Fishguard and Friendship

-
Fishguard Bay Hotel (c) Writers' Holiday

A couple of weekends ago, I went on the Advanced Romance Writers' course at the Fishguard Bay Hotel, run by the lovely Anne and Gerry Hobbs of  Writers' Holiday.  This was my fourth year of attending and it really keeps getting better every time, as I remarked to the course tutor, Kate Walker.  The group, a mix of old and new members,  was incredibly dynamic and this was especially true of the critique session. We discussed each others work in an intelligent and constructive way and it was brilliant to see a lot of very good writing had been done over the past year. As always, I got a huge amount out of this fabulous course and I'm sure everyone else who attended did too. And, as always, I've already booked my place for next year :)


www.sarahsnowdon.co.uk
A few days after getting back from Fishguard, I met up with another writing friend who couldn't make the course this year, Sarah Snowdon.  We had a lovely lunch in Porthmadog, which is about halfway between our respective homes, and two hours of talking 'shop' simply flew by.  Sarah's just completed her third book and, like me, is awaiting feedback on a full submission to Mills and Boon Modern.  Needless to say, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for us both!

Friendship among writers is such a vital and reinforcing part of an occupation that of necessity is a very solo one most of the time,  especially if one lives in rural bliss!  So for me, getting together with fellow writers, either on courses or for the occasional coffee, is a blessing, and the support and generosity of the friends I've made over the last few years is just one more wonderful reason to be a Romance Writer!!


Comments

  1. Sarah Snowdon1 March 2015 at 05:57

    Hi Melissa. Had such a good time in Porthmadog. Two hours went by far too fast. Lovely to see you and can't wait to meet up again. Your generosity and friendship are true treasures.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lissa Morgan1 March 2015 at 08:59

    Thank you and likewise, Sarah :)
    Happy St. David's Day xx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nadolig Llawen - Merry Christmas!

-
Image
It's an unusual December for me this year, as I'm taking a little break from writing until January. My latest novel - The Warrior's Forbidden Maiden (sneak preview of the cover at the end of this post!) - was accepted by my editor at Harlequin Mills and Boon at the beginning of November, and since then I've been sitting back and mulling over the next project.  It's been a few years since I took such a long break from writing, and for someone who writes every day, it's been very strange. However, it has had exciting results. Before I started writing, I was always a voracious reader of historical fiction, and particularly the medieval period. Among my favourite books are those by Rosemary Hawley Jarman, set against the  Wars of the Roses - We Speak No Treason, The King's Grey Mare and The Courts of Illusion , the latter, to my mind, her best work.  I've had a desire to write about the Wars of the Roses for a while now, and after re-reading these wonderfu
Read more

Dipyn o Gymraeg ~ A bit of Welsh

-
Image
Readers and reviewers often comment that, while they enjoy the Welshness of my books, they sometimes struggle to get their tongues around some of the characters' names and other words I use to add flavour to my stories.  Some have said they wish they could speak Welsh in order to 'hear' the words on the page, and others have suggested a glossary might be useful.  Due to word count restrictions, it's not really possible to include a glossary in the books themselves, but here is a quick guide to some of the names and frequently-used Welsh words in my books, and also a useful link to a fuller pronunciation guide to be found online, courtesy of Aberystwyth University. Basically, all letters in Welsh are sounded purely, none are silent, and consonants are the same as in English but are usually hard, not soft. Vowels are often very different to the English and we have two extra ones - w and y - and also diphthongs, which are two vowels run together that have their own unique
Read more

A variety of book covers

-
Image
One of the nicest and most exciting things about being a writer who is published with a traditional publisher - in my case Harlequin Mills & Boon - is the thrill of seeing what sort of cover the design team create for each book.   I have loved all my covers to date, from my debut The Welsh Lord's Convenient Bride in May 2022, to my latest book, The Warrior's Reluctant Wife , out this month - today, 16th August, in Australia, 22nd in USA and 31st in the UK.  There are very subtle differences between the covers for each of these regions, and I've made a little montage below to show what they are.  Which do you like best?     I think I just lean towards the UK cover but I'm delighted with them all.  These are home market covers, ie published in the English language, but as my books reach markets further afield and go into translation, sometimes a totally different cover appears, like the one below for the Italian edition of The Welsh Lord's Convenient Bride .    
Read more