Romy Gemmell's Blog, page 60

Romantic Novelists' Association and Blog

The wonderful Romantic Novelists' Association in the UK comprises many different kinds of romance writers in a lively association, with 'chapters' around the country. Their parties and conferences are marvellous fun and their quarterly magazine, Romance Matters, provides great information and news.

But it is their New Writers' Scheme which is second to none. Any unpublished novelist of romantic fiction can join the NWS each January, although get your application in quick as it's so popular! The fee includes an in-depth critique on a full novel from a professional author and is worth every penny. Two of my novels have been through the scheme and the first, Dangerous Deceit, is the one finally published this month. Prospective publishers and agents like the fact that a submitted novel has been through such a critique.

Any author who subsequently signs a contract can then go on to become a full member of the RNA, which I have now done! Today, I am honoured to be featured on the RNA blog , as I owe my continued efforts at writing full length fiction solely to the RNA.

If you want to come and say hello, you can find my interview on the RNA Blog.

Rosemary

Inspiration Behind Dangerous Deceit

If anyone has time to spare and wants to have a look, I'm talking about the inspiration behind Dangerous Deceit on the lovely L.K. Below's blog today.

Rosemary

Festival of Romance

For anyone who doesn't know about it, the UK's first romantic fiction convention is going to be taking place at Hunton Park, near Watford in Hertfordshire, from 21-22 October 2011. It will be a weekend celebration of romantic fiction of all kinds, for readers and authors, with author talks and fun activities like chocolate tasting, and a Festival of Romance Ball and Awards on the Saturday evening.

To celebrate the weekend, several literary awards are now in place:

The Festival of Romance Reader Award for Best Romantic Novel

The Festival of Romance Reader Award for Best Historical Novel

The Festival of Romance New Talent Award.

The Best Romantic Novel and Best Historical Novel awards are for novels of romantic fiction published between September 2010 and October 2011 and will be judged exclusively by readers.

The New Talent Award aims to spotlight emerging talent and is open to unpublished writers. The industry expert judges are Donna Condon, senior commissioning editor at Piatkus, and Jane Judd, literary agent at the Jane Judd Literary Agency.

Details of the festival are on the Festival of Romance site.

You can join the online Festival of Romance community, where you will find details of the awards. Or click on the badge at the side of the blog.

Rosemary

Being Interviewed by Janice Horton

Good morning one and all. I'm being grilled, sorry interviewed, on the lovely Janice Horton's blog today - please drop by and say hello, if you have the time!

Rosemary

Butterflies and Writing

Some of my friends and family know that I like butterflies and they have often bought me one as a gift for birthday or Christmas - not a real one I hasten to say! Some of the lovely items that contained a butterfly include:  a brooch, a candle, painted on a shawl, embellishment on a jewellery stand, a picture on a notebook. These are only the things I can think of immediately. Many of my gorgeous cards contain a butterfly, or two.


Well my dear friend, Catriona, surpassed herself the other day when she handed me a gift to celebrate publication of my first novel, Dangerous Deceit. She has always been hugely supportive and that was more than enough. Besides which, her husband bought my e-book for her right away so she could read it on her computer! So I opened the beautiful white box in mounting curiosity to find, nestled amongst white tissue paper, a heavy filligree hanging butterfly!

What a lovely, unexpected surprise, especially since we were supposed to be celebrating her birthday, which was my treat. One of the reasons I was so touched is because my friend knows that I consider myself a butterfly writer, and she actually wrote that on the card. How lovely that she knows me so well!

So, a butterfly writer. Why? Well the symbolism of that little insect who changes from a crawling catterpiller through different stages to such a colourful creature with wings, is a powerful image of a fledgling writer learning to make their words soar. Then there is the fact that I write anything and everything from short stories, articles, children's stories, and even poetry, to novels. I flit happily from one kind of writing to another, staying for a while before moving on to the next.

I also love the symbolism of butterflies in some cultures. In Greek mythology, Psyche, meaning 'soul', is represented by a butterfly. Even in Christianity, a butterfly often symbolises a person's soul crossing to the hereafter, and it is depicted in many works of art. In Chinese and Japanese culture the butterfly is often a symbol of joy and happiness. No wonder so many people use the butterfly symbol in some way!

Here are two little quotations to leave you, from my little gift book, Songs of the Earth:

"The butterfly flitting from flower to flower ever remains mine, I lose the one that is netted by me." Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet (1861-1941)

"I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man."
Chuang Tzu (369-286 B.C.), Chinese sage

Lovely Lilacs and Meditative May

After all the excitement of the virtual launch of Dangerous Deceit on my Regency blog yesterday, I'm in relaxed meditative mode today - and probably need it! Isn't this the most gorgeous little flower card you've seen? It was delivered to me today and was sent by a lovely friend, Lorna, to wish me success with the book. It has really made my day.


Our weather up here in the west of Scotland hasn't been as warm as some parts of England recently, although we're not having the usual rain either. But I noticed our lilac tree was in full bloom and had to try and capture some of the flowers before they fade. I love the lilac colour among the green leaves and, although our tree could do with a good pruning one of these years, it still brightens up the uppermost corner of our garden which overlooks the hills beyond.


As to the meditation part - no I've not taken it up (yet!) - I find poetry and verse very relaxing, and I particularly like medieval and other early century writing when in that kind of mood.

The following is translated from the Latin, 12th century French verse of Marbod of Rennes (not by me!).

Meditation among Trees

Green turf amid silent trees and soft light airs
And a spring of running water in the grass,
They freshen a jaded mind, they give me back to myself,
They make me abide in myself.

Reminder about Cyber Launch

Just a wee reminder that my cyber launch party is still going on at my Regency blog - we're having a blast. The Champagne is chilled, if anyone else wants to join the fun!

Rosemary

Debut Novel, Dangerous Deceit, is now Available!

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So excited to announce that my first novel, Dangerous Deceit, is now available as an e-book from my publisher, Champagne Books and from Amazon (kindle). The publisher is also going to put it on Smashwords eventually, so it will be available in all e-book stores.

A print version will be released by Champagne Books in a few months.

Invitation - Thursday, 5th May

Please come to my fun cyber launch day on my Regency blog on Thursday, to help me celebrate publication. All comments on my Regency blog that day will be entered into a random draw to win an Amazon voucher.

Hope to see you there!
Rosemary

Another First

Thought I'd post this now so it's next to the previous post and you won't get too fed up with me mentioning success.

My children's novel, 'Summer of the Eagles' has been accepted by another Canadian publisher! I'm absolutely thrilled about this as I've always hoped to get this one published. It's set on a Scottish island and the first part won 2nd prize many years ago at our annual writing conference, but then languished unfinished while I got on with all the other writing I do (butterfly writer, that's me!). So I finally rewrote it in light of a bit more experience, finished it and found a publisher for this age group.

It's for their Tween range (10-14 years) and will be in e-book form, but I retain the print rights if they don't go on to publish it in print. So it's a win-win situation. At least two friends have already said their sons will want to read it as an e-book, and I haven't even told everyone yet! I've spent most of this afternoon reading the contract and filling out the marketing and bio forms.

So a message to all those at the beginning of their writing careers, or who feel like giving up sometimes: keep going! Each little piece of success we have adds to another and encourages us to never give up. If you love to write, then persevere and send your work out. I'm always happy to help with market advice (I've given talks on markets to local writing groups) so if anyone is looking for a specific kind of publisher please ask if you think I might be able to tell you anything worthwhile.

Rosemary

A Year of Firsts!

This is obviously going to be my year of firsts! And my excitement about all of them is mounting…

In date order, so far (please forgive the excessive use of exclamation marks):

First blog interview here. It turned out to be enjoyable and encouraging, thanks to my lovely hostess and fellow Champagne Books author, Linda Kage. And I have some more lined up through May and June!

First novel being published next week (e-book first). I'm making the cyber launch date Thursday, 5th May – might as well compete with the Scottish elections, and people might remember the date. Will try and remember to announce it everywhere next week!

First tap dancing display. Gulp… just heard about this one last night and it's scheduled for the first weekend of June. But I love dancing and dressing up, so I only have to get the routine into my head and feet now, along with my fellow mid-life dancers!

First offspring being married. This should be at the top, but I've left the best till last. Really looking forward to my son's wedding at the beginning of July, especially since it's going to be a lovely low-key affair in a tiny church on one of our Scottish islands. Will definitely post about it afterwards!

I think that's all the main events. Wonder what next year will bring…

Rosemary