Nearly published...

I'm feeling a bit like my baby's grown up and is about to move out!

Earlier today, I was sent cover images and advance review copies of my novella, Knights Errant, which is going to be published on Friday.

It's probably best described as an adult romance, as I wanted to tell a story first and foremost, just one which included steamy scenes. I occasionally read lightweight escapist stories with happy endings, but always thought the "love scenes" were just a little tentative. I don't think anyone would say that about my writing, but the story is what I really felt I had to write.

I'm really excited about it, as this story is something I've devoted a lot of my free time to. My constructive critiquing group gave me a lot of positive comments and some really good suggestions, for which I'm very, very grateful. 

And I was over the moon when Fireborn Publishing offered me a contract.

Their team have been great and I know the story is better-told for their suggestions.

I'm really pleased with the cover their artist created. Getting involved in finding images for the cover on stock websites was the first of my new writing-related experiences... As soon as I saw the guy, I knew I'd found my main character Paul. The blonde woman looked perfect for Hayley, and the brunette grinned at me and said "Hi, I'm Becky". Her slightly cheeky grin is just right. 

Now I know about it, I'm going to work on that earlier for future stories. And it might give me a clearer idea of what my character looks like when I write their story.

I think my next writing-related experience is about to start. Marketing and publicity. I'm not the world's most outgoing person, and like many others, I found writing to be a pleasantly solitary activity. But jumping up and down to try and get people to think about treating themselves to my nicely-written and entertaining story? Teeny bit scary! 

Already started with some pre-publication tweets and posts in Facebook groups, and I've just created and published a Facebook author page which I'll use as my main "writing" page (click here for a link).

So, as soon as I've got links to the various e-book outlets, I'll be posting them here and anywhere else I can! Along with the blurb.

Writing an outline of the story to submit was bad enough, but trying to describe a 34,000 word story in two blurbs, a shorter one of up to 50 words and the other up to 150? Well, here's what I came up with.

Short blurb:
Widower Paul is ready for a new relationship. Best friends, Becky and Hayley, attractive and very different, make their interest in him perfectly clear. This knight in armour has to defeat his demons and win one without upsetting the other.

Longer blurb:
Lonely widower Paul knows he's ready to move on and start a new relationship, but doesn't expect to meet two attractive and interesting women at the same time. They want to recruit his jousting display team to feature in a TV show.

Becky and Hayley are best friends, as different as chalk and cheese, and both clearly fancy Paul. A decent guy at heart, he hopes to win one without harming their friendship. But the women don't make it any easier when they turn up the heat and leave him wondering what's going on.

A fantastic prize is within his reach. He just has to overcome his deepest fears, self-doubts, and fragile self-confidence. And be Hayley's leading man in the TV show she hopes will make her name. So no pressure. Just take a deep breath and let these two intriguing women lead him way outside his comfort zone.

That's as much as you get here... After all, the idea of the blurb is to tempt you to read more!