Lucy Mitchell's Blog, page 41

#BookReview Blackbirch @KMAllan_writer #UrbanFantasy #yabooks #witchesandmagic

I really enjoyed reading K.M. Allan’s debut novel and I wanted to shout about it on my blog. This is not my normal genre for a book review but I do devour these types of books when I am on a romance book reading holiday.

This book is a wonderul concoction of dark secrets, witchcraft and the supernatural. It is a spooky book and if you are like me and have always been drawn and intrigued by spooky forests then you will love it. As the first book of a new series it has definitely caught my eye.

Here’s the blurb:

Welcome to Blackbirch. It’s a place no one forgets. Except for Josh Taylor.

The fatal car crash took more than 17-year-old Josh’s parents. It stole his memories and returned him to his birthplace, Blackbirch, a tourist town steeped in a history of witchcraft.

Amongst friends he’s forgotten and a life he doesn’t want, Josh is haunted by nightmares so believable he swears the girl in his dreams is real. Kallie is so captivating he ignores her blood-stained hands, but he can’t overlook the blue glow summoned to her skin.

Kallie says it’s an ancient magic they share and a secret worth hiding, because as Josh discovers, they aren’t the only gifted ones.

To restore his memories and find the true cause of the car accident, he must learn what’s real. And what secrets Blackbirch has buried in its woods.

Here’s my review:

I loved all the ingredients that went into this book; a troubled character, Josh Taylor, who is struggling after the death of his parents and his newly awakened supernatural powers, a mysterious town called Blackbirch and a sinster looking forest which hems the town.

The standout was the way K.M. Allan brought her book’s setting to life. I was fascinated by this circular border of black birch trees lining the town’s boundaries.

I loved the different ways K.M. Allan described these unusual dark trees. You can tell this book has book has been well crafted. I also adored the foreboding presence of the black birch forest which adds to the wonderful spooky feel.

Josh was a good character and I did feel sorry for him given his troubled state, his powerful vivid dreams at night which feature a girl called Kallie who seems to be warning him about something and his fascination with a house in the woods which everyone says doesn’t exist.

There are other young characters who help Josh in his quest to find out about the holes in his memory and his new found powers. I am keen to know more about Kallie, his friend Eve and the secrets of Blackbirch.

There was so much happening in the story as I got to the end and I knew K.M. Allan had more tricks up her sleeve – then came the fabulous cliffhanger. Nicely done

Writing My Second Novel: Things I Have Learned About Myself #MondayBlogs

Writing my second novel has been a ferocious two-year battle consisting of two strong-willed opponents; me versus my mind.

My second novel (working title: Meet Me in Blue Cove Bay) is not finished by any means but one stage of this great battle has ended; after two years I have finally finished writing the story I want to tell. I have lost count of the number of drafts, total rewrites and revisions. That inner nagging whisper has gone. You know when your novel is unfinished and you keep getting this nagging whisper which says, ‘that book won’t write itself.’

More battles lie ahead of me; editing, revising, polishing, querying and finding a route for publication. As authors we never give up fighting until the physical book is actually in our hands.

The two-year battle against my mind has taught me a lot about myself which I thought I would share:

Patience. I thought I knew about patience when I wrote my first novel; Instructions For Falling In Love Again. I now laugh at this. My latest story wasn’t a fully formed story when the idea came to me back at the end of 2017. In fact the characters appeared first with no story. I have been through several different stories with these characters and frustratingly with each one I wasn’t happy. I got myself in a state because I wanted a second book. The search for the right story was painful. My mind kept telling me to shelve the characters but I couldn’t. At the start of this year I took a new approach. I stopped getting impatient with it, ignored my mind and waited…and waited…and waited. The story eventually appeared.
To not believe everything my mind tells me. This is the biggie for me. You won’t believe the things my mind has told me about writing another book. The mind is a powerful and wonderful human tool however sometimes it starts to work against us. Oh, my goodness, my mind came up with so many untruths! Here goes:





You are a one-trick pony.
You can’t write another book.
You have second book syndrome. 
You cannot go through all that again. 
You don’t have a good book idea.
Your anxiety will get the better of you.






Positive affirmations work for me. Things changed for me when I started getting up every morning and saying to myself, I am a good writer and I have finished writing my second novel. It was like magic. After a few weeks of saying this affirmation I started seeing good progress being made on my novel.
Trust my creative process. I have written numerous blog posts on writing processes. We’re all different and so too are our creative processes. If I listen to my mind and try to force myself to work like other people my creativity dries up. My good friend and fellow romantic comedy author Bettina Hunt has showed me that writing is all about doing what works for you. Once I accepted and trusted my chaotic creative process things started to happen.
Writing the end of a novel can be just as enjoyable as writing the start. I have never enjoyed writing the end of books and stories. In the past I think I have been exhausted and writing fatigued by the time I have reached the final quarter of a story. I have also struggled with endings. I don’t know why. This book has taught me that writing the end can be enjoyable. I actually slowed down on the last revision and found myself ENJOYING writing the end. Very satisfying.

Be brave, my friends, if you are starting out on a book writing journey.

I wonder what battles and adventures await for me with my third book. Long-standing readers of my blog will be pleased to know that Roxy Collins is keen for me to FINALLY write her story.

#BookReview A Cornish Summer Holiday – Little Duck Pond Cafe @Rosie_Green1988 #Romance #BeachRead

You know when you keep seeing an author’s eye-catching books on social media and you keep saying to yourself; ‘I got to read this author,‘ but life always seems to get in the way and you end up sticking them to your, ‘really want to read’ book list?  Well, this has been me with Rosie Green’s Little Duck Pond Cafe series. 

So, when I got offered the chance to take part on her blog tour I leapt at the chance.

Sadly, my inner reading critic kicked in and reminded me I was a bit late to the Little Duck Pond Cafe party by offering to review the 10th book in the series.

You’ll be glad to know I stayed strong and told my inner reading critic to buzz off. Feeling energised and excited about finally getting the chance to read Rosie Green, I rose from my armchair, held my Kindle aloft and said something important and ground breaking:

‘it is never too late to dive into a beautiful romcom book series!’

It was quite a moment for me.

Yes, I know, that quote will make me famous. Thank you.

Well, I am glad I did dive into this book – A Cornish Summer Holiday. It was a delicious story with a sprinkling of lovable characters, some generous helpings of friendship and romance and a beautiful dash of heartwarming soul stuff. 

Now, I must download the other nine in the series, cancel all lockdown social engagements, take my Kindle to the sofa, eat cake and fling myself into Rosie Green’s fictional world.

Here’s the blurb:

The Little Duck Pond Cafe girls are looking forward to a well-earned break in the Cornish seaside town of Pengully Sands, where Sylvia’s sister, Aggie, owns a holiday home. With the glorious golden sands, sparkling azure sea and an ice-cream parlour only yards away, it seems like the perfect location to relax and watch the surfers riding the waves (and maybe even have a go themselves).

But when they arrive, the girls find it’s not quite the seaside idyll they were expecting. The house is less ‘holiday home’ and more ‘creepy, dilapidated haunted house.’

Gracie, who runs the ice-cream parlour, has problems of her own and the last thing she needs is a bunch of high-spirited girls arriving to disturb the peace and isolation she craves. And when a handsome stranger looks set to destroy her livelihood, it seems like the last straw. Will Gracie get her happy ending – and maybe even make friends with the girls next-door?

This wasn’t the relaxing break the Little Duck Pond Cafe girls were expecting, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be the holiday of a lifetime!

Purchase Link – click here.

