tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90577672588063359422024-03-13T20:29:03.018+00:00Natalie Kleinman Freelance WriterThis is the blog of Natalie KleinmanNatalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07265317179242075411noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-46063624692277199762020-12-13T12:51:00.001+00:002020-12-13T12:51:26.235+00:00And When It Comes It Brings Good Cheer'And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new' <div><br /></div><div>This quote from Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur is for me like a ghost from Christmas past. The very long ago past when I could spew out massive chunks from this work and still some remain with me. Well, the old order has certainly changed beyond recognition, hasn't it?
Here's another (the opening) </div><div><br /></div><div>'So all day long the noise of battle roll'd </div><div>Among the mountains by the winter sea' </div><div><br /></div><div>And it has been a battle, hasn't it, which sadly so many people have lost. Even a year ago no-one could have imagined how our world would change in such a short space of time. I put this here not to dwell on past struggles but hopefully to shine a light on the future - hence the title of this post. Have you noticed how good people can be in the face of adversity? How much of themselves some people give? Well I have and that is what I'll be taking with me into 2021. I'll give only one example for they are far too numerous to mention, but will any of us forget Captain Tom Moore who raised in excess of £33m for the NHS. His Just Giving page is still open if you want to add to that sum. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalk">Captain Tom's Walk</a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><blockquote><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--MI_SQiAfkI/X9YGRwqUVaI/AAAAAAAALZs/sBumW3xh-ioI2WHMAWuFktxHKTVmFU45QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1000/Tom%2BMoore.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="Captain Tom Moore courtesy of Just Giving" border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1000" height="245" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--MI_SQiAfkI/X9YGRwqUVaI/AAAAAAAALZs/sBumW3xh-ioI2WHMAWuFktxHKTVmFU45QCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h245/Tom%2BMoore.jpg" width="320" /></a></blockquote></div>
Sadly, due to Covid 19, the anticipated publication by Sapere Books of my four Regency romantic novels has been delayed and I hope the first, The Reluctant Bride, will be with you in the spring. Since the cover is ready to go and I love it so much, here is what it will look like. Isn't it fabulous!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bz5GhZ06Iok/X9YJLlbXw_I/AAAAAAAALaA/4qt_C-pTctEPPjws2n7qhSjSE1uIlaTlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/The%2BReluctant%2BBride%2BCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bz5GhZ06Iok/X9YJLlbXw_I/AAAAAAAALaA/4qt_C-pTctEPPjws2n7qhSjSE1uIlaTlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/The%2BReluctant%2BBride%2BCover.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>In the meantime, I’ve written a tale to celebrate the season. <i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Grange-Charming-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B08PT5W1SS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=natalie+kleinman&qid=1607861468&sr=8-1">Christmas
at The Grange</a></span></i>, available on Amazon, is an uplifting short story set in 1816, I hope it will bring you some cheer. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RxP5ETIqum8/X9YJ7rzd80I/AAAAAAAALaI/BftiLdYc2l8dxBBRb-8xSyLlefxypj25ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Christmas%2Bat%2BThe%2BGrange.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1283" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RxP5ETIqum8/X9YJ7rzd80I/AAAAAAAALaI/BftiLdYc2l8dxBBRb-8xSyLlefxypj25ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Christmas%2Bat%2BThe%2BGrange.png" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>And so I return to the title of this piece. Whatever your persuasion, I wish every one of you a very Happy Christmas and hope it brings you all the good cheer you could wish for. Here’s to a better 2021</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJF4MnWTvVg/X9YMJJmXC0I/AAAAAAAALaU/cuPEf1gsNRcdxgEC84V5k3sgLcs-4rEDwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/background-5787728_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="1920" height="173" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJF4MnWTvVg/X9YMJJmXC0I/AAAAAAAALaU/cuPEf1gsNRcdxgEC84V5k3sgLcs-4rEDwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h173/background-5787728_1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div><br /></div><div>Until the next time </div><div>Natalie</div><div><br /></div><div>PS If you want to follow my writing progress why not subscribe to my Newsletter here: <a href="https://www.subscribepage.com/i7o4d8">https://www.subscribepage.com/i7o4d8</a></div>Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-75188805055863272752020-10-12T07:30:00.000+01:002020-10-12T10:57:55.717+01:00Chatting with Elaine Everest – Time for Tea<p>Today it’s my great
pleasure to welcome Elaine Everest to the blog once more.</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Well here we are again,
Elaine, chatting about another new book, this time <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Teashop-Girls-Elaine-Everest/dp/1529015928/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y2XQ6D9GVRF5&dchild=1&keywords=christmas+with+the+teashop+girls&qid=1600949246&s=books&sprefix=christmas+with+the+tea%2Cstripbooks%2C209&sr=1-1">Christmas
with the Teashop Girls</a>. </i>So, with your builder’s tea and my rather
weaker version, let’s begin.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-epRo9iyeJYw/WOTUXaP8u0I/AAAAAAAAENk/W14REmRLxtYTDdhQLODBhWRihMqa04HGwCPcBGAYYCw/s1500/Elaine%2BEverest%2B50%2Bgold%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-epRo9iyeJYw/WOTUXaP8u0I/AAAAAAAAENk/W14REmRLxtYTDdhQLODBhWRihMqa04HGwCPcBGAYYCw/w160-h200/Elaine%2BEverest%2B50%2Bgold%2B3.jpg" width="160" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Thank you for having
me, Natalie. Any chance of a digestive biscuit with my mug of builder’s tea? <b>Certainly, but if you’re going to dunk let
me know so I can turn away.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>In <i>Christmas with the Teashop Girls,</i> no
less than with all your previous books, you take us back to a period in our
history in which you are so obviously immersed that you live and breathe it.
Bearing in mind that you weren’t even born then, can you talk us through the
process that has given you such a deep understanding of east Kent in the Second
World War years?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">I rely heavily on my
own memories of the late fifties and sixties and those of friends and family
who have told me about life in the forties. I’m a Kent girl through and through.
If I was a stick of seaside rock, I’d have ‘Kentish Maid’ running through me! Born
and bred in North West Kent many of our early holidays were spent in Ramsgate
and, while there, Mum would arrange for us to take coach trips out into the
countryside. We’d journey down by coach or train and I still have vivid images
in my mind of passing farms and hop fields until we spotted that first glimpse
of the sea. I’m still the same now, but sadly many farms and hop fields have
vanished to be replaced by housing and industrial estates – and lorries!</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Non-fiction books,
documentaries, postcards, photographs, newspaper archives, films, museums, and
anything remotely related to my favourite era and I’m back there in an instant.
As I write this it is Saturday afternoon and I’m waiting for the film ‘Genevieve’
to begin on the Talking Pictures channel. Yes, it is set in the fifties, but
much is the same as the forties and I can sigh over Kenneth More…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>If it comes to
sighing over Kenneth More I’ll join you. And that first glimpse of the sea is
still wondrous, isn’t it? Staying on the subject of research, you move some of
your characters to London for part of the story. Did this aspect require a
different approach? What ‘tools’ did you use?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MWtk3PRlq4E/X2yPICxU39I/AAAAAAAALBA/JRiUbCM6RDcHZvYIDuPEwZAgOldrHtUXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/Christmas%2Bwith%2Bthe%2BTea%2BShop%2BGirls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MWtk3PRlq4E/X2yPICxU39I/AAAAAAAALBA/JRiUbCM6RDcHZvYIDuPEwZAgOldrHtUXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Christmas%2Bwith%2Bthe%2BTea%2BShop%2BGirls.jpg" /></a></div>My characters often
travel to London in my Woolworths series. In the Teashops books London is
important as it is the home of Rose’s future in laws; she is there the day the
London Blitz starts. I was born and brought up in Erith, on the south bank of
the Thames and very close to the docks as the river winds its way to London.
Dad worked for Erith Oil and Cake Mills nearby and much of the work was manual
and included unloading ships at their own jetty. This was long before he moved
up the promotion ladder. He would take me to the river and point out foreign
ships and also tell me about those that docked at BOCM. When it came to write
those scenes, I could see the detail in my mind’s eye. I would also go to my
library of over a hundred non-fiction research books and also watch
documentaries on London dockland and the Blitz. Anyone wishing to write sagas
needs to know their area well – as well as its history. I find that many books
where the author has just made up an area, or simply picked a setting without
knowing it well can stand out a mile as they don’t hold a warmth for the area. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>Your locations – Sea
View, Lyons Tea Shop (Margate), Lyons Tea Shop (Ramsgate), the Ramsgate Tunnels
– fact or fiction?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Mainly FACT! Both the teashop in Margate and the one in Ramsgate did exist but
now sadly long gone. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Do you recall that during
one of our writing retreats we tracked down the old sign to the Margate teashop
in a back street of Margate? <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Oh yes, I
remember that! </b>The terrace overlooking the sea is part of a hotel. Nothing
remains of the Ramsgate teashop and the building is now part of a chain of
pubs. I did stand on the pavement in front of the building to get a feel for
the street and look at the view down to the harbour so I am aware of what my
girls could see.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">The Ramsgate Tunnels
are very real and still exist. They saved the lives of thousands of locals
during WW2 when they were used as air raid shelters. It is said that every
local was no more than ten minutes <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rbVnooHecAI/X2yTX2x1rXI/AAAAAAAALBM/fZsPageGS0Ez8G2eQZsELvenIt1NEq3FwCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/Ramsgate%2BTunnels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="750" height="208" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rbVnooHecAI/X2yTX2x1rXI/AAAAAAAALBM/fZsPageGS0Ez8G2eQZsELvenIt1NEq3FwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h208/Ramsgate%2BTunnels.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy of Ramsgate Tunnels Museum<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />from an entrance. Today we are able to visit
the tunnels and take part in a guided tour and hear the stories of the war
years. I’d recommend every person visit at least once. There is also a 1940s
café for anyone needing a cuppa and slice of cake.<br />
Sea View is my invention although is you stroll up Madeira Walk there is a
hotel at the top of the road that I adopted as Flora’s guest house. These days
it is a hotel and restaurant. I wonder if they realise …?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>It isn’t just a
sense of place. Your characters are central to your plot and we come to feel we
know them personally. You have a large cast. Where do you draw them from?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">I start with my main
characters and ask myself what kinds of family and friends she would have. I
need to get under the skin of my characters to see what makes them tick; this
shows me what kind of person they would not like – and that’s when my ‘baddies’
appear. As each book in a series comes along, I won’t drop a character from a
previous story as in real life this does not happen. I’m fortunate that my
publisher gives me a free hand with my stories and doesn’t ask for a different
person to take the main stage in each book. My stories wouldn’t work like that
as every character is important and my readers would soon complain. I value my
readers and their input will always be important to me.</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>It seems appropriate
that we’re drinking tea while discussing the famous Lyons Tea Shops and Corner
Houses. With Butlins, Woolworths and Lyons you have picked iconic settings for
your fabulous stories. Can we expect more of the same or do you have another in
mind?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Any chance of a second
cup?<b> Good idea.</b></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
My first series was never meant to feature an iconic workplace as it was just
where the girls worked. Come to that it wasn’t supposed to be a series!
However, such is the heartfelt nostalgia that I continued with another book and
a series was born. By the time <i>The Woolworths Girls</i> was published I’d
already written <i>The Butlins Girls</i> with the setting ideas mainly coming
from my childhood holiday to Warners Holiday Camps and also my maternal grandparents’
links to Billy Butlin’s fairgrounds. <i>The Teashop Girls</i> series stemmed
from my fond thoughts of time spent in Ramsgate and Margate and also visiting
Lyons Corner houses during the 1960s. It was so funny when <i>The Bookseller</i>
labelled me ‘The Queen of the Workplace Saga’ as I’d not given any thought to
my settings. These days I seem to have started a new bandwagon with publishers
and authors jumping on board a new and popular sub-genre. Some of their books
work and some don’t. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>Personally, I love a
prologue. What makes you use this particular device?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Books always need to
start by drawing a reader in on the first page – as I often tell my students!
Sagas often don’t as they have gentler starts in the first few pages. That’s
why I feel they need a prologue. I like to write a prologue in order for the reader
to want more and then read on. Often it is a scene from later in the book that
does not give away any spoilers but starts the reader wondering…</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">My next book, <i>A
Mother Forever</i> does not have a prologue but does have an epilogue. It suits
the story, plus the first pages starts with more of a bang.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>2020 has been a very
difficult year, almost as if we are also living in a war zone. How have you
coped?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Gosh hasn’t it been a
year and a half? I like to think I have coped. If anything, I’ve had more time
to write and also to consider my future as an author. There are new genres I’d
like to try and ‘things’ I’d like to change. I miss going out to meet readers
and chat about books. </p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
I’ve also missed going away to the coast, and also seeing friends and running
my classes. Thank goodness we have a very good Facebook page where students
attend online classes, so successes continue. I do know that come the end of the
war on this virus I’ll be very choosy about where I go - and possibly never venture
into London again. I value life more and get very angry at people who don’t
follow guidelines to help stop this horrible virus in its tracks. <br />
I do know I’ll never get off my soap box though!</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>Finally, if you
hadn’t been an author (No, you’re not allowed to stop) what other profession
might you have chosen?</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">A very interesting
question!</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
At different stages of my life there have been career options. As a teenager my
mum suggested working for Warner’s Holiday Camp as a Green Coat. I loved the
idea of entertaining and had always attended dance classes since the age of
three. Sadly, school exams and boyfriends meant I never gave that career choice
another thought. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">At the age of sixteen
with a bright future ahead of me I did consider teaching. I attended open days
at teacher training colleges and spoke to the right people about this. It would
have meant staying on at school for a sixth year to gain my A-levels, but my
parents could not afford to support me, even though by then like all girls of
my age I’d taken on a Saturday and holiday job to save. They would not consider
a grant as that was taking charity and they were proud people. Considering the
options and talking to a neighbour who had a high-flying job in London I
decided to look into business courses at Erith College of Technology. The
course I followed back in 1970/71 was called ‘Business Machines and Commerce’
and certainly covered all aspects of what a young woman needed to find a great
job. I left with more qualifications than I’d ever have needed to attend
teacher training college and doubled up on ‘O’ levels for English subjects due
to the college using a different exam board and gained an A level in the
subject as well. Mum was pleased as by the time my exam results came through
and I’d secured that first job she was seriously ill and passed away a couple
of months later.<br />
I wish she’d lived to see me climb the career ladder to work<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in management then succeed with my writing.
She’d have chuckled to see me gain the required teaching certificate to teach
as well – and to run my own writing school. I like to think she knows.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> To use an old expression, you’ve done her
proud. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Thank you so much for your interesting questions, Natalie, and taking
part in my blog tour.</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Elaine xx</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>It’s always a pleasure, Elaine. I look forward to the next time</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><b>Natalie xx</b></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></p><p class="Default"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">ABOUT <i>CHRISTMAS
WITH THE TEASHOP GIRLS </i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Default"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The
friends return in a moving story of love, bravery and hope set in 1940 – a
guaranteed winter warmer full of festive spirit. Bestseller Elaine Everest is
the author of the much-loved Woolworths Girls saga series. </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Default"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">It’s late
1940 and the war feels closer to home than ever for Rose Neville and her staff
at the Lyon’s Teashop in Margate. The worry of rationing hangs overhead as the
Nippies do their best to provide a happy smile and a hot cup of tea for their
customers. When a bombing raid targets the Kent coastline, Lyon’s is badly hit,
throwing the future of the cafe into jeopardy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Default"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">The light in
Rose’s life is her dashing fiancé Captain Ben Hargreaves and she’s busy
planning their Christmas Eve wedding. But she must also plan to take two new
stepdaughters into her life and get on the right side of her wealthy
mother-in-law, Lady Diana. Is Rose ready to become a mother? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Default"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">When Rose’s
half-sister Eileen makes contact, it seems that Rose’s dreams of having a
sibling are coming true at long last. But her friends begin to suspect that
she’s hiding something… As the wedding draws near, the bombings intensify,
putting everything and everyone Rose loves in danger. Only one thing is for
sure: it will be a Christmas she never forgets . . . <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Default"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">ABOUT
ELAINE EVEREST: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Default"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Elaine
Everest is from North West Kent and she grew up listening to stories of the war
years in her home town of Erith, which features in her bestselling <i>Woolworths
Girls </i>series. A former journalist, and author of nonfiction books for dog
owners, Elaine has written over sixty short stories for the women's magazine
market. When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place creative writing
school in Hextable, Kent. She lives with her husband, Michael and sheepdog
Henry. You can find out more about Elaine on Twitter @ElaineEverest or Facebook
/elaine.everest <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Default"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Elaine
Everest lives in Kent is available for interviews and to write features.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Teashop Girls </span></i></b><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is
published by Pan Macmillan on 15th October price £7.99 as paperback original.
