Coronation Street Weekly Update, Dec 26 2020

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please), you can donate here

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Chocolates and crime - my writing week

This week I'm very happy to announce that my first of three cosy crime novels, Murder at the Seaview Hotel, is now available to order. It's released in August 2021 by Headline in ebook, hardback and audiobook and in paperback in November 2021.  

What's it about?  

Well, when a troupe of 12 Elvis impersonators (Twelvis) arrive for an Elvis convention in Scarborough, one of them is found dead and his blue suede shoes are stolen. B&B landlady Helen Dexter and her trusty rescue greyhound Suki are on the case in Murder at the Seaview Hotel, my first cosy crime and you can find out more here.

In terms of actual sitting down on my backside and writing, I wrote the Christmas Coronation Street weekly update and sent it to my emailing list of thousands of Corrie fans around the world. I've been running this list since 1995 and if you'd like to sign up to receive these weekly updates, all details are here.

And I've been working very hard on editing Murder at the Seaview Hotel. Structural editing is hard, intense and requires a lot of concentration so I've been working on it for a couple of hours each day. As it's been Christmas week I took Christmas Day and Boxing Day "off" although was constantly thinking about my work, as I suspect most writers do.

Finally this week I've written a blog post which sums up all of what there is to look forward to in 2021. You can read it all here.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Look to the future now, it's only just begun

There's a lot going on in 2021. Here's just some of the exciting events I'm looking forward to in the new year.

In March, my novel The Paper Mill Girl is released in paperback. Keep your eyes peeled for news, interviews and competitions to win copies of the books.

In May, my novel The Miner's Lass is released in hardback, ebook and audiobook.  

In August, my first cosy crime novel, Murder at the Seaview Hotel is released in hardback, ebook and audiobook. 

In October, The Miner's Lass is released in paperback.  Keep your eyes peeled for news, interviews and competitions to win copies of the books.

In November, Murder at the Seaview Hotel is released in paperback. If it's allowed by then, I'll be holding a book launch in Scarborough, where the novel is set.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Coronation Street Weekly Update, Dec 19 2020

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please), you can donate here

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

My first cosy crime novel - now available to order

Gulp, it's all got real. Murder at the Seaview Hotel ebook now available to order, it's out August 2021 from Headline. Hardback, paperback and audiobook coming too. 

It's set in a Scarborough B&B called The Seaview Hotel and a group of twelve Elvis impersonators  (Twelvis) arrive but one of them is found dead and his blue suede shoes have been stolen. Just what is going on and who has murdered Elvis?

"Perfect for fans of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club". 

Crikey. 

Find out more at http://bit.ly/CosyCrimeGlendaYoung

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Sunderland Echo, Sunderland Culture, The Bookseller and Red Herrings - my writing week

 

It's been quite a wonderful week with a feature on me and my books in my always supportive local newspaper, Sunderland Echo.

My novel The Paper Mill Girl comes out in paperback in March 2021 and this week was one of the highlighted previews in The Bookseller magazine. Read more on that here.

The first of my three cosy crimes Murder at the Seaview Hotel is published in August 2021 with Headline and I've joined the Crime Writers' Association. This month I was featured in their members' magazine, Red Herrings. Read more on that here.

Sunderland Culture featured me as their Creative of the Week. I had no idea this was going to happen and it made me very happy indeed. 

It's Thursday! It's #CreativeCitySunderland!!

Today's spotlight is on award-winning local author, Glenda Young @flaming_nora

Glenda's books are set in Sunderland in 1919. Her latest novel, The Paper Mill Girl, was released in ebook, hardback and audio in November (1/3) pic.twitter.com/kPaXjvYp2S

— Sunderland Culture (@SundCulture) December 17, 2020

In terms of actual sitting down on my backside and writing, 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 wrote another Coronation Street weekly update and sent it to my emailing list of thousands of Corrie fans around the world. I've been running this list since 1995 and if you'd like to sign up to receive these weekly updates, all details are here.

I wrote a round-up of all of my writing achievements of 2020. You can read them all here.

And I chose my top 5 writing achievements of 2020 too. You can find out what they are, if you'd like to.

And last but by no means least is the news that I've been working daily on my new work in progress. This is a saga novel, for Headline, and a very special one indeed. 

