WIP Archives - Author Rosie Travers

The Return of the Writer

Posted on June 14, 2024 | by Rosie Travers | 3 Comments

Who doesn’t enjoy a trip down memory lane? There are several good reasons why I haven’t been cracking on with my writing this year – and one of them is because of travel. Yes, Mr T and me have too many holidays, but my most recent excursion has been a solo trip to catch up with friends in the Netherlands.

We lived in the beautiful Dutch city of Haarlem for two years from 2014 to 2016. We then moved down to Den Haag for a further year. I haven’t been back to the Netherlands since we left in 2017 (apart from the cheese buying pitstop in Schipol Airport on our recent journey back from South America).

During my time in the Netherlands I joined an international women’s group in Amsterdam – I didn’t partake in a great deal of the activities on offer, I’m fairly unsociable, but I did enjoy the organised walks and the yoga sessions. After we left, a few of us stayed in touch, meeting up back in the UK a couple of times. Then Covid struck, and we hadn’t seen each other since.

A catch up was long overdue. As one of the gang permanently resides in Haarlem, she offered to host. Flights were arranged, the hotel booked. I must admit I was worried my memories of the city had become blurred; that my rose-tinted spectacles had fogged up entirely and nothing would be as charming as I remembered. But on the flight over, I discovered the passenger in the next seat was travelling to a conference in the city, and I felt like the native, able to give helpful hints and directions. This was then followed by the joy of dragging my suitcase over the cobbles, the forgotten pitfalls of negotiating bicycle lanes, inhaling the lingering aroma of cheese and chips…

It was soo good to be back, eating my appeltaart met slagroom in the Grote Markt. I never learned to speak more than the most basic Dutch because the locals understood me better when I spoke in English, but it was heartwarming to be surrounded by the buzz of those guttural conversations. Haarlem hadn’t changed; I noticed a few of my favourite shops and cafes had gone, but others had replaced them. I trod the well-worn streets, soaking up the atmosphere like a drug, all the while acknowledging how lucky I was to have lived in such a beautiful part of the world. We took the bus out to the beach at Zandvoort to sit as the Dutch do, in a windy open-air bar, admiring the grey skies and the even greyer North Sea. And talking of bars – I’ve never been kicked out of one in my life, until our last night, when the young hotel barman switched off the lights and asked if we’d mind finishing our drinks in the lobby because he had a home to go to. Midnight already? Surely not? I thought the Dutch liked to party….

Anyway, that was my trip back in time, pure nostalgia and I left feeling warm and fuzzy inside with the promise to return again with Mr T. But the Netherlands is not the only place I’ve revisited recently. I’ve picked up on an old manuscript that’s been stuck in the drawer for the last seven years. To be honest, I am struggling with my historical weepy, and I thought revisiting something more lightweight and in my usual style, would be a good way to get back into the writing zone. It’s worked! As I re-write huge chunks of my contemporary romcom, ideas keep popping into my head for the war time love story. It’s like a part of me that had been missing has now come back, the words are tumbling out as quick as I can type. How long this euphoria will last, I’ve no idea. At the moment I’m escaping to my desk at every opportunity – especially as we’ve another holiday in a couple of weeks…

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What Next?

Posted on July 26, 2023 | by Rosie Travers | 2 Comments

Trouble on the Tide has been out in the big wide world for a month and I’m pleased to say the book has been a resounding success. And by success I’m not measuring myself by any Sunday Times bestseller list rankings (I wish), but my own far more realistic criteria for self-asessment, ie came up with a plot, wrote it down, refined and edited it into a manuscript of 84,000 words, uploaded it as an ebook to Amazon Kindle, and launched it. Anything post launch is a very welcome bonus – and that includes enough sales to put a smile on my face and some wonderful 5* reviews (like the one below) that have been a fantastic boost to a fragile ego.

It’s also good to see an upturn in sales/page reads from the first two books in the series – the knock on effect and proof that the writing a series is the right way to accrue a readership. There’s part of me that thinks I should continue with Eliza Kane Investigates Books Four, Five and Six, rather than take the planned break but that epic romantic historical saga is getting impatient…

The characters are starting to talk to me. I’ve had Eliza Kane in my head for the last three years and to be honest, she’s still there yapping on about a potential Christmas special. Now I need to switch her off and tune into a seventeen year old in 1942 who is currently called Kathleen, or Kat to her friends, and who is itching to relate her heart-wrenching story of love, loss, war and peace.

I like the idea of shutting myself away and creating something new from scratch, but slightly daunted by the constraints of writing a novel inspired by true events. As a relative newbie to the world of historical research, I can see how very easy it is to fall into the trap of disappearing down irrelevant rabbit holes. My last trip to the library resulted in the borrowing of four books, three pertinent to my cause, and another called Bloody Brilliant Women by the journalist Cathy Newman which for some bizarre reason was in the World War II reference section. Its bright yellow cover attracted my attention amongst the grim military greys. What has this book to do with war, I asked myself. The answer is nothing – it had clearly been mis-filed. Bloody Brilliant Women is useless as far as my research goes, but it is a fascinating trawl through the last two centuries highlighting the work of unsung pioneering females who have made valuable contributions to society. This book should be on the school curriculum, and as you can guess, like the worst kind of textbooks, the other three highly relevant WWII books have been shoved aside, unread.

But I’m not working to any deadlines, and my Kat is going to be a bloody brilliant woman who has some very tough choices to make. And if I’m going to be a bloody brilliant author, I should stop procrastinating and get on with writing her story down. In my defence, I’m not just procrastinating, I have been otherwise occupied. For some bizarre reason, to counter-balance the high-level of anxiety caused by some stressy other life stuff going on at the moment, I decided it would be relaxing to make a new hall curtain and matching Roman blind. (I’ve made curtains before, but a Roman blind! What was I thinking??)

Anyway, for those of you who like the feel and smell of a paperback the good news is that copies of Trouble on the Tide should be available by September. Meanwhile, I highly recommend Bloody Brilliant Women by Cathy Newman as an exceptionally good read. I also have a top tip for anyone thinking of embarking on the creation of fiddly soft furnishings. Don’t.

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Out of My Comfort Zone

Posted on April 25, 2023 | by Rosie Travers | Leave a Comment

I’ve written before about how my writing journey has forced me out of my “comfort zone” when it comes to social media/marketing. Shy wallflowers like me are not great at self-promotion; I’ve had to force myself every step of the way. The actual writing has always been the soft squidgy part of the process. That’s what I’m good at, sitting at my laptop and playing with my characters, manipulating them to do my bidding.

Writing my Isle of Wight mysteries has been the literary equivalent of putting on a pair of well-worn slippers. It’s been a joy, a delightful escape which has kept me occupied for the best part of the last three years, and I do feel a little sad it’s come to an end (although never say never because I’ve had an idea for a possible future Christmas special for Eliza and Charlie…).

But now I’m casting those slippers aside to put on a pair of super-high stilettoes, the type of shoes you buy and wear only once because they pinch and rub, cause blisters and broken ankles…

My next project requires RESEARCH on a large scale and it’s anything but comfortable. Each Eliza Kane mystery has involved a limited amount of research – I knew nothing about the Isle of Wight’s aviation industry until I started writing A Crisis at Clifftops, even less about golf, but it was very much a case of looking things up as a I went along, and also with the knowledge that most readers probably knew even less about these things than I did.

But now I’ve got to man-up! My WIP (work in progress) – which is still very much at the in my head stage – is a major epic, a historical saga very different to anything I’ve written before. It is based on real events that took place during the Second World War, and I need to stick to the facts. Not only that, but the relatives of the central characters are still alive and kicking, and have very kindly allowed me to re-tell the family history. I have to do them and their ancestors justice. I want the background/setting for this story to be as accurate as it can be, even though I have a licence to embellish the plot.

Fortunately my local library has several shelves of local history books. My reading list is growing. There’s also the internet research and YouTube videos…

The setting for the story is the local to me in the New Forest, in particular the villages on the western banks of Southampton Water. These days this side of Southampton Water is dominated by the enormous oil refinery at Fawley, but the refinery wasn’t constructed until the 1950s. Before then, the western banks of the water were flanked by open fields and farmland.

Any descriptions of the local landscape I include in this new novel, when I finally get round to putting my fingers to the keyboard, are going to vary a lot from what a visitor to this area sees today. It’s not as if I can go for a walk and experience the same sights and sounds as my 1940s heroine. If you think a stroll in through the trees in the Forest might help, think again. Most of the New Forest was out of bounds for the entire duration of the War, requisitioned by the military for top secret training camps, dummy bombing raids and hastily constructed aerodromes. (Research paying off already!)

The War itself is very central to the story. I’ve read a handful of novels set during that time, I know about ration books and air-raids, black-outs, the Home Guard, digging for Victory, etc, but now I need more detailed knowledge. What music did my heroine dance to? There must have been more choice than Glen Miller and the Andrews Sisters. What was she wearing? Probably something she made or altered herself. What was her favourite tipple? A watered down beer – how delicious! There’s a lot of information out there, but filtering out the bits I need will take time.

