FOCUS ON: The Birmingham Chapter

Next in our tour of the UK, Marilyn Rodwell answers my questions about the Birmingham Chapter

Thank you for inviting me to take part on the RNA Facebook blog. It's a pleasure to come on here and tell you about our Birmingham Chapter. We don't have a fancy name, because Birmingham speaks for itself! But you never know what will happen in the future.

How long has the Chapter been running and where do you meet?

I have no idea how long we've been running, but I started attending in 2003, and took over the organising of it almost 5 years ago. We meet for lunch in the Edwardian Tea Rooms of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlin Square, Birmingham, which has lovely new décor and fabulous ambience.

How many members usually attend your meetings and do they, as with so many of our groups, revolve around a meal?

When I started, we had about 8 members and sometimes it would be just 4 or 5 of us at meetings. In the last few years we have grown, and now have 30 members on our books. We also have visitors from the Leicester Belmont Belles pretty often. We usually have between 15-22 attend meetings. 

Meals are definitely included. We have lunch between 12 noon and 2.30pm. We mainly chat about our writing over lunch, tell of our successes, and share our woes.

It’s lovely to see such an increase in your membership. Is your Chapter open to non-members of the RNA?

Yes and no. We tend to welcome people whose membership has lapsed. Some of these were unable to get into the New Writers's Scheme. However, we do not actively seek out non-RNA members to join us. We have had a lot of new RNA members join us over the last couple of years.  

Can you tell us about any speakers or guests you've had in the past year?

We tend not to do much of this, as we meet in a very busy place that can be noisy. However, we have had the pleasure of having Jean Fullerton last year who visited us and sprinkled some of her pearls of writing wisdom over us, for which we are grateful.

We also had Sue Moorcroft the previous year, to run an all-day Writer's Workshop, which was fabulous, at the new Library of Birmingham. We used the RNA grant to help fund this event.

Previous to that, I had a Writer's Day at my home and one of our members, Emma Daley, presented to us the ins and outs on publishing on Amazon.

What do you have lined up for the rest of 2016?

We have just had our Writers Day on March 5th, at a lovely venue, The Radisson Blu Hotel, in the centre of Birmingham. The day went very well, and we had 25 attending from 3 Chapters. We used our RNA Grant left over from last year to subsidise our brilliant speakers - Alison May, Sally Jenkins, Bella Osborne, Helen Barrell, and Lizzie Lamb. The feedback I had from the attendees was excellent. Thank you to the RNA for facilitating this.

What in your opinion makes your RNA Chapter so special?

That is a hard question to answer without bragging! In fact, I may suggest that we can rename ourselves, The Brilliant Brummies. We have grown quite fast in a short space of time, and at times it seems overwhelming, particularly when we try to organise events. But we really appreciate our meetings because we meet only a few times a year. This is due mainly because some our members come from as far as Shropshire and Cheshire. 

A couple of years ago I started the (closed) Writers' Support Station Facebook Group. It isn't RNA affiliated but now has 167 members of writers of any genre. So any writer wanting to join can send a request.

The most exciting thing about our Chapter is that with our growth and our support to each other we have had a number of success of all sizes. This year, we have three people nominated for Romantic Novel of the Year Award in March - Alison May, Bella Osborne, and Janice Preston. All three started at the Birmingham Chapter in the New Writer's Scheme, and we have watched them become multiple published, and win various awards over the last few years. But the Chapter has also recently seen other successes, such as short story publications, long listed and short listed for various prizes and competitions, self-publications and traditional publications, prizes, articles published in magazines, and non-fiction publications.

What a thriving group you are - and I love idea of The Brilliant Brummies! Who is the contact for new members? 

That will be me - marilynrodwell@btinternet.com

Thank you for having me on your blog! Telling you about us has been a pleasure. Don't forget, we welcome all visitors.

Thank you for joining us, Marilyn. I have no doubt you will receive many applications to join your Facebook group.

The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

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

Workshops and Groups: Jean Fullerton at The Write Place!

Welcome back to Nikki Moore and another of her features on upcoming writing workshops.

In a couple of days it’ll be the official start of spring. Time for daffodils, brighter days, sunshine, Easter eggs and possibly a few showers too! It’s also a time for new beginnings, and hope. So if you’re hoping to finally write your novel this year, or you need the know-how to start submitting, maybe you should invest in this high quality interactive workshop...

Workshop Title:

The Write Place presents ‘Writing a Novel’ with guest tutor Jean Fullerton.

Workshop Details:

10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. on Saturday 9^th April 2016 at The Mick Jagger Centre, Shepherds Lane, Dartford, Kent DA1 2JZ.

