A Special Weekend

There are friends and there are friends.

Facebook makes it seem as if ‘friendship’ is as simple as clicking on a name and – that’s that!  Friends for life-  or at least until another click ‘unfriends’ someone. 

I’m happy to see my Facebook friends making comments or liking a post and some of them are real friends  - friends in the outside world,  people I’ve met in person – or through long correspondence or emails.  People who might  be separated sometimes by life taking them many  thousands of miles away but who, when you meet up again, fit like a comfortable sock,  falling straight back into place in your life and reminding you of just how much you missed them.

We spent this weekend with friends like that -  their life  has often taken them miles  away,  to different countries, different experiences, but  just recently they came back  to live in UK – just down the road in fact (well, in contrast to past times!). Close enough for us to go and visit  easily – and hopefully much more often.

So this weekend I was able to fulfil a l-o-n-g held promise to show my friend around Haworth and to visit the Bronte Parsonage Museum together.  It was a slightly unusual  trip to Haworth for two reasons – one that the sun  was shining  so ‘Wuthering Heights’ it was not! And two, we hadn’t realised that we’d be sharing our latest reunion with  the crowds who had come to enjoy the annual  Haworth 1940s weekend.   So the narrow Main Street, the  park behind the Parsonage and  every one of the cafés  were crowded with soldiers in uniform, land girls, RAF officers – and  the general public  dressed up to the nines in  costumes that ranged in accuracy from downright perfect to a passing nod to the idea of 40’s fashion.   Great fun – if a little wearing as you tried to make your way anywhere in the bustling crowds.

The highlight for us – and I’m sure for many people there – was the flypast of the Spitfire plane, circling low enough over the street to be seen clearly.

After that we all went  back to our friends’ new home for the evening sharing in the  - er ‘delights’ of the Eurovision song contest  ( you need to be friends to do that!)  There was also an extra surprise  for me -  extending my birthday celebrations with the  most magnificent cake I have ever been served.   Blending my birthday  with the 90^th celebrations of HM The Queen,  Keef  had created the Imperial State Crown  of a cake decorated with incredible accuracy (we’d been looking at a replica of the actual crown only that afternoon.)

But the actual crown couldn’t have tasted as delicious as this light fruit cake version.  It was wonderful (well it should be when created by the Cook himself from Keef Cooks )– if something of a challenge! The cake itself weighed  a ton.  We could only manage a smallish portion each – and the rest of the cake will need to be shared amongst friends  who I’m sure will enjoy it every bit as much as we did.

But at least we managed to walk off some of the calories the next morning when we went  down to  Rodley Nature Reserve  where as well as   the delights of watching a proud mother sw

an carry all of her 8 cygnets across the water on her back  we were able to watch oyster catchers and the handsome, elegant herons from pretty close up.

A fabulous  weekend  -  I send special thanks to my friends  - and the great thing is that now they live so much closer, we can repeat this  again pretty soon.

All roads lead to Haworth . . .

I missed Charlotte Bronte's 100th birthday yesterday because I've been flattened since I got back from teaching at Cirencester - sore throat, swollen glands,no voice. . . . I have my suspicions who passed on their germs to me!

So I'm specially grateful to Marie  Frances who shared the article in the Guardian  about her childhood writings  and those of her sisters, Emily and Anne,  because this is exactly what I wrote about in my MA thesis ('Fantasy and Prophecy') all those years ago, just before I got married. ...It seems to be the time to have started sharing that with my friends recently - yes, Sallyann Halstead? (Hope you're finding it interesting) And I'm planing on meeting  my friend Noelle  in Haworth very soon. All roads lead to Bronteland?

I have wonderful memories of speaking in the school house where Charlotte Bronte taught - as part of the Festival of Women's writing in Haworth in 2011. But my proudest moment was knowing that the archivist at the Parsonage Museum had asked for a copy of my Modern Romance reworking of Wuthering Heights - The Return of The Stranger - for the collection in the Museum.
Interesting then, that when I was at Hampshire Writers Society last week, one of their members when asked to review one of my books, chose Return of The Stranger to write up - and read the review on the night. Thank you Teresa.

 And thanks again to the Hampshire Writers for their warm welcome.

But it still seems that right now, all roads lead to Haworth . . . .

Back from the Book Launch

I have just about recovered from a hectic weekend!   We had a family reunion in York with two of

my sisters and a brother-in-law.   The rain was lashing down when we set off but luckily had dried up by the time we were in the queue  for lunch in Bettys. 

