Samantha Tonge's Blog, page 3

Publication Day in Lockdown

Yesterday saw the publication of my 13th book, The Summer Island Swap!

I loved writing this story, inspired by my son’s volunteering trip to the rainforest. I was mesmerised by his stories and photos of the wonderful animals, the gorgeous setting and the work being done there.

I’m very excited to share this novel but it was strange knowing that the big day would happen under lockdown.

Having said that, I realise I’ve been lucky being digital-first. Unlike authors with more traditional publishers I didn’t have a physical signing or book tour planned. And my blog tour, organised by the brilliant Aria Fiction, will still take place.

I’ve really felt for authors with those events planned, the promotional material bought and then having to cancel – especially debut authors – and I hope they can pick those events up again, later in the year.

Also paperback sales have been affected across the industry. For me it’s meant a delay of a few weeks for that version to come out. Both the paperback and audio versions will be out in June.

However the plus for all authors is that digital sales are doing well, with more people staying at home and needing activities to fill their time.

I’m grateful in many ways that the only real change to the day planned this time was not being able to go out and celebrate in a restaurant last night. However I enjoyed a lovely meal followed by homebaked publication day cake – apple and cinnamon. Although I was so full afterwards, I could only manage this much – the coffee is an Espresso! We’re still getting used to have a coffee  machine, and that did almost  make me feel as if I was eating out!

I felt blessed by all the lovely comments on social media from readers, writers and friends yesterday – they always makes publication super special.

And my amazingly supportive family bought me these gorgeous flowers.

 

I’m really excited by the first reviews coming in.

and thanks to everyone who has supported this story so far!

Here is the blurb:

Sometimes the best holidays are the ones you least expect…

After a long and turbulent year, Sarah is dreaming of the five-star getaway her sister has booked them on. White sands, cocktails, massages, the Caribbean is calling to them.

But the sisters turn up to tatty beaches, basic wooden shacks, a compost toilet and outdoor cold water showers. It turns out that at the last minute Amy decided a conservation project would be much more fun than a luxury resort.

So now Sarah’s battling mosquitos, trying to stomach fish soup and praying for a swift escape. Life on a desert island though isn’t all doom and gloom. They’re at one with nature, learning about each other and making new friends. And Sarah is distracted by the dishy, yet incredibly moody, island leader she’s sure is hiding a secret.

 

And if you fancy escaping lockdown for a while, and heading to the Caribbean, here’s the link to purchase!

 

 

Writing in Lockdown – 5 Top Tips

It is an understatement to say that these are strange times. Lockdown around the world has challenged so many things such as the economy and people’s mental health; it’s made us even more aware of what heroes the NHS and key workers are, going out to their jobs on the frontline. I consider myself extremely lucky that I can work at home – that I’m not under threat of losing my career; that by doing my job I’m not threatening my health. I feel enormous gratitude for that.

This doesn’t mean to say that authors aren’t facing challenges. Especially those of you looking after ill relatives or home-schooling young children – or for whom writing isn’t your full-time work and you are trying to juggle the demands of another job from home. Hats off to you all.

We’re sensitive souls and in my experience turmoil in real life heavily impacts on creativity. And I speak personally, having a deadline at the end of May that I’ve got to meet and am struggling with.

So here are my five tips to keep working.

Firstly – and  most importantly – be kind to yourself. By this I mean don’t beat yourself up if you miss a daily word count goal. We’ve got to get through this lockdown as best we can. As the UN General Secretary said, it’s the biggest challenge for the world since World War Two. So don’t consider yourself a failure if you are slipping behind. We all have less head space at the moment. Other priorities have come to the fore.

Secondly – take it one day at a time. Try not to look too far into the future. I have a deadline for my Christmas book on the 25th May. In all honesty I’m not 100% sure I will make it. The best way I can cope is not to think about that. I just look at each day. See what I can achieve. Do my best to congratulate myself that slowly the word count is mounting up.

It reminds me of when I got help in 2016 for my mental health. I used to worry about the future and past way too much.  The man who got me sober told me off for thinking I had a crystal ball. Treatment taught me there is absolutely no point in wondering and worrying about what might be. There is no point in trying to second-guess when lockdown might end. There is no point having sleeping nights about whether you will hit your deadline. Worrying won’t alter what happens. So just keep ploddng on, little by little, in the present moment.

In fact a lot of what I learnt to get sober and in AA is helping me enormously.

One day at a time. Keep on keeping on. Accept the things you can’t change. Keep it simple.

Thirdly – structure your week. Even though my Christmas deadline is pressing, and I have promotional work to do for my summer novel, The Summer Island Swap, coming out on the 7th May,  I do not work at weekends, apart from a little social media. I bake. Read. Watch movies. My family and I dress up for dinner on a Saturday to try to  make the weekend feel different (this means I wear jeans instead of joggers!) As a result I feel really fresh Monday morning and keen to carry on with my project.

I also try to think of my working week as having some sort of structure – Tuesday morning I do a food bank drop-off, Thursday night I do the NHS clap, Monday and Tuesday evening I watch EastEnders… it may sound silly but thinking of the week in that way gives me a degree of normality and stops the whole of lockdown just looking like an endless void.

And make sure you take that daily exercise. A cycle ride. A walk in the sunshine – or rain! That gives your days structure as well.

ROUTINE, ROUTINE, ROUTINE is proving to be my saviour. I listened to the dawn chorus the other morning. It struck me that whatever happens the day before, the birds still get up at the same time and sing their song. And that’s what I try to do. No lie-ins or late, late nights.

Fourthly – just get anything down. This attitude has REALLY helped me forge ahead with the first draft. I’ve found it so difficult to concentrate and hold the plot lines together, everything seems muddled in my head what with catching snippets of Coronavirus news on social media… so even if I think it’s rubbish, I type, type, type. THERE IS ALWAYS THE REWRITE to pull everything together.

Finally – take regular breaks from the key board. Perhaps spend longer than usual preparing a delicious lunch. Ring a relative or friend – you’ll both feel better. Treat yourself whether that is with a daytime soap or a read with coffee and biscuits. And take an extra long break if you’re really struggling more than usual. Yesterday I just couldn’t concentrate after a few hundred words, so I did some baking, rang a relative and took a walk. And there’s no shame in that. Tomorrow is another day.

 

I’ll always think of my 2020 Christmas novel as the one I wrote during lockdown. From that point of view it will have been the hardest I’ve ever written. Yet, at the same time, I’m grateful for the escape it is offering me and us writers are lucky to have that outlet. More than ever I’ve enjoyed disappearing into the cosy festive environment I’ve created.

Best of luck with your projects and spending part of the days ahead in your fictional worlds. I know it’s hard but you can do it and start by being kinder to yourself

The Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award – and I won!

Two days on and I’m still on cloud nine! This inaugural award was in memory of the marvellously funny and feisty Jackie Collins – and was one of the awards up for grabs at the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s yearly awards ceremony in London on 2nd March… a special one this year, as the association is celebrating its 60th year.

When I found out, a while back, that my book Knowing You, from publisher Canelo, had been shortlisted that was exciting enough. I genuinely never expected to win as all the other contenders in this category were so strong.

It was a glittering event, with sparkles on dresses and in glasses, held at the Leonardo Royal London City hotel in Tower Bridge, London. I got there very early with my husband, so in my black faux fur coat I headed off to Starbucks for a fortifying hot chocolate. We got back to the hotel at 5 and I headed upstairs for the formal photographs. Then my husband, along with everyone else, came up at 6.30.

What a wonderful ceremony. Charming Anton du Beke from Strictly Come Dancing was there, as a nominee, along with author legends Sophie Kinsella and Carole Matthews, and comedian and author Jenny Eclair presented the awards. The wonderful Jane Wenham-Jones, looking amazing as usual, hosted.

My award was handed to me by Jackie Collins’ granddaughter – an absolute honour. I am so thrilled (no pun intended), however tenuous the link, to be connected to her inspirational grandmother.

The ceremony passed in a daze – I sat there, feeling a little tearful I admit, and just so happy, wondering how this could have happened. Writing is an up and down career and the moments like this make it worthwhile.  Here I am with my husband, and agent Clare Wallace from the Darley Anderson agency.

Then we enjoyed a lovely buffet and everyone mingled, catching up with friends.

I’m so grateful to my agent, husband and children for the support they’ve shown me over recent years. It’s been a difficult time. As regular readers of this blog know, I’ve faced and tackled mental health issues since 2016 – and the eating challenges I’ve struggled with still rear their head from time to time, especially around events like this which, whilst exciting, tap into any body image/dysmorphia insecurities.

But I forced myself to face my fears, just like I did for the event last year when I was shortlisted, and I’m so glad I did.

And you can too as long as you keep telling yourself the truth – that fears are just that, and not actual fact

The Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award nomination!

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that my 2019 novel, Knowing You, has been nominated for the RNA’s Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award.

The winner will be announced at a fancy ceremony in London, on the 2nd March – so I’d better get dress shopping!

I’m looking forwards to seeing lots of friends there, and enjoying a night out with my husband, agent, and my publisher Canelo.

Jenny Eclair will be presenting the awards, and Anton Du Beke has also been nominated in another category!

It’s such an honour to have even a tenuous link to an author, and woman, like Jackie Collins, and I couldn’t be happier.

And to celebrate Knowing You has been discounted to 99p for a limited time!

Here I am, alongside the other nominees!

 

 

 

 

The New Beginnings that Matter Most

Around this time of year there is lots of talk of starting over; of new beginnings. It’s always good to take stock – to take a step back from your life and identify the areas that aren’t working and to ask yourself how that situation can be improved.

However the phrase New Beginnings implies you draw a line under something and start again. But I don’t see it like that. To me you are still continuing the same journey, just with new motivations or skills – or both.

Regular readers of this blog will know my life has undergone some big changes in recent years – kick-started by getting treatment for a drink problem in 2016.

But I’m still me. Still Sam the wife, mother, friend. I live in the same house. Have the same career. I still love cats and cake and coffee. I still make lumpy mashed potato and dance as if no one is watching when a disco tune comes on the radio.

But spiritually, mentally, emotionally I have started over –  things have fundamentally changed, due to the skills that addiction treatment, mindfulness and Buddhism taught me.

 

Take a health crisis I had shortly before Christmas. I suffered unexpected side effects from a medical procedure. It was scary. Yet I handled it so much better than I would have done a few years ago.  In the past I would have catastrophized the situation and held it up as something really major – and I would have nurtured huge resentments over what had happened. Why me?

But Buddhism has taught me that life is full of ups and downs, so don’t attach to either. Good things happen and then pass. Bad ones do too. So, after the initial upset that perspective has really helped me through this challenging time.

Then there is AA  – that organisation has taught me to accept the things I cannot change. And that’s what I have done. Instead of continuing to cry about the “what if”s” and  “it’s not fair”s I’ve accepted what happened.

And that is how I now deal with the ups and downs of my writing career. Since I focused on my mental health,  I have gained the ability to create distance between me and areas of my life that are sometimes stressful – to realise that if one book doesn’t do as well as another, for example, it’s not my fault. The universe isn’t out to get me. It’s just the way a writing career rolls. Of course, sometimes I get upset – I’m only human – but I re-calibrate, I re-center myself so much more quickly than I used to.

Learning about gratitude has been a massive help too and overall I’m just hugely grateful for the success I’ve had and the fact I am doing a job I love.

So if you want to change your life… if you feel unhappy with the status quo but are unable to move to that cottage by the sea or leave that demanding job or land an agent… don’t feel hopeless. New Beginnings are VERY possible just by changing the way you deal with the world and other people. Sometimes external change DOES need to happen – but  may not be possible straightaway.

So changing internally will help you cope until you are able to alter the situation you are in.

Changing your inside will help you cope with the outside. There is a saying in AA – “It doesn’t get better, but you do”.

And if you could have moved to that cottage by the sea it might have proved lonely. Gaining a less demanding job might not have satisfied you intellectually. That may not have been the right agent for you. The life outside of you is, to some degree, out of your control and will suffer peaks and troughs whatever happens. And accepting that alone has been one of the most important realisations for me. These days there are so many expectations out there that we should be happy, happy, happy, the whole time –  so that when something goes wrong we feel as if it shouldn’t have.

But take a step back from that point of view. Is it logical? NO. Bereavement happens. So do fall-outs. Redundancy. Rejections. Ill health. World crises. Life is about joyous times, but hard ones as well. And once you accept that, the difficult times can be easier to manage because you don’t feel quite as targeted.

So why not approach this year by joining a mindfulness class? Or writing a daily gratitude journal?

The New Beginnings that really matter are the ones that take place inside. Fundamentally changing your thought processes and perspective is like magic and really can see you through anything.

Best of luck. And have a wonderful 2020!

5 Top Brainstorming Tips

Having just finished my summer 2020 novel, I am currently brainstorming my next project, book 14 – a story for Christmas 2020. I love this stage where anything seems possible and I lay in bed at night creating and dismissing a whole gamut of ideas. Here are my top tips for the areas to focus on that will hopefully result in a story that will attract the attention of the book-buyer and make a satisfying read.

 

Decide whose story it is. This isn’t just about point of view. My latest release, The Christmas Calendar Girls, is written in the first person, from journalist Fern’s perspective, but the story is also about the journey of new  man in town Kit. Fern must move on from the death of her husband. Kit must move on from a troubled, secretive past. Think about who you really want the reader to connect with. It is those characters you want them to invest in, so that their heart is in reaching the end and finding out if everything is resolved – or not.

 

Ask yourself to what degree you want those significant characters to change during the course of the chapters – because change they must. Otherwise what is the point? The character/s you really want your readers to be interested in must, in my opinion as a reader and writer, go on a journey, learn something about themselves and in some way be different by the end. Strong character development, as the plot plays out, is one of the important things that will hook your reader.

I’ve just read a beautiful story called The Girl I Used To Know by Faith Hogan. It is about two neighbouring women. One must overcome the present. One must overcome the past. It is watching this process of change, in them both, that made the read so compelling.

 

 

Are the stakes high enough? This change your characters undergo can’t be too easy to achieve – they must suffer for it! Overcome challenges. Nearly fail. Feeling like giving up. Face a degree of risk. The reader must become their cheerleader, hoping against hope that everything will work out in the end. Or perhaps the opposite…maybe one of the significant characters is not likeable and the reader is compelled to see how they change –  either through redemption or getting their comeuppance.

I’ve recently read Trickster by Sam Michaels, a great gangland story set in Battersea just as World War One is announced. It’s very much a story about female empowerment and the main character, Georgina, must find a way to be independent and consolidate her position as a woman locals respect. For her the stakes could not be higher – abuse, possibly worse – and this totally invested me in the story and made me reluctant to put the book down until I had finished it. As did the journey of one vile character, Billy. Would he change for the better? Or would he get his just desserts?

 

Is the concept high enough to attract the book browser’s attention? What’s the one-line premise of your story that will make someone stop to read the rest of the blurb? It doesn’t necessarily need to be really *out there* like, say Twilight – *teenage boy turns out to be 104 year old vampire*. But, essentially, this is about what makes your story stand out as different.

The Christmas Calendar Girls revolves around the concept of a living advent calendar. I’ve not heard of another romance story that contains this event. I wasn’t even sure what it was when I first heard about it! When I did research on the subject the whole idea fascinated me and I felt it would be a wonderful concept to base a novel on and that, being a little different, it might catch the attention of readers.

In other words, what is your book’s USP – Unique Selling Point? Due to the rise of the ebooks there are more novels than ever out there – why should a reader pick yours?

 

And finally… Have fun! This is the stage where your imagination can really run wild, before your inner critic, beta reader, agent or editor get involved!  You may need to tailor you initial ideas but get those creative juices flowing. That initial buzz  – a bit like falling in love –  should carry you through the project!

 

Good luck!

 

Publication Week!

Phew! It’s been a busy time!

My new novel, The Christmas Calendar Girls, a contemporary romance, came out last Thursday 3rd October. I’m so excited to finally share it with readers.

I received some lovely flowers from my publisher!

They even matched my book cover! What with husband giving me some Cadbury’s chocolate, it was a very purple day!

Thanks to everyone who has supported this novel so far. I’ve loved writing this story about friendship, kindness and community

How Getting Published Got me Sober

This week I’ve turned 1000 days sober. Stopping drinking is easy. It’s the staying stopped that is hard. After three months in addiction services in 2016 I moved to the care of the recovery team. Here I learnt about mindfulness and meditation, I increased my knowledge of alcohol, I volunteered to talk to school children about my mental health issues… and after 3 months there my case worker signed me off.

During one session in recovery services I was asked to think of something in my life that I’d achieved – and then to analyse how I’d done that. It could be anything that had taken work and time – passing an exam, frequently getting out of the house whilst feeling depressed, saving to buy house, leaving an abusive marriage… the discussion amongst the group was very interesting.

For me I thought about getting published and as I spoke the parallels between that process and getting sober appeared.

It took me eight years to get a deal. During that time I got rejection after rejection. But I picked myself up after the initial tears and kept on writing and submitting my manuscripts.

And during the first few weeks of being in addiction services I kept on stopping drinking – but slipping again. So I tried again. And again.

I remember similar senses of entitlement. When I sent off my first ever manuscript I was upset but also kind of baffled that I received a rejection… I thought that completing a novel was amazing enough to gain a publisher! In the same way, I thought it was enough to finally take the plunge and get into addiction services. I expected the group sessions to magically get me sober; that I was kind of owed that recovery in the same way I’d thought, all those years ago, that I was owed a publishing deal.

Then it hit me about six weeks into treatment: I was going to have to do this myself – albeit with the facilitators’ advice. And I was going to have to work bloody hard at it – just like the writing. No one else would write and polish and submit my novels. It was important to learn my craft and take advice form other authors and How To books etc etc… but, ultimately, it was going to be down to me.

There were big hurdles along the way to achieving both my goals of being published and staying sober. An agent chased me at one point but, ultimately, told me to move on, they were no longer interested. And, three months into recovery, I relapsed. Both of these set-backs were hard and getting through the first helped with the second. Trying to get published had taught me there was no point in pity parties. All I could do was pick myself up and carry on working towards my goal.

That’s the key. Taking it one day at a time. If I’d thought ahead when I’d first started writing, and considered that it might take me YEARS to get a deal, I wonder if I’d have carried on. And when I first went into addiction services would I have stayed there if I’d known about the day to day, month to month, year to year, challenges ahead?

Because it has been hard. The first half of this year was very wobbly for my recovery. But I got through it, one day at a time, not thinking about the future, not thinking about the past.

A therapist suggested I write a positivity diary to help with my mental health issues. Each day I was told to write down a couple of good things about myself. It was hard at first but, over time, it helped change my low opinion of myself. So if you are struggling to get published, do the same to make yourself realise that you ARE  progressing. Perhaps today you finished a difficult chapter or took another rejection on the chin. Write that down. Or keep a daily word count, however big or small. It’s the sum of all these very important little things that, in time, will help you achieve the bigger ones.

Of course, one can never get complacent. Even though I’m about to have my 12th novel The Christmas Calendar Girls published, I am only ever one breath away from a potentially bad review or a downturn in sales. Even though I am 1000 days sober I am only one breath away from relapsing again. The working hard and learning must never stop.

Good luck with your goals. Forget the what ifs and if onlys. Focus on what you are doing and achieving in the present moment and that will be all the magic you need to get there

Cover Reveal – The Christmas Calendar Girls!

I’m absolutely thrilled to reveal the cover to my new contemporary romance form Aria Fiction!

 

The Christmas Calendar Girls is out on 3rd October.

 

It’s about community, kindness and letting go of the past.

 

I can’t wait to share this story. Blurb below!

 

Up for preorder on AmazonUK here!

 

Also on all good retail platforms including AmazonUS and Kobo.

 

This Christmas fall in love with the town of Chesterwood…

Christmas is meant to be a time of giving, so with Chesterwood food bank under risk of closure Fern knows just what to do to save it. She’s going to get the town to create a living advent calendar.

Fern, and her best friends, call for help from the local community to bring this calendar to life. When Kit, the new man in town, offers his assistance Fern’s heart can’t help but skip a beat (or two).

As they grow ever closer, Fern must admit that Kit’s breaking down the barriers she built after the death of her husband. But his past is holding him back and Fern doesn’t know how to reach him. No matter how hard she tries.

In this town, Kit’s not the only one with secrets. Domestic goddess Cara is behaving oddly, burning meals in the oven and clothes whilst ironing, and Davina’s perfect children are causing trouble at school leaving her son, Jasper, desperately unhappy.

Can the Christmas Calendar Girls find a way to bring the community together in time to save the food bank, while still supporting their families and each other? Can Fern find love again with Kit?

This is a story about kindness and letting go of the past. It’s about looking out for your neighbours and about making every day feel like Christmas.

Back to School

Recently I’ve been thinking about how much getting published makes me feel as if I’ve gone back to high school. Since signing my first deal in 2013, and during the interim having 11 novels published, I feel as if I’ve become part of a community. There is a sense of belonging. As soon as I joined an online writers’ group in 2005, I felt as if I’d found my tribe. We were all pursuing the same dream, a bit like a bunch of classmates working towards passing exams.

But it also means you are thrust into an environment where you are ranked against everyone else in terms of success and popularity, just like you are as a teenager in the classroom. This can, inevitably have a downside. But first of all let me explain my comparison.

Publishers remind me of teachers. They can be seen to have *favourites*. Some can hold you back. Others can push you and your career forwards. On the whole I’ve been very lucky with my experiences with my three publishers, and I’ve been chuffed with the success they’ve helped me achieve, including two Top Ten AmazonUK Kindle bestsellers. But I’ve heard of other authors experiencing, for example, editors that don’t reply to emails, promises of marketing that don’t materialise or publishers’ Twitter feeds that rarely feature their books…

Agents are the prefects or peer mentors. They’ve got your back. They are someone to go to when the going gets tough – to give you advice or perspective. They are a go-between and can talk to the publisher on your behalf if there is anything you aren’t happy about.

Other authors are the classmates – there are those who like the same subjects as you, those who don’t; the tight cliques and the loners; the populars who look as if they are having 24/7 fun and success; those who have to work all hours to move forwards – those who don’t; the frustrated big dreamers and content pragmatists.

Amazon rankings are the exams and tests – within a few weeks of starting high school everyone knows what position they are in, compared to everyone else.  I can’t think of another job where you are ranked by a number, day in day out against your peers.

Best friends are best friends. They support you. They help you commiserate and celebrate.

 

 

Whilst it’s great to belong to a body of people who are passionate about learning their craft and achieving the same end goal, how can you happily navigate the challenges this environment might throw up?

 

Simply having awareness is a great thing. Before I got my first deal, I never realised, for example, that publishers might favour certain authors and give them more attention and a larger chunk of their budget. I didn’t realise that publishers sometimes paid to have particular books placed in shops at a certain chart position. It was naive of me really. But I don’t think I actually thought of publishing of a business. It was simply a dream machine!

Now it makes sense. Although having said that, some of the newer publishers, predominantly digital-first, have made it part of their mission statement that they treat all their authors equally. So there has clearly been some awareness, on the part of the industry, that this is very important to writers.

Get yourself an agent. Mine has always got my back. Has helped me avoid some bad decisions. Has dealt with publishers when there have been disappointments or things haven’t gone to plan. It’s definitely helped lessen the stress. And, of course, an agent does many other things such as helps shape your long-term career.

Accept that – like at school – your peers are a diverse bunch, and SO ARE READERS. You’ll find your niche.  And realise that almost every author, at some stage, faces rejection, poor sales, bad reviews, an unrenewed contract… I’ve often been surprised by the story behind some of the social media fronts (as I’m sure people were surprised when I came out about my own issues in 2018). Sometimes all is not what it seems. Only a few authors don’t face career peaks AND troughs. There is lots of fun to be had, as an author, but it’s not realistic to expect that 24/7.

Don’t obsess about rankings! It’s a hard one, I know. Limit yourself to looking only a certain number of times a day or week. There is so much more to how good a book is – such as reviews or touching readers’ lives, in the same way that, at school, there is so much more to a pupil than how well they can do in a written exam.

Keep your best friends close and support them back in the way they support you.

 

Of course, getting published isn’t actually going back to school. There are no mean girls (or boys!). It’s a wonderfully supportive community and within that I include fellow authors, aspiring writers, editors, agents, readers, bloggers… My career, to date, has given me lots of joy. Every new release is a whirlwind and I’m currently enjoying the preparations for the upcoming publication of my festive novel, The Christmas Calendar Girls.

It’s an exciting time – just like it’s exciting starting high school and moving onto the next stage of your life. The industry isn’t out to get you. But you need to get yourself a realistic view of it as a business. AND you need to find a set of  helpful tools – and people –  in order to surf the ups and downs