WITHOUT REPROACH

Here’s a date for your diary. Thursday June 5th -Trade Expo - Moonee Ponds.
One again, Pick A Pocket Books will be having a stand to promote their books and the authors who write them. Do drop in to see their display of books, and while you’re their, support an Australian author by buying one. Or take a look at their site. http://www.pickapocketbook.com
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To move on to some good news. I’m pleased to say that my latest book, WITHOUT REPROACH has been accepted by Severn house UK and will be released in October 2008.

Usually I write historical saga. This time I tried my hand at a contemporary romantic suspense. It was refreshing to write something different, and I hope that my readers will recognize my need for a temporary change of pace, and don’t desert me because it’s modern day. The next book will be a saga type historical again, I promise. In fact, I’ve already got the first chapter down.

I think I’ve said before that writing is hard work. If you keep writing the same kind of book over and over sometimes you can feel as though you’re stuck in a rut. A bored brain needs stimulation to sharpen it. A change of style is medicinal, in that it refreshes you.

Not many publishers approve of their author’s changing lanes. If they’ve spent time and effort building up an author’s name in a certain category, and that author has attracted a number of readers, then changing tack can throw it out of balance.

Writing modern novels is just as hard as writing historical, I find. Both have to be researched, especially if they are set in a country you don’t live in. Researching historical is easier. History doesn’t shift and change. In modern day things are changing fast. Electronic devises such as computers, reading devices, ipods and telephones are constantly changing. If you use them in a novel, by the time the book is published everything can be rendered obsolete.

This was brought home to me when I was last in the UK and staying with my son. On his desk is a telephone from the fifties, with a dial on the front. It works, but his three daughters can’t figure out how!

While I’m on line. Usually I get a couple of letters a month from readers. So far this month I’ve had six, from as far afield as England, Wales and Cyprus. I do appreciate hearing from readers, so to all those people who read my books and like them enough to write and tell me, a heartfelt thanks.

Historical Photo Shoot.

Photo Shoot!

A few days ago I had my first experience of being a model. The shoot was to publicise the upcoming Perth Roadshow, which is a day of workshopping and fun featuring three of Australia’s brightest and most talented internationally published romance writing stars from the eastern states They are Anne Gracie, Marion Lennox and Trish Morey.

This day of workshopping will be of great benefit to those who want to write popular fiction of any genre, but especially those aiming at the romance and traditional womens’ fiction markets.

This roadshow takes place on Saturday 24th at the Good Earth Hotel in Adelaide terrace. Door open at 8-30 and the day finishes around five pm. Optional is dinner with the authors. Cost of the workshop is $100 including lunch and afternoon tea. $60 extra if you’d like to dine with the authors. Registration forms can be found on the Romance Writers of Australia Inc website. Closes on 17th May. http://www.romanceaustralia.com

RIGHT - BACK TO THE PHOTO SHOOT. At 8.30 one morning Western Australia’s own internationally published authors - Janet Woods (moi) Sharon Milburn and Anna Jacobs presented themselves to a lovely home in Solomon Street in Fremantle, which had been generously offered to us by the owner for the shoot. There we met the fabulous and friendly crew from the West Australian newspaper magazine.

Make up artist and hairdressing was laid on. Somehow, my two inches of hair was tonged into curls and glued in place with hairspray that set like cement.
My face was painted with goo, my six remaining eyelashes mascaraed and my lips became a bring pink pout. I’m yet to see the result of this. Without my spectacles on a glance in the mirror revealed a pale, blurred and haggard blob with what seemed to be two pairs of eyebrows! I decided that you’re never to old to make an ass of yourself, and rather then worry about the result I’d just allow myself to be carried along with the tide.

We quickly selected outfits. Sharon, who has authored two regencies “Lord Whitley’s Bride” and “Captain’s Lady” and who is a teacher when she’s not being an author had brought along her own gown and accessories, a regency outfit. (see photos).The deep blue colour happened to match the colour of the velvet and lace outfit worn by the regency buck, who was plucked out of the West Australian’s office for the day. The gentleman certainly looked the part of the handsome hero.

My gown was pink, with silver tinsel on the bodice and room for panniers that would have produced hips like Queen Elizabeth 1st, and given new meaning to love handles. However, the padded panniers didn’t come with it, so the skirt drooped a bit. I had to pick the skirt up when I walked because it was to long (or I was too short). Anyway, the ginger house cat liked the skirt and amused himself by hiding under it, then wrestling with the frill.

The multi-published Anna Jacobs was elegantly late Victorian in black lace, pearls and cameo brooch. Her hair was middle parted and drawn back into curls.

I always enjoy it when something different and entirely unexpected happens. The morning was fun. The company was great, and I’m now looking forward, with a little dread I might add, to the end result.

