Redington on kindle

Thanks to the lovely people who’re buying Redington on kindle, hope you enjoy the stories, and don’t be shy to leave a review if it’s going to be a good one.

My mum in law phoned to wish us Happy New Year and she was full of excitement. She’d found a copy of the paperback book Redington in my brother in law’s house over Christmas.

I found a book with your name on! She told me, and now her sister who’s staying with her for a while is reading it as well. Glad to say they’re enjoying it, and said it’s really cheery and good. Not sure what they expected it to be:) as long as it’s making them smile, that’s a good thing.

They’re taking turns to read it and Alan’s aunt was hurrying along with it because she’s only staying for a week. I told her not to worry, and I’ll send her a copy of her own, seeing as it’s cheered her up no end. That was my intention, to make people feel better after paying a visit to my make believe village in mid-Norfolk. Not sure what they made of the Halloween story, but they were laughing on the phone to Alan.

It makes me happy to know that my story collection cheers people up. Now I’ll have to put them on the list for a copy of the next book which will be out soon.

I’m hoping to keep up to date a bit more with the blog. I’ve neglected it a bit and been faffing around on facebook, and seeing as this links to facebook anyway, I’d rather keep the blog going. Have a great week, whatever you may be doing… more news on the blog soon.

 

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Hats off to Love

In the shops this weekend.

Hope you enjoy the story if you get chance to find one.

This is the new kindle cover and actual book cover for A Factory Affair.

This is the kindle one.

And there’s the paperback one, but details are on the spine with the finished one of course. This should be available when proof has been checked. Watch this space to find out when and where… And I might do a blog giveaway.

 

The Holt Bookshop

Proud to say that Redington is now available to buy in a Norfolk Book Shop.

If you live anywhere near Holt in North Norfolk, you can pop in and have a browse. Independent bookshops are a rare find, and I’m so happy that my characters have found their way onto the shelves in there. Hope they behave themselves.

My Mum is on Chapter 5 – The Ghost of Windmill Walk, and she tells me she’s enjoying the stories.

Another delivery of books is due soon, so then I hope to add to the list of independent bookshops to stock my little gem.

 

 

Coming soon, to this blog.

On the 12th November, you are in for a treat, my lovely blog followers.

Coming soon, interview with Keith Lindsay, comedy script writer, and my former writing tutor.

He worked on Birds of a Feather, the original scripts, and more recently,

Keith worked on Green green grass with John Sullivan.

 

Birds of a Feather.

Green green grass.

Like my ususal author interviews, Keith will be answering 6 questions, and if anyone has any further questions on comedy writing, make sure you tune in on or after Wednesday.

My writing course in the local college lasted for a year where I learned such a lot from Keith, and have kept the folder of work. Some of the ideas in there I’m still working on and will send out. During that year, Take a Break published my first full length article, and other articles and poetry followed. So from working with him on that course, my writing path began.

Details of where you can find him and what courses he’s running will be in the blog post next week.

See you then………………………………………….

Welcome, Lynne Hackles.

It’s a real pleasure to welcome our writing treasure on to my blog. I have Lynne’s book, ‘writing from life,’ on my bookshelf – and if I ever need inspiration it’s one I reach for. The other two, ‘ghost writing’ and Handy hints for Writers’ are also books of mine, that I treasure, and I’d recommend them all.

Lynne’s writing career began when she had a letter published in ‘Woman’s Realm,’ the same as me. Now she has a regular column in Writing magazine, and this month, for Halloween, she tells us how to cast a writing spell, which I will be doing of course. Over to Lynne:-

Q1. S/ Lynne, I’m a massive fan of yours because I like your style, and mostly your humour. What was the title of the first fiction story that was accepted by a Woman’s magazine, and which magazine was it?

L/I’d been writing humorous articles on family life for My Weekly but was desperate to get some fiction accepted and now I can’t remember what it was. (Actually, the articles were 50% fiction) I can be excused for the lapse in memory as it was over 30 years ago (and probably written in my school exercise book and illustrated using wax crayons as I was such a baby back then). What I can tell you was that My Weekly bought it. I had followed the pattern of a published story. The main character had a problem at the beginning of the day and solved it, through her own efforts, before bedtime. My first dozen published stories all had that day-long time-span. I’ve had over 400 published now and am currently all story-ed out and working on other things.

 

S/ How long would you say it takes you to write a typical woman’s magazine story?

 
L/ Anything from an hour to twenty years. Yes, some arrive fully formed and others sit patiently in my In Progress folder and have been moved from old computer to new, several times, and eventually the bit that was missing arrives and the story gets completed.

 
S/  I enjoy your column in writing magazine each month, for the variety of topics you cover, and the common sense advice. If anyone was thinking of becoming a columnist, what advice would you give?

 
L/ Don’t! Only joking. I enjoy writing my regular features. I do five each month under different names but I sometimes get nightmares. I dream of opening up a magazine and my regular page/column is blank because I didn’t get around to writing it. So, if you want a regular column and are lucky enough to get one then be prepared to work hard, think ahead and never miss a deadline.

 
S/  I think you’d make a great agony aunt. Is that something you would do, if the opportunity came your way?