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
And if you want to follow Elaine's Blog Tour just check out the banner below:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5KyiGaXYg2M/X3x0vYwczHI/AAAAAAAALEo/tyQZ297_Mu0boa9crDgsAiBonaaecD53QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Teashop%2BGirls%2BChristmas%2BBlog%2BTour%2BBanner.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5KyiGaXYg2M/X3x0vYwczHI/AAAAAAAALEo/tyQZ297_Mu0boa9crDgsAiBonaaecD53QCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Teashop%2BGirls%2BChristmas%2BBlog%2BTour%2BBanner.jpg"/></a></div>Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-4888377772464598352020-09-08T08:00:00.010+01:002020-09-08T08:00:00.231+01:00What a So and So<p>Language evolves all the time and the rules (there are rules)
change. I know that. I accept that. But, being a bit long in the tooth, it took
me many years to do so and even more to implement some of those changes into my
writing. You will no doubt have observed that I began the previous sentence
with the word ‘but’. But is a conjunction. Its purpose is to connect ideas that
contrast. For example:</p><p class="p" style="margin: 7.5pt 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="p" style="margin: 7.5pt 0cm;">I like my coffee black but she likes hers with milk. <o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ANwuDdobndk/X1YG1rxn6JI/AAAAAAAAK68/EHec3HwWa5kIJccJ_v7IU9ixatO6jTwMwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/coffee.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1281" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ANwuDdobndk/X1YG1rxn6JI/AAAAAAAAK68/EHec3HwWa5kIJccJ_v7IU9ixatO6jTwMwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/coffee.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p" style="margin: 7.5pt 0cm;">Had I put…I accept that but, being a bit long in the tooth
etc…there would be no controversy. However it seems to me that it carries more
weight this way. And, while I’m talking about breaking old rules, what is more
important? Adhering to convention or using the best way to make your point? My
poor English teacher would turn in her grave. Not only have I begun one
sentence with <i>But</i>, but I began
another with <i>And</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">A fairly recent
innovation in the spoken word, not so much yet in the written, is the use of
the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">So </i>at the beginning of
speech, a propos of absolutely nothing at all, with not the remotest connection
to what is to follow or anything that came before. Now this one really
irritates me – I’m sorry if you’re a convert but I’m not. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Imagine my dismay then
when, in the middle of the night, one of those times when a jumble of thoughts
comes flooding in when you’d far rather be asleep, I found myself thinking…<i>So,</i> I wonder how my day will pan out
tomorrow? Why the <i>So? </i>What’s the
matter with just <i>I wonder</i>? And then I giggled. Silently. I didn’t want to wake
my husband. Well, (a similar misuse I fear) was that so very bad? It isn’t the
best example but it made me (metaphorically) sit up and think.</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J2tQ4hYUGFA/X1YKxRJSsiI/AAAAAAAAK7I/dnkuLSeu5oIV4c94l_rfENZsPjKoHkszACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Thinking.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1427" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J2tQ4hYUGFA/X1YKxRJSsiI/AAAAAAAAK7I/dnkuLSeu5oIV4c94l_rfENZsPjKoHkszACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Thinking.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">I’ve been known, when
editing my work, to alter the text because it feels old-fashioned and stilted. I know I write historical fiction but I still want it to flow. Does the grammar really matter when what we’re trying to do is entertain? Old
habits die hard but newly-acquired ones aren’t always so bad. (acceptable use
of both <i>but </i>and <i>so </i>in that sentence)</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wLI6ie9jZ-c/X1YLRn3njOI/AAAAAAAAK7Q/HSO9sbKstBUzsV7XeCOnJGByw92GIzz8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Grammar.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1271" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wLI6ie9jZ-c/X1YLRn3njOI/AAAAAAAAK7Q/HSO9sbKstBUzsV7XeCOnJGByw92GIzz8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Grammar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">And (see, I’ve done it
again) don’t even get me started on split infinitives. I’m prepared to be shot
down in flames. What do you think?</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_oEuEsvS7TM/X1YMB8EkJjI/AAAAAAAAK7c/DBDj2CPv-D0P6aAk9Hq5pTeJeswQODrdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Flames.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1099" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_oEuEsvS7TM/X1YMB8EkJjI/AAAAAAAAK7c/DBDj2CPv-D0P6aAk9Hq5pTeJeswQODrdgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Flames.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Until next time<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">Natalie<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">PS If you enjoy the Blog, why not subscribe to my Newsletter</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="https://www.subscribepage.com/i7o4d8">https://www.subscribepage.com/i7o4d8</a></p>Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-15453127394022253432020-07-19T14:39:00.000+01:002020-07-19T14:40:14.098+01:00Jane Marple or Hercule Poirot?<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
In the light of my
much-stated love of the Regency and my frequent assertion that it’s my go to
genre, it occurred to me that I might have given the impression I rarely read
or watch anything else. Not so. Like many, I love a good thriller though I can’t
read anything containing horror as I’m left with bad dreams. A pity, because
there’s some superb writing which I have to avoid for this reason. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
Lockdown has given us
the opportunity to re-watch many old favourites, some of which are rather dated
but still very watchable. I’m pretty much talking cosy-crime here though you
may have your own preferences of course. There are many series which fit the
description ‘cosy crime’ and I won’t list them all, even if I could remember
them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0WPmhubcII/XxRGrMERTNI/AAAAAAAAKuA/_doc3zygkxkDHbkY1LrARk0eryPDGXo3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Agatha%2BChristie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="102" data-original-width="123" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0WPmhubcII/XxRGrMERTNI/AAAAAAAAKuA/_doc3zygkxkDHbkY1LrARk0eryPDGXo3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Agatha%2BChristie.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Agatha Christie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
So I got to thinking
about Agatha Christie. Prolific, hugely readable, though I haven’t for years. I
wonder what happened to my collection? And a joy on the small screen. But…Miss
Marple or Poirot? For me there is only one Miss Marple, Joan Hickson
epitomising our aged but needle-sharp sleuth. And David Suchet made the role of
Hercule his own. It has left me unable or at least unwilling to watch any other
actor in those roles because to me they ARE Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--M_vXlPIF5U/XxRG4w9WCQI/AAAAAAAAKuE/bvYm3hXsQ8MgH1CWmQn5b3Sk5SPqu55nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/The_Murder_at_the_Vicarage_First_Edition_Cover_1930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--M_vXlPIF5U/XxRG4w9WCQI/AAAAAAAAKuE/bvYm3hXsQ8MgH1CWmQn5b3Sk5SPqu55nQCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/The_Murder_at_the_Vicarage_First_Edition_Cover_1930.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
As I’m writing this, I realise how drawn I am to this particular genre when it’s portrayed on the television.
How many series, and I think they tend to be series, are produced for our
delectation. Do you like the modern ones or do you go back to the tried and
trusted? Or do you watch them all?</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
Back to the header of
this piece then. For you, is it Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1cIiHh-lyJo/XxRHDdFFsSI/AAAAAAAAKuM/sX7KTLMkhDktlYZLFq36C_1KQk0GEUByACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Murder%2Bon%2Bthe%2Borient%2Bexpress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="80" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1cIiHh-lyJo/XxRHDdFFsSI/AAAAAAAAKuM/sX7KTLMkhDktlYZLFq36C_1KQk0GEUByACLcBGAsYHQ/s200/Murder%2Bon%2Bthe%2Borient%2Bexpress.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
I’m off now to see if I
can find any Agatha Christie hidden away anywhere. See you next time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
Natalie <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A sad footnote:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also by Agatha Christie, though featuring neither Miss Marple nor Poirot, The Mousetrap, the world's longest running play, opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until March 2020 when stage performances had to be discontinued due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Let's hope it comes back soon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-35574397034329073882020-06-18T07:30:00.000+01:002020-06-18T07:30:07.487+01:00Chatting with Francesca Capaldi<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Today
it’s my pleasure to welcome Francesca Capaldi to the blog for tea and a chat
about her recently published saga, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heartbreak
in the Valleys<o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OQWJoRRBQQA/XuIyd5UgrRI/AAAAAAAAKjc/wa5bqw0MEzATqROP__AOeQwdJ_PGjnbJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Francesca%2BCapaldi.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1178" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OQWJoRRBQQA/XuIyd5UgrRI/AAAAAAAAKjc/wa5bqw0MEzATqROP__AOeQwdJ_PGjnbJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Francesca%2BCapaldi.png" width="269" /></a><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Hello
Natalie, and thank you for inviting me.</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
biscuits are on that plate, Francesca, so help yourself and let’s begin.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What
a mixed heritage you have. Your parents came from vastly different backgrounds.
With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heartbreak in the Valleys </i>you’ve
obviously been pulled towards your mother’s homeland. I’m aware you grew up on
the south coast of England so tell us, what is it about Wales that tugs at your
heartstrings?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Wales
is such a breathtakingly beautiful place. I've been visiting it since I was six
years old, when we had cousins living in Merthyr Tydfil. They used to drive us
through the sweeping valleys and around the verdant mountains, to visit the
beauty spots. Although my mother was only eleven when she left, her heart
always belonged to Wales, and she passed that affection for it onto me.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Your
father was Italian. Have you had much opportunity in your own lifetime to
return to his roots? Do you know what his childhood was like?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Although
I've been to Italy a few times, I've never visited Picinisco in Lazio, where he
came from. It was a place of mountains. There has been a family trip planned
there for years, but we haven't quite got there yet. I know he was brought up
between two farms, as both sides of his family owned them. One, or maybe both,
had sheep. At least one of them had a vineyard and made their own wine. On one
occasion, my dad was playing in the building where they were making wine and
ended up drunk from the fumes. He talked of donkeys (which he was very fond of)
and strawberries as large as apples. It sounded like a happy, carefree childhood,
though his father was killed in World War 1 when he was only ten months old, so
his mother was a widow.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Your
readers will be delighted to know that there is a Book 2 in the series. Will
Wales remain the focus of your writing after that, do you think, or will you
change the setting and/or the time period, and will it be another saga?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
I<b><span style="color: blue;">'m
hoping to write another in the series, but that hasn't been decided yet. I have
part of a World War 1 saga written that is set on the Sussex coast, which could
be another series. There are several contemporary novels that I've written, one
of which is set in West Wales, so at the moment I could go several ways.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GBP7teEHpIA/XuIy3joMNvI/AAAAAAAAKjk/SKQkp5HQduc5tjGPTio6sKgobJ2WQxc3wCEwYBhgLKtQDAL1OcqxU1a4UR8K1T6PqL_6UMP6NTZdvrllAsSCOirw27pFZJZgIskrRarGU26fQ7FqaRsPpRHWd3CZ1_zfm2aB1uLpCVt7Adk-UUd8gKwEoCxyeclXdlL7GQNnw4k6p11b_s_2l8bi6DVH3QB4f_2Drv6APjOvKpCLKynYCR4xNDQF8cBfisCIUNk4aNyh9tieb3Gs4wc7B0QsHad80DrfQtZA31r2PefhTLWGhFN5gwesweIBREI0SIWKTWqLaxqsFhImgqN_qCAoZYP56q1XKFgFdZr0j0YgpBLlgMJacI2gSAYetqOfLt1kVOYhVfY3VpAAjbHBJ3p-wrHcPBEfQOgBWlgDGxWpNRouoHs6ygttY2TPDrp_grAmrRTtTdzeDzlF1n0Vl7nndhG-d3STPS0Z40I2-tHFhQsmZ5wypli31f7QI5smmZVDmub7rSsmH2BEl-iCtI1CfvdX1Ii0uTHDS__PINaWVngC5dBd70c8ibPc7uCAAQ5lYYyAZKrisYAWhFxR6V-0VfzibU__ulXHD8z0D5pQAOl-l5PXb0zjgjb0uQBR4r5CllIWHF5SveR2EAAPKWdqD35bzJH-KLbfomqi8J0F5vKGw4lv33arCMPDqiPcF/s1600/Cover%2BHeartbreak%2Bin%2Bthe%2BValleys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GBP7teEHpIA/XuIy3joMNvI/AAAAAAAAKjk/SKQkp5HQduc5tjGPTio6sKgobJ2WQxc3wCEwYBhgLKtQDAL1OcqxU1a4UR8K1T6PqL_6UMP6NTZdvrllAsSCOirw27pFZJZgIskrRarGU26fQ7FqaRsPpRHWd3CZ1_zfm2aB1uLpCVt7Adk-UUd8gKwEoCxyeclXdlL7GQNnw4k6p11b_s_2l8bi6DVH3QB4f_2Drv6APjOvKpCLKynYCR4xNDQF8cBfisCIUNk4aNyh9tieb3Gs4wc7B0QsHad80DrfQtZA31r2PefhTLWGhFN5gwesweIBREI0SIWKTWqLaxqsFhImgqN_qCAoZYP56q1XKFgFdZr0j0YgpBLlgMJacI2gSAYetqOfLt1kVOYhVfY3VpAAjbHBJ3p-wrHcPBEfQOgBWlgDGxWpNRouoHs6ygttY2TPDrp_grAmrRTtTdzeDzlF1n0Vl7nndhG-d3STPS0Z40I2-tHFhQsmZ5wypli31f7QI5smmZVDmub7rSsmH2BEl-iCtI1CfvdX1Ii0uTHDS__PINaWVngC5dBd70c8ibPc7uCAAQ5lYYyAZKrisYAWhFxR6V-0VfzibU__ulXHD8z0D5pQAOl-l5PXb0zjgjb0uQBR4r5CllIWHF5SveR2EAAPKWdqD35bzJH-KLbfomqi8J0F5vKGw4lv33arCMPDqiPcF/s320/Cover%2BHeartbreak%2Bin%2Bthe%2BValleys.jpg" width="204" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><b>As
well as your sagas, you’ve also written several pocket novels and a great
number of short stories. With such a varied output, do you have a favourite? Do
you like the quick fix or do you prefer to be in it for the long haul?</b></b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Ooh,
that's an interesting question. I'm not sure I have a favourite, though I do
like to alternate novel writing with shorter pieces. Short stories require a
different skill and it's good to keep my hand in, though I don’t write as many of
them now as I'd like to.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Impossible
to write a saga without doing a considerable amount of research. Is this
something you enjoy or a chore that has to be done?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Not a
chore at all – I love it! I particularly love primary record sources, like the
census and newspapers from the time period. If anything, I love it too much as
I could look through them all day and not get a word written! <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<b>And
now, a little bit about Francesca Capaldi please. When you’re not writing, and
when we’re not all stuck in lockdown, what best do you like to do?</b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: blue;">I love
being out visiting places, especially with friends and family. I enjoy a coffee
out at the garden centre, or a visit to a National Trust property. I like going
to the theatre. What I'm particularly missing at the moment are days out with
the family, visiting places like museums or country parks, or simply having a
meal. And I love having the grandchildren to stay, as we always have lots of
fun.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Thank
you for your questions, Natalie.</span> </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s been a pleasure, Francesca. Thank you for joining me.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b>About Heartbreak
in the Valley</b></div>
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<b>The world was crumbling, but her love stayed strong</b></div>
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<b>November 1915. </b>For young housemaid, <b>Anwen Rhys, </b>life is hard in the Welsh mining village of Dorcalon, deep in the Rhymney Valley. She cares for her ill mother and beloved younger sister Sara, all while shielding them from her father's drunken, violent temper. Anwen comforts herself with her love for childhood sweetheart, <b>Idris Hughes, </b>away fighting in the Great War. </div>
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Yet when Idris returns, he is a changed man; no longer the innocent boy she loved, he is harder, more distant, quickly breaking off their engagement. And when tragedy once again strikes her family, Anwen's heart is completely broken.</div>
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But when an explosion at the pit brings unimaginable heartache to Dorcalon, Anwen and Idris put their feelings aside to unite their mining community.</div>
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In the midst of despair, can Anwen find hope again? And will she ever find the happiness she deserves?</div>
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<b>Book
Links<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Amazon: <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://t.co/ghUcBqX5fe?amp=1">https://amzn.to/2XUSTyB
</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Kobo: <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://t.co/UcwBUsLdC4?amp=1">https://bit.ly/2XZ0RGI
</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Apple: <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://t.co/kdAyf4j9vd?amp=1">https://apple.co/2KsIfqJ</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>About the Author</b></div>
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Several years ago, Francesca Capaldi pursued a childhood dream and joined a creative writing class. Lots of published short stories, a serial, and three pocket novels later, she's now explored her mother's ancestral history for a novel set in a Welsh colliery village. A history graduate and former teacher, she hails from the Sussex coast but now lives in Kent with her family and a cat called Lando Calrissian</div>
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<b>Social
Media</b></div>
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<b>Blog: </b><a href="https://writemindswriteplace.wordpress.com/">https://writemindswriteplace.wordpress.com/</a></div>
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<b>Author Page: </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancescaCapaldiAuthor/">https://www.facebook.com/FrancescaCapaldiAuthor/</a></div>
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<b>Twitter: </b><a href="https://twitter.com/FCapaldiBurgess">@FCapaldiBurgess</a></div>
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<b>Instagram: </b>Francesca.Capaldi.Burgess</div>
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Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-42351309722996644992020-06-16T07:30:00.000+01:002020-06-16T07:30:00.258+01:00Chatting with Ros Rendle<br />
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<b>I'm delighted to welcome Ros today for tea and a chat, and to congratulate her on the publication of her latest book, <i>Bird in the Hand</i></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">I love a chat about books at any time, and if there's tea involved too, then even better. Thank you for the invitation.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></b>
<b>It seems to me that the beautiful cover of <i>Bird in the Hand </i>conceals a novel filled with a multitude of emotions, which begs the question, is your writing character or plot driven? Do you find yourself living in Charmian's skin? Does she take you on her journey or do you take her?</b><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8TZTu5HYJxs/XuNaydrAIyI/AAAAAAAAKkQ/IiLxrU3MfqUNadVNtbkBoj06MxZajW1jQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/ros%2Bauthor%2Bpic%2Blatest%2B2019.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8TZTu5HYJxs/XuNaydrAIyI/AAAAAAAAKkQ/IiLxrU3MfqUNadVNtbkBoj06MxZajW1jQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ros%2Bauthor%2Bpic%2Blatest%2B2019.png" width="240" /></a><span style="color: blue;"><b>Many of my books have started with the main character, who I picture in great detail, both physically and emotionally, from the beginning. I could picture Charmian's wild curly hair and brown, long-limbed figure. I knew she was rebellious and restless. Having said that, more recently my books are concept driven. That is to say I have in mind a 'what if'. What if the girl has two people who wish to have a relationship with her but through a particular circumstance she decides to relinquish both? Or...what if the decisions she makes <i>for </i>her partner or are made for her <i>by </i>others case her intense difficulty then...the plot thickens. It's great fun whether it's character, plot or concept. </b></span><br />
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<b>You've written several books in different genres. Was that a deliberate choice or was each one a story demanding to be told?</b><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b>My very first book, soon to be reissued with Sapere Books, demanded to be written. It was the one that released me. We all have those dramas in life at some point and people say to write it down can help. It's not my own story, I must emphasise, but it was useful. Then, each book since has come with its own clamour to be written. The 20th century historical series arose from family history delving and, living in the area of many WW1 battlefields at the time, the research was fascinating. Thus, three sisters and three times of major conflict of the last century were born. My contemporary novels are just fun to write, even though each has a serious social interaction or family drama at its heart. I do quite enjoy the difference in time periods and therefore different types of research.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b>I see you lived in France for ten years. Was that prior to your retirement and, if so, were you teaching in an English or a French school? Or something entirely different? Can you tell us something of your experiences there?</b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Both my husband and I took early retirement here, and that's when we went to live in France. He did work for a French builder and I did do some voluntary English teaching in our local primary school there, but really it was great to do very little in terms of work! That's when I took up writing. I had tried in my twenties, but 'life' got in the way. My mum, who was a published author, always encouraged me and I'm sorry she never knew of my more recent success.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">We lived in a small village and had a good community of French and English friends. The language was not a problem for me, and my husband took a short course which gave him confidence to have a go. He was able to converse with lots of people using French and gesticulations. Getting into the bureaucracy of a foreign life was sometimes frustrating and often hilarious but people were always helpful. Life was calm but punctuated by parties and outings. We enjoyed it all.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></b>
<b>As a head teacher you must have needed to be extremely organised in your working life. Is that a natural trait or an acquired one? Does it follow through to your writing?</b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">Yes, that's very perceptive. My working life had to be highly organised, especially with family and children to sort out. Often I had evening meetings and long days, so I had to think ahead and write lots down. Nothing else is particularly so. Housework definitely got forgotten. I'm not an in-depth planner with my writing. I usually plan each of the first ten chapters but leave the next ten until I get there and so on. I do know at roughly what part major plot points will happen, though, just not the fine detail of how to get there.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></b>
<b>Writing is a somewhat sedentary occupation but I notice from your biog that when you're not at your desk you are often indulging in some physically demanding activity. Do you, for instance, ever find a plot running around in your head when you're walking the dogs or is it a complete getaway for you?</b><br />
<b><span style="color: blue;">I have plots and conversations running through my head all the time. Sometimes I must make myself concentrate on talk going on around me. However, when we're ballroom dancing, I need to focus closely so it's probably just as well to get away from novels for a while. Then an idea or a resolution will ping home when I least expect it, often in the middle of the night. </span></b><br />
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<b>It's been a real pleasure chatting with you, Ros. Let's do it again when your next book comes out. In the meantime, I wish you all the luck with <i>Bird in the Hand. </i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<b>Blurb:</b></div>
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1970, the height of the sexual revolution and independence for young people. Set in Cornwall, Charmian is worried her future is mapped for her and repressive. She craves that freedom and excitement. That's not quite what she gets.</div>
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<i>Bird in the Hand </i>is a story of making decisions for others which reaps heartache. Charmian has two birds and a third on the way. What's a girl to do? Consequences can be tough. We cannot mould our children to fit our own expectations. Sometimes it's better to be the familiar stranger. Charmian and her family have much with which to come to terms but it's ultimately uplifting.</div>
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Live, laugh, cry with, and love these characters. Lose yourself in a feel-good holiday read.</div>
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<b>Author biog:</b></div>
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<span style="color: #111111;">Having worked as a head teacher, Ros
has been used to writing policy documents, essays and stories to which young
children enjoyed listening. Now she has taken up the much greater challenge of
writing fiction for adults. She writes both historical sagas and contemporary
romance; perfect for lying by a warm summer pool or curling up with on a cosy
sofa</span></div>
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Ros is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, the Historical
Novelists' Society and the Society of Authors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">She lived in France for ten years but
has moved back to the UK with her husband and dogs. While there, she gained
much information which has been of use in her books. They are thoroughly and
accurately researched. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ros enjoys </span>ballroom or Latin
dancing, and dog walking across the fields. She has been caught out a couple of
times, but she and her husband don’t normally do both at the same moment. <span style="color: #111111; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">She
is a committee member of for the Deepings Literary Festival. </span>Two
daughters, with their husbands, and four granddaughters live close by, with
whom she shares many marvellously fun times.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Links:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.rosrendleauthor.co.uk/">www.rosrendleauthor.co.uk</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/RosalindRendleAuthor">www.Facebook.com/RosalindRendleAuthor</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ros_rendle">www.Twitter.com/ros_rendle</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.instagram.com/ros_rendle">www.Instagram.com/ros_rendle</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bird-Hand-Ros-Rendle-ebook/dp/B089T55FSH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ros+rendle&qid=1591957981&sr=8-1">Amazon</a></div>
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-25029285408602460852020-05-01T07:30:00.000+01:002020-05-01T07:30:04.390+01:00Chatting with Elaine Everest (Again!)<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Once again I am delighted to welcome Elaine Everest to chat over a cup
of tea/coffee. This time we’re talking about her latest book in the Woolworths
series, <a href="https://amzn.to/2V8xWNm">Wedding Bells for Woolworths.</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D4eAihRsqxk/Xp2eMolJOfI/AAAAAAAAKaM/LQJrynXeMPgkYlQoYcL4MEN4BhkfLNp8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/fullsizeoutput_643.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1225" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D4eAihRsqxk/Xp2eMolJOfI/AAAAAAAAKaM/LQJrynXeMPgkYlQoYcL4MEN4BhkfLNp8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/fullsizeoutput_643.jpeg" width="245" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It lovely to see you again, Elaine and what a wonderful opportunity to
catch up with some old friends. And to meet some new ones too. There’s a lot of
optimism in this book. Well, just look at the title. But there’s tragedy too.