The centre is close to Dartford railway station and the M25. Parking is plentiful and the room (J44) is on the upper floor (lift available). Further details can be found HERE.

What the Tutor Says:

Structuring Your Story - Morning

Have you ever literally lost the plot in a book or forgotten who’s who halfway through? If you have, then I’d be a pound to a penny that’s a book you didn’t finish.

Although each story is unique in order to ensure the reader remains gripped throughout, they need to be introduced to the various characters and have the drama unfold in a way which is both interesting and easy to follow.

My morning workshop will tackle the issue of story structure and how to set a framework for you to hang the various elements of your story on.

It would be helpful if you could bring along an outline of the main characters and a rough plot to work on during the session this could be a first draft.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Publishing Industry but Were Afraid to Ask – Afternoon

Although today there are many options for authors who are looking to publish their work, for most the goal they’re aiming for is a contract with a traditional publisher. However, to do this the author needs to engage with a multi-million pound industry and I hope to give you some insight into how to do this most effectively.

I will discuss the role of agents and editors and what will be required of you as the author. This will be another interactive session with plenty of time for questions and discussion.

Aimed at:

The Write Place workshops are suitable for published and unpublished authors, and Jean plans her day around the attending delegates. With past workshops we’ve found that the question and answer sessions can be extremely useful for everything you’ve always wanted to know but where afraid to ask!

Course Tutor Biography:

Jean was born in the East End of London and grew up a short walk from the London Docks in

Wapping and Whitechapel. She spent all her nursing career as a district nurse in East London. She quit her job as an academic at a London university last year and is now a full-time writer.  

In 2006 Jean won the Harry Bowling prize, which secured her first two-book contract with Orion Fiction. Her first four novels were set in the Victorian period before she jumped forward to post-war East London. Her tenth novel, Wedding Bells for Nurse Connie, is released in May. She is currently working on her next East London series for Orion, set in the turbulent years of WW2.

Since the publication of her first novel in 2008, Jean has been a guest speaker at hundreds of voluntary organisation as well at literary and arts festivals and is also lecturers on cruise ships. She has also undertaken talks and workshops at numerous writers’ and literature conferences including Winchester, York and HNS.

Booking details:

Tickets are £70.00 per person. The price will include lunch and all refreshments – including cake! A booking form is available from Elaine Everest via elaineeverest@aol.com who is more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

More information about the course and the Write Place can be found at http://www.thewriteplace.org.uk or via their Facebook Group at The Write Place

What are you waiting for? Good luck and enjoy!

About Nikki Moore:

A devoted Dorset girl, Nikki Moore has a HR day job, two kids and a lovely boyfriend to keep her busy alongside the writing. Published mainly by HarperImpulse, she’s the author of the #LoveLondon series, which has been in the Top 100 short story charts on Kobo and the Top 20 in the Amazon UK bestsellers Holiday chart. Some of her books have also been nominated for awards. Nikki is a strong supporter of aspiring authors, loves to chat about writing and reading, and can often be found on Twitter when she should be writing.

You can find out more about Nikki via her blog. or Twitter 

Thank you for covering this event, Nikki.

The RNA blog is brought to you by 

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

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

COMPETITION MONTHLY

Its competition time again with Francesca Burgess

During my research this month, I found quite a few competitions that claimed non-prizewinning, shortlisted entries would be printed online or in an anthology. One even stated that all entrants automatically agreed to their story being published. I immediately discounted these. Unless there is some other benefit, like promoting your work, raising your profile or supporting a charity (I've done the latter two), I wouldn't recommend anyone entering these competitions. You won't be able to submit the story elsewhere so you'll never make any money out of it. Often you have to examine the rules quite closely to find out what happens to the entries, but it's worth doing.

Good luck, everyone.

Writing Magazine 750 Word Short Story Competition

Theme: Open

Prize: 1^st £200, 2^nd £50. Both will be published in Writing Magazine

Competition deadline: 14 April 2016

Entry: £3 subscribers, £5 others

Details

The Novella Award 2016

Theme: Open, 20,000 – 40,000 word novellas, plus 500 word max synopsis

Prize: £1,000 plus publication with Sandstone Press

Competition deadline: 29 April 2016

Entry: £17

Details

Bristol Short Story Prize

Theme: Open, 4,000 words max

Prize: 1^st £1,000, 2^nd £700, 3^rd 400, plus 17 prizes of £100, and all published in the anthology

Competition deadline: 30 April 2016

Entry: £8

Details

The Writers' Bureau Flash Fiction Competition

Theme: Open, 500 words max

Prize: 1^st £300, 2^nd £200, 3^rd 100 plus Writers' Bureau course for all winners.

Competition deadline: 30 April 2016

Entry: £5, £10 for 3 entries.

Details

Writers' Festival First Three Pages Competition

Theme: Opening 3 pages of novel plus 600 word max synopsis

Prize: Editorial meeting with Little Brown to discuss the entry, either at London office or by telephone.

Competition deadline: 13^th May 2016

Entry: £8

Details

Writing Magazine Paranormal Short Story Competition

Theme: ghosts, vampires, werewolves, spooky happenings, aliens etc, 1,500 – 1,700 words

Prize: 1^st £200 and published in magazine, 2^nd £50 and published online.

Competition deadline: 16 May 2016

Entry: £3 subscribers, £5 others.

Details

Swansea & District Writers' Circle Horror Anthology Competition

Theme: Horror / Psychological Thriller. Short stories 1,800 – 2,000 (plus related comps for scripts and poems).

Prize: 1^st £150, 2^nd £50 plus publication in anthology

Competition deadline: 20 May 2016

Entry: £6

Details

Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller

Theme: Open, adult novels only, at least 80,000 words, unpublished authors. Submit 10,000 words plus synopsis.

Prize: £50,000 publishing deal

Competition deadline: 31 May

Entry: Free

Details

Francesca Burgess has been placed or shortlisted in a number of competitions including Twyford Writers, Winchester Writers' Conference, Chorley and District Writers' Circle, Flash a Famous Phrase, Meridian Writing, People's Friend and Writing Magazine. She's had stories published in magazines worldwide and in three anthologies, including Diamonds and Pearls and 100 Stories for Haiti. She is a member of the RNA New Writers' Scheme.

Twitter

Blog

Thank you, Francesca.

Remember, if you have any success we would love to hear from you. Don’t forget to let us know about any competitions you might be organising.

The RNA blog is brought to you by Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

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

Alison May: A Magical Journey to the RoNAs!

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be nominated for an award? Once we float down to earth how do we plan for the big day and what happens when the day finally arrives? 

We welcome Alison May to the blog to tell us all about her exciting experience.

Being shortlisted in the RoNAs is at least seven different forms of awesome. It’s awesome to be appreciated by readers. It’s awesome to be recognised by the RNA. It’s awesome to get all the lovely congratulations messages on social media. It’s awesome to get to get yourself all gussied up and have

Alison and EngineerBoy

a big night out in London town, with canapes and fizz. (And yes, I know that that is only four forms of awesome, but there are definitely at least three others; I just can’t remember them right this very second – please feel free to suggest your own in the comments.)

Anyway, the RoNA shortlists were announced in February and, for this first-time shortlistee, the month between that announcement and the awards ceremony was a lovely blur of congratulations, excitement and planning for the Big Night Out. I made the unprecedented decision to bring my beloved EngineerBoy (twitter.com/porldb) with me for his first ever RNA event. I made him buy a new tie and everything. I wanted to bring him along for two reasons. Firstly, I do tend to get a tad tipsy at RNA parties and have been known to miss the last train home when I’m left to my own devices so I thought he could be my responsible adult for the evening, and secondly, because without his support I don’t know how I’d have made it to this point in my writing career and it seemed like a nice opportunity to show a unsung writer’s supporter some appreciation.

On the night shortlistees are asked to arrive early to be photographed in their category groups. The RoNA Rose writers were an impressively punctual bunch so we were up first. The photographer was fabulous, and pleasingly sympathetic to my claim that I couldn’t possibly sit down because of the danger of fat rolls over my waistband.

And then it was on to the champagne drinking and the mingling which form the pre-cursor to the main event. EngineerBoy had a lovely time, fitting in so well that a number of people asked if he was a romantic novelist himself.

Soon it was time for the awards themselves, in the fantastic surroundings of the William Gladstone library. The fizz continued to flow freely which, given that canapes, although delicious, are also canape-sized, leads to a high risk of giddiness relatively early in proceedings. Every winner on the night looked more astounded and delighted than the last. My category was won by Annie O’Neill – huge congratulations to her, and to all the other winners, particularly Iona Grey who took home the overall Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

For me the highlight of the evening was the presentation of the two Outstanding Achievement Awards to Claire Lorrimer and Anita Burgh. Both women are absolute inspirations, and both brought gales of laughter to the hall with their acceptance speeches. Claire’s goat/false teeth story will stay with me for a long time to come.

And that was that. There was nothing more to be done other than letting EngineerBoy sweep the room for uneaten canapes (yes, that was him, grabbing leftovers off the trays of departing waiters, which was most uncouth – I definitely wasn’t doing a similar trick with half-full champagne bottles) before we finally wound our way home, a jolly good night having been had by all.

About Alison

Alison is a novelist, short story writer, blogger and creative writing tutor who grew up in North Yorkshire, and now lives in Worcester. She worked as a waitress, a shop assistant, a learning adviser, an advice centre manager, a freelance trainer, and now a maker-upper of stories.

She won the RNA’s Elizabeth Goudge trophy in 2012, and her short stories have been published by Harlequin, Choc Lit and Black Pear Press. Her romantic comedies, Sweet Nothing, Midsummer Dreams, and the Christmas Kisses series are published by Choc Lit. The second novella in the Christmas Kisses series, Cora’s Christmas Kiss (http://bookgoodies.com/a/B00QCUYCLK) was shortlisted for the 2016 RoNA Rose.

You can find out more about Alison at www.alison-may.co.uk, on facebook, or by following her on Twitter @MsAlisonMay

About Cora’s Christmas Kiss

Can you expect a perfect Christmas after the year from hell? 

Cora and Liam have both experienced horrible years that have led them to the same unlikely place –  

spending December working in the Grotto at Golding’s department store.

Under the cover of a Father Christmas fat suit and an extremely unflattering reindeer costume, they find comfort in sharing their tales of woe during their bleak staffroom lunch breaks. 

But is their new-found friendship just for Christmas? Or have they created something deeper, something that could carry them through to a hopeful new year? 

Thank you for sharing your story with our readers, Alison.

The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

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

Goldsboro Books Romantic Novel of the Year 2016

News

IONA GREY’S LETTERS TO THE LOST WINS THE GOLDSBORO BOOKS ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2016

Trophy and £5,000 prize presented by Fern Britton

Iona Grey triumphed over fellow competing authors to win the Romantic Novelists' Association's highest accolade, The Goldsboro Books Romantic Novel of the Year, with Letter to the Lost, published by Simon & Schuster. Fern Britton presented Iona with her trophies and a cheque for £5000 at a star-studded event, compèred by Jane Wenham-Jones.

Iona Grey was the winner of the Historical Romance Novel of the Year category. Her book then went forward, along with those of the five other category winners – Contemporary, Epic, Romantic Comedy, RoNA Rose and Young Adult – to contest the Romantic Novelists' Association’s (RNA) most coveted award, the Goldsboro Books Romantic Novel of the Year.

A panel of independent judges read the six category winners’ novels before meeting to debate the finer points of each book. The panel included Matt Bates of WHSmith Travel; Sarah Broadhurst, formerly The Bookseller; novelist Elizabeth Buchan; Dorothy Burrows, Programme Director of the Wantage Literary Festival; Alison Flood, Guardian.co.uk; and Karin Stoecker, ex-Editorial Director, Harlequin Books.

The judges described Letters to the Lost as "A skilfully told story with captivating characters, convincing and compelling. Beautifully done."

Eileen Ramsay, Chairman of the RNA, said, "I loved this heart breaking love story, a worthy winner in an extremely professional shortlist. Absolutely perfect.”

David Headley, Managing Director of Goldsboro Books, commented, “This wonderful range of books demonstrates the breadth and depth of the genre and illustrates its enduring popularity and appeal to a wide and discerning audience.”

Romantic Novel of the Year Category Winners
Prior to announcing the overall award winner, Fern Britton revealed the winners of the individual categories and presented them with star-shaped crystal trophies.

The winners were:

 Melanie Hudson, The Wedding Cake Tree, Choc Lit
 Winner Contemporary Category Romantic Novel of the Year
 (for mainstream romantic novels set post-1960, and can include chick lit, paranormal and romantic suspense)

 Emma Hannigan, The Secrets We Share, Headline Review
 Winner Epic Category Romantic Novel of the Year
 (for novels containing serious issues or themes, including gritty, multi-generational stories)

 Iona Grey, Letters to the Lost,Simon & Schuster
 Winner Historical Category Romantic Novel of the Year
 (for novels set in a period before 1960)

 Milly Johnson, Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Café, Simon & Schuster
 Winner Romantic Comedy Category Romantic Novel of the Year
 (for consistently humorous or amusing novels)

 Annie O'Neil, Doctor... To Duchess?, Mills & Boon Medical Romance
 Winner RoNA Rose Award
 (for category/series and shorter romance)

 Lucy Inglis, Crow Mountain, Chicken House
 Winner Young Adult Category Romantic Novel of the Year
 (featuring protagonists who are teenagers or young adults)

Outstanding Achievement Awards
Anita Burgh is the author of twenty three novels, all published after she reached 50.  Claire Lorrimer, who has written more than 100 novels, is the daughter of the RNA’s first President, best-selling novelist Denise Robins. Both Anita and Claire were presented with outstanding achievement awards for their continued championing of the RNA and romantic fiction.