Help Needed - Support Bookshops!

December was a busy month - until the snow struck. So far I've had to cancel 5 author events this week, in different branches of Waterstones. I really hope readers in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor support their local bookshops which have plenty of Cut Short and Road Closed in stock. Please feel free to contact me for a scanned signature, either for yourself or as a Christmas present, if you can get to Waterstones. They need your support. This week, which should have given them a boost, has been a disaster.
In more positive news, here I am earlier in the month awarding the trophy to John Ward, winner of Watford Writers short story competition, which I was invited to judge. The standard of all the entries was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them. I'm delighted to have been invited to judge the 2011 competition!


And here are a few more Watford writers - a very talented bunch.












And of course I've been out and about book signing at least once a week in December - here's a photo taken at Waterstones in Staines

and WH Smith's in Watford (photo courtesy of the Watford Observer)

We braved a blizzard to reach Waterstones in Hemel Hemstead. (If you enlarge the image you can see an unusual 3for2 offer...) We struggled to make it home again, ending up with the front of the car wedged against a kerb at the bottom of a hill. We managed to reverse away from the kerb by putting a pitta bread under each wheel - luckily we'd stopped off for some shopping on the way! While stuck, we met a girl who had abandonned her own car at the foot of the hill. As she as going our way, we were able to offer her a lift home! (We did holding her ransom note but she told us her family had no money to speak of. All they could offer was one small child. Having had two of our own, we reverted to our original offer and dropped her home.)

We made it to Waterstones in Harrow yesterday. Here's an old photo taken there in June 2010 (we forgot to take one today). Add a thick cardy and a fleece to my outfit, and a few more white hairs and wrinkles, and it could have been taken today!

WH Smith's in Harrow today, back to Waterstones tomorrow, and then I'm done!

Apologies to Waterstones in Chichester, Winchester, Guildford and Windsor for being unable to get to you this week. I hope to visit you all early in 2011.

I'm done - what now?

I've delivered the MS for Dead End to my publisher and am back to polishing my next MS, which is virtually finished.
On paper (sorry!) I've achieved a heck of a lot in 2010 with Cut Short shortlisted for a major award, Road Closed well reviewed and selling as fast as Cut Short, and not one but two more books written.
So as the year draws to a close, I should be feeling pretty pleased with myself.
But (one of the most powerful words in the English language. Like an inconspicuous pivot, almost invisible, it turns everything around) I'm feeling deflated, low, dejected, fed up. (Love blogging where I can repeat, reiterate, witter on in horrendous prose, unlike my 'professional' prose or, as Katie Price allegedly calls it my "book words").
How do other writers react when they reach the end of the monumental (sometimes monstrous) creative effort that goes into writing a book?
Do you party? crawl away and hide? or indulge in rambling on a blog?
This isn't only a question for writers, of course. It applies equally at the conclusion of any task that has required effort. How do we enjoy achievement when the work is done? or do we only feel alive when we're facing challenge? What about the challenge of coping when the challenge is over? (OK, I'll stop now.)

A Serious Business

In unusual circumstances, books can be published within weeks. Michael Jackson’s biography was clearly prepared in advance and given regular updates, right up until his death at which point I seem to recall there was a race to be the first to have a book on the shelves.
For most authors, the process takes longer. There is a time lag between delivery of the final manuscript and publication. So the manuscript for Road Closed was delivered in December 2009 for publication in June 2010.
Addicted to writing, I started on Dead End as soon as Road Closed was finished. By writing I refer not only to the secretarial task of committing words to paper or screen, but also to the thinking, research and editing that go into producing a book.
A year has passed and YESTERDAY I sent Dead End to my publisher for the proofs. The story that has dominated my thoughts for the past year is now out of my hands. Finished. Handed over. Delivered. Submitted. Gone.
Am I pleased with what I have achieved? Am I excited about the publication of my next book?
As is so often the case, reality is proving very different to my expectations. I would have expected to feel deliriously happy at submitting my manuscript - but “terrified” might be a more apt way to describe how I’m feeling right now!
True to form, I’m already working on my next book, due with my agent in a month’s time. I’m currently working on final edits for the book that follows Dead End. I’ll have to wait more than a few weeks to see that one in print but, in the meantime, you can guess what I’ll be doing... yes, the killer in my fifth book is already clamouring to be written.
The last thing I want to do right now is think about Dead End, as it prepares to be launched into the public domain, to run the gauntlet of reviews.
While writing is fun, I am beginning to realise that being an author is a serious business.
http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php

How to Write Bestselling Crime Fiction

Could you write bestselling crime thrillers? I'll be giving away some of my secrets - I've agreed to run a workshop 'In for the Thrill' about writing bestselling crime fiction, at the GET WRITING CONFERENCE in February 2011 at 10.45am. You can book a place here: http://www.verulamwriterscircle.org.uk/getwriting.php

