Mills & Boon Historical Heroes

What a day I’ve had! 

 I was planning to do a blog entry today all about my experiences on my first ever RNA conference – an inspiring weekend, by the way. However, while taking a short break from my work this morning, I opened up my emails to find one from Mills & Boon saying that my entry in their Historical Heroes competition had been awarded first place in the Medieval/Tudor category. 

I was gobsmacked – not least because in all the conference excitement, I’d completely forgotten about the competition. That’s how good the conference was! So to all my friends from the RNA Birmingham Chapter who were cross that I didn’t breathe a word of it over the weekend – I would have done if I’d remembered!

You can find my entry on the Mills & Boon blog. It’s up against stiff competition from Faye Delacour and Phoebe Randerson. Please read and vote for your favourite!

'My Main Character' blog hop

Oops! I've really let this blog slide. But rest assured that I've been slaving away at my WIP, desperate to get it edited in time to submit to the New Writers' Scheme before the August deadline.

Thankfully, the lovely Anne Harvey tagged me in the 'My Main Character' blog hop. That's given me the kick up the backside I needed to post an update! I've chosen to introduce my hero, rather than my heroine, because he's the one I'm having to get to grips with more as I edit.

Wroxeter today

What is the name of the main character? Is he real or fictitious?

My hero is called Justus Drusus Metellus – a bit of a mouthful, so I usually just call him Justus. He is fictitious, more’s the pity!

When and where is the story set?

The story is set in Roman Britain – in Viroconium (modern-day Wroxeter, in Shropshire) during the second century AD. 

What should we know about him?

Before the story begins he served as a centurion in Dacia but received a severe leg wound and was invalided out. He now runs his family’s import business from Viroconium. Civilian life is something of a mystery to him – he’s abrupt with people and expects them to do what he says without question. Then he wonders why he’s not Mr Popular…

What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?

When Livia appears – seemingly out of nowhere – he takes her under his protection. He expects her to slot neatly into the role he assigns her, but when she refuses to conform, he finds his life turning in a direction he didn’t expect.

What is his goal in life?

He still believes that if he trains hard enough, he will get strong enough to return to his legion.

What next?

Following on from my last post, I'm pleased to say that the editing was far easier than it's been on previous projects. I think it helped to have a deadline - I was entering it into the Harper Impulse Winter Wonderland competition, so it had to be finished by last Wednesday. I finished it and entered it with a day to spare and now it's the agonising wait!

This was the first novella I've written - it ended up at 30k words - and I found it a lot of fun to write. It forced me to focus on the relationship between my hero and heroine and their emotional journey, which was something I found hard to sustain in the last full-length (75k) novel I wrote. I feel much more confident with that now. It's also encouraging to see the finished story take shape so much faster than when I'm writing a full-length novel. I'm not into delayed gratification ...

I've pretty much decided to write another novella next. I had loads of ideas as I was writing my last one and most of them seemed more suitable for that length. For the next few weeks I'm going to work on creating some characters and then plot out their stories. I can't wait to get stuck in!

Gonna Need a Montage

The good news is, I’ve finished the first draft of a twenty-five-thousand-word novella and I’m pleased with how it’s shaping up.

The thing is, I love doing all the stuff you have to do to get to that point: the character creation, the historical research, the plot outline, the writing, etc. What I’m not so keen on is going back to my story and hacking it to pieces. In other words, I don’t like editing. I’m not saying it doesn’t have to be done—of course it does. It just hurts to go back and mess around with writing that I worked so hard on in the first place.

So this is where I wish I could fast-forward through time. I’d like to flip open my iPhone, select the miracle app called ‘montage’, enter the task that needs completing (i.e. edit novella from first draft to publishable quality) and hit ‘go’.

Immediately inspirational music would blast out and I would be propelled through time in a series of flashes, starting with me tearing my hair out over my MacBook and ending in me punching the air as I read through my final draft.

At that point, I’d fire up my synopsis and pitch letter montage…

(In case you're wondering, the title of this post comes from the montage song in the film Team America. Look it up on YouTube if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

Update, RNA meeting and NWS

Life's been a merry-go-round lately

Yes . . . I know . . . it’s been months since I last posted. Shame on me!

Suffice it to say, I’ve been busy. I mentioned in my last post that I’d been working on a proofreading course. Well, in May I learnt that I’d passed with distinction (yay!) Since then I’ve been hard at work, setting up a proofreading business alongside my tuition business. I’ve also been on holiday (Czech Republic), visited various friends and family and had family staying with me. Last weekend was the first weekend in a long time that I didn’t spend with young children around. It was bliss!*

One thing I did do last weekend, however, was attend the RNA Birmingham chapter meeting. I’m so pleased I plucked up the courage to sidle up to the group on the library steps and say, “Erm . . . you wouldn’t happen to be romantic novelists, would you?” Because it turned out that they were (phew!) and they were so friendly and welcoming that I was soon wondering why I’d stood like a lemon for so long, trying to decide if they looked like romantic novelists or not.

Although I already attend a writers’ group that’s more local to me, it was lovely to meet fellow romance writers and hear news and advice on the specific genre I write in. It was also a great encouragement to hear of others’ successes and think that I could achieve that too, as long as I keep trying. I’m already looking forward to the next meeting.

Finally, I got my MS back from the NWS and I’ve been going through the comments, wincing in some places and feeling a warm glow in others. It’s been interesting to see that the parts of the novel I was less satisfied with are also the bits the reader picked holes in. If I’m honest, those are the places where I let plot take precedence over character and even though I could see that my characters wouldn’t act that way, I was too committed to the plot to change it. Definitely food for thought! Whether I’ll be able to translate the excellent advice into a more successful second attempt remains to be seen . . .

*I do love kids, honest. But my eardrums needed a rest.

Plan of action

I know I've neglected my blog recently, but I've been waiting to hear back on my submission to Mills & Boon. Well, yesterday afternoon my long wait came to an end with a standard rejection email. By this stage that's what I'd been expecting, but it was still a disappointment. I'm going to cheer myself up by treating myself to a new book this weekend. All suggestions gratefully received!

However, I also feel relieved. I've been in limbo for months, but now I'm free to move on. My plan of action is as follows:

• read through and edit my MS one last time
• send it for feedback from the RNA New Writers' Scheme
• act on feedback to improve and identify other potential publishers
• all the while, keep going with my current WIP

I've also been doing a proofreading course - another reason why I've been so quiet recently. I've been really enjoying it - finding other people's mistakes is much more fun than finding my own! It's also been interesting to learn about the whole publishing process. If I do ever get a book published I'll be more prepared. I'm currently working on the final assignment and hope to get it submitted before the end of next week.

Time to get working!

New Writers' Scheme

Happy New Year to one and all! I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year.

I had a lovely time up in Yorkshire with my Mum, brother, SIL and one-year-old niece, although I seriously hope my niece will have outgrown In the Night Garden by the time I see her next. I still can't get the Iggle Piggle song out of my head.

I don't normally go in for new year's resolutions, but I did make one this year. I was determined to get a place on the RNA New Writers' Scheme after missing out last year and the year before. Both times I was unable to get to a computer on the first couple of days of the new year and when I did I found the scheme was already full. So this year I was prepared. I wrote the application email out the day before, saved it as a draft and then set an alarm for five minutes before applications opened. Once the alarm had gone off, I sat with my mouse hovering over 'Send', counting down the seconds until I could click. If you think that makes me sound rather desperate, then you'd be right.

But all my preparations paid off - I got an email first thing this morning saying I'd been allocated a place. I'm thrilled! It's such a great opportunity. So I suppose my next resolution must be to make the most of it.

Well, I can't hang around, blogging all day. I've got a novel to hone :-)