Merry Christmas

My family is all here...the Christmas pudding is made, the presents wrapped, carols are playing and the air is filled the with scent of cloves, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.... I am bubbling with happiness. I wish I could bottle it and share it with you all. Instead all I am able to do is wish  that you have a wonderful, magical Christmas. x

THE CORNISH HOUSE Is beginning Its Journey

I've posted at The Heroine Addicts about sending THE CORNISH HOUSE out into the wide world....

Marketing - A Learning Curve Part 5 (I am a Product)

me - thinking hard

Here are the posts I did a little while ago on marketing and PR in case you missed them.

marketing - a learning curve
marketing - a learning curve part 2
marketing - a learning curve part 3
marketing - a learning curve part 4

I'm now only six months from publication of THE CORNISH HOUSE. Uncorrected proof copies are out in the world and people are reading it - GULP(more about this another time). The book is no longer 'mine' it belongs to who ever reads it. If it works, which I hope it does, it becomes the reader's THE CORNISH HOUSE. But God is this scary - as my kids would say sh*t scary - of course they would never say this in front of me!

These proof copies are a key marketing tool and I have begun posting them to reviewers and interviewers - fingers crossed they love it. But as I prepare to send these out and draft yet another email to another magazine or blog I have to think of myself as a product. I want to promote the book, but that may not be what they want. They want an article they can feature that fits their publication...

So I have to step back and think about myself differently. It is a time to put all bashfulness aside and ask...
- What about me is different?
- What about me is interesting? (nothing i hear you say, but look harder and go all the way back to primary school if you must)
- Think of the meme things that were so popular on blogs a few years ago - you know the ones where you confessed the world that you had been a runner up in a beauty pageant (yup - yes at 18 or 19, memory happily fails - trying for a branch in the Boston area of the Irish American Rose of Tralee Contest and a trip to Ireland) and that you won a poetry contest (not to my knowledge) etc...

I have been reading back copies of writing magazines, Alison Baverstock's book - MARKETING YOUR BOOK: An Author's Guide, and looking through my notes from Jane Wenham-Jones' talk at the RNA conference this summer. You do have to separate yourself from yourself if that makes sense. Make a decision about what you are willing to send with the wide world. You need to know what you are comfortable with sharing. How do your family feel about being dragged in? Be sure you know before you proceed!

So in order to put together a list for the publicity department at my publishers, Orion I had to dig deep - in fact it was more like having your tooth drilled without the benefit of pain relief. I also can say I haven't done a very good job but I did do it. I would suggest before you begin making little paragraphs - a simple list of one or two words...

For me it began with ...
- writer (stating the obvious but then it's not longer a blank list)
- wife
- mother of 3
- expat expert
- cat lover
- traveler
- fearful flyer
and so on... you get the idea. With that list it's easier to build pitch paragraphs and you need them. You need to be thinking out of the box all the time...as a debut author (by the way see Nicola Morgan's post here and make sure you click through and read Nicola's interview with Catherine Ryan Howard) chances are you won't be reviewed so you need to look at other ways to get your name and your books name out there...

This is where the list comes in handy...I was reading a writing mag on the flight on Friday. They mentioned a new magazine in Bahrain. So I dog eared the page and then yesterday I did some on-line research to see what the magazine was about...once I figured that out, I went to my list to find a fit....and twenty minutes later I had drafted an email to the editor highlighting a feature of my life that might just fit their magazine. Look at it like the children's game where you have a list of names on one side and pictures on the other....

me -losing the plot completely!

This also help to keep 'you' out of it...after all you are just taking a little paragraph and matching it to their needs....simple - sort of....

Have you ever thought of yourself as a product?

(the pictures were taken by the wonderful Adam Gibbard and you can find him here.)

Dubai Rubgy 7s 2011

It was a bit of a tight squeeze making it to the &s this year...DD's school play came first but I managed to attend the final day and I was so glad I did. Here's a few pics of the event...

Chris Cracknell and me

US team warming up

UAE team

US kicking 

US vs Canada

UAE team

USA team

Canada team

Aussie mascot

Portugal team wearing someone else's shirts

Australia team with mascot in tow

New Zealand team

Here's Siderman with a few rugby supporters

The only regret for me is that there were so few people dressed up...

This couple were fabulous...

Of course there were a few more pics of me with rugby players...

George Gregan and me

Jason Robinson and me

A Book Trailer for The Cornish House

I think I may stick to writing in future as producing one of these although fun in an odd sort of way... was brain burning...

Not sure the resolution is quite right....but my brain is sufficiently fried!

Peter James and Emirates Airlines Literary Festival of Literature

All things being equal or schedules working out, I would have been at the RNA Winter Party last night...instead I had to find a willing photographer to take the pics I normally do. The wonderful Talli Roland did a wonderful job and her pictures of the evening are here.

