Roxane Dhand's Blog, page 2
July 24, 2019
Summertime, summertime, sum sum…
It’s the start of the summer holidays this week.
The newspapers and Sunday supplements are full of advice on how to turn your white doughy carcass into rock-hard, tanned beach-body perfection in less than two weeks. The contoured swimwear you choose must offer tummy support and, unless you are under twelve, should be one-piece and preferably resemble early bathing suits that cover you from neck to knee.
And once attired in your beachwear of choice, there’s sunscreen to consider. UVA (aging...
July 17, 2019
And Now… A Little Romance
My publisher wants more romance in the manuscript. More love interest. Connection between the characters. That’s what historical fiction fans want to read, after all.
I feel a bit out of date on the amour side of life so I decide to speak to my niece.
In her mid twenties, she knows about
this sort of stuff.
“You need to watch Love Island, Auntie. It’s all there for
you to observe and write about in your book.”
“Eh?”
“Love Island. It’s a programme on TV where people sit around in their sw...
July 10, 2019
Ciao, come stai?
So excited this week! My book, The Pearler’s Wife is released through Italian Publishing house, Piemme. Here’s the link.
[image error]And here is the gorgeous cover. It’s called “The Pearl Hunter’s Wife and says, “A distant land. A new world. A forbidden love.” It’s the fourth international edition of PW. I just keep asking myself how this happened with my debut. But I suppose it’s down to my agent, Hattie Grunewald. I appreciate her so much.
My great friend, Salomé, who amongst her thousands of talents...
July 3, 2019
Strawberries and Pimms?
I’m not thinking croquet on the lawn but tennis on the grass.
[image error]Wimbledon fortnight began on Monday and already the British nation is in the grip of grass court fever. Our British number one Johanna Konta is tipped to go all the way this year if her recent form holds out, so we are all holding our collective breaths!
Wimbledon is spectacular; court upon court of tennis action but for me, a member of the ticket buying public, it’s just that bit too big.
I prefer the intimacy of Queen’s Club a...
June 19, 2019
The French Edition!
Bonjour! Bonjour!
[image error]My book, The Pearler’s Wife is now available to buy in French. Mais oui! Published last week by City Editions, its title is La Baie aux Perles that translates as The Bay of Pearls or Pearl Bay. It’s available to buy here.
It’s the most incredible buzz to have your work published in another language. PW also came out in Lithuanian (yes really!) earlier in the year and that again is mega-super-cool. Called Perlu žvejo žmona, (Pearl Fisherman’s Wife) I really wish I knew how to...
June 12, 2019
A London Break
I’ve decided to take a break from thinking about my manuscript this week, along with my failed attempt at yoga and the bizarre eating behaviour of book clubbers and am turning my attention to the next book I’m going to write. (That said, I’m still checking the email like a crazy person for incoming feedback and edits from my publisher.)
So,by way of distraction, I started to write a scene where my new heroine looks out on to a London street at the close of day when the city workforce is homew...
June 5, 2019
A Nice Reader Email
Last week I had a lovely email from a Book Club member in Australia
called Lee whose monthly pick for discussion was my book The Pearler’s Wife. How cool
is that!
She belongs to a club called Bookviewers, who are part of a charity club in Ocean Grove (near Melbourne) called the Ocean Grove Evening VIEW Club. VIEW stands for Voice, Interests and Education of Women. They are an affiliate of a charity in Australia called The Smith Family and raise money to sponsor disadvantaged children thro...
May 28, 2019
Yoga-Sothoth
The big day of my ascendance to Virgo Yogihas arrived and I’m dying to get started!
Wearing the warmest fleece I can find in my cupboard – it’s 25 C/77 F outside btw – I arrive at the class.
I want to be well early because I know there will be a form to fill in and I have a bad shoulder and a twang in my back – so I want it all there in black and white. If my friend Cathy is right and there is a little bit of manipulating my limbs with THE BELT in between the restful meditation, the Instructo...
May 22, 2019
Virgo Yogi
I’m getting closer to my dream of becoming a Virgo yogi.
This week, I signed up for a Springtime Yoga Immersion to “reset myself with Yoga and Somatics”.
I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk. I get stiff. This is going to be perfect, I think. It won’t be like the old aerobics classes where you compete to do more star jumps more energetically than your neighbours. This is about movement therapy. I will learn a new way to re-educate the way my brain senses and moves my muscles.
I sign up on...
May 15, 2019
The Best News
In place of last week’s jitters I am
buzzing on an adrenaline high!
My agent said “Yes! ” to the manuscript.
Better still – she said she absolutely
loved it and read it in just two sessions in one day and she’s sending it off
to the publisher even as I type! She said she thought it was a great follow up
to The Pearler’s Wife.
I know there will be a shedload of edits down the track but to get it off my desk without more work at this stage is nothing short of a miracle. I’m almost tempted to put on my disco shoes and practice my moves!
I got the news on the golf course. I was
supposed to be concentrating on shots or cliff top views or something when I
checked my phone for the millionth time
(strict taboo for golfers). I
yelled so loud everyone thought ‘d got a hole in one. Well I sort of did – in a
way.
So now I have started my pre-getting-ready to write a new book sort out.
Last project’s books are in the closest to
hand shelf – for when the edits begin – and new stuff has started to accumulate
on the research pile.
Meanwhile, my office is a
pretty thing – for today at least.
[image error]Clean desk!
