Novel Madness!!

It's hard to know where to start when a week feels a lifetime and then something which happened over a week ago feels like it only happened a second before!

On Monday it will be three weeks to publication day and still a part of me hasn't taken it all in, a part not quite believing the publication of my first novel is actually happening.

My head is busy yes, thinking about plans for the launch night which will be happen on the 5th September, the knowledge that actual copies of Red Ribbons will arrive late next week at the publishers, and that for the very first time I'll hold my own novel in my hand - something I never thought possible.

A small number of people have read the manuscript at this point, and so far the feedback has been amazing, but yet I'm filled with anxiety, self-doubt, all those demons that can hold you back from ever writing in the first place. We all experience them I know, it's part of what makes us who we are, and hopefully in the long run better at what we do.

I'm still in the zone whereby if someone tells me they absolutely loved Red Ribbons, I want to absolutely love them back, and I hope that part never changes. Hopefully there will be a lot of love!!

But I'm also trying to prepare for the negatives, and part of that preparation will be taking myself aside and giving myself a good talking to before any of this becomes totally real. I honestly can't predict how I will feel, and again I know this is something others have gone through - but there is no denying it's a tough part.

On the news front, there's a trailer going out mid next week which I will let you all know about, and I really hope you like it, and it gives you a flavour of the novel. Trailers are somewhat new to book promotion, but for me it has been a hugely positive experience.

I've been working on a new website too, which I think is going to be amazing, and I'm hoping you'll agree when you see it. My ambition for the site was that it would be an enjoyable experience to move within it, more pleasure than hard work, and be a fair reflection of what my novel, and future novels will be about. The blog will be incorporated into it too, so it won't feel like you're switching from one site to the next, but rather that the website is very much alive and not some stale thing that doesn't change for months on end.

Next Friday the 17th August, I'll be reading in the 'Writers' Circle' event at the Axis Centre in Ballymun @  6.30 pm - part of the DNA festival. Entry is free and all are welcome! So come along.

The Launch Night is set for the 5th September, at Hughes and Hughes, St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, again @ 6.30 The utterly brilliant Niamh O'Connor (True Crime Editor of the Sunday World) will be launching the night, Hughes & Hughes have been fantastic, and I can't thank them enough.

Digi-posters of the novel will be on display at all their stores from this weekend onwards, and they've posted an exclusive interview with yours truly in their VIP ezine this week as well.

If you're on facebook, you can join the Launch Party HERE, or you can email me at phillips.louisem0@gmail.com and I'll put your name on the list - I have visions that the night will be a re-run of my 21st, when I had a heart attack that no one would turn up, and again, I know I need to give myself a good talking to, and to say, Louise, calm down, enjoy the experience and know that this is going to be a very special moment, because it will be a turning point in your life.

So join the launch night HERE, contact me by email if you have any queries, or on Twitter @LouiseMPhillips, and again thanks so much for all your support!!!

Thank YOU!

So we are nearly there folks. One month to go, one month to publication day.

I got to thinking, that it might be a good time to stop and say 'Thank You'.

In the acknowledgments for Red Ribbons, my opening words are -

'The creation of a novel is a journey which begins well before the first word is written and continues long after the last full stop. I owe a huge debt of thanks to many people.... '

And these words ring true for me, not just today, or when Red Ribbons is finally published, or ten years from now when hopefully I will have written many others stories - these words have been true from the moment I was introduced to books, to the joy of living in an  imaginary world, and will last hopefully for a very long time to come.

I openly admit that I am nervous, excited, unsure, a mix of so many different emotions, but whether Red Ribbons is a success or not, the journey so far has been a success for me.

I have gotten to know a great many people along the way, some here on this blog, and on Twitter.  I have made some lifelong friends, and the experience has been an emotional roller coaster, with many moments of joy, uncertainty, frustration, laughter, doubt, belief, the list is endless, but what has never been in any doubt, is that the journey has been enriched by all the people who have supported me along the way, thankfully another very long list, and one that I really appreciate.

Some of you who follow this blog might remember a post I did a while back - it was about a friend of mine, the late, Joan O Flynn. My life was enriched for Joan being in it. She will stay with me always, and apart from being an amazing woman, writer, and friend, she had great belief in me.  We all need friends like Joan, people who believe in us even when we doubt ourselves.

So no matter how the next leg in this journey goes, today, and every bit of the journey so far has been an absolute pleasure, and this wouldn't have been the case without you. So THANK YOU.

Thomas Enger - PIERCED

‘I’ll tell you who killed your son if you clear my name.’

I could talk for a very long time about Norweigan,Thomas Enger’s latest book, Pierced, but instead, I’m going to give you a quote from the back of the novel – ‘Pierced is a stunning, emotionally charged slice of Nordic Noir’ – and that my friends, sums it up exactly.