Pathetic Fallacy

When I was a student (a very long time ago) I remember learning about the Pathetic Fallacy in literature, where natural events reflect human experience: Lear, a former king, naked in the tempest; storms at times of emotional turmoil in Thomas Hardy, and so on. I was thinking about the pathetic fallacy while driving into work this morning in ominous weather. I don’t enjoy driving in the best of conditions and at this time of year I always start to feel a little nervous. What if the roads are icy and my car skids...?
This kind of anxiety may be pathetic in itself, but being a worrier frequently feeds into my writing and I wonder if being subject to Shakespeare’s “horrible imaginings” goes with the territory of being a crime writer. Readers often ask how I think up plots for my crime novels and the answer is simple; I start with a ‘What if...?’ question, imagining a worst case scenario. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have a job in an office. One evening you are the last person to leave. Going to bed you remember that you left your mobile phone on your desk at work, so you go in early next morning to arrive before any of your colleagues. Entering the office you discover a dead woman sprawled on the floor. Only a few people have keys to your office, and no one admits to knowing the murder victim.
This raises a number of questions. Who is the unknown victim? Why was she killed? You were last out at the end of the day and first in next morning - does suspicion fall on you? How do the police find the killer? If you write answers to the many questions raised by the body in the office, a basic crime thriller will virtually write itself.
Of course it’s not that simple. It takes a certain type of imagination to develop a starting point like this into a plausible novel with intriguing plot twists and convincing characters, and requires a lot of thought. So life as an author can be hard work, and success has imposed increasing demands on my time until there are times when I watch my life slipping out of control, like my car on an icy road...
As for the road ahead, if anyone had told me eighteen months ago that I would have two bestsellers to my name now, I would’ve laughed. But here I am. So I’m taking my journey as an author one day at a time with no idea what the future might bring. At least my car didn’t skid this morning - although if there was any ice on the road I wouldn’t have seen it through the dense fog up ahead...


http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php

Good News and Bad News

I've all but finished the edits for DEAD END and am getting quite excited about publication in May. It's not that far off! In the meantime, ROAD CLOSED is being reprinted, and CUT SHORT will be reprinted in a new format in June.
With all the focus on preparing for publication, the promotion goes on. It is not an exaggeration when I say that I regularly receive invitations to give interviews. Just today I had approaches from journalists on two local papers covering areas where I'll be signing near Christmas, saw a post I'd written go online on the Harrogate Festival website, heard about another guest post going online at the beginning of December, received a PDF from Mystery Women who had asked me to write a Guest Author Post for their online magazine which will be sent out next week and I'm waiting to see a feature about me in the Times Educational Supplement in December.
Here's the link to my post on the Harrogate website:
http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/yourebooked/2010/11/my-beginnings-by-leigh-russell/
And links to two other interviews which came online this week, both print copies published a few months ago. This one is from Hertfordshire Life http://hertfordshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/crime-pays-for-watford-author-27276/
and In Touch Magazine in Cyprus where not only is the article headed 'An Exclusive Interview with Best Selling Author Leigh Russell' but the type is in a lovely purple font! Love it!
http://www.freeintouchmagazine.com/uploads/3/0/3/5/3035922/leigh_russell_interview.pdf
On the down side, I wasn't invited to join a panel at Harrogate Festival - one day, when I've made my name, I hope to be there. In the meantime, it's back to the edits...

Appearances

Lately I haven’t posted much about what I’ve been up. It’s not that I’ve become blasé about my life as an author – far from it! - but since Cut Short was shortlisted for a major award I've barely had time to attend all my events, let alone write about them here.
In a typical week I might have two book signings at Waterstones or WH Smith, a panel at a literary festival, online interviews, media interviews, and invitations to guest post on several blogs in addition to the two blogs I regularly post on.
This week, in addition to all my usual promotion, I’ve been invited to judge a short story competition, and was contacted by a photographer wanting to do a photoshoot for a feature about me in The Times Educational Supplement. Yes, a photoshoot… ! Apparently he’s going to spend an hour taking a picture of me, and the whole photoshoot is going to take nearly three hours (including lunch, ahem.) I told you it can get a little crazy! I’ll tell you about the photoshoot next week, if it’s not too embarrassing. (You may have heard me say that it took longer to take a decent photo of me for Road Closed than it did to write the book... I have a feeling this venture into the world of glamour and glitz is going to go horribly wrong… It’s just not me, dahling.)
So (unusually) I’ve been thinking about my appearance and have decided to wear a hat with a wide brim, a mac with the collar turned up and a pair of dark glasses for my photoshoot. Sleuth-like or what? (What do you mean, a cover-up? The thought never entered my head!)
While I’ve been considering my appearance, I’ve also been thinking about the appearance of my next book. First of all I’d like to thank everyone who has commented on the cover design for DEAD END, here and on facebook.
There’s been some discussion about it. The first design chosen was strikingly similar to a book that came out last year. That in itself doesn't matter, except that I happen to know the other author concerned, so I was pleased when my publisher decided to use a different image. It seems that every detail of a book cover is discussed at great length. The designer, my publisher, my agent and I all had strong opinions about whether the title DEAD END should be printed in white or red.
What do YOU think?
And how much does the cover influence your decision to buy a particular book?
As for the photo of this author, I intend to be well disguised as a sleuth for my photoshoot!