Thursday Throwback: The Christmas Rose

I'm going way back today for my Thursday Throwback--all the way back to the first story I ever wrote, when I was about six or seven. I don't remember the title of the story, or its plot or characters, or pretty much anything. But I do remember the cover, because it has become a bit of a joke in my family. I spent a lot of time on the cover, designed on lined notebook paper with a ballpoint pen. In particular I remember writing at the top 'By the author of The Christmas Rose'. I showed it to my father and he was very impressed by my marketing skills--although the funny thing is, I didn't write a story called The Christmas Rose! I just knew you had that kind of thing at the top of your cover.

My father used to recall that story to say how he knew I'd make it as an author. He was one of the most encouraging people I have ever met, always full of boundless enthusiasm and belief for whatever one of his children was going to undertake. I remember whispering in his ear when I was around ten or so that I was going to write a book and have it published properly in time for Mother's Day. He told me he thought that was a wonderful idea, and I knew he believed it. He had complete confidence in me--although sadly that particular project never came to pass.

Having someone believe in you is a wonderful thing. I credit much of my success to my father, and I'm so glad for his presence in my life. He died nearly eighteen months ago and I still think about him every day. Here is a video of him taken a year before he died, with my youngest daughter.

Tuesday Treasure: Guest Post by Tracey Sinclair

I'm so pleased to welcome Tracey Sinclair to my blog, with this fabulous post about female friendships--something I've been thinking about lately, having moved recently and needing to make new friends! You can learn more about Tracey and her books by following the links at the bottom of the post. Enjoy!

Why female friendships are at the heart of my books

If I had to point to an (unexpected) theme in my work, other than a certain Northern attitude and a tendency to swear, it would be that of female friendships. When I look at my books, which span a number of genres – from literary fiction to romantic comedy to paranormal – it’s a common thread, even though it was never intended to be.

My first book, Doll, was about the catastrophic aftermath of losing your closest friend – the protagonist Thea embarks on a self-destructive journey while reeling from grief over her best friend’s death. Having shamelessly plundered my teenage years for material – merrily utilising (and distorting) details of my own life and that of my oldest friend – I revisited the same well for my romantic comedy, Bridesmaid Blues. Well, I figured if my friend wasn’t mad at me the first time, she wouldn’t be the second, either!

The premise for Bridesmaid Blues came straight out of my own life: after a nasty break up with the man I at the time thought was the love of my life (and who was the brother of the boyfriend of a close friend), I ended up being the only bridesmaid at their wedding, where he was the best man. Come on – you can’t not use material like that! The book is a romantic comedy: will the heroine Luce get back together with the man who dumped her and broke her heart? But it’s also about friendships, and how they change. To become the woman she needs to be to find happiness, Luce has to grow out of the wayward little sister role she has fallen into with best friend Jenna, as well as re-evaluate her relationship with her glamorous pal Hali, and turn it into a proper friendship, rather than a form of hero worship – and I enjoyed writing (and reading!) those bits of the book as much as any of the romantic stuff!

Even my paranormal series, Dark Dates, has female friendship at its core. While the plots centre around whatever paranormal threat the heroine Cass has to deal with du jour (with some sexy romance thrown in courtesy of a couple of smokin’ hot heroes), the lynchpin of the series is how she moves from being a loner – and lonely – to building her own Buffy-style ‘Scooby gang’, and developing a real friendship with her colleague Medea and Medea’s fiancée, Katie.

In part I think this is because female friendship is so central to my own life (I do have male friends I love very dearly, of course, but that tends to be a slightly different beast). I’m an only child, so have consciously created a network of friends who are like family to me, and whom I treasure even more now we’re getting older and those friendships have survived the inevitable occasional battering by life’s trials and tribulations. So, my friendships have always loomed large in my life: it makes sense that they would in my work, too.

Tracey Sinclair is an author and freelance editor and writer. Her books include the romcom The Bridesmaid Blues and the Dark Dates/Cassandra Bick series, the latest of which, Angel Falls, is out now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angel-Falls-Cassandra-Bick-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B01AMOGRBY

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bridesmaid-Blues-Tracey-Sinclair-ebook/dp/B00M83Y3VO/

www.darkdates.org

@thriftygal

www.facebook.com/darkdates

Monday Musings: When Life Throws You

So the last few weeks have not exactly happened the way I thought they would. As I mentioned before, two weeks ago I was hit by a car--while I was parked on the side of the street, a car went by and the wing mirror smashed my hand. There have been quite a few ups and downs since then--the down of agonizing pain, of course, followed by the up of discovering my fingers were not in fact broken, followed by the down of finding out I'd need stitches, and then the up of realizing my hand was actually fairly okay, considering it received a lot of impact--enough to crumple my car door. The nurse and doctors were amazed I hadn't actually lost my hand! And so that is a major up.

But two weeks on I'm realizing this is going to be an ongoing and perhaps permanent part of my life, and like the Grand Old Duke of York, that is neither up nor down. It's difficult to still have to do most things one handed, and, because of nerve damage to two of my fingers, to realize I might never regain the strength fully in my hand. There is a part of me that wishes I'd parked on the other side of the street, or that the woman who was driving the car (who is very nice) had looked where she was going a little more.

But life throws you surprises--some good, some bad. We plod along and then--wham1 (Literally, in my case!) something happens and you have to adjust. You have to accept. And that has been an interesting part of this unwelcome journey--accepting, especially as I get older, that you can only plod along without something happening for so long. And when it does happen? Whatever happens? It can be okay. YOU can be okay. And that, my friends, is the bet UP of all.

Guest Post by RavenMcAllan for a Three Course Gluten-Free Menu!

Raven McAllan is here to share with us her journey to gluten-free eating and living and the recipes for a three course gluten-free (g-f) meal. Enjoy!

Hi all, this is Raven’s gluten free menu.

Why g-f? Well let’s back track ohhh about 12 years. Dd was doing her gap year in New Zealand, and when she went for a work visa (having gone at 17, too young) , she was discovered to be anaemic, and then coeliac.

So she came home, and we discovered a new way of living. She shuddered at the pasta (cardboard), ignored the bread, and mum baked with g-f four. Believe me gluten free stuff was no way as advanced as it is now.

Dd went off to uni, and the next year, then came home for the summer, and bet me I couldn’t go g-f for two weeks.

Oh yes I can, I said and I did. And then went back onto gluten.

Ouch. Big mistake.

We now have 50% of the family g-f  and the other two when at home have no alternative.

The only gluten in our house are hubby’s gluten filled bread and pasta, nothing else.

So dear readers (if I haven’t put you all off by now) is my quick go to g-f meal. Three courses of basic goodness, all gluten free.

I must add here I’m one of those bit-of-this-dash-of-that cooks, so bear with me...

Starter: Dead easy Mushroom Soup

This is my 'oh can we drop in and there are 1,2,3,4,5 of us' starter.

Box of mushrooms any sort, chopped. Leave 3-4 in big chunks.

Knob of butter, maybe half a teaspoon of oil.

Large (okay in my house very large) pinch of herbs. Ditto of garlic.

One stock cube either chicken or veg... in water. Season to taste.

So sauté mushrooms in oil and butter until soft. Add herbs and garlic and stir,

Add stock to cover. Simmer till soft ( or as I cook on an Aga, bring to boil, put in bottom oven for 2-3 hours)

If you have one of those fab soup mushers, use it. Otherwise mash down contents. (scientific eh?)

Add a dash of cream or milk. There you go. (Image is from the Internet, I'm afraid, but you get the idea!)

Mains... Now this is easy, honestly.

G-F Meatballs in tomato sauce (home made of course)

Now like I said I sort of don’t do measurements, sorry. But mix mince, g-f oats, breadcrumbs, some onion and mushroom together with a knob of butter. Not too sloppy. Dust in g-f flour, fry gently until you know they won’t fall to bits.

Make a tomato sauce with an onion, six-ish mushrooms, a carrot, a stick of celery and peppers (which add up to half a pepper) Sauté until soft and add passata, and herbs. Pour over meatballs and warm through.  

Serve with rice or g-f pasta.

Now for my favourite pud. And for this one I do weigh stuff. Sort of.

Raven’s g-f Fruit Crumble

Whatever fruit you fancy, cooked until soft in water and a wee (I live in Scotland) bit of sugar.

Now the measured bit...

In a basin, rub together,

170g of g-f SR four

¼ teasp salt,

70g marg or butter

60g sugar (demerara or caster)

Handful of g-f oats...

Easy... Sprinkle over fruit and cook for around 25-30 mins gas mark 4-5

Enjoy

-->

Love Raven

Thanks Raven! I must admit, I don't cook g-f very often, but I've had to on occasion for visiting guests and it's great to have some new ideas!

Sorry for the silence!

I'm afraid I have terribly neglected my blog this week, and that is because on Tuesday, during the school run, I was hit by a car! That sounds wonderfully dramatic, but actually what happened is the wing mirror hit my hand as the car drove by and my finger was cut by my car door. So I ended up on A&E with 10 stitches in my finger and some pretty serious bruising and swelling, which kept me from writing or doing much of anything. I am starting to feel better, and I hope to get the stitches out on Tuesday. It's been an enforced rest, which sometimes is the only way I get one! And while it has been both painful and frustrating, it has made me appreciate my usual good health! So I have a photo for you, taken from Friday's dog walk, which was the first time I'd been able to get out of the house and was walking a little slowly.

Friday Photo: Brecon Beacons

I took this photo when we went for a walk last winter. It was one of those crisp, clear, cold, sunny days where everything seems like it's wonderfully sharp focus.We'd never been to the Brecon Beacons before and it felt, in an odd way, a little bit like walking on the moon--or so I imagine! The rolling fields stretched on and on with hills and mountains in the distance and pretty much nothing else about. Gorgeous in a slightly desolate way :)

Thursday Throwback: The Italian's Chosen Wife

This was my very first Harlequin Presents, written in 2007. After writing hundreds of short stories and serials for various women's magazines, I wanted to try my hand and something a bit more substantial, and I'd had a long-held dream to be published by Mills & Boon. In fact, I wrote my first manuscript for them, A Dangerous Bargain, when I was just twenty-two. Sadly it didn't go anywhere. My second manuscript, Nanny on Board, was a Golden Heart finalist, which was very exciting, although I didn't win. I wrote two more manuscripts in my early twenties before I shelved them all and moved on to short stories.

Fast forward eight years, and I decided I was ready to try again. I submitted three chapters and a synopsis for the Presents line, which was a change as I'd always submitted to the Romance line (then called Tender) before. Weirdly, when I'd started the story, the more emotional, angst-ridden Presents voice was the one that came out! Five months later I got a very positive revision letter, asking for revisions as quickly as possible because they really liked my voice. Getting that letter was so exciting, and so very affirming after months of waiting and years of rejections.

I lived, breathed, and dreamed that book for the next two weeks while I revised and finished it--because yes, I committed the cardinal sin of not finishing a book before submitting! Two weeks later I posted it along with all my hopes, telling myself not even to think of expecting an answer for at least 12 weeks. (They'd said it could be 16 weeks before I got a reply.)

Then, just two weeks later, I was staring at my inbox wishing I'd hear something, when I decided to hit refresh--even though I'd hit refresh seconds before. And would you believe, a new email popped up--from an editor at Mils & Boon. They wanted more revisions, but once again it was very positive, and she asked if she could ring.

The next few days were frantic as I had phone calls, made revisions, and waited to hear from the senior editor--all incidentally while my husband was away and unable to be reached! Then, on February 9, 2007, I got the official call.

Getting published by Harlequin quite literally changed my life, not least financially. I had a career, an income, and the validation of my books in the shops. A lot has changed since then in the publishing industry, seismic shifts that I don't think anyone could have predicted. I still write for Harlequin, in addition to five other publishers at various times. I've writtten 48 romances for Harlequin Presents (I think--I tend to lose count but I know I'm in the high forties) as well as 20+ books for other publishers. It's been a crazy, amazing ride, and I'm so grateful to be able to do this for a living. And so glad for this book, which will always hold a special place in my heart. You can read more about it  here.

Incidentally, this is my favourite of all my Presents cover. The hero and heroine look almost exactly as I pictured them, the sensuality is understated (as it is in my books), and there is a lovely elegance to the scene. I'm giving away one paperback copy of this Presents to anyone who comments below or responds to me on Twitter with their favourite romance of all time.