Here we are Thursday 12th February with Christmas a distant memory and Valentine's Day almost upon us. Just another ordinary day but for me it is a significant milestone (no not a big birthday - how rude!) it is publication day for my debut novel - It Started at Sunset Cottage.
It is the day that so many writers dream of and strive for. So it may seem odd when I say that when I set out to finish my first full-length novel I had no intention of getting it published. I simply never dreamed that would ever be a possibility for someone like me. My aim was purely to see if I could finish the task of writing a full-length novel. I was fearful when friends and family wanted to read it and even more so when a published author encouraged me to submit it to publishers and agents. My main worry? Well, people like me don't write books, it was never mentioned by my careers advisor as being a possibility (she was also the Netball coach so I'm not convinced my school were taking the whole thing that seriously). It just wasn't an option, hence my assumption that us ordinary folk don't become writers - but you see, sometimes we do!
So my story is out there for everyone to buy which means people I don't know are reading it and that is very scary. I just hope that whoever reads it enjoys it. A big thank you from me to everyone that has helped me get here and especially to all you lovely people who are reading it.

I have a million things going on right now (Ok, slight exaggeration maybe it's only 999,999) but I love a challenge. So when I saw that Lori Connelly was looking for someone to step in and complete the next part of a 'round robin' story I thought it sounded like fun. I was right but it was also very scary as I basically had no idea what I was getting myself into - but that's half the fun, right?
The first six parts of the story have been written by a mix of other authors including some from Harper Impulse and they have all done a brilliant job and now it's my turn (gulps).
You can find the first six parts of the story here:
Part One - Lori Connolly
Part Two - Elsa Winckler
Part Three - Aileen Harkwood
Part Four - Elise Forier Edie
Part Five - Patricia Sands
Part Six - Eve Devon
Part Seven - by me is below
Part Eight - Kari Lemor will be available on 6th January 2015

Part 7 – I Looked Away

 

“Then who is he?” asked Garrett his voice harsh and his hand paused on his radio ready to call in the details.

Madeline licked her dry lips and blinked hard, she couldn’t make sense of the face on the paper. “It’s Donnan MacCallion he’s…” but Garrett wasn’t listening anymore.

            "Suspect is Donnan MacCallion,” he paused. ‘How the hell do you spell that?”

            "D-O-N-N-A-N it’s Scottish, he’s… someone I used to know…”

            “Age?”

            “Um, twenty five, twenty six maybe?”

            Garrett threw the tent open and stepped outside again. Madeline finally pulled her eyes away from the drawing and took in the puzzled looks of the teenagers.

            “So it’s all OK then?” asked the boy in the gray sweater his voice more than a little tentative. “This guy’s a friend?”

            “Yes… No, not exactly.”

            Garrett burst into the tent making everyone jump. “There’s been a sighting down by the river. Madeline come with me.”

            There was no time for thank you before Madeline found herself running through the forest with Garrett. She felt her feet slide about as they struggled to grip the wet ground in her unsuitable footwear. Somehow she managed to stay upright. As if night turned to day they emerged out of the dark of the tree canopy and onto a wide track where a ranger jeep was roughly parked. It wasn’t until he let go that she realized he had been gripping her hand, leading her through the dismal mass of trees. They got inside the jeep and its wheels spun frantically as they accelerated away. Madeline’s heart was beating fast from the fear and the exertion. Her thoughts were wild and muddled. What was Donnan doing here? Did he know who Megan was? Why had he taken her? Where had she left Megan’s coat? Why the hell hadn’t they gone to Disneyland instead?

            The radio crackled into life and Judy’s voice came through strong. “We’ve lost sight of the boat, last seen heading up river. Over.”

            "You’ve done great, Judy. The helicopter should be on the scene any minute. Over.”

            “He’s in a boat? Where’s he taking her?”

           Garrett’s eyes darted away from the road for a second. “I’ve got a hunch,” he said. “Hold on tight it’s going to get bumpy.” He gripped the steering wheel a fraction tighter and swung the jeep off the road and onto a dirt trail.

            Madeline lost track of time as the vehicle bumped and wheeled across the uneven surface, a particularly harsh dip had the tires spinning in the mud and Madeline sent up a silent prayer. Eventually the wheels gripped and the jeep lurched forward.

            “Who is MacCallion?” asked Garrett as he wrestled with the steering wheel.

            “Someone I knew at college.”

            “Boyfriend?” asked Garrett his tone somehow making the word sound pathetic.

            “Yes, for a while. Look, I’ve not seen him for years. Back then he was captain of the soccer team and destined for a brilliant career in medicine.” She paused and tried to think of the person she’d once known. “He was a good man.”

            Garrett snorted a derisory laugh. “Yeah and people change.”

