The RNA's Regency Celebration

Yesterday! Wow!

At the Royal Overseas League in Park Place the RNA held a day celebrating all that was Regency and most importantly the work of two writers - Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. It was the first time the RNA had held a readers day and what a result. Fun, frolics, drama and a touch of academia all rolled into one.

The day began with a panel on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. The chair for the panel was Julie Cohen revealing her previous life as an academic and reminding me of university with her insights in to the duality of the work....and more. While also on the panel were writers Nicola Cornick, historian and author of many best selling Regency novels, authors Beth Elliot and Juliet Archer (who takes Austen's plots and characters and gives them a modern twist in her work). The panel was fun and informative with much discussion of Emma Thompson film of the novel.

This was followed by a break when I explored Regency clothing and found myself in 'costume'....how different one feels and carries oneself....the clothes make the man or at least the posture in this case! Plus there were people wandering around in full Regency attire - I couldn't stop ogling.

Dr. Jennifer Kloester entertained us with a wonderful presentation of the life of Georgette Heyer and blew away many myths that surround this profic and superb writer of so many beloved novels. I can't wait to read the book penned by Jen GEORGETTE HEYER and her life....

Then it was time for more dressing up...DD and DH were with me and they joined in on the fun before the Regency dancing and the Regency Scents....

There was lunch with a quizz that went to tie breaker...so many people who really new their period and their authors...

For the next session I left DD and DHG to play parlour games with I enjoyed but won't report on the panel - THE CESTIAL BED - Sex & The Georgians...let's just say that the mind boggles. Biddy Coady did a fabulous job on her reading and Jan Jones demonstrated a knowledge of many thing that don't end up in her books!

There was a very special Waterloo tea held at the East India Club....drama, mystery and dashing men in uniform all with delicious cakes and tea in period surrounding...I might swoon (at one point a dashing solider oftered me snuff...be still my beating heart)

The day wound up with a panel on AUSTEN & HEYER - Were they better than they thought they were? On the panel - Gillian Green (Editorial Director for Ebury Press), Dr Jennifer Kloester, Roy McMillan (director and actor and with Naxos AudioBooks), Joanna Fulford (author of regencies) and chaired by Sophie Page.  The panel began with a general swoon when Roy mention that Richard Armitage had read there audio version of Heyer's Venetia.  There was far too much that came out of this panel to summarize at all...but brilliant.

I was live tweeting during the day as was @beecee (aaka Brigid Coady) and the tweets can be found #RNARegencyDay and #RegencyCelebration ...

I've posted a few photos here, but the rest of my pictures ( I apologize for the quality - my camera died and I used my phone) are here. The lovely Annie Burrows will be providing a report for the RNA Blog in the next few days....

As Promised...My Notes from JoJo Moyes Talk at the September RNA Meeting

The fabulous JoJo Moyes spoke at the RNA meeting last week. Jan Jones did a wonderful post about it here. So I won’t go over the points that Jan reported so beautifully about, but tell you some of the inspiration, encouragement and tips I walked away with….(as always please forgive any mistakes as these are just how I took them down)

-       - As mentioned in Jan’s post after submission and acceptance of book 10 JoJo took it back because she ‘knew’ it wasn’t good enough and deleted 60,000 words. She knew after rereading her previous book that book ten was good but it wasn’t good enough….

-       -   It was the 4^th book she wrote that got published.

-       -   Be ruthless with yourself…understand the difference between the inner critic and the gut feeling (see first point). Trust the gut feeling. Don’t ignore the little voice…it should tell that at least 70% of the book is good

-      -    Write the best book possible – a good story will out

Her tips for staying published are...

-        -  Be professional

-         - Be Nice

-         - Promote self tactfully (she mentioned social networking sites changed the fortunes of THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER)

-          -Produce good books

-         - Deliver on Time

In general when she’s writing she deletes as much as she writes. She first gets the emotion of the scene then she will craft it.

Finally she gave us her top tips for writing romance that she’s learned along the way (and she should know as she has won the Romantic Novel of the Year twice! First in 2004 for FOREIGN FRUIT and in 2011 for THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER)

1.  What is keeping them apart? There has to be tension

2.  There are fewer things to keep people apart these days…the past is easier for this

3.  She has to be madly in love with the hero

4.   Do not take the easy route…be surprising, question self all the time….

The Forest For the Trees or Info Dump

Sorry for my absence from the blog but I left the power cables for laptop behind in Cornwall...it was like not having my arms and then to catch up on everything....

You would think by now that I would see obvious writing mistakes printed out in black and white in front of me easily - now I'm not talking about typos (my speciality) but, well let's not beat around the bush here - information dumping....show not tell

Yesterday I was finally pulling together the new first chapter for PENDEROWN. I had played with the opening page until I felt i had set the mood right and first scene said all I wanted it to say (I'll come back to this) and then I pasted in the Victoria's first scene. Now this is where my alarms bells were ringing - my alarm bells not those of my IV (inner voice - thank you Annie). You see - Victoria's opening scene is explicit and my inner prude panicked - it said 'you can't have a sex scene on page three and definitely not one like that'. However my IV said yes you can and it's right and it's right for your character....inner battle ensued. In desperation because i just couldn't move on I called on friends.....who of course had no problem at all with said scene. IV wins but Biddy quite rightly pointed out the lovely info dump below that pulled her straight out of the story and if I'm honest IV was trying to tell me about it but the prude in me was too overpowering.

So here's what happened when I took info dump (see above - scene saying all I wanted it to say in one paragraph!!!)

She checked her emails again and there was still nothing from Adam Smith and Associates. It had been a week and a day since she had received the email informing her she was on the shortlist for the trainee position, but they hadn’t told her how many were on it with her only that she had made it out of the thousand applicants. She should be pleased, she knew she should. She wanted this job. It was perfect and here in Toronto. If she landed it then it would become the doorway to a successful career in architecture hence the thousand applicants. But...she chewed her lower lip and slowed her steps. If the answer was yes she wouldn’t be able to make the trip to Europe and well, she would have to decline the offer of a place at Falmouth School of Art for a Masters in Art & Environment, which she knew was just a dream anyway.

and then after reminding myself I should know better by now and remembering Jan Jones's wonderful post on show not tell.....this is what the new looked like (but remember it is still to be worked on)....

Demi jumped when her phone rang. Matt's photo flashed on the screen with his big grin. “Hi."

“Hello beautiful.”

Demi rolled her eyes. They were just words. If only she felt he actually meant it. “What’s up?”

“Just booked our tickets to Europe.”

“No, no you can’t have.” Demi swallowed. “I haven’t heard about the job.”

“Don’t mean to burst your bubble, but yes you made the short list out of a thousand but no way will you make the final cut.”

“Thanks for your belief in me.”

“But I do believe in you and that’s why you should forget the boring job and follow your heart to Cornwall and to the masters you want.”

She closed her eyes and took a breath. She couldn’t reason with him. She had a tough enough time doing that with herself. “Please tell me you haven’t actually booked flights.”

“Relax. I’ve just reserved them.”

“How long will they hold them?”

“Two days.”

“Good. Give me until then.”

Matt was hopeless but she was worse. Bloody dreamers both.She put her toe in and out of a puddle and watched the ripples before she checked her emails again to find there was still nothing from Adam Smith and Associates. It had been a week and a day since she had received the email informing her she was on the shortlist. She should be pleased, she knew she should. She wanted this job. It was perfect and here in Toronto. If she landed it then it would become the doorway to a successful career in architecture.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. The storm would be here shortly but not yet. Demi’s eyes traced the outline of the one houses that had been ‘improved’ from a humble bungalow to a grand residence. Her nose twitched. It didn’t fit the neighbourhood but she was sure it had been what the clients had requested. Was life always like that?

She chewed her lower lip and slowed her steps. If the she was accepted then she wouldn’t be able to make the trip and well, she would have to decline the offer of a place at Falmouth School of Art for a Masters in Art & Environment. It was just a dream anyway and one her mother hadn’t shared for her.

