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Friday - can the weekend start here?
I mean, I’ve spent a whole four days, Monday to Thursday, writing. Thinking about writing. Talking about writing. Facebook ditto. Twitter ditto. A profile for dizzyc’s blog in the can.
As I’m freelance (subtext: flexible income, pretty consistent outgoings) I can set my own rules - right? Did I say freelance? I do have a BOSS - yes, that’s right, it’s in capital letters….it stands for Bum On Swivel Seat. And it’s printed out and is pinned above my screen. Without it I would procrastinate more than I do! Oh, the avenues for procrastination….breadmaking, jamming (fruit not musical instruments in my case), weeding, wandering around the library to see which of my chums’ books I can take out to increase their PLR (well, they’re going to do the same for me soon, aren’t they?) - need I go on? Yes, without that sign I’d procrastinate more than I do.
So, it’s Friday. A quick resume of my output this week; three short stories sent to various magazines in Scandinavia, two short stories sent to My Weekly. That isn’t five new stories written in case anyone thinks I’ve got a bottomless pit of ideas….it’s two new ones, and three recycled. Then there was the above-mentioned blog profile - gosh, how hard it is to sound humble about oneself when the point of a blog is self-promotion! I printed out the sixteen chapters of my sequel that I’ve written so far and sat down by the fire with them with my red editing-pen. It is now decorated with crossings out/additions/spelling and punctuation corrections, and there’s lots of stuff scribbled in the margins that I may or may not be able to read (I’m an ace scribbler) when I get around to getting on with it. The third book in my trilogy is set in the late 1920’s - a period I know not a lot about. So, as there is an excellent charity shop at the bottom of the road here which - unusually for a charity shop - always has lots of non-fiction books for sale for peanuts, I thought it my writing duty to go and take a look. I came up trumps, too - CHANEL - HER STYLE AND HER LIFE By Janet Wallach, and THE ART OF VOGUE COVERS 1909 - 1940 By William Packer. The former is going to be very useful, the latter probably less so, but goodness’, is it a feast for the eyes! On second thoughts, I can have the best-dressed late 1920’s heroine ever, can’t I?
So, it’s Friday - and I had a short story sale to My Weekly on Tuesday, so there is income from writing this week, albeit it from past efforts. Now, I have a self-imposed rule that for every sale I get I write another story to replace it out there in the jungle. And I always get good ideas when I’m out walking in the sunshine - and my blood’s going round and oxygen is getting to my brain - along the beach. And it’s Friday - so why not? Almost the weekend.
I mean, a girl can spend too long at the keyboard getting writers’ rear and all that - but that’s another blog….
We Choc Lit authors love to meet our readers and talk to them. We’re planning all sorts of meet-the-reader events this coming year, including an event at the Festival of Romance in Bedford in November - we believe in planning ahead!
We’d love to know what readers like and don’t like about meeting authors. We’ve done lots of different kinds of event and always had good feedback, but what do readers like best? Please let us know what you think?
The most obvious meet-the-reader event is of course the bookshop signing. But, as ebook sales grow and grow, and high street bookshops become harder to find, this kind of event might become less popular? I’ve done several local bookshop signings, enticing people to my desk with chocolate and other freebies like bookmarks and postcards, smiling breezily and telling people that of course they don’t have to buy a book, but thinking go on, please buy a book, please, please, please! They sometimes do.
 Come and have a chocolate, people, no obligation to buy the books! Then there is the library event - Linda Mitchelmore and I have done a few of those, and always had good audiences. People seem to enjoy them, especially if they get three authors instead of just one. So I’m wondering, is it a case of the more the merrier, and do readers prefer a panel of authors to one solitary individual?
 Margaret James, Linda Mitchelmore, Sophie King - three for the price of one! Or what about a Girls’ Night In event, usually held in a bookshop, but more of a meet-the-author opportunity than a hard sell of the books themselves? Some of us did one of those at Bury St Edmunds Waterstones in 2010.
 Margaret tries to answer a difficult question at a Girls Night In event. What about events which involve quizzes, games and prizes? Do readers enjoy those, or do they sound too much like hard work for readers who want to be entertained and to relax, not be put on the spot?
