G.R. Mannering's Blog, page 16

New book, a pretty map & crafting

So there’s been some changes and writing (yay) going on behind the scenes which is why I haven’t *cough* been around for a while. If you read my last post, then I am happy to tell you that I finished Girl in Paris, the current working title for my recent novel. Woohoo! It is with my agent at the moment, awaiting her thoughts so that’s pretty exciting.

Paris

Something else that’s pretty exciting is that I had the pleasure of seeing a sneak peek of the world map for ROSES and IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL! The artist did an amazing job and I’m so pleased. I can’t wait until I can share it! ROSES is now gearing up for publication which is scary and amazing at the same time. The publishers talking about marketing (free short story coming soon) and reviewers and book birthday events. That baby is all grown up and stepping out into the big wide world.

I’m scared.

And to distract myself from that, I’ve been creating a craft blog with my mum at www.honey-rose.com so if you’re interested in lifestyle and craft then do please go and check it out. We post 2/3 times a week covering a range of different subjects (yarn, sewing, embroidery, baking etc.). For a while now I’ve been putting my baking and craft pieces on this blog and I was beginning to feel that it wasn’t the right place for it so I’ve had a rejig of everything (a late spring clean, if you will) and from now on, this blog will hold all of my writing, reading and news pieces only. It feels good to get everything sorted and organised – I am just that sort of person.

I’ve recently just returned from holiday so now my time will be filled with re-reading Girl in Paris and agonising over whether or not character X would eat a crepe with nutella or lemon (I kid you not) and venturing into a new writing idea to see if it has any mileage. Oh, and catching up with a few booktube videos – a giveaway coming soon!

Rose xxx

BIG BOOK WRAP-UP

The Book Scavenger’s Tag

New Book: Project Paris

For the past few weeks I’ve been hidden away working on a new book and a new creative project. Today I want to share a bit about the former complete with a few photos of Paris such as the one above, which is the setting for this new novel.

I went to Paris at Christmas (photos here and here) and on the last day of my trip, I came up with the seed of an idea. I’d had a whirlwind tour of all the sites and walked around so much that I felt like I was really getting to know the city. I wanted to do something with this knowledge and that’s when my seed came to me.

Now my seed is a big, rambling tree – a bit overgrown and a bit wonky (let’s just say it needs trimming), but at least it  made it past the sapling stage. I can only hope that it survives the winter—

I’ll stop with the tree analogy now. I’m sure you get the picture. Project Paris (as we shall call it) is a few weeks away from completion (I hope – there’s always an element of fingers crossed when I’m writing). To give you a little info, it’s a contemporary YA novel with a split narrative. Whether nibbling buttery pan au chocolats by the Seine or watching the dazzling dance of lights at the Eiffel Tower, my four characters experience first love, abandonment and trauma to the backdrop of the most romantic city in the world.

Now I’ve just got to finish it.

Book Edits & Exams

The month of May has felt pretty exciting/overwhelming/busy. I finished my second year at university (exams and all), developed a new project with my mum that we’ll be launching soon and completed Roses (edits and all). I also had an enormous amount of fun and I am definitely not complaining, but this month has just felt like everything’s been lifted up a notch. Suddenly the end of my degree is that much closer and it’s time to step out into the big wide world. I have a plan (I always have a plan), but it’s frightening. Equally, Roses is finished and about to fly out into the big wide world too, which is both incredibly exciting and incredibly nerve-raking because I know not everyone will like it. No one likes everything, and although I realise this, it’s going to hurt when a poor review slaps me in the face.

In these past four weeks, I feel like I have been tested in every sense. My faith, ability and endurance as been stretched that little bit more than it ever has been before. This is not a good thing or a bad thing, it is just a thing. I’ve always been a big believer that if something is worth it – an object or a state of mind – then it will be painful to obtain. Basically, no pain, no gain. So I’ve been telling myself to welcome this tumultuous time because it means something important is on its way.

Anyway, enough uncharacteristic sentimentality. Now some pictures:

Ice cream in Windsor

 

Mini crazy golf in Staines

 

Beginnings of my new project

Review: The True History of the Kelly Gang

Bake Treats for Doggies

A few weeks ago I made these super cute treats for my pooches, Delilah and Boo. They’re really easy and vegetarian too (if you prefer to give your dogs veggie-freindly foods). I’ve popped the recipe and directions below. Enjoy!

Recipe:

200g wholewheat flour
200g plain flour
70g peanut butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Bone-shaped cookie cutter

First I gathered together my ingredients and preheated the oven to 175C/fan 155/gas 4.

Then in a large bowl, I sifted together the wholewheat and plain flour. Next add the peanut butter, vegetable oil and 200ml cold water before mixing it all together to form a thick dough. If it is too dry, add a few more drops of water to loosen it.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 5mm and use a cookie cutter to make your bone shapes.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Then store in an air-tight container and give them to your pooch when they’ve been especially good (or they just look really cute).

25 Random Questions Tag

Birthday Bake

On the 20th April it was my sister’s 18th birthday and my mum and I embarked on a baking-craft challenge. We wanted to make her a two-tier, victoria sponge birthday cake with royal icing and flower decoration. It took us about 2 days and the overall effect was nowhere near perfect, but for a first attempt we didn’t think that it was so bad and my sister appreciated it, which is the main thing.

After the two cakes were baked, we spread apricot jam over the surface.

 Next we rolled out our icing and used an engraved rolling pin to create a pattern.

 Then we carefully placed the cakes on top of one another and iced around the joins to hide all the wonky bits.

 Using food colouring and cutters, I rolled out more icing and began cutting out shapes.

 I kept the colours to pink, green and yellow.

 Then I painstakingly glued each one to the cake using icing sugar while my mum created the starburst that erupts from the top (which was the much harder job) and iced Lydia onto the cake.

A few of the flowers cracked while I was positioning them, but you only noticed if you got too close. The flowers were generally a good idea because I used them to cover any rumples in the royal icing.

Review: The Secret Life of Evie Hamilton