So, here is a brief introduction to the novel, and then we can get up close and deadly with the writer himself when he spoke to me for writing.ie, about the inspiration behind the creation of this fantastic second novel in the Henning Juul series.

If you find out who set me up, I’ll tell you what happened the day your son died. That is the message crime reporter Henning Juul, back at work after being terribly burned and scarred for life in a fire that killed his son, receives from a jailed extortionist named Tore Pulli who’s been convicted for a murder he claims he didn’t commit. Truth has never meant more for Henning Juul. And when Pulli is found dead in his prison cell—an apparent suicide—Juul decides to dig deeper. He knows the murders Pulli was convicted of do not bear his signature, and he’s convinced that Pulli would never have taken his own life. Striking up a fragile partnership with Iver Gundersen, a journalist now living with Juul’s ex-wife, Juul uncovers an internal power struggle in the gang world, where the desire for serious money is destroying the traditional, honour-based hierarchy. Uncovering more questions than answers, Henning soon realizes that he has to find not one but several killers . . . ruthless murderers who have never been more dangerous than they are now.

When I met international bestselling author, Thomas Enger, moments after he arrived in Dublin, the first thing I wanted to ask him about was the brilliant character Henning Juul. Henning is a man scarred physically and mentally, a man in pursuit of the truth behind the fire which killed his son. Was he, I asked Enger, one of those characters who came almost fully formed to the page?

Thomas Enger told me, ‘He was instantly present in my head, he was almost like a voice saying this is a character you have to write and his name is Henning Juul – you have to write him. It was such a strong impression, and when I started writing him, I had spent six months planning out what I wanted to do with my character, writing the very first chapter of the very first book, it instantly felt like, yes, this is his voice. When I wrote Pierced, a lot of Henning’s character had been established in the first novel, and it was a matter of sustaining this while not repeating information unnecessarily, but it is always difficult with a series, and it is even more apparent now writing the third novel, deciding how much of the earlier elements to put in, and leave out.’

If you pick up a copy of Pierced, and I strongly recommend you do, like me you might be intrigued by the relationship between Henning and Iver Gundersen, the journalist now living with Juul’s ex-wife, Nora.......

READ MORE over at Crime Scene HERE 

The Fall by Claire Mc Gowan .......................... Sometimes you just gotta take a chance!!

Over at Crime Scene this week, I'm delighted to introduce you to Claire Mc Gowan, debut Irish crime writer and Director of the Crime Writers Association. Claire tells us about her writing journey, the creation of her wonderful debut novel The Fall, and how publication success is seldom a straight line, sometimes you just gotta take a chance........

Read More  HERE

RED RIBBONS - Preview....... Let the countdown begin!!!!!

FRONT COVER - BLURB & TRAILER

Check out RED RIBBONS TRAILER HERE

THE SERIAL KILLER

A missing schoolgirl is found buried in the Dublin Mountains, hands clasped together in prayer, two red ribbons in her hair. Twenty-four hours later, a second schoolgirl is found in a shallow grave … her body identically arranged.

A hunt for the killer is on.

 

THE CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGIST

The police call in profiler Dr Kate Pearson to get inside the mind of the murderer before he strikes again. But the more Kate discovers about the killings, the more it all feels terrifyingly familiar . . . 

 

THE ACCUSED WOMAN

As the pressure to find the killer intensifies there's one vital connection to be made. . .  Ellie Brady, a mother institutionalised fifteen years earlier for the murder of her twelve-year-old daughter. She stopped talking when everyone stopped listening.

THE BAD MAN IS EVERYWHERE....BUT CAN YOU SEE HIM....

 

If you are a regular visitor to this blog or my Crime Scene blog at www.writing.ie

If you’ve ever read a story of mine and liked it

If you follow me on Twitter @LouiseMPhillips

or we are linked up on Facebook or Linkedin.com

or you like the sound of my Novel

You can pre-order RED RIBBONS NOW

Why pre-order?

Well why not?

See details below:

LINK TO PRE -ORDER VIA AMAZON  HERE

Pre-order Price Guarantee: Order now and if the Amazon.co.uk price decreases between the time you place your order and the release date, you'll be charged the lowest price

Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Dublin, Louise Phillips, returned to writing in 2006. Since then she has been published as part of many anthologies, including County Lines from New Island, and various literary journals. Louise won the Jonathan Swift Award for her short story 'Last Kiss', and was a winner in the Irish Writers’ Centre Lonely Voice Platform, short-listed for the Molly Keane Memorial Award, Bridport UK, and long-listed twice for RTE Guide/Penguin short story competition. In 2012, she was awarded an arts bursary for literature from South County Dublin Arts Council.

