It’s become a bit of a thing that I jot down songs as I write a novel. An Invitation To Seashell Bay is a rom com about friendship and the assumptions we often make about others on first meeting which are frequently proved wrong.
It’s quite nice to picture a scene and have a musical accompaniment as it sometimes helps me to get the feel and atmosphere right. Plus I like it when I hear a song and know it would work well with a particular part of the story. It also helps me to picture what it might be like as a film – an author can dream!
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These are the songs I picked for An Invitation To Seashell Bay:
 
Somebody To Love by George Michael & Queen
Spaceman by Sam Ryder
Don’t Speak by No Doubt
Shivers by Ed Sheeran
U Sure Do by Strike
Let Her Go by Passenger
Anyone For You by George Ezra
Better Together by Jeremy Loops
Crazy What Love Can Do by David Guetta / Becky Hill / Ella Henderson
More Than Friends by James Hype and Kelli-Leigh
 
Here’s a link to the Spotify playlist. I hope you enjoy it.

It's become a little bit of a tradition that I share the Pinterest board I set up for each novel. I thought this time I would also share a bit of the process I go through at the start.
Often I get a new idea when I'm working on something else and have to fight not to be distracted. I sometimes jot down the idea and put it to one side until it's that book's turn to be written. I also need a bit of time to mull the idea over to check it definitely has enough potential to be a 100k word novel because not all of my ideas do. 
I then flesh out the characters - I write bios for them and seek out actors or models who resemble them. This is usually when I start my Pinterest board. It's a handy place to drop in pins that help me to build up pictures in my mind of the characters and also the location. This is the one time I get to look at animals on the internet and it's not procrastination! There's always an animal in my stories and Pinterest helps me to pin down (do you see what I did there?) what they look like. At the same time I concentrate on what my characters are each trying to achieve or what they think their goal is - often the two things are different.
I then look at the plot. Often the initial idea and characters pop up together but it takes some work to really weave a robust plot. I jot down key scenes, plot points and cliffhangers and make sure I know any secrets that my characters are keeping so I can work out who else knows them and when they will be revealed.
Next I map out the whole story with post-it notes. I use different colours and sizes on a large piece of brown paper. These sticky notes get added to and moved around as the story builds.
When I get to the point that I'm itching to write the story I know I'm ready to start!
​Here's the Pinterest board I made for The Promise of Summer.

I think it's fair to say we'll not forget 2020 in a hurry! On top of it being a thoroughly hateful year for everyone it has also been a difficult one due to serious illness in my immediate family but I am pleased to report that currently we are all fit and healthy - this really is all that matters.
I wanted to look back on the year and pick out the positives. Here is that very random list of things, aside from my wonderful family, that have cheered even the darkest of days:

• Fluffy socks - they make everything just a little better.
• Schitt's Creek - I loved every minute of this. Utterly brilliant. David is my spirit animal.
• Lindt (salted caramel variety) - just when you thought coconut was the best along came salted caramel!
• Zoom quiz with friends - we never won but it was a lovely family activity and something to look forward to.
• Magic Maze board game - this is hilarious and so frustrating but it made us laugh a lot.
• Socially distanced drinks in the garden - because my friends are utterly brilliant.
• Netflix n chill ice-cream - peanut butter and brownie is a winning combo.
• FaceTiming relatives - especially when they were trying to get their new cat to join in.
• Escaping into my writing - it was safe and COVID free there.
• Baking with the child - I will be eternally grateful for the additional fun time I've had with my daughter.
• Stationery, mainly post-it notes and coloured biros - this is nothing new but it was nice to have an excuse!
• The cat - who has carried on regardless and continues to give the best cuddles.
• Having two books published in one year - it made it busy which took my mind off other things.
• National trust properties - getting out somewhere that felt safe was a bonus.
• Trail camera - loved seeing the footage of our wild hedgehogs each morning.
• My great niece and great nephew - who were born in March and who I've only seen three times in real life but weekly on Zoom.
• Yorkshire Tea - oh the joy of the new varieties of Bedtime, Jam & Toast and Biscuit.
• Long hair - there is no way I would have grown my hair this long at this age but I've quite liked it.
• Lovely writer friends - who have continued to shout about each other's books.
• Biscoff spread - OMG this stuff is amazing and gets any day off to a very good start!

So thank you 2020 for giving me perspective and making me count my blessings.
Here's to a happy and healthy 2021 for us all x