You don’t make it easy for your girls, do you?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Hi, Natalie and thank you for hosting me today. No, I try not to make
things too easy for my girls as the books would be quite boring! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time I’ve looked at their longstanding
relationships with each other and started to think what could pull them apart
and how would they react? In real life we can all think of a friendship, or
marriage that has failed, and how other friends take sides. Amongst the many
weddings in the book I had to think how friends who had fallen out would react
when pushed together in social situations, or how they would connive to avoid
each other. </b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You’ve introduced a few more characters and they all slip into place
quite beautifully. I found Lemuel’s story particularly interesting. You always
succeed in weaving historical events seamlessly into your stories. Did he come fully
formed?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">I loved writing about Lemuel and how he slotted into the Erith community
during the mid 1940s. As soon as I decided to introduce a plotline that would
introduce a man from Trinidad, I knew how long-standing characters would react.
People could be racist – even ‘back then’– and I needed to show how locals
distrusted the stranger and turned against him just as many did in real life.
It was uncomfortable but had to be done. I confess to pulling back on some of
the nasty comments as it upset me. I could see Lemuel’s family featuring in
future books as well…</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Speaking of historical events, the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and
Prince Philip! What a gift to the writer, but how did you contrive to make it
part of the story without over-egging it (not that eggs were in such abundant
supply at the time)?</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Being a very crafty saga author I
needed to be able to bring in a few historical events to my book. The last book
in which some of ‘the girls’ featured was <i>The Butlins Girls</i> set in 1946,
so I needed to work forward. With Princess Elizabeth’s wedding in her handsome
Philip in 1947 and then the Austerity Olympics of 1948 those two years were a
gift. The girls weren’t likely to receive an invitation so how else could I
weave a story around that happy event…?</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I must say that the ending took me a little by surprise (no spoilers)
but I was pleased to see you left it open for the next book. Please tell me –
and the rest of your readers – that there’s going to be a next book.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Oh my! I changed that ending so many times. If I could go back now, I’m
sure I’d change the ending. However, in life we have to let go of loved ones at
some point, and so it was with this book. I still smile at my original outline
when I was supposed to kill off George Caselton in <i>The Woolworths Girls</i>,
but couldn’t do it – he broke his leg instead!</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5BSwQq_-108/Xp2emiGP5dI/AAAAAAAAKaU/Y4e9wZPUGj4WRUg7Rdd6yFEdI8g79ndWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Wedding%2BBells.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1056" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5BSwQq_-108/Xp2emiGP5dI/AAAAAAAAKaU/Y4e9wZPUGj4WRUg7Rdd6yFEdI8g79ndWwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Wedding%2BBells.jpg" width="211" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And what of Ruby? You had me worried about her there for a while.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Ruby worries me a lot. So many readers love the matriarch of the extended
Caselton family, and she is growing older with each book. She reminds me of my
paternal grandmother and many others of her generation. They broke the mould
with those women! </span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You’ve obviously been working on other things since you handed your
manuscript over to your publishers all those months ago. Can you tell us what
you’ve been doing? What’s coming next for Elaine Everest fans?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">This book went to my publisher at the beginning of last year so yes, much
water has passed under the bridge since then. Christmas with the Teashop Girls
is to be published in October and it was a joy to return to Ramsgate and carry
on with Rose, Lily, and Katie’s story, and to catch up with the women living at
the Sea View guesthouse. <br />
I’ve also just handed in the manuscript for a very special book. I was
delighted when my publisher approved the idea and I could go back in time to
1905 to the day that a young Ruby Caselton moved into her new home in Alexandra
Road, Erith. Publication will be for Mother’s Day in 2021.<br />
At the moment I’m writing the first chapter of yet another idea which takes me
to Biggin Hill during WW2 and that’s as much as I’m saying …</span></b><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Intriguing!
Obviously nothing to do with the Woolworths Girls but I must say I’m glad we’ll
be hearing from Ruby again. I bet she was a feisty one in her youth!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /><b><span style="color: #351c75;">
Thank you again for inviting me to your blog, Natalie. I can rely on you to ask
me some interesting stories <br />
<br />
Elaine xx</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>It’s always a
pleasure, Elaine. I look forward to the next time.<o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b>Natalie xx</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">ABOUT
WEDDING BELLS FOR WOOLWORTHS </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Wedding
Bells for Woolworth </span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">is
the latest feel-good novel in former Woolies girl Elaine Everest's bestselling <i>Woolworths
Girls </i>series. It sees the return of her well-loved characters in another
heartfelt and gripping story. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">July 1947.
Britain is still gripped by rationing, even as the excitement of Princess
Elizabeth’s engagement sweeps the nation… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">In the
Woolworths’ canteen, Freda is still dreaming of meeting her own Prince
Charming. So far she’s been unlucky in love. When she has an accident on her
motorbike, knocking a cyclist off his bicycle, it seems bad luck is still
following her around. Anthony is not only a fellow Woolworths employee but was
an Olympic hopeful. Will his injured leg heal in time for him to compete? Can
he ever forgive Freda? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Sarah's
idyllic family life is under threat with worries about her husband, Alan. Does
he still love her? The friends must rally round to face some of the toughest
challenges of their lives together. And although they experience loss, hardship
and shocks along the way, love is on the horizon for the Woolworths girls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">ABOUT
ELAINE EVEREST: </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Elaine
Everest is from North West Kent and she grew up listening to stories of the war
years in her home town of Erith, which features in her bestselling <i>Woolworths
Girls </i>series. A former journalist, and author of nonfiction books for dog
owners, Elaine has written over sixty short stories for the women's magazine
market. When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place creative writing
school in Hextable, Kent. She lives with her husband, Michael and Polish Lowland Sheepdog
Henry. You can find out more about Elaine on Twitter @ElaineEverest or Facebook
/elaine.everest <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Elaine
lives in Kent is available for interviews and to write features. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="color: #201f1e; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wedding Bells for Woolworths</span></i><span style="color: #201f1e; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> by Elaine Everest is out now, published
by Pan Macmillan, priced £6.99 as paperback original and eBook</span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Links:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Website:<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><a href="http://elaineeverest.com/" target="_blank">elaineeverest.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Facebook Author Page:<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Elaine Everest Author<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Twitter:<span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span>@elaineeverest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Instagram:<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>elaine.everest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Amazon:<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><a href="https://amzn.to/2V8xWNm" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/2V8xWNm</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Hive:<span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span><a href="https://bit.ly/3aXvVdE%C2%A0" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/3aXvVdE </a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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If you’d like to make
some more stops on the blog tour you can find them on the banner below</div>
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-51844543000488792332020-02-21T10:08:00.000+00:002020-02-21T10:08:02.546+00:00In the Name of Research<br />
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Yesterday
I went with my sister to the V&A with the specific aim of seeking out all
things Regency. I’m very lucky to live on the edge of London within striking
distance of all it has to offer. On a very blustery and quite unpleasant day,
my husband dropped me at the station and, two Underground trains and forty
minutes later I found myself exiting South Kensington Station via the huge tunnel that
leads to ‘The Museums’. Under cover all the way. It was packed! Half term.
Maybe not the best time to go but wonderful to see so many excited children
(and adults) heading to their chosen venue. I turned off at the arm signposted
Victoria & Albert to find my sister already there but she hadn’t been
waiting long. We headed straight to the café for coffee.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s
all a bit of a blur but mobile phone cameras are a wonderful asset. So, in no
particular order and with details courtesy of the information plates…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Watercolour Box<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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About 1820<o:p></o:p></div>
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As watercolour painting became
increasingly popular among fashionable young men and women, suppliers of art
materials such as Reeves and Woodyer in London began to sell portable paint boxes.
Colours were pre-formed into cakes with a binding medium, avoiding the messy
preparation previously needed. </div>
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<i>Wood, paper and mixed materials including
pigments</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p>One of the characters in the novel I'm writing at the moment is a keen artist so I was particularly interested in this. Easily portable and beautifully set out. I wanted it!</o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Walking Dress<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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(spencer, skirt and bodice)<o:p></o:p></div>
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1817-1820<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>England. Silk with satin appliqu<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">é</span>, silk frogging, tassels
and braid. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gown<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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About 1805<o:p></o:p></div>
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Women’s dress changed dramatically after
1785. The rich fabrics and complicated formal shapes of the late 18<sup>th</sup>
century gave way to simple, lighter fabrics that draped easily. These new gowns
achieved something of the effect of the simple tunics shown on classical Greek
and Roman statues and vases. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Muslin embroidered with cotton thread.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Fabric made in India, gown made in
England.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Evening
Cap<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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1818-23<o:p></o:p></div>
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England. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Silk and net embroidery with silk thread;
wired paper and muslin artificial flowers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This last was, I think,
my favourite piece. There are other photos, other descriptions, but I hope this
will give you a taste and perhaps convey some of my excitement. One of the most
difficult things was walking through some of the other galleries staring
fixedly ahead. I was on a mission! But, oh, so many wonderful things to see.
Almost inexpressible thanks to those who had the forethought to create these
spaces and those who donated or loaned their artefacts for the continuing joy
of anyone who chooses to go and see them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Our last stop was back
to the café for lunch. These lights were dazzling but not as dazzling as some
of the amazing things we saw.<o:p></o:p></div>
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See you next time<o:p></o:p></div>
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Natalie <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-91925718115339138412019-12-16T20:30:00.000+00:002019-12-16T20:30:10.403+00:00Chatting with Shirley Blair<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubMbYt0r0vw/Xd-vHYJX5tI/AAAAAAAAJ08/7F3o5uYjfxQCjEI7XXh6gZYwlCCZhQJ_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Shirley%2BBlair%2Bcourtest%2BNorman%2BWatson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1430" height="244" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ubMbYt0r0vw/Xd-vHYJX5tI/AAAAAAAAJ08/7F3o5uYjfxQCjEI7XXh6gZYwlCCZhQJ_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Shirley%2BBlair%2Bcourtest%2BNorman%2BWatson.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of Norman Watson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
What
a pleasure to be sitting down to tea with Shirley Blair, Fiction Editor of The
People’s Friend. Many of you will know that after more than forty years of
working in magazines, the last twelve of them with The Friend, Shirley will be
hanging up her boots in February next year. So let’s find out what she’s been
doing all that time, why she’s leaving now and what her hopes are for the
future.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
It’s
lovely to see you, Shirley, and while I wouldn’t have the cheek to offer you
Dundee cake, there are some nice mince pies for you to tuck into while we talk.
It’s more than seven years since you first accepted one of my short stories,
only the second I’d ever sold, and it was for me the beginning of what has come
to feel like a personal friendship. However, I realise that I know very little
about you other than that you are highly regarded in the industry and that
tears (even be they metaphorical) will be shed when you leave. So, how did you
get into this somewhat crazy business in the first place and what have your
experiences been up to the time you landed what you have referred to as your
dream job?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nrgmZFJ82G8/Xd-vRNRQzmI/AAAAAAAAJ1M/06eybJcBNA4joVbwNJWVY0fTcA5FPZeUQCEwYBhgL/s1600/SEB%2BOor%2BWullie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1058" data-original-width="794" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nrgmZFJ82G8/Xd-vRNRQzmI/AAAAAAAAJ1M/06eybJcBNA4joVbwNJWVY0fTcA5FPZeUQCEwYBhgL/s320/SEB%2BOor%2BWullie.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shirley with Oor Wullie </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">Hi, Natalie,
and thanks for the excuse for a coffee-and-cake-break in the usual daily
whirlwind. Always appreciated.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">Gosh, 43 years
of me and DC Thomson…<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">I always loved
writing, encouraged by my parents, who I must have half-deafened battering away
on their old Underwood typewriter. Encouraged by them, and by my English
teacher, I applied from school, the only full-time job I’ve ever applied for. I
started work the week after I finished my last exams. I was so keen I didn’t
even take a holiday. I began in “Star Love Stories in Pictures”, a romance
library similar to “Commando” – same office and Editor, in fact. From there it
was to Chief Sub in letterpress, a range that included “Red Star”, “Secrets”, “Red
Letter” – remember them? All fiction, of course. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">Then there was
a change of direction into our glossy monthly “Annabel”, where I was Beauty Editor,
which was fabulous fun and a whole new experience. I got to write features
there, too, for example about visiting a plastic surgery hospital and observing
procedures. How many jobs give you that kind of opportunity?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">From there I
was drafted onto Chief Sub a launch project, but I moved on again before it
actually got beyond the lengthy development stage. Next it was Chief Sub in “My
Weekly”, then, after a few more years, I was made Editor of “The People’s Friend
Story Collection”, which evolved into the “’Friend’ Pocket Novels”. And it’s from
there that I came here into “The People’s Friend” itself as Fiction Editor.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">Interspersed
with all of those experiences I’ve had other random short spells, eg, as a
Features Editor, a Knitting Editor….! All great learning opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
What
a varied and rewarding career you’ve had! It’s a well-known saying that if you
want something done you should ask a busy person. Obviously they don’t come
much busier than you. Do you have a strictly adhered-to routine or do you
juggle your work as seems fit?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TGlJvKqBZX4/Xd-vWPpePiI/AAAAAAAAJ1U/ImIz4GpPtHY26BL9mWc6x39kNlZsbqLbwCEwYBhgL/s1600/shirleycat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="1600" height="302" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TGlJvKqBZX4/Xd-vWPpePiI/AAAAAAAAJ1U/ImIz4GpPtHY26BL9mWc6x39kNlZsbqLbwCEwYBhgL/s320/shirleycat.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking a short break with Marmalade, the office cat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">There are some tasks
that follow routine. Website content is very schedule-driven, as is anything fiction
related that’s already on the production schedule. And I keep in mind which
month we’re in in relation to when manuscripts have been submitted. I hate to
keep writers waiting any longer than necessary. But other than that, if I feel
like reading short stories from regular writers, or unsolicited writers, or
serial instalments or ideas, or getting back to writers, I can please myself,
though I always balance that with what’s actually required.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Who
came up with the Writing Prompt Story Starter idea? It certainly worked for me.
