Flaming Nora: Editing, Blogs, Talks and Pauline's Picks

Friday, October 01, 2021

Editing, Blogs, Talks and Pauline's Picks - my writing week

This week I sent off the edited copy of my second cosy crime Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel to the publisher. It's been a long and difficult process editing this book as some of the themes needed to be moved around and there was a great deal of work to do. However, I worked steadily on it, unpicking it and knitting it back together. At one point, I even printed off 16 pages and sat on the floor with them, cutting them up and moving them around. A real cut and paste job! It was the only way I could think of sorting things out in my head. I used coloured pens to help me keep track of what was happening when, before working on the book on my PC. And now, the edited copy is with my editor at Headline. It may come back for even more editing and I'll keep working on it until it's as polished as it can possibly be.

Now then, South Cliff Gardens in Scarborough hold a very special place in my heart. Readers of my cosy crime books (and everyone who knows me) will know how special Scarborough is. It's my happy place, always has been and I hope always will. I was even married there too. In South Cliff Gardens there's a gorgeous rose garden which plays a pivotal scene in my debut cosy crime Murder at the Seaview Hotel. In my second cosy crime, out next year, the Italian gardens in South Cliff Gardens plays another pivotal, wonderful role too. They are currently undergoing major renovation after heavy investment. I've teamed up with them to write a blog post which you can read on their website. It's here.

The paperback launch of my gritty, dramatic saga set in 1919 - The Miner's Lass - is featured in New Writing North's newsletter for October 2021. I'm giving an online book launch by zoom in conjunction with The Word at South Shields. It's free but booking is essential - sign up here and I'd love to see you.

I'm also giving more talks this autumn - check them all out here.

I'm really happy to report that my new, gritty saga set in 1919, out in paperback on October 28th, is one of Pauline's Picks this week at South Tyneside Libraries. You can watch Pauline in the very short video here.

Check out the latest recommendations on Pauline's Picks. This week she features The Miner's Lass by ⁦@flaming_nora⁩ and Half Past Tomorrow by ⁦@crmcgeorge⁩ https://t.co/Gz3OIgIEjU
— South Tyneside Libraries (@SouthTyneLibs) September 29, 2021

And you can join me with Pauline at the official book launch on October 7th. It's online, by zoom, all are welcome to attend. It's free but booking is essential, so don't miss out - book here.

Very proud to be giving two talks at this year's Sunderland Literature Festival. The first is about my gritty 1919 saga, THE MINER'S LASS and the other my debut cosy crime starring 12 Elvis impersonators, MURDER AT THE SEAVIEW HOTEL. Please join me! All details at the Sunderland Libraries Literature Festival booklet available to download here.

I'm giving an online talk for Northumberland Libraries next week about my new book THE MINER'S LASS, it's free, please come! All details here. And it was given a lovely mention in the News Post Leader newspaper here.

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.