Source: Happy Christmas from New Romantics Press
LIzzie Lamb
click on each photo to put a face to a name !
My grandma would make 100 mince pies and 100 lemon curd and jam tarts every year at this time, before giving the house a thorough bottoming! Here the toaster has just exploded and I already have hurricane hair.
Soon though, every room will be full, every bed occupied, and like most of us, shutting myself away to write won’t be an option. I’m bound to be inspired enough by chat and conversation though, to keep scribbling notes on scraps of paper. (Must remember to keep them safe – not risk finding one stuck to the bottom of a Piccalilli jar in February, like last year.) One son recently met a person who studied photography as I did, in the ‘60s, then worked for BBC (and on Evita) as a make-up artist in ‘70s and ‘80s. Great background for my novel, so there’ll be some surreptitious scribbling about that!
I love Christmas, always have. Luckily we live in a village with a church and a pub so we make the most of it. And with two cocker spaniels, there’s always a great excuse to trudge off excesses across fields, rewarding ourselves with a nice glass of mulled wine and mince pies in front of a roaring log fire. I do all of it! We’re going to visit family in Dublin too, which will be really special, the lights in the city are fabulous and we’ll head to the coast and then into the mountains for lunch, wonderful.
I’m completing the edits of my new novel Scandal of the Seahorse Hotel currently which will take me through to New Year, when we will be in sunny South Devon. I always start a new novel, fresh notebook, coloured pens at the ready while I’m there. The walks on the beach, steaming seafood chowder and local cider help get the brain cells working again – it’s all rather inspirational, so Christmas and New Year is a time of thanksgiving for me, I know how lucky we are.
Mags is working on her third novel which features ‘heroine in jeopardy’ as its central theme. She will be spending Christmas at the beck and call of her cat, Tina – no change there – who deserves to have a novel written just about her.
I’m dreaming about hitting the road in 2016 with our caravan, computer, parrot and husband to research number four. Highlands of Scotland, here I come. For me, Christmas is all about being with friends and family and taking time to do those things which the madness of modern life seems to push to the back of the queue – loving, laughter and sharing experiences. I’m very enthused about #4 which I’m currently writing and which features a wayward laird who is at odds with his son, an eccentric family of cousins and a missing ‘treasure.’ Hopefully you’ll be able to download it by the end of 2016.
It simply remains for us to thank you all for your continued support – whether it be downloading our novels, reviewing them, subscribing to newsletters or just chatting to us on Facebook. Have a great Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year. Soon the shortest day will have passed and we will start journeying towards the light.
Our blog celebrating Jan Brigden’s debut novel – AS WEEKENDS GO.
Source: Something for the Weekend?
New Romantics Press is thrilled to invite FABULOUS debut author Janet Brigden into to our den to learn more about her novel AS WEEKEND GO. Fabulous cover, Jan.
cover designed by Berni Stevens
Jan has been a great supporter of the NRP over the years and it’s great to have the opportunity to Pay It Forward and help her celebrate in style. Here we are at Waterstones, London last year with Jan and other members of the Romantic Novelists’ Society.
So tell us all about AS WEEKEND GO, Jan, you have the floor.
It was on Valentine’s Day 2015 that I found out As Weekends Go had been shortlisted in the Choc Lit and Whole Story Audiobooks Search for a Star Competition. One month later, I discovered I’d won! I can’t tell you how elated I felt upon signing my Choc Lit contract.
Aspiring authors will want to know how you did it, Jan. Any tips ?
The idea for the novel stemmed from a creative writing course assignment I completed a few years back via The Writers Bureau. I had to create a tense scenario involving two characters only. I chose a husband and his wife’s best friend. He’d secretly invited her to his house on the pretence of discussing his wife’s surprise 30th birthday party. Instead, he confronted her about some gossip he’d heard regarding a recent weekend trip the two women had taken together. Which afterwards begged the question in my mind: ‘Well, what did happen during that weekend?’ And so the story slowly evolved…
I didn’t have any buddies or contacts in the literary world, at the time, so made the effort to attend lots of author talks and events, subsequently connecting with writers and readers on Facebook and Twitter. I then became a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s fantastic New Writers’ Scheme, receiving two fabulous critiques for the early drafts of As Weekends Go from my assigned reader, which gave me the confidence that I could actually write and that my book had much promise. Music to a budding author’s ears, for sure!
I went on to form an online writing/blogging group with seven very special ladies, who became The Romaniacs. Two of our biggest highlights to date include releasing a charity anthology last year, entitled Romaniac Shorts: Fashionably Brief’ and more recently, proudly receiving the RNA industry Media Award. RNA Industry Media Star Awards We even got a mention in The Bookseller.
And now, as the year draws to a close, I’ve had the biggest thrill of all in proudly seeing Choc Lit publish As Weekends Go. I hope you enjoy it, here’s the blurb.
What if your entire life changed in the space of a weekend?
When Rebecca’s friend Abi convinces her to get away from it all at the fabulous Hawksley Manor hotel in York, it seems too good to be true. Pampering and relaxation is just what Rebecca needs to distract herself from the creeping suspicion that her husband, Greg, is hiding something from her. She never imagined that by the end of the weekend she would have dined with celebrities or danced the night away in exclusive clubs. Nor could she have predicted she would meet famous footballer, Alex Heath, or that he would be the one to show her that she deserved so much more …
But no matter how amazing a weekend is, it’s always back to reality come Monday morning – isn’t it?
As Weekends Go – available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
You’ll find Jan at these places – Facebook, Twitter and @theromaniacs
I hope you enjoy it. Love Jan.
We know we will Jan, thanks for appearing on the NRP blog – happy sales and happy Christmas. Now get on and write the next one, that’s what we do. LOL.
Best wishes today to our dear friend and fellow author Jan Brigden as she publishes her debut novel AS WEEKENDS GO. Can wait to open our kindles and get stuck into reading it.
This is a very special Something For The Weekend.
As Weekends Go won the Choc Lit and Whole Story Audiobooks Search For A Star competition 2014/2015, and we are immensely proud of and thrilled for Jan. It is a fabulous novel, with a stunning cover. Jan’s warmth oozes from the pages.
Under normal circumstances, Jan is custodian of the Romaniac Honkometer, but we liberated it from HQ so we could do this:
And now for a few words from the Romaniacs …
Laura: Jan, many congratulations on the release of your debut. It’s a huge achievement and I am absolutely delighted for you. Not only are you a wonderful writer, but a genuine, supportive and warm-hearted person, who I am very lucky to be able to call my friend. Have an incredible day – take it all in, enjoy…
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New Romantics Press 