Launching this new voice in crime, Ciara Doorley, Editorial Director of Hachette Books Ireland, says of Louise. ‘With overtones of Sophie Hannah and Tana French, Louise is a supremely talented writer. She subconsciously creates parallels between her characters, and this really challenges the reader. Her writing is tense, atmospheric and we’re really excited to be launching a new voice in Irish crime.’

Too Close for Comfort

When you think of Niamh O’Connor, you think Successful Crime Novelist, you think True Crime Editor of the Sunday World, you think of someone who interviews high-profile criminals and their victims. A woman who regularly appears on our television screens talking about crime, helping us to understand the phenomenon of what’s happening in the darker side of Irish society, what’s happening on our streets, you think of a woman on the cutting edge who can tell a gritty crime story both in true-life and in the fictional sense - you think of a woman who can tell it as it is, because she darn well knows it.

Niamh O'Connor's latest book Too Close For Comfort hits a nerve in the Irish psyche, as I found out when I spoke to her about her brilliantly multi layered story of intrigue and lies...

Would you trust your neighbour with your life?

Read my interview with Niamh over at www.writing.ie HERE

Costa Short Story Award

About The Short Story Award

This award is for a single, previously unpublished short story of up to 4,000 words by an author of 18 years or over.

The story must be written in English.

Only one entry per author will be accepted. Entry is online (see below).

Entry opens at 9am on Monday 16 July 2012 and closes at 4pm on Friday 7 September 2012.

The author need not have been previously published. Publishers/agents may submit entries on behalf of authors.

All entries will be judged anonymously (ie without the name of the author available to the judges).

A shortlist of six entries will be announced in November and the public will be asked to vote for their favourite.

The winner will be announced at the Costa Book Awards ceremony in late January 2013 and will receive a cheque for £3,500.

Two runners-up will each receive £750.

Click here to see this year's judges

Click here for full Terms and Conditions

Click here to submit your entry >>

What a difference ONE DAY makes!

I had one of those computer problems we all dread over the weekend. You know the kind I am talking about -14/16 hours work down the drain in the blink of a microchip!!!

I felt pain, I felt hardship, I consoled myself that it wasn't the worst thing in the world, and I dusted myself down and started the work all over again yesterday.

Yesterday, I might add in here, was a bit of a blur, one hour of shock horror knowing I had probably lost all the work from Saturday, another couple of hours talking to helpful friends like IT expert Susan Condon, other helpful IT friend expert Triona Walsh, and just to prove one IT expert can link up with another IT expert, Triona's husband Dan, all of whom talked me through hard drives, temporary folders, every version of search under *.*, and all the online help available, to sadly no avail. But I felt the LOVE, so thank you guys:) xxxx

Why am I telling you all this? Well actually I'm not particularly sure, only goddamn it, I want to tell you.

The other thing, I'd like to share is the fact that having redone Saturday's work on Sunday, the complete read through of my novel Red Ribbons, which I had scheduled for Sunday, was done today - all 115K words read in ONE DAY! Yes, you heard right, ONE DAY!

One part of me was thinking, gosh, all that work, and it can be swallowed whole in less than 12 hours, and the other part was thinking, well, dare I say.....I was HAPPY with it!

The latter is a huge statement for me, because I know by and large I fall into the trap of never really being completely happy with my work, and constantly feel the need to edit it more, and more, and more, sooooooooooooo, despite the fact that it is rather shocking that 6 -8 months works can be read in ONE DAY, it is also refreshing that for a brief moment, this highly critical, self-doubting soul, was HAPPYish (see the negativity is sneaking in already)!!!

Right, I've done my best - let the critics say what they will - the moment of truth is nearly here!!!!

Thought for the Weekend - Jumping off cliffs and developing wings!

Right, I'm in writing hibernation for the next two days! You won't hear a word from me - honest:)

And all the cliffs I might feel I'm jumping off, will hopefully be imagined, as will be the wings developed to stop me crashing on the way down!!!!

Irish Writers' Centre Novel Fair Open for Submissions!

The Irish Writers' Centre are open for entries for their Novel Fair! So get writing!!!

 

The second Irish Writers' Centre Novel Fair Competition was launched on June 27th. After the success of the inaugural Novel Fair (so far, one book deal, 9 signed with agents) they are really excited about this year's competition.

If you have any questions or queries, feel free to contract them, or email novelfair@writerscentre.ie

The deadline is October 17th! Get those submissions into them and maybe your novel could be the next big thing!

View Details HERE

Download Submission Form HERE

Check out Patrica Deevy, Penguin Ireland, talk about pitching your novel HERE