In addition, I need to adopt a new “serious” voice. This isn’t a frivolous story, and although I’m sure humour will creep into certain scenes, I have to make sure it’s appropriate for the setting and the time. My characters will have fun, but they also have some huge choices and heart-wrenching decisions to make. I can’t trivialise that.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress but I’m in this for the long haul. It will be a learning curve, and a challenge, but I’m determined to give it a go. I don’t have a title, and the three central characters have already undergone several name changes before they’ve even been cast onto paper (I’m not using their real names but coming up with new ones that suit them is proving a bit trickier than I thought). I’ll get there. Some parts of the story are set in stone, others have some wriggle room.

On a lighter note, and talking of things that wriggle….Ed the cat has been a great hindrance during the proof-reading of Trouble on the Tide, but we’re still on target for ebook launch at the end of June. Paperbacks will follow later in the year. Cover reveal coming soon!

Good News!

Posted on May 3, 2022 | by Rosie Travers | Leave a Comment

It’s been far too long since my last blog post but I’ve been waiting until I had something exciting to report, and now I do!

My second Isle of Wight cosy mystery, The Puzzle of Pine Bay will launch on 5 July 2022. This is later than originally planned but I’ve had distractions with weddings and other people’s house moves. In addition, although everything is now ready to go – bar the dreaded formatting and uploading onto Amazon, I’ve got holidays booked in May and June. I don’t want to launch a new book and then not be around to promote it.

There is another reason I’ve held this novel back. That old lack of confidence crept in again. Am I really cut out to be a writer? Although my first round of readers all sung the story’s praises, these people know and love me very dearly, I needed that extra validation of a neutral opinion. Once again I sent the manuscript off to a professional editor, and I’m pleased to report her feedback has helped me to improve the storyline in a way that I now feel confident will keep readers satisfied.

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot of The Puzzle of Pine Bay until the pre-order is ready – just to keep you in suspense a little bit longer! However, the story picks up where A Crisis at Clifftops left off. Eliza Kane is buying her first permanent home on the Isle of Wight. Moving in day turns out to be a little more dramatic than planned when she makes an unexpected discovery in the cellar of her new house. Old flame Charlie is still in the picture, and Nanna Lilian has another secret to impart, only this time she wants Eliza help in solving a mystery, as opposed to hindering her…

Here’s a little teaser for the cover, which I will be revealing in full in the coming weeks, along with pre-order details.

I always planned my Isle of Wight series to be never-ending – or at least three books, but up until a few weeks ago my plot for Book 3 was nothing but a flimsy piece of drivel. However, inspiration has hit. The word count is now growing daily as the characters start to take over the plot – or rather plots (there are several!)

As for my own reading, March and April has been a mixed bag. I’ve tackled a couple of heavyweights, Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I enjoyed, and Libby Page’s The Lido, which I found too slow going (my old creative writing tutor would be having kittens if I devoted an entire chapter of one of my books to a description of a fox rummaging through waste bins). After that I devoured The Custard Tart Cafe by the Sea by Isabella May, which was gorgeously entertaining, and I’ve just finished Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I was quite sceptical about Crawdads because it’s one of the those books that received an awful lot of hype. I had the impression from its Amazon reviews that it’s either a book people love or they hate. Personally I was hooked, despite the fact that a huge part of the plot is totally implausible – girl abandoned to live a shack in the swamp at the age of 6, no electricity, no running water, no education, no medical attention, no dentistry, turns into a stunningly desirable young woman who writes poetry and illustrates nature books. A novel clearly written with Hollywood in mind.

If only…

That’s the wonder of reading and writing fiction though. It doesn’t have to be real, or make sense. For me it just has to be entertaining and enjoyable.

Meanwhile, to put you in the mood to return to the Isle of Wight, here’s a few gorgeous pics of the some of the locations which inspired The Puzzle of Pine Bay.

All’s Well That Ends Well…

Posted on December 19, 2021 | by Rosie Travers | Leave a Comment

2021 has been a bit of a bumpy ride for all of us, and just when we thought things were getting better… the year seems to be ending as it started.