One of yours or one of the team? And speaking of the team, it’s clear there is
a very special relationship between you all. That comes through on Facebook, on
Twitter and through your web page. Can you tell us about the fiction team and
how you all work together? Oh, and do please have another mince pie.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">The Story
Starter was my own idea. I was always taking random photos with my phone, and I
thought they might be useful. I only intended to do it for a few weeks, a year
at most, but I know from feedback how it’s caught on. Now I can’t <u>not</u>
see things to photograph!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">The fiction
team – well, we’re genuinely great mates. We have such a giggle – between all
the hard work, of course – and talk about a million different things, from
space travel to politics, favourite cakes, books, films, TV…But we often just
talk about the work, too. We honestly love it. As well as the general fiction
content, we each have our roles: Tracey’s is pocket novels, Lucy is pocket
novels and poetry, Alan provides the sweets, and I keep it all ticking over on
schedule.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">Oops, sorry – ‘scuse
the crumbs….<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Job
satisfaction is obviously something you have in shed loads. What pleases you
most?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">It sounds a
cliché, but it genuinely is signing up a new writer. Discovering that talent,
giving it its opportunity. And it really is rewarding. One writer who I’ve just
signed up with a short story shyly said, “As it happens, I’ve just written a
long read…” It’s a corker and we’ve just bought that, too!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">It’s also
satisfying to take a chance with a story, something our readers haven’t
encountered before – as we did with ghost stories, and our cosy crime category
- and to receive letters saying how much they’re enjoying the variety.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
I’m
aware that you are yourself a fiction writer but, as I don’t know your pen
name, I have no idea if you have a preferred genre or whether your writing
takes the form of books as well as short stories. Can you enlighten those of us
who don’t know and will we be able to follow you in the future?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">Way back I set
myself the challenge of writing a story for every one of our genres. I’ve
completed it apart from a pocket novel. So far! But I actually enjoy writing
modern serials. It’s a challenge to make them contemporary and interesting and
yet still “Friend” appropriate.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
You
have said on your own blog that in February you will leave your Fiction Ed’s
chair spinning behind you and go off and do new things. Work or leisure? Are
you planning to travel? Are there things you’ve always wanted to do but never
had the time? Perhaps you can share some of your aspirations with us. What is
the hobby you would most like to pursue?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">The big novelty
will be that I can ignore the calendar and the clock. My working life has been
entirely dictated by deadlines. Mr Fiction Ed and I have never denied ourselves
in the travel and holiday department, so we’ll probably do even more of that.
But I have lots of little ambitions. To make jam when I feel like it instead of
squeezing jobs like that into weekends. To catch up with friends over leisurely
lunches. There’s a corner of the garden that needs rethinking. To write more.
To get involved in some local environmental projects. My big one is to try –
yet again – to learn to swim, but I think I may need hypnosis! <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Do
you have a dog? Or a cat? Or a budgie? Are pets part of your life and/or will
they be so in the future? <span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">No pets. We’ve
had two cats twice. The first two, separately and many years apart, got run
over. The second two lived the lives of Riley until succumbing to old age. We
haven’t replaced them and have no plans to, but I enjoy being cat auntie to my
sister’s gorgeous Angelo.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;"><o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--pMXU-STUvw/Xd-vh_hIZrI/AAAAAAAAJ1Y/PIwEpLpyHU4ctG7nqYRyLDkPJtccorThgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Serial%2BWriting%2Bworkshop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--pMXU-STUvw/Xd-vh_hIZrI/AAAAAAAAJ1Y/PIwEpLpyHU4ctG7nqYRyLDkPJtccorThgCEwYBhgL/s320/Serial%2BWriting%2Bworkshop.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Working hard at the Serial Writing Workshop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
It’s
been a delight working with you and I’ve enjoyed talking to you today. I wish
every success to whoever steps into your shoes but I cannot let you go without
saying how much I will miss our email chats. As you know, we met in person for
the first time at the Writing a Serial workshop at the beginning of September
but it was like meeting an old friend. And that’s what I feel you’ve been to me
over the years. I’m sure there are many others who will say the same. The
People’s Friend is not the only friend I found at DC Thomson.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">*blushes*<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
I
wish you a very Happy Christmas, an outstanding Hogmanay and the future you
wish for. Thank you, Shirley, more than I can say. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0;">It’s been a
pleasure, Natalie. My whole career has been a pleasure, from the first minute
to this. I will miss it, and the people I’ve worked with along the way, but at
the same time I feel a cosy wee glow knowing that my stepping aside allows
someone else the most wonderful opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-56168041580538689362019-10-31T00:30:00.000+00:002019-10-31T07:36:54.103+00:00Chatting with Rosemary Goodacre<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GhKoiCMBUz4/Xa8leh6La_I/AAAAAAAAJh0/eXmgqC-1oDAn2KWINP2vCxlI8D8JCUVHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Until%2BWe%2BMeet%2BAgain%2BAuthor%2BPhoto.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GhKoiCMBUz4/Xa8leh6La_I/AAAAAAAAJh0/eXmgqC-1oDAn2KWINP2vCxlI8D8JCUVHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Until%2BWe%2BMeet%2BAgain%2BAuthor%2BPhoto.JPG" width="212" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m delighted to be one of the first
stops on Rosemary's blog tour for her new WWI saga, </span></b><b><i>Until We Meet Again</i>.</b><b> Here we are chatting on publication day.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Welcome back to my blog, Rosemary, and
thank you for talking with me today and answering my questions. <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Thank
you for inviting me as your guest again, Natalie.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">May I begin by saying how very much I
enjoyed your book. There is an air of authenticity about ‘Until We Meet Again’
that is apparent from the first page where you introduce us to Amy and her home
in Larchbury. Though your location changes, this sense of place remains
throughout, almost as if you were there over one hundred years ago. How did you
go about your research?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Although
times have changed, the old-fashioned village is still part of our heritage.
There are traditional looking villages to be seen, including ones in Kent,
where I live, if you can ignore the roads and traffic. They featured a lot in
storybooks when I was young. You often see them in TV series, like Lark Rise to
Candleford. The weather always seems better there! I need to be careful of
details, as public phones, for example, were beginning to appear by WWI, but
the familiar red ones were not introduced till the 1920s.</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I took to Amy immediately, a young
woman of character who stuck to her principles in difficult times. Have you
based her on anyone in particular or has she come entirely from your
imagination?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: blue;">She’s
largely imaginary, though one of the incidents was inspired by something that
happened to a friend of my mother’s, near the end of WWII.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q-6Gw8VskYM/Xa8m4dRqO8I/AAAAAAAAJiI/GRd9WvK75LQwub6oInokriZLAj-rHXA6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Until%2BWe%2BMeet%2BAgain%2BCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q-6Gw8VskYM/Xa8m4dRqO8I/AAAAAAAAJiI/GRd9WvK75LQwub6oInokriZLAj-rHXA6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Until%2BWe%2BMeet%2BAgain%2BCover.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It isn’t long before you take us into
that dreadful time that was World War 1 but, unlike some other books I have
read, you bring us right to the action. The attention to detail is outstanding
and I’m sure your readers would like to know what sources you used.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>World
War I burst out very suddenly and it’s hard to write about it without making the
story impossibly grim but I was inspired by accounts of soldiers enjoying songs
and jokes even in the trenches. My hero and heroine needed to be special people
to survive it with their spirits intact.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>I have
learnt a good deal about the Great War through the moving memoir of Vera
Brittain, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Testament of Youth</i>.
(Virago Press, ISBN 0 86068 035 5.)<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: blue;">I have
also referred to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Nurse at the Front</i>,
based on the First World War diaries of Sister Edith Appleton, edited by Ruth
Cowen. (Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-1-84983-366-0.) Some of the injuries she
saw were appalling, and in those days there were no antibiotics to aid
recovery.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If, as I suspect, you have visited some
of these places in peacetime, did you have a sense of the history and horror or
was it difficult to relate the one to the other? Or was your groundwork so good
that I’m completely mistaken and you’ve never been there?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>I’ve
visited some towns in Flanders, chiefly the famous ones like Bruges and Ghent,
which were not especially significant in World War I, though most of Belgium
was occupied by the Germans. Today towns in the Belgian and French parts of
Flanders tend to have a peaceful atmosphere. They generally have a tall belfry,
often linked with a market place or town hall, symbolising the town’s importance.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>To
imagine the area during the war you need to see the shocking photographs of
towns like Arras, Amiens and Ypres after they were bombarded. In Arras the city
hall, belfry and cathedral were all destroyed.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: blue;">There
are also photographs of battlefields where all the trees have been reduced to
stumps.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was surprised at the ease of
correspondence and how quickly letters would get home or to the front line. Was
there anything in your research that surprised you?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: blue;">I
understand letters took up to five days to reach their destination, though
there were probably longer gaps at times of the major battles.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The women’s Suffrage movement plays a
large part in your story. Is this an aspect that’s close to your heart?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: blue;">I have
a great respect for the Suffragettes, active in the period before World War I,
and the Suffragists, who were less militant. Many of them did valuable war work
and helped women to be recognised as deserving the same rights as their
menfolk.</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m delighted to see that we can look
forward to meeting Amy and Edmond again in your next book. Is this a work in
progress? Can we expect to see them again soon?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>A
sequel is in the pipeline. I hope Amy and Edmond will be back next year!</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m sure your readers would love to
learn a little about you. What can you tell us about Rosemary Goodacre?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>I love
travelling, mostly in Europe. I also enjoy music, mainly classical, and
reading. I love stories which transport me to a different place or time. It’s
intriguing to try to imagine how people survived challenging times in history.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank you so much for joining me today.
Good luck with ‘Until We Meet Again’ and I look forward to the next in the
series.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Thank
you, Natalie. I’ve very much enjoyed the visit!</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>The Great War drove them apart - but love kept them together </b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Summer 1914: Shy young woman, Amy Fletcher, lives a quiet life in Sussex. An office worker, she lives at home, along with her parents and spirited younger brother, Bertie. But her life is transformed when she meets handsome young man, Edmond Derwent, son of one of the wealthiest families in the small town of Larchbury, and student at Cambridge University. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
The couple are falling deeply in love when war breaks out and, eager to do his duty for England, Edmond signs up as an officer. The couple plan to wed, eager to start a new life together - but their happiness is short-lived when Edmond is sent to Flanders to lead his men into battle. Amy trains as a VAD nurse and is soon sent to France, where she sees the true horror of war inflicted on the brave young men sent to fight. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Separated by war, Edmond and Amy share their feelings through emotional letters send from the front line. But when Edmond is critically wounded at Ypres, their love faces the biggest test of all - can their love stay strong while the world around them is crumbling?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
A romantic, emotional saga set in WW1 - readers of Rosie Goodwin, Katie Flynn and Val Wood will be captivated by this story of love. </div>
<br />
<br />
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<b>Links:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b>Amazon: </b><a href="https://amzn.to/2miX2vD" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/2miX2vD</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b>Apple: </b><a href="https://apple.co/2ncLTg3" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank">https://apple.co/2ncLTg3</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b>Kobo: </b><a href="http://bit.ly/2m4UgKB" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2m4UgKB</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b>Twitter: </b><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">@</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://twitter.com/RoseGoodacre">RoseGoodacre</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b>Facebook: </b><a href="http://bit.ly/2W31k81" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">http://bit.ly/2W31k81</a> </div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b>Author Biog: </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Rosemary Goodacre has previously worked in computing and
teaching. She has had short stories published and a novella, <i>A Fortnight is not Enough.</i></div>
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Her father's family came from continental Europe and she
loves travelling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
She enjoys country walking, bridge and classical music. She lives with her
husband in Kent, England. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Here
is the blog banner if you would like to follow Rosemary’s tour.</div>
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-32715514537826076322019-09-29T20:41:00.000+01:002019-09-29T20:41:03.572+01:00It's Been a Long Time<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">
It’s been weeks since
you last saw me here. I wouldn’t for a single moment want you to think it’s
because I’ve had nothing to say. Does that ever happen? In fact I’ve been
extraordinarily busy. Maybe a list is the best way to describe it:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
29<sup>th</sup> August –
I met my publishers at Sapere Books in person for the first time... <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
Amy Durant, Editorial
Director<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
Caoimhe O’Brien,
Marketing Director<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
Richard Simpson,
Operations Director<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
I was understandably
slightly nervous. After all, there were three of them and only one of me. My
trepidation disappeared in the blink of an eye and I began to believe I’d won
the Lucky Dip. It didn’t really come as a surprise. We’d communicated online so
I was fairly confident we’d get on but what a pleasure to meet REAL people. I
can’t wait to get down to work with them. Here is my link on their website if
you’d like to see what’s to come.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://saperebooks.com/authors/natalie-kleinman/">https://saperebooks.com/authors/natalie-kleinman/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
After snatching a week’s
holiday in sunny Eastbourne during the first week of September things took off
big time. It’s been a whirlwind of a month.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
9<sup>th</sup>
September – Visit to the House of Lords<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
As a member of the
Society of Women Writers and Journalists I attended the AGM in one of the committee rooms at the House, introduced by Baroness Floella Benjamin, the society’s president.
Following this (and a scrumptious tea) we were so lucky to be treated to a tour
of the House by Floella and her husband, a wonderful couple who work as a team.
It was a privilege and a day I shall never forget.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pidhv4_UoTY/XZEBHXhvHAI/AAAAAAAAIi0/j_0x6R66GbIi9utuzt9Jch-iIc7LCXEVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/House%2Bof%2BLords.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pidhv4_UoTY/XZEBHXhvHAI/AAAAAAAAIi0/j_0x6R66GbIi9utuzt9Jch-iIc7LCXEVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/House%2Bof%2BLords.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lovely Floella Benjamin and SWWJ members</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
11<sup>th</sup>
September – The People’s Friend Workshop at DC Thomson, Fleet Street<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
This was a full on day.
The workshop was entitled ‘Write a Serial for the “Friend”’ and was run by
Shirley Blair, Fiction Editor at The People’s Friend and Alison Carter, an
experienced writer for the “Friend”. It had long been my ambition to meet
Shirley who has been my editor since my first short story was accepted in 2012
and I was delighted to have the opportunity of spending the day with her and 22
others writers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_OsWeA4Eg4/XZEBZhmeIII/AAAAAAAAIi8/UUCpfEMHaX8wo2Kw7OM9RFOtwgKjcT6CACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/People%2527s%2BFriend%2BWorkshop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1100" height="204" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_OsWeA4Eg4/XZEBZhmeIII/AAAAAAAAIi8/UUCpfEMHaX8wo2Kw7OM9RFOtwgKjcT6CACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/People%2527s%2BFriend%2BWorkshop.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">23 writers all hard at work</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
On the same day one of
my stories appeared in The People’s Friend Special. It was set in England’s
Regency, the period in which I now write my books, and a delightful coincidence
that the two things coincided. I was a very happy bunny.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DBlKZrVc6Bo/XZEB-h7EeRI/AAAAAAAAIjI/LKNEReQ405cCzZEGnyJwwybGUFFjrXH3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Forbidden%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="778" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DBlKZrVc6Bo/XZEB-h7EeRI/AAAAAAAAIjI/LKNEReQ405cCzZEGnyJwwybGUFFjrXH3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Forbidden%2B.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My People's Friend Story</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
14<sup>th</sup>
September – The RNA York Tea and Joan Hessayon Award Presentation</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
Not one to miss the
opportunity for a ‘jolly’, three friends – Elaine Everest, Elaine Roberts and
Francesca Capaldi (one of this year’s contenders for the award) - and I decided
to make a weekend of this event and travelled up by train from London on Friday
the 13<sup>th</sup>. Far from being horrific, we had a wonderful time, meeting
other friends who joined us later. We steeled ourselves for the obligatory
visit to the famous Bettys Tea Room. It had to be done! York is a beautiful
city and I walked further in three days than I have for a very long time. And we went for a short cruise on the River Ouse. The ‘Tea’
on Saturday was a fabulous event. Held at the Merchant Taylors Hall, we were
plied with lovely sandwiches and cakes before the main event, the presentation.
This year’s winner was Lorna Cook with her debut novel, The Forgotten Village.
