Seaside | lgflannigan

Happy New Year! Five months in and this is my first post in 2018!

Besides being busy with renovating and working, I’ve been enjoying coffee and cake with friends and family. And we’re still loving living in town and being five minutes from the sea.

Here’s a photograph I took yesterday evening. Warmish sun, a gentle breeze and the sea lapping at the shore. What more could a person want…

After making the decision to self publish Ordering Flynn Matthews in 2016 I’ve not bothered sending any work off to agents or publishers, however this January, after much nagging/encouragement from my gorgeous friend Jenni (newly signed with an agent!), I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme. It’s allocated on a first served basis and the membership allows unpublished authors to take part in all RNA activities and also submit a manuscript of a full-length novel for appraisal. I have one ready to send however a casual comment about Scotland from my lovely friend, Tina, after a Reiki session, had a new idea spinning in my head. Now, a few weeks later and 35,000+ words in I’m thinking I’ll have it finished by Aug 31st deadline. I suspect the only thing that will hold me up is the synopsis which usually takes me as long to write as an 85,000 word novel.

I’ve also joined the newly formed RNA Bristol Chapter – we first met in March and they are a wonderful friendly bunch of authors who are willing to share their experiences to help each other especially us newbies. I’m looking forward to our next meeting on 21st July. Ooh and we meet at River Cottage restaurant in Bristol. Great venue and delicious food.

This month I have published the third and final (sorry Nicki!) novel in the Addicted Series, Working Flynn Matthews. To please one of my readers (Nicki) there will some more extras posted over on the Flynn Matthews website soon!

And if you haven’t read any in the Addicted Series yet, get over to Amazon now where they’re available for only 99p each. Plenty of 5 star reviews on all three! Thank you to everyone who has bought them and an extra thanks to the people who have found the time to leave reviews, they help in raising the profile of each novel 🙂 so it’s much appreciated.

A big thank you to my family and friends for their continued support for my writing. You’ve been amazing!

Anyone who knows me well is aware of my love for Keanu Reeves and today I saw a trailer for a new movie he’s in called Destination Wedding. The story of two miserable and unpleasant wedding guests, Lindsay and Frank, who develop a mutual affection despite themselves.

The Matrix is in my top 5 movies and I liked John Wick however it’s good to see him free from blood and not holding a gun. Most people say he can’t act, I disagree. Bim Adewunmi in her article Why I love…Keanu Reeves says it better than I can:

Reeves is somehow reassuring, with an enviably serene manner. This makes people see him as wooden, but I think it’s actually more about a man who likes to measure his movements; a movie star who understands space.

And I love the way she describes his walk: rangy and relaxed, but precise; the gait of a man who never needs to hurry.

Back to the movie coming out late August. He’s playing opposite a woman of his generation and not a young twenty something. How novel is that. I love Winona Ryder, especially in Stranger Things. I tend to write stories about younger people but watching the trailer for Destination Wedding got me thinking that at least one of my novels should be about similar aged characters to me. I have plenty of ideas 🙂

Anyway, here’s the trailer:

Writing and publishing Failing Flynn Matthews is on hold for now as moving house may be happening quicker than we thought (panic!) so this past weekend has seen a flurry of activity and this morning I took another car load to the charity shop. I’m not sure how we accumulated so much and if we ever needed it all.

Sorting through our belongings I unearthed many memories. From the decade of my life I call the Carefree years (age 1-10) I found my first teddy and a framed picture that hung on the wall above my bed.

Isn’t my teddy cute?!

From the Awkward years (11-20) books, loads of them! Some my Nan gave me, beautifully illustrated but battered from the 1930’s.

From the London years (21-30) a huge A4 binder with examples of typesetting – you know, the old way we used to print newspapers! I learned how to set type during my Occupational Therapy course – loved that module!

Typeset by me – ok, ok these words were cool at the time!

From the Child Rearing years (31- 40) there is so much and it’s hard to let go of anything – everything has a memory whether it be of our children or family. Sorting through the thoughtful gifts my mother bought reminded me of how much time she dedicated, sitting for hours playing games, doing puzzles and reading with them. It reminds me of how much I miss her and how much our children and her other grandchildren have lost out on since the dementia took what makes her, her. It is a cruel disease. We still have her to hold and hug but we do miss how she would have been without it.

My Mum and kids spent many hours having fun with these 🙂

The next decade I will call the Finding Myself years (41-50) – first I was ill but on the upside I finally put pen to paper and wrote. My first short story was published and I haven’t stopped writing since. I think it’s the first interest I’ve actually stuck with. My past is littered with discarded hobbies: pottery, water colour painting, oil painting to name but a few.

And now we come to this decade – no name yet as it’s early days however we’re going on adventure and renovating (sort of) a property and are trading this: