Talli Roland's Blog, page 6

I Will Never Be One of Those Writers

Happy Monday, all! Hope you had a glorious weekend.

As I tear my hair out over the second draft of The No-Kids Club - which I thought I'd finished and got everything spot on... so not the case!), I have finally come to terms with the fact that I will never be one of those writers. You know, the ones who have everything planned out on neat little PostIts or glossy whiteboards -- and who somehow manage to stick to it.

How? How do they do it? (Can you hear me howl?) Because no matter how many times I vow I've got it right, and that this is the time I've got everything sorted beforehand, inevitably once I've started drafting I'll take a look at my meticulous plot and think: naaahhhhhh. And then blithely go on my merry writing way.

I've written oven ten novels now -- not many by some standards but not a paltry sum, either -- and I have finally made peace with my writing process. The only way my writerly mind makes sense of things is by writing, rewriting, rewriting the rewrites, and rewriting some more. Sigh!

But as frustrating as that may seem sometimes, it's part of the fun, too. You never know what road you'll go down, what new characters might come up, or what the finished product will resemble (hopefully not a pile of poo).

So here's to never being one of those writers!

What kind of writer are you?

Party Like It's... 2013

Hello, all!

I'm a little late posting today due to some earlier high jinx, but it's wine o'clock, Baby TR's in bed, my writing for the day is finished, and a takeaway is simmering in the oven. Ahhhhhhhhh.

Today, I'm delighted to be hosting Janice Horton, writer and partier extraordinaire.

Take it away, Janice!

How To Party Online 
[image error] Social media applications are perfect forums for parties – the venue capacity is infinite, the guest list can be global, and all the fun and games can lead to bestselling success!
One of my top tipsIn the same regard, public holidays like May Day and Easter Weekend might take people away from home or away from their social media networks. Essentially, once you have chosen your party day, work backwards on a timeline to make sure you can fit in all the planning.
I decided to write ‘How To Party Online’ after hosting several successful online parties and then being contacted by party peeps who wanted to know how I went about organising them. The result was ‘How To Party Online’: a guide that aims to help you to find fun and success while you party online!
“Social media marketing could be her specialist subject on Mastermind.” DG Life Magazine
 How To Party Online is available exclusively for Kindle on Amazon UK and Amazon.com
About the author: Janice Horton escaped a city-chic lifestyle and a career in corporate brand placement to live in a remote cottage on the side of a hillside in Scotland. Previously traditionally published and now writing as an Indie, Janice writes fiction with humour and heart and a hint of tartan. When not writing novels, Janice writes lifestyle articles and has had work published in national and international magazines. She has also been involved in BBC Scotland's 'Write Here Write Now' incentive. Janice is a regular blogger and you'll often find her partying on Facebook and Twitter.
Janice’s Blog. Follow her on Twitter: @JaniceHorton. Like her Facebook Page. Link to her Amazon Author Page. Check out her Goodreads. Featured Author & Associate Editor at: Loveahappyending.com
Thank you, Janice!
Have a lovely week, everyone. See you next Monday!

Won't You Be My Neighbour?

Am I hallucinating, or did that used to be a song by Mr Rogers (I realise I've probably just dated myself here)?

Anyway, it's big excitement here in the 'hood, because as you may have heard, we have a new neighbour: Prince George.

TR Towers (ha!) is right around the corner from Kensington Palace, so we were delighted to welcome the new resident.On the day following his birth, Baby TR and I took a stroll around to see if we could greet him. Instead, we found the world's media gathering in eager anticipation.

Baby TR wasn't quite the baby they were waiting for, but he was happy to pose anyway.


No sooner had we arrived home than we heard the helicopters overhead and sirens blaring, welcoming the new prince home. Ah, well. We may have missed the royal baby, but I've got a little oligarch all for myself.

Have a great week, everyone!

Baking and Basking

Monday! It's baking in London (yet again - we're actually having summer!) and I'm currently stuck to the leather sofa as I type. Not a pretty sight, I can assure you.

Thank you so much for all the congratulations on my Amazon deal! I've yet to make my way around to everyone, but I appreciate each and every comment.

Last week's news overshadowed my return from the annual Romantic Novelists' Association Conference. This year, it was held in sunny Sheffield and I couldn't wait to attend. As the moment for departure drew closer, though, I had to tear myself from from Baby TR (first night away!) and force mind and body through the door.

A glass of wine and my wonderful flatmates put everything right once I was there (except for my bionic boobs which were near to bursting all weekend, but we won't go into that!), and I soon drifted off on a wonderful cloud of writerly conversations and fantastic company.


Basking outside in the tropical temperatures: Giselle Green, Rhoda Baxter, Lizzie Lamb and me.
Still basking: me and Cally Taylor.
Our luxurious accommodation.
My wonderful flatmates! Kate Johnson, Imogen Howson, Ruth Long, Sarah Callejo, me, Jane Lovering
More basking.
(All photos courtesy of Lizzie Lamb because I was too lazy.)

As you can see, attending a conference is very hard work indeed!

I hope you all have a lovely week ahead. See you next Monday!

NEWS!

Happy Monday, all! It is a very happy Monday here indeed, because not only is the weather downright tropical, but I can finally announce that I have signed a two-book deal with Amazon Publishing! It has been absolutely killing me to keep my mouth shut until all the nitty-gritty details were ironed out (huge thanks to Madeleine Milburn, my agent, for her tenacity and hard work), but I can now say that Amazon is going to re-publish The Pollyanna Plan with a sparkly new cover, and they'll release The No-Kids Club sometime around Spring 2014.

Yay!

Many of you know that I've been very happy self-publishing since choosing to leave my publisher almost two years ago. And that hasn't changed -- I plan to continue to self-publish around my other novels as time and schedules allow.  However, I have to admit it will be nice to collaborate with a knowledgeable team of professionals . . . not to mention it's Amazon! I have witnessed the impact of their marketing power and hope they can help me grow my audience. I'm really excited to be on their team.

I have to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me from the very beginning (2010 wasn't that long ago, but it seems like forever!). From my blogsplash to baby, you have continually made my day and even though I can't do the blog rounds as often as I'd like, I love hearing from you. I really feel like you're all a huge part of my writing journey.

So . . . wine for all! Champagne for all! Red Twizzlers for . . . ME!

Once again, a heartfelt thanks and have a lovely week.

Made of Win!

In case you haven't noticed (and if you live in the UK, you'd have to be under a rock not to), we have a new Wimbledon Champion -- and for the first time in 77 years, he's British! Well done, Andy. You've given strawberries and cream a whole new raison d'etre.

Not only that, but London is currently in the grips of a 'heatwave' (known by the rest of the world as 'summer'), and the skies are blue, Pimms is overflowing, and parks heaving. Plus, I've finished the first draft of the No-Kids Club! It's all good.

Here are a few photos for you from last week's exploits in the sun.

Bubbles on the South Bank.
View of The Shard (the tall, pointy building) from the Millennium Bridge.
First Pimms of the season!
Gratuitous baby shot! Baby TR examines the grass of Kensington  Palace and finds it lacking. 
Next weekend, I'm off to the RNA Conference in Sheffield, so brace yourself for tales of wine and shoes on Monday! Have a great week, everyone. 

Sunlounger is Here... on Canada Day!

Happy Monday!

Today is a very auspicious day, because not only is it Canada Day (yay!), it's also publication day for Sunlounger, an anthology organised by the wonderful Belinda Jones, including a story by moi. There's lots of info about the authors and their stories at this website, and just look at the fabulous cover.


If that doesn't get you in the summer spirit, I don't know what will! Here's a bit more about it:

Take a trip around the world with 44 of the hottest writers in Women's Fiction!

This collection of sun-kissed short stories will have you boarding a millionaire's yacht in St Tropez, exploring a sheik's palace in Dubai, swimming with dolphins in Australia, partying in Ibiza, surfing in Hawaii, exploring ancient ruins in Turkey and Cambodia and sipping Limoncello in Italy! 

Whether you read it on your favourite beach (Sunlounger features golden sands from Greece to Thailand) or on your daily commute or coffee break you will be spirited away on a variety of adventures - some will make you chuckle, some will make your heart pang, others will inspire you to live your life to the max!

You can check it out on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

Happy Canada Day, all! Have a great one!

