Escape to the Cotswolds

If you read my last blog post you will know that I came to writing by accident. I had a huge amount to learn. I still have a lot to learn. Like most things in life, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly. Or as properly as one can.

My first published
short story
Yes, it's Norwegian

After selling more than thirty short stories to women’s magazines worldwide I turned my hand to novels and soon discovered it’s a completely different discipline. Like many writers my first attempt ended up in the bottom drawer, or at least hidden carefully away on my laptop. Undeterred – writing friends had told me this was par for the course – I persevered. I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers Scheme which I cannot recommend too highly and my next book was taken up that same year and published in the summer three years ago. Come to that, so was the one after that, this time a pocket novel with The People’s Friend. So, with two books published within seven weeks of each other, I set to with a will.

It doesn’t do to become complacent in this industry. I have written four books in the time between then and now, diversifying, trying different things. I ventured from contemporary women’s fiction into the realm of historical Regency romance. And what fun I had. An almost lifelong fan of Georgette Heyer (I didn’t read her books as a child) I just had to have a go at writing one myself. And then another. One full length, one novella. I have yet to find a home for them but my next contemporary romance was taken up two weeks after submission to HQ HarperCollins and will be published on 21^st June.

On 20^th May HQ revealed the beautiful cover of Escape to the Cotswolds. Since then I have been answering questionnaires sent by people who have kindly agreed to host me on their blog. Others will be posting reviews of my book - my fingers are crossed so tightly it hurts. I have been tweeting and posting on Facebook using some of the lovely shareables sent to me by my publishers. Here’s one of them. So pretty. And now publication day is fast approaching. You can almost feel the excitement in my home. But there’s a lot to be acknowledged elsewhere as well.

This is not a journey I’ve made alone. With beta readers to point out my many glaring errors and a creative writing school (The Write Place) to make sure I made as few mistakes as possible - inevitably there are some – I seem to have come out the other side relatively unscathed. I am SO looking forward to publication day. I’m also preparing to write my next book, another contemporary for which an outline and chapter breakdown have already been done, sort of. No time to sit on my laurels BUT I’m so looking forward to 21^st June. Do join me if you can.