For me personally 2021 hasn’t all been doom and gloom. Along with the lows there have been highs, the biggest of which has to the publication of A Crisis at Clifftops. I proved I could do it – more to myself than anyone else, and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve achieved. Not having had a highflying career, I don’t have a lengthy CV of professional accomplishments. Self-publishing and launching Clifftops probably comes third in my list of all-time personal triumphs, only surpassed by giving birth to my two daughters. Writing a book and sending it off into the big wide world is pretty similar to raising children. You do your best and just hope other people like them. It’s definitely a Proud Mamma moment when I see my babies altogether (and yes, the kids are pretty special too!)

Promoting my work still remains my biggest bugbear. I spent a large part of 2021 maintaining what I considered to be a chirpy social media presence with the aim of making myself more alluring to potential readers. Of course it wasn’t enough to generate mega sales, but I exceeded my expectations and received enough good feedback to have the confidence to go ahead with a paperback version of Clifftops. I lack the mindset, skillset, stamina and patience to be a good marketeer and of course I should have been more prolific, telling my Twitter followers what I had for breakfast every day and posting artistic pictures of it on Instagram. But there’s only so many ways I can make yoghurt and berries look enticing, and none at all for a bowl of Weetabix and chopped bananas. Besides who actually cares?

What I do care about though is travel. Unlike breakfast cereal, travel is interesting, informative and enlightening. I love looking at other people’s holiday photographs and I am very happy to post up my own. With so many restrictions in place over the last twenty months opportunities to explore have been few and far between. Me & Mr T look back on our wonderful hike around the Isle of Wight as a highlight of the year, along with our road trip to Ireland. Both excursions provided scenic photo opportunities galore.

We also just managed to squeeze in an escape to the sun before restrictions changed and spent a 10 days in Tenerife at the beginning of December. It was our first trip to Tenerife and will probably be our last. I didn’t post up an awful lot about it on social media because I didn’t find the place particularly inspiring, nor did I we have wi-fi in our hotel, which was actually a blessing in disguise because it made me realise yes I can live without Facebook 24/7, and in fact, I’ve hardly been on social media since we got back. Tenerife was good for re-charging the batteries, and although I say I didn’t find it inspiring, I did come up with a potential novel plot – Murder on the Mobility Scooter. I’ve never seen so many of the things in one place – they were everywhere, including tandems. I may send Eliza Kane off there at some point in the future to investigate a rogue tourist who takes revenge after been pushed off the pavement one too many times…

And talking of Eliza, her next adventure, The Puzzle of Pine Bay, is now pencilled in for launching in early summer 2022. Life has got in the way again and I’ve got side-tracked by other stuff. I’m also a perfectionist and I’m not going to rush something out there that I don’t think is ready. And that’s why I know self-publishing is the right route for me. I’m appalling at time management and need flexible deadlines!

The downside of being an indie author is that slipping off the social media radar is not good for business. Ebooks sales have slumped, but that’s only to be expected when I’m not constantly maintaining online visibility. But I have found other ways and means of spreading the word which are, quite frankly, far more enjoyable. An author talk postponed from 2020 finally took place in November and if I say so myself, I went down a storm, or maybe not a storm, this was the WI after all. I went down with a polite ripple. But I sold books, and acquired another booking. I’ve also got a potential library talk on the back of my first podcast. And in case you’ve not listened to the podcast, here’s the link. http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/podcast/episode-48-rosie-travers/ Friends and family have also been doing their fair of sales on behalf, and for that I’m very grateful!

As we tick off another year, I’d like to thank everyone who has supported my writing career throughout the last twelve months and to all those guests who joined me on the blog to talk about the locations which inspired their own writing. March to November was pretty full on working on and promoting Clifftops, and I’ll be continuing my social media break into the new year. I’m looking forward to polishing off Eliza Kane’s next adventure, and wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful 2022.

Me & Mr T after one too many Christmas sherries!

One Month On

Posted on August 22, 2021 | by Rosie Travers | 6 Comments

After a few weeks with my feet up, I thought I ought to pen my own blog post this week. A Crisis at Clifftops has now been out in the big wide world for a whole month, and it seems a good time for an analysis/appraisal of how things have gone.

Success, no matter how small, should always be celebrated. I’m a complete technophobe but I managed to upload my book onto Amazon – woohoo! I’m shy and reserved, yet I’ve managed to convince people they’ll enjoy this book enough to want to download their own copy – go me! Seriously, I am totally chuffed at the response.

My book launch was low-key. I’m working on a very tight self-publishing budget, prioritising editing and cover design, to ensure I had a professional quality product. I knew I would have to publicise this book organically with no paid promotions, not even a blog tour. I knew sales would be limited, but if I’m honest they’ve exceeded my expectations.