Delight

I can't tell you how long it has been since I picked up a book and didn't stop reading until it was finished. It just doesn't happen very often these days. But yesterday after a solid day's work I began Fortunate Wager by Jan Jones and didn't put it down until after midnight (and as my family will attest - I don't stay awake beyond ten because I turn into a grumpy pumpkin) when it was blissfully finished. I enjoyed everything single second - didn't notice the prose or the style or any damn thing except the characters. I was caught in their world so totally I lost track of time - sheer bliss and so damn rare. The heroine will stay with me for a long time - she wasn't dim or stupid or a wimp as can so often happen in historicals. She was plucky and realistic and bloody hell I so wanted the world for her. The hero was perfect too.........

Simply brilliant if regencies float your boat and they do mine. I just love a good escape from my world.

Now back to the grist mill and to wonder if I love historicals so much why I don't write them (oh yes, I am a lazy sod who can't bothered to do all the research - ho hum)

Torment

Yesterday was bliss in many ways. The weather had cleared after rain and thunder storms and DH took the boys to the cinema. I thought - peace - and stretched out on the sofa to read. All week long each and every time I thought I can read someone needed me. So poor FAIR DECEPTION was interrupted. I have longed to read this book because I had read the first three chapters of it's follow-on story here and Caroline was such a plucky heroine that she has stayed with me. So when FAIR DECEPTION was published by Hale I was thrilled.

Yet each time I went to sink into the wonderful Regency setting something interrupted including on the flight back to Dubai in February when inspiration struck and I worked the seven hour flight instead of relaxing and getting lost in another world. So when I picked up the book last week I foolishly thought I would have plenty of time to escape - no, my dear children had other plans. I grabbed small bits here and there which was not at all satisfactory. For some books it's okay to read two pages here and two pages there, but others are best consumed nearly whole.

As I said I settled on the sofa with dd happily rearranging her room and read. I was lost in another world and loving every minute of the escape then boom twenty pages from the end when I am so caught up I don't want to know the world outside the book exists everyone needs me! I deal with request one politely - finding paint and an easel for Ds1. I settled back into book immediately gripped and then two minutes later Ds2 needs me to sort something on the computer. Grrrrrrrrrr. Sorted and then return to wrapping myself in the story. Dh comes home having booked some flights and wants to discuss. Explain I won't be long but I NEED to finish this wonderful book (Doesn't anybody else show respect when a person is so close to the end you can taste it? Before interrupting a reader I always glance to see where they are in the book - the end is sacred!). He looks at me then wonders off. Down to ten pages and DD wants to ice her fairy cakes. Gritting my teeth I pour icing sugar into a bowl and beat the hell out of it and leave her to cover the the world in violent pink icing. I retreat into the story - torn between reading quickly and savouring each word and Dh, bless him, appear to ask if I want a glass of wine????

Can someone tell me why it is that as you approach the end of a book that everybody needs you? Why is it that you can't be left in peace to enjoy the satisfaction of the end????

From the above you can tell that I loved the book. I love Regencies and have done so since I discovered Georgette Heyer. Jan Jones does a brilliant job of conveying a totally different time and creates characters that you care for deeply. Can't wait to finally read the rest of Caroline's story from FORTUNE'S WAGER. In the meantime I will jump back into the Regency world with C.S. Harris's WHY MERMAID'S SING (although I have this in hardcover so it may have to wait until we are back from our trip to Cornwall for Easter) after I finished Rachel Billington's LIES and LOYALTIES that I began last night.

Complete - Crap????

So the big rewrite of August Rock is done and well at the mo -I'm feeling that it's crap. There are gaping holes in the story as I added new twists and turns. Having done the rework I foolishly thought it would be a doddle to clean it up and polish - hah. I need to leave it a week or two then begin to clean and build and tighten. Hopefully with distance it will look better.