            The branches of a large fir tree smacked at the passenger side of the jeep and Madeline took a sharp intake of breath. What the hell was going on?

After the sad departure of our geriatric cat with ninja tendencies we had a few months to let things settle. There would never be another cat quite like him and in many ways this is no bad thing (I still have the scars!)

So after a trip to the local cat rescue, we have a new cat! Well she is actually a pre-owned one rather than brand new. We decided on a rescue cat and we’re so glad we did. There was a huge temptation to go for a kitten but they are far more likely to find a home than the adults.

If you are an animal lover it is hard seeing so many cats that are just looking for the basics of food, water, somewhere warm and dry and someone to love them. We saw so many cats any of whom would have been more than happy to move in.

It was a difficult decision and I still feel guilty about the ones we left behind:

- The elderly cat who was struggling to cope with life at the rescue centre after her owner went into a nursing home

- The ridiculously noisy Burmese who only stopped yowling when you stroked him

- The calico cat that paddled her paws on the glass to get your attention


But we chose the cat that had been found in a cardboard box in the garden of a rented house trying to defend her kittens from the new tenant’s dog.

We have named her Lily, she is a tabby and about a year old. She is settling in really well and already has a favourite spot on the sofa and the windowsill!

She loves to play and is hugely entertaining. What is interesting is the way she behaves. She appears to have picked up some dog-like traits – she carries and fetches her ball, she flops down at your feet and she wags her tail when she’s purring!

It’s lovely to have a cat about the house again.

I have been tagged by the lovely Anne Harvey in the ‘Meet My Main Character’ blog hop. Anne writes family sagas and her blog can be found here - www.thewritespotannelharvey.blogspot.co.uk

I have chosen to answer the blog hop questions about my character Timothy Caldar from my first ‘yet to be published’ novel titled ‘Acting on Impulse’.


1.    What is the name of the main character? Is he real or fictitious?

Timothy Calder is entirely the work of my imagination but he does bear a striking resemblance to Ian Somerhalder, with just a touch of Clive Owen, if that is possible. Tim is a successful British actor, famous for appearing in a series of films similar to James Bond where he plays the lead character Agent X.


2.    When and where is the story set?

It is set in London, Northamptonshire and Bath with a couple of brief excursions to the Seine in Paris!


3.    What should we know about him?

Tim is thirty two and has been in the public eye for eight years which has had an impact on his approach to women. He has a well-honed public persona which depicts him as the womanising legend that everyone wants to tame but who famously does not do long term relationships. Those close to him know the real Tim and the secret he hides which he will sacrifice anything to protect. He is drop dead gorgeous with piercing green eyes and a smile that could stun a supermodel at forty paces. He also has a weakness for walnut whips, Lady Grey tea and bad knock knock jokes.


4.    What is the main conflict?

Our leading lady, Kate, lost her fiancé eighteen months ago and is not looking for another relationship. She is a writer and her second book is being made into a film starring (you’ve guessed it) Timothy Calder. As Tim hides from the paparazzi the two of them get to know each other and sparks starts to fly. Neither wants a relationship but are they prepared to take the risk or do they have too much to lose by acting on impulse?


5.    What is the character's goal?

Tim’s goal is to get Kate to see the real Tim and not the persona he has cultivated but it is easier said than done as he has been playing this part for such a long time and has to protect his secret at all costs.

 

I am now passing the baton to Anna Mansell and Laura Parish, please watch out for their posts next week.

Anna is a full time writer and part time marketing consultant for the arts. Though her fiction work is yet to be published, she's just finished her second book and awaits a response from the slush piles; in the meantime, book three awaits.  She lives in Cornwall, blogs at
 www.feelthefearandwriteitanyway.wordpress.com and can usually be found on Twitter, @annamansell.

Laura is working hard to finish her novel, whilst holding down the day job and blogs at www.lauraparish.co.uk tweets as @lawsy27 as well as running the fabulous www.novelkicks.co.uk site and can also be found on twitter as @NovelKicks.

April and May have been very busy months with lots of social engagements and busy weekends, which is completely lovely but it then becomes tricky to fit in the writing, or my current stage, editing. 

Last week it was the RNA Summer Party which made me think about my trip down for the party last year. A year ago it was my first RNA event, I knew no-one and had no idea where I was heading (in more ways than one!) This year I was meeting up with friends I have been lucky enough to make as well as a quick trip to Fortnum and Masons (I mean why wouldn't you? It's just a few strides away and the macaroons are divine. I digress.) 

I also met up with a few of my Twitter friends I have made but never actually met and had a chat to some completely brilliant and successful authors including Julie Cohen, Liz Fenwick, Talli Rowland and Trisha Ashley. Last year I was star struck, this year I managed actual conversations with them, there was alcohol involved but I think I was still fairly coherent, well it was passable anyway.

The next event on the RNA calendar is the Conference, this year I know what to expect and I can't wait.

Anna Mansell invited me to contribute to this blog tour where writers share their process. Anna is a full time writer and part time marketing consultant for the arts, living in Cornwall. Though her fiction work is yet to be published, she is working on her second novel and hopeful that one day in the next twenty years her time will come. She blogs at http://feelthefearandwriteitanyway.wordpress.com/  and can usually be found on Twitter, @annamansell

When Anna asked me to get involved with the blog tour I was plate spinning at the time but I think the fact that she calls her blog ‘feel the fear and write it anyway’ made me think ‘what’s another plate?’. So here is my contribution to the blog tour…


1. What am I working on?

I like that we started this with an easy one. I can do easy! I am currently writing the first draft of my second novel which has the working title, Virtual Family. I am loving the characters and the world I have created so I like to escape there as often as possible. I fear that there may be a grieving process when I finish this one.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I write Romantic Comedy but I like to think that it has a slightly darker side, which brings out the characters and hopefully keeps the pages turning as well as giving the reader a few laughs along the way. Life can be testing, to say the least, so I feel that finding laughter in unlikely places is the key to getting through the tough bits.

3. Why do I write what I do?

Umm, ponders for a moment and eats a custard cream. I really wish I had a very intelligent answer for this but I’m afraid the simple truth is that it’s just what develops in my head and that’s how it comes out. I’m not a versatile writer, I doubt I could turn my hand to historical fiction for example; Romantic Comedy is what I do. I also love to read this genre and I’m a bit of a Richard Curtis geek.

4. How does your writing process work?

I’m a project manager by profession so I am perpetually organised and that comes through in my writing process too. I know this doesn’t work for a lot of writers but it works a treat for me. I like to set targets, currently I am trying to write one thousand words a day. I love to plan, so I have a giant cork board with key plot points pinned to it that are colour co-ordinated depending on which characters are involved – I did warn you. I also have a word document that charts each chapter in a bit more detail and a scrap book detailing my characters and … OK I’ll stop there, does anyone know of a good therapist?

Well that was fun! Thank you Anna for that extra plate. I am now handing the baton to the lovely Bernadette O’Dwyer who I met at the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Conference last July and whom I am eternally grateful to for recognising a lost soul and taking me in.

Bernadette O'Dwyer is a member of the RNA's New Writers' Scheme, an English teacher by day; an aspiring author by night. Currently writing her third novel, while her first and second novels wait patiently for an interested publisher. Her weekly blog at www.secretwriter1.blogspot.com depicts her journey, the highs and lows, of being an aspiring writer. To follow via Twitter search for @odwyer_author.

I am totally thrilled with the hits my new column on Novel Kicks has had (please check it out here -  http://www.novelkicks.co.uk/category/bellas-scribblings/ ) but I am starting to find that I have a lot of roles to perform in 2014 and it’s testing even my powers of planning and I think I might be losing the plot!

You see I wear lots of ‘hats’; I’m a Mummy, a wife, a project manager and a writer and this year I have also volunteered to set up the website for my local writing group (there are some amazing writers on there so please check that out too - http://tellingtalesonthursdays.weebly.com/ ) as well as doing the Novel kicks column. Oh and there’s this blog to keep updated so in all that is a lot of things to be juggling!

            This week at work we were holding an event so I was one that had to be up on stage presenting. I was presenting a look back at the achievements of 2013 and a look forward at plans for 2014. The brief was to make it fun and engaging – this isn’t easy with Management Information but I love a challenge! So I had cartoons of my team instead of a boring old structure chart and I had a picture of a winding road with sign posts of what we had delivered along the way instead of dull bullet point list. And even if I say so myself it was going quite well. However, when the giant screen froze I was left stranded with a sea of faces and a camera linked to two other sites all aimed in my direction.

            So what to do to whilst the lovely technical expert sorted it out? Talk about MI? Ask if anyone had any questions so far? These would have both been good ideas. I chose to do a solo version of Riverdance and proceeded to dance across the stage much to my audiences delight. Just in case you were wondering, No I have never done Irish Dancing before, although my imitation of the dance has been seen after a few too many glasses of wine. So was this career suicide? It appears not. At the coffee break my boss said ‘great performance, you’ve set the bar high for the rest of the presenters’ and I have received lots of positive comments about the presentation. I fear all of my preparation and the effort I put into making the slides and their information memorable will have been quickly forgotten but the memory of my Riverdance will live on as legend!

So here we are at the exciting end of yet another hectic year. 2013 has been very good to me and it's been the year that writing really came back into my life and that the dream of becoming a published writer inched just a little bit closer.

I joined the RNA New Writers Scheme. I completed my first year on a Writing Fiction course. I finished my first novel 'Acting on Impulse'. I completed NaNoWriMo. I was Runner Up in the Festival of Romance New Talent Award and I secured a Literary Agent!

I have almost mastered my juggling act of day job, Mummy and writer and I have to say I am really chuffed with how all three are going. I know I can't do any one of them full time but the mix of the three keeps me busy and busy keeps me happy. I have a need to be productive, a desire to see something tangible - I'm not great at relaxing (it feels a bit too much like wasting time. Shh please don't tell anyone I said that!)

As you may know from my Twitter posts and my Blog I am a forward planner - there's nothing more I like than a list... or a full blown plan... or a cork board and a plan... well you get the idea. So Christmas for me was organised to within an inch of it's existence months ago. My present spread sheet was refreshed for 2013 (oh yes I am not making that up! It has columns for budget, ideas, item purchased, actual cost, wrapped etc it's marvellous or very sad depending on your perspective!

Right now I am sat here slightly smug with cards written and posted, presents wrapped and delivered, mini Christmas (or Christmas dinner trial run) completed with Nanny and Grandad, food ordered and everything I could possibly need for a very Happy Christmas - my wonderful husband and my simply amazing little girl.

I wish you all the very happiest time this Christmas and look forward to 2014 with wide eyed wonder x

I always consider myself to be a newbie when it comes to writing (although I've been doing it most of my life), but as I am unpublished I never feel I can offer advice to others.
However, I had a realisation this week. I might be inexperienced at writing but I am very experienced at planning. And it just so happens that planning is actually a very useful tool to a writer, but it may not work for everyone.
In terms of credentials I have been a project management professional since 1996 and have successfully managed a variety of different types of multi million pound projects. My friends also frequently call me Little Miss Organised so it must be true!
Planning is not about stubbing out creative flare and spontaneity, it's simply about putting a structure around it and making it easier for you.
So here's my ten point planning guide for writers:
1. Find time to plan. Put aside some time to plan. It will save you time in the long run, honestly it will.
2. Visualise your end goal. Choose which of your writing projects you want to focus on and picture the goal you are aiming for. In the case of a novel, what is the conclusion or final scene you are building up to?
3. Establish the key events. What are the key events in the story that will lead your characters to the conclusion? What are the key decision points for them? What conflict or disasters will befall them?
4. Next level of detail. Now break down the key events. What are the scenes before and after these events? How has the key event changed the characters? What will be the purpose of these scenes? Who is in them? What do they reveal about each character?
5. Make it visual. Annotate your plan in some way. I have a large cork board where I pin key plot points in order. I use coloured pins to denote which story thread it is so I can quickly see if they are well spaced out. Coloured sticky notes work well too. It's a great excuse to buy stationery!
6. Characters and setting. If you haven't done so already sketch out your characters. What do they look like? Any distinguishing features? What habits or rituals do they have? Who are their key relationships with? What are they like when they are at their best and worst? You need to know their backstory even if it never actually appears in the novel. I have a scrapbook where I dedicate a two page spread to each main character. I cut pictures out of magazines and print things off the internet to help the detail in my descriptions and to ensure consistency. Think about where each scene will be. Can you describe it sufficiently to evoke emotion and connection in your reader. I find property sites useful for finding the homes of my characters. I stick floor-plans in my scrapbook! Take care when writing about a geographical area you are unfamiliar with, someone else will always know it well and may be put off by inaccuracies. Do your research!
7. Draw up a timetable. It doesn't have to be elaborate but you sometimes need to prove to yourself that you do have time to write. Commit to a regular writing schedule and then stick to it. See it as an important meeting or appointment you must attend. Don't cancel on yourself you wouldn't do it to a friend!
8. Set yourself some targets. Firstly, when will you finish your plan? How many words are you going to write each week? What do you want to have achieved by Christmas? What do you want to have achieved by this time next year? OK that last one might be a bit ambitious but you get the idea!
9. Take action. This is the most important one on the list. You need to do what you said you would do otherwise it's all been pointless! So take action!
10. Congratulate yourself when you meet your targets. When you have a million other demands on your time it's hard to stick to the plan, so when you do take action make sure you give yourself recognition, be it a glass of wine or a figurative pat on the back. You will feel a great sense of accomplishment when you start ticking off the things you said you'd do. I have a spread sheet with target word count for writing days that I fill in. It has a formula so that when I fall short on my target word count it pops up with Boo! But when I meet or exceed the word count it pops up with Hurray! It's a bit panto but it works for me!
Lastly, something that I really believe is that if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail - so get planning!