Caroline Rance's Blog
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Mar.10.2010
Bad reviews are every author's lot, but what is one to do upon receiving them? I mean - someone hates you! And they hate your whole family and your cute kitten whom you saved from drowning, and they hate all the charities you support, and they hope you die very soon of some horrible flesh-eating...
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Aug.22.2009
One or two people have described my book as ‘gripping’ or mysterious. I’m not relating this in order to show off but because it’s about time I did a proper blog post about writing, so I thought I’d describe my process of building up tension and mystery.
Plot events, however exciting, don’t create...
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Aug.18.2009
Just a couple of pics from my Borders Cheshire Oaks signing on 15 August, because although I don’t want to fill up my blog with me-sitting-gormlessly-in-a-shop photos, it is nice to have a record of each event.
Borders was really well geared up for signings – note the smart tablecloth, backdrop...
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Aug.08.2009
Originally posted on my blog at http://writingandallthat.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/the-modern-writing-day-a-beginners-guide/
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4 comments
Jul.26.2009
A good review here from Jackie at Farm Lane Books, who recommends Kill-Grief to “historical fiction fans with a stomach of steel!” There are some great comments from her readers too.
I’ve been following this blog for a while and really like it. The reviews are helpful and concise, and there’s a...
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Jul.24.2009
Some authors and publishers are ambivalent about the value of book signings – or even dead against them. The über-famous know that people will buy the books anyway, so a signing is just a treat for the fans. For others it hardly seems worth sitting awkwardly in a shop for three hours being asked...
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3 comments
Jul.21.2009
When I was first doing the submissions/rejections thing, I had an idealistic vision of post-publication life.
That is, I thought it would be pretty much the same as before.
I would have a book with my name on it, but other than that I'd still be sitting in the same chair, writing another novel at...
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10 comments
Jul.14.2009
I will be signing Kill-Grief at Waterstone’s in Chesham, Bucks, this Saturday (18 July) from 11am until 2pm, so if you are in the area and would like to pop in and say hello, I will be delighted to see you. For a map and further details, click here or contact me via my website.
I have been doing...
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Jul.04.2009
I was at the Exclusively Independent event at Fulham library last night, and had a great time meeting the other writers and reading from my book… but blimey, I hope the next event is in the winter. Out here in sedate Great Missenden it has been possible to keep cool by staying indoors or going out...
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Jun.24.2009
With fewer publisher pounds going into publicity these days, authors are increasingly expected to do the bulk of their own book promotion. Fortunately for us, the web provides a wealth of free opportunities. Unfortunately for everyone else, some authors don't realise what will do more harm than...
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Jun.14.2009
You know what really annoyed me when I was going through the submissions/rejections process?
Actually, it still annoys me.
Published people telling so-called ‘aspiring’ writers that ‘being published won’t sort your whole life out, you know’ or ‘It’s not the be-all and end-all.’
It was OK for them...
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4 comments
May.01.2009
Writing a book is one thing. That only takes a few years of dreaming, scribbling, typing, banging your head on the desk and waking up in the middle of the night with the most original idea ever, only to discover in the morning that your bedside notebook is scrawled with stuff like “elephant –...
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Apr.19.2009
Well, would you believe I logged on to the interweb to do a post about some of the things people are searching for when they stumble on my blogs, and discovered that Sarah Johnson of Reading the Past has been quicker off the mark! But anyway, here are my own favourites from the last month or so. We...
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Apr.15.2009
Tomorrow is the day. My début novel will be released and I will finally be able to prove to the world that I am not an unemployable waster.
Well, actually, I am, but at least I managed to write a book at the same time.Publication day has long been a date to focus on; a distant point up to which I...
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Mar.28.2009
I thought it would be fun to record myself reading from my book. Then I could put the file on my website and people could listen to my dulcet tones and think “Wow! She’s so sophisticated! I must buy that book straight away!”
I could even work out how to make it into a podcast, as the cool kids...
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About Caroline
My historical novel, Kill-Grief, was published in April 2009. As well as writing fiction, I run The Quack Doctor blog, which features patent remedy advertisements from historical newspapers.
My day job is as a publications editor for a charity focused on the...
Connections
Causes Caroline Rance Supports
SOS Children: www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk
The Nehemiah Project:...