Let us know what you’d like, and we’ll do our best to offer it over the coming year. But, before you ask - no, I’m afraid we can’t offer Mr Armitage or Mr Downey or Mr Leto as prizes. If we get a chance to grab them, we’re keeping them!
Does a book need a villain? I write thrillers, so yes, mine do. And the nastier the better. But ‘villains’  come in all shapes and sizes — he can be a serial killer, a stalker, someone out for revenge, a best friend gone bad, the murderer in the classic whodunit, a ruthless businessman, who ‘murders’ with a balance sheet, rather than a stiletto. And if you write historicals there’s a whole range of vicious pirates, desperate smugglers, grasping landlords, leaders of sinister secret societies, mad alchemists…
 I’ve used the word ‘he’ because villains usually seem to be male. I can’t think of any really evil females, outside cartoons and fairy tales, which contain some wonderful ones. I’d love to hear suggestions of deadly women I may have missed — or every-one’s favorite villain — the one that really makes the flesh creep.
 I’m amazed he hasn’t been a Wednesday Hottie already, so I thought I’d rectify that - this week I nominate Robert Downey Jr.
 Having just seen him in the second Sherlock Holmes film and watched him (for the umpteenth time) in Iron Man I and II over Christmas, I can only say he’s superb in every role. He exudes charisma and is perfect as a smart-ass genius of any time period so I’m hoping for lots of sequels. Can’t wait to see him in Avengers in May!
January. A time for resolutions. I wonder how many novels are started at the beginning of the year, how many are completed by the end? With several writing projects in mind, my aim, this year, is to work smarter not just harder. I want to build in time for when plans are derailed, but also to try new experiences.
January’s also the time for Seville oranges, a fact that’s entirely passed me by until this year, when I decided to make my own marmalade. It occurred to me, as the scale of the task seemed to escalate, that making marmalade could be a metaphor for writing a novel. The first bit’s easy; those golden oranges so full of potential – how hard can it be to turn them into something wonderful? Next there’s the laborious part, chopping up a mountain of fruit wondering what kind of magic is required to transform this bitter peel into something inviting. Then there’s some furious boiling as all the ingredients come together towards the end. Allow it to settle, and, amazingly, you realise you’ve ended up with golden, glowing, satisfying jars of sunshine.
Persistence pays off, that’s my advice whether it’s making marmalade or writing a book. If you’re starting your first novel this year, hang on in there and keep going through the tough phases.
What are your tips for getting to The End?
 Next Saturday, 21st January, I’ll be at Rochdale Town Hall (11.45am - 6.15pm), helping to celebrate Lord Byron’s 224th birthday! It will be a day of Regency dancing, talks, readings and afternoon tea, so should be great fun. If anyone would like to join in, tickets are free but need to be booked in advance as places are limited - just call the Literature Development Officer on 01706-924933 or click here for more information. Hope to see you there!
Christina Courtenay
Hi there. I‘d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the latest chocolate flavour in the Choc Lit box. For those who don’t know me, my name is Henriette Gyland, although most people call me by the androgynous Henri. On Twitter I’m known as @henrigyland.
I signed with Choc Lit last year in November after having won the New Talent Award at the inaugural Festival of Romance. Both events were absolute highlights of the year for me, and I’m delighted that my novel Up Close is going to be published this year.
 Holkham Beach - the inspiration for my setting Described by the book trade as “a dark, romantic suspense story in true Hitchcock tradition”, it’s set on the desolate Norfolk coast, a landscape which with its endless flat beaches and fir trees remind me very much of my country of birth, Denmark. Years ago I was staying with friends in Norfolk, and we took a day trip to the coast.
There I was completely bowled over by the raw beauty of the place, the smells and the sounds of the sea, the flora and fauna, especially the seals – I’d never seen them in the wild before (scary creatures!). It was a revelation, and I remembered thinking, “I wonder what it’s like living here in winter” followed by, “I want to write about that”.
In other words, my novel started with a place.
