Tag Archives: Kirsten Hesketh

SISTER SCRIBES: OVER AND OUT FROM KIRSTEN HESKETH

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My last ever Sister Scribes post – and what a blast it has been!

And, my, what a lot has happened in the two years since the five of us named ourselves the Sister Scribes and banded together as friends and fellow writers. We’ve written before about how we went to stay at a wonderful house – Darcy’s Abode! – in Bath and spent a few fabulous days writing, sightseeing, eating and getting to know each other better. Back then, getting published was just a twinkle in my eye –  a twinkle that I feared might be extinguished at any moment – and how in awe I was of my fellow Scribes with their launches and their multiple deals. Would it ever happen for me too?

Fast forward two short years – and so much has changed. My debut, Another Us, was published by Canelo this year. It came out in in ebook in May and I had the loveliest of Zoom launches, complete with dying my hair red to match the cover and to raise money for Mind. And then, in August, it came out in paperback. I originally had a digital only deal with Canelo and the fact they had enough faith in me and my book to then invest in a paperback in this most difficult of years really was the icing on the cake. Thank you so much, Canelo, you really have been fabulous to work with. As has my wonderful agent, Felicity Trew.

And, basically, it’s been brilliant ever since. Another Us (very briefly) had bestseller flags in the UK, Canada and Australia, which was totally beyond my wildest dreams. It’s been featured in Woman and Home, Women’s Weekly, Woman (there’s a theme here!) More, Pick Me Up, Waitrose magazine … the list goes on. It was longlisted for The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and was a contender for the RNA’s Joan Hessayon award. But best of all have been the dozens of messages I’ve received from readers all around the world telling me how much Another Us has touched, informed, amused or plain old entertained them. I think that has been the very best bit of all. That and getting to know a whole host of other debuts – including my lovely Sister Scribes – because no one understands quite what it’s like to have your debut come out in a global pandemic than someone who is going through exactly the same thing ….

And now it’s time to look forward. I have been lucky enough to secure a two-book deal with Hodder and Stoughton for a series set in London in WW1. The Post Office Girls follows the experiences of three girls who join the Army Post Office – in a huge, wooden, building which was been hastily thrown up in Regent’s Park to cope with the sheer volume of mail being sent to the various fronts. My grandfather – who himself served in WW1 – worked for the post office in London his whole life – and the first book is dedicated to him. It will be published in May next year and the second book – A Post Office Christmas – follows the November afterwards. I wrote the first 50,000 words of that during Nano (success – hurrah!) and am now feeling deliciously Christmassy – if absolutely exhausted!

So, all that remains to be said is a huge Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. Thank you for following our adventures over the past couple of years and best wishes for a safe and happy 2021.

Over and out x

 

           

 

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH ON NANOWRIMO TAKE TWO

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I’m writing this on 30th October. It’s nearly a very important date … and one that has been eyeballing me from the calendar for weeks. No, not Halloween – with both children at uni (sob!), there seems little point in ‘celebrating’, (although we have been invited to Zoom into the wedding of the daughter of American friends in our finest Halloween regalia tomorrow!) Not even Firework Night which I do enjoy and which was An Important Social Occasion growing up (and I once got off with Paul Richardson from the swimming club at the Beaconsfield Firework Display in 1977) ….

No. November 1st marks the beginning of #NaNoWriMo …. and I can’t wait!

For the uninitiated, #NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and the challenge is to try and writing 50,000 words (the best part of a novel – or, at least, the first draft) during the month of November. Bonkers, but fun!!!

I’ve attempted – and completed – NaNo once before in 2017. I loved it – and I think it suits me and my writing very well. I have a terrible habit of ignoring the old adage ‘don’t get it right, get it written’ and I can spend hours – days – polishing and repolishing the same old passages or chapter – passages or chapters that never actually make it into the final cut!! What a monumental waste of time and effort that is! So, for me, there’s something very liberating about ‘having’ to write 1,667 words a day, come hell or high water (and there’s been a lot of that, lately, hasn’t there?!) No time to angst over the perfect word, the perfect phrase, the perfect cadence. All that can come later. Now is just the time to get the bare bones of the story down, to ‘tell it to myself’, to commit it to paper. Onwards, always onwards – no looking back – after all, you ‘can’t edit an empty page’! And, for me, all that striving forward makes me a better (maybe) – certainly a braver – writer. With little time to ‘vet’ what I am writing, now is the time to take risks, to go with the flow and to see where it takes me. After all, I can sort it all out later …

