Tag Archives: Claire Dyer

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – EVENTING, TALKING, PLAYING, UPLIFTING

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JACKIE BALDWIN… EVENTING

Hello, again! This month has been super busy as my son got married on the 11th August. The week before I was so stressed I thought I might spontaneously combust but the day itself was utterly magical! I am now trying to keep the peace between my son’s cat and our two dogs who are not his biggest fans.

On the writing front, the paperback of Perfect Dead will be released on Thursday 23rd August. I am not having a launch as the day before that I am doing an event in Waterstones, Dumfries, with the fabulous Lin Anderson, who is ‘Tartan Noir’ royalty. The event has only recently been confirmed, so imagine my shock when I was meandering along the High Street in Dumfries and came face to face with a large poster of myself and Lin Anderson out on the pavement!

After that, it will be time to knuckle down and get on with the next book in the series.

Have a great month!

 

CLAIRE DYER… TALKING

This month I want to talk about talking. I don’t mean chatting to our friends over coffee or a nice cool glass of Chablis but talking about our books on our hind legs in front of other people.

It’s a very odd thing to do. After all, most writers are notoriously private people and so, to be exposed to actual readers and other writers is odd. Well I find it so anyway.

Why should this be so? Well, I’ve grown used to my books. They are incredibly special but it’s kind of embarrassing to talk about something so familiar, it’s like describing an old pair of jeans, you wonder whether anyone else will really be interested.

After all, by the time a book is published, its author has read it about a million times (OK, I might be exaggerating, but it feels like it), it has been pulled apart, put back together, tweaked, cajoled, buffed and polished to within an inch of its life and therefore, when asked, ‘What’s your book about?’ or ‘How did you think up your main character?’ or ‘Why did you end the book that way?’, it is, strangely, sometimes hard to find the right words.

 

ANGELA PETCH… PLAYING

This month, after the excitement of RNA Conference, I moved south to the Sussex Downs to stay with our eldest daughter, waiting for the birth of her third child. The heat was comparable to our hot weather in Tuscany but the surroundings very different. I had no time for writing, immersed as I was in the world of two and four-year old toddlers. Lego, cars, story reading, bottom wiping, cooking and washing filled my time. We played pretend games, which is not a million miles from being a writer, and all the while, I stored snippets in my head for future stories. It was a privilege to be in England when baby Finn arrived on August 1st.

Instead of creative writing, I’ve managed to squeeze in admin for the first Write Away in Tuscany that takes place at our Tuscan home from September 11th – 18th. I’m back in Italy now, finalising details. Mavis and Dot are being honed in the meantime and Cancer Research is supporting my campaign for funds for the launch of these two ladies.

 

LUCY COLEMAN… UPLIFTING

The arrival of the school holidays means coping with weekly sleepovers, then frenetically trying to catch up with a growing ‘to do’ list. But it’s important to me to grab as much quality family time as possible.

Writers spend a lot of their time living in a world they’ve created. I’m lucky in that I write about life, relationships and the pursuit of a happy ending. I set the mood by playing soft music and having an essential oil diffuser wafting out rose geranium and lavender. It’s uplifting.

This month has been all about preparing for the release of Lucy Coleman’s ‘Snowflakes Over Holly Cove’ on the 18 September 2018. But it’s also a nervous time for an author.

It’s a story about loss and finding love, and as cosy as a mug of hot chocolate! Set in Caswell Bay on the stunningly rugged Gower Coast, it’s one of my favourite places to walk…

 

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: TEACHING, THANKING, VENTURING, BOPPING

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CLAIRE DYER… TEACHING

This month I want to talk about what teaching teaches me. Like many other authors I don’t actually spend ALL my time sitting in splendid isolation in a writing garret. In fact, I spend precious little time actually writing, as life tends to get in the way!

And, one such distraction is teaching Creative Writing at Bracknell & Wokingham College. Whilst I relish the chance to encourage and inform my students, what is of perhaps greater benefit to me is the chance to practise what I preach. In my Beginners’ classes we cover the basics tools of writing and in my Improvers and Advanced classes, we take this up a notch. And what I find is that in teaching these topics I get a timely reminder to apply the techniques we cover to my own writing.