Now I have to thank the wonderful DJ Kirby for taking this photo of my wonderful agent, Carole Blake (she's Peter James' agent too!) and one of my closest friends, Brigid Coady, holding a proof copy of THE CORNISH HOUSE. So even if i wasn't there in person I was there in book form. (Biddy was hand delivering a copy of the book to the RNA for entry into the Joan Hessayon New Writers Award- thank you Biddy!)

Now, thankfully to take my mind away from a party I was attending the inaugural open door event of the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature....official post here....

It was a beautiful night to be sitting in a 'square' under the stars in my favourite part of  Dubai - the Bastakiya. It was a full 'square' as Isobel Abulhoul welcomed us to the first event of the programme of 'Open Door' evenst and thanked the Sharjah International Book Fair for loaning Peter James for the eveningss. The lovely Aspen quizzed Peter on many things and he entertained with his responses which included tales of his visits to Greek monasteries and favourite crime writers. He says the writer that influenced him most was Graham Greene and particularly Brighton Rock. He said all writers could learn so much from Greene especially how to deliver a character in two sentences.

It was wonderful to see the queues to buy his books...especially his latest thriller Perfect People. The line for to meet Peter after the talk snaked through the beautiful new home of the Festival...Dar Al Adaab (House of Literature).

A perfect evening and one excellent start to a new step for the festival....

A Day at Sharjah International Book Fair

Nothing like a day spent around books (millions of them - well it looked like it any way) and people who love books. There were Arabic books of every shape and size. One stall had the most beautifully bound leather covers. I couldn't resist touching them even though the beautiful script on them was a mystery to me. Walking around the halls I found books in all sorts of languages and on sorts of subjects. I fell in love a coffee table size book on carpets....enough I get carried away...

What impressed me most the vast array of children's books. There were familiar ones, but most impressively there were exquisite local ones with superb illustrations. More the than the beautifully bound ones mentioned above, these books begged to held and enjoyed. I hadn't expected the fair to be so child friendly, but I am so pleased that it was. Literacy is a problem in the region and tackling this by beginning with the children to my mind is the correct way to do it....

The fair also gave me the opportunity to catch up with twitter friend and best selling writer Sara Sheridan (love meeting people in person after chatting with them virtually). Now for some more name dropping....I bumped into the fab Peter James (who shares the wonderful agent Carole Blake with me and may others) and got to know Kate Mosse...(who is published by Orion too)...

And my children would have died of embarrassment... I showed anyone who would look - a proof copy of THE CORNISH HOUSE....even had my photograph taken for a local paper with me holding it...

All I Want For Christmas....

Two things have brought this to mind...my best friend asked me a little while what was my best Christmas present ever??? After little thought I knew exactly what it was...in 2006 my family gave me a lap top - of my own. I wept. I still tear-up thinking about it. Money was tight, but they believed in me enough to give me the tool to reach my dreams. They also wanted me off the family computer too but we won't go into the motivation.

Now the second thing making think about this is Cally Taylor's new book HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is out and it looks like a delicious read...

'Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she's finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox - a charming but rundown independent cinema - and has a boyfriend who's so debonair and charming she can't believe her luck! There's just one problem - none of her boyfriends have ever told her they love her and it doesn't look like Aiden's going to say it any time soon. Desperate to hear 'I love you' for the first time Beth takes matters into her own hands - and instantly wishes she hadn't.

Just when it seems like her luck can't get any worse, bad news arrives in the devilishly handsome shape of Matt Jones. Matt is the regional director of a multiplex cinema and he's determined to get his hands on the Picturebox by Christmas. Can Beth keep her job, her man and her home or is her romantic-comedy life about to turn into a disaster movie?

I definitely want to find this in my stocking....Santa you can order it here

My Proof Copies of THE CORNISH HOUSE

I have a lump in my throat as I write this...my proof copies of THE CORNISH HOUSE arrived at lunch time. DH and I were eating in a restaurant that features in the book when the delivery came for my signature. It was all I could do to stop myself from hugging the man.

DH has promised to read the book now that it's in print. Here he is looking for the saucy bits.

All I can say is that it is an amazing feeling to have your book in your hands. I keep touching it trying to prove to myself that it is real and not a dream. I loved seeing the cover but to experience the book in 3D and to smell it...yes, odd I know but any way to imprint the moment in my memory for ever.

And one more picture because it looks so pretty with the flowers from my Cornish garden....

The Cover for THE CORNISH HOUSE

I can't tell you how exciting this is...but it gives me the chills. Here's the cover for THE CORNISH HOUSE...

Does this mean it's real???? And can I just say how much I love it and how I think the tag line is sooooo perfect...