Hello from Book Corner
The sunny weather has come to Saltburn. Easter was busy, but now I’m in the lull which usually follows the school holidays. This is a good time to do a restock ready for the summer season, and I’m currently ordering lots of lovely new books. I’ll be moving on to bookish gifts and greetings cards next.
Some lovely new spring stock on display in the bookshop
The Hometown Bookshop has come back from the proofreader, and is now ready to be typeset. I find this part of the process quite exciting, because it means my novel is starting to look like a ‘real’ book, with proper formatting and chapter breaks, and the publisher’s logo on the first page…all the fun, geeky stuff! Publication is set for 21st August, and I’m really looking forward to sharing it with readers. I’m also starting to plan some exciting events around the release date.
I’m now trying to decide which project to work on next. In the meantime, I’m enjoying writing some fanfiction, something I used to do regularly, but which I put aside while I worked on my original novels. I’ve been drawn into a new fandom, and I now have two short stories and the opening to a longer story.
There’s something uniquely lovely about writing fanfiction. It always feels like writing for the sheer pleasure of it. I’m not going to make any money out of it, and I may not even choose to share it, but it’s so nice to write about something out of love for it. In a roundabout way, it has also inspired the start of a new, original piece of work: the opening to a story about a frustrated fanfiction writer. Maybe this will be my new project!
I also have a draft of my fantasy novel to rework, but that’s more of a challenge, as it still feels like a form of editing to me, rather than the fun initial creative part. I enjoy editing, but I feel like I need a break from this for a while. I’m hoping to pick it up again soon, but I think I’ll take it slowly.
In other writing news, I attended an interesting focus group at Teesside University at the start of April. This was to discuss the production of a new prototype magazine for Teesside writers. Some very interesting points were raised about submission processes, and the challenges of being a new or emerging writer on Teesside. We have a thriving and supportive literature scene here, but very few resident publishers. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the project develops.
Finally, I’d like to share the news that Book Corner has partnered with Libro.fm, an online audiobook shop. We know a lot of our customers also listen to audiobooks, so this means that you can now buy them and support Book Corner at the same time!
Please take a look at our homepage here: https://libro.fm/bookcornersaltburn/about. If you would like to listen to my first book, The Moon and Stars, in audio, there’s an unabridged audio version here: https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9788728477151-the-moon-and-stars. It’s narrated by the wonderful Matthew Biddulph (who employs a variety of fabulous accents) and is one of my proudest achievements as an author. Please do check it out!
Happy reading,
Jenna