Two-Faced - But in a Good Way

It’s been said that as one door closes another opens. Janus, Roman god of gates and doors was depicted as having two faces, one casting his eyes back and one looking to the future. It takes no great stretch of the imagination then to understand why the month of January is said to be named for him.

Looking back 2017 was another busy year for me and I was thrilled when my third book, Escape to the Cotswolds, was published by HQ | HarperCollins on 21^st June. Here is the blurb:

Artist Holly Hunter is turning her life upside-down! She’s leaving the bright lights of London (and a cheating husband) behind her and hoping for a fresh start as she escapes to the peaceful Cotswolds countryside.

Men are off the cards for Holly. Instead, she’s focusing on her little gallery and adopting an adorable Border Collie puppy named Tubs. Or so she thought…

Because no matter how hard she tries to resist him, local vet Adam Whitney is utterly gorgeous. And in a village as small as this one, Holly can only avoid Adam for so long!

Later in the year and never one to turn down a challenge, I picked up the gauntlet and in November completed the NaNoWriMo challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. You can read about my before and after experiences here and here.

Now it’s a new year and, like one of Janus’s faces, I am looking forward. And with no little excitement either. I have renewed my love affair with short stories and today sees the publication of Some Time Alone in the People’s Friend Special #151. This, appropriately enough, is about a new beginning and is set in my favourite area of the country in the same fictional village as my book, Escape to the Cotswolds, but with different characters.   

The exhilaration continues next week on 11^th January when my Pocket Novel, The Ghost of Glendale, will be on a supermarket shelf near you. DC Thomson have produced this beautiful cover for my romantic Regency ghost story. Here is a taster:

At twenty-four years old, Phoebe Marcham is resigned to spinsterhood, unwilling to settle for 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 has ever previously known. Far from ridiculing her family ghost, Duncan resolves to help solve the mystery which has left Simon Marcham a soul in torment for two hundred years.

For those of you who know me or follow my blog it will come as no surprise that I am particularly thrilled with this one as I have a lifelong love of the period having been practically weaned on Georgette Heyer’s wonderful novels. And I have recorded the whole series of Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) to watch yet again. And I watched Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion during the holiday period. What can I say? I’m a total fan.

So what, you might ask, has happened to all those words written for the NaNoWriMo challenge? This is still a work in progress. I’m hoping to complete the first draft by the end of the month. The synopsis is written, the first three chapters are ready to go but there are subplots and editing to deal with before I have a completed manuscript.

All the while in the background are short story ideas and novel plots waiting to take shape and form. Then there is the RNA Conference to look forward to together with workshops and writing retreats. A busy 2018 in prospect. Would I have it any other way? Definitely not. I love what I do. I hope you do too.

Wishing all my readers, friends and family aspiration, inspiration, joy and peace. Happy New Year to one and all. 

Natalie Kleinman in Recovery Mode

I’m still in recovery mode. Last week’s Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Summer Party was even more special than I could have anticipated and I hope it will remain in my memory forever.

Though it was the subject of this blog last week, in particular with reference to the Joan Hessayon Award, I cannot continue without mentioning it again as it was only the beginning of yet another amazing week. And I’m posting a picture of the group of finalists again…because I like it and because I can.

Joan Hessayon Award Finalists

So what followed this amazing event?

Firstly, my missive to Writers’ Forum, written prior to the party, appeared as the lead letter on the Writers’ Circle page. And for anyone who’s read it, no, I didn’t spill wine down the front of my dress. Cue another picture (left).

On Wednesday of this week I picked up a copy of The People’s Friend containing my short story, Secrets in the Attic. It’s almost a year since this story was sold and notification of the publication date in an email a couple of weeks ago took me by surprise because, frankly, I had forgotten about it. It was the last short story I sold (or submitted) as I had by then moved full time to writing novels. It raised a question though. The thrill of buying a magazine with one of my stories in it hasn’t diminished. To know that it will be giving pleasure, even in the short time it takes to read, is actually quite humbling. So here’s another picture.

Will I go back to them? Unlikely. I am completely committed to writing novels and, much as I enjoyed my previous work, I cannot do justice to both. With the end of the week approaching I, and approximately 250 other delegates, received the pack for the RNA Conference which will take place in London in July. A huge amount of work goes into preparing for the Conference and, without diminishing the work that others do, all credit must be given to Jan Jones for the organisation that goes on before the envelopes drop on our doorsteps. 

I have begun to study the contents and will do so many more times before attending what to me is the most valuable writing event in the calendar. There's a lot to take in. In case you don't believe me, here's another picture.

Food and wine are also involved. I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Welcome

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

For those who don’t know me allow me to tell you a little about myself. I’m a bit of a late starter when it comes to writing. After intensive study I took up my metaphorical pen as a bit of light relief. An initial ten week course had me hooked, though in fact I was hooked by that first session. I spent the first few years learning and honing my craft – not that writers as a breed are ever satisfied with the finished product – before selling my first short story, followed by another (to date) twenty-five. In addition my attempt at sci-fi won me a place in the anthology Fusion while another gritty story appears in the students of The Write Place anthology Things that go Bump in the Night. Most of my work though comes under the genre of Contemporary Romance.

I have been part of a weekly writing group going by the name of Dingbats for some time but three years ago I joined The Write Place Creative Writing School (TWP) in Dartford and it was this that acted as a springboard and set me on my career path. Having become as comfortable as one can be, this one anyway, with short stories, I expanded my horizons and embarked on novels. I received a huge amount of help from the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s (RNA) New Writers’ Scheme and my first book was taken up and has just been published any under the title Safe Harbour.

I was extremely lucky to have an industry one2one at the RNA Conference this summer which resulted in me securing an agent when Lisa Eveleigh of the Richford Becklow Literary Agency subsequently agreed to represent me.

While not purporting to be as wise as my three friends at the top of this page, I’m doing okay!

This is not my first blogging experience as I have for the past year been part of a five hander, WriteMindsWritePlace Blog, as well as managing the RNA Blog with Elaine Everest. Now feels the right time to dive in and launch my own blog…wondering here if that’s a mixed metaphor. Please feel free to pop in and join me any time. It will be a pleasure to see you.