Flaming Nora: Going up! Flyers, radio and online talk

Saturday, April 03, 2021

Going up! Flyers, radio and online talk - my writing week

This week is the last of five weeks that I've allowed myself off to rest between writing books. And while I haven't been writing (apart from my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine) it's surprised me how much work I do on auto-pilot without thinking about it. That's why these weekly writing blog posts are important to me and why I'll keep doing them. They're a reminder of what I do outside the realm of writing, all work that goes to support my writing life.

It's a busy life, full of admin and record-keeping as I'm self-employed. I have to be my own secretary, Public Relations expert (witht he help of Hype That Publicity!), my own Personal Assistant, hair stylist and make-up artist for when I do zooms and online talks. I have to be my own life coach, manager, mentor and yes, it's exhausting at times. But do you know what? I wouldn't change it for the world.

And so let's have a look at what I've been up to this week when I haven't been writing.

First off, I designed and updated my set of flyers to help promote my books. These I pop into each of my books that I sell direct from my website. Would you like to be a signed book? All details here.

I have my flyers, just like my banner which was in last week's writing round-up, printed by Hello Print who are very reasonably priced and more importantly, available to chat online to if I run into problems with my design.

I also narrated and recorded an online talk about writing historical fiction set in old Ryhope, the village where my novels are based. I talk about how locations in the village inspire my books and the talk is 20 minutes long. It's very interesting and feedback so far has been great.

Would you like to watch it? It's here.

I was interviewed this week on DH9 Community Radio by DJ Bryan Irving. I met Bryan a few years ago at a writing for radio workshop in Sunderland. He's been a huge supporter of my short stories and novels and I visited him at his studios in Stanley, County Durham before the pandemic hit where he interviewed me on the radio. This time, our interview was done online. You can listen to the interview soon and I'll post the link when it's live. It includes the chance to win one of two signed copies of my new novel The Paper Mill Girl.

The Paper Mill Girl rose up the Bookseller's Heatseekers chart to number 3. I am very happy indeed 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 also had a short story, written during lockdown last year, accepted for publication by The People's Friend Magazine. It's a fun, cosy crime story and I'll let you know when it's published so you can read it if you'd like to.

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.