If you have been paying attention, you may have noticed that I have a new book available.
This is a novella called Not Running Away, set in the fictional town of Sapphire Bay, which is loosely based on Cowes and surrounds in Victoria, Australia.
This is the story of Gemma, a single-parent empty nester who finds herself restless with her life and trying to work out who she is now the kids have grown up. She takes a short contract in Sapphire Bay and meets Adam and his friends. She starts to rediscover herself and falls in love with the town and Adam.
The idea for this story came last December. I really enjoy watching those cheesy romance movies that are shown around Christmas. I find they are light and predictable, perfect when I need a break, however they are all set in a snowy Christmas, which we don’t have here in Australia. So I started throwing around ideas for a story of my own.
Gemma is partly inspired by my own story. I became an empty nester last year when my younger son moved out of home and all the questions of ‘what do I do now?’ were swirling around in my head. I used some of that to start Gemma’s story. Adam is the kind of guy I would like to meet one day, and I had a lot of fun creating Margaret, the local librarian who has a wardrobe full of quirky book-themed t-shirts.
With the idea in place, I started writing. My first draft was full of plot holes, but I still sent it to a friend who offered her opinion. She loved the story and gave me some tips for the rewrite, including some ideas to fill the plot holes. I set about writing the next draft and filling in those holes, along with adding some chapters from Adam’s point of view and scenes with his friends to create the community of Sapphire Bay. It went through a few more rounds of edits with support of my friends and I played with a cover in Canva. My friends convinced me to hit publish. We figured I could keep editing until the cows come home, but then it would never get out there… so I hit publish!
This is my first published fiction book for adults. It’s a cosy romance along the lines of those romance movies. It’s clean, features characters in their 40s in a beautiful part of the world. I had a lot of fun writing this story.
The book is now available in ebook and the print will be out on Valentine’s Day. You can find it here on Amazon and on my website.
