The West Country now has its very own Novel Prize

Anyone who ever dared to think the UK's West Country (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Avon) is a cultural desert will now have to think again because as of now we have the Exeter Novel Prize.

This was launched last night at Exeter Central Library in front of a gratifyingly large audience who had braved the wind and rain of a horrible evening to come and find out what it's all about. We rewarded them with cakes! Here's a shot of the organisers and a member of the audience, the novelist Laura James whose debut novel will be published soon. Left to right - Margaret James, Cathie Hartigan, Laura James and Sophie Duffy.

The organisers - Sophie Duffy, Cathie Hartigan and I - explained that this brand new prize is open to yet-to-be-published and published (but currently unagented and uncontracted) writers.  You have to be over 18, to write in English, and your work must be for adults or young adults - readers of 12 or over.  This year, we are not considering stories for children.

The final judge will be Broo Doherty from the London literary agency Wade and Doherty.  The first prize is £500, generously sponsored by Exeter Writers, and five runners-up will each receive £50. The prizes will be paid via Paypal, so currency conversions won't be a problem. There'll be no sterling cheques to cash abroad at vast expense! Entry is open to writers anywhere in the world.

The full terms and conditions are on this link: www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk. This is what our local MP, the Right Honourable Ben Bradshaw, former Labour Secretary of State for Media, Culture and Sport, has to say: The Exeter Novel Prize is a great addition to the cultural life of our city and I look forward to it becoming a regular fixture on the arts calendar. Good luck to all entrants and I look forward to hearing about the shortlist and the winning novel.

Novel Event for Everyone

If you live in or near Exeter and would like to become a successful first time novelist, or to kick-start your career all over again, please come and join the Creative Writing Matters team for a free event which will launch the brand new Exeter Novel Prize.

When - Thursday 27 June at 7 pm

Where - Exeter Central Library

What - the Exeter Novel Prize is open to entries from published (but at present unagented and uncontracted) and yet-to-be published novelists. Entry to the event is free.

More details - at www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk.

Please come along and join in the discussion. Our theme for the evening will be: how to be a winner, and -

There will be cakes!

More fun in the sun...

I'm hugely delighted to be a featured author in the forthcoming anthology Sunloungers, which is a collection of fabulous beach reads by authors writing for the women's fiction market.

Here's what our editor Harriet had to say about our stories:

"What is so completely brilliant about this collection is the variety the reader 
gets to experience: heartbreak and heartache, laughter and a feelgood buzz, 
sweet romance and blossoming friendships, mystery and intrigue. There truly is 
something for everyone, crafted with love and care from an extremely talented 
group of women."

I couldn't have put it better myself, so I won't even try!

Here is the link to anthology website - http://www.va-va-vacation.com/sunlounger-chick-lit-stories. The book itself will be available to download on 1 July and we're all looking forward to finding out what readers think of it. We're going to take you places!

Some fun in the sun...

My friend Cathie Hartigan and I just had a fun weekend in London, and - what's more - the sun actually shone on us.  Hurray, it's summer! Well - maybe...

On Saturday, we arrived at the New Cavendish Club near Marble Arch and got poshed up to go to Foyle's Gallery (yes, that Foyles, in the Charing Cross Road) for the launch of the new Words with Jam anthology in which Cathie has a story The Scent of Lemons. Cathie's story was the second prize winner among the longer stories. Here's a photograph of the writers who attended the launch.  Cathie is second on the left...

...and here's the anthology, which is available to buy on Amazon Kindle and as a paperback.  I love the surrealist cover - it's a lot of fun!  The link to buy is below. I made sure I got my print copy signed by as many of these stars as I could catch.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Earthless-Melting-Pot-Prize-winning-ebook/dp/B00D1ASTXG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1370203313&sr=1-1&keywords=earthless+melting+pot

This morning, we headed out to the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace (like you do) to see an exhibition of Tudor and Stuart paintings and other artefacts depicting royal clothing. It was a wonderful collection, including clothes, pictures, armour, a terracotta image of a child who could have been Henry VIII, a lace collar belonging to Charles I, a pair of fetching green stockings belonging to William III, and a painting of Charles II as Prince of Wales in full armour as commander of one of the Royalist armies during the Civil War.  Charles was 12 - what were they thinking? Child soldiers are sadly nothing new.

Anyway, just to prove the sun shone, I'll conclude with a snap of moi standing in front of my new house. I'm about to exchange contracts. Do you like? I love the gold scrollery on the gates, but I think some of that flock wallpaper they apparently have inside might have to go...

All in one volume...

It can be annoying when you read a series of novels out of sequence. I've done this several times, for various reasons - perhaps because I've been given or bought one book, then realised it isn't actually the beginning of a whole story.

So I was very pleased when my publisher decided to bring out my Dorset trilogy as a one-stop Kindle download, and anyone who wanted to read it would be able to do so in sequence.

The Charton Minster Trilogy tells the story of heiress Rose Courtenay, who reaches her late teens in 1914, just in time for the beginning of the First World War, or Great War, as it was known until it was eclipsed in trauma and tragedy by the next one.

The story takes in the enormous upheavals which rocked society during the war and during the depression which followed - a depression which some historians believe led inexorably to the Second World War.

But this trilogy is not a sociological or political document.  It's the story of one woman and her family, her friends and her country. It shows Rose Courtenay (later Denham) making lots of mistakes and paying dearly for them, but also finding love, having children of her own, and having to watch them make mistakes themselves. Rose learns a lot during her long life, but at a great cost.

These are not gloomy books, however, and I have hopefully shown that whenever something bad happens to any of us it can be lightened and made bearable if we can only find the courage to love and be loved in all sorts of ways. Love between friends, siblings, relations and spouses - all are to be found in the Charton Minster Trilogy.

UK readers: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Charton-Minster-Trilogy-Choc-ebook/dp/B00CS7OD24/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369338303&sr=1-1&keywords=charton+minster

US readers: http://www.amazon.com/Charton-Minster-Trilogy-Choc-ebook/dp/B00CS7OD24/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369340038&sr=1-1&keywords=charton+minster+trilogy

Meet the authors - Trisha Ashley and me!

Trisha Ashley and I will be in Bath Waterstones on Saturday 18th May from 12 to 2, and we will be very happy to meet and chat with readers. So, if you're in the district, please pop in and see us?

Trisha will be signing copies of her latest novel Good Husband Material and I'll be doing the same with my romantic comedy The Wedding Diary. Anybody spot a theme there? They're both bright, cheerful stories, so anyone need a pick-up or a beach read?

There will probably be more of Trisha's fabulous novels in the store, so please make time to have a browse. Bath is a lovely city. After the signing, Trisha and I intend to eat some Bath buns and go round the Roman ruins. Probably not at the same time...

BBC Radio Devon

I had a fun time today sitting on the Quay in Exeter chatting to the lovely John Govier of BBC Radio Devon. How could I not warm to a man who gave me a great welcome, a big block of chocolate AND a scone piled with clotted cream and jam?  Oh, and who got me eating it on air, too.

So now, anyone who wants to know if I can talk with my mouth full can find out! I'm chatting to John 2.10 hours into the programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0185qvd