Category: Writing

Staying Positive: in writing and in real life #positivenews #happyendings #writing #ovacome #ovariancancer #romanticfiction @yesshecan @debbiemjohnson @Ovacome @PositiveNewsUK

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Image shows positivity concept on cork bulletin board – colourful sticky notes with a smiley

Word of the month: Positivity 

As I say in the description of my blog, it’s all about Writing, Reading and Reflecting, and this month it was easy for me to see a theme of positivity running through all three.

WRITING

In my writing I’m on the home straight with my latest novel and the happy (and therefore positive) ending for me and my two main characters is in sight. And no, that’s not a spoiler. I write romantic fiction and the deal that I, and just about all other romance writers, have with our readers is that our books will end with a happy ever after. What matters is the story of how the characters get to their happy ending, overcoming all sorts of obstacles and challenges along the way.  

READING

In my reading too there’s been lots of positivity. I’ve read some heart-warming romances including these two:

Virtual Strangers by Sam Canning

From the back cover:

The Flatshare meets a modern You’ve Got Mail

Do you believe in love at first type?

When Ada set up her own PR firm from a coffee shop, she didn’t expect to meet journalist Fraser. Also working there daily, he soon becomes a friend. Reporting on interesting things to do around Edinburgh, Fraser ropes Ada into accompanying him on his assignments.

As they work side-by-side Ada can’t help but notice how attractive Fraser is, and how well they get along. But, Ada has been chatting to a guy she met on an Agatha Christie fan fiction site, and she can’t stop wondering about him. His interests are the same as hers, and the anonymity helps them both be more honest and open. As Ada’s messages with the mystery man become deeper, she thinks she’s falling for him.

Ada is torn between Fraser and Myster-E – but can you have real feelings for someone when you’re virtual strangers?

Falling for You by Debbie Johnson

From the back cover:

Sometimes it takes life falling apart …to piece yourself back together!

Single mum Jenny’s life is turned upside-down (quite literally) when her beloved cottage on the Norfolk coast falls off a cliff. And so, with the storm raging on, Jenny and her eighteen-year-old son Charlie are forced to take refuge in her neighbour, Luke’s, cosy campervan.

It’s a tight squeeze for the three of them – and Luke’s adorable dachshund, Betty – but somehow they make it work. And when far-too-handsome Luke suggests a spontaneous road trip around England, it ignites a desire for adventure in Jenny she thought long extinguished!

And soon she begins to wonder whether losing everything might just have been the best thing that ever happened to her… I can highly recommend both of the above books.

But I’ve also read and enjoyed some thought-provoking and very positive non-fiction too.   First of all there’s The Well-Lived Life by 102 year-old Dr Gladys McGarey

From the back cover: There’s really no one quite like Dr Gladys McGarey.

Age 8 years old, she met Gandhi in India who instilled in her life lessons about love.

She began her medical practice at a time when women couldn’t own their ownbank accounts, and accumulated thousands of patients.

At 85 she travelled to Afghanistan to teach rural woman safer birthing practices, resulting in a 47% decrease in infant mortality rates in the area.

Dr. Gladys McGarey revolutionised holistic medicine. Now, aged 102 and still practising as a doctor, she shares her powerful secrets so you can live your own life with joy, vitality and purpose at any age – just as she has.

In a voice that is both practical and inspiring, Dr Gladys shares life-changing stories of miraculous healing from her thousands of patients of all ages, as well as her own experiences as a mother of six, and her survival of both heartbreak and illness, as heard on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

Dr. Gladys will change the way you think not only about health and healing but what leads to a life filled with joy and satisfaction.

And then there’s the monthly magazine Positive News to which I have a quarterly subscription.

About Positive NewsPositive News is the online and print magazine for rigorous journalism about what’s going right.We report socially relevant and uplifting stories of progress – ranging from the global boom in renewable energy to cities that are solving homelessness – joining the dots between how people, communities and organisations are changing the world for the better.We publish daily online and Positive News magazine is published quarterly in print.

REFLECTING

My personal reflections this month are also positive. August 2023 will see the 25th anniversary of my diagnosis with ovarian cancer. And yes, I get the irony that a positive diagnosis with cancer is anything but positive in terms of health. My symptoms were a bloated belly, mid menstrual cycle pain, and I looked pregnant. I knew I wasn’t pregnant. But I did know I’d gone up two dress sizes in as many weeks. However, my regular GP and family planning clinic told me there was nothing wrong. A nurse at the family planning clinic told me I was obese and my GP gave me a weight loss leaflet. Fortunately I didn’t give up when dieting made no difference and I went back to the doctor. This time I was lucky. I saw a locum GP who examined me and immediately got me a hospital appointment. And so my cancer journey began. I had an amazing consultant and first class treatment. I had amazing support from family and friends and I also got support from two wonderful UK cancer charities Ovacome (which is specifically for ovarian cancer help) https://www.ovacome.org.uk/ and Macmillan Cancer Support https://www.macmillan.org.uk/ Either or both are well worth checking out if you or a loved one is faced with a cancer diagnosis.  And the fact I’m still here speaks for itself. My treatment was successful and the outcome was positive in the non-cancer meaning of the word. So yes, let’s hear it for positivity.

What about you? Do you have any positive news to share? Feel free to do so in the comments below.

MY NEWSLETTER

And don’t forget, if you want a more intimate round up of my current writing such as updates on the work-in-progress, sneak peeks at same, early notification of publication dates, giveaways and lots more, do sign up for my author newsletter. And when you do you’ll receive A FREE BOOK of some of my romantic short stories as a thank you. Just click HERE and fill in your email address. 

MY LATEST BOOK

My latest novel is contemporary romance Baby Steps.

It’s available as an ebook and as a paperback and you can buy it HERE If you’ve read it already please do consider leaving a review at the buy link above. Reviews no matter how brief are so helpful and I appreciate every one. To find out more about all of my books just go to the BOOKS page HERE on the website.

Planning versus Going With The Flow: In Writing and in Real Life #writing #reading #planning #plotting

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Image shows compass needle pointing to the word control

Word of the Month: Control

In the words of Scottish poet Robert Burns, ‘The best laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft a-gley’. In other words you can plan all you like, but it doesn’t mean the plan will come to pass and everything will work out perfectly. And I’ve recently found this to be as true in my writing life as it is in real life.

Now, in spite of the poet’s wise words, I’m prepared to admit to being a bit of a control freak in real life. I plan our weekly dinner menus in advance, I do the household accounts every month, and have an ongoing daily schedule in my diary for work and play. I’m also the queen of lists and the use Post-It notes.

Control of my Writing and the Need for a Plan

However, when I’m writing, I don’t mind the plot getting a little out of control. I like it when my characters surprise me and I don’t plan every plot detail in advance. Fiction writers are often described as being either plotters or pantsters (as in flying by the seat of their pants). I tend to be mainly a pantster – working with a rough outline and knowing how I want the story to end but, as I said above, enjoying the inspirational surprises along the way.

But as I write my latest novel, I’m beginning to see some of the downsides of being a pantster. The reason being I want the work-in-progress to be the first in a series of contemporary romantic fiction. It’s a series where each book will have its own two main romantic leads but the community in the Scottish Borders where the story is set in will remain the same. This means keeping track of all the supporting cast members, their appearance, age, job, relationship status etc just in case they pop up in future books – either in starring roles or still in support. And if they are going to be in a future leading role, I need to know now so that I can ensure their current relationship status will fit with that future role.

This means I’m having to spend more time that I’m used to on planning my writing and I now have a folder full of character facts, possible pairings and skeleton plots for the future as well as for the work-in-progress. I’m also getting to grips with an app for writers called Plottr which seems to lend itself especially well to series planning.

Ans so yes, this pantster of a writer is having to be a bit more in control and, for now at least, has moved to the planner camp.

Control and Planning in Other Aspects of Writing

It’s not just the creative side of my writing that needs planning. There’s also the managing and marketing side of things too because as an independent publisher of my own books there’s a business to run.

This involves keeping track of income and expenditure, scheduling publishing and launch plans, working with my editor and my cover designer, dealing with publishing platforms and distributors – to name just some of it.

It also necessitates doing things to attract new readers and reward existing ones.

Most importantly there’s writing my newsletter which, as the name suggests, lets my subscribers know how my writing is progressing, gives them sneak peeks at the work-in-progress, or an occasional special book-related offer or competition. Coming up in my next newsletter I’ll be answering subscribers questions about my books and my writing in general.

Doing my newsletter along with writing this blog, and regularly posting on my Facebook and Instagram author pages all require planning and keeping control of delivering those plans.

image shows compass with needle pointing the word choice.

Not all about Control

Having said all of the above, I wouldn’t do any of it if I didn’t enjoy it. I LOVE writing. OK, the business side of things can be hard going but I never let it overshadow the sheer joy of storytelling. And sometimes that storytelling does need to be given free rein to delight and surprise me and, hopefully, in turn my readers. The day that delight and enjoyment stop is the day I’ll quit making up stories.

And Speaking of Enjoyment …

There’s READING books

I’ve read several very good books since last month’s post and it’s been hard to pick out the best one, but I’ve done it. And Book of the Month this month is Miranda Dickinson’s latest novel All My Love.

Image shows bookcover with couple sitting on bench

All My Love is a first class, slow-burn, contemporary romance and I definitely recommend it. It’s available as an ebook, an audio book, and as a paperback.

From the back cover:

Sometimes love can be staring you in the face . . . and you don’t even know it

By day, Archie works tirelessly as assistant to the editor of a local newspaper.

By night, Esther works after hours cleaning the rows of office desks with the help of her trusty sidekick, Fred the trolley.

Their paths have never crossed, until one discarded Post-it note unexpectedly brings them together.

Because they share one thing in common . . . they’re both secretly in love with someone else.

And they might just be the two people who can help each other find the courage to confess their feelings and write the perfect love letter.

But what if they’re falling for the wrong person?

Meanwhile Away from Writing and Reading

The last month hasn’t all been about control, planning and hard work, however. As always I’ve enjoyed time in the garden, listening to music – current music crush is Jack Savoretti – and going for walks. Most recently those walks were along the lovely beach beside the holiday cottage I stayed in in the town of Banff on Scotland’s Moray Firth coast. So I’ll leave you with a picture from that seaside and a link to Jack on YouTube.

Jack Savoretti

Image of beach

As always do feel free to comment and share how much you plan and try to exert control over your working and personal life and how much you just like to let go.

MY NEWSLETTER

And don’t forget, if you want a more intimate round up of my current writing such as updates on the work-in-progress, sneak peeks at same, early notification of publication dates, giveaways and lots more, do sign up for my author newsletter. And when you do you’ll receive A FREE BOOK of some of my romantic short stories as a thank you. Just click HERE and fill in your email address. 

MY LATEST BOOK

My latest novel is contemporary romance Baby Steps.

Book cover image of embracing couple silhouetted against a city skyline

It’s available as an ebook and as a paperback and you can buy it HERE

If you’ve read it already please do consider leaving a review at the buy link above. Reviews no matter how brief are so helpful and I appreciate every one.

To find out more about all of my books just go to the BOOKS page HERE on the website.

Happy, Grateful and Enjoying Being Back At The Writing Desk #writing #reading #romanticfiction

writeanne4 Comments

Word(s) of the Month(s) Joy and Gratitude

This month’s post is a wee bit of a cheat as I didn’t write an April post so this one is doubling up to cover both April and May – hence there are two words of the month.

The reason for April being a no show here on the blog is a good one, and it’s also the reason I chose the word JOY to sum up the month. And what was that reason? It was the joy of having some full on family time.

Yes, for the last month, here at the Stormont residence we have had some very important visitors in residence. The Australia dwelling daughter, son-in-law and their two children – our granddaughter (age 11) and our grandson (age 9) – were back in Scotland for a visit. Due to Covid getting in the way this was their first visit home in 6 years and me and Mr Anne hadn’t seen them since our trip to Australia a year ago.

So, safe to say, everything else in my life, including writing was put on hold for the duration. We had such a good time together – catching up, sightseeing in Edinburgh and other places as we showed the children parts of their Scottish heritage, and just generally making new and special memories.

One of the most memorable moments was when Australian granddaughter and grandson met our other granddaughter, their Scottish cousin (age 3), for the first time – such a special moment.

I was also moved and impressed to discover Australian granddaughter writes a journal, and grandson loves writing stories. Definitely gladdened my writing heart.

We all had so much fun together, catching up and making new memories. It was magic and yes, so very joyful.

And now that our visitors are back home in Australia and I’m left with those lovely new memories for which I’m truly grateful. So GRATITUDE seemed like an apt choice for May. I’m feeling grateful for my whole wonderful family, both immediate and wider, for my amazing friends, for the beautiful part of the beautiful country I live in and for being able to work at my dream job as a writer of contemporary romance novels.

And on the subject of writing, it’s good to be back at the desk once more…

Writing

I must admit I had to re-read the 24 chapters I’d already written in the work- in- progress just to remind myself of the story so far. I actually enjoyed the read (which was a relief) and it’s so good to be back with my two main characters – Scottish farmer Aidan and Lori an Australian visitor who is staying in one of the farm cottages. Their journey to falling in love and admitting their feelings for each other is a tricky one but they’ll get their happy ending, I promise.

I’m planning for this book – working title, Happiness Cottage, to be the first of a series set in the Scottish Borders. And I have lots of ideas for the subsequent books already. All in all the writing is as always exciting, joyful, challenging, and blooming hard work. But I do love it and, as I said, I feel so grateful to be doing it.

Reading

Despite everything else that’s been going on, I have still managed to find some time to read. There have been a mixture of genres – romance of course but also non-fiction and, most unusually for me, science fiction.

And it’s the science fiction one that I’ve picked as my book of the month. It’s The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone. It was a magical, uplifting and thought-provoking read and I loved it. I loved it so much I gave it to my husband to read, he loved it too. It then went off to Australia with my daughter – her verdict will arrive in due course.

From the back cover:

Connecting will change everything…

Lennox is a troubled teenager with no family. Ava is eight months pregnant and fleeing her abusive husband. Heather is a grieving mother and cancer sufferer. They don’t know each other, but when a meteor streaks over Edinburgh, all three suffer instant, catastrophic strokes…

…only to wake up the following day in hospital, miraculously recovered.

When news reaches them of an octopus-like creature washed up on the shore near where the meteor came to earth, Lennox senses that some extra-terrestrial force is at play. With the help of Ava, Heather and a journalist, Ewan, he rescues the creature they call ‘Sandy’ and goes on the run.

But they aren’t the only ones with an interest in the alien … close behind are Ava’s husband, the police and a government unit who wants to capture the creature, at all costs. And Sandy’s arrival may have implications beyond anything anyone could imagine…

Other Book News

In other book news two of my lovely writer friends have new books out/about to come out and I can definitely recommend both of these contemporary romances to you.

The first one is Escape to Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen and will be published on 11th May (the Kindle version can be preordered now)

From the back cover:

When successful university lecturer Alison Wells’ life unexpectedly falls apart, she follows in her brother’s footsteps and escapes to the coastal town of Bellbird Bay on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Neil Simpson loves teaching and his position as principal at a prestigious boys’ school in Brisbane. But when scandal rocks the school, and he learns his father’s health is failing, he has no choice but to return to his hometown of Bellbird Bay.

Determined not to be a burden to her brother and his new partner, Ali is considering her options when her world and Neil’s collide. Having avoided commitment all her life, Ali is unprepared for the force of her attraction to the man who is trying to come to terms with the upheaval in his own life.

As fate conspires to keep them apart, can this small town work its magic on these two lost souls?

And the second one is Watching from the Wings by Christine Webber and is available now as a paperback and as an ebook.

From the back cover:

Watching From the Wings is a heartwarming tale of devotion, friendship, joy and passion, but also one involving disappointment, duplicity and betrayal. We all have our own journey of love. Katharine’s is more complex than most. And she comes to realise that she has always chosen the wrong door whenever she had the chance to exit by a more promising one. At the age of 62, can she make a fresh start, or is it too late?

Reflecting

It’s indeed good to take time to reflect, to feel the joy and gratitude in life and to use it to build resilience for when times get tough as they inevitable do. It’s one of the reasons that, as it says in the main headline for this put-it-in-writing blog of mine, that I include reflection, along with writing and reading in all of my posts.

And that’s it for this month. But before I go I just want to add my gratitude to you. Thank you for visiting my blog and for taking time out of your day to read this post. I really appreciate it.  As always feel free to comment below, including sharing what brings you joy and/or gratitude.

Thank you again for reading!

MY NEWSLETTER

And don’t forget, if you want a more intimate round up of my current writing such as updates on the work-in-progress, sneak peeks at same, early notification of publication dates, giveaways and lots more, do sign up for my author newsletter. And when you do you’ll receive A FREE BOOK of some of my romantic short stories as a thank you. Just click HERE and fill in your email address. 

MY LATEST BOOK

My latest novel is contemporary romance Baby Steps.

Baby Steps is available as an ebook and as a paperback and you can buy it HERE

If you’ve read it already please do consider leaving a review at the buy link above. Reviews no matter how brief are so helpful and I appreciate every one.

To find out more about all of my books just go to the BOOKS page HERE on the website.