It is my pleasure to introduce, Annette Purdey Pugh, one of Honno’s most recently published authors. Annette will be joining us at the first Honno Authors Book Fair, scheduled to take place in Narberth on Saturday 7 May.

New to publishing and book fairs, I asked Annette to share her thoughts about publishing her first book during lockdown. We look forward to meeting her in person, and welcoming her to her first book fair.

Over to you, Annette!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My book’s journey towards publication follows almost exactly the course of the first lockdown. Having finally finished my first ever novel, I posted fifty pages to Honno in autumn, 2019. I had no great expectations of the work, but I had been told that Honno were willing to read unsolicited manuscripts, and their website was encouraging. They got back to me in April 2020, with a request for the complete novel, and in August I received the good news that they were offering to publish it. My meeting for coffee with my editor, Lindsay Ashford, in September, was the first time I had ventured into a restaurant for more than six months.

Apart from necessary visits to the supermarket, I went out very little during that autumn. It was an ideal time for editing my novel. My daughter came to stay at half-term and helped by taking some ‘author photos’ as well as an image of Llanerchaeron, which my son doctored to look several times larger so that it could stand in for Rosings. The book – A Murder at Rosings – was finally published in June 2021.

Being such a new author, I didn’t know what to expect after publication, and am still not sure how different the experience would have been without Covid and its repercussions. There was no book launch or bookshop visits, though I did enjoy reading the reviews produced by the blog tour, courtesy of Random Things Tours, and our community newspaper, Y Ddolen, printed a lovely article about me. A kind neighbour did offer to arrange an informal barbecue/promotion event locally later on in the summer when, we hoped, the pandemic would be all but over. In the event, of course, this didn’t happen.

On a day-to-day basis, the lockdown made little difference to life on the farm. Our lambs were born as usual, though without the usual help from family members at Easter, and with more complaining from us. It was a bit more difficult to buy seeds for the garden, and contractors had to make do with tea and sandwiches in the barn instead of round the kitchen table. My husband was unable to go to choir practices (but found the time to build me a greenhouse!). Supermarket visits were reduced to once a fortnight, and the occasional chat with a neighbour, met while walking, had to take place with the width of the lane between us. Sadly, for two years running, the National Eisteddfod – local to us for the first time in years – was cancelled. I continued to write.

Now that restrictions are lifting, I’m still not sure what to expect of the future. The Honno Book Fair in May will be the first such event I have ever attended, whether as writer or reader. Unknown territory, though I’m looking forward to meeting fellow authors, as well as the lovely people from Honno whom I have so far only met remotely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow Annette on Twitter: twitter.com/apurdeypugh

As part of the book fair, Honno are offering writers the opportunity to meet an experienced editor for a 20 minute individual session. Caroline Oakley is currently working as a freelance editor for Honno, having recently resigned from her role as publisher after seventeen years in the post.

In advance of the event, I asked Caroline for her thoughts. Below is a taster of what you can expect if you decide to book a slot with her. If you want the full experience and a critique of your work, do please consider participating in a Meet the Editor session. These sessions have proved invaluable to a myriad writers; they have paved the way to a publishing deal for many women. Full details can be found here.

Thank you for agreeing to chat to us, Caroline and a big welcome.

Why do I need an editor?
All writing needs a fresh eye – it’s impossible to see what you’ve written with an objective eye. It gets easier with time, but it’s never 100 per cent… I always advise putting a manuscript away for three months minimum if you want to be able to read the words on the page rather than have your memory/subconscious fill in the gaps. You as the author know your characters and plot inside out and your brain will quietly fill in any gaps without you noticing if insufficient time has passed. An outside editor might also see room for changes – additions and deletions – that might never have occurred to you as the author. They’ll be reading from a reader’s point of view as well as that of a writer – which it will be very difficult for you to do (you might be more than somewhat unwilling to kill a few of your darlings; cliché but for a reason!). A good editor will help you see the work differently, perhaps point out facets to the story which hadn’t revealed themselves to you as the originator.

Do I need an agent?
That all depends… If you want to be published by a mainstream commercial trade publishing house, it’s likely you will, as many of them no longer have open calls for submissions (or slush piles as they used to be called). However, a number of increasingly successful small presses do have windows for submissions from unagented authors, or an open submissions policy; just check the publisher’s website for details of how they like to receive submissions, or give them a call and ask their preference. The same applies to literary agencies – check how they like to receive submissions and that your work is something they would consider. The advantages of a literary agent are that they take on the work of promoting and submitting your work to editors – and will have a current active network of editors they have working relationships with, and will know what those editors are looking for. Also a literary agent will take on the task of negotiating with publishing houses, and managing the income from your writing, leaving you to get on with the creative work in peace.