From there it was off to Haworth where the book launch for the Babe Magnet’s  book  of short stories   Uncle Albert   was to be held in The Black Bull. 

Haworth of course is  the Yorkshire village where the Bronte sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne all  lived and wrote in the Parsonage there, producing  classic novels like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and  The Tennant of Wildfell Hall.  And the Black Bull is  the inn where their brother Branwell spent   many hours of his life drinking in the bar.  There is even an old chair reputed to be the chair Branwell sat in regularly during his long drinking sessions.  We had to pass this chair every time we went  upstairs to our room.  That room looked out over the back of the pub and the graveyard by Haworth Church where so many past inhabitants of the village are buried.  Charlotte Branwell and Emily are buried in the crypt below the church.

The Black Bull is reputed to be haunted  by several ghosts – one of which is supposed to be Branwell

Bronte himself -  but in spite of that we slept very well!   It was only in the morning when the Babe Magnet said he had heard an animal –possibly a fox? – crying  in the night. Er, yes, well – one of the ghosts is reputed to be a child crying in the middle of the night.  Fox or child?  . . .   We didn’t investigate further.

Saturday was a cold rainy day but we still enjoyed exploring and revisiting some of our favourite places in Haworth  before we got ready for the evening and the official book launch.  There were glasses of prosecco, great snack food (the Black Bull does great food)  live music – and of course Uncle Albert! There were even Uncle Albert  beer mats all over the bar tables.  I’m not sure that many of the regulars in the bar quite knew what was going on but they  enjoyed the readings and several of them came up afterwards wanting to buy copies of the book for their Dads on Father’s Day.

The publishers also announced their search for new short story writers – check out their web site www.priory-press.co.uk  for details.

By the end of a long  evening we were too tired to care whether any sounds in the night were animal or spectral.  Sunday morning was lovely and warm and we all – the Babe Magnet’s brother, the 

publishers (Priory Press Isle of Man)  and us  enjoyed breakfast on the balcony as the sun warmed up.

So  that’s the official launch – next thing is a trip to the Isle of Man where  ‘Albert’ is appearing at the Douglas library,  talking on Manx Radio – and appearing at  the Mananan International Festival in the Erin Arts Centre Port Erin.  I shall be there in my role as PA  and ‘author’s wife’. It’s 15+ years since I last visited the Isle of Man so I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s changed and visiting places  I last saw in   1987 – when I only had 6 books published!  The island isn’t the only thing that has changed a lot!

Tote Bags and Book Launches

Today is the 12th of June so that means it's my day for blogging over on Tote Bags N Blogs  where I'm talking about the fabulous Manga in English Harlequin Comics editions of my books.

That's because there is a new Manga comic book out next week - the Manga edition  of  Bedded By The Greek Billionaire.

It has the most amazing cover !

But this isn't the book launch I've been busy with. The reason why I've been missing on this blog for a while is because I've been helping the Babe Magnet and his publisher Priory Press with preparations for the launch of  his new book of Yorkshire short stories - Uncle Albert.

You may remember that I wrote about this book and interviewed its author back in April   Now there's the official launch in one of my favourite places   in all the world - Haworth, the village that was home to  Charlotte Emily and Anne Bronte.

The launch is being held in one of the iconic buildings in Haworth - the Black Bull Inn  where the sisters' brother Branwell Bronte just about  drank  himself to death.

The launch is there on Sunday night -

An evening with Uncle Albert and friends

                              At the Black Bull,

                                       119 Main Street, Haworth, Keighley, BD22 8DP.

                                       On Sunday the 14^th June 2015

             

The main festivities kick off at 8pm with a short introduction and Stephen Wade’s one man show.

       ‘Introducing Uncle Albert’.

           A rare Yorkie wit, raconteur extraordinaire and little known poet.

                                 There will also be

    live music from the simply fabulous Joe and Ann Gallagher Acoustic Experience

So that's where I'm going to be this weekend.  If you're passing  do drop in!   At the moment the forecast is for violent thunderstorms, lightning and torrential downpours - which seems very suitable to the place where Wuthering Heights originated.  I hope it won't be too wet and make everyone reluctant to turn out.

                             

Today's my day to  wear a different hat (if I ever wore a hat! ) Today I am acting as the Babe Magnet's PA  as we go to a meeting with his publisher about the launch of Uncle Albert.   But as the meeting is in one of my favourite places in all the world - Haworth village where  Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte grew up, I'm perfectly happy with the prospect.

