Category Archives: Writing Life

Exciting 2024 news

So I have been very quiet here of late, but there has been a huge amount going on in the background which I haven’t been able to share as yet.

But now I can share the first really exciting bit of news for 2024. I’m deeply honoured to have been asked to be a Guest of Honour along with Glyn Dillon, at my beloved Octocon this year.

Join us in the Gibson Hotel, 5th-6th October. There will be shenanigans.

New Book News

The news is out. I will have a new book with Bookouture next year, The Water Witch.

Here I am researching… honest…

We are also delighted to have re-signed contracts with fantasy author Jessica Thorne. Associate Publisher Ellen Gleeson has acquired World English Language rights, plus audio, from Sallyanne Sweeney at MMB Creative for The Water Witch

Publishing in summer 2022, The Water Witch is set on the wild shores of Brittany and tells the story of how Ariadne, a young woman still grieving for her lost fiancé, becomes involved in an archaeological dig searching for the lost city of Ys — and awakes an ancient and dangerous power.

Jessica said,

‘I’m so delighted to be working with Bookouture on this wild and magical tale of Brittany, a place so very close to my heart. It’s always such a thrill to start a new adventure and to explore the mysteries of family dynamics, folklore handed down through generations and the human heart.’

Ellen said,

‘Jessica’s books are always guaranteed to sweep me away to whatever beautiful, beguiling and entrancing world is waiting! Her gorgeous descriptions and worldbuilding, intricate plotting, ability to create totally dramatic heart-in-mouth moments, and of course passionate romance arcs, all combine to create exactly the kind of contemporary fantasy fiction her fans adore. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to work with Jessica and I can’t wait to dive straight in to The Water Witch.’ 

Full details here

New Books on the way

Exciting news as I have signed a new contract with Bookouture for a further two books. Both of these will be standalones and I’m really looking forward to sharing them with you.

The first book is out in March next year, with the second to follow in September.

They are both a little different and both stories that I have wanted to write for ages. Real books of the heart. Also the first, which I refer to as Foxfield, is a cautionary tale on never giving up on a book you love. I wrote a version of it a few years ago but the market was not there for it at the time. It was a young adult book, on the younger end of the age range. When I spoke to my lovely editor Ellen about it she saw the possibilities and the rewrite is underway as we speak, no longer young adult and with a darker, more adult tone.

It always pays to remember in publishing it only takes one yes, and some books take just that little bit longer, and perhaps a few adjustments, to find its place.

I’m so happy to be able to say that Foxfield is going to finally make its way out into the world in a new and even more exciting form.

Bookouture re-sign Thorne and Josselsohn

Behind the Bestseller Podcast

I had such an amazing time talking to Sam Blake on her podcast, Behind the Bestseller. 

Romance is the biggest selling genre worldwide and award winning author Ruth Long, in all her various incarnations as RF Long, Ruth Francis Long and Jessica Thorne, writes romance combined with fantasy – from parallel worlds to sci-fi space opera, for both young adults and adults. Discussing what romance is and why it’s so popular, Sam Blake explores how Ruth develops character, the secrets of world building and what makes a successful book in this huge genre. Ruth outlines how important community is and how organisations like the Romantic Novelists’ Association can be of huge help in assisting authors build their career.

Come and listen to us chat about fantasy and romance, about worldbuilding and all the things my characters get up to when I’m not looking. It makes sense*. I promise.

 

*it may not actually make sense.

Oops – lost in epic fantasy

The writing cave

It really has been a long time since I posted here. I have no excuse apart from falling into the writing cave and still not having found my way out. I’m working on a new epic fantasy that is just taking up all my time so far. Isn’t it amazing when a story just takes over. Unfortunately for me, while this one has taken over, it is doing so in slow motion. I have about a quarter of the length I’d like so far. Mind you, there’s often that thing where suddenly the story gets going and won’t stop!

The very odd thing with this one is the way it is coming out.

Not actual writing conditions…

I’ve talked about crazy writer brain before. This book has two points of view. Crazy writer brain has decided that one will only be typed directly into the manuscript while the other must be written out longhand before being typed in. So… that’s slowing things down too.

It’s also fun to be writing for fun though. And this is fun. It’s a rollercoaster of a story and I’m loving every minute of it.

There are other things in the works. But this one, so far, is just for me.

And that’s one of the really great things about writing. First and foremost, I write the book I want to read.

In the meantime here’s a belated Saint Brigid’s day picture from Brigid’s well in Kildare. I’m sure Brí would understand…

RNA Conference 2017 (Harper Adams) #RNAConf17

I spent last weekend at the wonderful RNA Conference in the beautiful setting of Harper Adams University.

The conference is always a whirlwind and when I decided to go for a long weekend rather than just the basic conference I made an excellent, if exhausting choice.

I arrived quite late on Thursday evening and after some fun and games finding the halls of residence with the help of the nicest taxi driver, met up with my usual flatmates, aka Kate Johnson, Immi Howson, Rhoda Baxter, Janet Gover and Alison May. Aka The naughty kitchen. More on that later.

Friday morning allowed us some time to explore the campus and Janet kicked things off with a talk on image manipulation, the first of many highlights.
We all gathered in the main lecture theatre, where I ended up spending rather a lot of time. The panel on the current state of the industry was fascinating and entertaining. It also felt like the most positive of these I’ve attended in a number of years. Things are looking up in the world of Romantic Fiction.

On Friday night there were drinkies. But not too many as I gave a talk on School Visits first thing on Saturday morning. It went very well until the computer decided to apply Windows updates in the middle of the talk, rebooting everything, including my slideshow. But apparently it wasn’t just me. The university has a Saturday morning routine, it seems. I may have gone for a bit of a lie down afterwards!

Other talk highlights over the weekend included Alison May and Bella Osbourne’s Plotter vs. Pantser talk (hilarious, with added aliens), Immi as the sparkly gazelle in the RNA Have Your Say discussion, Fiona Harper’s wonderful workshop on character development, a panel on how to be a helpful author featuring Julia Silk (agent), JB Johnson (bookblogger) & Julia Williams (editor and author) and Kate Johnson’s Guide to Worldbuilding.
Saturday evening was the Gala dinner, when we all put on our finery, have a wonderful meal and great conversation. It’s also the night that the Elizabeth Goudge prize is awarded. This annual competition is always held at the conference, and is hotly contested.

This year the theme was “Runaways” and the entry had to be 2000 words from the beginning of novel. I was absolutely delighted to be announced as the runner up with the opening to the as yet unwritten (apart from those 2000 words) sequel to the Space Opera.

Even better news was that Immi was the winner so we got to celebrate together. Here we are with Jill Mansell and RNA President Katie Fforde.

The naughty kitchen may have imbibed a few drinks that night. But I was not the last to bed. 😀

If you have never been to a writing conference I cannot recommend the RNA one enough. You’ll never encounter a more helpful, supportive and creative group of people.

#IBW2017 #Bookshopcrawl & HP

Starting on 24th June, it’s Independent Bookshop week. As everyone knows my love affair with bookshops has lasted my whole life. I grew up visiting the now legendary Exchange Bookshop in Dalkey, full of pokey corners and floor to ceiling bookshelves of wonder. I cried when I found out it was closing because my first book was due out shortly afterwards and I’d never see it on those shelves. Books, and bookshops, have been so important to me.

On Saturday I’ll be teaming up with Carmel Harrington (writer extraordinaire, @HappyMrsH) to bookshop crawl up the east coast to Dublin. We’re meeting up in Wicklow at Bridge Street Books around 11am, heading for Dubray in Bray and Magpie Books in Enniskerry. Then on to the spiritual sucressor of The Exhange in Dalkey, the lovely Gutter Bookshop. After that we head for Dubray Dun Laoghaire, Blackrock, Raven Books (any others we can think of?) and on into the city centre for Chapters, Books Upstairs and Dubray on Grafton Street where we will be meeting Hazel Gaynor and Catherine Ryan Howard. They will have done their own book crawl from the west in. We’ll all collapse over coffee.

We don’t know if we’ll make all the shops and we don’t know what times we’ll be arriving at them. But we will be updating online as we go. If anyone is arround, say hi! The hashtags are #bookshopcrawl & #IBW2017

And because one event in a day isn’t enough I’ll also be taking part in Hodges Figgis Great Harry Potter Read – reading Chapter 16 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s at 4.30pm. Second last chapter, where all the action is.

And THEN I’m off to a Barbecue at the Zoo.

Can I fit all this into one day? There’s only one way to find out. Stay tuned.

World book day…

World Book DayIt’s that time of year again. World Book Day is almost upon us. It’s more like World Book Month though if you’re an author doing school visits. Not that I would change that for a moment.

There is nothing so exhilarating(and/or terrifying) than a room full of teenagers gathered to hear you talk about writing. Like a grown up. Like you know something about it. Like a real author.

You know what I mean.

But while not my natural habitat, I find school visits to be a whirlwind of excitement. I love talking to readers and hopefully future readers. And of course writers or hopefully future writers. There are a lot out there. We always need more.

So while it is nerve racking (seriously, I’ll shake like a leaf beforehand and collapse in a heap afterwards) there is also nothing so worthwhile for an author than getting out there and directly connecting with your readership.

And the questions… oh my, the questions…

This week I’ll be going to Drogheda Grammar School on Wednesday 1st March and on World Book Day itself, Thursday 2nd March, I’ll be in Dubray Bookshop in Bray talking to local students. The following week I’m going to Coláiste Chillian in Clondalkin and High School in Rathgar. All this and work too.

*gazes longingly at bed and promises self I’ll sleep in April*