Category: Fay Wentworth

Cameron Dickie, Deane Saunders-Stowe, Fay Wentworth, Her Royal Risk, His Majesty's Secret Passion, Linn B Halton, Lurid Leominster, Peter Ellis, Princes Of Kharova, Trevor Robinson

A Holiday From Writing…

christinahollis
Waiting for opening time! Photo by Deane Saunders-Stowe

This weekend it was the Leominster Book Fair, and along with lots of other authors I spent the day at Grange Court, Leominster. The building is surrounded by beautiful gardens and parkland, and so lots of people called in to chat, listen and buy.

 As well as being a beautiful building in a lovely setting, Grange Court is full of character. If you’re ever in the Leominster area, it’s definitely worth a visit. As the sun was shining so brightly through the screen-printed curtain at the back of this room the detail doesn’t show up very well. It was a photograph of a courtroom scene, with the people taking part dressed in period costumes. An unusual feature, which really makes an impact. You can find out more about Grange Court here: http://www.grangecourt.org

The day was organised by Peter Ellis, and RNA member (and fellow Marcher Lady!) Fay Wentworth. Although Leominster is in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire writers were well represented. Cameron Dickie read from his latest release, Seeking The Eagle, I shared a table with Linn B Halton, and Deane Saunders-Stowe took these photographs.

Each of us got the chance to introduce ourselves and speak about our work during the day. I read an extract from the first book in my Princes Of Kharova series for The Wild Rose Press, His Majesty’s Secret Passion, and spoke to a lot of readers. I was especially pleased to meet Susan S’ari, who introduced me to The Bookshop Cafe group on Facebook.

Writing is a solitary business—as a natural loner, that’s one of the reasons I love it. I spend far too much time behind my screen. The chance to meet readers and other authors was the perfect excuse to take a day off. Now I can’t wait for the next one.

Does your town have a book fair?

Ann Ankers, Christina Courtenay, Creative Writing, Fay Wentworth, Georgia Hill, Joanne Maitland, Marcher Chapter, Marilyn Rodwell, RNA, Romance, Top Tips

RNA Creative Writing Study Day, Hereford, 31st March 2014

christinahollis
Hard At Work…

In 2013, The Romantic Novelists’ Association announced a generous donation toward  all its local groups. I’m a member of the RNA’s Marcher Chapter, and we decided to put the money toward the hire of a room at The Courtyard, Hereford. The intention was to have a critique session. As it would be held so close to April 1st, the day was called  “Be A Fool For Love”.

The prospect of spending a whole day with like-minded people talking about writing was irresistible, but we wanted to show we’d taken the RNA’s  aims of promoting romantic fiction and encouraging good writing to heart. One month before the workshop, everyone emailed a ten-page sample of their current work in progress to organizer Ann Ankers. Ann collated them into a document which was then circulated among the group. The extracts were anonymous and we did a critique of every one, including our own. That way, we could make our comments without prejudice and still remain anonymous on the day.

Marilyn and Ann

Nobody likes the idea that their precious literary baby might be torn to shreds in a gladiatorial arena, so Historical novelist Joanna Maitland provided some invaluable advice beforehand. She advised that each critique should contain “three stars and a wish”–that is, highlight plenty of good points for every query or suggestion for improvement you make. This worked really well.

On the day, there were seven of us: Fay Wentworth, Georgia Hill, Christina Courtenay (fresh from winning the RNA’s Historical Novel of the Year Award for The Gilded Fan), Joanna Maitland, Marilyn Rodwell, me and organizer Ann Ankers. Ann also acted as our chairwoman and did an excellent job. She  kept the discussions moving, and made sure the day ran to schedule.

Fay, Georgia, Christina and Joanna

We were treated like royalty by the hardworking staff of The Courtyard. Regular refreshments (including delicious home-made biscuits) and a fantastic lunch was included in the price, and we worked so hard the time flew by. A photographer from Herefordshire and Wye Valley Life came to record the event. This was organised byChristina Courtenay. That gave me pause for thought. As I’d played an April Fool joke on my DD that morning, when a guy tapped at the door and asked for “Christina” I thought for an awful moment  DD had sent a male stripper  to our meeting as revenge. Thank goodness I was wrong!

We all had an amazing day. I learned a lot, and can’t wait until we can do it all again.

Have you attended a workshop? What was the most useful thing you learned?