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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oy-Yew-ebook/dp/B00B2JV1OM/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1358689871&sr=1-3
It's been a long time coming but it's good to have it out there at last. Thanks to all who helped me decide on the cover - hope you like it. All likes and reviews very much appreciated.
Comments
Well done on ALL your achievements. Must be great to see this out there now. - Sell Sell Sell!
I'm sure it will do well.
Is it worth expanding on the reference to the Times/Chicken House Award, ie say what it was an award for, as it's quite a prestigious one so worth mentioning. Also have you got any quotes about your writing from Barry Cunningham you could use?
He did say 'thank you' when I handed him the ms. There was a postal strike around the deadline so I went to his quaint offices in the quaint town of Frome and he came to the door himself wearing checked trousers and a bow tie looking like a cross between Rupert Bear and Mr Toad.
They requested the full manuscript of one of my books and we had telephone discussions about when it would be published - two years down the line, I think. Several meetings were had by 'the board' and then they said - sniff - due to financial reasons it had come down to making a decision between mine and one other manuscript and the other one won. Very nice people though.
So near, yet so far . . .
ana, I think I saw that award advertised. You don't need to answer if you'd rather not, but wasn't there a hefty fee for entering?
Anyway, back to the topic. Well done again!
They wanted me to change one of my characters so fundamentally it would have spoiled the story - and also the theme which was friendship, as that was what their last book was about.
They will not represent an author who has an agent. another little strangeness.
But that award is a brilliant one and to be long listed is a fabulous achievement - I know the standards as I have had several friends do judging for it.
I'm on Ch25 of Far Out. I'll be reviewing end of week hopefully.
Congratulations anna s and well done.
Just got a lovely review from Oz on Amazon.com. I've always wanted to make someone stay up late because they had to keep turning another page. You can probably tell by now I'm not the person to ask about things like iPads.
TBH, I was impressed I wrote it in two weeks. I had been thinking about it for two months before Nanowrimo started and I had done some research. I'd been obsessed with folk singer Donovan's song, Mellow Yellow, for some weeks - no idea why I should be thinking about his lovely music at this particular time.
I'd had a lot of "in my head" chats with the engineer who was fretting over Saffron & living in the slum, and how was he going to get them out of it, etc. Then Marianne appeared, because she invited me round to tea with the engineer (actually that scene happened back in July). And one day, all four of them appeared over the horizon, holding hands & that's when the story kicked off.
The hardest bit was getting a skeleton plot in place with the right story arc, and the points to move from Part 1 into Part 2 into Part 3, but it is vital to do that before you start on the nanowrimo roller coaster. The intense pressure of the nanowrimo timetable (50,000 words in 4 weeks) pushed the story out. By day 9 I was exhausted so I pushed even harder to get the book out. The psychology of nanowrimo is SO clever.
So yes, the first draft was out in 2 weeks - 50k words. I spent the rest of November adding and editing and continued that process up to Christmas, working with a proof reader, for the 2013 edition.
EVERY reader has complained about Nigel's fate (don't want to do the plot spoiler here) and I've just had a message from sis's iPad. "Re: Nigel, how COULD YOU?" (Caps sic). And I miss him too, so I think, yes...I like your idea.
What about your waifs, do they have more story to tell? (Again don't want to do a plot spoiler), but I absolutely loved them, their names and their conversations and their points of view.
Off to look at your Amazon review, now.
Would you mind expanding on the roman candle - you mean the firework kind? Your story logic intrigues me.
Just reviewed it - brilliant read.
Ooooh!
I reckon if a few more of us TBers could put in an order, we could see it rise some more.
Do any of you have children or grandchildren who would like a witty and ironic story of waifs and orphans? Christmas gift maybe? Stocking filler? Raffle prize for school or local community event?
I've ordered mine.
So exciting!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oy-Yew-Ana-Salote/dp/1782996591