Here’s my review:

This story alternates between the girls from the Little Duck Pond Cafe, who have gone off on a holiday to Pengully Sands as their bakery school is under construction, and Gracie who runs the ice cream shop and is in a bit of a mess emotionally. From a bit of reader sleuthing I have discovered that Gracie is a new character to the series and from the start I was immediately drawn to her.  She’s going through a lot but still has a sense of humour. I did laugh at cake being her main source of fuel.

The girls (Ellie, Fen, Jaz, Katya and Maddison) from the Little Duck Pond Cafe stay in a run down old house which is haunted and next door to Gracie. I kept thinking what a great idea for a fun packed girlie holiday – a stay in a haunted house. Well done, Rosie Green for this plot thread. I loved the girls hearing strange noises, rumours of faces being seen at the windows, the old diary hidden in the kitchen, the story of Violet Sangster and the secret which is wanting to come out.

I loved how the girls from the Little Duck Pond Cafe became friends with Gracie and helped pull her out of her sadness. I really liked Fen and chapter twenty four had me on the edge of my seat. Oh my goodness, I think we could all do with a Fen in our lives.

There is romance in this book and it is SCRUMPTIOUS! Rosie has all the ingredients for a delightful and satisfying romance: two lost souls, a large amount of conflict, a lot of twinkles in eyes and a heart stopping chapter thirty six.

You should all dive into this book beauty!

Bio: Rosie Green

Rosie has been scribbling stories ever since she was little.

Back then, they were rip-roaring adventure tales with a young heroine in perilous danger of falling off a cliff or being tied up by ‘the baddies’.

Thankfully, Rosie has moved on somewhat, and now much prefers to write romantic comedies that melt your heart and make you smile, with really not much perilous danger involved at all – unless you count the heroine losing her heart in love.

Her series of novellas is centred around life in a village cafe. The latest, ‘Lemon Drizzle Mondays at the Little Duck Pond Cafe’, is out now.

Rosie is currently writing a full-length book, ‘Lucy’s Great Cornish Escape’, which – in a fun twist – will feature favourite characters from the Little Duck Pond Café series.

Thanks for letting me take part in this fabulous blog tour:

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I will be doing a writing based post on Bank Holiday Monday so watch out for that

Imagining Your Novel Writing Journey as a Road Trip: What Would Your Road Trip Look Like? #MondayBlogs @BeautySwot

I was chatting with my author friend, Bettina Hunt, on our Friday Facetime with G&T’s, about writing novels. We started off comparing our different novel writing processes and then after a few more glugs of our G&T’s we came up with this superb analogy about writing a novel. We likened it to going on a long car journey or even better a road trip.

After more glugs of our G&T’s this post took shape and by the end of the call we were squealing with writing fuelled delight (nothing to do with our G&T’s obvs). Once our call ended I raced downstairs and created this post.

Here’s how to do this exercise:

Think of your car as your draft novel.
Your road trip ends once your draft novel is completed.
How your road trip goes depends on your writing process.
As with any road trip you run the risk of your car or in this case your draft novel breaking down. You then have to look at ways to get your car back on the road.
As with any road trip you, the driver or in this case the writer, can get tired, emotional, frustrated or fed up with your journey. You then have to look at ways at recharging your energy.
You have to stay motivated and focused on your road trip.
You run the risk of getting lost in your journey.
You also run the risk of taking an unexpected detour if you don’t have a plan.
Your car can be full of luggage on a road trip and this can weigh your car down. We likened luggage to all the emotional stuff you take with you when you write a novel; those annoying questions: will anyone like my story? Will agents / publishers reject it? Am I good enough to write? What will happen to my story once it’s finished? Some of us drivers travel light which means we are not weighed down with all this extra luggage and some of us struggle to get out of the drive to start our road trip as we have SO MUCH luggage.

 

Here are both of our novel writing journeys likened to taking a road trip:

Bettina’s road trip:

I liken Bettina to the cartoon character Penelope Pitstop when it comes to writing. This is because she gets in her car, applies a good lipstick, puts her foot to the floor and heads for the end of her story.

