I'D LIKE TO WELCOME AURELIA TO WORD ENLIGHTENMENT. A DIARY ON THE ROAD TO PUBLICATION AND A SNEAKY PEEK 'CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED'
(HOPE NOT AURELIA, I WANT MY MINCE PIES LOL)WITHOUT FURTHER ADO I WILL HAND YOU OVER TO AURELIA.
Diary of a debut author
May 30
Whilst
browsing the internet one Wednesday evening, I come across Entangled
Publishing's submission call for Christmas stories up to 15K words for their
Flirts/Ever After imprint. Christmas is
Cancelled is born. (Deadline June 10)
June 2
I flew
off for a family holiday – complete with laptop – having not finished my short
story before we left.
June 10
Deadline
been and gone, but my story was going to be too long anyway.
June 16
Consider
modifying the story so that it could adapt to the New Year call-out from
Entangled, even rename it A Resolution
Too Far and add a prologue.
July 15
Not
being true to story so it’s time to abandon the Entangled submission call and
start looking for other publishers seeking Christmas/holiday stories.
July 16
Email
Breathless Press to see if they would accept a partial, or whether it had to be
a full manuscript; the answer was full. With the school summer holidays looming
though, writing was going to be difficult, so Christmas is Cancelled will have to be parked up until the schools
return in September.
August
28
My main
characters are harassing me...they won’t leave me alone, and insist I finish
their story. I log back onto Breathless Press submissions page. Their deadline
for Christmas stories is September 30, definitely do-able. Comment in Facebook
group that I am going to try and submit my holiday story, and hear from the
actual editor for the holiday stories, except the deadline is not end of
September…it’s the end of August. EEK! (Deadline extended to September 1)
September
1
Almost
to the minute, I hit ‘send’ and just scrape in for the deadline. Now the
anxious wait begins…
September
6
An email
is waiting for me on my phone when I wake up. I stare at the words, blink, and
read it a couple more times. It really does say what I think it does, so I leap
out of bed and race down the stairs to show my husband. “Congratulations!” he
says, a smile nowhere as big as mine. I text my best friends, the usual cryptic
nonsense I tend to go for, “Christmas is NOT Cancelled,” I type. Unable to
contain myself, I go onto my private critique group and quote: “This story was
a real emotional read and I loved how you used Christmas as the point to turn
everything around. It touched my heart deeply and if you consider this an
unedited mess...well let's just say I'm very glad you sent it regardless.” I
can’t stop smiling, thinking it’s a dream, but I haven’t gone ‘public’ yet as
I’d rather wait for the contract.
September
7
I can’t
help myself and make a blog announcement worthy of winning an Oscar.
September
8
Cover
art request form arrives – I need to summarise my story, share my inspiration
pictures, and also give my ideas for a front cover. I write: “I quite like the
idea of having the snow-capped hills and maybe the hikers lodge in the
background, with a picture of a couple in front of a large gaudily decorated
artificial Christmas tree super-imposed over the top – if that makes sense?”
September
9
Contract
is signed. I am a writer!!!
September
22
Pre-edits
– I need to look for typos as well as Americanize everything, complying
with the in-house style guide. Needed back within a week.
October
14
First
round edits – I see the title of the email and my heart plummets. Will my
‘baby’ be ripped to shreds? Will there be nothing but track changes
obliterating the page? Oh, maybe not… “Overall, you are a very clean writer. It
was a delight. The only issue was some run on sentences and a tendency for
repeating words. All in all, not that big of a deal.” Great! Or was the worst
yet to come? “Usually a manuscript goes up to four rounds with me, then a round
with the line editor. With how tight your writing is, I highly doubt we'll need
more than two with me before I can send it to the line editor.”
October
17
All done.
For now. The second round edits pretty much amounted to changing a word because
it wasn’t known in the US, and accepting a couple of punctuation changes.
October
26
Work
starts on my cover art, and by gosh it’s exciting watching it come together.
October
29
My cover
art is done, complete with banners to use as well. I love it. It’s like the
cover artist could see inside my head to come up with the perfect cover.
November
5
Release
date penciled in. Originally was going to be after Christmas, which was a
little confusing, but finally confirmed as December 21.
December
7
Line
edits finally arrive after being held-up for a while, but it could have been
worse. At least I have them, and aside from some commas and some ‘misplaced
modifiers’, I was good to go.
December
8
Juggle
first round edits of another story, with the line edits for Christmas is
Cancelled. I start thinking about the blurb and excerpt so I’m ready.
December
9
Pre-Order!
Time for another song and happy dance session. I even dragged my eldest in to
look at “Mummy’s book” on the internet for people to buy. The blog tour has
also kicked off, the start of a few weeks gallivanting from blog to blog across
the globe. Which is what brings me here today…
December
21
Release
day!
Short version
Aurelia B Rowl is a
contemporary romance author but you can also find her masquerading as Allie A
Burrow, her raunchier alter-ego.
She lives on the edge
of the Peak District in the UK with her very understanding husband and
their two fantastic children aged 5 and 3, along with their mad rescue mutt who
doesn’t mind being used as a sounding post and source of inspiration. They are
all used to her getting too caught up with her latest writing project...
or five!... and she is guiltily counting down the months until she has both
kids at school full-time.
To find out more about
Aurelia, or to check out what projects she's working on right now, you can
visit her website www.aureliabrowl.com
You can also find her
hanging out on:
Blog –
blogspot.aureliabrowl.com
Facebook –
www.facebook.com/aurelia.b.rowl
Twitter –
@AureliaBRowl
Google+ –
+AureliaBRowl
Pinterest –
www.pinterest.com/aureliabrowl
Goodreads –
www.goodreads.com/aureliabrowl
About Christmas is
Cancelled…
|
|
Contemporary romance
Release date: 21 December 2012
Publisher: Breathless Press
ISBN: 978-1-77101-938-5
Heat level: 3
Word count: 40,000+
|
Short blurb
Could Tilly's day get
any worse? Even Christmas had been cancelled! Will Dean succumb to temptation as
he endeavors to make Christmas better for both of them?
Full blurb
Matilda 'Tilly' Carter didn't think her day
could get any worse, but even Christmas had just been cancelled.
The one girl Dean Watson has sworn never to have—never even expected to see
again—just flared back into his life and into his home—his sanctuary—like she
belonged there. Christmas would certainly be more bearable with Tilly around
though…
As the chinks in Dean's armor appear, Tilly seizes the chance to win her knight
once and for all. She's not about to take no for answer—not this time—but Dean
must resist, even as his heart rebels and temptation threatens to undermine his
resolve.
Win or lose? Love or honor? Which will Dean choose? Assuming he gets a choice…
Book trailer
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src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y4zIhEoE5PM?rel=0"
frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Excerpt
Tears welled
in her eyes, clouding her vision. She turned and wandered blindly toward the
exit as the first tear escaped, forging a track down her cheek for the rest to
follow. Tilly took in a lungful of air and then another. Having made a
spectacle of herself once already, she really didn't want to be the cause of
yet another scene.
The crowds
swarmed around her, with students and family members heading home for the
holidays only adding to the usual rush-hour melee of commuters. They jostled
past, threatening to swallow her whole, as they rushed en mass in the opposite
direction, using their briefcases and suitcases as a battering ram.
It was
suffocating. She had to get out of there. Breaking into a run, broken heel or
not, she raced through the doors and out into the biting December chill. Her
waterlogged eyes struggled to adjust to the dark, dreary sky after the bright
station lights, but she didn't dare slow down, desperate to escape the throng
of festivities and merriment.
Carol
singers assembled outside burst into a jovial rendition of "We Wish You a
Merry Christmas," full of joy and happiness. Didn't they know Christmas
had just been cancelled?
"Ooof!"
Tilly smacked her shin against the edge of a low bench, too dark to see as she
tried to dodge the growing audience. She ended up sprawled across the bench,
dropping the handle of her suitcase with a loud clatter.
At least the
pain shooting down her leg gave her an excuse to be crying. Unfortunately, it
meant she had to stop running too. Not good. Whenever things got too tough, too
intimate, or too confrontational, you could rely on her to make a run for it.
Running away was what she did best...
A tall
figure loomed in the edge of her vision, something vaguely familiar about the
man's loping gait. In an effort to see him more clearly, she wiped her eyes
with the back of her hands, then cringed inwardly at the black streaks now
etched all over them. Great. She could add impersonating a panda to her day
from hell as well then.
The mascara
stung her eyes, rendering her unable to focus properly. She blinked furiously
as the man strode past her, talking into a mobile phone in a deep voice that
resonated throughout her body and made the fine hairs on the back of her neck
stand on end. A surge of adrenaline rushed to her legs, numbing the pain as her
subconscious told her to run. Now!
The cloaked
figure stopped mid-stride as if he'd heard her gasp. "Mike, I've gotta
go," he barked into the phone, hanging up instantly. He backtracked until
he was standing right in front of her, his tone changing from a growl to one of
surprise. "Basmati?"
Great. She
hadn't heard the nickname for years—nine years, four months and...sixteen days,
to be exact—and even then, only one person had ever actually used it. She
screwed her eyes tightly shut, shaking her head from side to side. No. No way.
There was absolutely no way this could be happening to her. Not now. Not today
of all days... Talk about kicking a girl when she was down.
Links…
Buy links:
