When You Plant A Seed…

When a tiny seed is planted it’s always a miracle to me how it germinates and finds its way into the world. That little shoot that forces its way through the often unyielding earth to reach for the sky. It was a bit like that for me when I attended a ten-week creative writing course some years ago. What began as the search for a hobby became an obsession.

In the fascinating world of fiction it is sometimes supposed (if you’re not an author) that writing is an easy occupation. That somehow an idea comes from nowhere and then the words just flow onto the page. It does happen, occasionally, but most of the time it’s hard work, writing that first draft followed by multiple edits, loving it, hating it then hopefully loving it again. Then maybe another edit.

I began tentatively enough but with enormous enthusiasm, moving on from the course to a small reading/writing group which, though very enjoyable, was made up of members who were content with the status quo and had no ambition to progress. I joined another group, and then another.

Ultimately I was lucky enough to find a ‘proper’ creative writing school and have now been with The Write Place in Hextable for eight years. It is run by best-selling saga author, Elaine Everest, and what an eye-opener it has been. I learned that writing, while in part inspirational, is a craft that like any other has to be mastered. That writing is a job. There is always something new to take on board.

Along with honing that craft came the challenge of social media. I’m sure there are many who, like me, found this rather daunting to begin with but, as with most things in life, familiarity brings comfort and greater fluency. Facebook is still my preferred platform but who knows if that will change in the future. I’ve certainly made many friends whom I value greatly.

The Write Place led me to the Romantic Novelists Association (RNA) which further led to the opening of other doors. While my first published work was a short story in 2012 (more than fifty have since been published) I graduated from the RNA New Writers Scheme at my first attempt in 2014 with my contemporary novel, Safe Harbour. The scheme, for unpublished writers, is in my opinion invaluable to those seeking publication in this field. In that same summer I sold my first Pocket Novel to The People’s Friend, another contemporary romance entitled After All These Years. There followed a third book, Escape to the Cotswolds, when I was fortunate to be taken on by Harper Collins HQ Digital. 

Then something altered, and it altered radically. I changed genre! Addicted from an early age to the books of Georgette Heyer and love of the Regency, I turned my hand to writing historical romantic fiction set in the early eighteen hundreds. The words just tumbled out of me and the next book, The Ghost of Glendale, was also accepted as a Pocket Novel. By now I had really got the bug and my novel focus was entirely on this enchanting era, though I continue to write short stories set in both the present and the past.

Towards the end of May of this year I was thrilled to enter into a four book contract with Sapere Books. Needless to say the level of excitement rocketed but I (and you) will have to wait a while for the first to be published, sometime in 2020. 

So where does that leave me currently? In a place of deep contentment but with no less drive, even though the books for Sapere are already written. In the throes of self-inflicted pressure, I am now engaging with the hero of my next venture, a survivor of the Napoleonic Wars, and his return to England following a truly awful tragedy in his youth. 

In the meantime, a little about The Ghost of Glendale

At twenty-four years old, Phoebe Marcham is resigned to spinsterhood, unwilling to settle for anything less than the deep love her parents had shared. That is, until adventurer Duncan Armstrong rides into her home wood, larger than life and with laughter in his eyes and more charm than anyone she’s ever met before. Love comes unexpectedly to both – but is it reciprocated? Neither is sure. And then there’s the matter of the family ghost. Far from ridiculing this tormented spirit, Duncan resolves to help Phoebe solve the mystery which has left Simon Marcham in limbo for two hundred years.

This book was such a joy to write. There’s a ghost, a little bit of history, a couple of horses – I love horses – and the obligatory difficult relative, a character I really enjoyed writing. But above all there’s the relationship between the two main protagonists. They may have ‘lived’ nearly two hundred years ago but they are as real to me as anyone I know today – and they are fun! I hope you like them too.

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About Natalie:

Natalie came late to writing, but not to reading, and it was her lifelong love of Regency romance that led her to turn from contemporary romantic fiction to try her hand at her favourite genre.

She takes delight in creating short stories of which more than fifty have been published, but is never happier than when immersed in an age of etiquette and manners, fashion and intrigue, all combined into a romping good tale.

Natalie is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, the Society of Authors and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists.

She lives in southeast London with her husband who fortunately enjoys cooking, as she can be found at her laptop at almost any hour of the day.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing