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Writing Prompt: Day #3 Get Your S*** Together!… Book Excerpt

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Togethera-stranger-in-france-1

 

 

 

 

I sat down at my laptop tonight to actually look over the current book I’m working on, I’m in the swing of things now I’m done with A Stranger in France and my Christmas book . (I’ll tell you the name, do a cover reveal and chapter reveal nearer the release date I promise.) I got side tracked this evening as today’s WordPress writing prompt word ” together.” I had two very different reactions to the word,  first it was awww I like that word I can write a nice poem or something for that, the second was Danny hmmm he really needs to get his s*** together. Now if you’re not sure who Danny is, it’s Daniel Brown the villain in A Stranger in France. One character I had fun writing. I took a risk and wrote him in a bad light and gave him centre stage along side Kate and Nicholas. So Back to Danny, a prize idiot in my view, who needs to get it together ASAP! I won’t give it all away and tell you why, but here’s an excerpt from A Stranger in France from Danny’s POV showing just how much he needs to get his s*** together.

 

 Danny is sitting at the kitchen table, it’s just gone lunch time yet he is hunched over his second beer already. In total silence in deep thought. The past two weeks have been a haze for him –literally. He arrived home that Saturday night two weeks ago on Valentine’s Day expecting to see a grieving Kate. He knew she would come around. Give her an hour or two and she’d be trying to talk with him and make peace.

The game had been good Arsenal won 2-0 against Manchester United, in his view it was well worth missing all the Valentine’s Day dribble he thought to himself, as he made his way home to Clapham from Woolwich, on the most romantic day of the year.

 But on his arrival home Danny could not believe it when he had read Kate’s note. It had been totally unexpected the bitch she’d left him. At the time all he could think was what did this mean? Were they over? Would she be back? He never once believed that Kate would up and leave him. To him Kate is a strong woman, determined and a fighter yes, but leave him? That was out of the question  ….. to be continued!

Over the last few weeks I’ve  focused on all three main characters, by posting an excerpt from inside  the book, using a word prompts which relate to each  character.If you’ve missed them and want to read more excerpts you can here just scroll through.

 If you want to know why Kate  left Danny, what he does about it and fall in love with the sexy lush Nicholas D’Coix (who I fell in love with while writing him), release day for A Stranger in France is Tuesday next week! On Amazon yippie! Just a few more days and you can escape, in this whirlwind of modern day romance- suspense set in three very different settings. And I hope you enjoy.

 

 

Writing Prompt: Fragile- My Gosh I feel Fragile Today!#amwriting

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Fragile

The adjective FRAGILE has 3 senses:

1. easily broken or damaged or destroyed
2. vulnerably delicate
3. lacking solidity or strength and liable to break ( Dictionary definition)

Today’s WordPress writing prompt word is fragile, and my gosh I feel fragile tonight, I feel like point #3 above. it’s only 23.59pm at the time of writing this, and I’m  about ready to sleep….. for at least a week.  Us creatives and bloggers all over the world just don’t know when to stop! Who has that problem? Or are you like me- you work best at night, that’s your creative hour?

I’ve been writing around the clock,  with late nights and early mornings. Each day this week, I’ve started my day job  job at 7.30a.m. I’ve had a 5.00a.m wake up every day. I don’t remember the last time I saw the backs of my eyelids for a full 8 hours sleep. If this is you to here’s a little poem for you…

FRIDAY IS HERE,

Rest is sure to come,

At the moment you’re too tired  and fragile- you simply just can’t  can’t crack on,

Go on with caution, don’t burn the candle at both ends  You need  to recover and bounce back fully on the mend,

I can see my bed, this vision is not in my head,

Late at night all us bloggers and creatives we sit here an type but,

Everyone, I think my job here is done. But while I’m gone have fun.

Well good night, and if you feel as fragile as me… take a beak this weekend relax and unwind.

 

YOU Decide What Genre Story I Should #Write For #Standup2cancer #Author #Charity Project- Please Vote!

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Evening guys,

So a few days ago I told you all about the charity writing project I’m participating in with my publisher, to help raise some money. Myself and a few other authors will write a short story to publish together in one book. The book will be on sale from February 2017, all proceeds from the book sales go to the charity Standup2cancer, we (authors) will not see a penny of it. You can read more about what I’m doing and the project   here  if you missed my blog on this.

 Today, I’d like to invite you  help or  decide for me what genre story  I should  write?  I thought this may be fun and also I can’t decide! But today I  got my deadline, so I better get cracking.With your vote, tell me should I write a romance or thriller genre short story to include for publication in February 2017? Our stories can only be 15k max in words, so it’s pretty short. Place a quick vote in below. This vote will be open until the 30th September only.

Thanks in advance.

Have a good weekend

Can You Help Save A Life? #amwriting #charity

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Over the weekend I did a writing promideapt ” The Internet is Full of Rants”,  in this post I mentioned a charitable cause that’s close to my heart here in the UK, it’s called Shelter. 

Today, my publisher informed it’s authors about a cause they are supporting called StandUp2Cancer,  I’ve heard of this we also have the campaign here in the UK. We were asked if we’d like to help raise money for the cause, by writing a short story to include in a book.  All proceeds from the sales will go to cancer research. I’m taking part and will submit a short story to help raise money. The stories will be published February 2017.

I’d like to reach out to you all and let you know that if you find this cause close to your heart, or you’re just feeling in a good mood you too can help save a life by donating directly to StandUp2Cancer. Details are on the link below.No matter how small the donation, I’m sure it will help someone or something.

Once the book is available to buy (not until February) I’ll let you all know, if you can’t help out now maybe in February you’ll fancy reading a number of wonderful short shorties from myself and some other great authors, and if so, you can purchase the book and help out that way.

 Here you can find out more for now on this cause www.standup2cancer.org

 

 

 

Writing Prompt:The Internet Is Full Of Rants #amwriting #amreading

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ideaIt’s Sunday morning, a nice bright one here in London. I’ll be spending the morning in rather than at the pool with my little boy, our usual Sunday routine is broken as the poor thing has a terrible snotty nose and head cold. But he’s not miserable thank God.

 I just tidied up my kitchen table- come writing desk area where I dump all my books, paperwork, note pads and the like and came across another writing prompt book that I have. It has a prompt for every day of the year!  The prompt under today’s date is very fitting for a Sunday, considering that many feel that Sunday is a day of rest, to give thanks and a holy day. I’m not a religious person, more spiritual then a religion follower- but I do feel that Sunday is a rest and recharge/family day so I’ll use  today’s  prompt and give thanks today. What are you thankful for?

 Writing Prompt: The Internet is full of rants: Help tip the balance today,simply be thankful for something or someone.

I wrote a list of things I’m thankful for and here’s why.

Health: I’m so thankful for my overall good health as without it so many things for me would be impossible, working to provide for my family, looking after not just myself but my family and of course the ability to write and complete novels. I don’t just mean physical overall health I’m  thankful for my mental well being too. Often, we forget about this  to be unwell does not just mean a physical pain, a person can be unhealthy or unwell and you would not know it to look at them, that’s because it can be hidden – in their mental well being.

Last week I read a blog post about a lady who has a husband that’s currently seriously unwell physically, it made me stop and think about how precious life is, and how being health is something to be thankful for, even if you’re broke!

My car: Not in a materialistic sense at all, more practical sense. I laugh as I write this as I can visualise my battered old banger of a car downstairs. But you know what, she’s mine and she has done me so well over the years. And in the winter months she always starts no problems. With a toddler I can’t imagine life without my beloved little car. From food shopping, to day to day nursery school drops and pick ups then I dash off to work, if I never had a car life would be a lot more harder in terms of mobility. Public transport on the whole in London is excellent, but expensive and  when you need to go you need to go! And it’s not always the quickest form of transport when you have a busy day of errands to run  and a two year old that would take about a week to walk to the end of the road LOL.

Home: I mean this is the sense that many many people are homeless in London, well all over the world to be honest not just my home town. That said, the cost of living is so extreme over here I don’t know if there is anywhere that actually compares to it? During the recession we had in 2007, many people lost their jobs and as a result their homes. I can’t not imagine (especially with a child) being homeless or having no where to lay my head at night that is safe , warm and dry. My home truly is a safe heaven for my family and I . I’m thankful for it, I think I’ve just taken it for granted. But when I thought about it as I ran through my list of things to be thankful for if you have a home you’re blessed and lucky, no matter how big or small as many people don’t even have a cardboard box.