My congratulations to her and to all the other contenders, each of whom was a
winner, having graduated from the RNA New Writers Scheme with their book being
published. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0morgB9emu0/XZEDd6h-xLI/AAAAAAAAIjU/aBf1DRszsb0TYtsz47ValljsHhlf3R4UACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/70358052_520411121868070_4940682519050715136_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0morgB9emu0/XZEDd6h-xLI/AAAAAAAAIjU/aBf1DRszsb0TYtsz47ValljsHhlf3R4UACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/70358052_520411121868070_4940682519050715136_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lorna Cook - Joan Hessayon Award Winner 2019</td></tr>
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I was delighted to have
a further opportunity to chat with Amy Durant who was present as one of the
final judges and to meet Natalie Linh Bolderston, Editorial Assistant at
Sapere, whom she brought with her.<br />
<br />
Since then (was it only
two weeks ago?) I’ve been busy preparing for what promises to be a fabulous
event on 25<sup>th</sup> October when I am lucky enough to be one of
twenty-five authors at a book-signing event at The Grand in Folkestone. I hope
some of you will be able to join us from 7-9pm. And here we are: </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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That’s about it for
now. I look forward to seeing you next time<o:p></o:p></div>
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Natalie<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-13356863529602366942019-07-15T19:44:00.000+01:002019-07-15T19:44:10.018+01:00Being a writer isn't all about sitting in a garret<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;">
<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Being a writer isn't all about sitting in a garret or some other lonely and isolated place, producing words and hoping that eventually you will end up with a book that people want to read. Sometimes they let us out. The past weekend was one of those times. </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Last Thursday morning, with excitement and expectation levels
considerably raised, I met several friends at Euston Station in London and
travelled with them to the Romantic Novelists’ Association annual conference in
Lancaster. I knew I was going to have a good time. I always do. The amazing Jan
Jones has been organising this event for years and her attention to detail is
unbelievable. I honestly don’t know how she does it but I do know she has to
put the rest of her life on hold to achieve what she does. We owe her a debt
that’s impossible to exaggerate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bE9d2GsZPgU/XSy35pn7q_I/AAAAAAAAIcQ/7kbAfmdem6YjrLkJYHJ5r3fBSVyAmGDbgCLcBGAs/s1600/the%2Bincomparable%2Bjan%2Bjones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bE9d2GsZPgU/XSy35pn7q_I/AAAAAAAAIcQ/7kbAfmdem6YjrLkJYHJ5r3fBSVyAmGDbgCLcBGAs/s200/the%2Bincomparable%2Bjan%2Bjones.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Incomparable Jan Jones</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">On arrival, we collected the keys and went to our
designated flat – student accommodation with eight bedrooms and a shared
kitchen. Since everyone else was in the same fever of anticipation as I was,
any observer might have been forgiven for thinking we were of the age when the
majority of students would be attending university. Our majority was something
we’d all attained several years ago! We were familiar with the campus, having
been there three years earlier and that gave it, for me at least, a feeling of
coming home. It not being term time and the facilities being self-catering, we
found ourselves without any equipment in the kitchen and I’m sad to say I
purloined some plastic cups when we went back to the hub at the George Fox
building. Well, students we may have been for the weekend but too old to drink
from the bottle. The wine bottle, that is. Somehow it’s different when it’s
beer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pDS8rqPYAQU/XSy4OdvZRoI/AAAAAAAAIcY/eXZZeMftkWQ6SehAf2-Xg7MVVbZAA_iYgCLcBGAs/s1600/Nicola%2Bcornick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pDS8rqPYAQU/XSy4OdvZRoI/AAAAAAAAIcY/eXZZeMftkWQ6SehAf2-Xg7MVVbZAA_iYgCLcBGAs/s200/Nicola%2Bcornick.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nicola Cornick</td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I'll skip over the next twelve hours or so as we bedded in and move to Friday when the conference proper began, starting with the AGM. It being an election year, the chair passed seamlessly from Nicola Cornick (huge thanks for everything she's done for the organisation during her tenure) to Alison May (good luck to her and looking forward to seeing her achievements over the next two years). </span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic0dFHxmp1A/XSy4QPEca5I/AAAAAAAAIcc/6B9XqLebZ6g-oucuMV6XsPnubIDY2OPJACLcBGAs/s1600/Alison%2BMay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ic0dFHxmp1A/XSy4QPEca5I/AAAAAAAAIcc/6B9XqLebZ6g-oucuMV6XsPnubIDY2OPJACLcBGAs/s320/Alison%2BMay.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alison May</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">And this
is where in many ways it all becomes a bit of a blur. Panel talks; Q&As;
workshops; Quiz the Agents; In conversation with… So many choices and mostly
three at the same time. Now you tell me, how do you choose when you want to go
to everything? No, I didn’t know how to either! In between all that, if you
were lucky enough to have booked, there was the opportunity, organised again
this year by Elaine Everest, of having a ten minute one2one with Industry
Professionals. Arranging this too is a monumental task and I know Elaine spends
hours and hours liaising with IPs and delegates to ensure it all runs smoothly. This
particular element of the conference is priceless to any writer and several
very happy people were given invaluable advice or asked to submit their full manuscript.
And that’s how it was, full on, with a lot of food and visits to the bar, until
suddenly it was Saturday evening and time for the Gala Dinner. Below are my dinner companions and flat mates.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p8HCWHeXlCU/XSy5eSXx6kI/AAAAAAAAIc0/IWf7OacGoHQpdNMv2VhndHDLmdUPE4yvACLcBGAs/s1600/elaine%2Band%2Bviv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p8HCWHeXlCU/XSy5eSXx6kI/AAAAAAAAIc0/IWf7OacGoHQpdNMv2VhndHDLmdUPE4yvACLcBGAs/s320/elaine%2Band%2Bviv.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elaine Roberts and Viv Brown</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QJP7UT5TcAY/XSy5iZWeMUI/AAAAAAAAIc4/eTXL6YBhmyMEvZXpWBsIaMbXVwbE4XrwQCLcBGAs/s1600/gala%2Bdinner%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QJP7UT5TcAY/XSy5iZWeMUI/AAAAAAAAIc4/eTXL6YBhmyMEvZXpWBsIaMbXVwbE4XrwQCLcBGAs/s320/gala%2Bdinner%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Viv Brown, Rosemary Goodacre, Sarah Stephenson and Catherine Burrows</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w5Dd452FLMM/XSy5oirwdwI/AAAAAAAAIc8/WTm90bZeqIoecefoLhLzKKjpYjbE277eACLcBGAs/s1600/me%2Band%2Bfrancesca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w5Dd452FLMM/XSy5oirwdwI/AAAAAAAAIc8/WTm90bZeqIoecefoLhLzKKjpYjbE277eACLcBGAs/s320/me%2Band%2Bfrancesca.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Natalie Kleinman and Francesca Burgess</td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WByYO0-6Zts/XSy5uBrbt9I/AAAAAAAAIdE/Tc5h-tgz0LIcx3Qr7yhW8xeplujTuWQbgCLcBGAs/s1600/elaine%2Brosemary%2Bcatherine%2Bsarah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WByYO0-6Zts/XSy5uBrbt9I/AAAAAAAAIdE/Tc5h-tgz0LIcx3Qr7yhW8xeplujTuWQbgCLcBGAs/s320/elaine%2Brosemary%2Bcatherine%2Bsarah.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rosemary Goodacre, Sarah Stephenson, Catherine Burrows and Elaine Everest</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">AND THEN THERE WAS THE FLAT PARTY! Nobody hammered on the
wall or banged on the ceiling so we can’t have been THAT noisy. This was the
best flat party ever although it might have been quite painful to any listener
with an ear for music as we sang our way around the table time after time with
songs from the shows, films and popular solo artists and groups. Failing to
answer a question or identify a song resulted in having to take a sip of wine.
There was one member in our flat whom I wouldn’t dream of naming, who professed she didn’t know the answers and was therefore obliged
to drink during every single round. She’s only a little person. I am in awe of
her capacity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sunday came and once more we were up with the lark, though
possibly a little jaded, only to return once more to the hub for more sessions
during the morning. And all at once, for those not staying for the Sunday
Extra, it was all over and time to go home. Hugs and goodbyes to friends old
and new and we were on our way, very tired, very happy and up to here with an
input of information which it will take (me at least) some time to assimilate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this thing
work and thanks to all the delegates, without whom there would be no
conference. We did have fun, didn’t we?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">All photos courtesy of John Jackson. Thank you, John. </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">So now I’m back in my garret but filled with inspiration<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">See you next year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Natalie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">PS My apologies for the strange formatting. I tried. Honestly I did!</span></div>
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-9695344598057806252019-07-01T22:39:00.001+01:002019-07-01T22:43:36.996+01:00Where did the time go?<br />
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It’s
been a while. Far too long. But not for one moment does it mean I have nothing
to say – as if that was ever going to happen! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Like
the whole of 2019, these past few weeks have whizzed by and I find it hard to
believe that it’s been eight weeks since I last posted. As I write this
evening, it is now July and half the year has gone. So what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have </i>I been doing? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Something
monumental (for me) happened on 18<sup>th</sup> May which I splashed all over
Facebook and Twitter but in my excitement omitted to shout about here on my own
page. So, are you ready? Here goes then. I entered into a four book contract
with Sapere Books. FOUR! I really wanted to put the whole of that sentence in
capital letters because that’s what it feels like. Okay, I must lower my voice
and calm down a bit. But that’s easier said than done. Why? Because these are
my Regencies. </div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9R_jpkT5Zwg/XRp5SwkW55I/AAAAAAAAIa0/ZkxJfd_Uno4-Ycfv0rmLBiZBjw4cMs6rgCLcBGAs/s1600/jane-austen-1377178__480.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="131" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9R_jpkT5Zwg/XRp5SwkW55I/AAAAAAAAIa0/ZkxJfd_Uno4-Ycfv0rmLBiZBjw4cMs6rgCLcBGAs/s1600/jane-austen-1377178__480.png" /></a></div>
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This fabulous publisher is going to launch my books in a way that
a debutante might have been launched into Society in the eighteen hundreds and
I could not be more excited. <o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">You
can find my page on their website </span><a href="https://saperebooks.com/authors/natalie-kleinman/" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">here</a></div>
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This
is the genre I most like to read, but I began my career by writing contemporary
romantic fiction. With three books published I needed a pretty good reason to
change direction. I enjoyed working in ‘real’ time. For one thing, there was little
intensive research involved. I could rely on things I knew and could see. All I
had to do was tell the story. I say all but, as any author will tell you, it
isn’t quite that simple. Nevertheless it was fun, it was rewarding and I would
have been quite happy to have continued in that vein. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Only
something was pulling me in another direction, and tugging hard. As a teenager,
my mother introduced me to the novels of Georgette Heyer, me and my sister
both. Over the years my taste in reading has been quite catholic, though I gave
up on horror a long time ago as it gave me nightmares. A good thriller, though,
a Sci-Fi, comedy, tragedy…they were all in the mix but never have I encountered
another author whose books I have read time and time again with equal and
sometimes increasing enjoyment. Heyer does that for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As a
romance writer, there is to me no more romantic age than that of the English
Regency. Could I dip my quill into the inkpot and produce something of the era? The question demanded an answer and I had to try and it seemed that once I
began to write I couldn’t stop. On 25<sup>th</sup> April last year, The Ghost
of Glendale was published. There are now three others waiting to follow and the
next is already begun. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sometimes
life hands us a gift. There are occasionally days when I do not write but they
are few and far between. Weaving stories is a delightful pastime but when it’s
your work as well you are truly lucky. I hope you enjoy mine.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Till
next time<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Natalie <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-60287260046084451652019-05-06T07:30:00.000+01:002019-05-06T07:30:03.324+01:00Taking Tea with Elaine Everest<br />
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Well
it looks like she’s done it again! Elaine’s latest saga, <i>The Teashop Girls, </i>brings a new cast of characters with all their
hopes and dreams, and their tragedies, too, to delight us and bring a tear to
our eyes. Here she is, chatting with me over a cup of tea.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-35SirUUGfV4/XMWA1-LxuFI/AAAAAAAAIVU/flDFxk7kzZIPqluKce77jkUNYF8eVXNpQCLcBGAs/s1600/Elaine%2BEverest%2Bupdated%2Bauthor%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-35SirUUGfV4/XMWA1-LxuFI/AAAAAAAAIVU/flDFxk7kzZIPqluKce77jkUNYF8eVXNpQCLcBGAs/s200/Elaine%2BEverest%2Bupdated%2Bauthor%2Bphoto.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
<br />
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Thank
you, Natalie. You know I like mine strong – where’s the cake?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">One of the first things that strikes me is
how well the names of your characters fit so perfectly with the era in which
they’re set. Do you spend long choosing the right ones and do you ever change
your mind half way through the book? For example…No, she’s not a Gertrude, I’ll
call her Gladys?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Hmm
it is funny you should mention this. I had a big problem with Rose’s mum’s
name. She started as Lizzie, but it wasn’t right. Then Esther… Then a few more
I’ve forgotten. One day Flora popped into my head and it felt right. Then she
flowered into a proper character I could work with. Originally, I meant to name
Katie after a flower as well but, it would have been a flower too much!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Very early in the book you talk about
Sallys and their work behind the counter at the iconic Lyons teashops. Your
research is always meticulous but how on earth do you uncover a fact like the
one that puts these girls where they are because of their height? It’s these
details that ring so true; that authenticate your work. How you go about such
in-depth research?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Research
is the key when writing historical novels. I like to dip into any document,
book or film that relates to the era and my characters. If it is useful for my story,
then I save it. Sometimes a snippet of information, such as the Sallys, pops up
and I think of a scene where it can be used. Once I have a grasp of the life my
characters would have led, I can tell their story. Researching history does not
mean we have to fill our books with facts and numbers to the point that the
history takes over, but it must give a flavour of the past to be able to create
a backdrop to the story we wish to tell.<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">As with The Woolworths series, you have
three girls around whom the story revolves but I was just as enchanted by their
friends and families and how they evoked the principles and matter-of-factness
of the people who lived in those difficult times. I found Mildred a particularly
interesting character. Was she fully-formed before you began writing?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Mildred
was a gift! She was just supposed to walk into the kitchen of Sea View and have
her dinner. However, she hung around and made a nuisance of herself and become
a valuable member of the cast. I often find I can have fun with the secondary
characters while the main characters play out the story. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You obviously know Ramsgate very well and
your descriptions of Dunkirk and the little ships bring to life a terrible
event in our history but also one of which we can be proud. Can you tell us
what it was like writing about such an emotive issue?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I’ve
written about Dunkirk before and find it so emotional to think of the owner and
the small boats heading off over the Channel to save our lads. I was fortunate
to have attended the 75<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the Little Ships and
visited Ramsgate to witness what was left of these brave little ships heading
out of the harbour surrounded by a flotilla of other vessels willing them on to
France. Overhead a Spitfire and a Hurricane flew low over the crowd. So close I
could see the face of the Spitfire pilot. I’ve never felt so emotional. It is
occasions like this that remind us what is great about our wonderful country. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">We have learned to recognise Elaine Everest
as a saga writer, but you’ve also written other fiction, non-fiction and
features. Have these all been in your own name or have publishers asked you to
change it? Do you ever write under another name?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I’ve
worked as a freelance writer since 1997. In all that time I have NEVER written
under another name. <br />
Sometimes publishers will ask us to use a pen name. I was warned it could
happen with my sagas but thankfully it didn’t. Someone at the publishing house
mentioned that Elaine Everest had a nice ‘ring’ to it and was it my pen name? I
laughed and pointed out that ‘reader, I had to marry him’ to gain this name!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You’ve left us with some happy endings and
some questions which are begging to be answered. Can we expect a sequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Teashop Girls?<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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There
is to be a sequel. Currently I’m scribbling notes and have a reasonable idea of
what I will throw at my girls next. Once my agent and editor have approved,
I’ll be starting work on the book and hopefully this will be published at the
end of 2020. Before then <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wedding Bells
for Woolworths</i> is to be published in the spring of next year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It’s been lovely chatting to you as always,
and there’s nothing to beat a good cuppa! Thank you for joining me today.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Thank
you so much for hosting me today. Can you squeeze another cup out of that pot? X<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Of course. And this time we’ll have some
cake!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">About The Teashop Girls:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><span style="border: 1pt none; color: black; padding: 0cm;">The Teashop Girls</span></i></b><b><span style="border: 1pt none; color: black; padding: 0cm;"> is a warm and moving tale of friendship and love in wartime,
by the bestselling author of the Woolworths series, Elaine Everest.</span></b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is early 1940 and World War Two has already taken a
hold on the country. Rose Neville works as a Lyon’s Teashop Nippy on the Kent
coast alongside her childhood friends, the ambitious Lily and Katie, whose
fiancé is about to be posted overseas in the navy. As war creates havoc in
Europe, Rose relies on the close friendship of her friends and her family.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Capt. Benjamin Hargreaves enters the teashop one
day, Rose is immediately drawn to him. But as Lyon’s forbids courting between
staff and customers, she tries to put the handsome officer out of her mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In increasingly dark and dangerous times, Rose fears
there may not be time to waste. But is the dashing captain what he seems?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span> </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Teashop Girls </i>is
the new book by Elaine Everest, much-loved author of the Woolworths Girls
series. Available on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teashop-Girls-Elaine-Everest/dp/1509892559">Amazon</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">About Elaine Everest:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Elaine Everest, author of bestselling novels <i>T</i><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">he Woolworths Girls,</span></i> <i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">The Butlins Girls, Christmas at
Woolworths, and Wartime at Woolworths </span></i>was born and brought up
in North West Kent, where many of her books are set. She has been a freelance
writer for twenty-two years and has written widely for women's magazines and
national newspapers, with both short stories and features. Her non-fiction
books for dog owners have been very popular and led to broadcasting on radio
about our four legged friends. Elaine has been heard discussing many topics on
radio from canine subjects to living with a husband under her feet when
redundancy looms.</span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place
creative writing school at The Howard Venue in Hextable, Kent and has a long
list of published students. Elaine lives with her husband, Michael, and their
Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Henry, in Swanley, Kent and is a member of the
Romantic Novelists’ Association, The Crime Writers Association, The Society of
Women Writers & Journalists and The Society of Authors.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/elaineeverest"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Twitter</span></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ElaineEverestAuthor/">Facebook</a><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There’s still time to make
some more stops on the blog tour. You can find them on the banner below<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-10688984240893157212019-03-24T15:00:00.000+00:002019-03-24T15:00:08.509+00:00A Day to Remember!<br />
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2019 has been a good year so far. I’ve had my head down for most of the time since 1<sup>st</sup> January, writing my next
book – my excuse for not posting here for a goodish while. However, yesterday was a
different day and one I’d like to share with you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NvWkQjV7ud4/XJdyg_ULTiI/AAAAAAAAIOk/gZyqmxtePCssmUH-x9N6D25UExGZXspLQCLcBGAs/s1600/Ready%2Bfor%2Bthe%2Boff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1596" data-original-width="1600" height="199" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NvWkQjV7ud4/XJdyg_ULTiI/AAAAAAAAIOk/gZyqmxtePCssmUH-x9N6D25UExGZXspLQCLcBGAs/s200/Ready%2Bfor%2Bthe%2Boff.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At home and ready for the off</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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WHSmith
very kindly offered to host me for a book-signing event in their Lewisham
branch. As instructed, I prepared and supplied some posters which they put in the window for a week prior to my designated day. Arriving late morning as arranged and armed with copies of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Glendale-Natalie-Kleinman-ebook/dp/B07C8Q9MR4">The
Ghost of Glendale</a> </i>I approached a member of staff. Imagine my delight when they gave me a table right at the front, near
the entrance to the store. And they provided me with a bright red cloth with which to cover it. </div>
<br />
<br />
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Setting
up took very little time and I sat down to wait, knowing that I might have to
wait for a long time, if not all day. Even with four published books I am not, after all, a well-known author.
Not yet anyway. There was a pretty healthy footfall and it certainly wasn’t
difficult to engage with people. My first ‘customers’ were a delightful young
couple who bought two books – and then, another! The first was for his mother,
as a Mother’s Day gift, and the second for his partner. I’m sure you can
imagine my delight when they walked away and, after only a few paces, he turned
back and said he’d actually take another one because he was certain his gran would
like it too. If that wasn’t a good way to start the day, I’d like to know what
would be.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K-roa0R5rtY/XJdzIARbRAI/AAAAAAAAIOs/PPz1EwkEYTEy0QQx9vUadKjfMlhmi_fgwCLcBGAs/s1600/Standing%2Bat%2Btable%2Bin%2BWHS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1600" height="155" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K-roa0R5rtY/XJdzIARbRAI/AAAAAAAAIOs/PPz1EwkEYTEy0QQx9vUadKjfMlhmi_fgwCLcBGAs/s320/Standing%2Bat%2Btable%2Bin%2BWHS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starting to set up 'shop'</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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A
smile would bring someone over for a chat, some eager to tell me about their
own endeavours, some looking in wonder as I admitted that yes, I was indeed the
author. As the day progressed I met a lot of people who were keen to discuss my
writing with me. Well, I was in a book shop! Suffice it to say that I didn’t
sit idly watching the world pass me by. There was one lady who not only
bought not only a copy of my book but also the current issue of The People’s Friend Special
in which I have a story (we’d been discussing how I began my writing career
with short stories). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xSHnSdl3ehE/XJd0ULElFFI/AAAAAAAAIPA/rn4xl9mICjUHuWC8ghRMBcKLSEOnfQDoACLcBGAs/s1600/Carole%2B%2526%2BMe%2Bat%2BWHS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="395" height="239" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xSHnSdl3ehE/XJd0ULElFFI/AAAAAAAAIPA/rn4xl9mICjUHuWC8ghRMBcKLSEOnfQDoACLcBGAs/s320/Carole%2B%2526%2BMe%2Bat%2BWHS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatting about my book<br />Image courtesy of fellow-author Sarah Stephenson<br />who dropped in to say hello</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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A
huge ‘thank you’ is due to the manager, Rob Peters, and his staff who went out
of their way to make me welcome and comfortable. A word of appreciation also to
WHSmith who employ a policy of encouraging local writers. Rob also took some of my
books to put on their shelves. That felt really good. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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To
recap, I knew there was a possibility that I would have no-one but myself to
talk to all day. Never a good thing. Had I not sold a single book, the time
would still have been well-invested. It was a truly positive experience which
took place in very pleasant surroundings and I would encourage anyone who might
be contemplating doing the same to give it a go. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Till
next time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Handwriting";">Natalie <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-9081972452859399692018-11-27T15:46:00.001+00:002018-11-27T15:48:23.469+00:00The end of the beginning OR The beginning of the end?<br />
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I
began writing my latest novel on 24<sup>th</sup> July and finished the first
draft yesterday. Only when I started this post did I realise that it has taken
four months almost to the day to complete. Obviously, without a word count, the
time frame is meaningless, but it has come in at just over 70k (it will no
doubt change). This, to me, is a vindication of the old adage ‘More haste, less
speed’. I made a conscious</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6Y10ytzHJo/W_1dKkfMuDI/AAAAAAAAICg/TVvqZhHAlGU3zqw1yQEhmGUb5-qaxxuuACEwYBhgL/s1600/the%2Bbeginning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="800" height="120" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g6Y10ytzHJo/W_1dKkfMuDI/AAAAAAAAICg/TVvqZhHAlGU3zqw1yQEhmGUb5-qaxxuuACEwYBhgL/s200/the%2Bbeginning.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Beginning</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
decision at the start not to give myself added stress
by putting a target end-date, though I hoped to be ready for editing by the end
of the year. It must be said that I had the dubious luxury of neither a
contract nor an agent to satisfy or a deadline to meet. My time was my own. The strange thing though is
that less pressure produced quicker output, bearing in mind that though this is
a first draft I do edit as I write. It always helps me to maintain continuity
if I begin a day’s work by reading what I had written the previous day. We are
all different, I know, but I do not have it in me not to edit as I read so,
while I stand by this being the first draft, it is by no means entirely rough
(I hope).<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kv3aee6lOYs/W_1d2J0yb_I/AAAAAAAAICo/ZCAhCZf9B1ccl2gIv7D81Fd35TXurVV0gCEwYBhgL/s1600/Brighton%2BPavilion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Kv3aee6lOYs/W_1d2J0yb_I/AAAAAAAAICo/ZCAhCZf9B1ccl2gIv7D81Fd35TXurVV0gCEwYBhgL/s200/Brighton%2BPavilion.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brighton Pavilion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Enjoyment
of the genre in which one is writing is, in my opinion, essential. I have tried
others. I am happy with others. But writing in the Regency period gives me
something I can’t even properly analyse. A joy in the use of language, this
would probably be uppermost. The flair and style of Georgian England – such a
romantic age in our country’s history, though I doubt social ranks below the
aristocracy and privileged classes would agree - but in my books I don’t go
there. A freedom that gives me access to early 19<sup>th</sup> century London, to
Brighton’s Pavilion, to countless stately homes with their vast estates, to the
etiquette of the times with all its nuances. Well, it seems I have managed to
analyse it after all. To me the essence of this age is ‘Romance’! What could be
better than to set a romance in a romantic era?<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ipkkoXY9gR0/W_1eyAEcTbI/AAAAAAAAICw/uiz_vMOgr08triguymmJPrChIIsejb9fQCLcBGAs/s1600/chatsworth-3723517__480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="874" height="175" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ipkkoXY9gR0/W_1eyAEcTbI/AAAAAAAAICw/uiz_vMOgr08triguymmJPrChIIsejb9fQCLcBGAs/s320/chatsworth-3723517__480.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatsworth House</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LiA4WiiOo1s/W_1e0Pbo65I/AAAAAAAAIC0/SXBQvRFzLSUl1zHfPCtbJzgngarFDrltACLcBGAs/s1600/chatsworth-2370210__480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="717" height="214" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LiA4WiiOo1s/W_1e0Pbo65I/AAAAAAAAIC0/SXBQvRFzLSUl1zHfPCtbJzgngarFDrltACLcBGAs/s320/chatsworth-2370210__480.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatsworth in the Autumn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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So
where does a thing begin and where does it end? I could say in all honesty that
I have written a book. The story is complete and therefore I would be justified
in typing ‘The End’ – something which incidentally I never do. An ending of
sorts, for sure, but not the finished article. More something I would categorise
as the end of the beginning. Ahead of me lies the beginning of the end. I have
enjoyed writing this one more than any of its predecessors and I am looking
forward to the next stage with eager anticipation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You
may have noticed that I have given this novel no title. It has a working one
only, entirely inappropriate now to what comes below it, and it would be meaningless to share it with you. I am hoping that, by the time I reach the end of
the end, a new title will have presented itself to me. The title – so important
and yet for me one of the hardest things. A book must fit its title and vice
versa. It is often the last thing that comes to me, when I can truly say I have
reached the end. But that’s a discussion for another day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
See
you next time<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Natalie<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-18839526495289935572018-10-28T07:30:00.000+00:002018-10-28T07:30:06.441+00:00Chatting with Elaine Everest<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Never mind A Gift from Woolworths! More
like a gift to her readers as Elaine Everest delights us all with yet another
book in this wonderful series. Once again I am privileged to be a participant
in her blog tour so let me welcome Elaine and see what she has to tell us this
time. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LZIX1j2PhKY/W8dMQ6ZounI/AAAAAAAAH50/qgldH_443ZM3tRgfJ986IhlecRIc6qKtgCLcBGAs/s1600/Elaine%2BEverest%2B50%2Bgold%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LZIX1j2PhKY/W8dMQ6ZounI/AAAAAAAAH50/qgldH_443ZM3tRgfJ986IhlecRIc6qKtgCLcBGAs/s320/Elaine%2BEverest%2B50%2Bgold%2B3.jpg" width="256" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Starting to read A Gift from Woolworths
was like cosying up with an old friend. Several old friends, in fact. Your
characters are always so well-developed that we might have made the mistake of
thinking we knew all about them. Not so. There is much more to learn in this
book. But they are numerous. How then do you manage to ensure your readers know
it’s Maisie, Sarah, Freda or Betty? Or indeed any of the others who feature. Not
once did I have to flick back to the page before to check.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Thank
you so much for the warm welcome to your blog, Natalie. It is always a pleasure
to visit.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m so
relieved you didn’t have to flick back to check anything – breathing a big sigh
of relief here! I like to think I’m aware of my lovely readers as I write my
books so stepping into a new scene I need to say not only where we are but who
is in the scene. In fact I have a shopping list for each scene of what happens
and who appears. I recall in my early writing days of receiving first edits for
a book and my editor, at that time, writing in the margin ‘where are we
Elaine?’ Things like this stick in my head so the next time I start a new scene
I make sure it is clear. I treat each scene in a chapter as a standalone story
starting with ‘Freda walked into the kitchen,’ or ‘Maisie bellowed at her husband’
until it becomes second nature to explain to my readers what is I want to say.
I’m sure I get it wrong sometimes but I have a fab team supporting me at Pan
Macmillan and they will soon point out my mistake. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are several threads running
through the book. I know you are a planner but can you tell us how you manage
to interweave all the stories so that in the end we are left with one of
Maisie’s beautifully finished garments rather than a tangled mess?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Good
question! Before I start to write a book I like to know what will happen to
each of my main characters so I write down each girl’s own story on individual
pages. Some of their problems start later in the book – sometimes extra ideas
come to me as I write! I then look at the war timeline as well as local and Woolworths
events. This means some of the girls’ stories start later than others as they
weave around a situation. Occasionally there will be an on-going storyline from
a previous book (Ruby’s on off marriage comes to mind) so I need to check old
notes and even read the previous book before I start to write. However, I do my
best to tie up every thread by that last chapter. A tick sheet is handy in
these circumstances.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I can almost touch the human spirit and
camaraderie that emanate from your Erith community. It’s obviously an area you
know and love well. What can you tell us about your personal connection to the
place that is as much a character in your book as any of the living and
breathing ones?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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If
anyone asks me where I come from I always say Erith and nearby Slade Green even
though I’ve lived in Swanley for over twenty-five years. Visiting the area now
I know that my Erith no longer exists but it is in my heart. I think of it as
rather like Brigadoon and hope that perhaps one day the town I know and write
about with it’s Victorian buildings and many shops will return. These days the
area is just an extension of Greater London but dig around and there are
glimpses of the old town we love so much. Pop onto Facebook and visit the
groups set up by past school friends and locals and in an instant we are
talking about the past – the ‘good old days’ that we think of with so much
fondness. Currently we are chatting about St Augustine’s church where so many
of us have been christened, married and said sad farewell to love ones. The
London Borough of Bexley, where Erith now dwells, has a wonderful archive
centre and along with local libraries there is a wealth of old photographs and
information for us to view and discuss. At times it is as if the town I know is
there just out of reach…</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You aren’t afraid to confront reality.
There are some harsh features and not everyone has a happy ending. Are these
aspects easier or harder to deal with when you are writing them?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
write sagas so life isn’t always pleasant, although these days saga authors no
longer write the predictable ‘gritty clogs and shawls’ kind of books from
Catherine Cookson’s era. Anything could happen to my girls and has. Freda was
attacked by a boyfriend in one of the earlier Woolworths books which is
distressing for any young girl – I apologise now for putting poor Freda through
so many failed romances. Maisie’s terrible family secret – I do love a secret!
My girls and their families are normal people and sadly most people do
encounter sadness and harshness at times. At least I can also give them
happiness – one of the perks of being a writer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you ever make yourself cry?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was going to say no as I hate it when writers put something on social media to
say they sobbed over their own words.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>However…
In one of my earlier books my three girls all faced the death of a parent. A
friend asked at the time if this was because I lost my own mum when she was
only forty. I put more than a little of my own grief into my girls’ stories in
that book – yes I shed a few tears.<br />
Also, as I wrote the last chapter of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Gift from Woolworths</i> and we reached the end of 1945 I felt as though my
girls had grown up so much since we met them in 1938 and I was saying goodbye
to them. At that time I wondered if there would be another Woolies book so I
took an age to write that one chapter fearing the worse. Tears were in evidence
then. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s no secret that the war comes to an
end in this book, but our connection with your characters does not. Can we
expect another Woolworths saga from you?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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I’ve
been promised by my publisher that we will return to Woolworths. I have such
plans for the girls for the late 1940s onwards. My publisher is holding two
outlines for more books and I’m looking forward to seeing what can happen, not only
to the girls but also their children – after all Woolies didn’t close until
2008. However, before then there will be new girls and a new series, which I
hope my readers will take to their hearts as they have with Sarah, Maisie and
Freda. </div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
I have a short story in the My Weekly magazine at the end of November following
a Saturday girl as Woolworths closes and if you listen carefully you can hear
my girls…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CvtGpgRFrKY/W8dMoaGrmjI/AAAAAAAAH58/jQl-tVdiD_4qNZTEljls9Y8X6fW0lCmTgCLcBGAs/s1600/51hNdEXjhnL._SX329_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CvtGpgRFrKY/W8dMoaGrmjI/AAAAAAAAH58/jQl-tVdiD_4qNZTEljls9Y8X6fW0lCmTgCLcBGAs/s320/51hNdEXjhnL._SX329_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="212" /></a></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, A Gift from Woolworths will
make a wonderful present, not just at this festive season but at any time of
the year. Are you in a position to tell us what your next gift to your readers
will be? And when?<br />
</span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My
next gift will be a trip to the seaside in May 2019 with The Teashop Girls. We
are visiting Margate and Ramsgate on the Kent coast in 1940 and taking tea in
the famous Lyons Teashops. We meet Rose, Katie and Lily and their friends from
the Sea View guesthouse. I can’t wait to introduce you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine xx</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And I can’t wait to meet them! Thank
you so much for sharing with us today, Elaine.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">About <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Gift From Woolworths: <o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Will the war be over by
Christmas?</span></b><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As the war moves into
1945 the lives of the women of Woolworths continue. When store manager, Betty
Billington, announces she is expecting Douglas’s baby her future life is about
to change more than she expects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Freda has fallen in love
with the handsome Scottish engineer but will it end happily?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Maisie loves being a
mother and also caring for her two nieces although she still has her own
dreams. When her brother appears on the scene he brings unexpected danger to
the family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Meanwhile Sarah dreams of
her husband’s return and a cottage with roses around the door but Woolworths
beckons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Will our girls sail into
times of peace, or will they experience more heartache and sorrow? With a
wedding on the horizon, surely only happiness lies ahead – or does it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Links:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elaine-Everest/e/B003LTXNN8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1508176086&sr=1-2-ent">Amazon
Author Page</a></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ElaineEverestAuthor/">Author
Facebook page</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Twitter:
@elaineeverest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Author Information:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine Everest, author of Bestselling novels <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Woolworths Girls,</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Butlins Girls, Christmas at Woolworths,
and Wartime at Woolworths </i>was born and brought up in North West Kent, where
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">many of her books are set. She has
been a freelance writer for twenty years and</span> has written widely for
women's magazines and national newspapers, with both short stories and
features. Her non-fiction books for dog owners have been very popular and led
to broadcasting on radio about our four legged friends. Elaine has been heard
discussing many topics on radio from canine subjects to living with a husband
under her feet when redundancy looms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write
Place creative writing school at The Howard Venue in Hextable, Kent and has a
long list of published students. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elaine lives with her husband, Michael, and
their Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Henry, in Swanley, Kent and is a member of the
Romantic Novelists’ Association, The Crime Writers Association, The Society of
Women Writers & Journalists and The Society of Authors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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If you'd like to make some more stops on the blog tour you can find them on the banner below<br />
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-13793180437470712252018-08-18T11:30:00.001+01:002018-08-18T11:30:37.076+01:00A Journey Through Time<br />
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My
recent holiday on the Isle of Wight turned out to be other than I was
expecting. Instead of the rather relaxed break we had intended combined with the
occasional cultural excursion, it turned out to be crammed full of history.</div>
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Our
first visit was to the Isle of Wight Zoo. Pretty innocuous, you’d think but, as
well as being privileged to see some of the wonderful animals who are cared for
by The Wildheart Trust Charity… <o:p></o:p></div>
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Little and Large<br />
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…we
were taken back to the Second World War. I learned from a friend only the day
before that the zoo is housed on the site of an old fort, remnants of which
remain. The fort played a critical role in Operation PLUTO and within it is a
small exhibition which contains one of the original pumps and some fascinating
