The Hobbit, Writing and Christmas....

Yesterday I went to see Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and, well, fell in love...with Thorin. If one man could make Tolkien's dwarves sexy it would be Richard Armitage....But aside from that I loved being back in that world.

I first read The Hobbit when I was thirteen. My English teacher Miss Walsh recommended it to me...I loved it. I loved the runes and the magic. I loved the elves. I introduced my children much sooner to it...and the boys are totally absorbed into the world but for different reasons, but that is part of the magic. The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings...offer so many thing for so many people....

To link this all together, I have begun writing again - a long story story or maybe a novella, A Cornish Carol. It's an idea that has been whizzing around in my head for a while. I took pen, yes pen, to paper and began this week and I now know that my hero looks just like Richard Armitage not as Thorin though. I will have to do a tremendous amount of research....I may be gone a while...

Christmas is almost upon us and I am woefully unprepared this year, but I am confident that it will all happen. I long to arrive in Cornwall and begin the process of making it happen but not yet...London still holds me while I tie up lose ends here...

Are you ready for Christmas?

A Cover For A CORNISH AFFAIR

I was going to post about my signing at Waterstones Truro and the Cornish Compendium (a mini du Maurier Festival) with Veronica Henry and the Dubai 7s but I was on on Amazon and saw this!!!!

Running out on your wedding day never goes down well. When the pressure of her forthcoming marriage becomes too much, Jude bolts from the church, leaving a good man at the altar, her mother in a fury, and the guests with enough gossip to last a year.

Guilty and ashamed, Jude flees to Pengarrock, a crumbling cliff-top mansion in Cornwall, where she takes a job cataloguing the Trevillion family's extensive library. The house is a welcome escape for Jude, full of history and secrets, but when its new owner arrives, it's clear that Pengarrock is not beloved by everyone.

As Jude falls under the spell of the house, she learns of a family riddle stemming from a terrible tragedy centuries before, hinting at a lost treasure. And when Pengarrock is put up for sale, it seems that time is running out for the house and for Jude.

The book is out in May 2013...and it would be great if you could like it on Amazon here.

The RNA Winter Party, The Dutch Edition of The Cornish House and A Catch Up

My shoes!

Well, it has been a crazy time...from the Festival of Romance ( I blogged about it here), DS2's 18th birthday, and finishing my edits on A Cornish Affair (YAY!).

Today I am sitting in PJs wondering if I really have to venture forth from the flat or can I just be lazy all day...

Aside from what's been mentioned above, I was on Sue Moorcroft's blog yesterday sharing a romantic dream of mine here to celebrate the release of her latest book Dream A Little Dream...there's a free copy of the The Cornish House on offer for the most romantic story...

The fabulous Tracey Edges reviewed The Cornish House on her Saturday morning Radio programme Edges Review. You can listen to the programme here and the review of The Cornish House comes about a half hour from the end of the programme...

I will be signing copies of The Cornish House in Truro at Waterstones on Saturday 24th of November from 11...please come by and say hello...

I'll also be in Fowey at the Mini Du Maurier Festival called the  Cornish Compendium with the wonderful Veronica Henry talking about Inspirational Cornwall (and there's a cream tea!) on Thursday the 29th at 4PM The Old Quay House Hotel. Please come if you are around. Tickets can be purchased here.

Sterren boven Cornwall (stars over Cornwall), the Dutch edition of the Cornish House is out now...so exciting

Yesterday I sent off the edited version of A Cornish Affair to my agent and my editor...nail biting time but also relief...now a few days to catch up with life and begin writing the next book! I'll be entering NaNoWri a bit late!!!!

Sharjah International Book Fair...a panel 'A Sense of Self in Writing'

HH Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi opens the book Fair

I'm just back from Sharjah International Book Fair. As happened last year, I am in awe of the scope of this event. Yes, it's about selling books - selling them in many ways...to publishers, to stores, to other countries and to ordinary people but it's so much more. I love the way they bring the book world alive with events for everyone but especially for kids...

Children enjoying the book fair

A cookery demonstration

I was lucky enough to be an invited author this year. I was both apprehensive and excited about being on a panel to discuss 'A Sense of Self in Writing'...what a fantastic topic but what were they looking for??? Having lived in Dubai in total for about ten years I have learned that what I may understand by something may very well not be what others do. This makes life interesting and makes a panel interesting too. It is also the scary part....

Liz Fenwick, Tahmima Anam, Marwa Al Agroubi (hidden) Said Kafrawi, Inaam Kachachi

So on this panel discussion was joined Inaam Kachachi, an Iraqi writer who lives in Paris. Her novel The American Granddaughter was shortlisted for for the IPAF in 2009. The was the esteemed Egyptian short story writer Said Kafrawi and Tahmima Anam from Bangladesh , who lives in London. Her first novel A Golden Age was shortlisted for both the Guardian and Costa First Books awards.

The chair of the panel was Marwa Al Agroubi and I wondered how she was going to lead four very diverse writers through the discussion but she did....

Here are a few of the notes I made...

Said and I agreed on all stories have been told but it what you the writer bring to them that makes the unique.
He also said that writing is about expressing passion of the old truths and dreams
Think of transforming real life into art and making more interesting

Tahmima spoke of
as a writer we get to live many lives through our characters
no characters is limited by her experience yet all have a part of her in them
be a chameleon

The question that kept coming back to was why as writers were we afraid to show ourselves in the writing...

I argued that we weren't...our choice of themes showed clearly what we were thinking, feeling and who we are. And like Tahmima each character had some part of me in them.

I spoke about the need to have characters who did things that went against our own beliefs...as that adds extra conflict to the story and we must be true to story. We read fiction to learn about others and about ourselves and that is true for the writer too....in writing the stories...

I'm afraid I was so busy trying to listen to the translations to note down more of what was said....

However I did when asked speak of the assumption of some readers ... readers never expect a crime writer to have committed a murder, but some readers assume that a writer of women's fiction will have done almost anything in the book that they have written.... especially if it deals with sex.

It's clearly not safe to let me out at night to talk about writing. However the room came alive after that comment and the chair quizzed me on this topic several times!

The Cornish House is Shortlisted for Best Romantic Read at the Festival of Romance

The Cornish House

I am thrilled that The Cornish House has been shortlisted as Best Romantic Read at this year Festival of Romance in Bedford. Here's the shortlist here.

If you are in the area there are some tickets left for the events. I'll be at the Coffee and Cake event on Saturday morning and at the free Romance fair in the Howard Room at the Corn Exchange in the afternoon...do come and say hello.

The lovely Catherine McNamara interviews me over at THE VIEW FROM HERE about  The Mind Matters of a Debut Novelist here.

Business Breakfast on Dubai Eye with Brandy Scott...talking about the business of being a writer

Yesterday morning I was on Dubai Eye's Business Breakfast with the wonderful Brandy Scott. She even made me sound coherent! I was talking about the business of being a writer today. If your curious about my take on it you can listen below - if the link works...

listen to ‘Liz Fenwick’ on Audioboo

And if you're in Dubai or Sharjah next week...I'll be at the Sharjah International Book Fair (on panel on Thursday the 8th at 19:00...) and at WH Smith in Dubai Mall from 18:00 signing books and chatting...

NaNoWriMo and Edits

I'll be very quiet here for a bit as I'm working on editing A Cornish Affair...the good news my editor loved it- the bad news/good news it needs work, which I knew....

I have blogged at The Heroine Addicts about NaNo...here. Are you doing NaNo this year...I hope to if I can finish my edits!

First Person or Third Person Point of View - Which Provides A More Emotional Read

Having submitted dreaded book two, A Cornish Affair, I’m filled with worry. Not because I don’t like the story, I do. But worry because it is a very different story. A Cornish Affair is an adventure/romantic suspense type story and therefore very different from The Cornish House. This I am told by some is not a bad thing….I’m not so sure.

It has had me wondering about something though…the story is not as ‘emotional’. And I’m wondering if this is because it is written in first person. Now bear with me because this seems counter intuitive. I've always thought if a book was in first person I would ‘feel’ more - after all we are in one character’s head. We feel their emotions.

But strangely I am beginning to thing it does the opposite…I recently finished The Girl I Left Behind by JoJo Moyes and I loved it. The book had me from page one…I was gripped by the story, which as it opens is told in first person and is set in 1916 occupied France. The second half of the book in set in ‘modern’ time and is told in third person. Now here’s the interesting bit…although gripped by the story in the first half I wasn’t as emotionally connected as I was in the second…and I don’t think this was because of the time difference. The actual facts of the story in set 1916 were on the face much more tear provoking…

This set me wondering…did this happen with all first person stories I had read and did it apply to the one I’d just written. This week I also read the wonderful debut of Liz Harris, The Road Back…told in third person. I was moved to tears at points.

So I’m wondering if first person in a way sets up a strange distance. It’s like the wall the character puts up to protect themselves applies to the reader and isn’t there in third person. Or maybe it’s just me.

What do you think? It’s not that I haven’t loved stories told in first person, I have but thinking of them I haven’t been quite as emotionally caught up. (Note: I'm reading When God Was A Rabbit at the moment and loving it...pages effortlessly turning but I'm not getting the emotional kick i should be considering some of the stuff I'm reading) What is your favourite first person story and did it leave you weeping or dry-eyed?

A New Book Trailer for The Cornish House

Well, DD had done so well putting together the book trailer for A Cornish Affair she had a go with The Cornish House. And well she did a far better job than I did. What impresses me is that a 13 year old has such a firm idea of how the music should fit the theme...

What do you think? Maybe I should hire her out...she'll do book trailer in return for iTunes vouchers... What is your opinion of book trailers? Do you look at them? Have you done one?

Mea Culpa and Yay!

I have been a very bad blogger...very bad. But the reason for this was very sound. I had a deadline to meet on the dreaded book two....which I met.

However so many things have happened that I can't even begin to remember. The key one though is book two isn't August Rock anymore it A CORNISH AFFAIR. I love the new title. I can't tell you about the rewrite 27 at the moment as I'm still WAY too close to the process....

But my lovely DD this weekend took my photos from the summer and made a book trailer and clever thing that she is...put the music together too......

She has captured perfectly the suspense of this book with the music...and her diligent work kept me focused so that I finished the read through and sent it to my editor on Saturday so that I could enjoy what was left of the weekend with my family!

To celebrate delivering A Cornish Affair I'm giving away a signed copy of The Cornish House on my Facebook page for the best caption for a picture I took on a walk at the end of the summer with DS1.

A Casa Dos Sonhos - The House of Dreams

This morning copies the Portuguese editions of The Cornish House arrived...or I should say A Casa Dos Sonhos....they are sooooooooooo beautiful...

But what I really love is on the inside...my editor asked me to hand write a letter  to readers and they have reproduced it on the inside...

It's just so cool...

Now I need to dream up some give aways for this edition...anyone know any Portuguese book clubs?

Book Clubs and the Age of the Internet

Last night at 21:00 I waited armed with a large glass of wine poised in front of my computer waiting for a call on Skype. No, this wasn't my daily chat with Dad but a call from a book club in Warwickshire.

It was all thanks to a phone call a few months ago due to a need to schedule a replacement pipe for the gas supply to the house in Cornwall. To make a long story short in the course of the conversation about scheduling it came out that my first book was about to come out.

Well, the lovely Julie thought The Cornish House would be perfect for her book group....fast forward to last night...

Thanks to the age of Internet I was viewing a table full of woman enjoying some good food and wine...and *gulp* they had all read the books. They had spent the first half of their evening discussing the book without me and then Julie Skyped me. As this was a first for all of us we went round the table and each had a question about the book or the writing process. And it was such fun...not quite as much fun as actually being there with them (in fact I think I'd like to join their book club).

I signed off feeling really lifted and wanting to chat more. It was such a privilege to talk to people who have read the book. For so long the book was just mine and now it isn't which is weird but wonderful.

Any other book clubs out there fancy a Skype session?

I'm in the midst of finalizing my packing for the RNA Conference...to wellie or not to wellie - that is the question of the moment...

Link and Short Stories

I'm over at the lovely Rebecca Leith's blog here.

I wrestling with another short story at the moment...the word count on this one isn't so restrictive - 1500-5000 but it's still a challenge. I envy those who can work this form with ease...but I am sure that it's a good exercise.

Which do you prefer to write or read - novels or short stories?

Exposure and Sales

It's nearly a month since The Cornish House has been on the shelves or not and I thought I'd update you on what I've learnt so far about sales....assuming you've written the best book you can...

- exposure or position is the most important thing to selling books...

It's obvious really and it was something I knew, but I have now seen it in action. Where The Cornish House is in the shop window - in Cornwall (Falmouth Booksellers, St Ives Booksellers and Waterstones Truro) the book is selling well. In my local Watestones - High Street Kensington where it's displayed on a table - sales have been regular and steady. In the WH Smith Travel I think it's doing well (test case is Paddington Station where my family seems to spend half their lives - and last visit only two copies left). When I was signing at Waterstones Arndale Centre in Manchester I could see how shoppers were attracted to the cover. It is a wonderful cover and for it to do it's work it needs to seen. Spine out on a shelf and a début has no chance of finding a new home in the hands of a reader....a sad fact but true.

- family and friends....

From word of mouth, to visiting stores and requesting copies, to repositioning your book face out...these are just a few of things that can help sales

- local press coverage...

Débuts getting into the big press is rare - it happens but...not often. However I think local or smaller press is as important if not more so...don't dismiss the parish newsletter or the school one let alone the local paper or radio.

- the dreaded Amazon reviews...

It's funny but I never look at book reviews on Amazon unless it's for a non-fiction book. But I am somewhat alone in this...I only began reviewing books on Amazon and Goodreads about a year ago. I had done reviews on my blog but generally I'd thought - who would care about how I felt about a book...but it seems I'm wrong...

Now I have no real idea how the book is selling which is a very frustrating feeling - believe me. I do know that it had to be reprinted...good news but how good depends on the size of the first print run. I know my Amazon ranking...what me checking it obsessively - yup.

Yesterday I took out the egg timer and set it to 20 minutes.. the best block breaker I know (thank you Anna Louise Lucia). I'm not exactly blocked but more crippled by fear. I did manage to edit for 20 minutes and was cross when it went ping but that was all I had time for yesterday...today may be different.

I have been all over the web again...

First a beautiful review by Helen Redfern here.

Talking about the writer's journey with Caroline Smailes...here.

Busy...and Overwhelmed in a Good Way

Life is a little crazy at the moment and I can't settle to any one thing...including writing book two. But many of things taking up my time are wonderful...like needing to go to Falmouth Booksellers to sign more books because they had sold out of all the other signed ones...and I just heard that the paperback version of The Cornish House has sold out in Waterstones Truro so I'm off into sign the hardback copies they have left....

I have also been overwhelmed by reader response to The Cornish House...readers have been finding me on Facebook and Twitter and my web page and telling me they love the book. It is a strange and wonderful feeling. My baby is out there and it is being read and loved. My characters are making new friends...without me!

Yesterday saw me or the book all over the web...the lovely Helen Redfern reviewed the book here.

I talk wine, work and writing with Nikki Goodman here.

And over at High Heels and Book Deal I'm sharing my shoe favourites with the wonderful Mel Sherratt here.

And, *gulp*, The Cornish House is being reviewed at Vulpes Libris on Friday. This is a book review site I read regularly....

Finally I have begun posting pictures of some of the places mentioned in The Cornish House... Locations From The Cornish House.

Sunshine, Wind, Cornwall, St Ives and a Wedding

Yesterday the wind continued to blow, but the sun appeared and I went to St Ives to visit the St St Ives Bookseller and sign books...

...which made it a lovely excuse to take DH to lunch at The Porthmister Beach Cafe...

Now this fleeting image of the bridal couple had me fleeing the table to try and capture the image...I was cursing that DH hadn't brought his big zoom lens but at least I had his camera...

and then we had to leave...but DH wins the snap of the day with his pic of the almost tropical feel of the day...

Firsts

This has certainly been a time of firsts...and last night was my first library talk. St Ives was the setting and after a day of pelting rain it cleared to a lovely evening. I didn't expect a soul except for the wonderful librarian... as holding an event the evening of the last day of an extra long weekend I was sure that people would be too exhausted by the festivities to leave the comfort of their home...But they did come out. The bonus was that fellow writer and friend Sarah Duncan (who has the best blog for writing tips here) came too...

As it was my first, I didn't have a set script, maybe I should have, but I wanted to find out what my audience was interested in...the development of Cornish architecture, how an American came to call Cornwall home, my expat travels....of course I wouldn't know what it was to be until we reached the questions. So I plunged into a potted history of me, my writing and my love of Cornwall........then came the questions and thank God there were questions and they covered everything.

The evening was great fun for me and I hope for my audience...who in chatting afterwards asked what The Cornish House would be in Cornish (hint not the actual name of the house - Trevenen)...we found the answer but I thought it would be a good question for a give away on my Facebook Page here.

I also wanted to mention a wonderful post by Twitter friend Nicola Ford who wrote about attending the launch in London but more importantly speaks beautifully about the importance of travel or journeys for writers. You can read the post here.

Cornish Sunshine and Jubilee Celebrations

As I write this the wind is blowing and the rain is lashing at the windows. I am contemplating putting the heat on...But yesterday afternoon for the village's Jubilee celebration the sun came out and it was perfect. Here are a few photos to give you a feel...

Everything in readiness...

Up to the playing fields to see the Kings and Queens in action

The Kings and Queens parade through the viallage

To the feast...

It was a glorious afternoon and one that will be remembered...

What have you done for the Jubilee?

A Local Celebration - The Cornish House

On Saturday night in the South Cafe (featured in The Cornish House) I had a small celebration with a few people from the village...because of the weather we were inside and kept the number small but that didn't keep the conversation down or the fun a bay...

And now time to enjoy the Jubilee celebrations in the village and to get ready for the library talk in St Ives tomorrow evening...

What are you doing for the Jubilee weekend?