I also give my students examples of my early work to critique and this shows me how awful some of the stuff I used to produce actually was! A salutary reminder to keep the writing muscle flexed and working and mark my own writing much as a teacher would: 6 out 10 Claire, could do better. See me after class!

 

LUCY COLEMAN…. THANKING

It’s been a month in which to be very grateful and to say thanks, by running a series of competitions for my amazing readers.

With Lucy Coleman’s ‘The French Adventure’ wearing best seller flags in the Holiday Romance charts in Australia and Canada, hitting #53 in the main UK Kindle chart, and #1 in the iBooks Romance chart, I did celebrate.

One glass of wine, toasted by my other half, then straight back to work because it’s been a month of non-stop writing.

Next up? 4th September 2018 Lucy’s second novel will be released. Still no cover and the excitement builds… but I can share the title for the FIRST time: ‘Snowflakes Over Holly Cove’.

My Christmas stories are never solely about Christmas, but this one has a dusting of snow and a lot of heart. And it was written last summer, but it wasn’t quite as hot as this July!

 

ANGELA PETCH… VENTURING

Writers live within their heads most of the time, amongst imagined scenes and characters. In Italy, far from distractions, I have plenty of time to dream up plots and conflicts. But sometimes, like a tortoise, I need to pop my head out of my carapace and venture into the real world.

So, last week I boarded a plane from Bologna for Leeds and my first RNA Conference. All apprehensions were swept away as soon as I entered Leeds Trinity University and was warmly welcomed. It was a buzzing weekend, packed with interesting and sometimes hilarious talks (how to write sex scenes foremost), food and wine a-plenty and many new friendships. How good it was to talk writing without the fear of boring non-writers. I pitched to three different publishers and came away from Bookouture and Harper Collins with encouraging advice.

Back in Sussex, I joined self-published fellow CHINDI authors as we held our ghost tour around the fascinating seaside town of Littlehampton.

This tortoise is almost ready to retreat again. But first of all, I have granny duties. Our fifth grandchild is due any day now. I feel a children’s story coming on.

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… BOPPING

Hello again! The first half of this month I spent in Greece hiking, swimming and reading books, which was a welcome change. A few days after I returned it was time to go to Harrogate Crime Festival! I was also lucky enough to be invited to read at Noir at the Bar on the Thursday evening along with some amazing authors. The venue at The Blues Bar was packed with readers, writers and bloggers so the audience was amazing!

Highlights of the festival for me included hearing John Grisham interviewed by Lee Child and bopping away to ‘Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers,’ including Val McDermid and Mark Billingham, I also loved the New Blood panel. I shall be sneaking new books into the house the way other women sneak in shoes!

I had such a great time that I have already paid a deposit for next year!

 

 

 

 

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: JUGGLING, REVEALING, PARTYING, BALANCING

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CLAIRE DYER… JUGGLING

This month I want to talk about loyalty; not to our nearest and dearest, nor our publishers and/or agents but to our books.

Consider this: I have a book that’s just been published and I’m busy talking about it on social media, to library audiences and writers’ groups. I love this book. I have also written another one which is with my agent and which we’re still discussing and editing. I love this book too. And, I’m writing a new book and am at the brick wall that is 60,000 words. I don’t love this book very much at the moment but I should do, and hopefully I will when I’ve climbed over the wall and seen what’s on the other side.

So I’m carrying three books in my head all the time and this isn’t unusual, it’s par for the course for authors. Indeed, some carry even more and/or are different stages of the above process which will require them to concentrate on the intricacies of multiple novels at the same time.

And what does this mean in reality? It means we’re constantly torn; we juggle characters and settings, we have to remember who has which pet, what our heroine’s favourite food is, her deepest fear. Not only this but we have to remember with pinpoint clarity our plot lines and at all times believe in the magic: the alchemy that is writing. There are some days when my brain feels like scrambled egg, but then when it’s just me and screen and I’m back in the zone and it’s making sense, then it’s all worthwhile, believe me.

