Flaming Nora: Wonky fringe, heatseeking and launch

Friday, March 26, 2021

Wonky fringe, heatseeking and launch - my writing week

It's been a lovely, calm week writing-wise - which is exactly what I'd been aiming for.

I decided some months ago that I was going to take the whole of March "off" writing. While I haven't been writing, apart from my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine, there has been lots of admin and self-employed faff to catch up on.

This week, the fourth of five weeks I've allowed myself to rest in-between books, things have finally started to calm down. I've read a lot of books, cycled and walked on the beach...

... and done all of this too!

There was the book launch for my novel novel The Paper Mill Girl. Hosted by The Word (National Centre for the Written Word) & South Tyneside Libraries. The event was recorded on Zoom. It's now available to watch here. Try not to laugh at my wonky, home-cut fringe.

The Paper Mill Girl entered the Bookseller's Heatseekers chart at number 11. I am very happy with this! The Heatseekers Chart is for those bubbling under the top 50 bestsellers chart by authors who haven't been in the best selling chart before.

I designed and ordered a new banner with all six of my novels so far published. It's an ideal Zoom background and perfect for when / if I ever get back out giving talks in the real world. The block of white space at the bottom of the banner is deliberate, in case you are wondering!

I received the page proofs of my debut cosy crime, Murder at the Seaview Hotel which is published in August this year. What does an author do with proofs? Well, by the time I receive the page proofs, my novel has already been edited thoroughly between the editor at the publisher Headline, and me. After it's been edited, it then gets proof-read by a professional proof-reader who corrects grammar and sentence structure, if needed. So by the time I receive the page proofs, all I need to do is a final read-through before it goes to print. It's my job, and the publisher's and the proof-reader's, to read it one final time to spot any commas in the wrong place, that kind of thing. I read it in one sitting, couldn't put it down and laughed all the way through. It's absolutely fantastic!

Every time one of my books is published in paperback, a local reader gets in touch. I sign a book for his sister, who is a big fan of my books and I was happy to do the same again this time with a copy of The Paper Mill Girl. We met outside a cafe on the beach, I signed the book, he said thank you and we agreed to do it all again in six months when the next book - The Miner's Lass is released in paperback.

I also took a stock of all of my books to my local post office - Fulwell Post office on Sea Road in Sunderland - as they are hugely supportive in selling my books. They stock books and artwork from all kinds of local authors and craftspeople, and my heartfelt thanks go to them for their support.

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.