Talking, Tik-Tokking, Writing the "new Neighbours" - my writing week

This week I've been putting together a research schedule for the next trilogy of books that I'll be writing set in a northeast toffee factory around the first world war. I've also been working on PR for my new saga and drafting a short story to enter into the Comedy Women in Print short story award later this year. 

Last week included the launch of my new book out in hardback, audiobook and ebook. Since writing last week's Writing Week blog post, I received a beautiful bouquet from my publisher Headline on publication of my new saga, A Mother's Christmas Wish. 

I had a very productive meeting with Claire of Hype That PR to arrange local and regional publicity for the paperback release in November of my new Christmas saga set in 1923. It celebrates the Irish tradition of Nollaig na mBan, the Women's Christmas.  

There's still time to enter my competition to win a signed copy with chocs! Enter here.

I'm now taking bookings for a FREE walk around Ryhope showing the locations of my novels. It's part of this year's Heritage Open Days and all details are here of how to book.

Speaking of a tour around Ryhope, social media sensation NorthEastNostalgic posted a short video showing locations from my novels. You can watch it on Instagram and TikTok.

This week my audio drama Riverside, was featured in Total TV Guide with a double-page spread interview with ex-Neighbours star Lisa Armytage, who talks about playing Ruby in Riverside! 

See riversidethesoap.com for all details of how to download and listen to Riverside.

I had a short story called Go With Mo published in Best Magazine. Hugely proud of this one. For everyone, like me, who was ever bullied at school. 

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!

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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Watch: TikTok tour of locations in my Ryhope novels

Social media sensation NorthEastNostalgic has been on a tour of Ryhope where I showed her the locations in my novels.  She's put a TikTok video together which you can watch below. What an honour!

@northeastnostalgic #ryhope #ryhopevillage #sunderland #sunderlandhistory #northeastengland #didyouknow #learnontiktok #booktok #booktiktok #durham ♬ august - Taylor Swift

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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Release, research and Ryhope - my writing week

This week has been another major week! 

My Christmas saga, A Mother's Christmas Wish, was released in hardback and e-book. The paperback is out in November.  You can order it from here - bit.ly/AMothersChristmasWish

You can enter my competition to win a signed copy of the new book with a box of chocolates too. Enter here.

Also this week, I've been putting together a research plan to research the trilogy of books I'm writing next. They're set in a toffee factory in the northeast (that no longer exists). While I haven't been doing any novel writing during August, I have been very busy planning my research for the new books and am really excited about it all, starting in September. It includes three days in Yorkshire too... but I'm not about to spoil any surprises here.  You can read more on my toffee factory girls trilogy here.

Also this week, I did a book signing in Sunderland Waterstones for my Scarborough-set cosy crime Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel. A fan / reader Beverly Ann Hopper even arrived with flowers for me. How lovely was that? It was a busy session at Waterstones chatting to customers and selling and signing books.

I worked with my local theatre, The Sunderland Empire, on a competition to promote an Elvis show later this year. 3 signed copies of my cosy crime starring 12 Elvis impersonators (Twelvis!) are up for grabs at the competition here.

I've also been on a recce around Ryhope with my friend and tour guide Paul Lanagan. This is in preparation for the guided walk as part of Heritage Open Days 2022. The walk around Ryhope shows the locations from my novels. It's on Saturday Sep 10th at 11am and you can find all details here. It's free.

The website Books4People created this lovely little video showcasing my books! You can find out more at their website 

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!

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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

Competition! Enter to win a signed copy of A Mother's Christmas Wish with a box of chocs and free bookmarks

Win a signed hardback copy of my new historical saga A Mother's Christmas Wish and I'll throw in a box of Milk Tray chocolates too and free bookmarks for you.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to answer the following question correctly by the deadline of Sunday 31st August 2022.  

One winner will be drawn at random and announced here on this blog.  UK entries only please.

Good luck!




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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

5 Locations in A Mother's Christmas Wish

Would you like to know more about the locations I use in my novels? 

I hope that if you read the book, or if you've read it already, that these pictures might give some context and background and add a bit of depth to the locations I've written about.

A Mother's Christmas Wish is available in hardback, e-book and audiobook. You can buy it here. 

It comes out in paperback in November 2022.

1. The seaside village of Lougshinny in Ireland

Loughshinny is a small seaside village in Ireland, between Skerries and Rush. It is where the heroine Emma Devaney begins her story when she is forced to leave her beloved mother and her village. She is sent overseas to England to live with her aunt Bessie in Ryhope.  Find out more about Loughshinny here.

2. The Forester's Arms pub in Ryhope

Emma arrives in Ryhope in 1923. Now, I know the picture above isn't 1923 but it's the only old photograph of The Forester's Arms pub that I have. If you have an older one, I'd love to hear from you, do get in touch via my website at glendayoungbooks.com.  Emma arrives in Ryhope to begin work at The Forester's Arms. As well as Emma herself, the pub is also the star of this book.

3. Ryhope village farms

Action in this book takes place between the pubs on Ryhope's colliery bank and the farms building in the more pastoral side of Ryhope in 1923. This is a very old drawing showing animals on the village green and the farm buildings behind, many of which still stand to this day.

4. The Railway Inn

Watch out, Emma! She makes the mistake of heading to the Railway Inn the minute she lands in Ryhope. It's not a good move, for reasons I won't give away, but she may regret meeting the people she falls in with there.

5. The village green in the snow

As this is a Christmas book, here's a wonderfully snowy scene on the village green. The horse trough is at the left front of the picture and horses feature in this book, as does a great deal of snow. 