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… REVEALING

Hello, lots of excitement for me to report this month! First of all there was the Killer Reads Cover Reveal for Perfect Dead. I absolutely love the design! I’ve been getting ready for my Blog Tour, organised by Love Books Group so I’ve been busy writing guest posts, providing extracts etc.

I also had the most unexpected thing happen this month. My first novel, Dead Man’s Prayer had a one day Book Bub promotion and, to my surprise and delight, became an Amazon UK Kindle bestseller in two categories. I was absolutely over the moon! As I write this it is only three weeks until publication day on 15th June. This is always a nail-biting time for an author as you wait with baited breath for those reviews to start trickling in. Wish me luck!

See you next month!

 

LUCY COLEMAN… PARTYING

May has been an exciting month! The Romantic Novelists’ Association Summer Party prompted a trip to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It was great to meet up with writerly friends old and new. Which, I might add, included fellow Frost Musketeer, lovely Claire Dyer.

A pre-party meet-up with a group of Aria Fiction authors, my lovely editor – Lucy Gilmore – and Melanie Price (who is a whizz on social media) was accompanied by Prosecco. It was a great start to the evening.

The week prior to that, structural edits arrived for the second manuscript in my four-book contract with Aria fiction, writing as Lucy Coleman. I despatched those very quickly and I’m now waiting to see the cover for this Christmas novel, set in Caswell Bay on the Gower coast.

Then back to work on book no. 4 which currently stands at around fifty-thousand words. Never a dull moment!

 

ANGELA PETCH… BALANCING

On May Bank Holiday, we loaded our car and set off for our six-month stay in our Tuscan home, stopping overnight in beautiful Alsace (I am itching to include this location in my next Tuscan novel … bizarre, but I have an idea).

May has been productive. “Mavis and Dot” are with my editor and while I wait for feedback, I have sent off a serial to The People’s Friend. My wonderful editor there instils calm, reiterating that good writing comes when you are at peace with yourself. Tomorrow I should receive my illustrator’s first designs for M and D. I have organised new covers for my two earlier novels. I have an appointment with a special Museum of the Diary in the valley for research for my third Tuscan novel. And, finally, I have been approached by a publisher for my Italian books. Decisions, decisions… but, ringing in my ears are my husband’s words: “Don’t take all the fun out of your writing.” Watch this space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: RECOVERING, COMPLETING, REVIEWING, CHARTING

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ANGELA PETCH… RECOVERING

I spent time with my characters on their bench by the sea and they told me the rest of their stories. I’ve 95% finished the first draft of “Mavis and Dot” and very soon the editing slog will start. Beta-readers and illustrator are on board and deadlines are in place with blog tours and an author week arranged for mid-November. I’ve also booked a December 1st launch in Worthing (the location for my book) and contacted Cancer Research for support – (I am donating profits to this organisation, so fingers-crossed I make some.

In the midst of all this planning, I ended up in hospital with a warning. My memory disappeared for a few hours; a stroke or tumour was suspected. However, a brain scan revealed all was well (some would disagree!) I need to slow down. My writing is for fun – anything else is a bonus.

“If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won’t have to hear it scream.”

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… COMPLETING

Hello. This month I finished my line edit and answered all those squirmy plot questions. Things are starting to gather momentum now. I’ve been told that my cover reveal will be happening on the Killer Reads page at 8pm on Sunday 29th April which is exciting! I’ve had a few days off as I wait for the copy-edit to arrive. Once that is finished the book will be in its final form.

Tasting freedom, I’ve been gallivanting in the Lake District and up visiting The Kelpies near Falkirk.

I’ve also started planning my blog tour with Love Books Group. It will start on 15th June when the book is released and last two weeks. I’ll need to prepare guest posts and Q/A’s for that. The day after it ends I’m off to a Greek island to stitch my shredded nerves together with my long suffering husband.


CLAIRE DYER… REVIEWING

So, after the launch and after the blog tour come the reviews!