But novels have to have plots and people in them, and that still escaped me. Then, completely unconnected, I read an article about soldiers returning from the Gulf War (1990-1991), and how some of them were suffering from an unexplained illness, later referred to as Gulf War Syndrome.
I started reading up on this and learned that they’d been given an experimental vaccine as protection against Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons, and that this might be making them ill. With the bit between my teeth I tried to track down ex-soldiers, doctors, nurses, etc. – anyone who’d been in The Gulf – but nobody would talk to me!
Frustrated (and paranoid because of the black van with tinted windows which had taken to parking outside my house…) I decided, after much soul-searching, that the subject matter was altogether Too Dark for a romantic novel, so I put the book on the back-burner. But it wouldn’t go away, and eventually the hero and heroine were “born”.
The setting and the background are merely strands woven into a story about the relationship between bitter ex-navy man, Aidan, who finds solace in his passion for art and scuba diving, and Lia, an aqua-phobic ER doctor haunted by a tragedy in her own past. It’s the story of love and loss, betrayal and divided loyalties.
And murder. Let’s not forget that…
 After all the Christmas food we talked about recently, who better than a chef for my Wednesday hottie? One who lives life to the hilt in and out of the kitchen? Yes … none other than Marco Pierre-White. Enfant terrible of la cuisine and all that! It’s said he’s the Godfather of modern cuisine … one of those men heroines want to tame but few seldom do. I’ve always had the feeling women come before cooking for Marco, unlike many of the other chefs … so what’s not to like?
 Hello, all! To those of you I don’t know, my name’s Elizabeth Harris, but I’m usually known as Liz. On twitter I’m known as @lizharrisauthor
Last October, a dream came true when I learnt that Choc Lit was going to publish The Road Back. It was an unbelievable moment, and I’m still pinching myself to make sure that I really am awake.
Since The Road Back is my very precious link with Choc Lit, I decided that I would say something about how I came to write it in this, my first Choc lit blog. Now there’s a surprise, I can hear you say!!
My novel has been described as ‘a sumptuous tale of love and adventure in the sweeping and little-known backdrop of Ladakh, north of the Himalayas … which throws together two people from radically different cultures with explosive results.’
Until fairly recently, however, I’d never even heard of Ladakh. The first time I learnt that there was such a country was three years ago when my cousin, who now lives in Australia, asked me to help her find a home for an album that her father, my late uncle, had compiled after a visit he made to Ladakh in the mid 1940s.
When my uncle had been stationed with the army in North India, he’d managed to get one of the few authorised passes to visit Ladakh. Upon his return to England, he’d assembled the photos and notes into an album, which he had passed on to his daughter.
The album is now in the Indian Room of the British Library, on Euston Road. It was brought over to England by friends of my cousin, and I collected it from their hotel. In the two weeks I had it before handing it over to the British Library, I read it from cover to cover … and I fell in love with Ladakh. From that moment, I knew I had to set a novel there and I began to research the country in depth.
From the very start, I knew that my heroine, Patricia, was born in the 50s and brought up in Belsize Park, a part of London I know well. I saw her as a lonely child, living with parents who’d been torn apart by grief over a tragedy that had happened to the family in the past.
But I didn’t yet know my hero, Kalden, beyond the fact that he was born and brought up in a Ladakhi village in the Buddhist part of the country. While I waited to ’see’ him clearly, I continued resourcing Ladakh, learning more and more about the country. And then one day, I read a very interesting fact about life in Ladakh. It was a Eureka moment! I felt a powerful surge of excitement when I read that …
Oh, dear. I seem to have run out of time. I’d better say goodbye for now!
P.S. I’d like to have been able to include some photos from my uncle’s album, but I don’t yet seem to have the right connection to upload an image to the blog. I shall have to sort that out.
  A big thank you to Writing magazine for inviting me to be their featured debut author in the February edition.
Wow! Being interviewed makes me feel like a real author!
I’m talking to crime writer Adrian Magson, creator of the Harry Tate spy series, about my writing history and about being published with Choc-lit, with Never Coming Home.
The magazine is out now, with a lovely picture of Sophie Kinsella on the front, if you want to take a look.
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