How the RNA Conference provided GINspiration

Today we welcome Catherine Miller who not only tells us about her latest publication but also opportunities at the RNA Conference.

I love going to the RNA conference. There is always so much to gain in terms of the variety of talks,

the 121s available, and the conversations to be had at the bar.

As writers, I think we often have more than one idea vying for attention and The Gin Shack on the Beach was just that. An idea I was generally pushing aside as it was a different genre and I’d thought it could potentially be a side project I could do with The Romaniacs for fun.

Then along came conference. It’s opportunities like this that can help shape and inspire you and the conference in 2016 did just that. There were three moments that helped me decide even if it was a different genre, The Gin Shack idea was one worth pursuing. The first was a lecture with Clio Cornish and Charlotte Mursell. It was about HQ (the new imprint of my publishers – previously Carina UK) and what they were looking for. Clio mentioned older heroines and my ears pricked up because the idea for The Gin Shack was exactly what they were describing.

The second moment was when Mills and Boon authors and editors had a get together drink in the bar. Clio and Charlotte were there as part of HQ and I was invited along. It didn’t take much alcohol for me to start pitching the idea to Clio. To be honest, I think elevator pitches should be rebranded bar pitches. I’m sure that’s where they all happen at conference. Clio loved the idea and encouraged me to send it to Victoria.

The third moment was talking to the formidable and sadly missed, Carole Blake. I’m not sure I would have been brave enough to have a full conversation with her in previous years, but time has taught me everyone in the industry is approachable, even agents and editors. I wanted to find out if Hattie Grunewald was still at the conference as we’d met earlier in the year and I was due to submit some work to her as she was considering representing me. (I’m happy to say she now does.) Carole was well known as a gin-lover so I chatted with her about the idea briefly and realised if Carole approved, it must be a good idea.

Not long after conference, I wrote a blurb and was offered a contract on the back of that blurb and a synopsis. So, there are very good reasons for having alcohol-fuelled conversations at conference. Not least because they are lots of fun, but because they can also lead to being inspired in ways you didn’t expect.

This year, I’m hoping the good fortune conference gave to me goes full circle. I’m doing my first solo talk on pitches and synopsis, and conference attendees get the chance to send their pitches to me with the best going to my agent, Hattie. I’m hoping it gives someone on the New Writers’ Scheme or an author looking to get an agent the opportunity they need. I also plan to drink gin. Chat drunkenly about wayward ideas. Try not to show myself up. And generally have a ball. Hope to see some of you at the bar.

Thank you, Catherine and good luck with your book – cheers!

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Joan Hessayon Award Contender 2016: Catherine Miller

Image courtesy of
Neaves Brothers Photography

Welcome to Catherine Miller, one of the talented contenders for this year's Joan Hessayon Award and graduate of the RNA New Writers' Scheme. Thank you for answering our questions, Catherine.

How long have you been writing? Is this your first published piece?

I’ve dabbled since my teens. I wrote my first ‘novel’ on my Grandad’s computer, then another attempt while at University studying physiotherapy. It wasn’t until illness prevented me from continuing my physio career that I started to take writing seriously. I had short stories and pieces accepted for anthologies early on and it spurred me on to try novel writing again.

How many years were you a member of the NWS and did you submit a manuscript each year?

I was a member for five years and over that time I submitted two different manuscripts on five occasions. Waiting for You has taken three trips as I had twin girls in 2013 and only had a first chapter to hand-in when they were six weeks old. I wrote about my second submission with this manuscript over on The Romaniacs blog. We have been through what can only be described as an epic journey.

What came first, agent or publisher?

Publisher. Carina UK made me an offer nine days after submission and it was a dream come true! All those years of prep were worth it.

How did you find your publisher?

I submitted the first chapter to the Festival of Romance New Talent Award and was shortlisted for the award in 2013. I had a one-to-one with Carina and they wanted to see it when it was complete. Two years later it was finished and I sent it in.

Do you have a contract for one book or more?

I have a two-book contract and I have just sent the second one into my editor to start the revision process.

When was your book published?

March 10^th 2016.

Tell us something about your book

All Fliss Chapron wants is to be pregnant with her much longed for second baby. As the negative tests stack up, dreams of completing her perfect family feel more hopeless every day, but can anyone really be at fault when it comes to having a child…

Waiting for You is a heartfelt look exploring at what cost the shape of a family should take when life isn’t going to plan and finding happiness in the most unexpected places.

What are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished my second book following Dawn as she deals with the aftermath of being a surrogate. It’s called All That Is Left Of Us.

What piece of advice would you give current members of the NWS?