Pick A Pocket Books

http//www.pickapocketbook.com

Here’s a new type of book. It’s small enough to fit in a back pocket or purse, has a flip cover and contains two long short stories, or two short novellas – whichever description takes your fancy. Pick a Pocket Books were designed for the traveller to have a quick read on their journey. The books cost $12.00 and can be bought directly from the website.

Now, you might think this is an advert. Yes it is, though in the publishing world we call it a promotion. As I said when I started this blog, it’s mainly for advertising my own stories and novels – though I did review another writer’s novel not long ago. Whatever takes my fancy.

My pocket book contains two romantic stories. “The Courting of Roscoe” is about 14,000 words and set in Tasmania. Here’s how to seduce a lady with chocolate and cherries! “The Colour of Sunset,” which is the second story, is played out on a cattle station in the Western Australia and is shorter, at 6,000 words. Lady artist meets roving journalist with a nose for a story!

This pocket book is a neat little creature. The publisher will have a stall at the “Back to Booktown Festival” at Clunes in Victoria on 3rd and 4th of May.
I’m sure Marlene Meier will be happy to answer any questions you care to ask if you’re in the area. They might even sell you a book or two.

If you can’t make the festival, please drop in on the site and see what’s on offer from myself and the other authors. And if you want to know what else I’ve published, do please visit my website.

Why I write novels

I’ve just finished writing my twenty-second novel. Actually I’ve written about thirty, but the first half-a-dozen were downright duds. The early models of my novels reside in a single wardrobe. Trying to read one is quite humbling. It reminds me that my writing was unpublishable in the early days – though at the time I didn’t know it! Some writers dig out their early novels and resurrect them. Alas, every one of my early efforts seem stale and out of date and I’d rather write a new book.

Like most skills, the craft of writing has to be learned. Some people go to creative writing classes. Yes, you can learned the steps needed to craft a novel. Now start putting it into practice, because I can almost guarantee that the majority of students will not be able to write a publishable novel until they’ve input a few litres of sweat and tears. There are exceptions, but they are few.

This is not to say that creative writing classes aren’t useful. They are. Usually they’re the first step towards a career as a writer. I did a correspondence course in creative writing, which was helpful in showing me what I was doing wrong (which was everything at first!). It also helped me to sort out the style of writing I enjoyed doing most, which was women’s fiction in novel form, and short stories.

I didn’t get my certificate, because I was one lesson short. Enthusiasm bit me on the bum. I wanted to get on with what I knew I was going to write – and technical writing wasn’t it. It totally bored me. I can’t believe now that I abandoned the course one lesson off completion. Do I regret it? No. I did happen to get my first publication during that time – a story for children that I wrote for the course. A certificate proving that you’ve completed a course in creative writing doesn’t get you publication. It may give you the confidence and persistence to keep writing towards the goal of publication though.

A few years ago I enrolled in a script writers course, mainly because I wanted to learn the technique of scenic writing so I could apply it to my own work. I think this was the most useful course I’ve ever attended, it taught me how to write in a scenic sense, which was a technique that could be applied directly to my own work. It did not, however, turn me into a script writer. I enjoy writing scenery and inner dialogue, exposing the emotions and travelling on the complete creative journey with my characters. In script writing this can’t be done to any great extent or in such detail.

Mentally and physically, writing is hard work. You're in self-imposed solitary confinement. You sit in front of a computer and gradually type your fingerprints off. After a while your wrists ache, so does your back and your neck. Your shoulders freeze, your eyes begin to dry up and after a while you develop twitching eyelids. Oh yes, and the backside tends to spread. The rewards are not all that great, either. It’s an occupation where only the few seem go on to wealth and fortune, and it’s not a profession where equal skill and pay always go hand in hand. It takes me five months to complete a book. Sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day, seven days a week steaming my brain for a clever metaphor or a bright and lively twist of conversation is not always fun. And what other profession will offer you a biannual pay packet six months after you’ve earned it!

So why do I do it? I’m obsessed. I love every moment of writing a novel, even the moments I hate. When it’s produced and I hold it in my hands in its shiny new jacket, and it finally looks, smells and feels like a proper book instead of several figment of my imagination cobbled together with string, it gives me a huge sense of achievement.