I’ve long thought that writing is an odd thing to do. You spend a year or two writing a novel, editing it, rewriting it, editing it again, doing copy edits, checking covers, planning the PR and then there’s one glorious day when you hold the book in your hand and think, ‘Crikey, it’s a real thing and it’s going to go out into the world and (hopefully) be read by others.’ It’s a bit like hoping people will like your kids when they leave home and strike out on their own.

And, as much as we don’t like people passing judgement on our children, authors do need reviews of their books. I always do them for novels I’ve enjoyed and it’s a wonderful way to support authors and their publishers. Doing shout-outs on Twitter, popping up a 5* on Amazon and/or Goodreads is a lovely way to show support for the writing community. And, if I didn’t enjoy a book so much, I tend to keep quiet. Not because I don’t believe in freedom of speech, because I do, but because I don’t think giving a negative review is helpful. Reading tastes are so subjective, after all.

I would, however, like to thank all the lovely people who’ve left reviews of ‘The Last Day’ and who’ve messaged me privately to say they’ve enjoyed reading it. These are, naturally, the judgements I do like!

 

LUCY COLEMAN… CHARTING

It’s been a month of celebrating and being grateful for reader power. Amazon is only one of the online market places but it’s a useful measure. An eye-catching cover and a tantalising book blurb are essential, but reviews are a major influencer.

A reader apologised to me recently for the fact that she only writes very short reviews. Always five stars and a simple statement of appreciation. I wish I could have jumped through the monitor to hug her, because EVERY positive review is a blessing.

This month ‘The French Adventure’ soared up the charts and peaked at a dizzying #81 in the overall Amazon UK Kindle chart. Having passed that top 100 magical number before, I always wonder ‘Will the readers take me there again?’

As a reader, never underestimate YOUR power – your voice counts, so let your favourite authors know that and they will keep on writing.

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: CELEBRATING, TOURING, SPINNING & FACE-PLANTING

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MARCH UPDATE FROM OUR FOUR WRITERS…

LUCY COLEMAN… CELEBRATING

March 1st began with a roar – the Beast from the East arrived but it just happened to be the day I started writing my fourth novel for Aria Fiction. Thankfully, after last month’s stressful IT problems, my new office set up is now working well.

The arrival of the snow was perfect timing, though, as my new WIP is a Christmas story and it helped set the scene perfectly!

I was also able to take time out to celebrate my first release with Aria. As the reviews begin to roll in this has been a month of counting my blessings. So many wonderful readers and bloggers have shown support for my first book writing as Lucy Coleman, that I have been overwhelmed.

But now my newest cast of characters are calling and I’m in writing heaven again. Have a lovely Easter and I hope to see you here again next month!  

CLAIRE DYER… TOURING

The two weeks after the publication of The Last Day saw myself and my book on tour.

Each day one lovely blogger would host us on their blog, either including a feature by me or a Q&A designed by them and answered by me. And each day I’d eagerly anticipate the tweet that would alert me to the fact that the post was public, click on the link and scroll down the page, my heart in my mouth, until I found their review of the novel.

I can assure you this was a really scary moment because their good opinion means so much. Bloggers are amazing people. They champion writers and novels and promote reading by their enthusiasm and love of all things book-related. Between us, The Dome Press and I were lucky enough to be hosted by 16 bloggers who each brought a unique insight into what The Last Day is about and how it resonated with them. I learned a great deal about my book by reading their reviews and am eternally grateful to them for each and every one.

 

ANGELA PETCH… SPINNING

You know that feeling when you are chasing your tail? It seems like you’re achieving zilch? “…Busy doin’ nothin’ working the whole day through…”? I have lots of plates spinning at the moment.

I’ve established “Write Away in Tuscany” for September 11th to 18th and found a fab tutor to run the morning classes for this course. I’ve scouted for help with covers that need revamping since Endeavour Press went into liquidation. People’s Friend encouraged me to write a serial and I had three more stories accepted. I’m co-writing a ghost book for Littlehampton Festival. I gave a talk to Ferring book club and accepted a bigger talk in Chichester in April. I attended the Southern Book Show and “networked”. And poor Mavis and Dot? They are sitting on a bench on the prom somewhere, waiting for me to write their fate in the last two chapters.

