Cocktails and crystals - Samantha Tonge

Ladies and Gentlemen, please be upstanding for our very own, Samantha Tonge!

A couple of weeks ago, (okay, I remember the exact day, Wednesday 18^th November) my bestselling summer novel, Game of Scones, won the Best Romantic  Ebook category at the Love Stories Awards 2015. The announcement was made at a London cocktail bar. The awards’ organisers put on this glamorous party and I spent a lovely afternoon mingling with talented authors, publishers, editors and agents, many of whom, up until that point, I had only known online. Plus I was in the presence of the romance deities that are Jenny Colgan and Katie Fforde!

Phew. What an adrenaline rush. I honestly never, ever expected to win, for two reasons. Firstly, the calibre of the other candidates was very high and what lovely, lovely ladies. Secondly, I don’t necessarily think of my work as pure romance, as it has a strong comedic element. Having said that, though, my writing in Game of Scones did take a more romantic direction and was less farcical than my previous books, thanks to a Dutch flight attendant I met who inspired one of the characters (long story!)

So there is me, practising my Oscar face and joking about it with friends (you know, the look someone gives when a winning name is read out, and it isn’t theirs) when I heard the words “Game of Scones”. Someone said I had the biggest smile on my face as I gave a little speech. Another said I was shaking when I returned to my place. Neither of those observations surprises me and I recall that moment with a mixture of shock, disbelief and utter joy.

An award. I’d won an award. It was only two years previously that I signed my publishing deal with digital-first CarinaUK (HarperCollins) and since then have had five novels released. It’s been a rollercoaster journey (sorry to use that cliché but it’s appropriate) with the highs of good sales and  reviews, to the lows of hard, hard writing and promotional work, and deadlines to meet. But that shiny, crystal, gorgeous award made it all worthwhile – and eased the pain of my crippling high shoes and the delayed train journey which meant I didn’t get home until after 1am!

It’s been quite a year for me and Game of Scones. It reached #5 in the AmazonUK Kindle chart and readers seemed to fall in love with the characters and magical Greek setting just as I had – and as a writer you can’t ask for more than that. Of course, like all books, it received unfavourable reviews as well, which is why the Love Stories Award gave it added validation in my mind. It’s a special book, very close to my heart, and I wonder if that’s why it was shortlisted, because more than all my previous work, it pulled on my emotions as I wrote it.

Game of Scones’ standalone sequel, My Big Fat Christmas Wedding, is out now and it is going to be hard for me to finally move on from the characters of those books – namely, feisty Pippa, suave Dutch Henrik and exotic fisherman Niko. I still look back on the last two years in disbelief... the glitzy romance parties I attend in London... my back-catalogue of books out there and I now have some novels in paperback and in shops, which is the very sweet icing on the cake. I wrote for a long time and I subbed for a long time, before I signed with CarinaUK and the writer’s life I am now leading was but a dream – a seemingly unattainable one. So I guess I would tell any aspiring authors not to give up. You just don’t know how close you are to enjoying those book launches and cocktail bars, although the rollercoaster never ends. You are only as good as your next book and I never forget that my dream writerly life could end tomorrow!

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Bio
Samantha Tonge lives in Cheshire with her lovely family and a cat that thinks it’s a dog. When not writing, she spends her days cycling and willing cakes to rise. She has sold over 80 short stories to women’s magazines. Her bestselling debut novel, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award in 2014. Her summer 2015 novel Game of Scones hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart.

Things don’t always run smoothly in the game of love…

As her Christmas wedding approaches, a trip back to snowy England for her ex’s engagement party makes her wonder if those are wedding bells she’s hearing in her mind, or warning bells. She longs for the excitement of her old London life – the glamour, the regular pedicures. Can she really give that all up to be…a fishwife?

