I must admit I was a bit nervous too about not having my usual desktop (I borrowed a laptop) or a printer, and also, would it be too intense? Would I be the naughty one who was always stopping for cups of tea and distracting the others? (*coughs* that did happen, but I think they were happy to stop – and eat flapjacks!).

The orchard (the monks produce their own apple juice)

The vegetable patch

I needn’t have worried. The technology worked, and I was at my desk at 8am each morning.

Away from my usual routine, I was really productive and more focused; although we had internet, I wasn’t as tempted as usual and enjoyed the uninterrupted stretches of time to write – what a luxury.

My word count steadily increased, but regular breaks were essential, so I explored the monastery grounds, which were surprisingly big for a town site.

The whole place had a very peaceful atmosphere, with benches dotted around everywhere, inviting you to sit and contemplate...

...Encouraging you to slow down, and live in the moment.

By the third day I felt immersed in my story and with this came a feeling of deep calm. It reminded me of when I took part in NaNoWriMo last year – I experienced the same freeing up of the imagination and shutting off of the inner critic, allowing my imagination space to simply create.
I could hear the outside world, the cars and buses trundling past on the main road nearby, yet I felt cocooned here and apart. Cloistered, is the word, I suppose.

The church bells rang four times a day and they soon became a familiar background noise, also calming. Out of curiosity we went to evensong, which was beautiful and the monks were very welcoming. (I kept setting my alarm to go to 6.45am matins too, but I confess I never made it!)

The church

Anne Stenhouse, Sophie Claire, Kate Blackadder
& Helena Fairfax

After evensong we headed out to eat in the local pub, where we soon became regulars.

Unlike the monks’ meals, these were not silent!


The four of us had lots to catch up on, writing projects to discuss, ideas to share. All good fun and inspiring.


The whole experience was very liberating and productive. We all agreed that we’d like to do it again and I look forward to that.

Have you ever been on a writing retreat? How was your experience? 

Sophie.x

Links:
Anne Stenhouse
Kate Blackadder
Helena Fairfax
Sophie Claire

Research On the Go - a fairy tale by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

Once upon a time...

...a woman of indeterminate age set off on a journey. This woman – with dark hair that was not entirely natural anymore, and dark eyes framed by black geeky glasses – was, and always had been, a Writer. The journey wasn’t as perilous as others she had embarked on, as it didn’t involve the M6; but the A49 proved eventful enough.

The cottage the Writer was staying in for a week had a wonderful, quirky name, yet she wouldn’t reveal it to anyone until her dying breath – or at least until it popped up in one of her novels.

The detachment of being away from home lent a fresh perspective to her research. She found herself taking lots… and lots… of photographs with her phone. (Thank goodness for WiFi and that one terabyte of cloud drive, she realised, as she made sure to back them up daily.)

Now, oddly enough, the Writer lived in a picturesque village herself. But somehow, it was easy to be blind to sights she saw regularly. The saying “familiarity breeds contempt” didn’t seem so cliched when she considered how a never-before-seen vista can spark inspiration, or a new outlook lift a story up out of the grey and into a rainbow of light.

Trying to capture the essence of a place in a photograph wasn’t easy, the Writer discovered, especially with a phone case that made the edges of certain photographs blurry and pink. But it was worthwhile and fun. Viewing the typical settings of her stories with a fresh lens meant creativity was stirred and new scenes imagined.

An old gate here (ooh, the possibilities of where it might lead!) or a pretty cottage. A crumbling, ancient gravestone remembering a tragic young life, or a war memorial marking the loss of so many others.

The Writer’s brain was never still, never silent. 

Without the infinite number of errands and chores she faced back home, it was uplifting. Only a finite number to tackle here. Such as feeding the dog. And the children. The writer might not be sitting at her desk slaving over her keyboard, but she was working, even while enjoying a break from the chains of deadlines or fitting in laundry (washing and hanging) between chapters. She was “on holiday”, and yet… she wasn’t. There was no need to feel guilty. She was free. Her mind was free. More importantly, inspiration was free – to run wild.

How fortunate Writers are these days, she thought, to be able to record their travels in pictures, storing them in albums on hard-drives or printing them out and pinning to study walls. Perhaps she would add her photographs to a Pinterest board. Or use a particular favourite as a screensaver. She would decide once she was home. There was no rush. No pressure. It was satisfying simply to be able to enjoy them and play games with the possibilities...

A whitewashed cottage for the heroine,
with flowers around the door.

A posh house - for a posh person? 
The hero's imperious mother, maybe?

'The Old Vicarage'. 
Does that mean an old vicar should live here?

An uber-modern interior for the posh house?
Interesting...