Make writing your priority. It is so easy to let everything else take precedence. In theory having twins should have stopped me from writing, but instead it made me focus more on what I wanted to achieve when I did get time. If you find yourself with a spare ten minutes, make use of it!

Links:

Amazon

Facebook

Website

Twitter @katylittlelady

Thank you, Catherine, we hope you have a fabulous evening at the RNA Summer Party and good luck with your writing career.

The RNA blog is brought to you by

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Katie Fforde Bursary 2016: Marie Macneill

Each year we wait with bated breath to hear who will be the recipient of the Katie Fforde Bursary. Here Marie Macneill tells us of her excitement at being Katie’s choice for 2016.

When Katie Fforde warned me that the Bursary trophy was heavy I did not imagine that it would be that heavy. A bronze Celtic style sculpture with a hefty wooden base, it is wonderfully cumbersome and sits on my narrow mantelpiece like a lighthouse warning me to get on and write or risk being dashed on the rocks of procrastination.  2015 recipient, Catherine Miller ‘Waiting For You’ warned me to clutch it carefully as it was potentially an award of two halves and last year she nearly dropped it at the ceremony. Now armed with this larger than life good luck charm (I bought a rucksack in Church Street Market en route to Paddington for a very reasonable £15 to carry it back to Cornwall) all I have to do is enjoy Katie’s company, cherish, applaud and revel with the wonderful RNA members at a variety of conferences, meetings and parties and - ah yes - finish my novel. 

Coming from a theatre, television and film background my first foray into novel writing was a sliver of truth novel about a young girl finding inappropriate love to compensate for a violent father. It wasn’t the right time.  Events in the news cast a shadow on my Lolitaesque main character and her age confused the pigeon–hole placement system of selling books. Was it Young Adult or Fiction? Was this Misery-Lit or Romance?  I gave it to the then Chairman of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain who loved it and my former agent waxed lyrically about it being his favourite Easter read, so, who knows, maybe sometime soon it will escape the bottom drawer and fly.

‘Being Velvet’ (w/t) is altogether a different take. This universal magical realism tale is a laugh out loud comedy about coming of age and mid life crisis; not judging books by their covers and two women who through mishaps, mistakes and misunderstanding learn to feel comfortable in their own skin and live without the one thing they both thought they needed the most.  The story is a visual feast and the screenplay version is running closely behind my manuscript.

I first met Katie Fforde at Chez Castillon, a wonderful writers’ retreat in Bordeaux’s wine region, on a particularly fine vintage retreat and workshop, the company included Jane Wenham-Jones, Judy Astley, Catherine Jones, Clare Mackintosh and Rosie Dene. These powerhouse women write 3,000 words before lunch and it was a privilege to make their acquaintance.  One evening we sat in the garden at a long convivial table overlooking the pool, rust-red and lush-green creepers climbing the yellow sandstone walls, a hint of rosemary riding the cooling breeze and read a passage from our daily pages. Katie was complimentary but I could not have imagined that a couple of years later she would want me to be her 2016 recipient. When she told me at the RNA conference last year I literally weakened at the knees.  I knew previous winners Jo Thomas, The Oyster Catcher, and Janie Millman, Life’s A Drag, and had read their fantastic debut novels. Am I really next in line? I was told by Sue Mackender that ‘Katie’s never wrong’.  So no pressure then. Thank you Katie – see you in a couple of thousand words!

About Marie:

Marie Macneill is a lecturer at SoFT – the School of Film and Television, Falmouth University and lives in Cornwall with her husband, actor John Macneill.

Blog

Thank you, Marie and good luck with your current work in progress.

The RNA blog is brought to you by

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Linda Chamberlain: In a stream of consciousness…

We welcome Linda Chamberlain to the blog to tell us about her first visit to the London Book Fair,   what she saw and the (RNA) people she met.

 

Olympia is a cathedral. High ceilings, masses of people and for three days it is full of books. The old fashioned kind, with covers, some of them hard, glossy and expensive. People, smartly dressed, selling books. Not to readers, though. The London Book Fair is a giant sale of rights - film rights, foreign rights, audio - and it feels a million miles from my lap top, lying idle today. It’s not Ideal Home crowded, but it’s busy and I remember my instructions. A programme. I spot someone giving out maps at the entrance. I’ll need one of those, not that they help me on the M25.

No programme to be found. Clueless, never been before, I throw myself straight in, wandering the aisles. The metaphor changes – Olympia is a giant oak and writers are the acorns. Some have sprouted; others might be waiting to spill their insides to the world. Plenty are here. Some of them I know. A hug from Elizabeth Jennings who runs the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy. I must go there again, she says. There’s Freida Lightfoot with Alison Moreton, RNA members both.