I've now paused work on it for a few weeks while I begin editing my first cosy crime novel Murder at the Seaview Hotel which is published in August 2021.  To ensure a seamless return to writing my saga, I've deliberately paused it at a very poignant scene that will rattle around my brain for the next few weeks until I can start writing again.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Now a member of the Crime Writers' Association

Feeling very grown up. I'm now an official member of the Crime Writers' Association and am featured in their January newsletter, Red Herrings.

My first cosy crime novel, set in Scarborough, is Murder at the Seaview Hotel. It's published in August next year by Headline and I couldn't be happier.  

Here I am on the new member's page:

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Top 5 writing highlights of 2020

Yesterday I published a blog post showcasing my writing achievements this year. 

You can read it here if you'd like to.

Today, I'd like to choose my personal top five writing highlights from all of those achievements. And so, here we go, in no particular order.

NUMBER ONE

Signing two new contracts with publisher Headline to write more sagas set in the coalmining village of Ryhope where I was born and bred AND to write three cosy crimes set in a Scarborough B&B.

NUMBER TWO

I won the Evesham Festival of Words Short Story Award 2020 with my short story The Fan Club Man. One of the judges told me that the story made her both laugh and cry in equal measure.

NUMBER THREE

Got myself interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour about my gritty novels set in the northeast coalmining village where I was born and bred.  Jane Garvey said I was 'Such a good writer; fantastic' and my novels were 'Real sagas with female characters right at the heart'.  Quotes I'll dine out on for years.

NUMBER FOUR

For someone who struggles with self-esteem and anxiety, it's no mean feat giving public talks about my books. It's something I haven't had to do in person during lockdown. But I realised that I genuinely missed the connection with readers and fans and so I did something I thought I'd never have the confidence to do in a million years. I set up my own channel on YouTube and now there's no shutting me up.  It's all here. 

NUMBER FIVE

And last but by no means least, I was given a full page feature in The Mirror where I talked about how being a Coronation Street fan changed my life and led to me writing novels and even a soap opera of my own.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Looking back in 2020 vision - My writing year

It's time to look back at my writing year of 2020.  It's important to me to write these blog posts as a reminder of what I've done as I tend to take my skills for granted. And also, if I don't make a song and dance about my achievements, no-one else will. Have trumpet, will blow!

And so, here we go.  As well as all of the achievements listed below, each week I write my soap opera Riverside  for The People's Friend magazine. I've also written short stories which have been published in women's magazines including The People's Friend and The People's Friend Fiction Special, My Weekly and Take a Break's Fiction Feast.

As for writing achievements this year so far, here we go!

Interviewed on the Women's Magazine Writers Blog.

Sharon Marshall, soaps queen at ITV's This Morning, said my novels were 'amazing'

I was featured in The Guardian - Corrie changed my life!

Interviewed on BBC Radio Newcastle about my novel Pearl of Pit Lane.

Full-page feature about my novels in The Northern Echo.

March (before lockdown)

Pearl of Pit Lane published in paperback on March 7, World Book Day

Visited Ryhope St. Paul's CE School to talk to each class about my novels set in Ryhope. This was March 7, World Book Day. I dressed up as Meg from my debut novel Belle of the Back Streets.

Pearl of Pit Lane book launch at Waterstone's, Sunderland

Pearl of Pit Lane book launch at National Glass Centre, Sunderland

Interviewed on SUN FM radio about my novel Pearl of Pit Lane.

March (after lockdown)

Coronavirus caused all my author events to be cancelled - so this is what I did instead

Was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour about my gritty novels set in a northeast coalmining village in 1919.  Jane Garvey said I was 'Such a good writer; fantastic' and my novels were 'Real sagas with female characters right at the heart'.

Wrote my 6th novel for Headline, set in the coalmining village of Ryhope, where I was born and bred, and set in 1919

Worked with Ryhope Florists to offer my Ryhope-set novels with their bouquets for Mother's Day, which proved hugely popular.

Reading my novels was listed in my local newspaper The Sunderland Echo as one of the most mackem things to do during lockdown

Featured on the FemaleFirst website with 5 things I want my reader to know and 5 things I don't

Interviewed by The Guardian about writing in lockdown.

Won the Evesham Festival of Words Short Story Award 2020 with my short story The Fan Club Man.

Was featured in my local newspaper The Sunderland Echo in my pinny.