I truly hope you enjoy reading this book, I think it's my favourite so far.

And if you'd like to find out more about locations in my Ryhope-set novels, here you go: 

• 5 Locations in The Sixpenny Orphan
• 5 Locations in The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon
• 5 Locations in Pearl of Pit Lane
• 5 Locations in The Tuppenny Child
• 5 Locations in Belle of the Back Streets
• 5 Locations in The Miner's Lass
• 5 Locations in The Paper Mill Girl

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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

A Mother's Christmas Wish - out today in hardback and ebook

My Christmas saga - and my favourite book written so far - is out in hardback and ebook today. 

The paperback is out in November. 

I love this book. Would you like to order it? It's here - http://bit.ly/AMothersChristmasWish

Here's a teaser video of me talking about it too.

 

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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

The week I almost ran away - my writing week

This week was huge. I mean, enormous!  My book launch for my second cosy crime, Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel, was held in Scarborough. So many people attended that I was a little anxious and at one point and looked around me to see if there was anywhere I could run and hide!  I'm glad I didn't run away though as I met some amazing people and there was a lot of love for my books.

I was even interviewed on Scarborough TV news and you can watch it here (it's not in the right orientation, so you may need to twist your head!

I called into Scarborough Waterstones to sign a stock of their books.

My interview with The People's Friend, about how their invitation to me to write their first ever weekly soap opera Riverside, led to me becoming a bestselling author and fulfilling my lifelong dream of becoming an author. You can read it all here.

Also in  The People's Friend magazine this week was a wonderful review of my new book!

If you'd like to listen to my interview on BBC Newcastle it's in two parts.  The first part begins at 1hr 17mins and the second part at 1hr 42mins at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0clvm17 

My cosy crime is available free for reading groups from The Reading Agency. Have a look here if you have a reading group!

My new audio drama, Riverside, was featured in this week's Best magazine and given a lovely mention!

See riversidethesoap.com for all details.

My saga Pearl of Pit Lane was taken by the Book Fairies North East to Beamish Museum, where I researched the book.  They left the book for someone to find. Was it you? Let me know!

Also this week, the first advance reader review is in on Goodreads for my Christmas saga A Mother's Christmas Wish. Gives 5 stars and says this... "It's a book you won't be able to put down, heart-breaking incredible book, one of my favourite reads so far this year in historical family sagas. top stars."

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

Listen to me chatting on BBC Newcastle about cosy crimes, sagas and the joy of writing

If you'd like to listen to my interview on radio BBC Newcastle it's here in two parts. 

The first part begins at 1hr 17mins and the second part at 1hr 42mins at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0clvm17 
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Glenda Young

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Website: GlendaYoungBooks.com

The week I revealed my big news - my writing week

This week I finished the final draft of cosy crime number three, Foul Play at the Seaview Hotel. It is now with the publisher and I can take a well-deserved break. My plan now is to take a break from novel writing during the month of August, although I'm still very busy, as you can see below!

I'm delighted to finally be able to reveal some big news. I've signed a new three-book deal with Headline. This time, it's to write novels starring the women who work in a northeast toffee factory around WW1.   You can read the full press release in The Bookseller.

The stories are inspired by the women who worked at Horner's toffee factory in Chester-le-Street. One of the main brands of toffee made there was the Dainty Dinah brand and the factory was nicknamed Dainty Dinah's toffee factory.  I can't wait to get my teeth stuck into this!  Researching in earnest will begin in the autumn. I'm very excited indeed.

My new cosy crime set in Scarborough, Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel was released this week in paperback and it's been a wonderful week!  You can buy the book here. The book launch takes place on Saturday 6 August from 11-1 in Scarborough. All details here.  All welcome!

The launch was given a mention in New Writing North's August newsletter.  Read it all here.

It was also featured in The Scarborough News

And I was included in August's edition of The Crack magazine in the books section too, which made me smile. Ever popular local author!  My book signing at Sunderland Waterstones is on Saturday 13 August from 12-2. All details here.

My book was even made Read of the Month in the Crime Readers' Association. Find out more here.

My author newsletter for August has been published and is now available to read online.  It contains two competitions, a 99p offer, a saga release this month and an invitation to join me at the seaside on Saturday. You can read it online here.

TripFiction are running a competition to win one of three copies of my Scarborough-set cosy crime Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel. Enter here.

 

I was interviewed on BBC Radio York this week by Bek Homer who presents her Bek by the Sea show.   We spoke about my book launch this Saturday in Scarborough for my second cosy crime, Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel

You can listen to it here.  My interview begins at 50 mins and 50 seconds.

Very pleased to have my Christmas saga, A Mother's Christmas Wish, included in The Bookseller's Buyer's Guide to Fiction 2022-23. It's my favourite of all my sagas so far. Features the wonderful Irish tradition of Little Christmas, the Women's Christmas. #NollaigNaMban

I was interviewed on the Coronation Street podcast, Conversation Street, about my new audio drama Riverside. You can listen to the interview on this link where I start talking to Michael, the host, at 1hr 43mins. And you can find out all about Riverside at http://riversidethesoap.com

This week I was given a wonderful shout-out online by http://www.HelloPrint.com across all of their social media platforms! You can see details at their Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn:

I had a really good, fun short story in My Weekly magazine. It's a cosy crime mystery set around a Punch and Judy tent in a seaside resort. At the end of the story is a lovely snippet about my new cosy crime novel Curtain Call at the Seaview Hotel, which is out in paperback now. 

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