Now on the reading front......this was hijacked by dd's reading the Twilight series. DD is nine so I had been warned by another friend that I needed to jump ahead in the story (to discuss things)as DD plowed through Twilight with amazing speed - so I did. I enjoyed both books for what they are - good YA fiction. So on the reading front - Eclipse and Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer and I have just finished The Art of Love by Elizabeth Edmondson. I began this book at the end of the summer and only rediscovered it this week wedged in a suitcase. Great read. But I am seriously behind on my goal of a book a week - life and writing intervene too much sometimes!

Now for finishing the AR a real treat - Jan Jones's Fair Deception. Nothing quite like a good Regency for a well earned break!

Reading and Toby 5

Reading over on Julie Cohen's blog and B.E.'s I realized that I was more than a bit of a lost cause because of my minimal reading last year. Yes, I read. I always do but just not enough. I could use a thousand excuses but none are good enough. These days reading does come at the bottom of my time allotment list and this is not a good thing for a writer. In fact I think book buying comes before reading if you look at my TBR pile. So as I haven't made any resolutions this year I am going to make one now. I will a read a book every two weeks even when I a writing a new work!

Haven't said that I must confess to having been in Waterstones in Truro yesterday morning and having made a scene. I was browsing and found this book on the shelves.

I squealed. Yes, squealed loudly but I just couldn't contain my excitement! Now I know Janet Gover as she has been in the New Writers Scheme of the RNA with me. She has even driven in the desert of Dubai with me. I have been waiting to see this book in print. I also am feeling terrible because she is having her launch on the day I fly back to Dubai. I had hoped to change my flight but DH's big meeting prevented that. I can now atleast console myself with reading the book on the flight knowing they are laughing and drinking with out me!!!!!

I have to say there is a special excitement when friends books come out especially there first. To compound my frustration another friend is having a launch for her first book the following day! So i am hoping to find Jean Fullerton's book, No Cure for Love, before I leave.

See why I need to read at least one book every two weeks! I have had one huge disappointment to report. I have been waiting to read Jan Jones's book Fair Deception for ages. I ordered it months ago and had it sent here to Cornwall. It was to be my Christmas reading treat. Well, it wasn't here although I have an email saying it was sent. Someone else must have it. I do hope they are enjoying it and I want them to know how they have taken away my treat for cooking Christmas dinner for fourteen away from me. I earned the time to read this book!

London 17th April 1846
The light had faded and the room had gone cold. Toby was stiff as he rose when his cousin arrived. He glanced at Meredith then he looked at the painting of his mother. Frederick had covered it with a sheet but Toby could still see her face. Her eyes followed him lovingly. Now all he needed was to hear the roar of the ocean and he would be complete.
“Frederick, has he been cooperative?”
Frederick put down his brushes and turned his attention to Meredith.
“Meredith, what a strange question. Tobias has been the perfect model. Are you sure that I can’t have him tomorrow?” He took a cloth, wiped his hands and walked from behind the easel. Toby longed to see what the painting looked like. Had Frederick captured him? What had he seen in him? He had seen right into mother’s soul and placed it on the canvas for all to see except no one did as it was in the corner of the studio under a sheet. Toby wanted it in Trevenen House where it belonged and he could look upon her every day. How he missed her but at least he could still hear her.
“Positive. He goes to school.”
Toby placed the boat on the shelf. He looked at the other objects there. It was an odd collection of old toys, vases and pieces of broken pottery. In the corner behind a vase, there was a pile of letters tied up in a red silk ribbon. Toby’s eyes studied the writing knowing he had seen it before. It was his mother’s writing. Frederick had kept his mother’s letter just as he had done.
“Tobias, take your leave of Mr. Peters.”
Toby wondered why Meredith had lied saying it was her father who had arranged the meeting. With what Toby knew now, his father would never want Toby to see Frederick Peters let alone have his portrait done by a man who was in love with his mother.
Toby held out his hand to Frederick. The artist clasped Toby’s hand with both of his. His brown eyes showed more emotions than his few words of farewell.
“What school?”
“Why does it concern you? I can’t recall the name. It’s where Thomas went. He’ll have a term there before starting Eton in the autumn.” Meredith swung on her heel and Toby followed her out after waving goodbye again. School was something Toby didn’t want to think about. Why did he have to go? He knew it was traditional for Trevenens to go to Eton but he didn’t see the need. He could learn all he needed to run the estate by living there and studying with his tutor. His cousins had gone so he had surrendered. He knew he had no choice. His father didn’t seem pleased either but he too had agreed. It was what all Trevenens did. He was a Trevenen and therefore he would go off to school. Just so long as he knew he was coming back. He had some things planned but they were planned for the summer and he would be home by then. It would be twelve long weeks before he could stand on the Nare again then August would come. The tides would be right this year for August Rock. Last year the best tide was at night. He needed daylight and this year he would have it for a few days.
In his mind he could see Elsbeth in the boat house. He had checked her before he had left. Over the winter he had helped repaint and varnish her wood. He had mended the sails with Mrs. Williams’ help. Now he must wait for summer to sail and he must wait for August to find his treasure.
Sitting in the carriage, Toby listened to the rain begin tapping the roof while Meredith sat on the other side alone. Her husband must have had more important things to do. The whole day did not make sense as Toby wasn’t sure why Meredith had taken him to Frederick. Had Frederick asked or had Meredith remembered? Were Meredith and his mother close? Meredith clearly knew Frederick. Thomas was Meredith’s brother and Frederick knew of him. Toby had so many questions and no one to answer them.
“Cousin Meredith?” Toby asked.
She turned her cold eyes on him.
“Yes.”
“Why was I there today?”
“What a silly question, Tobias. To have your portrait painted of course.” She turned again to look out at the passing scenery.
“It wasn’t Father’s wish. Was it?”
Her head swung back to him.
“Don’t be impertinent. What did Frederick say to you?” Meredith asked.
“Nothing. I saw Mother’s portrait.”
Meredith’s eyes flashed and her face became red. Toby thought for once she looked pretty.
“So he has finished it.”
“Yes,” said Toby.
“It took him long enough.”
“What are you going to do with the portrait he’s painting of me?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Why have it done then?” he asked.
“Your mother wanted it done.”
“So my father has no idea.”
“No.” Toby wondered how much more he could ask.
“You went to America with Mother.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Were you close to her?”
“What sort of question is that, Tobias? She was my cousin. Of course we were close.”
The carriage came to a halt. The door swung open and Meredith marched out. Toby followed slowly through rain. London didn’t look well in the rain. Not like Cornwall which was beautiful even in the rain. The grey fog enveloped the red brick buildings and he could almost taste the soot in the air. He longed to be home but he had weeks before that would happen. Somehow he had to get through.

Romantic Novelists' Association Conference Day Three Part Two

The last session of the conference for me was Kate Harrison's Botox for Writers - restoring that va-va-voom to your work. I must say I was thinking less at this point in the conference that I wanted to restore the zing to me and not my writing.

Kate began by showing us a pretty scary picture of a face having needles pushed in! I was awake. So here's what she said:

Botox for Writers : The Fiction Facelift

-tone up a tired imagination
-banish a saggy middle
-retouch & refresh a fading image

She began with a case study of the tired imagination which showed symptoms of an inability to focus and a wrinkled brow. The causes were constant deadlines and outside pressures.

Story:
-stories are universal-storytellers must be valued
-appeal to us from childhood
-passed down in all cultures
-it is a way of expressing the world, human emotions and struggles
-as story tellers we are performing an essential fundamental function
-it may be instinctive but its not easy

A story must answer a question
-Who will be the best?
-How will this person transform themselves?
-How will the family/friends respond to the transformation?
-Which team will win? Which woman will land the man?

Story = struggle OR change
-to satisfy, a story must involve a struggle or conflict
-without conflict there is nothing to keep the reader interested
-conflict doesn't always mean argument - but the reader must care
-no struggle - no drama

Jeopardy
--the struggle to achieve a goal be overcoming obstacles (think of working to get through a mine field)
-obstacles may be physical or mental
-think of twenty ways to make it harder for your character
-increasing the jeopardy can increase tension and interest: add new problems or obstacles, increase difficulty, how far can you push your character?

Story= Character
-nothing matters unless your reader cares about your character
-they don't have to be completely likable though it helps
-but a reader must identify with the struggle

Story Solution
-what is the central question?
-what is the struggle, challenge or change the character must go through?
-can you make the struggle, conflict or challenge greater? more dramatic?
-consider raising increasing the jeopardy or playing with time to raise the stakes (here think of the classic film rom com where the loved is leaving on a flight and the hero rushes off to the airport to declare undying love and gets caught in traffic)

Next Kate dealt with the Saggy Middle (the photo for this one looked all too familiar!)
-symptoms were bloating and blockages
-causes - inevitable stage of life, delivered too many manuscripts
-treatment the WIP/Tuck ( loved this!)

Saggy Middle: Vitamin Cs Boost

1. Change will do you good!
-change your writing location - try cafe or library
-change your perspective -try the pov of another character, or from first to third.......
-change your writing method - computer to pen, skip the description and write as a screenplay

2. Cheat: if in doubt leave it out
-this can be liberating if you are a rule follower
-if stuck at a scene skip forwards
-write entire pages that say what happens then just move forward
-move ahead to scene you can't wait to write

Saggy Middle: the SCAMPER Miracle Plot Lifting Booster
-swap/substitute -think Freaky Friday, Wife Swap or Shakespeare
-combine: genres, ideas, new elements (keep list or use collected articles)
-Adapt - take successful formula and change one element - for example the a quality from a much loved movie or previous book
-maximise -exaggerate to an extreme
-perspective - unexpectedly change pov/have characters see things from a new angle
-eliminate -get rid of a character, a possibility, or escape route. where does it leave the story?
-reverse- dramatic change- rages to riches, Back to the Floor, sudden unexpected reversal tests character

Saggy Middles: SMART Workout
Set your goal. They must be:
-SPECIFIC (what are you going to do - be precise for example read history book on medieval gardens for characters passion)
-MEASURABLE ( how will judge them - 100 words a day)
-ACHIEVABLE (they should challenging but not off putting)
-REALISTIC
-TIME-LIMITED (set a review date and revise goals if struggling at that point)

She added that is should also be FUN - what would renew your enthusiasm for current wip?

Case Study 3 was Faded Image which symptoms were greying out of date look and the cause changing fashions.

First thing to do was the Stimulating Prep Treatment.
-gather materials together:books magazines tear-sheets, objects, scents. Hunt round the house for things new and old be it a stone from the beach, a postcard and even a cupboard stable. to try the multi-sensory approach
-look through these and set aside the ones that work well
-have a notebook to hand to record to note down any immediate reactions/thoughts/passions/themes.....then think about the themes that jump out at you. Beware story ideas may occur at this point

Intensive Imagination Renewal Treatment
brainstorm media you enjoy
-pick one at a time and analyse why you enjoy it and why they work
-apply to your own work

Refining Revolution Solution
(we all give ourselves rules so break them)
-work out your own rules
-write what the opposite would be
-think how you could tweak them to make your work more interesting and fresh

Conclusions the Holistic Approach:
-get more rest
-get out more
-ask for help
-drink more water
-give self treats

Further resources:

http://www.kate-harrison.com/
http://www.themindgym.com/
Sticky Wisdom/How to Have Kick-Ass Ideas
Story by Robert McKee
The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler

Kate had us laughing the whole way through but I know I could really see how these methods could perk up a weary creative mind and have already started a few things in mine.

Just to say again that my notes are very incomplete and I know I have missed many of the subtleties of the various sessions which doesn't do the speakers the credit they deserve.

The conference wound down with a smaller group for dinner and quiz. I am pleased to say that I was on the winning team again! Just goes to show that you must learn to be near Anne Ashurst when it's quiz time. The most interesting part of the quiz though was the writers who did not recognize their own work - my lips are sealed on who they were though :-)

It was a brilliant conference thanks to the hard work of the wonderful Jan Jones and the committee. I have come away feeling lifted and inspired so now back to revisions - a deadline to meet!

Blues Buster

Well with the boys gone I have been blue. The house is empty during the day. Now I won't say that while they were here there weren't times when I thought a little peace and quiet would be good but now the Snowy and I rattle about the place. I know this is normal so I grabbed a book off the tbr pile and got lost. Yesterday I read Stage by Stage by Jan Jones. It took me to a world of theatre which I know nothing about and made me fall in love with a rake of an actor while my heart was so full for the heroine Beth. The sexual tension in the book was superb the whole way through ( don't know about you but sometimes when it happens early the spark just fizzles out afterwards but it didn't here). The humour was always bubbling through the surface so I found I had a smile glued to my face all day. It took the blues away quite nicely - thank you!

Now to take myself in hand and really focus on A Cornish House. I know what I have to do so I will do it. This rewrite will be complete by the time I fly to the UK on the 23rd of May! Now there's a deadline - yikes!

Christmas Come Early

Sil arrive late on Thursday night and she brought with her my Amazon order!!!!

So where do I start? With Julie's One Night Stand? With Julia's Pasture's New? With Jan's Stage by Stage? With C.S.'s When God's Die? Or with Phillipa's Wish You Were Here?

I don't know but must be discipled and finish the Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox first.....which I am really enjoying but I have waited for these books for so long......

With sil here I may not get much reading or writing done but I used her as a sounding board last night for the changes in A Cornish House and she said to her they worked. DH who was listening said 'and this has a happy ending? How? It sounds more like a slash your wrist job.' It will have a happy ending because that is just me!

Yesterday which went to Friday (remember Friday is Sunday here) Brunch at the Al Muntaha restaurant (200 metres above sea level - the sticky out bit in the picture! ) in the Burj Al Arab. It was too die for........I skipped all the lovely salads, breads and things I could have anywhere and went straight for the lobster tails and prawns. Not that the lobsters were not Maine lobsters or even Cornish ones but they were fabulous and such a decadent treat as was the caviar (got used to this when living in Moscow). I then managed to fit in some prime rib before dd lead me to the puddings. Lets just say that one has to put all thoughts of diets aside and just enjoy. It was a buffet worth living for.....

(the colours in this photos are muted but in life think crayon box primary - red, blue, green!)

Romantic Novelist Association Award Lunch

Well, finally I am on line. It's strange how I was connected in the Maldives and yet couldn't connect in the New Cavendish Club! Having said that I think anything that I may have written yesterday would have been complete and utter gibberish. Between lack of sleep, jet lag, and far too much wine yesterday did pass in a haze.

Monday was my 3rd RNA award lunch and well it felt like a home coming as opposed to the fear and trembling that gripped me the first time. My day began at Jenny Haddon's house and where I laughed till I nearly cried with her and Anne Ashurst (aka Sara Craven). Once in me finery - such as it was- we set off for the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. The first familair face was that of Janet Gover who is the lucky friend that just signed the contract with Little Black Dress. (pictured l-r Liz Baily, Janet Gover and Susie Vereker)

Then I bumped into friends who were up for the Romance Prize - Julie Cohen and Fiona Harper with Kate Hardy (who won!!!) and the lovely Anna Lucia. (l-r Anna Lucia, Kate Hardy, Janet Gover and Julie Cohen)

Events on this scale don't take place without huge effort on many people's part and here are two - Jane Gordon Cummings and Jan Jones. Catherine Jones (aka Kate Lace), the chairwoman, did a fantastic job thanking all those involved.

So the drinks reception allowed me to catch up with fellow Novel Racer while she was chatting with Katie Fforde. We tried to persuade Katie to join but she was too afraid she couldn't keep up!