Bettina is very focused on getting to her destination – the end of the story. She doesn’t take unexpected detours, she doesn’t stop for breaks in her road trip and she rarely glances into other lanes to see what others are doing. She also travels light. Bettina doesn’t think about all those questions, and keeps heading for her end destination.

If her car does breakdown / story runs into problems she will do some free courses with Curtis Brown or she takes part in #VSS365 to spark her imagination.

So, Bettina’s road trip would be:

Get in car.
Travel light.
Foot to the floor in terms of word count.
No stopping until she gets there.
Reach destination, finish writing story and apply new lipstick.

Lucy’s Road Trip;

In my head my novel writing road trip looks like this below.

In reality this is much closer…

My road trips can be likened to the cartoon; The Adventures of Scooby Doo.

In my car I have all my fictional characters sat alongside me, all babbling away and lots of extra luggage.

From start to finish it’s one crazy adventure.

Whereas Bettina gets into the fast lane on the motorway and drives at speed towards her destination; writing to the end of her novel, I take unexpected detours down country lanes. It can be frustrating but sometimes the detours turn out to be really valuable.

My road trips have many steep hills, lots of bumps in the road and I can drive around in circles – especially at 17k and 32k words. In every novel I struggle at the same places.

If my van breaks down then I will take a break from driving and go binge read a ton of books. I will also do a lot of housework. My brain often comes up with the solution to my story issues but needs time to think.

I’m a big believer in taking regular breaks during my road trips. I’ve learnt (the hard way) that a lot of the time my brain is simply tired and needs a rest.

I also carry a LOT of luggage. Unlike Bettina I don’t travel light. All my writing worries are loaded into the back of my van. I will say that on my second novel writing journey I have followed Bettina’s technique of travelling light. She has helped me unpack a lot of my luggage and it has really helped. Travelling light is the answer.

So, my road trip would be:

Get in van along with all my fictional characters.
Pile as much luggage on the top as possible.
Take a few detours.
Re-trace my steps.
Reach destination, finish writing story and collaspe

Imagining Your Novel Writing Journey as a Road Trip: What Would Your Road Trip Look Like? #AmWriting @BeautySwot

I was chatting with my author friend, Bettina Hunt, on our Friday Facetime with G&T’s, about writing novels. We started off comparing our different novel writing processes and then after a few more glugs of our G&T’s we came up with this superb analogy about writing a novel. We likened it to going on a long car journey or even better a road trip.

After more glugs of our G&T’s this post took shape and by the end of the call we were squealing with writing fuelled delight (nothing to do with our G&T’s obvs). Once our call ended I raced downstairs and created this post.

Here’s how to do this exercise:

Think of your car as your draft novel.
Your road trip ends once your draft novel is completed.
How your road trip goes depends on your writing process.
As with any road trip you run the risk of your car or in this case your draft novel breaking down. You then have to look at ways to get your car back on the road.
As with any road trip you, the driver or in this case the writer, can get tired, emotional, frustrated or fed up with your journey. You then have to look at ways at recharging your energy.
You have to stay motivated and focused on your road trip.
You run the risk of getting lost in your journey.
You also run the risk of taking an unexpected detour if you don’t have a plan.
Your car can be full of luggage on a road trip and this can weigh your car down. We likened luggage to all the emotional stuff you take with you when you write a novel; those annoying questions: will anyone like my story? Will agents / publishers reject it? Am I good enough to write? What will happen to my story once it’s finished? Some of us drivers travel light which means we are not weighed down with all this extra luggage and some of us struggle to get out of the drive to start our road trip as we have SO MUCH luggage.

 

Here are both of our novel writing journeys likened to taking a road trip:

Bettina’s road trip:

I liken Bettina to the cartoon character Penelope Pitstop when it comes to writing. This is because she gets in her car, applies a good lipstick, puts her foot to the floor and heads for the end of her story.

