Personal Contact vs Technology

ROAD CLOSED is being printed & CUT SHORT is having its third reprint in June. I can't believe it!
I have SO MUCH to say about ROAD CLOSED - the last minute panics and alarms, my surprising feelings about it, the last minute photo taken in a rush before I'd had my morning coffee (oh, the nightmare of having my photograph taken)... but that will have to wait for another post.

Today I want to share some of my recent personal experiences. Those of you who follow my blog know that I enjoy getting out and about meeting booklovers. I believe it's important for authors to spend meeting their readers. I place a premium on face to face meeting with people. So much of our modern lives seems to be spent gazing at screens, reading text and email or watching television, rather than communicating with real people, with eye to eye contact, listening to live voices.

Last week I was invited to talk to Verulam Writers Circle, a lively and stimulating group of writers, many of them successful in their own right. It was a very enjoyable evening. Here's a photo taken on the evening. One of the members has posted on his blog about my visit http://blog.kjbennett.co.uk/#post30

Kevin writes: "Reinventing yourself at the age of 55 might be a dream to so many, but for Leigh Russell it became a reality. By day, Leigh is a mild-mannered secondary school English teacher, but by night she miraculously transforms into a bestselling crime novelist.
Wednesday 5 May 2010 saw Leigh speaking at the Verulam Writers’ Circle meeting in St Albans, covering topics such as how she managed the transformation and how she markets her work. It was while walking in her local park one day that Leigh saw a man walking past a set of bushes. Realising she was the only person around, Leigh had one of those ‘what if’ moments: ‘What if I walked around the corner behind those bushes, and found a body?’
Many people have these flashes, but not many transform them into life changing moments. Leigh spent the next few weeks writing a story with no particular aim of publication, but when she completed it she realised it was actually quite good. Using the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook as a guide, Leigh selected three publishers and posted off her manuscript. With two weeks – yes, TWO WEEKS – she received a call from No Exit Press and the rest, as they say, is history.
Leigh’s debut novel, Cut Short, soon sold out and is about to commence its third reprint. Her second novel, Road Closed, is due for release in June.
Leigh is a regular blogger, an avid signer of books (her own), and a great speaker."

There are times, of course, when technology allows personal contact that couldn't otherwise take place. For example, a reader in the US has just sent me a photo of CUT SHORT in Tennessee. Here it is.

Next week I will post about the publication of ROAD CLOSED... perhaps with a brief extract to whet your appetite...!

Waterstones Chart

The dye is cast... ROAD CLOSED goes into production tomorrow!
Nearly time to post a sneak preview here...? What do you think?

I was very pleased this week when a fan emailed me a photo she took in Waterstones in Harrow, with my own debut thriller CUT SHORT displayed at number 3 on their bestsellers chart. You can see it here on the third shelf down (click on the image to see it enlarged).

CUT SHORT has been selling so fast that my publisher reprinted twice in six months, and a third reprint is scheduled this year. That makes four print runs in a year - not too shabby for a new author. As if that's not enough excitement for one author, ROAD CLOSED, the second in my series, has gone into production for publication this June. The B format books look fantastic. Here is the new cover for CUT SHORT and the cover for ROAD CLOSED. You may notice the quantity of blood growing. Some of my fans have joked that the cover of the next in the series, DEAD END, will be all blood...


Personally, I'm happy if my name is slightly larger on each cover. That's when you know you've 'arrived' as an author, when your name alone can be relied on to sell books.

An Interview with Joyanna

I met Joyanna Lovelock when she bought a copy of CUT SHORT at one of my book signings. As a radio presenter, Joyanna interviewed me a couple of times on Radio Northwick Park, which was great fun and excellent preparation for my BBC Radio interviews. Joyanna has recently moved into television and kindly agreed to be interviewed about this exciting development in her media career.

1. You’ve been on Radio Northwick Park for just over a year. How did you first become involved with it?
I joined RNP in June 2008. I came across them after surfing the net for hospital radios. I completed an application form and a few weeks later I was invited in for an induction. After 6 months I was offered my own show, which I presented for just over a year.

2. You obviously really enjoy working on the radio station and I’m sure everyone in the hospital is going to miss you. How do you feel now that you are moving on?
I feel very sad. It’s nice to know I will be missed but I am really missing the place and get quite emotional when I think about it.

3. I know you are leaving Radio Northwick Park for a career in television. You must be very excited. Can you tell us how you found work on television? How long did it take, and how difficult was it to break in?
The funny thing about the move into television is that although I fancied the idea of doing some television, I thought that would be further down the line once I had established a radio career. So, I am just as surprised as anyone that it has materialized now. And it was amazingly easy! I think I really was at the right place at the right time.