I glanced at the seeting arrangement and was delighted to see that I was sitting with the lovely blog friend Ray Anne, editor Gillian Green from Ebury, Bex Leith, reader/reviewer Lizzie Roach,Henri Gyland, Jan Sprenger, and the big surprize was a distant relation by marriage the elegant Una Mary Parker. (pictured l-r Pia Tapper-Fenton, Gillian Green and Ray-Anne Lutener)

Trisha Ashley did a wonderful presentation of the romance award which the lovely Kate Hardy won and then Helen Lederer (pictured here with l-r Anne Ashurst, Helen and Evelyn Ryle) had us all in stiches with her chat before presenting the Romantic Novel of the Year Award which went to Freya North for Pillow Talk. Freya's speach was wonderful and brought a tear to my eyes as she dedicated the award to a friend who had died of cancer and she was donating her prize to a cancer charity.

(pictured Lizzie Roach and Freya North)

After a final word by Diane Pearson, the President of the RNA, we emerged for another drink in the reception area where I caught up with the lovely Judy Astley. The crowd moved to the Goat across the road which finally gave a me chance to a decent chat with Julia Williams and moan about not being to get my hands on a copy of her book. In fact I am leaving London very frustrated today as thus far I have not been able to put my paws on Julie Cohen's latest One Night Stand, Julia Williams' Pastures New and Jan Jones' Stage by Stage. I think I will have to do a massive Amazon order that my sil will have to bring out to Dubai with her in March. (picutred below Julia Williams and Kate Hardy)

The pub also brought a chance to catch with with Biddy as she flew in after work to join us and was kind about our obvious intoxicated state.

The evening wound down in a wonderful restaurant in Kensington Church Street with Katie Fforde, Jan Jones and the suprememly kind Nick Robinson of Transworld.

I have to say it was well worth the treck to come. I connected not only with friends but editors again which makes it much easier to approach them later. I think the thing that stays with me most is the friendship generousity of of my fellow writers.

RNA Conference - Part 7

The Romantic Novelist Association is broad church so to speak as it covers all fiction dealing with romance from Harlequin/Mills&Boon to main stream women's fiction. It is a welcoming place as they have this wonderful program called the New Writer's Scheme with helps new writers on their way to publication. Regular readers of the blog will know that I have just posted the much rewritten August Rock off to the scheme where a published author will read through and provide feedback. August Rock went through the scheme last year and the reader was one of the very helpful voices that hopefully will send AG on it's way. The scheme not only provides readers for your work but if it is up to publishable standard it will help you on your way by putting the script in front of an agent or publisher. Good stuff huh?


The first session I attended on the Sunday of the conference was on the New Writers Scheme. Roger Sanderson (pictured above with Sara Craven) who writes Medicals for Harlequin/Mills & Boon as Gill Sanderson heads the scheme and told us of the 250 new writers on the scheme.

He then handled over to Elizabeth Hawksley who gave us the readers view. She has recently co-authored a book with Jenny Haddon - Getting the Point: A Panic-free Guide to English Punctuation for Adults.



Elizabeth's pointers were:

Character, Conflicts, and Story Arc


-early on make sure that the heroine is likable; someone you could sympathize with; not a wimp


-set up a problem; make sure there are enough hooks in chapter one (at least 3 problems)


- run the hero past a real guy; have a man real it aloud; make him realistic


- distinguishing plot - not just a series of events; plot has consequence - emotional and/or real






Next the writer to speak was Amanda Grange and she tackled 'Why do my books keep getting rejected?' Her key points were


-Edit, edit, edit

-Be harsh

-Identify problems and fix them

-Keep characters consistent not wobbling
-Are they too stupid to live - TSTL
-Something that begins and chapter one and takes the reader all the way through the end
-Do the actions have consequences - is there enough conflict; external and internal
-Does every scene have a point
-Is the character the same at the end of the scene?



The session ended with the reminder of all those who have made it through the scheme are eligible to enter The Joan Hessayon NWS Award. This awarded to first novel published who have been through the NWS. This year my friend Fiona Harper, winner in 2006, handed over the award to another friend Phillipa Ashley for her debut novel for Little Black Dress - Decent Exposure. (Phillipa is picutred below with Jan Jones)