Bettina is very focused on getting to her destination – the end of the story. She doesn’t take unexpected detours, she doesn’t stop for breaks in her road trip and she rarely glances into other lanes to see what others are doing. She also travels light. Bettina doesn’t think about all those questions, and keeps heading for her end destination.

If her car does breakdown / story runs into problems she will do some free courses with Curtis Brown or she takes part in #VSS365 to spark her imagination.

So, Bettina’s road trip would be:

Get in car.
Travel light.
Foot to the floor in terms of word count.
No stopping until she gets there.
Reach destination, finish writing story and apply new lipstick.

Lucy’s Road Trip;

In my head my novel writing road trip looks like this below.

In reality this is much closer…

My road trips can be likened to the cartoon; The Adventures of Scooby Doo.

In my car I have all my fictional characters sat alongside me, all babbling away and lots of extra luggage.

From start to finish it’s one crazy adventure.

Whereas Bettina gets into the fast lane on the motorway and drives at speed towards her destination; writing to the end of her novel, I take unexpected detours down country lanes. It can be frustrating but sometimes the detours turn out to be really valuable.

My road trips have many steep hills, lots of bumps in the road and I can drive around in circles – especially at 17k and 32k words. In every novel I struggle at the same places.

If my van breaks down then I will take a break from driving and go binge read a ton of books. I will also do a lot of housework. My brain often comes up with the solution to my story issues but needs time to think.

I’m a big believer in taking regular breaks during my road trips. I’ve learnt (the hard way) that a lot of the time my brain is simply tired and needs a rest.

I also carry a LOT of luggage. Unlike Bettina I don’t travel light. All my writing worries are loaded into the back of my van. I will say that on my second novel writing journey I have followed Bettina’s technique of travelling light. She has helped me unpack a lot of my luggage and it has really helped. Travelling light is the answer.

So, my road trip would be:

Get in van along with all my fictional characters.
Pile as much luggage on the top as possible.
Take a few detours.
Re-trace my steps.
Reach destination, finish writing story and collaspe

The Benefits of Imagining Who Would Play Your Characters if Your Book Was Turned into a Film @BeautySwot #MondayBlogs

The idea for this blog post came to me whilst cleaning my bathroom. I’d just finished Bettina Hunt’s fabulous romantic comedy; ‘A Tempting Trio‘ and all I could think about (with my head bent over the bath and scrubbing like mad) was who I’d want to see cast in the leading male roles if Bettina’s book was turned into a film.

This is what a good book can do to you. It will infiltrate your thoughts days after you’ve finished it and will make you think about it whilst you are going about your daily business, like cleaning the bath.

In Bettina’s hilarious romcom; A Tempting Trio, Sarah Dawes cannot help comparing men to her favourite desserts. This is not a problem until she finds herself having to choose between no less than three of them. David is her rich married boss, Adam is a mysterious, gorgeous guy she bumps into in a coffee shop and then there is Tommy, the sexy aristocrat whose huge party she is planning.

As you can imagine I was in a real quandary trying to pick three gorgeous famous actors to play these three characters; David, Adam and Tommy. I even had to go back in time and use some of my favourites from when they were young like Josh Lucas when he was in Sweet Home Alabama and Hugh Grant when he was in Bridget Jones. As you can imagine my bath was gleaming in no time after this enjoyable daydream.

This got me thinking about how beneficial this exercise of imagining who would play your characters if your own book was turned into a film can be. I love doing this with my stories and in my novel, Instructions For Falling in Love Again I spent hours deliberating which famous actor would play lovable rogue Mikey. I think I got my extensive list down to a couple of possible names; Bradley Cooper and Jude Law. Obviously there would be no ceiling limit on the casting budget for this imaginary film.

It is best to forget about things like the current age of actors and casting budgets.

So, with the help of Bettina, we have put together some writer benefits of doing this creative exercise; imagining who would play your characters if your book, draft novel or WIP was one day turned into a film.

It can be a good exercise to do in order to beat the stress which comes with writing a book. Sometimes you do need to have a bit of fun.
It can help with Writer’s Block. Sometimes having a visual picture in your head of how parts of your book would play out if it was film can be useful and can help stir up your emotions. So, casting your characters is essential.
If you have already published your book then you could use this exercise with your readers on social media or in a newsletter. Ask them their opinions on who should play your characters if your book was turned into a film. It is a great way to kickstart an engaging conversation on Facebook or Twitter.
If you like using Pinterest then you could set up a Board and pin pics of famous actors to give you some ideas for casting. You could even add the link to your reader newsletter or social media accounts and ask readers who like Pinterest to follow your board.
If you struggle with describing the appearance of characters and their behaviour traits then it could be useful to think of your book as a film. How would you want your cast of hunky famous actors to act out your scenes and how would they come across to the viewers?

I hope some of you have found this post useful and please let me know in the comments whether you use this exercise.

If you fancy something funny to read then please check out Bettina’s book, A Tempting Trio. I thought it was excellent and here are my three famous actors who I think should play David, Tommy and Adam.

David – Matthew McConaughey from How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Tommy – Hugh Grant from the film Bridget Jones.

Adam – Josh Lucas from the film Sweet Home Alabama. 

The Benefits of Imagining Who Would Play Your Characters if Your Book Was Turned into a Film @BeautySwot #Writers

The idea for this blog post came to me whilst cleaning my bathroom. I’d just finished Bettina Hunt’s fabulous romantic comedy; ‘A Tempting Trio‘ and all I could think about (with my head bent over the bath and scrubbing like mad) was who I’d want to see cast in the leading male roles if Bettina’s book was turned into a film.

This is what a good book can do to you. It will infiltrate your thoughts days after you’ve finished it and will make you think about it whilst you are going about your daily business, like cleaning the bath.

In Bettina’s hilarious romcom; A Tempting Trio, Sarah Dawes cannot help comparing men to her favourite desserts. This is not a problem until she finds herself having to choose between no less than three of them. David is her rich married boss, Adam is a mysterious, gorgeous guy she bumps into in a coffee shop and then there is Tommy, the sexy aristocrat whose huge party she is planning.

As you can imagine I was in a real quandary trying to pick three gorgeous famous actors to play these three characters; David, Adam and Tommy. I even had to go back in time and use some of my favourites from when they were young like Josh Lucas when he was in Sweet Home Alabama and Hugh Grant when he was in Bridget Jones. As you can imagine my bath was gleaming in no time after this enjoyable daydream.

This got me thinking about how beneficial this exercise of imagining who would play your characters if your own book was turned into a film can be. I love doing this with my stories and in my novel, Instructions For Falling in Love Again I spent hours deliberating which famous actor would play lovable rogue Mikey. I think I got my extensive list down to a couple of possible names; Bradley Cooper and Jude Law. Obviously there would be no ceiling limit on the casting budget for this imaginary film.

It is best to forget about things like the current age of actors and casting budgets.

So, with the help of Bettina, we have put together some writer benefits of doing this creative exercise; imagining who would play your characters if your book, draft novel or WIP was one day turned into a film.

It can be a good exercise to do in order to beat the stress which comes with writing a book. Sometimes you do need to have a bit of fun.
It can help with Writer’s Block. Sometimes having a visual picture in your head of how parts of your book would play out if it was film can be useful and can help stir up your emotions. So, casting your characters is essential.
If you have already published your book then you could use this exercise with your readers on social media or in a newsletter. Ask them their opinions on who should play your characters if your book was turned into a film. It is a great way to kickstart an engaging conversation on Facebook or Twitter.
If you like using Pinterest then you could set up a Board and pin pics of famous actors to give you some ideas for casting. You could even add the link to your reader newsletter or social media accounts and ask readers who like Pinterest to follow your board.
If you struggle with describing the appearance of characters and their behaviour traits then it could be useful to think of your book as a film. How would you want your cast of hunky famous actors to act out your scenes and how would they come across to the viewers?

I hope some of you have found this post useful and please let me know in the comments whether you use this exercise.

If you fancy something funny to read then please check out Bettina’s book, A Tempting Trio. I thought it was excellent and here are my three famous actors who I think should play David, Tommy and Adam.

David – Matthew McConaughey from How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

Tommy – Hugh Grant from the film Bridget Jones.

Adam – Josh Lucas from the film Sweet Home Alabama. 

#BookReview Her Mother’s Secret @JanBaynham #Bookish

This is one of those books which you can definitely see being turned into a much loved BBC dramatisation. It would make great viewing as there’s something for everyone in it; romance, mystery, drama and a bit of a thriller. I’m thinking a six part series and I’m undecided which role I want to be cast into; Elin or Alexandra…but happy to throw my name into the hat for the acting roles, Jan

Writing & Assembling Flat Pack Furniture – The Similarities #WritingCommunity

Here at BlondeWriteMore we (the dog and I) like to make important and thought provoking observations about the craft of writing. We are both hoping today’s post will resonate with a few of you.

This post is dedicated to all those writers out there, who, like me, do not receive fully formed story ideas from their creative muse. Our ideas come to us in random pieces. We have to spend a fair amount of time having heated internal conversations with our creative muse which start with…‘what the heck do you expect me to do with this?’  

We find ourselves looking longingly at those lucky writers who tweet or write about FULLY FORMED IDEAS coming to them while they were going about their daily business. They did not have to spend days, weeks and even months chewing over the strange fragments of a story idea (can be as little as an odd image in your head) which their creative muse has proudly served up. They do not have to work out really basic stuff like the characters, the order of things and this is embarrassing to say…but the actual frigging story. It is clear that these writers were at the front of a different queue when creative muses were being assigned.

Every year I write on my Santa list – to get a fully formed story idea. I now think Santa and my creative muse are in cahoots.

I say all this but actually trying to piece together the random snippets of a story is fun (*flashes botox’d smile at the laptop*) and my excitement levels soar when I FINALLY work out how the fragments and odd shaped pieces of a story fit together (*second flash of my botox’d smile*)

This is why I believe there are SIMILARITIES between writing and assembling flat packed furniture.

For noting: if you are a whiz at putting flat packed furniture together and you get fully formed story ideas sadly this post is not for you.

Here goes:

That moment when your flat pack furniture arrives with no instructions. You and your loved one stare in horror at the random bits of wood, some nails, a few screws and NO SIGN OF ANY INSTRUCTIONS. What the hell do you do now? This is very similar to your creative muse delivering a story idea in bits and not telling how you put it together.
That moment when you have spent six LONG hours with your loved one trying to put your new wardrobe together and have only threatened to divorce them twice. This is similar to spending all day working out how to piece together bits of your new story idea and only threatening to sack your creative muse four times.
That moment when you finally assemble your new dressing table and it doesn’t look like what you ordered and weirdly it doesn’t resemble a dressing table. This is familiar because I have worked on a new story idea, which was gifted to me by my creative muse in bits (several weeks apart) and once I’d written it I realised it wasn’t a romance. I wasn’t even sure what it was because it was very weird and I came close to burying it at the bottom of my garden.
That moment when you and your loved one finally assemble your new wardrobe unit (after six back breaking hours) and you realise you still have pieces in the box. Tears of frustration roll down your face as your loved one reminds you of the argument you both had during the first hour and that this proves they were RIGHT about pieces being missed. In deathly silence you both take apart your wardrobe and re-assemble it using the missing pieces. This is similar to writing a story based on the bits your creative muse gave you and ignoring that nagging feeling that there’s something missing. It is only until you have spent FIVE weeks of your life writing the damn story that you realise on reading it through that it is missing an important element. Your muse gives you a mischievous look and points out that YOU chose not to include that element and it’s lying DISCARDED at the back of your mind and crossed out on your notes. In deathly silence you take apart your story and add the missing bit.
That moment when you and your loved one sort out the many different parts of your new shelving unit which has come flat packed ready for assembling. You find yourselves sorting them into little piles labelled; ‘screws’, ‘wood,’ and ‘mysterious bits to confuse people like us.’  This is very similar to sitting down with a notepad and writing down all the fragments of a new story idea which your creative muse is hailing as ‘a future bestselling novel.’ You write down every bit of the idea under the headings labelled; ‘characters,’ ‘plot’, ‘random scenes’ and ‘weird stuff to confuse me’. 
That moment when you go on Facebook and your friend is boasting about how her and her loved one assembled their new bedroom furniture in under an hour and then gives the impression that they spent the evening making mad passionate love. Meanwhile you and your loved one are entering the seventh circle of hell with putting together your new kitchen cupboards and you’ll be lucky to go near each other later let alone make mad passionate love. This is very similar to going on Twitter and seeing a writing acquaintance boasting about coming up with a brand new story idea in under ten minutes and then spending the next half hour writing a fabulous synopsis. After all this she and her husband enjoyed a romantic candle lit dinner and an early night. Meanwhile you and your creative muse are entering the seventh circle of hell with putting your half baked story idea together. You have been at your writing desk for some time, your pet dog has gone into hiding and your loved one has just informed you he’s broke the coffee machine. After all this you are planning to fire your creative muse and ask your loved one to sleep in the spare bedroom.

You might think after reading this that I’m not grateful for being assigned my creative muse. In an ideal world my muse would bring me fully formed stories and I would spend my days tweeting about my great writing life.

However, the reality is that I have a muse who sends me half baked story ideas which require a lot of thought. The feeling of accomplishment once I have added all the pieces together is HUGE and makes up for all the agonising hours I spend trying to work out the order of the bits.

My debut novel came to me in pieces and judging how well it has done – my muse can carry on doing its thing. Seeing readers on Facebook last night commenting on how much they enjoyed my book made me cry.

The moral of this tale is – love your writing process x

#BookReview Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff @DellaGalton #WomensFiction

When the TV weather forecasters informed me that the lovely warm UK weather was going to be replaced with a lot of rain and grey skies I yearned for some book escapism. I wanted to be whisked away (in my head) to a gorgeous location, get the chance to live in someone else’s shoes for a bit and have a little bit of romance along the way. Luckily Della Galton’s new novel; Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff was on hand to save the day.

Here’s the blurb:

A place to make your dreams come true…

Clara King is left in sole charge of a fabulous new cliff top hotel for the summer. The owner has barely left the country when Clara realises that someone is hell bent on putting the Bluebell Cliff Hotel out of business.

It becomes a race against time to hunt down the sneaky saboteur before they succeed in bringing the hotel to its knees.

With her dream job under threat and her personal life in chaos, Clara discovers that, when what you love the most is in danger, it can bring out the very best in you.

Here’s my review:

I’ve always secretly fancied running a seaside guest house or hotel although my experience would be similar to something out of Fawlty Towers. So I was delighted at the prospect of slipping into Della’s character Clara’s fictional shoes who at the start of the book had just started managing the Bluebell Cliff hotel. She never envisaged being the overall manager but stepped into help the owner who had to go sort out a family crisis in Australia.

The trials and tribulations of running a seaside hotel were fun to read about and I loved how the hotel went out of its way to accommodate the needs of different groups of guests The idea of a honeymoon suite in a lighthouse was fab and so too were all the hotel related near disasters which happened without the guests seeing.

The hotel sabotage story line was great and it kept my interest. Clara certainly has her work cut out what with managing the hotel and trying to uncover who is behind the attempts to sabotage the hotel and her own personal life.

This story does offer a lovely slow burn romance which is what it needed to be given the amount of internal and external issues Clara was facing.

There is a good ending to the story as the mystery unravels.

A lovely read