How would you describe The Author’s Voice?
Not sure about the capital letters here, but… Voice is made up of lots of things – vocabulary, point of view, thematic interests, tone, structure. All of these contribute to the ‘voice’ of a novel or piece of writing, as do the kinds of characters and personalities the writer inhabits. Your voice as a writer will be all of these things and also the sum of your experiences and your reading; it’s your interpretation of the world you want the reader to inhabit in written form.

What is the ideal length for a novel?
There’s no such thing, just the ideal length for the story you’ve got to tell. However, the average length for a published novel is probably somewhere around 90,000 words; but you’ll find short novels of 40,000 words at one extreme and great tomes of 150,000+ at the other. I would usually expect to see manuscripts of 60-100,000 words for a work of general fiction or creative non-fiction.

How important are outlines? Do you think they are necessary?
Outlines or synopses are a quick guide to the reader/editor of the type of book the author has intended to write and the likely audience or market for that book were it to be published. It needs to have plot and character development included in it and to outline where the book begins in the storyline, where the main events occur and what they are, and then how and when the book ends. The one thing it is not is a blurb to hook the reader in but not let them know how it ends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you, Caroline. We look forward to seeing you at the new
Honno Authors Book Fair
in Narberth on Saturday 7 May, 2022

In the second of my guest posts asking some of our authors to share their thoughts about book fairs and the lack thereof over the past two years, I’m delighted to invite Thorne Moore to share her musings. Thorne is another founding member of the the Narberth Book Fair (formally of Tenby) and she is one of Honno’s most successful authors.

Thorne’s Honno novels include her debut, the highly acclaimed domestic noir, A Time For Silence, which became a UK Top Ten Bestseller. Following Motherlove (2015) and The Unravelling (2016) in 2020, Thorne penned The Covenant, a prequel to A Time for Silence.

In addition to her books for Honno, Thorne has a number of other novels to her credit. Not least her two most recently published books, Inside Out (2021) and TWO DAYS AGO – the follow-up, Making Waves. Huge congratulations, Thorne!

Join us at the Honno Authors Book Fair on Saturday 7 May and discover them for yourself! In the meantime, welcome, Thorne and over to you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lockdown. We had to stay at home, hide away, worry over dwindling toilet rolls, never stir beyond our doorsteps and give up any idea of office, travel or general socialising, even with our nearest and dearest. In theory I should have ridden it like a swan on calm waters, because I always did work from home and I generally avoided travelling and socialising if I could, so nothing really changed (and I had a good supply of toilet paper). Strangely though, the first lockdown quite paralysed me. How do you write with any realism about the world when you have no idea what is going to happen to it? Was everything we took for granted about to become an irrelevance? I couldn’t write at all for a couple of months.

I did have a book published, though, The Covenant; a novel I had written before the pandemic landed on us. As a general piece of advice, I’d say don’t launch a book in the middle of a pandemic. Silence can be deafening. And, despite my disinclination to party, the lack of physical book events began to drain me. I especially missed the Narberth Book Fair which I had previously run with Judith Barrow. We had passed on its organisation to the Queen’s Hall in Narberth, unaware that a pandemic was just about to strike and that everything would shut down. Zoom events still happened, of course, but I have discovered I deeply, truly, madly detest Zoom.

Despite the barren desert of literary events, I did resurrect the will to write. It had begun to reassert itself by the end of the first lockdown, but what really spurred me on was an event that has made an enormous difference to me: I turned 66. State pension age! Everything changed.  I had always written, previously, with an eye to getting published and making money. Think Marianne and Eleanor in Sense and Sensibility here. When I say making money, I don’t mean a fortune that would allow me to buy a yacht and a private jet. In fact I wasn’t even expecting to earn enough to survive on dry crusts in a draughty garret. But what I did hope for, with increasing desperation, was a few pounds that would enable me to cut down the time spent doing jobs I didn’t want to do, and have maybe one or two extra hours a week when I could do the only thing I did want to do, which was write.

And lo! Now I am in receipt of a state pension, and I am free to spend all day, every day writing, if I so wish. In theory at least – as I was self-employed, I am still closing the order books. But it does mean I no longer have to confine myself to writing what I think the publishing world will find acceptable. I must, grudgingly, thank Amazon Kindle for that. I no longer have to pour a year’s worth of blood, sweat and tears into a book, only to be told ‘Sorry, not for us.’ I can let writing be a pleasure again and not a chore. I used to write Science Fiction and revel in it, so now I have returned to it. I feel like a Beryl Cook woman, not giving a hoot anymore. There’s a lot to be said for being officially classified as old. I am writing, I am flashing my fur coat, and I am itching for another living, breathing literary event. With facemask, of course.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can find out more about Thorne and her books by following the links:
Website: thornemoore.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/ThorneMoore
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thornemoorenovelist
Honno: www.honno.co.uk/
Amazon: tinyurl.com/3j6cp7ue

Prior to the first Honno Authors Book Fair in May, my first guest post features the splendid Judith Barrow, telling us what she has missed about book fairs. Judith is one of Honno’s most prolific authors and a co-founding member of the original Tenby Book Fair which later transferred to Narberth and where the new Honno Book Fair will be taking place on Saturday 7th May.

