Sue Fortin's Blog, page 7

Everyone knows that when you’ve written something, try as you might, you can’t always spot your own mistakes, typos, sentence construction issues or general grammar problems. When I finished my first draft of Closing In, I needed someone with a keen eye to look over it for me before I sent it to my editor at Harper Impulse. I knew just the person to ask – my friend and fellow Romaniac girl, Jan Brigden.

Jan really does have an eye for detail. She meticulously went through my manuscript and found all the little, and not so little, errors I had made. She was able to give me solid feedback and advice on how to improve my manuscript, not just technically but she also spotted a few plot holes and continuity issues. I was so grateful, her proofreading really gave my manuscript a boost, making it so much more professional and polished.

Jan has also proofread other manuscripts and I know everyone has been delighted with her work. I would whole-heartedly recommend Jan to anyone who is looking for a proofreader. Over at The Romaniac blog, Jan has now put together a page, please pop over to have a look in more detail at her proofreading service and testimonials from previous clients. Click HERE.

After several good intentions over the past 3 or 4 years, I’ve finally signed up for NaNoWriMo.   I’m a complete novice at it so if anyone wants to hold my hand along the way here’s the link for my profile.

I’m going to use NaNoWriMo to finish my novel Where It All Began. I’m 60k words in and think another 50k should do it for the first draft, then I will be able to edit it down to around 90k. That’s the plan anyway.

I’ve also have an Open University short course starting with their FutureLearn programme. I’m doing the Start Writing Fiction one. I know it seems a bit mad seeing as I’ve already written two novels, but I’d like to complete my degree which I started with the OU many years ago and this is a nice way to get back into studying.

I’m hoping that edits for my third novel, The Half Truth, don’t pop back into my in-box for a few weeks. Although, I am looking forward to seeing the cover which is being worked on at the moment. I might even be able to give you a sneak preview soon.

Good luck to everyone taking part in NaNoWriMo this year.

suefortin:

The Romaniacs gave me a surprise book birthday party :-D

Originally posted on The Romaniacs:

United States of Love … HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

‘It was so funny and romantic … (There) was so much romance and fun going on I totally loved it! A wonderful author who I hope to read more from.’ Amazon reviewer, Angela.

It’s a year since Sue Fortin’sHarperImpulse debut, United States of Lovewas released, and we at Romaniac HQ wanted to wish it a fabulous 1st birthday. It’s a great, romantic read with a handsome, hot hero, and a strong heroine who has many dilemmas to overcome.

I wonder what Tex is doing to celebrate. A big hog roast in his restaurant, perhaps, or a trip home to America see his family …

And with Sue’s second novel, a fast-paced, gripping suspense,Closing Indoing well in the charts, it’s a double celebration!

‘I would urge anyone who enjoys a good, fast paced psychological thriller to read it – you won’t…

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It’s real!

Just when I thought the paperback version of Closing In was a bit of a daydream, it landed on my doormat this week. Hopefully, the glitch with Amazon will be fixed soon, my publishers are ‘on the case’, so for those who have been asking about the paperback, you should soon be able to order it.

Meanwhile, back in the ebook world, I’m delighted that the digital version is doing well and thank everyone for their support.

Amazon link

Have a lovely weekend!

Sue

x

My very good friend and fellow Romaniac, Laura E. James, sees her second novel published today – Follow Me, Follow You.

It’s a great read and as I’m not with her today to give her a bunch of flowers, chocolates or wine, I thought I would publish my review instead.

My Review

Follow me, follow you – fantastic title for this, I totally loved the whole idea of the Ewespeak social media platform and the ‘bleats’, it’s all very clever. However, the story of Victoria and Chris is about connecting in a different way and this is what Laura does so well.

Follow me, follow you really digs deep into the heads and hearts of  all the characters and, in this case, taking each of them on a journey of recovery. The book has sub-plots expertly woven in, dealing with deeper issues of the human nature; the relationship between two unrelated sons, I found particularly touching and moving. 

I would very much recommend Follow Me, Follow You to anyone who enjoys reading about love, relationships, families and their complexities.

Blurb

You save me and I’ll save you…

Victoria Noble has pulled the plug on romance. As director of the number one social networking site, EweSpeak, and single mother to four-year-old Seth, she wrestles with the work-life balance.

Enter Chris Frampton, Hollywood action hero and Victoria’s first love. His return from LA has sparked a powder keg of media attention, and with secrets threatening to fuel the fire, he’s desperate to escape.

But finding a way forward is never simple. Although his connection with Victoria is as strong as when he was nineteen, has he been adrift too long to know how to move on?

With the risk of them breaking, will either #follow their heart?

Follow Me, Follow You is available in digital format today and in paperback from 5 September.

Amazon sales link here

As always, the annual Romantic Novelists’ Association conference is always a blast. This year was no exception. Held at the Harper Adams University in Telford, the talks were great, very inspiring and the company fantastic.

For me, it started the Thursday night after an epic drive to meet my Romaniac girls at Debbie Fuller-White’s house which is approximately 40 minutes from the campus.  I eventually arrived at Debbie’s around 11.30pm and the girls, who had held off eating until I got there, had quelled their hunger pains with wine – say no more!

The following morning, we started the day with a lovely walk near to where Debbie lives. I was instantly taken with the beautiful scenery and have made a note to come back with my walking boots to explore this part of the country more.

Friday morning walk in the Church Stretton area

Conference started on Friday afternoon and continued through the weekend. The talks I attended were very interesting. I would like to have gone to many more but, sadly, with 3 or 4 going on at the same time, you have to pick and choose. The talk given by Waterstones and WH Smith Travel was very insightful. It was interesting to hear about their approaches, vision and restrictions. Talli Roland and Nick Spalding gave another great talk on being both a traditionally signed author and a self-published one. While Phillipa Ashley and Nell Dixon gave some excellent advice on writing series novels.

Talks from WH Smith Travel, Waterstones, Phillipa Ashley & Nell Dixon, Talli Roland and Nick Spalding

The gala dinner was fabulous. Catering for 250 RNA members, is not easy task, but they managed it with ease. The food, all sourced locally, was delicious.

I am reliably informed there were 235 women attending and 5 men.

I have to mention that Romaniac and friend, Vanessa Savage, came second in the Elizabeth Goudge opening chapter competition with her modern take on a fairy story – Vanessa used Sleeping Beauty as her inspiration for a YA version entitled ‘Hush’. I have actually read it and, although I am biased, it is a great opening chapter; dark and intriguing.

Vanessa with her goody bag for 2nd place in the opening chapter competition

A big thank you to the RNA and everyone involved in making it such a success.

Sue Moorcroft, Katie Fforde, Christina Courtenay, Jan Jones – wonderful RNA ladies

I’ve shared some photos here and put more on my Facebook page.

suefortin:

My publishing deal one year on …

Originally posted on The Romaniacs:

Next month will mark a full year since I signed a three book publishing deal with Harper Collins’ romance imprint Harper Impulse.

It’s been an exciting year which has seen two of the titles published, both in digital and paperback format, book number three submitted and, as a group, The Romaniacs have also published a short story anthology. To say it has whizzed by would be an understatement, but I’ve taken a moment to pause and reflect on how the past year has been.

Fast. Busy. Stressful. Exciting. Frustrating. Enjoyable.  And every emotion remotely related to those. That’s how it’s been.

And it’s not just the range of emotions I’ve experienced, I’ve also learned a lot about myself as a writer and the writing process itself. Amongst many things, I’ve learned …

That I will love my edits, despite what I may tweet at the time of being in the…

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As a member of the Romanitic Novelists’ Association, there are several events throughout the year that I like to attend and the annual conference is definitely the highlight.  I was very disappointed not to be going this year but, at the very last minute, it seems my Fiary Godmother has been fixing things for me. I was delighted when I was able to work things so I could attend for one of the days and now, to top that, I can also attend the gala dinner and stay overnight at my lovely Romaniac friend’s house, Debbie Fuller-White, who lives close to the Telford site.

I’m very much looking forward to meeting up with lots of writer friends, especially the lovely Romaniacs – this year seven of us are going to be there – Yay!

So all that’s left for me now is to find something to wear.  Easier said than done, but I’m sure I’ll manage it.

The Romaniacs at RNA Conference 2013 – The Usual Suspects

I’ve been invited by Celia J Anderson, my lovely Romaniac pal, to take part in this blog hop. You can read about Celia’s main character from Sweet Proposal here.

I thought I would let my main character from Closing In answer the questions herself.

What is your name and are you real or fictious?

I have had two names. My birth name was Helen Matthews but I had to change my name by deed poll. I chose Ellen Newman. I wanted something that was close enough to my original name to make it easier, so I came up with Ellen. As for my surname – Paul Newman has always been one of my Hollywood idols and also because it symbolised the reinvention of myself. I was a new man – man as in humans. I thought I was being quite clever, but it turned out not to be the case.

When and where is your story set?

My story is contempoary, set on the south coast of the UK, in a small seaside village called Felpham.

What should we know about you?

I don’t want to give too much away as I’m hiding from someone but what you need to know about me is that it has taken great courage for me to make this life changing decision, to reinvent myself, and start anew. My escape and reinvention took many months to plan and although I was frightening, I knew it had to be done. However, I have come to realise that I can’t run forever.

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

My main conflict is whether to run or to face up to my past. A classic case of Flight, Fight, Freeze or Fawn.

What messes up my life – is having to face up to things I never wanted to.

What is your goal?

To be free. To be happy. To love and be loved.

What is the book title?

Closing In.

Closing In is available through Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Kobo, GooglePlay, iTunes

Thanks for tagging me Celia, I’m now nominating my fellow HarperImpulse author Wendy Lou Jones, author of ‘The Songbird and The Soldier’, with her soon to be released second novel, ‘By My Side’.

I’ve been invited by horror writer, Mark West (click on Mark’s name to see his post), to take part in this blog hop – the title pretty much explains what it’s about. So here’s my contribution.

Three Things I Do Write

1. Romance

All my books so far have had romance in them, but to varying degrees. United States of Love is a full on romance but Closing In, although it does have a romance, it isn’t the overriding story. I’m working on book 3 at the moment and, again, the romance is there but not pivotal.  Why do I write romance? It’s all about feelings and emotions which make us human.

2. Mystery

I always enjoy reading books where there is some mystery or secret to solve. Something that keeps you guessing again and again. I like a good crime story and have enjoyed weaving mini-mysteries into the plots of my books. It gives it another dimension.

3.  Themes

When I wrote my first novel, I had no idea what the theme was, I just knew I wanted to write a romance which, I suppose, is quite a broad theme itself.  I attended a workshop run by Julie Cohen and the subject of theme came up. It was a light bulb moment for me, I realised if I knew my theme and kept that at the front of my mind when writing, it would keep the story tight and on track. So now, I always identify my theme before I begin, it’s the starting block for me.

Three Things I Don’t Write

1. Horror

I don’t think I could ever come up with anything that was scary. I’ve read some horror books in the past – I distinctly remember reading a James Herbert book when I was about 14 and it scared me so much, I was literally checking the air vents before I went to bed. I just don’t think I could create anything that frightening. It’s a lot to live up to.

2. Historical

I haven’t written anything historical … yet. I would like to but I’m painfully aware of the huge amount of research that I would need to undertake and, currently, I just haven’t got the time. It would do historical writing a great injustice if I didn’t get the facts as right as possible. One day, when I have more time, I do plan to start gathering together information that will allow me to write in this genre but, for now, it’s a bit of a way off.

3. Fantasy

I know there are some great books and films out there, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter – the list is endless, but, it’s just not my thing. I wouldn’t know where to start writing some alternative world, I prefer to write what I know in the real world. However, as with historical writing, I can’t rule it out for ever. I may suddenly wake up one morning with a whole new world in my head with a story desperate to be told but, until then, fantasy is not for me.

It’s been an interesting exercise and wasn’t as easy as I thought. I’m ‘nominating’ Nic Tatano and Anneli Purchase to take part next.