While I'm away there should be a post about Olivero's Outrageous Proposal over on I Heart Presents . Not sure exactly when it will go up as it will be when Elissa gets a chance to post it - but it will be there!

Meanwhile I'll be hoping the sunshine lasts - I love Wutherin Heights as a book  but I don't fancy braving the sort of cold, snowy weather Heathcliff and Cathy endured.

When I find him . . . .

. . . Charlie will be picking some winners.
The contest to win the Haworth/Bronte souvenirs after my visit to Haworth to talk about  The Return of The Stranger has now closed.

So has the Great Big Blog Tour Stop 11 giveaway for comments over on We Write Romance to win a copy of the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance

And as soon as Charlie comes in he will pick winners for both  .. . .er though that may be  a little while yet.    Charlie is a young cat,  having as he would say only just got a number -  that number being one. One year old.  So he is always desperate for the door to be opened and to get out into the garden - and he's never too desperate to come back inside! 

But at some point in the day  the urge of his tummy will bring him in and then I'll set him on to winner picking and announce the results  as soon as he's done his job.

Charlie is ready to become the winner picker  for the future but he would just like me to mention his loving memory of  The Great Sid  - that Cat of Superior Breeding  who taught him all he knew. Some of my gentlest memories of Sid's last days are of him and Charlie sitting in the hall - just hanging out together. And I'm sure that Sid was passing on all the wisdom of his 16 years,  He will have taught the Young 'Un  well, as I'm sure all the future prize-winners will know.

And so - for  Julie, Desere, Rita   and everyone else who have asked for 'more cats'  (Julie Thank you for the pic of Vala and Teyla and my sympathies on the loss of Mia -  I know exactly how you feel)  I've added a few cat picures to today's post to amuse you while you wait for the winners' names to be drawn.

And the next Blog Tour  Dates and stops will be coming up later this week - you can see the itinerary  here.  Don't forget that it you join my newsletter list  - see the sidebar  - you'll also get up to date news  and extra chances to win!

A Hectic week - Big Blog Day Something, Haworth and a contest

It's been a hectic and dfifficult week - migraines were bad enough but a bad rection to the tablets that were supposed to help made things worse So  before I forget there area couple of other posys here and there today, part of the Big Blog tour with giveaways and posts to read and such . . . so here's where you'll find some of them -

Love Cats Down Under Sunday Smooch has - as the title gives away  - a red-hot smooch from The Return of the Stranger to get you in the mood for this passionate, heart wrenching romance - so visit  if ypou want to read that. I had a lot of trouble postign responses to the commentators on the blog but I eventually got there !

Also in Australia is the Australian Romance Readers Association where I have a nother guest blog (did I say it's been hectic this week! )  I'm chattring over there too and talking about  - guess what - The Return of The Stranger (everyone wants to know about my take on reworking Wuthering Heights!

So you can find the post, the discussion and the giveway over  at ARR

Finally  - finally – I have managed to collect together some pictures of my trip to Haworth  , now that I’ve got them off my camera so I thought I’d share some with you. There is the big building which is the old Baptist Centre where the workshop was held  - I always think it should be appearing in Jane Eyre. And outside was a big post with my name on it!

There were also posters all over the town – specially on the Bronte Parsonage Museum  gates and doors – that was  a real thrill. I’ve also included a photo  of the Old Schoolhouse where I gave my talk about working on Wuthering Heights and turning it into a Modern/Presents Romance – this was another real thrill as, as you can see from the inscription, the school says ‘Charlotte Bronte taught here’  - and now  so have I!

The Babe Magnet took some pictures of my talking to people who had attended the talk and who wanted copies of Return of The Strange signed afterwards. And one fo the saddest things In Haworth h I always think is the carved plaque on a pillar marking the spot above the crypt where all the Brontes  - except Anne who is buried in Scarborough are buried.

I’ve also included a photo of some bits and pieces I picked up at the Bronte Parsonage shop – a notepad, a pen, bookmark, key ring – and I’m offering these as a special prize to mark the publication in America of The Return of the  Stranger.

All you have to do is to leave a comment in the comments section telling  me which famous author’s house you would love to visit and why  - and you’ll be entered into the prize draw. I’ll get Charlie the Maine Coon on the job of picking a winner in a couple of days. And the winner will get the Bronte souvenirs.

The Return of the Author

I'm back from Howarth after a wonderful weekend at the Bronte Festival of Women's Writing. In spite of the pouring rain - this was West Yorkshire after all! - we had a fabulous time -  exploring the fabulous little village,  going round the Bronte Parsonage itself - there is always something new to discover - or rediscover - and doing an interview with Radio Leeds,  then my workshop the my talk on writing Return of The Stranger and being inspired by  Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

(Incidentally, this seems to be a new vogue in publishing at the moment as Harper Collins has announced  a "major" new series, in which it will team modern authors with Austen's six novels, asking them to reimagine the books in a contemporary setting. The project is the latest addition to the current vogue for Austen remixes, which have ranged over recent years from the unexpected success of Seth Grahame-Smith's zombie mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to erotic fiction author Mitzi Szereto's X-rated Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts.)

I'll write up a full report later - and fill you in on all that happened -  but for now I have to feed and appease the cats, offload the washing - and put my feet up before catching up on missed sleep! But if you want to know more about the reworking process, how I approached it and what I found challenging,  the Laura Vivanco did a great  - and details interview with me before the weekend -and she has posted it on the Teach Me Tonight site today.  Thank you Laura!

That should keep you busy till I can report fully!

Taking stock . . . and looking ahead

 I sent off  Diablo's story - aka The Devil and Miss Jones (sort of running a campaign to  hint that I'd like that for a title  but I'm not overly hopeful! And I haveto get the book accepted first) and now I'm in the middle of all the sorting out and planning that comes after one book and before another. Which means I'm  buried in paperwork and sorting things out.

So I was looking ahead to see what I have coming up and as I've had a few enquiries about courses or workshops  that I'll be doing, I thought I'd run a quick recap so  you can plan/book/think about them -

First things first - I will of course be heading for Wales for the fabulous Writers' Holiday week in July  (July 24th - 29th  to be exact).  Although I'm teaching, that's only for half the week and my time in Caerleon is always one of my favourite weeks of the year. (It's the same for the Babe Magnet too - he's teaching Writing Poetry there this time!)

If you're interested in Writers' Holiday - over the  six days there is the opportunity to take two different courses choices can be found here

There are also main speakers, who give talks to everyone there - at the moment, the list of speakers reads -

Raymond Allen Susan Moody  Janet Laurence  Lesley Horton

But I do know that my dear friend and brilliant writer Julie Cohen will be at Caerleon this time because we've just been in touch about finalising the details.

But of course it is  a 'Writers' Holiday' - so if you don't want to do a course and you just want to sit and read - or sleep - or even write! - then nothing is compulsory and love Anna and Gerry want you to do just as you choose.

Last time I heard there were still some places left at Caerleon - you can find the details and book here

Of course thinking of Caerleon means that I also think of Fishguard Writing Weekends - the next one isn't until February 2012 - but I'm already looking forward to that - I look forward to the next one almost as soon as the old one is over. 
Just to remind you that the course at Fishguard is the Advanced Romance Writing course - one that follows on from the basic Writing Romance course I run in Caerleon.  People need to  have been on a basic romance writing course to come along on this one. Again, although it's early, people are already booking. 

This is an intensive weekend course - Friday night to Sunday lunchtime and we cram  a lot into that time!

Here are some comments from past students at Fishguard -

 A blinder of a course. I learned so much and  . . . You were an inspiring teacher and brought so many useful guide posts to life for us. And made it all fun! . . . I ended the weekend with a much clearer idea of just what emotion and conflict mean in terms of novel writing. So thank you so much for laying so many riches before us. I really enjoyed every minute of the weekend.   Janet Laurence

Your course was fabulous: interesting, stimulating and empowering.. .  . thank for your dedication to all of us. You're a marvellous teacher.  Susan Moody

Thank you so much for all your energy and thoughts this weekend - a truly fabulous course which left me happily exhausted and full of enthusiasm for my upcoming week away writing.   Sarah Jane V

The details on the Fishguard Writing Weekend site still have the dates etc from 2011 - but if you are interested in booking, email Gerry and he'll add your name to the list of students. Last year this sold out almost as soon as it went on the site and I know there are already names on the list - numbers are limited to get the most out of this intensive course.

And just last month I finalised the details of another workshop I'll be doing in September - this one might be more suikable for people in the north of England. I'm really excited about this one as it's connected to another great interest of mine- the Bronte sisters and their books and particularly Wuthering Heights. And as many of you will be aware, my next book out - The Return of The Stranger is part of a mini series inspired by the classics of romantic fiction  - Jane Eyre, Emma , Pride and Prejudice  and my  book Wuthering Heights. (This and the other books are in the mini series The Powerful and The Pure - titles by Sharon Kendrick, Cathy Williams and Kate Hewitt) 

So I was thrilled to be invited to appear at the Bronte Society Festival Of Women's Writing in Haworth on September 17th.  I'm running a 2 hour workshop in the morning  and then giving a talk about writing The Return of The Stranger and using my reading  of Wuthering Heights to in spire me in the afternoon.

