Cover Girl and International Womens Day - my writing week

This week I finished the first edits on the first in my trilogy of novels. The first one is called The Toffee Factory Girls.  There's still a long way to go, and it's a slow process that needs to be done carefully.

I gave a talk to the Society of Authors (North East) in Newcastle.  The Society of Authors is the union for writers and they offer a great deal of help and support. It was an honour to be asked to speak and I met some great people too.

I was also over the moon to find out I was included in an exhibition at Auckland Castle in County Durham where my novel The Miner's Lass was on display. This was to celebrate International Women's Day.   My novel The Miner's Lass is sitting there on the table, with a brief biography about me too.  How wonderful is that!

And here is Auckland Castle!

I was also the cover girl of local magazine SR7 connect and there's an article about me inside.

I was planned to give a talk to Sunderland U3A but with heavy snow forecast, it had to be cancelled. It will be rescheduled, so do keep checking the events page on my website glendayoungbooks.com

I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here.

I also kept the Coronation Street Blog ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 bloggers. 

See you next week!

__

Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Done and dusted, spring cleaning my mind - my writing week

This week I finished the first draft of The Toffee Factory Girls. This is the first book in the trilogy.  There's still a long way to go, with editing and proofreading, before it goes to my publisher later this year. And the story doesn't end there. There'll be more editing to do, more proofreading, until it's as polished as can be and ready for readers in the shops in 2024.

And here I am ready to start editing!

Two days this week I rented an office in the wonderful River Wear Comissioners' Building in Sunderland. I get SO much work done with no distractions. It's an historic building and very insping to work in.

Here are more pictures from last week's visit to Bedlington Library in Northumberland. It was such a joyous day with a wonderful audience. You can tell by the sheer joy on my face!

And here I am with award-winning librarian Michelle in the striped top, and Julie who very kindly picked me up from the railway station and drove me to the library and back.

If you'd be interested in coming along to events, book talks, author talks, book fairs and signings, check out my website here where all of my events are listed.

My new novel The Sixpenny Orphan was featured in The Bookseller magazine in their preview of paperbacks coming in May. I was overjoyed to see it there!

I'm doing a fundraising talk for Frogmore Paper Mill, the world's first mechanised paper mill, which has been devastated by fire.  They helped me SO MUCH with research for my novel The Paper Mill Girl. I spent two days there with their paper mill archivist.  My talk will be all about the amazing research I did for The Paper Mill Girl and the work of women in the papermills circa WW1. 

See the blog post I wrote about my visit to Frogmore during the research for The Paper Mill Girl.

The Paper Mill Girl is my bestselling novel so far. It was the book that propelled me into the bestselling top 50 chart... at number 49, for one week... but I'll take that happily!

The talk includes a meal. ALL profits on books sold on the night will go to the rebuilding fund. I'll be happy to sign books too. 

Date for your diary, Friday 10 November 2023 at 7pm. 

All details at https://www.frogmorepapermill.org.uk/event/talks-programme/

I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here.

I also kept the Coronation Street Blog ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 bloggers. 

See you next week!

__

Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Fundraising talk for Frogmore Paper Mill where my novel The Paper Mill Girl was researched

I'm doing a fundraising talk for Frogmore Paper Mill, the world's first mechanised paper mill, which has been devastated by fire. 

They helped me SO MUCH with research for my novel The Paper Mill Girl. I spent two days there with their paper mill archivist.  My talk will be all about the amazing research I did for The Paper Mill Girl and the work of women in the papermills circa WW1. 

See the blog post I wrote about my visit to Frogmore during the research for The Paper Mill Girl.

The Paper Mill Girl is my bestselling novel so far. It was the book that propelled me into the bestselling top 50 chart... at number 49, for one week... but I'll take that happily!

The talk includes a meal. ALL profits on books sold on the night will go to the rebuilding fund. I'll be happy to sign books too. 

Date for your diary, Friday 10 November 2023 at 7pm. 

All details at https://www.frogmorepapermill.org.uk/event/talks-programme/

__

Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Bookshops, Libraries ... and almost at the end - my writing week

This week I've been racing to the finishing post, writing the first in the trilogy of The Toffee Factory Girls. It's almost done, I'll be finished my first draft next week but there's still a very long way to go editing it and knocking it into shape.

I gave a talk at Bedlington library in Northumberland. I love doing library talks and this one was wonderful, thank you to everyone who came.  Thank you to everyone at Northumberland Libraries for making me so welcome.

I also visited Featherbed Books in Houghton-le-Spring, a gorgeous little independent bookshop. I signed some copies of The Sixpenny Orphan and while I was there, a woman who'd bought one of the books and had ordered it in advance, came to collect her book. She was as overjoyed as I was to meet in person!

I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here.

I also kept the Coronation Street Blog ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 bloggers. 

See you next week!

__

Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Winner announced in The Sixpenny Orphan and Mr Kipling jam tarts competition

Congratulations go to Elsie Ronald who has been drawn at random from all of the correct entries in my latest competition.  Elsie wins a signed hardback copy of The Sixpenny Orphan and a box of Mr Kipling jam tarts.

Why jam tarts?

Ah, you'll have to read the book to find out.  Order your copy now at bit.ly/TheSixpennyOrphan

__

Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Book launch and London - my writing week

This week I've been carrying on writing the first book in my trilogy of The Toffee Factory Girls. The send is in sight for the first draft, just a couple of weeks to go then I can breathe a sigh of relief before going back to edit it - which will take a long time. 

Also this week my novel The Sixpenny Orphan was released in hardback, ebook and audiobook. You can order it at http://bit.ly/TheSixpennyOrphan

Elsewhere this week, my time was used in travelling to and from London and staying overnight. The reason for the visit was a meeting with my agent and publisher - always exciting!

I was mentioned in the Wrexham Leader newspaper in relation to the Wrexham Carnival of Words this April. All welcome, do come!  

I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here.

I also kept the Coronation Street Blog ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 bloggers. 

See you next week!

__

Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Publication day! My new novel The Sixpenny Orphan

Today's the day! 

The Sixpenny Orphan is released by Headline in ebook, audiobook and hardback today, Thursday February 16 2023.  

It's a tale of two orphan sisters Poppy and Rose who are torn apart in tragic events. Ten years later, a letter arrives for Poppy who discovers the truth about what happened to Rose. Poppy sets out to bring Rose home, but their lives have drastically changed.  

This is a book that will make you cry, it's a beautiful read.

Order it at http://bit.ly/TheSixpennyOrphan

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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Carry on Cruising, YouTubing, Writing and Crying - my writing week

This week I've had my head down, concentrating on writing my novel, the first in a series called The Toffee Factory Girls. I'm over two-thirds of the way through writing the first draft but there's still a long way to go. 

One day this week I took to my external office, away from home, at the River Wear Commissioners' Building in Sunderland. It makes a change to writing at home and gives a different energy. Plus, there's no distractions so I can get twice as much work done. This week I took a top floor office with a very atmospheric view of rooftops and chimney pots.

I also created a very short, new video to tell you about the story in The Sixpenny Orphan. It's released next week in ebook, hardback and audiobook. Order it here.  Watch the video here.

I created a competition for you to win a copy of the book with a box of jam tarts. Why jam tarts? Ah, you'll have to read the book to find out.  Enter the competition here.

My cosy crime set in Scarborough, Murder at the Seaview Hotel was given a sterling review live on Facebook from the book club for Pumping Marvellous, the heart failure charity. You can watch Gary and Sarah chat about and review the book online here.  Here's just a snippet of some of their wonderful comments as they really enjoyed the book. "It's a love story to Scarborough. Clever, funny and gentle. Twelvis are brilliant. I absolutely loved it. It made me laugh out loud. Yes, someone gets murdered but it's still a feel good read with dark humour." 

I gave a talk to the Nifty Fifty Group at Arts Centre Washington, which went down really well.  Thank you everyone for coming. Special thanks to the staff at the arts centre for looking after me so well. I wish every talk was as well organised, so that when the author arrives, it's stress-free!

For fans in the US - be a sleuth and solve cases in comfort with audiobook mysteries from Kobo - and my #Scarborough #cosycrime is featured! Listen to Murder at the Seaview Hotel and Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel at https://www.kobo.com/us/en/p/mystery-audiobooks

My bestselling novel The Paper Mill Girl was spotted by a friend in the lending library of MS Maud, a cruise shop sailing to Norway to see the Northern Lights.

This week I received a wonderful message from a reader, which I'm printing below but without the reader's name. It's messages like these that make me continue writing. And yes, I had something in my eye when I read it. I was touched.

This week the postman delivered the best kind of post - a box my new books!  Get your copy now, it's available on Thursday 16 February at bit.ly/TheSixpennyOrphan

And for talks and events, I had a new banner printed. Isn't it gorgeous?!

I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here.

I also kept the Coronation Street Blog ticking over with news and editing the team of 16 bloggers. 

See you next week!

__

Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

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