There are books on the Accent Press stand from some of our clan. Stop for a chat, it’s going well. Exhausting. Exciting. Lots of interest. Show my indie-published book, leave my card; take the submission guidelines since you never know. Searching for the press office but find Author HQ with its chance to sit down and listen to speakers. The digital age is more apparent here. Giving advice are a poet and a novelist who strut their stuff on Twitter. The poem that was spread over a few Tweets makes me smile. Brevity is expected from the novelist. A murder, surely, in the first 140 characters but no, this sounds like a book with a slow build.

Not waiting to find out how many readers he gains, I’m drawn to the Amazon stand nearby. More chat; good advice. So strange to see smiling faces behind this publishing giant.

Back at Author HQ a crowd forms for a talk on marketing and PR by Tory Lyne-Pirkis from Midas PR and Bethan Ferguson of Quercus. Out comes the notebook.  The advice is strongly pitched to indie publishers – get the cover right, get busy on social media, connecting to other people rather than trying to sell books. Join NetGalley, the cost is small and people there will review your book.

The trade stands that are full of children’s books seem a world far removed from such thoughts. The impression is an illusion since all books need a push in the right direction. The beautiful pictures, the colourful covers are a feast. The digital device in my bag is a useful but monochrome poor relation.

Another sit down; another talk. Diego Marano, UK manager of Kobo Writing Life, has some startling information. Research has shown that about 60 per cent of readers get to the end of a book they’ve downloaded. He proudly introduces Casey Kelleher whose grit-lit books on Kobo achieve an 82 per cent finish rate. She had no agent or publisher when she started out and writes crime in a stream of consciousness. Unusual and inspiring, think I’ll do my own version for this blog…

Making my way out of the building at the end of play I bump into Sue Moorcroft with Pia Tapper Fenton who both seem more enlivened than me. They’d had a good day, good talks – one of them at English PEN which campaigns internationally for the freedom to write without censorship.

I pick up a programme before I leave. They weren’t hidden. Next time I’ll get it right…!

I spoke to NWS member, Catherine Miller about her day at the London Book Fair and the The Write Stuff event:

The Write Stuff event was the London Book Fair equivalent of Dragon’s Den and when I entered my novel Baby Number Two, I never thought I would end up being one of the ten finalists. After my warm-up gigs having only been to the delight of my twin toddlers, facing four judges (Mark Lucas, Toby Mundy, Lorella Belli and Alison Jones) and a large audience thanks to the open stage was a tad daunting. Fortunately the practice paid off and my pitch went as well as can be expected given the immense amount of pressure. The feedback from the judges was both encouraging and helpful, not just for me, but for all the finalists involved. And afterwards it was lovely and surprising to have strangers come up to me and ask where they could buy my book. Would I do it again? Undoubtedly. Would I encourage others to enter? Definitely. Would I do anything differently? As Tony Mulliken, Chairman of Midas PR, who presented the event pointed out, I should have taken the twins. 

Thank you, Linda and Catherine.
 

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Catherine Miller: Winner of the 2015 Katie Fforde Bursary

We're thrilled to hear that Catherine is the recipient of this year’s Katie Fforde Bursary. We managed to catch up with Catherine soon after the awards presentation to chat to her about the award and her busy life

Photo courtesy of Jan Jones

When did you hear that you were to be the recipient of this year’s award and what was your reaction?

Katie contacted me in January. It was completely out of the blue and I thought it was related to something else so I was shocked and over the moon.

How did you feel at the award ceremony? Did you have to make a speech?

I took my mum as it was a very proud moment. It was also a memorable moment, because I managed to drop the top half of the trophy. Fortunately it’s made of metal and is very durable so no harm done. I did make a short speech, after dropping the trophy it didn’t seem so daunting!

What does winning the award mean to you?

A tremendous amount. I can’t shout the praises of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme loudly enough. It has taken me from having no idea of how complex novel writing is to having a manuscript that is far closer to the real deal. Katie’s bursary award is an amazing boost knowing I’m heading in the right direction and I hope I’m able to follow in previous winners' footsteps, many of whom have gone on to achieve publication soon afterwards. The RNA is a wonderful association and I’m so glad to be part of it. 

When did you join the RNA New Writers’ Scheme?

This will be my fifth year on the NWS, after joining in 2010. I found out about it from my local writing group and the feedback I’ve received so far has been invaluable.

Have you managed to submit a manuscript each year?