Life Begins at 22

Hello, all! I had a total blog fail yesterday owing to someone pinning me down on the sofa and forcing me to watch the Federer Wimbledon match. What can I say, it was difficult but I toughed it out. 
So today, I'm taking part in the Life Begins at 22 'blorgy' (a Gemma Burgess word; I didn't make it up!)  to celebrate the launch of Gemma's Brooklyn Girls. Find out more about the book here and read more Life Begins at 22 entries here. I'm posting a bit early but there will be plenty of other entries to peruse soon!
For me, this post should probably be entitled Life Begins at 24, because that is the age I finally finished my Masters and went out into the big wide world of work. And thus began the disillusionment with corporate life, because although I loved having my own flat, making money, and living in a great city, I detested the nine to five grind of doing something (in this case, editing a medical journal) which was guaranteed to put me to sleep within five minutes. 
In fact, my colleagues and I would often indulge in a cheeky little snooze while looking suitably engrossed in an article on DREs (don't ask - you really don't want to know, believe me). 
But the brilliant group of people I worked with more than made up for the rather lacklustre material. All young, most just a few years out of university and living away from their hometowns, we became a close circle. Outside of the beige office, we took on Montreal: going to bars, eating eating eating, and hanging out on the terraces during the lovely hot summers. 
I still remember the heady excitement of exploring a fantastic new city, the freedom of returning home to my own apartment, and knowing that if I wanted something, I had the money to buy it. Life after 24 was all about freedom and fun, and although there was the inevitable heartbreak and confusion, that's what I remember most.
What do you remember about your twenties?

Pavilion in the Park

I hope everyone had a glorious weekend! I have now passed the 50,000 mark on The No-Kids Club, which I'm sure deserves a few glasses of wine. I'm hoping to finish the first draft in the next few weeks, and then the dreaded editing begins. *cue music of doom*

The past week has been a busy one! I'm very pleased to say I signed with super-agent Madeleine Milburn. She's got a great stable of authors -- many of whom I know -- and I'm thrilled to be a part of them. I hope to give more details of exactly why I've decided to go with an agent in the near future!

In a complete non sequitur, every year, the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens commissions an architect to design a summer pavilion. Checking it out has become an annual occurrence! While I wasn't keen on last year's, I quite like this summer's structure.






Gratuitous baby shot!
Have a great week, everyone. See you next Monday. 

Sex. On Tuesdays. Or Not.

Oh, my. It's Monday! Again! Who knew time could pass so quickly? I am currently tearing my hair and rending my wardrobe (not to worry, I've been wearing the same coffee-stained sweater for days).

Well, you'll be happy to hear that Baby TR has now decided he likes his crib and has returned to regular nap-times. Phew! I'm able to write again and I'm almost half-way through the first draft of The No-Kids Club. Whoop!

But enough about me! Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Tracy Bloom to the blog.

Take it away, Tracy.

Dreams Do Come True - But Not How You Expect Them To!
 I’d always dreamed of writing a book and getting it published. I pictured myself walking into book shop and seeing it there, right at the front, with my name all over it. That was my dream. And it came true…well sort of.

I didn’t start writing until marriage, a baby and a husband sent to work in the USA for three years slung me out of my previous career developing theme park rides and attractions and into desperate housewife territory.  In a bid to avoid domestic duties and people who didn’t understand my Derbyshire accent I threw myself into my dream, writing whilst my son napped in the afternoons. I joined a creative writing class and my romantic comedy, No-one Has Ever Had Sex on a Tuesday, began to take shape.
Eventually I finished my tale of a one-night stand that leads to utter chaos so I skipped class to sweat over letters to potential agents in London. Not that I thought I’d get one, I just fancied getting some transatlantic mail.  But to my absolute shock one wanted me. Champagne corks popped.  My dream was coming true...wasn't it?
My agent took my book to Frankfurt Book Fair and I waited patiently to hear when I would see my book in Waterstones. TSo I headed to Italy to live the dream of seeing my book in a store.  I took pictures whilst trying to convince shop owners that I was the author and not some eccentric English lady who couldn’t speak Italian and yet convinced she's written an entire book in their language. Not quite what I had imagined but amazing all the same.
This year NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY is finally published in English. With the support of my agent who also represents Sophie Kinsella, Veronica Henry and Kate Harrison I have self-published on Amazon.  So I still won't get to see it in a book shop but who knew that watching my novel fight its way up the Amazon charts gathering great reviews as it goes would actually be my dream come true?
You can follow me on Twitter @TracyBBloom or Facebook www.facebook.com/tracybloomwrites or get in touch via my website www.tracybloom.com.

 Thank you, Tracy! 
And an even better ending: since writing this post, Tracy's novel has rocketed to Number One on Amazon.co.uk! Congratulations, Tracy. It seems dreams really do come true. 
Have a great week, everyone.