There’s nothing for it but to throw herself into bringing a little Christmas magic to the struggling village in the form of a Christmas fair. Somewhere in amidst the sparkly bauble cakes and stollen scones, she’s sure she’ll come to the right decision about where she belongs…hopefully in time for the wedding…

Perfect for fans of Lindsey Kelk and Debbie Johnson. Don’t miss the Christmas Wedding of the year!

Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamTongeWriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaTongeAuthor
Website: http://samanthatonge.co.uk/
AmazonUK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Big-Fat-Christmas-Wedding-ebook/dp/B00XAFSXFG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1444041016&sr=1-1&keywords=my+big+fat+christmas+wedding
AmazonUS: http://www.amazon.com/My-Big-Fat-Christmas-Wedding-ebook/dp/B00XAFSXFG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Guest and Debut Author Sarah Painter talks to Strictly Writing about her book 'The Language of Spells'

As part of her whistle-stop blog tour promoting her debut novel, 'The Language of Spells' which was released yesterday, author Sarah Painter settles in the Strictly Station with a nice cup of tea and a cream cake and tells us a bit more about herself and her book.

Welcome, Sarah.  Can you tell us what 'The Language of Spells' is about and how the story came to you?

It’s about going home, family secrets, and second chances. With added magic. And kissing. Here’s the blurb:

When you are ready, seek, and you shall find. It is your gift.

Gwen Harper left Pendleford thirteen years ago and hasn’t looked back. Until an inheritance throws her into the mystical world she thought she’d escaped. Confronted with her great-aunt’s legacy Gwen must finally face up to her past.

The magic she has long tried to suppress is back with a vengeance but gift or burden, for Gwen, it always spells trouble. She has to stay – she has nowhere else to go – but how can she find her place in the town that drove her out after branding her a witch…?

The story started (as mine always seem to) with a character's voice (Gwen’s mysterious great aunt Iris) in my head that stopped me in my tracks and made me want to write it down.

How was your journey to publication?

I've been very lucky to get lots of encouragement along the way, but it's been a long road… I got an agent with my second book and had the 'close but no cigar' experience with publishers. Rather than seeing this as an achievement (positive thinking!),  I responded with a massive crisis of confidence. I did a masters in creative writing and, after parting company with my agent and completing my dissertation, I decided to write a 'fun' book. Something to cheer myself up after a year of trying to write gloomy literary fiction for my degree. Then I spent what felt like a lifetime (a few months) subbing to agents. I had lots of interest - requests for the full manuscripts and rewrites and exciting phone calls - but they all ended with 'close but not quite'. By the time Sallyanne rang me, I actually didn't realise she was offering to take me on and had to check! After working with me on revisions, Sallyanne subbed it to publishers and secured the deal with Carina UK. Phew!

How important do you consider the support of family/friends?

Vitally so! As you can tell if you waded through my last response, I had a lot of rejection and a lot of near misses. There were plenty of dark moments when I thought that I should stop torturing myself with the submission process and take up something I could actually succeed at. I would’ve given up many times over if it wasn't for the support and encouragement of my writer friends (most of whom I met on Write Words, many moons ago) and my lovely family.

We always ask this because we ALWAYS want to know! What advice would you give to any unpublished writers today?

To write from your heart, work on your craft, and to keep going. Also, get yourself a support network of writer friends. You can swap critiques and cheerlead each other through the tough times. Try online forums, blogs, Twitter, or, if you’re less of a scaredy-cat than me, a local ‘real life’ group.

What's your next book going to be about/ have you already begun  writing it?

I'm working on the sequel to The Language of Spells. My publishers asked if I would write another book set in the same world and of course I said ‘yes’. After pinching myself very hard to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, that is!  

You can find Sarah's book here: 'The Language of Spells'

The next stop on Sarah's book tour is at Novelicious and she'll be there on Saturday 1st June. That's tomorrow!

Thanks for joining us at Strictly Writing, Sarah.  Good luck with the book, the tour and the next book.  We're sure we'll be seeing a lot more of you in the future!