I have, just about. Overall I’ve written two manuscripts in that time and for the past two years I’ve sent a partial. I remember very clearly in 2013 managing to send a first chapter only because at the time I had six-week-old twins. It took some effort, but we managed to get down to the Post Office.

How do you fit your writing around your busy life and have you always wanted to be a novelist?

Since having the twins I’ve reverted to pen and paper. When I get a spare few minutes I scribble during the day. I then type it up in the evening. I rather like doing it this way as it means I notice errors easier.

I started writing in my teens but, as a dyslexic, developing my writing wasn’t encouraged any more than making sure I knew the difference between there/their/they’re, which I still have to think about before typing. Instead, I qualified as a physiotherapist and even at university

I attempted a novel. Early in my career, I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, an auto-immune condition and eventually it meant giving up my job to maintain my health. Lots of people had told me I wouldn’t be able to become a physiotherapist, and I didn’t listen to them, so why listen to my own doubts about being a writer? If I couldn’t be a physio (a job I loved), I was going to follow my ultimate dream of being a writer.

Thank you, Catherine. We are sure it won’t be too long before you graduate the New Writers’ Scheme and we see your novels in our book stores.

The RNA blog is brought to you by:

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you would like you write for the blog or have an idea for a feature or series please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

RNA Conference 2012 Kitchen Report – The Romaniac Kitchen, Penrith

It was the first conference for most of The Romaniacs and with seven out of nine of us attending, we already knew we were going to have one heck of a kitchen party. We had our own karaoke backing track system, lead vocals by Laura  James, plenty of wine, several bottles of champagne and Catherine Miller brought some very special Morello Cherry homemade wine, circa 1975, courtesy of her late Grandad. Celia Anderson made some delicious cakes.  Oh, and in true student style, Lucie Wheeler provided the Super Noodles.

It could only have been better if our lovely Jan Brigden and Liz Crump had been there.

To sum up our kitchen party, we thought we’d share a page from our Visitors’ Book …

Friday, 13 July 2012

Dear Kitchen, Thank you for helping me rediscover the joy singing can bring. And also the pain. Love, Laura.

Nikki Goodman : Ah, how will I ever forget the Romaniacs’ kitchen? There was wine (some of it homemade vintage circa ’75 that threatened toxic shock syndrome), there were snacks and there was singing! Best of all was the laughter.  A kitchen beyond all compare.

What goes on in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen. Except when it’s videoed and put on Facebook and You Tube. (Laura)

They say the kitchen is always the hub of the party, and in this case, it most certainly was! (Lucie)

THIS is what Romantic Novelists look like! (Debbie White)

Jane Holland : Those three glasses of 1975 Morello Cherry homemade wine will stay with me for life.

The Romaniacs needed a good get together and what better way than to do it with friends. That and alcohol which could change the way you see the world. That’s why at the time we were all singing like angels. (Catherine)

Sue Moorcroft : That was a great night! The homemade wine from 1975 scared me a bit but when I offered to buy some ‘real’ wine, the soothing, ‘Oh, we’ve got some of that if you want it,’ made me feel like a lightweight. The Romaniacs were fantastic company, every one of them. I just hope I’m invited to their kitchen parties in the future. Xxx

We may have had a naughty kitchen, but it wasn’t dirty, having been sterilised with alcohol. (Laura)

Ever since joining the RNA, I’ve aspired to the heady heights of having one of the Naughty Kitchens at a conference.  And now, thanks to some wonderful company, a lot of alcohol and loud singing, I think I can say I’ve done it – and got the YouTube evidence to prove it. (Vanessa)

Mandy James : My accommodation was next to the Romaniacs’. How did I know? The raucous caterwauling and shrieks of laughter gave it away.

I left my quieter party and went to investigate … they wouldn’t let me leave, even though I insisted I didn’t want a drink or to sing at the top of my lungs. But eventually I had a small sherry … When in Rome-aniacs … see what I did there?

Two hours later the police came to close us down. Well, OK, a slight exaggeration, there was only one arrest. We had an amazing time and I recommend that the naughty kitchen be free on the NHS!

When I found out we were in student accommodation, I decided that I needed use this opportunity as research (I got that tip from Jane Wenham-Jones) and what better way than to fully immerse myself into student life. What a kitchen party that was. Sadly, any further attempt at emulating a student ended on Sunday - even now I am still trying to recover from the weekend. (Sue)

The kitchen party was to the Romaniacs and their guests what opium was to great authors of the past – inspirational, but painful the next day. (Celia)

A messy kitchen is the sign of a happy kitchen, and ours was delirious. (Debbie)

It was always going to be the Romaniacs’ kitchen. (Laura)