Who would want to walk along here on a dark night?
*shudders*

Every village needs a quaint church,
but just look at that impeccable lawn!
(Gardener with a strain of OCD perhaps?)

And of course, the village local.
Indispensable.

Once upon a time...

...a Writer went on a journey and finally returned home, if not with a tan (it was only the Forest of Dean, after all), then at least with a whole new village in her head.

The End

By day, Valerie-Anne Baglietto writes contemporary, grown-up fiction. By night, she clears up after her husband and three children. Occasionally she sleeps. During her career so far she has written rom-coms for Hodder & Stoughton, won the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writer’s Award and been shortlisted in the 2015 Love Stories Awards. Valerie-Anne tweets @VABaglietto

Valerie-Anne's latest modern fairy tale for grown-ups is available from Amazon worldwide click here for more details.

A Little Learning by Anne Bennett

I can't remember a time when I didn't write. I was a voracious reader and they seemed to go together. However, I never expected to earn my living by writing books!  That sort of thing didn't happen to working class kids in the 1960s when I was growing up.  I also wanted to teach, though I achieved this by  a roundabout route, entering Teachers' Training College as a mature student after I had got married and had two children of my own.  By 1976 I had my teaching certificate and was doing a job I loved.  Alas, in the spring of 1990 a spinal injury caused lack of feeling and movement down my legs. I had to use a wheelchair and I was invalided out of teaching.

We moved from the West Midlands to a beautiful town in North Wales, but my life stretched out like a void and so to fill the days ahead I began to write. I began to research the origin and meaning of nursery rhymes, a topic that had always fascinated me. I then went on to write for children, interspersing this with writing short stories for the writing magazine I took every month.

I only ever submitted one of the stories.  It was for a competition for Valentine's Day and my story came second. The prize was a year's subscription to the Romantic Novelists' Association  (RNA). This organisation run a critique service, the New Writer's Scheme, where unpublished writers submit manuscripts to be read and critiqued by established authors.

My first submission  the reader said was good but not good enough to be published but, more importantly, it explained why it wasn't. So I made sure I didn't make the same mistakes with the second submission! That was called A Little Learning and it was accepted by Headline. I was ecstatic. It was the most semi-autobiographical book I have ever written.  I was advised to 'write what you know', and so the house on the original cover was the house I moved into at the age of seven. The book opens when Jane Travers was 11 in 1947. I wasn't born until 1949, but like her I was a scholarship girl, the only one on the sprawling estate I lived on to pass the 11 plus. Like Jane's mother, mine had a  cheque she had to pay in weekly, because the cost of the uniform and other required items came to nearly £100 -one hell of a lot of money for working class people in 1960!

By then the government had built new grammar schools, although mine was only two years old, but before then private schools had to offer a quarter of their places to scholarship pupils.  My school was set in a middle-class area and most of the pupils were middle-class too. Scholarship kids from council estates were a race apart.  If I suffered discrimination, I could easily imagine what my Janet Travers was going through, and I had a very special feeling for her - my first heroine and the journey through the book she had to make.

It is over twenty years since I wrote this book and life is very different for me. I joined Harper Collins in 2001 and regained the ability to walk in 2006. A few years ago Harper Collins bought the rights for the books I originally wrote for Headline and are re-issuing my very first book this summer. Although the title stays the same, there is a new jacket cover. This shows my Jane all grown now and a teacher on playground duty.

A Little Learning will be released on the 24th August 2017 and hope you enjoy it! 

www.annebennett.co.uk  

Why Attend a Writing Conference? by Sophie Claire

I have a writer friend – let’s call her Jane – who recently divulged that she’s been a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association for twenty years and has never been to a conference.

I know – what a shame!

Goody bag

I’ve been to 8 conferences, and I always come away brimming with ideas and motivation and a hangover.  This year the RNA conference was held at Harper Adams University, and I thought I’d write a post about it – because if Jane knew what went on there, she’d want to try it for herself, right?

So what happens at an annual gathering of romance-loving writers? And aside from receiving a free goody bag (with chocolate and free books - Jane will like those!), what’s in it for you?

1. It’s informative:

Industry panel
(photo by John Jackson)

Because the RNA is a professional body, it offers the rare opportunity to glean from the experts their insights into the current state of the publishing industry and future trends.

This year the conference kicked off with an industry panel made up of agents and publishers. What they had to say was positive: people are still reading a lot (sales of books were steady year on year), and romance and crime are the most popular genres (6 out of 10 books sold are romance). In the UK, sagas are especially sought after (although readers are wary of longer books), and there is more of a mash-up of genres developing: for example, we’re now seeing domestic thrillers with a sexy edge.

2. Industry appointments:

The conference gives writers the rare opportunity to pitch to agents and publishers, and also freelance editors, all of whom give feedback on your submission. I previously blogged about my experience here and it was through one of these appointments that I got my first book deal with Accent press.

3. Bestselling writers:

Kate Johnson interviewing Jill Mansell

There’s nothing more exciting than meeting your heroes, and this year’s conference had its fair share of big names in the romance world. 

Jill Mansell talked about her writing method (by hand, with the television on and using post-its to plot ahead), why she likes to use a village setting in her books, and her solution for when she’s stuck with the plot (throw in a new character!). 

And Sarah Morgan and Nicola Cornick gave a workshop on Using Social Media which stressed the importance of engaging with your readers and driving as many followers as possible to your newsletter. (I’m a huge fan of Sarah’s and was very excited to get my book signed after her workshop!)

Sarah Morgan and Nicola Cornick

Fiona Harper

4. Writing craft workshops:

There’s the chance to learn or refine your writing skills, with two days packed full of workshops. 

I always find it useful to step away from my novel-in-progress and ask myself questions such as What is your character’s goal? This was one of 10 questions which Fiona Harper gave us in her workshop, Building Characters From the Inside Out, which focused on developing a strong character arc and that inner growth which makes a novel so satisfying to read. 

5. Inspiration:

There’s inspiration everywhere at the conference – in other writers’ success stories, the workshops, in the books which are for sale! How often do you get the opportunity to work with a life coach or learn about screenwriting?

Sonia Duggan taught us that our brains are instinctively risk-averse, yet the most exciting ideas usually involve stepping out of our comfort zones. She gave us tips to help us be less fearful in our writing, because if you’re willing to take risks, anything is possible!

6. Fun and friendship:

There’s nothing more motivating than spending time with writing friends – and making new friends too.

Novelistas Sophie Claire & Annie Burrows

Hearing about other people’s experiences and their methods of working, or about new opportunities is always beneficial. 

The RNA is a wonderfully warm community, people are generous with their help and advice, and I’ve always been made to feel welcome. 

The Gala Dinner

First-time conference goers (are you listening, Jane?) have the chance to join an online group so they can ask questions beforehand and meet others in the same boat when they arrive. Their name badges bear a little sparkly sticker so the rest of us know to make them feel especially welcome. 

Plus there’s wine – lots of wine (600 bottles, to be precise). What’s not to like?!

7. Time to think:

I’ve learned that I get more out of the conference if I allow myself breaks, and since Harper Adams University is an agricultural college, I decided to explore the grounds and look for the source of the pungent farmyard smell which permeated everywhere!

Although I didn’t find it, it was time well spent, letting my mind wander and chewing over all I’d taken in. 

Time out from daily responsibilities is good for the creative mind. It gives you space to breathe, to explore new ideas and be reminded of the important stuff – like your long-term goals and priorities.

Now I’m home again, and back to the daily routine...

...but feeling re-energised, and I have plans and ideas which I’m excited about. The conference always has this effect: it motivates me and makes me more productive.

So I wonder – will Jane be persuaded to try it next year? Will you?

Sophie.x

www.sophieclaire.co.uk

Photos copyright: John Jackson and Sophie Claire

Structural Edits for the Faint-Hearted by Juliet Greenwood

When I first started writing, it was simple. Write book. Go back over it, fiddling and twiddling, and perfecting those beautifully-crafted sentences. Check spelling. Send the finished masterpiece out into a breathlessly waiting world.

It wasn’t until I began to work with an editor that I realised why the world hadn’t been breathlessly waiting. Basically (and to be brutally honest) I hadn’t even started to write the book. I’d got a first draft, and it didn’t matter how much I fiddled at the edges, it was never going to make it past the first draft, before sailing into oblivion and my bottom drawer for all eternity.

I should have known. After all, I’d been successfully writing short stories for years, bashing them around and tearing them apart until they worked. The trouble with a book is that it’s so big, so unwieldy, and takes so long, and so much emotional energy, to write, that the thought of tearing it up and starting again is beyond depressing – especially if, like most of us, you are also trying to do the day job, run a home and family. Oh, and a life.

But, in the end, a long, cold hard look that finished masterpiece (ahem) is the only way to go. That was what I learnt with my first book for Honno Press, Eden’s Garden, and it’s a process that I’ve been learning ever since. The hardest thing is to step back from this world you have been passionately living in for months, even years, and put on the cold, hard, practical, head. But your reader will read the same thing in days, or even non-stop over hours, and they don’t have that world living in their own heads and their hearts, so you have to capture them and persuade them, and transfer that magic inside them. Ballet looks effortless, too.

That is what structural edits are about. It’s taking your book out of your head to hold it in your hands and look at it dispassionately to see what is working and what is not. It’s when you use all the skills you’ve learnt from reading books and knowing what makes you keep on reading or throwing it against the wall. Are there too many characters? Is the heroine a wimp, who throws a strop at the slightest excuse, or a doormat to all and sundry? Are there enough holes in the plot to swallow the Titanic? Everything is thrown into the air, and anything can be thrown out (however beautifully crafted, however long it has taken to write) to make the book as gripping and emotionally engaging as you want it to be – in other words, the story that lives in your head. None of this is destructive. It can feel brutal, but it’s the paring down of a book into the best it can be. It’s the painter going through version after version of the same subject, the dancer practising until their feet bleed.

Above all, you need to listen to your gut. When I sent in the first version of Eden’s Garden, I knew something wasn’t working. Deep inside I knew the Victorian element of the story needed to be far more vivid by being told in the voice of the Victorian heroine. I felt defeated by starting again, rewriting a whole new element of the book, and unceremoniously chucking out hours of work. And, to be honest, I thought I didn’t have the skill and was afraid of making a fool of myself. It was an editor who taught me that yes, it was a vital part of making the book work – and yes, I was capable of writing it. The story didn’t change, but that simple structural change made the book come alive. It was definitely worth it, and I learnt so much about writing, and the kind of writer I want to be, in the process.

I still made mistakes in my latest book, but not nearly as many, and most I spotted along the way. Writing is, after all, a process of constantly learning, developing and improving. And, at the end of writing The White Camellia, understanding how much I had learnt and developed as a writer was the greatest buzz of all.

Structural edits? Feel the fear and do it anyway. You’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain. Bring ’em on!

Juliet Greenwood is published by Honno Press. Her books are set in Cornwall, London and Wales in Victorian and Edwardian times, and follow the lives of strong, independently-minded women struggling to find freedom and self-fulfillment. Her novels have reached #4 and #5 in the UK Amazon Kindle store, while Eden’s Garden was a finalist for ‘The People’s Book Prize’. We That are Left was completed with a Literature Wales Writers’ Bursary.

Juliet’s great grandmother worked as a nail maker in Lye Waste, near Birmingham in the Black Country, hammering nails while rocking the cradle with her foot. Juliet’s grandmother worked her way up to become a cook in a big country house. Their stories have left Juliet with a passion for history, and in particular for the experiences of women, so often overlooked or forgotten. Juliet lives in a traditional cottage in Snowdonia, in the UK, and loves gardening and walking. 

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N is for...Notebooks by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached N

If you're serious about being a writer, you need to have a notebook (and pen) handy at all times, because you never know when inspiration is going to strike.  I learned this the hard way, when I had a brilliant idea to deepen my hero's conflict, but by the time I got round to sitting down at my laptop, and applying it to the story I was writing, I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.  I still can't remember what it was.  But I can remember how cross I felt that I'd forgotten it.

I carry this one in my pocket to jot down things that occur to me when I'm on the move.  I love the design that makes the pen a clasp to keep it closed.  What I don't love is the fact that the pen has run out of ink already.  Which means I need to carry a little pencil as well.

I have another notebook in my handbag, in case I'm out without a coat.  Or I've hung my coat up in a cloakroom.  It's so battered that I'm ashamed to take a picture of it and post it.  People who have been to lunch with me will have seen it however and can vouch for how disreputable it looks!

I have another one on my bedside table in case inspiration strikes me at night.  My husband has got used to me suddenly sitting bolt upright and grabbing my pen.  "Got an idea?" he murmurs sleepily.  Not even expecting an answer because I just grunt at him, and keep on writing.  Inspiration is so elusive, sometimes, that even pausing to explain what it is will make it shimmer into a sort of mist that you just can't get a hold of any longer.

And then, there's my collection of big notebooks.  These are rough drafts of all the stories that have come to me over the years, when I've been away from a computer so that I couldn't type them straight into my "ideas" file.  A big notebook will always go in my suitcase if I'm going on holiday, because when sitting on a beach, I'd as soon be writing a story, as reading one.

And a confession about these notebooks.  Some of them have gone to work with me, when I was working in call centres, or as a temporary receptionist.  While other temps might sit about filing their nails, I was scribbling down my ideas, under the desk.  And sometimes resenting the phone ringing and interrupting me while I was in full flow!

Annie's latest release is "A Mistress for Major Bartlett", the 2nd in the "Brides of Waterloo" trilogy from Harlequin Mills & Boon.  In bookshops from June 1st, or available for pre-order from Amazon now.

You can find Annie on facebook at Annie Burrows 

You can also follow her on twitter @NovelistaAnnie