A Crisis at Clifftops was never going to become an overnight Kindle bestseller, but we made it to the dizzy heights of being a HOT NEW RELEASE, and at one point it was sitting at NUMBER 3 in its golfing category, which gave me something to sing and dance about. I apologise now to anyone who follows me on Facebook – every time I post something I can hear a chorus of “there she goes again, banging on about her b****y book.” The thing about being self-published is that if I don’t bang on about my book, no-one else will. I have to keep it visible.

We all know about Facebook algorithms which limit who sees what, and anything I post on Twitter always disappears into a void. I’m grateful for every re-tweet and share by friends who understand how hard it is for independent authors like me to reach a wider audience.

Goodness knows how many books have been published in the last month. A Crisis at Clifftops will soon disappear off the radar. It will settle somewhere low down in the Amazon charts. I do get a little flutter of excitement every time I see it move up in its Amazon category. I know those BIG bestselling authors never have to check these things – Richard Osman would be in a constant flap, but for me, each flutter is special, even more so because I made it happen all by myself.

There was a time after the publication of my second book back in 2019 when I felt totally disenchanted and deflated with the whole publishing/writing thing. Seriously I could have happily never written another word again.

However, this time round I knew exactly what I was capable of. I set myself different targets. In the last four weeks I’ve received some amazing reviews from readers and from within the writing community, together with messages and comments which have totally restored my confidence and made my heart sing! And yes, even more exciting, readers can cope with a heroine who plays sport for a living!

I know not everyone who buys the book is able, or will be willing, to leave a review. There’s a minimum spend requirement on Amazon, and to be honest I don’t review every Amazon purchase I make. It’s a crochet hook – it crochets. It’s already got 1000+ reviews it doesn’t need another one…

I dream of 1000+ reviews, but us writers are needy, fragile creatures. I genuinely want to know if you’ve enjoyed what I’ve written. So if A Crisis at Clifftops has made you smile, provided a few hours of escape, let me know. (And don’t forget to tell your friends if you think they might like it too – there are loads of people out there who would benefit from having this book in their lives, if only they knew it existed…)

Meanwhile, The Puzzle of Pine Bay, Eliza Kane Investigates Book 2, is on its way. I originally intended to have everything ship-shape and ready to set sail later this year, but that’s not going to happen. Apart from the fact that the Christmas novel marketing deluge is already underway (yes I know, ridiculous right? I don’t even feel I’ve had my summer yet), my plot was far too complicated. I’d basically tied poor Eliza up in knots. It’s not exactly back to the drawing board, more an extensive unpicking (why do you think I bought that crochet hook?!) Seriously, Pine Bay will be out early in 2022.

Making the decision to self-publish was very much about taking control, not just of what I write, but about publishing under my own terms. I’m really pleased (and relieved) with how these first steps have gone. To everyone who has downloaded a copy of A Crisis at Clifftops, you’ve made me very happy. Thank you. And if you haven’t downloaded a copy yet, what’s your excuse?

No News…

Posted on May 8, 2021 | by Rosie Travers | 2 Comments

I’m very aware I’m failing on the communication front, and that’s not good for business. My first blog post of 2021 didn’t happen until February and I’ve posted nothing since. I’ve got plenty of excuses, lack of anything exciting to blog about being the main one. However, if I want to be a successful author, I need to keep my readers in the loop, and with a creative mind I should be able to make the mundane sound mega interesting.

So firstly, here’s a picture of some plants I’ve been cultivating over the last few weeks in my greenhouse. Growing your own is very rewarding and the results can be almost instantaneous, especially if you sow radish seeds.

Books on the other hand, are slow-growing, and a writing career has to be viewed as a long term project.

My current bedtime read is the illuminating Stop Worrying, Start Selling, The introvert author’s guide to marketing by Sarah Painter. Marketing has always been a big bug-bear, and now that I’ve committed to going down the self-publishing route, I have to conquer my fears and be far more pro-active. I’m finding this book very helpful. I now realise I don’t have to apologise for promoting my own books – I write because it brings me pleasure and I want to publish what I write because I think my stories could bring pleasure to other people.

As Sarah points out in her book, if I designed a comfortable shoe, I wouldn’t be apologising for trying to sell something that could enhance your daily hike – avid walkers would want to know about it! And whereas lots of marketing advice is to “sell yourself” – Sarah says not. I’m selling Rosie Travers Author, writer of fabulous, original, entertaining fiction, not shy retiring little old me who fills her spare time gardening, knitting and going on long walks in countryside. It’s important to recognise the difference.