Judith has been publishing books with Honno since 2010. Her first book, Pattern of Shadows, heralded the fascinating Howarth Family Saga Series.

She has gone on to write several more books, one of which – The Memory – was shortlisted for the Literature Wales Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award 2021.

When I asked Judith for her observations on lockdown, and how it has affected her writing, I knew she would come up with something thoughtful, observant and honest. Welcome, Judith and over to you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Two years without book events! I can’t begin to describe how much I have missed them.

Most of all, it was not being with like-minded people; other authors to share ideas on any work in progress, what works (and doesn’t) with book promotions, general encouragement and help with “keeping on writing”.

And I also missed chatting to readers in person, learning what they liked and even what they disliked about my books. After all without feedback one doesn’t grow as a writer. And yes, I know written reviews on Amazon and such forums help, give egos a boost (or a much-needed wakeup call sometimes, to stop complacency – to try harder to improve our work). But none of those can replace face to face interaction.

I just missed people.

And yet, the first lockdown didn’t affect my writing. In fact, at the time of the initial few months of isolation, I felt a kind of freedom from any obligation. I think that’s what inspired me; I was told I couldn’t go out; told I had no need to carry on with normal activities. No meetings. No appointments. No shopping – yay! My only real regret was that my creative writing classes for adult learners stopped, no one wanted to attend them on zoom, although initially they were offered.

Zoom hasn’t worked for me anyway. People in boxes on a screen have been something I have struggled with. Yes, I know they have been a godsend for many but, after a few months I really begun to dislike the concept. However I have the sneaking feeling this way of communicating between us is here to stay, however much “normal” life will eventually return on one form or another.

That said, I will reiterate my earlier statement, lockdown helped me to focus on something I’ve loved doing all my life – writing. And with only that and domestic trivia to choose from… well, it wasn’t a difficult decision. So with the dust settling nicely on the furniture, and meals made from whatever was available on the “replaced with” items on delivered shopping. I spent hours every day researching and putting words on paper, and screen. Making up stories!

My book, The Memory, a contemporary read of a family (which some have described as a memoir), was published during the first lockdown. The frustration of not being able to go to events to promote and talk about the novel was enormous. I had a couple of zoom interviews and promotions, but it always felt as though I was whistling in the wind. And no one was listening.

But someone must have been, because in July 2021 I was shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year Award 2021: The Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award (alongside fellow Honno author, Carol Lovekin). A lovely surprise (if only they hadn’t got my name wrong and announced the book was written by Judith Brown!)

Knowing at the time, that there was still little I could do in “real” life, I decided I might as well get on with the next book. And, with The Heart Stone, I reverted to writing an historical family saga, set during and after WW1. Which was then published around the time of the next lockdown. Hey-ho!

So, I suppose, in conclusion I can say that the solitude in the times of a pandemic gave me chance to explore the life and times of my fictional characters.

Yet, however productive the situation was for me, I will be so grateful to be at the first event of 2022. Our Honno Book Fair on Saturday 7 May.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can find out more about Judith and her books by following the links.
Blog: judithbarrowblog.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/judithbarrow77
Facebook: www.facebook.com/judith.barrow.3
Honno: www.honno.co.uk/authors/b/judith-barrow/
Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Judith-Barrow/e/B0043RZJV6

It is my pleasure to announce the forthcoming Honno Authors Book Fair 2022, scheduled to take place at The Queen’s Hall, Narberth, on Saturday 7 May.

Authors taking part are all published by Honno, the longest-standing, independent women’s press in the UK. Based in Aberystwyth in mid-Wales, Honno is a shining star in Welsh publishing circles. Honno authors were amongst the organisers of the original Tenby Book Fair. When it relocated to Narberth we continued to showcase a wide range of exceptional writing by women. We are delighted to be hosting this new venture as a collective, and hope those of you who have supported Honno at previous book fairs will come along, meet your favourite authors and perhaps discover some new ones.

Books are amongst the most precious things we can own. And book fairs are special events. They are about community and a shared love of story; a chance to browse at leisure and interact with the storytellers.

The past two years have been tough on authors; there is no substitute for physical book fairs and the presence of our readers. Sitting behind our stalls, watching you pick up our books, check out cover and blurb, read the opening page, is pure joy. Above all, we have missed interacting with you, the people who buy and read our books. Chatting about the process, the stories, getting to know you.

It’s been a long two years – too long. Over the following weeks I shall be featuring some of my sister Honno authors as they talk about what they have missed about book fairs. We can’t wait to welcome you back and invite you to the new Honno Book Fair! Watch this space for updates and details.