details of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">P</span></b>ipe<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">L</span></b>ine<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">U</span></b>nder<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">T</span></b>he<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">O</span></b>cean. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h1Lm4ETTG-E/W3foyB4jemI/AAAAAAAAHjE/6a9H9VmKD5I6Po6WQiyiXNVx28JThG-pQCLcBGAs/s1600/Pluto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h1Lm4ETTG-E/W3foyB4jemI/AAAAAAAAHjE/6a9H9VmKD5I6Po6WQiyiXNVx28JThG-pQCLcBGAs/s200/Pluto.jpg" width="200" /></a>In addition to the natural history we were anticipating, we had an unexpected history lesson and another reminder of how much we owe to those who went before us. A fabulous day. </div>
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A
new day, a new outing, this time to Carisbrooke Castle and the thirteenth
century when Isabella de Fortibus reigned supreme on the Isle of Wight, ruling
it independently from the Crown. </div>
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Over the years it has been a romantic castle,
an Elizabethan artillery fortress, a king’s prison (Charles I – held for
fourteen months before his execution) and a royal summer residence. I visited
the small but fascinatingly comprehensive museum housed within the castle
walls.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qYPaQjpxQGs/W3fre4yiy0I/AAAAAAAAHj0/zMp3Vwdcn1sbeOBHCrIRkC5-NaqccaclgCLcBGAs/s1600/Museum%2Bexterior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qYPaQjpxQGs/W3fre4yiy0I/AAAAAAAAHj0/zMp3Vwdcn1sbeOBHCrIRkC5-NaqccaclgCLcBGAs/s200/Museum%2Bexterior.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Castle Museum</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mOEHZUA2iXw/W3fr1qSnRhI/AAAAAAAAHkM/E5JHQPJgiiElKiK1BeoEpkyaeATEi9DqACLcBGAs/s1600/Queuing%2Bto%2Bgo%2Bin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mOEHZUA2iXw/W3fr1qSnRhI/AAAAAAAAHkM/E5JHQPJgiiElKiK1BeoEpkyaeATEi9DqACLcBGAs/s200/Queuing%2Bto%2Bgo%2Bin.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queuing to get in to the Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMqG0uAk_9U/W3frKzUDKlI/AAAAAAAAHjs/79D_nFdtVGQUBSufY2xQkNolErdCPoYxwCLcBGAs/s1600/Castle%2Bbats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMqG0uAk_9U/W3frKzUDKlI/AAAAAAAAHjs/79D_nFdtVGQUBSufY2xQkNolErdCPoYxwCLcBGAs/s200/Castle%2Bbats.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Castle Bats</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QrS2vQss-tg/W3fqtPY1g0I/AAAAAAAAHjg/0xd6rwA9dJUZOuVEjhv996C2U94LvmmbQCLcBGAs/s1600/Falconry%2Bdisplay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QrS2vQss-tg/W3fqtPY1g0I/AAAAAAAAHjg/0xd6rwA9dJUZOuVEjhv996C2U94LvmmbQCLcBGAs/s200/Falconry%2Bdisplay.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Falconry Display</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xv2896ldbLU/W3frhx8nqWI/AAAAAAAAHj4/k3qPNzYQre4-kKXQSQOiCH1y4Ddj3eW0ACLcBGAs/s1600/Carisbrooke%2BCastle%2Bthrough%2Bthe%2Bcenturies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xv2896ldbLU/W3frhx8nqWI/AAAAAAAAHj4/k3qPNzYQre4-kKXQSQOiCH1y4Ddj3eW0ACLcBGAs/s200/Carisbrooke%2BCastle%2Bthrough%2Bthe%2Bcenturies.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Through the Centuries</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hsg85VC9S5A/W3frtCZb4iI/AAAAAAAAHkE/dJAsogteMP4Yt6BhFMhjIYeB8ti2RkHVgCLcBGAs/s1600/View%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Bcastle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hsg85VC9S5A/W3frtCZb4iI/AAAAAAAAHkE/dJAsogteMP4Yt6BhFMhjIYeB8ti2RkHVgCLcBGAs/s200/View%2Bfrom%2Bthe%2Bcastle.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Castle</td></tr>
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Our
final major visit was to Osborne House, described by Queen Victoria in 1845 as ‘Our
dear Osborne, which is like a little Paradise for us’. It had been a long-held
ambition of mine to see this royal residence, so renowned for being the queen’s
favourite home, and boy was it worth the wait. There is far too much history
for me to be able to share with you here so I have attached some images to give
you a taste of its splendour. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pFm4B5scf7w/W3fuagNSD1I/AAAAAAAAHkg/HuNPAM2XFs8HNPNLjckPnmd_MEifAnW9gCLcBGAs/s1600/Osborne%2BHouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pFm4B5scf7w/W3fuagNSD1I/AAAAAAAAHkg/HuNPAM2XFs8HNPNLjckPnmd_MEifAnW9gCLcBGAs/s320/Osborne%2BHouse.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Osborne House</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EDFm4CIXqFc/W3fypqhkWhI/AAAAAAAAHlI/k30PEnelW0QsM7y9BOlD1eZny505EVYVQCLcBGAs/s1600/Just%2Byour%2Baverage%2Bceiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EDFm4CIXqFc/W3fypqhkWhI/AAAAAAAAHlI/k30PEnelW0QsM7y9BOlD1eZny505EVYVQCLcBGAs/s200/Just%2Byour%2Baverage%2Bceiling.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just your average ceiling</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Billiard Room</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fine Dining</td></tr>
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With
my housewifely hat on I wondered at the task of cleaning the amazing coloured
glass and ormolu chandelier depicting convolvulus, Prince Albert’s favourite
flower, and arum lilies.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I
had an amazing sense of history when I entered Queen Victoria’s bedroom. It was
in this room on 22<sup>nd</sup> January 1901 that she died, on a small couch
bed, surrounded by her children. More than a hundred years later and it felt as
though I could reach out and touch the past.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queen Victoria's Bed</td></tr>
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See
you next time<o:p></o:p></div>
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Natalie
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-89658479371307589762018-07-11T13:55:00.000+01:002018-07-11T16:49:00.600+01:00Ante-#RNAConf18<br />
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<b>Ante-#RNAConf18</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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That
would be ante as in before not anti as in against. Or even ante as in bet,
though I’m willing to bet there will be many blog posts post-Conference. Sorry –
ante, anti and ante. Posts and post. Isn’t English a wonderful language?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I
sat down to work this morning but found instead that, with the excitement
mounting, there was no way I could concentrate. There were several things on my
mind so I thought I’d jot a few of them down here. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8elqzYNNj2Q/W0XzYvmgx-I/AAAAAAAAHJo/2ZAMiMtfZEE4OhybRpLZ5YpcIPOB8AtggCLcBGAs/s1600/packing%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8elqzYNNj2Q/W0XzYvmgx-I/AAAAAAAAHJo/2ZAMiMtfZEE4OhybRpLZ5YpcIPOB8AtggCLcBGAs/s200/packing%2B2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Messy but I'm hoping it's all there</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: justify;">Have
I packed enough/the right clothes? Not actually packed but on the bed waiting.</span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NBR2vVx4bcI/W0Xz-W4aUtI/AAAAAAAAHJw/Pisd-DlRRD0Fll6UGen9bcb__wDrArJUwCLcBGAs/s1600/ticket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NBR2vVx4bcI/W0Xz-W4aUtI/AAAAAAAAHJw/Pisd-DlRRD0Fll6UGen9bcb__wDrArJUwCLcBGAs/s200/ticket.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="text-align: justify;">Will
the travel plans work out now that arrangements have been made to avoid the
London Tube strike? With pre-booked tickets from Kings Cross it would be a disaster to miss the designated train.</span><br />
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How
much I’m looking forward to meeting old friends and making new ones.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x5RdKGdWcRY/VZK3zg0yeOI/AAAAAAAACgQ/NBf2BxY6nbYca6lgKiHurrciLd6QGDaRACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Jan%2Bjpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x5RdKGdWcRY/VZK3zg0yeOI/AAAAAAAACgQ/NBf2BxY6nbYca6lgKiHurrciLd6QGDaRACPcBGAYYCw/s200/Jan%2Bjpeg.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wonderful Jan Jones</td></tr>
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Will
I be able to attend all the sessions that have been arranged for
us without collapsing in an exhausted heap? The answer of course is no. I’ll definitely collapse in an exhausted heap, but with so much skill and knowledge
made available to us I shall try very hard keep up.<br />
<br />
Thanks as ever to Jan Jones for her behind the scenes work. This morning Jan has posted that there is an excellent range of gins. So good of her to do the research for us.<br />
<br />
There are others of course who also worked so diligently to make the Conference seem like a well-oiled machine. Sheila Crighton who was instrumental in arranging the attendance of the Industry Professionals. Session organisers. I don't have names but I thank them sincerely.</div>
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Sterling work again this year from Elaine Everest acting as liaison between conference delegates and Industry Professionals. I never fail to get worked up over the one2ones but hey, a little dose of adrenalin is a good thing, isn’t it? I have always
found the feedback we get absolutely invaluable. How lucky
are we to have the opportunity to discuss our work with the professionals in such an informal and relaxed manner. Did I say relaxed?<o:p></o:p></div>
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It
would be remiss of me not to mention the parties. RNA members certainly know how to
party. We get a lot of practice. There’s also the Gala Dinner on Saturday
evening. An excuse to dress up and have another party. Who needs an excuse?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vm5zjYqqvio/W0X13tAsJjI/AAAAAAAAHJ8/Pq2-0gMvFh8uXZbB2njNeb9kBmwhBKdcQCLcBGAs/s1600/Natalie%2BRNA%2BWinter%2BParty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="268" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vm5zjYqqvio/W0X13tAsJjI/AAAAAAAAHJ8/Pq2-0gMvFh8uXZbB2njNeb9kBmwhBKdcQCLcBGAs/s200/Natalie%2BRNA%2BWinter%2BParty.jpg" width="171" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a conference photo but, with the much loved and<br />
missed Roger Sanderson, synonymous with the<br />
Annual Conference, I just had to include this one</td></tr>
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</o:p></div>
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What
more can I say? This has been by way of a stream of consciousness. Throughout
the year I attend as many writing events as I can and as my purse will allow
but the RNA Annual Conference is the one that takes precedence over all the
rest. I know I will enjoy it. I always do. But above all I will come away with
considerably more knowledge than when I arrived, I will have met new people,
and I will carry a huge amount of enthusiasm and an eagerness to get back to
work. Oh, and probably a few extra pounds in weight as well. See you there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Natalie<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-88871292321159172322018-06-01T07:30:00.000+01:002018-06-01T07:30:10.774+01:00It's Publication Day for Elaine Roberts and The Foyles Bookshop Girls<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">I’m delighted to welcome friend, Elaine
Roberts, to the blog to celebrate the publication today of her debut novel, <i>The Foyles Bookshop Girls. </i>Congratulations, Elaine, and thank you for answering my questions:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Every unpublished writer dreams of that
offer of a contract. But for you it was like the proverbial bus. You wait an
age for one and then three come along at the same time! Fantastic – but what
did it feel like?</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A6HaJfcwf8I/WwnFI0r_b0I/AAAAAAAAG_o/cXcGQU1CeWkrG6IHL51J-Zbs-tXUYPyZwCLcBGAs/s1600/Author%2BPhoto%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1143" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A6HaJfcwf8I/WwnFI0r_b0I/AAAAAAAAG_o/cXcGQU1CeWkrG6IHL51J-Zbs-tXUYPyZwCLcBGAs/s320/Author%2BPhoto%2Bcopy.jpg" width="228" /></a>The
day I received the email, I was in a bit of an emotional state and I was
talking to my husband, Dave, about giving up writing. He went to answer a knock
at the front door and by the time he got back, an email had arrived from Aria
saying how they loved my book and wanted to publish it. To be honest it didn’t
really register at first. I showed it to Dave and he was thrilled. I believe I
said something along the lines of “I don’t know if I want it now”, to which he
replied rather incredulously, “You’re having a laugh, aren’t you. You’ve worked
so hard for this.” As I’m sure you can guess, it was a strange feeling. I think,
within half an hour, I’d had two emails, a phone call and a contract to sign,
so after years of waiting for this moment to arrive, it all seemed to happen
very quickly. I’m obviously thrilled to have a three-book contract, but it
still feels rather surreal and of course I am now on a steep learning curve on
marketing and promotion.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Alice, Victoria and Molly are very
different characters. What is it that binds them together?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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They
have a history together that goes back to their childhood, before they were
aware of life’s protocols. Originally, circumstances brought Molly and Alice
together, but more of that is revealed in The Foyles Girls at War. They also
have their love of books, which is what brings them to Foyles Bookshop. The
trials that the Great War forces on them binds them together, creating a bond
that can’t be broken.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Many people find unknown depths in times of
adversity. What does Alice learn about herself in these terrible times?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Alice
was always the peacemaker, never wanting to rock the boat. She believed in the
suffragette movement, but she never wanted to upset her father and be forced
into a marriage she didn’t want. She felt she could pave the way for her
younger sister, Lily, to have more freedom, by doing things slowly and quietly.
During this first novel, she realises she’s stronger and more capable than she
ever realised. She faces difficult situations, some of which she totally
mishandles. She doesn’t understand why her actions are misunderstood, but she
comes to realise that being the eldest didn’t necessarily mean she knew
best. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">As a writer I know how one’s characters
become real. Which is your favourite, and why?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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You
are right, they do become very real and part of your life. You ride the wave of
emotions they are on. I love them all for very different reasons, but if I had
to choose one, it would have to be Lily, Alice’s sister. She’s not afraid to
take on the world and she’s all about justice and not afraid to speak out, even
if it’s not the right time to do so. Haha, she sounds a bit like me - now
that’s rather worrying!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><b><br /></b></b></div>
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<b><b><br /></b></b></div>
<b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">What is it about saga writing that made it
your chosen genre?</span></b><br />
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As
you know, I started writing contemporary women’s fiction. I believe it was a
conversation we had when we were going to a Romantic Novelists Association
London Chapter meeting. We were sitting in a cafe when I spoke about maybe
trying to write something in the Victorian era and you told me I should give it
a go. I was full of insecurities of whether I could do all the research, as
well as plan and write 100,000 words, but I gave it a go. Once I put my fear behind
me and realised I had nothing to lose, I thoroughly enjoyed creating the
fictional story to weave around the historical facts. After the Historical
Novelist Society conference, I was then encouraged to write a World War One
novel and that turned out to be The Foyles Bookshop Girls.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Setting your novel in what is perhaps the
most famous bookshop in the world seems inspired to me but what, in today’s
context, does Foyles mean to you?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Ask
any writer and they will say they love a bookshop, whether a big named store
like Foyles or a small second hand one. I wanted one of my characters to work
or own a bookshop and originally that was my male lead character, but as always
it evolved in the planning.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Foyles
in Charing Cross Road held Discovery Days where authors could have a one to one
with an agent. I remember rehearsing my thirty-second pitch over and over again
and memorising the premise of my story, which was a modern one the first time I
attended, and then the Victorian one, the second time. I remember everyone was
so nervous, and yet there was a real camaraderie as we waited in line for our
moment. Foyles is books, books are authors and the Discovery Days they held
were all about encouraging talent to rise to the surface. I came away with
their motivational words ringing in my ears. Those days gave me the belief that
I could actually write a book and be published.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Could we have a little background
information please? Have you always been a writer, or an aspiring one? Tell us
about your journey?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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I have
always kept diaries and, as I got older, journals. When I was in my twenties, I
wrote a modern love story and sent it to Mills and Boon. They sent me a very
nice rejection, which said they would have taken it, but they were in the
process of changing their image, and it wouldn’t fit in with them going
forward. This gave me encouragement, but life got in the way and I didn’t write
anything else for several years. I think it wasn’t my time then, but I took it
up again about eight years ago. Thanks to my son, I joined The Write Place
Creative Writing School and was encouraged to join organisations like The
Romantic Novelists Association New Writers Scheme, which I would definitely
recommend. I wrote and submitted short stories, which is a real lesson on word
choice and writing to a word count. I was thrilled when I sold my first short
story and couldn’t believe someone wanted to buy a story I had written. All the
time I was doing that, I was still working on my novel. Joining a class and an
organisation tells you you’re not alone and everything that is happening to you
has happened to others. That is very encouraging to know.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">With the publication today of </b><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foyles-Bookshop-Girls-ebook/dp/B079T5YYYN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526818494&sr=8-1&keywords=the+foyles+bookshop+girls"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Foyles Bookshop Girls</i></b></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>promotion is already in place for this
three book series. How far are you into the writing process for the next two?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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My
second book, The Foyles Girls at War is finished and waiting for a final edit,
before being printed off for a final read through, in case there are any
glaring errors.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
The
third one, Christmas at the Foyles Bookshop, is planned and the historical
timeline is written. I’ve written one chapter at the moment so that is
definitely a moving storyline.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
I
have also written an idea down for the book after that, but I’m not saying
anymore than that at the moment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">It’s obvious from your previous answer what
is next for Elaine Roberts on the writing front. When you’re not creating other
worlds, what do you do for your own pleasure?</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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My
life outside of writing is about my family; I’m at my happiest when I’m spending
time with them. When Dave and I aren’t on babysitting duties, we will book a
few days away, but my laptop always goes with me, as you never know when an
idea will come and the urge to write will take over. I obviously love to read
and still write short stories, although not as many as I used to. I enjoy
playing Sudoko and doing crosswords, if they aren’t too difficult. I love
spending time with my friends and going to the theatre, which is something I do
more and more.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Thank you for inviting me onto your blog, Natalie.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">It's been a pleasure.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><b>The Blurb:</b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">London,
1914: one ordinary day, three girls arrive for work at London's renowned Foyles
bookshop. But when war with Germany is declared their lives will never be the
same again...<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Alice
has always been the 'sensible' one in her family – especially in comparison
with her suffrage-supporting sister! But decidedly against her father's wishes,
she accepts a job at Foyles Bookshop; and for bookworm Alice it's a dream come
true.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
with the country at war, Alice's happy world is shattered in an instant.
Determined to do what she can, Alice works in the bookshop by day, and risks
her own life driving an ambulance around bomb-ravaged London by night. But
however busy she keeps herself, she can't help but think of the constant danger
those she loves are facing on the frontline...<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Alice,
Victoria and Molly couldn't be more different and yet they share a friendship
that stems back to their childhood – a friendship that provides everyday solace
from the tribulations and heartbreak of war.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
</div>
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Amazon
Link: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079T5YYYN/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i1?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=B079T5YYYN&pd_rd_r=3a619592-5f31-11e8-b2a8-3bfa5c4f60e1&pd_rd_w=4lN88&pd_rd_wg=8ajvh&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=K3C8XNGNADRVHA881MAY&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_">The
Foyles Bookshop Girls</a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Kobo
Link: <a href="https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-foyles-bookshop-girls">The Foyles
Bookshop Girls</a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Facebook
Author Page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ElaineRobertsAuthor/?rc=p">Elaine
Roberts Facebook Author Page</a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Twitter:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/">@RobertsElaine11</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-6997498805208775412018-05-16T16:34:00.000+01:002018-05-16T16:34:29.078+01:00A Question of Balance <br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
It’s
been a while since you’ve seen me here and with good reason. Someone else, lots
of someone elses, have been doing my blogging for me and I didn’t want my
personal efforts to be lost in the crowd.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D65boy8HRg4/WvxJdfDx2iI/AAAAAAAAG8w/ZNBUhlCZ6MUAZks1WSLxUeH8dAXBhYV3gCLcBGAs/s1600/Ghost-Spread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="1200" height="246" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D65boy8HRg4/WvxJdfDx2iI/AAAAAAAAG8w/ZNBUhlCZ6MUAZks1WSLxUeH8dAXBhYV3gCLcBGAs/s320/Ghost-Spread.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Three
weeks ago today <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Glendale-Natalie-Kleinman-ebook/dp/B07C8Q9MR4">The
Ghost of Glendale</a> </i>was published as an eBook, the paperback having
preceded it by three weeks. It was my first foray into the realms of
self-publishing and in a way I cheated in as much as I had others far more experienced
to do the work for me. I reaped the benefits of the professionalism of Rebecca
Emin (Gingersnap Books) and Cathy Helms (Avalon Graphics) who formatted the
book and produced the, in my opinion, spectacular cover. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
Following
all that, Rachel Gilbey of Rachel’s Random Resources took me on a whirlwind
blog tour, hence the reason I haven’t posted myself. Rachel managed to assemble
a group of people for whom I have a newfound awe and admiration to read, review
and promote my book. Yes, folks, I’m talking about <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">THE BLOGGERS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zW6HjWsS19c/WvxJpkdKCwI/AAAAAAAAG84/_y9r5UqG8Zg9RTO2mzgYXcFt0mBtYADAQCLcBGAs/s1600/The%2BGhost%2Bof%2BGlendale%2BFull%2BBanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="875" data-original-width="1600" height="174" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zW6HjWsS19c/WvxJpkdKCwI/AAAAAAAAG84/_y9r5UqG8Zg9RTO2mzgYXcFt0mBtYADAQCLcBGAs/s320/The%2BGhost%2Bof%2BGlendale%2BFull%2BBanner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
that
amazing fraternity who give up their time for no reward other than their love
of reading. I have received some wonderful reviews for which I’m truly grateful
but the thing that struck me most has been the consistency of the comments. I’d
never written a mixed genre book before but it seems that romance and
paranormal can go together. For those with a love of the Regency, I am happy to
have portrayed the era effectively. To combine it with a ghost story was something else. Fortunately it seems I got the balance right. I had
so much fun writing this book and when more than one compared it favourably with Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, well, I could ask for no greater praise. I
hope you enjoy reading it. Here’s an excerpt. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“It was fortunate indeed that you weren’t present for I
should certainly have given myself away, but I so wished you’d been there to
enjoy the joke.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Phoebe and Duncan
were sitting again on the fallen tree where they had first met, the horses
standing contentedly by in the small clearing. He had thought she’d looked a
little overwrought when they’d met earlier in the stable yard but after a good
canter she was relaxed as ever in his company and smiling now as she related
what had happened at the table the previous evening.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> "</span>Does she
always rub you up the wrong way?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> "</span>Almost
invariably, but when I stayed with her in London I was able to hold my tongue. I
was her guest and it would have been unforgivably rude of me not to.” Duncan
could appreciate her logic. “Here at Glendale I will not have her cutting up my
father’s peace. It seems to me that if I can inject some humour into the
situation, be she never so aware, I am able to restrain myself.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> "</span>Is her
understanding so inferior then?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> "</span>By no
means. She is intelligent enough. Just that she has no sense of the ridiculous.
I cannot believe how unalike she is to my mother who could make anyone laugh by
merely a word or even only a gesture.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I wish I
could have met her."</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">I hope you can join me again next time </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-46106792079610503502018-03-23T12:00:00.000+00:002018-03-23T12:01:36.792+00:00Writing from the Heart<br />
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Those
of you who know me or follow this blog will be aware that I’ve been writing for
some time now, with four books, and many published short stories to my name. I
began with short stories and the pleasure I get from constructing a whole new
world in just one or two thousand words has never diminished. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
However,
in the fascinating world of fiction it is sometimes supposed (if you’re not an
author) that writing is an easy occupation. That somehow an idea germinates – that
bit is true – and then the words just flow onto the page. It does happen,
occasionally, but most of the time it’s hard work, writing that first draft
followed by multiple edits, loving it, hating it then hopefully loving it
again. Then maybe another edit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_G9CxWWnqFQ/WrTqKmJEuPI/AAAAAAAAGmc/ISrBrV3wTw828VxHGMnaz7meluyeVzN5QCLcBGAs/s1600/Ghost-EBOOK-cvr%2BTGoG%2B%25283%2BMB%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_G9CxWWnqFQ/WrTqKmJEuPI/AAAAAAAAGmc/ISrBrV3wTw828VxHGMnaz7meluyeVzN5QCLcBGAs/s200/Ghost-EBOOK-cvr%2BTGoG%2B%25283%2BMB%2529.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
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Just
occasionally something magical happens and this was the case for me with my
latest book. It was my addiction to the books of Georgette Heyer and love of the
Regency that were the inspiration for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Ghost of Glendale. </i>Like many others, I was practically weaned on the books
of the queen of romantic Regency novels. While I don’t presume to emulate my
idol, it has long been my ambition to attempt this genre, having previously
concentrated on women’s contemporary romantic fiction. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ghost of Glendale </i>was that perfect experience. Straight from
the heart and the words tumbling to get out. It isn’t the longest book I’ve
ever written but it is, to date, my favourite.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Blurb<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At twenty-four years old, Phoebe
Marcham is resigned to spinsterhood, unwilling to settle for anything less than
the deep love her parents had shared. That is, until adventurer Duncan
Armstrong rides into her home wood, larger than life and with laughter in his
eyes and more charm in his little finger than anyone she’s ever met before. Far
from ridiculing her family ghost, Duncan resolves to help solve the mystery
which has left Simon Marcham a spirit in torment for two hundred years.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
book was such a joy to write. There’s a ghost, a little bit of history, a
couple of horses – I love horses – and the obligatory difficult relative. But
above all there’s the relationship between the two main protagonists. They may
have ‘lived’ nearly two hundred years ago but they are as real to me as anyone
I know today – and they are fun! I hope you like them too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Publication
date is 25<sup>th</sup> April but for anyone who is interested <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Glendale-Natalie-Kleinman-ebook/dp/B07C8Q9MR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521802540&sr=8-1&keywords=the+ghost+of+glendale">The
Ghost of Glendale</a></i> is now available to pre-order. <span style="background: white; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
A special word of thanks to Debbie Viggiano whose advice has been invaluable and my particular thanks to Rebecca Emin and Cathy Helms who were instrumental in getting this book out there for me. .</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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See
you next time.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-21086573413429147632018-02-19T07:30:00.000+00:002018-02-19T07:30:28.398+00:00Chatting with Rosemary Goodacre<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQBAkwOYX7E/WoHAcKtWLaI/AAAAAAAAGbg/yR3KdGWKfrAXxrq-acG1FdIO77-bZ0APwCLcBGAs/s1600/Portrait%2BRosemary%2BGoodacre.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQBAkwOYX7E/WoHAcKtWLaI/AAAAAAAAGbg/yR3KdGWKfrAXxrq-acG1FdIO77-bZ0APwCLcBGAs/s200/Portrait%2BRosemary%2BGoodacre.JPG" width="132" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today I am delighted to
welcome Rosemary Goodacre on this, the first day of the blog tour for her debut
novel, </span></b><b><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fortnight-not-Enough-Rosemary-Goodacre-ebook/dp/B079M7BXPC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518434279&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Fortnight+is+not+Enough">A
Fortnight is not Enough</a> </span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">which is published by American publisher Books to Go Now.<i> </i>Rosemary
has written a feel good story which I read at one sitting. Her young heroine is
everything a heroine should be, I liked the writer’s style and I look forward
to reading more from this author in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank you for agreeing to
answer my questions, Rosemary. </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">Before I begin I'd like to say thank you for hosting me on your blog.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">You’ve picked a wonderfully romantic setting for your
novel. It feels as if it’s somewhere you know well. Is this the case and why
did you choose this particular location?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">We visited
Provence in 2016 and it’s a beautiful region, with plenty of sunshine. I’ve had
a fantasy about deliberately not returning from a wonderful holiday
destination, and when I wanted to make it into a story this location seemed to
work well.</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B4eyQj-G0CA/WoHAwAZQuLI/AAAAAAAAGbk/VYBBIPeDHJ0hXcYd78rSQpD8JO-rDClDwCLcBGAs/s1600/Avignon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B4eyQj-G0CA/WoHAwAZQuLI/AAAAAAAAGbk/VYBBIPeDHJ0hXcYd78rSQpD8JO-rDClDwCLcBGAs/s200/Avignon.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Avignon<br />
The setting for<br />
A Fortnight is not Enough</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Your heroine is an artist and it’s evident you know a
lot about your subject. Are you a painter in your non-writing life?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m afraid I’ve
only dabbled, though it’s a lovely career or hobby. I’ve got some artistic
friends and relatives. One room at home is full of paintings by my school
friend and her family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I watched Imogen mature into a young woman with a
growing faith in her own talents and abilities. Was this planned and do you
think it a fundamental part of the story?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes, she has to
use her skills and qualities to fulfil her aims. She also has to break free
from someone who is a controlling influence. It could be described as a Young
Adult novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SE1DnFIJ9CQ/WoHA_i3-XLI/AAAAAAAAGb4/c_Gw-cGntukkfJnAz8HVmapZid6AwXx2ACEwYBhgL/s1600/A%2BFortnight%2Bis%2Bnot%2BEnough-cover-mini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SE1DnFIJ9CQ/WoHA_i3-XLI/AAAAAAAAGb4/c_Gw-cGntukkfJnAz8HVmapZid6AwXx2ACEwYBhgL/s200/A%2BFortnight%2Bis%2Bnot%2BEnough-cover-mini.jpg" width="133" /></a><b><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fortnight-not-Enough-Rosemary-Goodacre-ebook/dp/B079M7BXPC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518434279&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Fortnight+is+not+Enough">A
Fortnight is not Enough</a> </span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">is your first
published novel. Do you have any other projects in the pipeline? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have recently
completed a full length novel entitled <i>The Day of the Dolly Bird, </i>which
is a romance set in London in the Swinging Sixties. It has received an encouraging report from a professional novelist. I am currently working on a
romance set in World War I.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Can you elaborate on your writing career to date and
your route to publication? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have always
loved writing and lately I’ve become more serious about seeking
publication. I attend The Write Place Creative Writing School, run by author and journalist Elaine Everest, where
there is constant stimulation and encouragement. I belong to the New Writers
Scheme of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and enjoy meeting other writers
there and attending workshops. Their Annual Conference provides the opportunity
for valuable one-to-one meetings with agents and publishers, helpful for
gaining a better understanding of the industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have had short
stories published and placed in competitions, and I have been published in the
Guardian. My novel <i>Pleasure Train Polka</i>, set in Austria in 1914, was
short listed in the 2014 Write Time competition run by Corazon Books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<b>We’d like to know a little more about you. What can you tell us?
(Hobbies? Interests? Pet hate?) <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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In an attempt to keep
fit I do Zumba, on the principle that an hour a week shouldn’t kill me, but
seriously, we exercise to music (Latin American etc.) so it’s great fun. I’m
very interested in travel (mainly to continental Europe) and languages. I love
classical music, including opera.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank you for joining me today, Rosemary. I wish you every
success with your new book</span></b></div>
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Links:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fortnight-not-Enough-Rosemary-Goodacre-ebook/dp/B079M7BXPC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518434279&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Fortnight+is+not+Enough">Amazon</a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2CxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010332099458">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/RoseGoodacre">Twitter</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-22444895339861074232018-01-22T13:52:00.001+00:002018-01-22T13:52:36.163+00:00The Benefits of a One Day Writing Retreat<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iCuKtg5H5io/WmXMTod5GMI/AAAAAAAAGUo/Qmyy3aUhAPI2pH7jr7TLAP6SgL_V9gFxgCLcBGAs/s1600/Laptop%2Bphoto%2Bwith%2BETTC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iCuKtg5H5io/WmXMTod5GMI/AAAAAAAAGUo/Qmyy3aUhAPI2pH7jr7TLAP6SgL_V9gFxgCLcBGAs/s200/Laptop%2Bphoto%2Bwith%2BETTC.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">I
consider myself to be a dedicated writer and while my day isn’t always as well-planned and
organised as it could be it is almost invariably filled with writerly
things. Most of the time I can be found pounding away at my keyboard or reading my notes. Recently I completed the first draft of <i>Long Ago and Far Away, </i>the novel I began in November for the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing fifty thousand words in a month. Time now to work on editing before sending it out into the big wide world. Sometimes, though, it’s easy to become distracted – by Facebook
conversations, by Twitter and, well we all know about displacement activities.
However…</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rQDJwszioCU/WmW_u9C36eI/AAAAAAAAGTQ/dHC6tD1zlxoJKkPGYYGf1KslzKRDIjKygCLcBGAs/s1600/book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="80" data-original-width="120" height="133" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rQDJwszioCU/WmW_u9C36eI/AAAAAAAAGTQ/dHC6tD1zlxoJKkPGYYGf1KslzKRDIjKygCLcBGAs/s200/book.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
a little over six years now I have attended The Write Place Creative Writing School in
Kent, with weekly lessons that have kept me on my toes and from which I have
learned a huge amount. But aside from the benefits of excellent tuition there
is the added bonus of the one day writing retreats that are held regularly
(usually once a month). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">There was one such retreat last Saturday. I went with
less enthusiasm than usual due to a fuggy head. It's that time of the year isn't it! Fortunately I had planned what
I was going to work on. Fugginess receded and by the end of the morning I had written the outline for
my next book and begun work on the synopsis for <i>Long Ago and Far Away</i>. Then we broke for lunch, an assortment of delights
brought by the participants to share between us all, and we always bring too
much!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FyxiXNeDEDk/WmXBW7eBHaI/AAAAAAAAGTs/keGP9_nU3wEWiXkLa-3nGxQg4KcbwLyxACLcBGAs/s1600/salmon-bagel-sandwich-100228748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="99" data-original-width="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FyxiXNeDEDk/WmXBW7eBHaI/AAAAAAAAGTs/keGP9_nU3wEWiXkLa-3nGxQg4KcbwLyxACLcBGAs/s1600/salmon-bagel-sandwich-100228748.jpg" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_mk60Y6c3gw/WmXBee-_6lI/AAAAAAAAGTw/vLksUGVAr7kyPWhQ1MXlgwfl8SkNy6l8gCEwYBhgL/s1600/still-life-with-healthy-breakfast-100225581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="99" data-original-width="150" height="132" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_mk60Y6c3gw/WmXBee-_6lI/AAAAAAAAGTw/vLksUGVAr7kyPWhQ1MXlgwfl8SkNy6l8gCEwYBhgL/s200/still-life-with-healthy-breakfast-100225581.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0NWf20Fskw/WmXBE8kp2_I/AAAAAAAAGT0/YYr14jPNIvo3x4JEWTh-8rteCups2idzACEwYBhgL/s1600/cheese-1001463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="99" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P0NWf20Fskw/WmXBE8kp2_I/AAAAAAAAGT0/YYr14jPNIvo3x4JEWTh-8rteCups2idzACEwYBhgL/s1600/cheese-1001463.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is a particularly social time when we can relax for a while after hours of
intense concentration, though writing usually comes into the conversation
somewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Back
at our ‘stations’ work continued and tapping of fingers on keys was the only
sound to be heard. I used this time to finish the synopsis I'd been working on during the morning and to put on my editing hat. There was also an opportunity for each of us to take advantage
of a one2one discussion with our tutor, Elaine Everest, and this is invaluable
as it gives us a chance to talk purely about ourselves and our own aspirations,
and of course to receive specifically tailored advice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SYz9pjt_7ZE/WmXIVNzrzZI/AAAAAAAAGUU/dhF24ekjUKQRAV8ppaivtGMVR6ZmoQOmQCLcBGAs/s1600/champagne-flutes-with-strawberries-10012906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="100" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SYz9pjt_7ZE/WmXIVNzrzZI/AAAAAAAAGUU/dhF24ekjUKQRAV8ppaivtGMVR6ZmoQOmQCLcBGAs/s1600/champagne-flutes-with-strawberries-10012906.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">By
the time I got home I was exhausted but I had done at least twice as much work
as I would have done at home. No breaks and no distractions. It was wine o'clock and I was ready. The next day I set
to with a will and yes, I did a huge amount of work, but I may have taken the
odd break here and there to watch TV or make a phone call. It happens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
point I’m trying to make is that a day dedicated to writing is not unusual – it’s
what I do – but a day dedicated to writing in a different environment where
there are absolutely no outside distractions is priceless. My work is pretty
much planned for the next month but I know that the next retreat will be as
beneficial as this one has been. If it isn’t, it would be for the first time
ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "segoe ui" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Did you know I now have a Facebook Author Page? </b></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NatalieKleinmanAuthor/" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here is the link</a><b style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Please come over and follow me for future news.</b></span></div>
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Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057767258806335942.post-71669060931826026172018-01-08T07:30:00.000+00:002018-01-08T07:30:28.784+00:00Look at my latest news<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: #002060; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I now have a Facebook Author Page so please come visit and click
follow so you have all the news about my latest work and future competition
etc.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/NatalieKleinmanAuthor/">https://www.facebook.com/NatalieKleinmanAuthor/</a> </div>
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Natalie Kleinmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15467444870404220824noreply@blogger.com4