It’s also a question of measuring success. It takes time to build up an audience. I’m a relative beginner and shouldn’t make comparisons with authors who are two or three steps ahead with multiple books and/or large publishers. I have two books currently on the market – that’s an achievement in itself.

And the third is on its way. As suspected A Crisis at Clifftops came back from its professional edit with lots of comments – in fact I felt like I’d been wrung out through a mangle. However, I put on my big girl knickers and rose to the challenge of making some major changes. Hopefully I’ve come out the other side with a better book, and still aim to publish this summer.

I’ve engaged a cover designer, and am working on my fabulous, original and entertaining branding, commissioning a new cover for The Theatre of Dreams at the same time. I have to see Rosie Travers Author as my business, although I’m under no illusion I’m ever going to make big-bucks from my writing. To be a successful author in the current market takes a huge level of dedication and energy, which to be honest, I just don’t have – mainly because I also want to spend time cultivating radish and taking those long walks in the countryside…

But having invested in an editor, and a cover designer, it would be foolish not to up my game. The latest trend in author marketing is the newsletter. Last year it was Facebook Groups, but me being me naturally I didn’t jump on that bandwagon. I’m in a few author Facebook Groups and it’s hard enough work keeping up with all the posts and comments, let alone having to instigate them. On the other hand a newsletter sounds achievable – it’s just like a blog, but as one of those people who regularly ticks the ‘do not send me any other material’ boxes whenever I buy anything, I have this moral dilemma. Do I want to be responsible for infiltrating inboxes?

Yesterday I sat down at my laptop with my serious author head on and explored MailerLite, which is supposedly one of the easiest and simplest newsletter formats. I have the IT skills of a fruit bat – yes I’d rather hang upside down in a tree than read about pop-ups, domains, URLs and RSS feeds. In fact after a couple of hours and a thumping headache, I gave up picked up on my knitting. I felt a lot happier.

Once I’ve finished knitting my bike, I’ll go back and give the mailing list idea another try, but at least it prompted me write this blog post!

Keep watching this space for more book news coming soon, and if at some point in the far distant future you see a pop-up asking if you want to subscribe to my newsletter, you are under no obligation to tick yes! Although you may miss out on the great radish give-away…

Reasons to be Cheerful?

Posted on February 9, 2021 | by Rosie Travers | 1 Comment

Two months nearly in to 2021 and this is my first blog post of the new year. Where have I been? What have I been up to? Has anyone missed me?

I know we’re all struggling to remain upbeat. My world has got smaller. This morning’s Facetime with a friend revolved around a discussion on our attempts at knitting, extreme jigsaw puzzling, and the weather. The only consolation I’m taking out of this lockdown is that at least I haven’t got children who need home-schooling.

Blogging has been way down my agenda, but next week marks the 2^nd anniversary of the publication of my second book, Your Secret’s Safe With Me. A book birthday is always worth celebrating.

Your Secret’s Safe With Me was very much intended as a romance; it’s a story about repairing hurt and love conquering all, although then some pesky modern-day smugglers crept in, and a wedding fiasco, and an unexpected baby, because why stick to one theme, when you can include several.

It would be a lot easier when people ask me what my books are about if I could just reply ‘it’s a romance’, or ‘it’s a thriller’ or ‘it’s the greatest, funniest thing you’ll ever read.’ How do you fit 300 odd pages of love, laughter, action and angst into just a couple of words?

And talking of crossing genres, I do have another reason to be cheerful this week. The completed manuscript for my new novel is off for a professional edit. Yes, the plunge has been taken and step one to self-publishing is underway. Learning from my experiences with the first two books, originally I was adamant I was going to stick to one theme – the cosy mystery. Both my previous two books contain elements of intrigue and I liked revealing new layers of plotlines, dropping in subtle hints and clues. As I know nothing about police procedures and I don’t like reading, let alone writing, about blood and gore, whatever ‘crime’ story I created was always going to be ‘cosy’ in the extreme. My new novel wasn’t just planned as a snuggly suspense, it was going to have its slippers on too.

Yeh, right, slippers, me? Naturally I wanted my heroine to have a job that was different to any of the other amateur sleuths/female crime busters currently out on the market, so I gave her a set of a golf clubs, and made her a professional sportswoman, which as I’ve since been told, is a commercial no-no. I can untick that ‘cosy crime’ marketability box straight away.

And there weren’t going to be any dead bodies turning up at the church fete in my book. Oh no, my heroine was going to investigate something original, a vintage mystery she uncovers while poking her nose into her grandmother’s past, and then I thought it would be quite amusing if Granny told her side of the story too.