Edge of Regret Reviews

Three good reviews have come in for Edge of Regret. I'm showing just a portion of them, but two of them can be read at length online, so I've put their links in. As follows . . .
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4 stars. Set in Victorian Edinburgh, Edge of Regret, is a spellbinding historical saga packed with emotion, tragedy and romance that further establishes Janet Woods as one of the genre’s strongest voices! – Julie Bonello – Cata Romance
http://singletitles.com?p=342
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Woods fashions an involving, time-honored story featuring noble heroes and naughty villains. Sure to please her fans – Booklist.
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Top Pick! This story keeps in perfect line with the other Janet Woods books that I have read, not in that they are intertwined, but in that they all have the same feel—bittersweet, lovely, nostalgic and beautiful. I look forward to every single book that she puts out because I know that the hits keep coming!
Kristal Gorman – http://romancereaderatheart.com/pubsandpromos/

Review of Substitute Bride - Laurel Lamperd

SUBSTITUTE BRIDE - Laurel Lamperd
Regency Romance – Publisher: Wings Press http://www.wingspress.com
ISBN (10) 1-59705-733-9 ISBN (13) 9781597057332

Substitute Bride is the Laurel Lamperd’s first novel. The plot revolves about the need for the rakish Nick, Marquess of Desborough to wed – so to take possession of his inheritance from his tight-fisted cousin. His intention is to marry beneath him, then have the marriage annulled.

Just as Nick gets word that his bride is no longer available, along comes the hapless Emma Napier and her friend Abby, two country girls of good birth who are fleeing to London so Abby can escape a loveless marriage to a stranger. Abby’s convenient migraine puts Emma within the Marquess’ grasp at the time she needs money and he needs a substitute bride. Emma allows him to bully her into marriage. Nick then goes off to claim his inheritance.

Emma never expects to see Nick again and keeps the marriage a secret, as agreed. Emma’s Aunt Matilda takes the two girls under her wing so they can enjoy a season. A London success, Emma has suitors queuing up at the door. Inevitably, the recently wed husband and wife meet. The Marquess is reluctant to set the annulment in motion, and the protagonists are pitted against each other. Thrown into the mix is the fun and frivolity of a London season, an exquisitely beautiful but hard-hearted mistress plotting Emma’s downfall, a cast of interesting and lively secondary characters with their own sub-plots and everybody minding everyone else’s business.

On the down side, the sentence structure of the second paragraph is clumsy and confusing. Appearing as it must on the first page, it immediately catches the eye and doesn’t create the best of impressions. The production standard is fairly sloppy too. Although the novel looks good with a nicely designed jacket, and is easy on the eye with a clear, good sized font, there are several misplaced full stops throughout, and many of the dialogue marks are reversed, some all on one page. There are enough of these mistakes to irritate, they give the impression that the book wasn’t proof read properly – if at all.

There is very little to criticise in the writing itself. The novel is well constructed and is a smooth read all the way through. SUBSTITUTE BRIDE engages the emotions right from the start. There is enough description to serve time and place. The Marquess is traditionally alpha male, but not alpha enough to be a pain in the proverbial. Emma is a spirited heroine who brings her man to heel over the course of the novel. It’s good fun and the ending satisfies with all threads tied up.

Excellent characterisation, natural dialogue and tension that rises naturally from the plot are all present in this subtly ironic novel that is a pleasure to read. I’ll look forward to reading Laurel Lamperd’s second book.

Reviewed by Janet Woods – author

Flying Sparks

Sparks have been flying in our house! No, I haven’t been fighting with my husband. Two weeks ago the electricity went off, came back with a power surge and knocked out my telephones.

Because I’d transferred my telephone account to my server, I emailed them immediately to let them know what had happened. I received no answer. The next day I emailed them again, and the next day after that. No answer! No answer!

We have no mobile phone. My husband drove to the local shopping centre and went into a phone box (the temperature that day, that week actually, was hovering around 39 degrees!). He was told that there was half an hour to wait before we could get a technician on the line to answer our query. Rather than become the first man to be baked alive in a public telephone box, my husband came home again.

Five days later my daughter sorted it out via her telephone. By that time the wait was down to twenty minutes and the telephone company had sent its technicians out. However, because my server hadn’t sent a request to the telephone company, who own the cables, (despite my three emails!) our service could not be restored, though the service to my immediate neighbours was. Two days later they got around to us.

Later, we found out that the power cut and surge was contained to the small area of about sixty houses that forms our village. Someone came to test the appliances. I was lucky. Only my fax/phone was damaged beyoned repair in the surge. Though coincidentally, my electric kettle gave up the ghost yesterday. Other people lost computers, radios and televisions as well as telephones.

However, my main grouse is not with the power company since electricity outages are part of life. It lies with my server, who, although perfectly competant in all other areas, totally ignored my emails – though the voice at the end of the phone did manage to find one of them when my daughter got to talk to a living person. And before that conversation was over came the irony of a form I received, which solicited my opinion on the service I was receiving. In fact, I got two of those forms during the debacle.

This is a communications company. They sell and service internet facilities. I’ve been with them a long, long time. They take money from my bank account for this purpose every month. So why can’t they bloody well communicate when you need them!