Oh yes – and I went to Snowdonia for five days to escape.

 

JACKIE BALDWIN… FACE-PLANTING

Hello, again. What have I been up to this month? Editing again! This time it is a line-edit where you really get down to the nitty-gritty. Repetitions are identified and eliminated. Very Special Forces! Someone goes to dinner and vanishes into a space time continuum for five days. Your characters leap to wild, insane conclusions and you have to go back and put the seeding in earlier on. You get the drift. The absolute opposite of fun! Right now, going to Tesco, doing the ironing, even cleaning the bathroom, seem sparkling with allure. Feeling the pressure as my book, Perfect Dead, is due out on 15th June and I still have a copy-edit to go through too. My mood was not improved by doing a total face plant in Dumfries High Street yesterday. I look like I’ve been in a bare knuckle fight and lost!

TAKE FOUR WRITERS: LAUNCHING, DRAFTING, EDITING & MULTI-TASKING

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FEBRUARY UPDATE FROM OUR FOUR WRITERS…

CLAIRE DYER… LAUNCHING

January and February have seen much excitement in the run up to and the actual launch of ‘The Last Day’. I have been overwhelmed by the love and support of my publishers, bloggers and fellow authors during this time, especially as no one knows the joy and despair of times like these like they do.

I’ve come to learn that it’s all about letting go. We tend to write in the privacy of our own homes and, for a long while, it’s all about just the two of us: ourselves and our book. And then if we’re lucky, we send it to our agent and, if we’re even luckier, thence to a publisher and eventually, if we cross our fingers and toes tightly enough, it goes out into the big wide world.

And this is where the joy and despair comes in. Will the world like it? That’s the despair. And, the joy? Well, that’s easy: the book I wrote is an actual real thing with pages and a cover and everything!

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ANGELA PETCH… DRAFTING

I am almost three quarters through my writer’s draft of “Mavis and Dot” and I use walks along the sea to plan out the final chapters. There is something scary about finishing off a novel. In the meantime, I have been busy hunting for an illustrator. Unfortunately, my first three candidates dropped out, for reasons varying from cold feet and time factors. I hope I have at last found someone to work with. She is a very supportive editor of a local magazine and after tea and cakes (and discussion), she is on board. I am trying not to be too distracted from M & D but the publisher of my two first novels recently went into voluntary liquidation. It means a return to indie publishing but there is relief in the return of control. However, it entails more work. My other concern is to which cancer charity I should donate my profits. A writer’s work is never done…

 

JACKIE BALDWIN…EDITING

Hello, February has been a rather grim month. I have been completely immersed in my structural edit. Day after day I have sat at my desk from first thing in the morning until last thing at night editing. Then, eat, sleep, repeat. You get the idea! It’s a bad state of affairs when your characters have a better social life than you do. However, by the time you read this, I will be done! Hurrah!

I did get one overnight pass which was a wee trip to Newcastle to read at Noir at The Bar. It was the first time I had read the prologue from Perfect Dead. I also met loads of new crime writers and readers which was fun. During the day, I edited at the Lit and Phil which is a fab library. It even sells cake!

See you next month!

 

LUCY COLEMAN… MULTI-TASKING

February TO DO list:

Set up new office and new computer equipment in new house.
Online celebrations for launch day of first book with Aria Fiction, under new pen name.
Daily social media activity to support TWO book tours running concurrently for new arrival.
Produce new graphics to celebrate latest book baby.
Complete and submit Aria book no. 3 manuscript to my agent for comments.
Complete round one of structural edits for my other publisher.
Action suggested revisions by my agent for book no. 3.
Keep up with normal daily social media for my other books and write blog posts etc.
Get through February with your sanity intact.

Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little because I did survive the month, but only just! My new laptop seemed to get slower by the day after its first round of software updates. If I action a retweet on Twitter it times out! The battle continues.

If only it was JUST about the writing …

JANE CABLE REVIEWS: THE LAST DAY by CLAIRE DYER

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This is a clever book on so many levels. Just as you are settling in with the characters Claire Dyer throws a curve ball which grips you and makes it impossible not to read on.