Okay, so I haven’t written a cosy crime at all. I’ve written another mash-up. I’ve included a dual timeline, a heroine with career crisis as well as a moral dilemma, I’ve divided family loyalty, and sprinkled it all with some local history, yet again.

But what about the romance, I hear you cry. You’re in luck. I’m a romantic at heart and I just couldn’t, even though I tried, write a book without an element of romance in it.

So what exactly do readers want from a leading man? At least here, surely I can’t go wrong, can I? Literature is full of flawed heroes. Sorry for the spoilers but Heathcliff digs up his ex’s dead body, Mr Rochester locks his first wife in the attic, Christian Gray is a sexual deviant, and when we think Mr Darcy, we don’t think rude snob in Pride and Prejudice, we just see Colin Firth in that white shirt (or in Bridget Jones). Flawed doesn’t come anywhere near it. Men I’d want to steer well clear of is the correct term.

However, we all want escapism, including me. Romance readers don’t mind a defective hero because by the time the story ends ultimately he will have changed; smitten, humbled, moulded into our idea of perfection. And we all want that fantasy because it simply doesn’t happen in real life. I’ve been married to Mr T for thirty years, love him to bits, but he still can’t replace a toilet roll.

Book three, working title A Crisis At Clifftops (it could all change) is out of the building, and will no doubt come back, covered in red ink.

And reason to be cheerful number three? Successful completion of dry January. I won’t be doing that one again in a hurry. And definitely not during lockdown.

Day Trippers

Posted on August 25, 2020 | by Rosie Travers | 2 Comments

The happy staycation continues. Me and Mr T have trekked and cycled miles over the last month. As well as exploring the New Forest – the edge of the national park is just a 15 minute walk from our doorstep, we’ve also made made three separate day trips to the Isle of Wight – rapidly becoming my new favourite place.

As a writer I’m often asked where do I find my inspiration. The answer is simple – it finds me. My first two books were all set in fictional locations in Hampshire. When it comes to research I’m fairly lazy. Setting my books in places I know well is one less thing to worry about. Over the last few weeks of exploration I have had a deluge of new ideas. Yes I know I said all things bookish were going to take a bit of a back seat, but try as I might to buckle it in, that writerly instinct remains unrestrained.

Take this for example. “That’s a rusty old boat” Mr T remarked on our recent trek along the River Medina from Cowes to Newport.

Well yes, my inner writer replied, that is a rusty old boat but how did it end up dying in the salt marshes? What’s its backstory? My imagination conjures up visions of the travellers who might have passed along its gangplanks, slept in its cabins, danced on its decks (later googling revealed an extensive career as leisure cruiser, ferry, hotel and disco). It was love at first sight – this boat or my own reincarnation of it and its occupants, are perfect story material.

My current writing project is a cosy mystery series – so cosy in fact if there was a sub-genre of snuggly crime, this would be it. I know I should stick to mainstream but I just can’t. I have this inner urge to rebel against market forces – there have to be readers out there who want something that little bit different.

My series is set on the Isle of Wight, not because of our recent excursions, but because the original whiff of an idea emerged while we were on a mini-break there a couple of Christmases ago.

It’s probably fair to say I have now completely fallen in love with the island (obsessed Mr T might say as he drags me away from checking out house prices on Right Move). Traditional family friendly old-fashioned kiss-me-quick resorts rub shoulders with exclusive up-market hidden retreats. Inland quaint chocolate box picture postcard villages dot the largely rural landscape, while the coast boasts craggy cliffs, chalk stacks, swathes of golden sand and intimate pebble bays. Alongside the tourist industry there’s a rich maritime heritage and a history of pioneering aviation. Dinosaurs once strolled across the Downs, as did Queen Victoria and Alfred Lord Tennyson. There’s the annual big-name music festival, world famous yacht racing, and a top security prison. For a small place there’s lots going on, providing a wealth of ideas.

I’ve already been told by people in the know that the market is now awash with cosy crimes, but I also recently received one of the nicest rejections from a literary agent ever. I’m not giving up yet. A floating hotel cum disco fits perfectly into my snuggly mystery series. Already my mind is racing ahead to the next book. What dastardly deed once happened on board that has remained hidden until my amateur sleuth stumbles across the story. My heroine is a nosey-parker with a professional career crisis who pokes into the past and unearths mysteries from the island’s 20th century history. In fact she’s a bit like me although I don’t drink whisky or play golf – her Unique Selling Points, and yes I know to be more commercially viable she ought to run a tea shop or be titled aristocracy…

And before anyone thinks I’m working for the Isle of Wight tourist board, trust me, I’m not, this is a post demonstrating the wonders of spontaneous INSPIRATION. Take this picture captured on a recent walk. This is Calshot, just a few miles from our house, a disused, half-demolished power station. If I wrote thrillers, or more serious crimes, something dark and dystopian, this eerie ghost on the landscape would undoubtedly feature. (Incidentally it still could, because the site is currently being used to store wind turbine blades which are shipped across the Solent from the factory that makes them on the Isle of Wight…)

I’ll stop now. Unbelievably, it now two whole years since I became a published author. The Theatre of Dreams was officially launched on 1 August 2018. The path since has not been easy – maintaining momentum and enthusiasm for a two year old book in a flooded market is tough. In recent weeks I’ve received some lovely new reviews from readers which has been a huge boost, so thank you!

If you haven’t downloaded a copy – what are you waiting for? Comedy, drama, mystery and romance all for less than a price of takeaway coffee. And there’s no mention of the Isle of Wight – although no wait a minute…

The Theatre of Dreams is available on Amazon for just 99p https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theatre-Dreams-Rosie-Travers-ebook/dp/B084C5753Y/

The Corona Diaries – Part III

Posted on June 12, 2020 | by Rosie Travers | Leave a Comment

Lockdown continues – or not quite lockdown, a lighter lockdown, although after weeks of not going anywhere and not doing an awful lot, I’ve no plans to visit the shopping mall or a zoo anytime soon.

It’s the end of an era – the corona jumper is finally finished and I’m already missing the click of the needles. Joe Wicks has been abandoned – not because I don’t need him anymore, but because I’ve seriously pulled a muscle and have acquired a permanent limp.

The seedlings in the greenhouse have more than sprouted – thanks to my careful nurturing they have taken off at a rapid rate. We now have fully fledged peas and more lettuce than we will ever eat. There’s the promise of carrots, spring onions and runner beans to come, and I’ve already harvested half my strawberry crop (okay it was only two strawberries but they were big juicy ones – quality over quantity!)

We’re entering our ‘new normal’ of face masks and even more queues. All those thoughts of increasing sustainable public transport are now out of the window. Nobody wants to get on a bus, or a train. We’re all back to hopping into our own cars.

Will Zoom be here to stay? We will ever need physical social-interaction again in the work place? Mr T is living proof his company can manage without international business travel. He hasn’t left his man-cave-cum-office for weeks and the world of oil refineries hasn’t crumbled in his absence, although yes he is very relieved everyone is getting back into their cars and buying petrol.

Could background bookshelf staging be a new career path?

I had my first Zoom book club talk last night – and it went very well, although yes it would have been a lot nicer if we could have met in the pub garden as planned. This was a local book club who had been reading Your Secret’s Safe With Me. As an author it’s very rewarding to hear people who’ve read your books speak about your characters as if they know them personally.

Sadly I have no news on my next project which is currently wending its way into the great literary agent chasm. I’ve booked a couple of editor one-to-ones at the virtual Romantic Novelists’ Association conference in July so at least I’ll get some feedback. It may be time to re-assess. Interestingly, when I mentioned my new project was planned as a ‘series’ to the book club there were cries of dismay. I explained publishers liked a series. Readers apparently not. Interesting.

The brief spurt of writing enthusiasm mentioned in my last blog post has died a death as that old spoilsport ‘life’ has got in the way again. Currently I have no kitchen – which in the ‘old normal’ wouldn’t really have been issue. We live on the edge of the New Forest with a plethora of country pubs on our doorstep. When we ordered and planned our new kitchen way back in December we saw ourselves heading out every day to try some new eatery or other, now in the ‘new normal’ we are managing with two electric rings and a mircowave on the dining room table. We can’t even scrounge meals from friends, and the weather has turned against plans to BBQ.

I sound and currently feel like Mrs Grump. Lack of exercise due to injury has resulted in a serious deficiency of endorphins. Silence from literary agents has caused self-doubt. The house is full of plaster dust and I still can’t make plans to meet my daughters who both live with partners so can’t come to stay overnight in a ‘support bubble’. Taking a day trip to meet mid-way between Southampton & Cardiff, or Southampton & London is a complete no-no without access to a public loo.

I don’t like the ‘new normal’ I want the old one back, or if not the old one – at least an open toilet in a public park with dog walking and picnic facilities somewhere along the M4 corridor…