4. Tell us about the audition process.
For the audition I had to prepare a 2-minute piece to camera on my chosen subject. I spoke on ‘Happiness and how to find it’. (Don’t ask!). That went down very well. Then I was asked to interview a studio guest about her traumatic childhood of drink and drugs. The ‘judges’ liked that too.

5. How did you feel when you made your first television broadcast? Was it very different to broadcasting on radio?
I felt great. I wasn’t nervous (which surprised everyone). I suppose I just pretended I was speaking on the radio and ignore all those people and cameras around me. I’d forgotten about them but at the end I heard applause and realized they were there.

6. What does the future hold for the presenter of Radio Northwick Park’s Sweet Inspiration programme?
Oh gosh! I hope to really build on television presenting and also to get on to national radio. I am working on it. And perhaps do some writing as well. An all-rounder!

7. Finally, media studies is a very popular subject. Do you have any advice for people who would like to work in the media?
They say in this business luck is ‘preparation meeting opportunity’ and I fully endorse this. For students wishing to make it in the media in whatever genre – be prepared. Do all that you need to do: study and work hard. Also try and get some experience. Do not be afraid to ask every and anybody for a chance. My first journalistic experience came after I contacted the editor of a local newspaper and asked if I could sit-in and observe for a day. Whilst there, he asked me to write a couple of articles. He liked what I did and offered me a job! You never know from where the opportunity will come, so be prepared and you will be ready to take up the opportunity.

Thank you very much for taking the time to chat about yourself here, Joyanna, and good luck with your work on television. We’ll be looking out for you!

Is it a dream?

I don't think I'll ever become blase about being interviewed. It's always a thrill, not least because so far all the people who have interviewed me have been absolutely lovely. There are far too many interviews to post all the links here, but here's a link to the most recent one:http://issuu.com/whitstableimp/docs/whit_may2010 pages 14-15
I've posted before on my own blog about this sneaking feeling I have that this can't really be happening to me... What am I doing here, a suddenly-successful author with two reprints of my first book, a second out in proof copies, a third almost written and a fourth in the pipeline... and more after that... Bookstores contact my publisher offering to host signings, I've received emails from literary festivals asking if I'd like to speak... When did all this happen to me of all people? It's not as if it was even my lifelong ambition to become an author. I simply had an idea, wrote obsessively for six weeks, and... here I am, as startled as Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole. Will I wake up one day and discover this was all a strange (and very wonderful) dream?
Weird and wonderful things are happening to me almost daily at the moment. I'm appearing at Crimefest 2010 as a member of the CURZON PANEL and now I've been invited to join a debut author panel as well. It's called... wait for it... All the Young Punks. I wasn't even so very young when punks first hit the scene. What have I let myself in for now? For someone who writes crime fiction I'm inappropriately squeamish in real life. I haven't even had my ears pierced. I hope safety pins won't be compulsory...
Just today I heard from a blogger new to me. I visited her blog and found these pictures: THAT'S MY BOOK! Yes, my life is strange and very wonderful these days.











But the most exciting aspect of it all, as far as I'm concerned, is writing.

Holding my second book in my hand...

I received a proof copy of ROAD CLOSED in the post today! I think my publisher hurried it through for London Book Fair (no longer London International Book Fair...)
It is surreal to open a book and read your own story on the pages. Strange and very exciting!
The actual cover has a little more on it than the image here (like a quotation from Jeffery Deaver - "a stylish top-of-the-line crime tale") and because it's B format the print is larger than in CUT SHORT, which is better.
I am now the author of TWO books. I can't stop grinning...
Here's a link to a new interview - pages 14-15: http://issuu.com/whitstableimp/docs/whit_may2010

You'd think it would be easy... Help needed!

After a while, book promotion takes on a momentum of its own. I just received an invitation to Havant Festival in October 2010 - more of this later. It's lovely to receive invitations, but I don't want to be like the "gal who can't say no" and have turned down a couple of requests for talks during National Crime Fiction Week (14th-19th June). I'm already giving two talks after work that week, at Ruislip Manor Library on Tuesday 15th and Ickenham Library on Wednesday 16th, as well as my normal weekend bookshop events.
My second book, ROAD CLOSED, which hits the shelves in a couple of months, has already been selling well with preorders on amazon, which I'm absolutely thrilled about as I'm assuming these can only be readers who enjoyed CUT SHORT so much they're looking forward to ROAD CLOSED. So far so good.
I'm now busy writing (of course!) and am around 3/4 of the way through the first draft of DEAD END, the third in my series. I want check it, and research the fourth book in the series, over the summer.
When it comes to writing, creating a ficitious reality in words comes easily to me - I absolutely love doing it. The words just roll off the keyboard. Sometimes when I'm trying to get to sleep, an entire chapter unfolds in my head and I have to jump up and jot it down. Where I struggle is with the organisation (shudder). When I wrote CUT SHORT, it's no secret that I didn't plan. I just sat and wrote, for fun, for myself, with no idea anyone else would ever read my MS, let alone publish it. When I had to knock it into shape as a coherent book I got into a terrible muddle.
With ROAD CLOSED I was determined to make the process flow more smoothly and devised a detailed plan on a sheet of A3, writing down what each character was doing on each day through the investigation. Couldn't go wrong? Well, everything was going fine until I had to move a few chapters around. Muddle and mayhem, some tearing of hair and a few choice expletives, but I sorted it out in the end.
So, twice bitten... I wrote a 9 page detailed synopsis for DEAD END before I even started writing the MS...
... and here I am, 3/4 of the way through, and I've just shifted a chapter. This means about ten other chapters have to be moved around, and others reworked. Muddle and panic again.
Why not leave well alone, you might ask. My books (as I hope you know...) create authentic realism shot through with drama. If the day to day realism goes on for too long, it becomes dull. Who wants to read about boring the daily life of a police investigation? On the other hand, too much drama and terror in one section loses its impact. I'm very keen to make my books terrifying without becoming implausible. If my readers can really believe in the world I create, I think that's more frightening than if I pile on the horrors. There's no right or wrong about this. It's just my opinion. So the balance between realism and drama is crucial.
I was happily writing DEAD END and my agent suggested there was too long a patch of investigation, and then two hugely tense scenes built up at once. Of course I saw the sense in what he said. I would have reached the same conclusion myself when I come to review the whole shape of the book once the first draft is completed.
So I'm shifting chapters around again... with all the consequent changes. I can't have a character reminiscing about a scene before it's happened... or a Saturday night party taking place between Wednesday and Thursday... oh heck! I wish I was more organised!
The MS isn't due to be delivered until after the summer for publication in 2011, so there's no rush, but there are so many demands on my time. I don't have the luxury of being able to devote myself full-time to writing, and will be back at school tomorrow. And then there's the book promotion to fit in ...
Do other authors plan their books successfully before writing? And if so, HOW?

Out and About

Forgive me for sharing my quotation from Jeffery Deaver with you again. I'm so proud of it!
"CUT SHORT is a stylish, top-of-the-line crime tale, a seamless blending of psychological sophistication and gritty police procedure. And you're just plain going to love DI Geraldine Steel."


Lately I've met some really friendly book folk like the lovely Helen Hunt. (No, not that Helen Hunt. This one isn't a film star. I'm talking about the real Helen Hunt, known to some as Helen M Hunt. She took the time to come all the way to Henley to my book signing on Saturday. Luckily CUT SHORT had sold out by 1 o'clock (apologies to the lady I wasn't able to sign for - why is there always more than one customer wanting that last copy?) so Helen and I were able to go out for coffee together, trailing our poor uncomplaining spouses along in our wake. Helen is the writer of many short stories that have been published in magazines but more of that later. Yes, there's another interview in the pipeline! Here we are together. (I'm the little one who looks like a tortoise.)

I have more photos - and more interviews - on the way.

My schedule from now now until the launch of ROAD CLOSED in June:
17th April - Waterstones Uxbridge signing
24th April - Waterstones Windsor signing
25th April - Waterstones Harrow signing
1st May - Heffers Cambridge signing
5th May – Verulam Writers Circle talk
15th May - Waterstones Winchester signing
21st May - CrimeFest Bristol talk & signing
29th May - WH Smith's Watford signing
1st June – Thames Valley Writers talk
2nd June – Westfield Library London bestselling crime writers panel
5th June - Waterstones Watford signing
12th June - Waterstones Bedford signing

Hope to meet you when I'm out and about.

And now - just because I can - WATCH THE TEAR!




And now I have to end this chatty post on a sombre note. I discovered through twitter about half an hour ago that another fantastic independent bookshop, NINEVEH in Havant, is under threat. Last year Nineveh hosted events for Havant Literary Festival. I was thrilled to be invited to participate and gave a talk to a lively and interesting audience. The event was very well attended so I know there are many people in Havant who are passionate about books. Please, if you live If you live in Havant, and value books, don't let this bookshop vanish.