I have in the past at Christmas donated to the charity Shelter to help feed those who are homeless at Christmas. I donated the cost of what it would be to feed and offer a bed for a night for one person. I felt good about doing this, one year I’d like to maybe help out serving food for those who visit the shelter during the festive season. Home is precious don’t take it for granted. Just keep it tidy. 🙂

Son: My life changed the day I have birth to that little munchin! For the better and I would not change a thing. There’s not much for me to say here apart from children are a blessing, motherhood is a joy.

Ability to read and education: This is another thing that I think many take for granted, the ability to read and write. I thought about the little girls who were snatched away in Nigeria as they were learning to read/being educated. From what I remember when this was all over the news, this is not something that’s approved of in their community for whatever reason for females to be educated. It’s sad, not just because they are little girls or females it’s sad that anyone is denied the chance to learn, read and write. I tried to imagine life without being able to read. I had a hard time ! Life would be so difficult without this ability. Or the right to freely learn. In the UK education is free up until the age of 19, as a qualified teacher year after year I see so many youngsters waste this great opportunity and mess about in class. I tell them in a no nonsense way in many countries education is restricted and not free, finance depends on how far you go within education.  I don’t personally believe the two should be linked, I guess I’m thankful for our system in the UK when it comes to education.

Mum: she’s just the best! Truly she is. I can’t say much more. Thanks mama.

The internet: What the hell were we all doing before the internet came around? I can’t even imagine life now without it. I’m old enough to remember when it first came in, my mum ( like everyone else) had the dial up internet and an old style desktop PC. But I’m thankful for the internet as without it, my weekly shop might be a struggle if I don’t have time to get to the supermarket,  I’d not be able to connect with all you wonderful people, I’d not have met my wonderful snail mail pals who are miles away from me in different time zones, my career as a writer would not have kicked off with a publisher that’s in another country. Research for writing would mean a lot more leg work. So many things would be different without this wonderful creation. It has it’s usefulness, even if sometimes you do read a lot of crap on it. Let’s use it today to be thankful with our internet usage and ”tip the balance” as this writing prompt prompts us to. What are you thankful for? Let me know I’d love to hear your list let’s not rant today, let’s give thanks today.

Happy Sunday, have a restful, peaceful and family centred day.

Thankful

Writing Prompt: Day #11 The Learning Sandwich- Served By My Guest Author Tammy Tate.

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Sandwich

So today’s WordPress writing prompt is sandwich, and I was served a rather tasty sandwich by a bestselling author. In my sandwich was lots of advice on writing and general editing and how to look at your work in a new light.As a few readers have asked me questions on my journey /for some general thoughts and advice, here’s some of the highlights on what I’ve learned on my road to a published author – in addition to my last post  which you can read here. Which is a Q and A from a reader on publishing. I’m not selfish,  and far from an expert but I’ll share my sandwich  with you that’s handmade by Tammy Tate. Since Tammy is a busy lady over in the USA and I don’t want to disrupt her research and writing time, this guest blog I’ve done myself with her  permission to quote her from the organic conversations we’ve had. It is my pleasure to share with you a guest blog with Mrs Tammy Tate – Romance Author from the USA.

 Creating The Villain in Your Writing:

 This really depends on what genre you write in and whether a villain falls naturally. I write across two genres, and in romance you don’t often see a villain really do you? Have you ever thought of or have you already wrote a villain in one of your stories and wondered if you should keep him/her in? In A Stranger in France you will meet a villain – Danny a complete asshole no one is meant to like him, I really dislike him myself and wrote him in a bad light on purpose. I was nervous about him as I thought having a villain in a romance story may spoil it or turn readers off. To me it was a risk, but he’s central to the story and has a rather dramatic part that spices up the story, alongside Nicholas the hero (and my dream man!). Tammy (without even knowing) helped to calm my nerves about Danny and including a villain.  I am now no longer nervous and would do this again in this genre.This happened during an organic conversation, when she touched on this subject, here’s what she said.