I don't yet have the details about time and place for bookings yet - though the workshop should be 10 - 12am and the talk 2 -3 pm - but as soon as  I do I'll post them here and on the Events page on my web site.

Finally - can't reveal full details yet - but just yesterday I finalised the discussion about another, wonderful course coming in 2012. And that wonderful is not me boasting about the content of the course  but anticpating this one with real excitement  because it will be in such a lovely place. 

What I can say is that this will be a week long residential course - and it's not going to be in England or even the United Kingdom . ..  Watch this space!

I hope that I'll get to meet some of you at one or other of these events! 

Haworth weekend

One of the interesting things about being a writer and having established my name and my publishing history, is that sometimes people find out about me - through my web site or my blog - and they ask me to be involved in bookish things that I don't expect. And that's what I was doing this weeked. I was in Haworth, West Yorkshire, appearing on a panel that was discussing the Bronte sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne, and their books - Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and all the others.

Some weeks ago, the Arts Officer of the Bronte Society had seen a blog I wrote on I Heart Presents about the way that part of Wuthering Heights had influenced my book Bedded By The Greek Billionaire and as a result that was why she asked me to be on the panel this weekend.

When I was at school, my classroom was in an old part of the building and often when there was a violent thunderstorm, the lights in the room would fuse. Because some of the girls in the class were scared of storms (not me – I’ve always loved the drama of thunder and lighting) the teacher would distract us by telling us a story. This would always begin by telling of how a rich landowner brought home a wild gypsy boy that he found in the streets of Liverpool. The boy fell in love with the landowner’s daughter but left when he believed she didn’t love him. Years later he came back to get his revenge. It was only later that I found out that this story was actually the beginning of Wuthering Heights. I always wondered what would happen in the rest of the story and later I read the whole book but the opening always stayed with me as a memory from these story telling sessions.

In some ways the rest of the story of Wuthering Heights was a disappointment to me. The wild gypsy boy who turns into dark, dangerous, powerful man, never ends up with the passionate fiery heroine. They each marry someone else and they most definitely do not live happily ever after. But from those long ago school days I’ve always wondered how things might work if someone was to take some of that famous story and change it round just a bit. Make it work a different way – and give the hero and heroine their happy ending. That's what I did with Bedded By The Greek Billionaire.

Being back in Haworth was a like a trip 'back home' to me as I grew up in Yorkshire, not too far from Haworth and this was the first time I'd been there for ages. It was wonderful revisiting places I'd loved - the Babe Magnet and I even managed to visit the little cottage where we spent our honeymoon w-a-y back when. We stayed in a lovely B&B at the bottom of the famous steep cobbled street that runs through the centre of the village and we had an amzing room, The Tudor room, complete with four-poster bed!

And we had time to visit the Parsonage Museum that was once the home of all the Bronte family and wander round at our leisure looking into all the rooms. This place is so atmospheric - small rooms crammed close together, looking out onto a view of the old church and the graveyard! And it is full or items that belonged to the sisters - samplers they embroidered, hats, gloves, even a dress that Charlotte once wore (she was tiny). And in one of the downstairs rooms there is the couch where Emily died in December 1848 at the age of just 30.

And the Babe Magnet was thrilled to see some of his books on Yorkshire history on sale in the Parsonage Museum Shop.

The event was on the Saturday night and I met up with some great authors to talk about the Brontes' books and their influence on romantic fiction. Unfortunately Justine Picardie who was to chair the panel was unwell, but Steve Dearden who stepped in at the last moment organised us wonderfully and kept the event moving along nicely. The other writers on the panel were Joanne Harris whose novel Chocolat was made in to a film starring Johnny Depp, Amanda Craig whose latest novel Hearts and Minds was published in May this year, and Jude Morgan who has just published a novel based on the lives of the Bronte sisters titled The Taste of Sorrow. So of course I came home with yet more books to add to my TBR mountain.

It was a great experience - amazing to combine all my skills/interests/studies in one go with discussing the Brontes and Romantic Fiction and writing. My thanks to Jenna who invited me to take part and to Sean, all the other writers and everyone else involved.