Wednesday 18 February 2015

Normanby Hall my inspiration

After a three year break from writing new work, I've had thoughts to get back into it. More than thoughts really, as I've gone as far as opening an old, unfinished manuscript and reading it. Naturally, reading led to editing and fiddling with sentences. It's been so long since I started writing this story, I found that the characters jumped from the page, as if to say, hey here I am, you've forgotten me, but once I started reading, I knew I hadn't forgotten them -- life had just sidelined them and my writing ambitions for a while.

So now I thought to make a promise to myself. I'm going to try and finish the story. Write the novel. Not think ahead to the agonies of promoting it. Just write. I'm hoping this will help me to keep opening the manuscript and plugging away at it.

Also, to help this process I've been looking at historical research, since the book I'm writing is set in the Edwardian era, starting at 1912, and research is very important to me.

Harry, the male character, owns an estate, and much of the surrounding village and the local coal mine. For his home I found inspiration from Normanby Hall, a local grand estate near where I work.
Visiting places like this helps the imagination, fills the creative well, so to speak.

I've decided to share the some of my research. Obviously, Harry's home isn't Normanby Hall, but I can create something similar in my story to make it lifelike and more true to the times.



If you wish to learn more about Normanby Hall please visit this link.


Friday 13 February 2015

To Take Her Pride is only £2.99!

I love all my novels, but one of my favourites is To Take Her Pride and it's currently on Amazon Kindle at £2.99!

Back blurb:
Aurora Pettigrew has it all, a loving family, a nice home, a comfortable life. She’s waiting for the right man to offer her marriage, and the man for her is Reid Sinclair, heir to the Sinclair fortune and the love of her life.
But, Reid’s mother, Julia, is against the match and her ruthlessness unearths a family secret that will tear Aurora’s world apart.
Unwilling to bring shame on her family and needing answers to the allegations brought to light by Reid’s mother, Aurora begins a long journey away from home. She leaves behind all that is familiar and safe to enter a world of mean streets and poor working class.
Living in the tenements of York, surrounded by people of a class she’d never mixed with before, Aurora struggles to come to terms with the way her life has changed. By chance, she reconnects with a man from her past and before he leaves with the army to war in South Africa, he offers her security through marriage.
Aurora knows she should be happy, but the memory of her love for Reid threatens her future.
When tragedy strikes, can Aurora find the strength to accept her life and forget the past?
You can view it here. To Take Her Pride