Vita, Boyd and Honey are not a love triangle. They can’t be; Vita got over Boyd years ago, but nevertheless it is a surreal situation for them all when Boyd and Honey need to move into Vita’s home in Albert Terrace. And of course they all have secrets – there have to be secrets. In fact there is only one character in book who doesn’t have one.

As days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into months, the new normality of life in Albert Terrace is punctured by glimpses of the past which tie the characters together, yet rip them apart. As time marches on towards the last day – which the reader knows has to come – secrets are revealed and slowly the jigsaw falls into place. Just one mystery remains: will the last day in fact be the first?

The Last Day is Claire Dyer’s first book for The Dome Press and she seems to have found the right home for her particular brand of character driven fiction. Dyer is also a poet and it shows; every word in this carefully constructed novel counts and has the feeling of being deliberately placed. Yet the genius is that this is still a smooth read which carries you to the Surrey small town world of the characters and keeps you there long after you’ve finished reading.

As the story takes off you forget about the writer’s skill and become immersed. You cease to notice that one character alone narrates in the first person, that the whole book is in the present tense. This is how it should be with great writing and Dyer, with her MA in Creative Writing, slips into the background as her story takes over.

Highly recommended.

The Last Day is published on 15th February 2018 by The Dome Press. Claire Dyer is one of four writers Frost’s Business of Books column is following this year. Look out for updates on the last Wednesday of every month.

 

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: TAKE FOUR WRITERS – INTRODUCING CLAIRE DYER

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Being a poet and a novelist I’m often asked whether I prefer one over the other and I always answer that I love them both the same – like I do my two children, obviously! Seriously though, I really do believe both mediums are two sides of the same coin; both set scenes, tell stories and are peopled by characters who I hope are vivid and compelling.

The main differences may seem mundane: in poems the lines don’t always go right across the page, whereas in novels they do and, in poetry we have fewer words to play with, so every word really does count.

That’s not to say, however, that we can’t play with format in fiction and invest our prose with the same attention to detail as we do in poetry – in fact, we should.

Also, I believe that, as in poetry, a novel should have moments of distilled emotion but, unlike with poetry, in a book we can give our readers and characters, for that matter, more instances of down time: conversations about the weather, making tea, going to the shops.

For me, a poem works if it tumbles down the page and takes me with it and I believe a novel works if it draws me in and keeps me held safe in its narrative. I sincerely hope both my poetry and prose do both of these things!

So with this thought I’ll say a few words about my publications. I’ve had two collections of poetry published by the very lovely Two Rivers Press and, although each are only 50 odd pages long, they both took years in the making – each poem, I hope, earning its place in the stories the books aspire to tell. The second book, Interference Effects, came out of my MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and what the poems aim to chronicle is how, as colours vary in a butterfly’s wing depending on the angle at which we view it, our impressions and thoughts about subjects as varied as art, love and loss, marriage and memory, can change when we look at them through different lenses.

I’ve had two novels and a short story published by Quercus and am utterly thrilled that The Dome Press are publishing The Last Day on 15th February. This book has had an interesting genesis. It was always going to be about the three of them: Boyd, Vita and Honey, but it was only on the second rewrite that Vita pushed her way front and centre and waved at me, glasses in one hand, paintbrush in the other and said, ‘Put me in the first person,’ and as much as I loved writing about the other two, it was Vita who called to me the loudest.

Also, during the rewrites, the book changed from being a story about one thing to a story about another: it had the same people and same plot but eventually it revealed its true colours (a bit like a butterfly’s wings!) and it’s been a wonderful experience being part of this evolution.

The title came to me (bizarrely and somewhat prophetically) on the day after the EU Referendum in June 2016 and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to fit with the fact that we all will experience last days: the last day of school, of work, of love, of life. And, if after every beginning there is an ending, then after every ending is a beginning: after every last day there is a next day and it is this message I hope the book holds at its heart.

https://www.clairedyer.com

@ClaireDyer1