My Weekly magazine celebrated their 110th anniversary and I was given a special mention.

Set up my YouTube channel and, gulp, recorded myself speaking about my books.

Was asked by two local libraries to record online author talks to replace the talks I was due to give this summer. 

Had two short stories longlisted, one in the University of Essex prize and one in the Limnisa prize.

Was interviewed online by TripFiction website about place and setting for my novels.

Invited to be the featured author on Saturday Book Chat.

My author interview with Medina Bookshop.

Facebook live interview with The People's Friend magazine.

Online author talk for Sunderland Libraries Literature Festival.

My novels became available in large print for the first time.  

Interviewed on BBC Radio York on the Bek by the Sea show about my love of Scarborough and why I set my new novel The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon there.

Interviewed on BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC York about my new novel  The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

As "Sunderland's best-selling author" I signed copies of my new novel The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon for Waterstone's Sunderland (under strict covid rules).

Featured in University of Sunderland news

Commissioned to write a short story for The People's Friend 2020 very special feel-good magazine

The Sunderland Echo ran a competition to win copies of my novel The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon reaches number 13 in The Bookseller's Hetseeker's Chart

The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon featured in My Weekly magazine, the Peterborough Telegraph, Inside Soap magazine 

Lovely long feature interview with me about using Scarborough as a location in my novel The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon in Whitby Gazette, Yorkshire Evening Post, Scarborough News. 

Author interview and feature in Sunderland Vibe magazine.

Write an article on the setting of Scarborough in my novels for Books by Women 

Wrote an article on my writing process for Frost Magazine

Radio interview with BBC Tees on becoming a writer and how writing about Coronation Street changed my life.

The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon featured in The People's Friend magzine.

The Paper Mill Girl is published in hardback, ebook and audiobook. Paperback is out March 2021.

I signed up to the #SignForOurBookshops initiative.

Longlisted in the Exeter Story Prize.

Cosy crime short story included in the My Weekly Annual 2021.

I've signed two new contracts with publisher Headline to write more sagas set in Ryhope in 1919 and also to write three cosy crimes set in a Scarborough B&B. All details here.

The Paper Mil Girl previewed in The Bookseller magazine for their March 2021 fiction releases.

The Paper Mil Girl featured in Headline's publishing highlights for 2021. 

My sagas and cosy crime news celebrated in The Sunderland Echo.

Interviewed on BBC Scotland about being a writer and how Coronation Street changed my life.

Full-page spread and featured in The Mirror about being a writer and how Coronation Street changed my life.

TripFiction run a competition to win three copies of The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon.

Sunderland Vibe run a competition to win a copy of The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

My novels included on the list of Best Mackem Christmas gifts in The Sunderland Echo

Continuing to conquer my fear of public speaking, I set up a Youtube channel to chat about the heroines in my books. 

The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon given a glowing review in North East Lifestyle magazine

I celebrate 60 years of Coronation Street with a commissioned article for The People's Friend magazine

• You might like to take a look back at my year in writing for last year, 2019

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline 
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

The Paper Mill Girl previewed in The Bookseller magazine

Very happy to see The Paper Mill Girl previewed in this week's Bookseller magazine.  It comes out in March 2021, just in time for Mother's Day, which will make a lovely present for some mum, or indeed for anyone.

The blurb for the book in the Bookseller simply says this, however as I'm sure you can imagine if you know my books by now, there's a hell of a lot more going on. There's class warfare, domestic abuse, one of the most evil women I've ever written and one of the nicest men too. There's the workings of a paper mill in 1919, and I did weeks of intense research on this and the role of women in the mills too. Ultimately it's a story of friendship between women, even across a class divide. And yes, the paper mill girl at the heart of the story, does indeed bring up her sister's baby, but that my friends, is only the beginning of the tale...

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline  
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

My sagas and cosy crime news in the Sunderland Echo

With thanks to my local newspaper, The Sunderland Echo for featuring the news of my new five-book deal with publisher Headline.

I'm really, really happy about this. 

As well as writing two more novels set in old Ryhope, the village where I was born and bred, I'm also going to be writing three cosy crimes set in a Scarborough B&B.

You can read the whole news article here.


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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Coronation Street Weekly Update, Dec 12 2020

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please), you can donate here

__

Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline 
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor