Member: paulinerowson

I've just started working on the new Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery; the sixth in the series. At first it all seems rather messy, lots of ideas and threads and none of them joined up enough to make a worthwhile plot, until yesterday that was.

I do all my plot outlines and characters in pencil before starting the creative process but this time something was urging me to start typing on to screen and get on with the creative process right away. Perhaps it was because I'd left Andy in the last novel in a turmoil and I needed to continue with his thinking. Or perhaps it was because one germ of an idea I had would take hold on screen during the creative writing process and flourish into a full blown infection. Anyway it worked (I think) I have now begun Andy Horton number six.

What I have written so far (two thousand words) might never see the final light of day because it will be changed many times before I am happy with it, but it's a start. Only another ninety eight thousand words to go before the first draft is complete. So I'd better sign off now and get on with it.

posted by paulinerowson at 7:13 am (EST) on Mar 23, 2009

E newsletter and Web Site

My new official website has now been running for a month and I am pleased to say we have had excellent feedback from it. (Thank you Darren of Metadas Media for being such a talented web developer.) What’s great about it is that we can instantly update it ourselves, at any time, quickly and easily. We can post new events as they are confirmed, new book releases, interviews, plus all the latest news stories. Over the coming months we will start to build on this and make sure all our visitors and my fans can get the latest information.

Sign up for my new look crime fiction e newsletter

In addition, we’ve just launched our first new look e-newsletter. So if you would like to ensure you have the latest tit-bits of information and news, or perhaps don’t have time to check the web site every week, then we’ll send you an alert when something new has been posted, plus a regular e newsletter (about once every four to six weeks).

There’s plenty happening and please remember you can also ask about any of my writing projects or about my characters, either here or by using the call to action form at the bottom of the blog page. And if you would like to go on my mailing list then please complete the form on the Mailing List page at http://www.rowmark.co.uk

I'll also be doing some guest writing and interviews on the web site in the coming months. And you can share the web pages on my new web site with your friends or colleagues. So take a look at http://www.rowmark.co.uk/ and let me know what you think or sign up for my e newsletter.

posted by paulinerowson at 8:47 am (EST) on Feb 2, 2009

My latest Book News and forthcoming Marine Mysteries

I’ve just received from my publisher my copies of the Large Print version of Deadly Waters, which is now on sale. It looks really good and I hope it enables people who are visually impaired (sadly a growing number) to enjoy my new marine mystery crime novel.

Deadly Waters is already available as a talking book and in hardback and trade paperback and will shortly be published as a mass market paperback with a new jacket cover in April 2009. This and all my marine mystery crime and thriller novels are available as e books.

The mass market version of Deadly Waters in the UK is the normal paperback size rather than the large paperback size and I know that it will please many of my readers who have already bought the mass market versions of Tide of Death, In Cold Daylight and In For The Kill. It will retail at £6.99 and is available for pre order from bookshops and on line.

The Suffocating Sea, the third DI Andy Horton Marine Mystery, will be available in the large paperback version in January 2009. I’m not sure when it will come out in the smaller mass market size but will let you know. It will probably be early 2010. The Suffocating Sea is also shortly to be made into a talking book, which is great news.

I’ve just signed the contract for the publication of my latest DI Horton Marine Mystery called Dead Man’s Wharf. I think this is going to be published in hardback in April 2009 but don’t hold me to that. I thought I’d give you a flavour here of what it’s about:

Dead Man’s Wharf

An old woman in a nursing home claims she’s been attacked by an intruder, and her room-mate dies. The evidence points to the ramblings of a dementia inflicted resident, and death by natural causes. But when Horton discovers the dead woman is Irene Ebury who worked with his mother before her disappearance thirty years ago, and that Irene’s son, serving a sentence for armed robbery, is also found dead in his prison cell, Horton begins to wonder if both are connected with his mother’s past. But that’s not all! A series of threatening telephone calls to a television personality and a mother’s conviction that her son’s death on Christmas Eve was no accident pile on the pressure and soon Horton finds himself in danger along with his faithful sergeant, Barney Cantelli.

To be published in April 2009.

posted by paulinerowson at 12:27 pm (EST) on Nov 10, 2008

How do writers see themselves?

I’m giving a talk tomorrow at Bracknell Library in Berkshire, Hampshire, and I am looking forward to it. It is always good to connect with people, and at these types of events to discuss books (not only mine but other writers) and to discover what people like and why they like them. It also helps to provide me with ideas for possible future books, plays and screenplays. And it reminds me who my audience are i.e. who I am writing for and why I write. So what has this got to do with how writers see themselves? Bear with me.

In my previous career, before becoming a full time writer, I ran my own marketing and training consultancy. I used to advise businesses and the public sector on their marketing strategies and devise marketing and PR campaigns for them as well giving seminars, presentations and talks at conferences on a variety of topics from understanding motivation and personalities, to marketing, selling, communicating and leadership. I have always enjoyed public speaking and entertaining people, so I welcome any opportunity to stand up in front of a group of people and talk. I also enjoy helping people, so if my audience are budding writers then I aim to pass on any practical advice and tips I can. When I was learning the craft of writing (and let’s face it you never stop learning) I was always keen to hear how other writers approached their work and still am. All this interaction is very valuable to me.

So who do I write for? I consider that I write for the man (or woman) on the Clapham omnibus i.e. the person in the street, who is in no way ‘ordinary’ because as humans we are all extraordinary! I write for people who want a good entertaining read; something they could become engrossed in on a wet afternoon, while waiting at a hospital appointment, curled up in bed after a long and hard day’s work, on the beach, in the garden or while travelling on tube, train or plane. I write for both men and women of all ages from early twenties to nineties. For readers who want to escape into a world of action, betrayal, revenge who enjoy complicated plots, complex characters, motivations and dark secrets. Readers who want to be thrilled and entertained.

And why do I write? Simple. Because I love it. I have written all my life, in my jobs and in my personal life. I adore the act of creating characters and making up and telling stories. I love the power of words, both as a speaker and a writer. I am fascinated by how words can create worlds and destroy them. How they can evoke passion, pain, joy, fear and excitement. For me writing is an act of creating something and producing a tangible product (a book, play, television series or a film) which can be enjoyed by people. That is what gives me great pleasure and motivation. And that is how I see myself not as a writer but as an entertainer.

posted by paulinerowson at 8:19 am (EST) on Sep 11, 2008