 

L/ I would LOVE it. Not sure if the troubled people writing in would though. I tend to be one of the ‘shut up moaning and get on with it’ brigade. There’s so much to be grateful for in everyone’s life. My cousin once told me I’d led a Charmed Life which goes to prove that no-one knows what goes on in anyone’s life. I never forget that. Everyone has problems and some people can’t cope with theirs while I’m like a terrier and shake mine until they’re resolved, though some can’t be and I’ve learned and am learning to live with those. If I was to be an agony aunt I’d have to remember three things – 1. To be kind 2. To be sympathetic and 3. Not everyone is as strong as I am.

 
S/  Recently, you were the writer in residence at Creative Frontiers. Did they provide you with your own writing room, or did you mingle, and what’s the food like over there?

 
L/ They put me in a padded cell and force-fed me chocolate.

 

S/  Am I right in thinking you are a tutor for writing magazine? If so, what’s the most common mistake you see in fiction stories that would stop an editor buying that story?

 
L/ I’ve been a tutor for Writers’ News Home Study courses for 20 years now. Once I realised how long it was I started hinting about a gold clock. No-one’s taken it on board so far. I enjoy teaching students and have had many successes but some make the same mistakes over and over. I’d say the most common are Telling instead of Showing (if you’re not sure, go to my writer in residence workshops on Creative Frontiers and read all about it) and what I call Cinderella syndrome. That’s where the main character does nothing about their problems and someone else steps in (fairy-godmother) and does the solving for them. If I’d written Cinderella she’d had got off her backside, ripped down some curtains, made a dress for herself and hopped on a bus to get to the ball.

 
Thanks, Lynne for taking the time to answer these questions.
Thank you for asking me and giving me the opportunity to leave my WIP and do something different and frivolous. I like frivolous.

You can read more about Lynne and what she gets up to from the links below. She also has a monthly slot on Creative Frontiers.

www.lynnehackles.com
www.lynnehackles.blogspot.com
Racing Start – a Kindle best-seller. Fast paced cycling fiction for 8-12 yr olds
Handy Hints for Writers – Compass Books
Writing From Life – How To Books
Ghostwriting – Aber Publishing
http://creative-frontiers.com/blog/writing-desk/fiction/

Thank you Lynne for a great interview. And glad you’re a fellow giggle blogger as well…

5 reasons to get a cleaning job.

If you like to spend time writing, but want a day job to keep the finances ticking over, get a cleaning job.

1. Most cleaning jobs are early morning, so you’re up and out, then you have the rest of the day to yourself. Or, they’re evening jobs, so you’ll have the mornings free.

2. You have to be reasonably fit, and your job will make sure you keep moving. Important when you get older to be able to move around before sitting down at your desk to write.

3. It’s not like you’ll be stuck at a desk all day. And you get to meet a variety of people, which can only help with the story writing.

4. Mostly, you should be able to get a job, as we all need cleaners, whether it’s in the home or workplace. Not everyone wants to do this kind of job, so that makes it that less people apply.

5. You might be lucky like me and have a great employer with a good sense of humour and who appreciates you.

So what are you waiting for, go and get that job…….

Coming soon, Murder on the Market.

Published on Creative Frontiers.

What can you do for a fiverr?

I recently needed a cover for my latest e-book. The Angel and the Poet. I found someone on the fiverr website and he came up with this lovely cover. It was exactly what I had in mind, so I was pleased.

While I was browsing around on the site… Fiverr.com. a window popped up, asking if I wanted to place a gig of my own. Now you know how I like to try something new, so I typed up a few lines, saying I’d write a children’s story for a fiverr, not sure why they insist on two r’s in the word fiverr, because it’s dollars. My cover cost £3.80, and the fiverr people keep a dollar for themselves, so the fiver, becomes a fourer. Then when you pay it in to your pay pal account, they take twenty pence as well. That’s how a fiver becomes £3.80, if you’re with me. So when you have your gig on there, you’ll get £3.80, which takes a week to clear, another thing that’s not obvious.

So I’m on fiverr with four gigs. I have:- Write a 500 word story for children, write 50 lines of a poem for your special day, write 500 words funny story, and also write a romantic story in 500 words. In no time at all, I’d had three gigs, all I had to do was provide the story, and send it. It crossed my mind, that I liked these stories, and I could always use them again, which made me wonder about copyright.

Around the same time, I was explaining to Alan that I’d done some stories, and he said, ‘so they’re still your stories?’ I needed to find out. Trust me to plough on in and think about that at a later stage! Here’s my page. Susan on Fiverr

When I looked at the small print, at the very end, it says that when you sell a story, you are selling the copyright as well. You can either make the copyright another gig, or state on your gig description, that someone can use your story, but copyright remains with you, and hope they acknowledge that the work is yours when they use it. So now I’ve added that to my gig descriptions.

So far I’ve earned $12, which goes to your pay pal account. The last customer I had loved my story and wanted to order another two. That’s when Alan said, ‘watch it, if your stories get made in to a film… (I love the faith he has in me:)) you want your name on them. Not sure about that, and it’s what ghost writers do all the time, isn’t it?

I’ll keep my gigs on the go for a while, but I’m sure that because I was selling the copyright with the stories, that’s why I got a rush on. New members might miss that little detail, so wanted to point it out. Saying all that, each person has given me a five star review for my children’s stories, so I have to be pleased with that. And I enjoyed writing them. Getting practice in ready for when our new Grandchild arrives…