“Sometimes we take risks when we create a bad guy who plays a big part knowing our readers will hate them. Who could blame them? Truth is, we hate them, too! It reminds me of a character I created in Off-Duty Christmas. Ethan. He was an arrogant cop who thought he was god’s gift to women. My readers hated him. By the end, everyone liked him, including me 🙂

Now in my case didn’t aim to make Danny likeable in anyway, but to hear this from Tammy made me realise – take a risk a villain is OK (in romance), and may even spark great discussion and debate for readers. If it works, hey it works even if it’s not the norm.

 Writing From What You Know:

I find that this can make stories realistic if you use a little of what you know or have witnessed/experienced in life. Again, via an organic conversation we touched on this subject, and I’m not sure how Tammy guessed I may have done this! But I guess that’s what happens when you’ve wrote and published five books- you just know. Tammy says

“They say our DNA is etched into every character we create.  I truly believe that to be true.”

 The message I got from this is if you want a realistic feel, it’s OK to use what you know. Just go for it dramatise it if need be but use it.

Editing Your Own Work

I have been in a constant paranoid state and labour with no pain relief for about seven months over A Stranger in France LOL- is the story EVER good enough? And I found that sometimes when I read, and re-read, wrote and re-wrote I started to read what I WANTED to read maybe not what was there.  The next day I’d go back and be like what is THAT? Tammy says…

“You are so right about not being able to edit your own manuscript! Your brain will fill in words that aren’t there. Mine does too, even after 5 books. What I like to do, is take it to another room or step outside. If you read it somewhere other then where you wrote it, you’ll see it in a different light! No pun intended…LOL I’ve heard other authors say the same thing.” 

 I did this, I went to another area of the room….

Paranoid State and Nervous To Share:

Nervous some? Yes, very. Whenever I do a short story for a writing prompt/ poem for my blog or write a full novel  as a published bit of work for commercial sale. Whatever I write to share I don’t know how to calm my nerves. Tammy says

“I don’t blame you. I was the same way, especially with my first one. You’re going to be a published author on the Sept. 20th! Of course, you’re nervous

 :-)”

What I took from this is – Just take a chill pill and move on to the next book leave this one alone. This is never going to be easy, it is not designed to be easy to be good, just keep practising and work hard. Maybe one day you nerves will ease.

So my learning curve has been very steep to say the least, but I feel that I have some key things I’ve learned from the writing and editing of book #1, that I will apply to book #2 which is what I’m on now the editing stage now I have it back.

Hope this advice helps an aspiring writer and author out there!Best of luck.

Thank you Tammy!

Here is where you can find Tammy:

Amazon: 

 

 

Day 13: Romance Novels in Color- Feature

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Hi guys!

 Just thought I’d share with you the news that A stranger in France will not only feature in Coffee Time and Romance    and All Romance Reads in September and October but also  in Romance Novels in Color. I’m extremely proud for A Stranger in France to be featured on the front of this website, and in their subscriber’s news letter.  The funny thing is I just looked on line and my book cover is already there! This was not meant to go live until the 21st…. someone has made a whoopsy over there! But still a little early promotion I guess never hurt anybody. I wonder if they will notice and take it down??

If you’re a lover of romance (with a multicultural line up), you should check out Romance Novels in Color on-line, I’m about to  head over see what I fancy reading.

Hope you had a great day!

Stranger in France (1)

Day #15: Coming Soon- A Christmas Release

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Morning guys!

15 days to go until A Stranger in France is officially released, now that bit of work is wrapped up  today I’m working on the brief for the cover design for my second novel released at Christmas. A modern day feel good  romance with a Christmas theme, so if you fancy a nice modern day love story with a great twist to cosy up with this Christmas stay tuned!

Yesterday, I was battling with myself over the cover design for this book. I finished writing this book in July and held off sending a brief to my publisher as  do I go for a general romantic cover that’s eye catching or a Christmas themed one? After talking to a girlfriend of mine  she reconfirmed my thinking, I made up my mind to go with a general romantic cover, that would be eye catching all year around.

Once this is done, for my last day of holiday today before it’s back to the day job tomorrow, I’ll go back to research and writing for my romance suspense story I’m working on. Fingers crossed my publisher likes my proposal for this book enough for a 2017 release!

It’s all go here.

Have a great day it’s a rainy one in London, hope the weather is fine where ever you are.