NaNoWriMo Mark Two is a different beast for me, though. When I attempted it three years ago, getting an agent – let alone a publishing deal – was just a twinkle in my eye. Now I am lucky enough to have my debut novel ‘out there’ as a proper book, thanks to Canelo. I also have a deal with Hodder & Stoughton for a saga series set in London in World War One. The first book in the series is done and dusted (and out next April) and I am due to start work on the second. To begin with, I dithered. Should I bash out a first draft during NaNo or make a start on the ghostly rom-com I’m dying to write? In the end, I wrote a couple of pages of the second saga book, fell in love with it – and now I want to keep going. So I’m good to go!

Five-page plan agreed with my editor – tick!

Online group of writing buddies – tick! If last time is anything to go by, I will really need them from days 17 to 20 and I’m ready to support them in any way I can too.

Are you doing Nano?

If so, good luck – and see you on the other side!

 

 

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: OCTOBER

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Jane

The most incredible thing about Joe Heap’s When The Music Stops is the way it mixes the ordinary with the extraordinary. In one way it’s a version of David Nicholls’ One Day, but set over a longer period (the protagonists meet in childhood) and in the world of jazz music; the parts of the book that happen in the present day are very surreal indeed.

The clever structure gives the book rhythm. It’s very much tied to the music, so rhythm seems like the right word. It makes for very long chapters (sections, really) but that’s fine, because I didn’t want to put it down. At first you wonder what’s happening in the present day but then it begins to make sense and you expect each section to have a certain chain of events. You even know what will happen in the end. But that’s comforting when the boundaries of your imagination are being stretched in other ways.

The love story running through the book is compelling too and each decade incredibly well researched so you feel each period, rather than words being wasted describing it. Ella and Robert meet as children in pre-war Glasgow and have so many near misses you wonder if they will ever get together. I would have enjoyed it on its own, and have appreciated the quality of the writing, but adding the extra dimension makes this a standout book.

Kitty

Anne O’Brien – The Queen’s Rival

I have long been fascinated with the Neville sisters and Cicely in particular so I was excited to read this book. Anne O’Brien is reliably one of my favourite writers of historical fiction and took the brave decision to write the story of Cecily through letters sent largely to family members but also to some of the major players in the turbulent story of her life, Margaret of Anjou for example, who literally held the life of Cecily’s family in her hands. This form must have been so hard to write but I really enjoyed it. It reinforced how hard life must have been without the immediacy of contact we are so used to nowadays. Writing letters to children and a husband that may or may not be alive or dead, knowing that your words could be the ones that help carry them to the scaffold. It reinforced the dangers and uncertainties of the times and all through the mouthpiece of a woman underrated for the role she and her family had to play in the development of Plantagenet England. Very well done.

Kirsten

What with publicity for Book One, final proofs of Book Two and starting to bash out the first draft of Book Three (and a fab new idea – I hope! –  for Book Four) I haven’t had much time to read this month. But one book I have finished and really enjoyed is People Like Us by Louise Fein. This is the coming of age story  – I’ve learned this month that this this can be called a Bildungsroman  – of Hetty who is brought up in a Nazi household in Leipzig in the years building up to the second war and who falls in love with a Jewish boy. It’s beautifully written and is – by turns – fascinating, poignant and heart-breaking with, I think, a lesson for the times we find ourselves in today. Highly recommended.

Interestingly, I’ve just been sent an ARC of a love story set in lockdown. It’s the first story I’ll have read with Covid-19 as a backdrop and I’m not sure how I feel about reading it. Having had quite a difficult year personally, the jury is out on whether it just too soon to read a story set in the time of Covid. I’ll keep you posted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: SEPTEMBER

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Kirsten

The first book I read this month, was the winner of the 2020 Joan Hessayon award, The Rebel Heiress And The Knight by Melissa Oliver (published by Mills and Boon). The award was open to any writer whose debut novel had been through the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme was published this year and I am immensely proud and honoured that Another Us was also a contender. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the Rebel Heiress And The Knight. It is set in the reign of King John – a period of history I really love – and is just a rollocking good read with twists and turns aplenty. It is also a proper romance – the chemistry and tension between the main two characters is fabulous and I loved the fact that Hugh is kind and honourable from the start. A marvellous debut and a worthy winner of the Joan Hessayon award.

Another book I have enjoyed this month is If I Can’t Have You by Charlotte Levin (published by Mantle). This is a real page turner and exquisitely written and explores themes of obsession, heartbreak and unrequited love. I was expecting our protagonist, Constance, to be simply bonkers – and can’t love make us all thus?! – but she is also variously vulnerable, lovely and hilarious. This book really stayed with me and I highly recommend it.

And, finally, I am rather late to the party with Hamnet, written by Maggie O’Farrell (published by Tinder Press)  – but, just, WOW! Staggering beautiful and heartbreakingly poignant, this exploration of love and loss deserves every accolade and award …

Jane

I do love a dual timeline novel, and since writing one myself am even more in awe of writers who make them work. Clare Marchant’s stunning debut, The Secrets of Saffron Hall, is one such book. The level of research the author has undertaken shines almost as much as her gorgeous prose, and put together they make the book a thoroughly satisfying read.

I normally enjoy the historical strand of a story more, so wasn’t remotely surprised when I became more and more lost in Eleanor’s world at the cusp of the dissolution of the monasteries. That I read it on holiday while visiting ruined abbeys was undoubtedly a factor, but Tudor life in rural Norfolk was so richly drawn I just loved falling into it. I felt the chill winds sweeping across the fens, saw the saffron swaying gently in the dawn.

It took me longer to relate to twentieth century Amber although in the end I was rooting for her happy ending. The fact hers isn’t a traditional boy-meets-girl love story was brave for a debut and I loved it. Credit must also go to Aria for not dumbing this book down, as sadly seems to be so fashionable in romance publishing at the moment.

Kitty

Cornwall: Misfits, Curiosities and Legends
A Collection of Short Stories and other scribbles

This anthology combines all sorts of storytelling in the one book, with the spirit of Cornwall infusing each piece. It moves from moor to coast, from past to future and covers a multitude of genres including historical, fantasy, romance, magic realism and sci fi. Additionally, there is poetry and a script alongside the short stories and with such a wide variety of styles, I defy any reader not to be able to find a piece that resonates with them. Cornish history and mythology are bought to life, illustrated and built upon and I greatly enjoyed reading this anthology from a group of writers whose love of Cornwall shines through their work.

 

SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH ON WHAT NOBODY TELLS YOU ABOUT BEING PUBLISHED

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I chose life as a writer because I love to write. Right? But I think I also chose it – or it chose me – because I can embrace my inner technophobe, my inner introvert and, frankly, my inner slob (my, I have a lot of ‘inners’!) I can sit in front of my ancient computer – using only the most basic of Word functions of course – wearing tattered old jeans and a dogeared sweatshirt and with a legitimate excuse to avoid talking to anyone for hours – days – on end!

Bliss.

But now the paperback of Another Us has been published and everything has changed. Suddenly I am being invited to appear on more panels and podcasts than you can shake a stick at. Well, at least three! The local WI want me to do a virtual talk, other debuts are inviting me to be interviewed alongside them and my friend’s friend’s book-group would love me to pay them a visit. Which is all lovely, really it is, and I am genuinely very honoured and flattered. But it requires me doing three things that don’t come easily to me – looking presentable, being sociable to order and mastering this brave new world of technology.

Reader, it has not been without its challenges. All this Zooming and the We-Meeting and the House-Party-ing. It’s all very confusing. The first panel I took part in, I hadn’t really thought through the set-up at all, and my face was barely poking above the bottom of the screen.  My lighting was also very gloomy, and I looked exactly like I felt – a startled little mole peering into the headlights. The next time, of course, I overcompensated – I bathed the room in bright light and stuck my laptop on a pile of jigsaw boxes, thus giving the poor viewer a birds eye view of my lockdown roots surrounded by a ring of the red hair dye – still there after I coloured it for the Ebook launch. Worst of all, I hadn’t realised when you’re on Zoom, people can still see you when you’re not talking. I wish I’d known this one in advance. That way, I might not have picked my nose, slurped my tea, checked my text messages and – at one point – vacated my seat entirely whilst I let the cat out and simultaneously  hollered to my husband to bring me a glass of wine ‘because I bloody need it’. Happy days!

Then there was the time that my arm got the shakes from holding my phone in front of me for what felt like hours while I chatted gaily; the bemused viewer probably wondering why I wasn’t seeking urgent medical help instead of wittering on about the inspiration behind Another Us; (yes, I know now you can purchase little tripod things designed for just such occasions.) The time my son and his friends were milling around in the hallway prior to a night out, demonstrating their extensive knowledge of very rude words. The time …

I finally sussed it all out. I got my roots done. I worked out the most flattering camera angles and lighting options. I learned to sit still with a sensible expression on my face. I bribed and blackmailed my family …

Now, of course, no one wants to interview me. The little hubbub of excitement around Another Us’ launch is over and my lovely editor is reminding me, ever so gently, that the edits on Book Two are due …

Happy days!

SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH ON REALISING YOU’RE A REAL WRITER

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Much is written about imposter syndrome. When someone asks me what I do, I sometimes stumble over the word ‘writer’ and often followed it with a little self-deprecating giggle or downplay it by saying ‘I’ve only had one book published though.’ And I know I’m not alone.  Most writers I know seem to suffer from it – there are countless Facebook and twitter threads devoted not feeling like a ‘proper writer’ and many times I’ve been at lunch or away with lovely writer friends realise we are all self-deprecating for Britain.

Well, this week something happened which made me realise that nowadays I am very much a ‘proper writer’.

The first blog post I ever wrote was for my lovely friend and fellow Sister Scribe Susanna Bavin’s wonderful blog. This was when I was very much in the querying trenches and getting an agent, let alone a publishing deal, was just a twinkle in my eye and Susanna was kind enough host me for a series of musings on my embryonic writing life. I can remember the gist – if not the words – of the first post I wrote as if it was yesterday. My then-teenage son was having some problems and I explained how difficult, how wrong, how self-indulgent it felt to be ploughing on with polishing my turd of a draft when he was struggling. And, even if I did decide to press on, my creative juices and my writing mojo had totally deserted me, so there was little point in showing up the keyboard anyway.

I didn’t write anything for week. Maybe even months. And it was only when my son was back on an even keel that I could finish editing Another Us and start submitting it to agents.

Fast forward four years and everything is different.

I have an agent. I have two publishing deals. Another Us was published in ebook in May and the paperback is out on 20th August (do all rush!!) Reader, my writing dreams came true!

And, this week, the Hesketh household is once again in turmoil. My daughter needs an operation in the middle of the global pandemic and the whole family needs to shield beforehand. (Sad that we need to shield during my son’s 21st and miss our first break away in months, but needs must.) At the moment, it’s all hands on deck sorting out food deliveries and prescription pick-ups and everything else that needs to be done before we hunker down.

This time it is different though. My edits for Book Two are due back with the publisher at the beginning of August which, as I write, is – gulp! – three days away. But this time there is no deciding my writing mojo has deserted me or that my creative juices have decided to go on holiday instead of me. There’s no deciding to do nothing for a couple of months. The edits have to be done. I can – I have to – work fast and efficiently so that I can get them done to the best of my ability – and still be there for my family.

It all feels totally different.

To be fair, I’m sure my lovely editor would be absolutely fine if I was to ask for another week or two to finish the edits. A lot of the pressure to meet the deadline is coming from myself.

But the different to four years ago is stark.

And, in some ways, it reminds me how far I’ve come.

I’m a writer.

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: JUNE

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Kirsten

This month I have finally got my writing mojo back after several months of not being able to concentrate on anything. But the first draft of book 2 is finally with my editor and I am suddenly devouring books like they are going out of fashion. Which, I am very pleased to report, they are not!

See Them Run by my Canelo stablemate Marion Todd is a ‘gripping detective thriller set in St Andrews’. I loved it. It’s nicely paced, has a very strong sense of place – I’ve only visited this part of Scotland twice, yet I feel I know it intimately now – a brilliant female lead and a cracking plot. I finished it in two days and the other books in the series are now downloaded and on my TBR.

Nicola Gill is a fellow 2020 debut so I know exactly what she is going through! The Neighbours is a lovely, laugh-out-loud story about picking yourself up, self-discovery and female friendship across the generations. It’s wonderfully heart-warming and uplifting read, yet it isn’t afraid to tackle some meaty topics – in this case depression – head on.  Highly recommended.

Kitty

Hamnet –  Maggie O’Farrell

This is a remarkable book. It is rare that I am moved to tears by reading and is testament to O’Farrell’s writing prowess that I was here, especially as readers come to the book knowing Hamnet’s fate. The way she weaves the story of this boy and his family is spellbinding, her writing evocative and a reminder to all of the beauty of prose. I loved every page.

Maggie O’Farrell creates scenes that are vivid and captivating, making you feel you are there in that moment, whether it be in woodland in the English countryside, a bedroom in the Shakespeare’s family home or aboard a ship from Italy as a plague carrying flea. She describes emotions with such beauty, such depth that I felt them myself – hence the tears and I can only bow down to this Queen of storytelling. I want to read it again and again and again. I cannot recommend it enough, it truly is a thing of beauty.

Natalie Normann – Summer Island

I raced through this book in two days and absolutely loved it. The romance between the two characters was fab and had me truly rooting for them, willing them on to have their happy ever after. The scenes where Ninni teaches Jack to row and their dash to the vet were so romantic, I adored them and that ending, embedded in the reality of life, that is true romance right there! The author has many strengths but for me the richness of the community was outstanding. I love how all the characters were drawn, how they interact with each other and how she creates a setting that I defy any reader not to want to visit immediately. I never thought I would want to plant potatoes on a Norwegian Island, but now I do. I learnt a thing or two as well, which is always a lovely upside to a good book. This book was cosy, feelgood heaven – so much so I have already pre-ordered the next in the series. Highly recommended.

Another Us – Kirsten Hesketh

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel. It is a tale of family and the bonds that tie us and how those bonds can stretch past what we imagine to be breaking point. The author has written an insightful story that explores the roles of motherhood and marriage, particularly when they clash with the expectations and desires we have for ourselves. Her voice is both honest and witty throughout as Emma comes to realise far more truth about herself than she had anticipated. Highly recommended.

 

SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH ON BEING A PUBLISHED AUTHOR

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It’s three weeks since my debut Another Us launched and what a strange, exhilarating, fabulous, scary three weeks it has been.

What with that – and, of course, ‘real life’ overlaid over the top – it’s all been rather overwhelming and I think it’s only now that I am beginning to sit back and play it all over in my mind. So – if it’s not too self-indulgent – I thought I might devote this post to my recollections of the big day.

I had wondered that the day itself might feel like an anti-climax. After all, my very first book was being sent off into the world to fend for itself in the middle of a global pandemic! Publishers and agent were working from home, decisions over a paperback edition had been put on hold at the last minute, and it was proving difficult to get physical review copies out to the lovely writers and bloggers who had offered to read and potentially review the book. It all looked like it might be one great big wash-out.

In fact, the day itself was absolutely wonderful. The outpouring of support on social media was absolutely incredible and I literally couldn’t keep up with all the tweets and RTs coming through on Twitter. Several days later. I stumbled across about twenty messages I hadn’t seen before. (I do hope the kind senders didn’t think I was terribly rude.)

And then there were the gifts. The doorbell rang all day with flowers and chocolates and cards. My lovely friend Debbie made this incredible cake. My fellow Sister Scribes not only sent flowers and an 48-pack (!) of Curly Wurlies (how well they know me!) but have arranged for flowers to be sent for the next two months as well – so the celebrations can go on and on. My Coppa Club friends – Claire, Becci, Moira and Marilyn – sent a magnificent afternoon tea. My chums at Reading Writers sent flowers and chocolates.

How lucky am I?

I hadn’t been sure what to do about the launch party. I had planned a very small afternoon tea at the Lanesborough Hotel for ten, but that was scuppered by Covid. In the end, I plumped for a Zoom launch which was brilliant and surprisingly emotional. As some of you may know, I dyed my hair red to match the book cover in order to raise money for Mind, and everyone got in the act. There were red tops and red wigs and Jane Ayres dyed her hair red too in solidarity. There was also a red drink competition judged by my children and I know Sue won but I’d slightly lost the plot by this point and I’ve no idea what she was drinking – or if she’d just made something up! More seriously, my editor Emily and agent Felicity both made wonderful speeches and I had a genuine lump in my throat when I came to reply to them.

So all in all it was a wonderful day and thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate and who has supported me in my journey.

And now Another Us is out there in the world and, as I write, has 42 fabulous 4* and 5* reviews. I have had lovely messages from people I know and don’t know saying how much they’ve enjoyed Another Us – including one from a Hollywood actress. I have no idea how many the copies the book has sold but it has been the most wonderful whirlwind!

Next time: the inevitable party hangover and the first 1* review!