Anita Burgh

The Romantic Novelists Association.

2008-04-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

The Romantic Novelists Association is a group I've been a member of for 21 years now. I always recommend that any aspiring writers join for it is such a supportive group of people.

No matter how many novels you've written or whether you are just beginning there is always help and support for one. We all get in the doldrums and believe that what we are writing is total rubbish and what is the point - then confess to the RNA and there's someone there who will give you advice, reassurance and suggestions. Needing to know something to do with your research then there will be someone who knows the answer.

There are writers who turn their noses up at the idea of being associated with anything when the word ROMANCE is mentioned - honestly you would think it was a dirty word as if the work is inferior because of its involvement with love. But then what did Tolstoy write, or Austen and so many of the classics - romances pure and simple.

At the Oxford Literary Festival I heard two writers say "I don't regard myself as a writer of romance." I'd like to know what they are then!

Romantic fiction is such a broad church.
In the RNA are writers of chic lit; contemporary fiction looking in depth at relationships in general (I've written many of these); historical novels (again I've several of these); regional sagas; generation sagas (My series The Cresswell Inheritance belong here); romantic comedies; and the romances pure and simple.

And then there are the writers for Mills and Boon. It seems that people think that is an easy option - it isn't, to write those books with the conciseness necessary, with the level of pace and characterisation in such a short space - well I admire them more than I can say. I could not do it, I know. It needs a certain skill that I don't have.

By the way I enjoyed the Oxford Festival.

I'm Useless

2008-03-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

What sort of blogger can I call myself? Useless!
I last posted in September, nearly 6 months ago. Useless!
A March resolution, I will do better.

In my last blog I said I had been unwell. I don't know why I wasn't more honest. Silly really. There's no shame in having something wrong. It's not as if I'm an axe murderer, is it?

Bottom line is I've been diagnosed with Parkinson's. It might sound silly but I was relieved it was that and not something far worse - such as MS or a tumour. It's scary but I'm determined to deal with it.

Isn't it strange how we deal with illness, a bit Victorian really, hiding behind euphemisms and pretending all is well. Once I came clean I have to say I've met with real kindness and support. In any case with something like Parkie people could easily think I was p*****! So better to tell the truth. In particular, my publishers, Orion, have been very understanding.

There is of course a downside - isn't there always? It's those people who treat me as if I were terminally ill. "How are you?" they say with the you on a downward slide. "Don't you think you'd be better off in a bungalow?" Now I've nothing against bungalows but I have against her attitude, she is a real "does she take sugar?" in the making!

The plus side is that I've met some amazing people by joining PDUK.org a forum for people with Parkinson's, they are a fun group. And I've learnt how my family love me - such positive things.

I won't wait six months to post again.

The Oddest Thing

2007-09-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

I've lived in so many places - Kent, Cornwall, Somerset, Scotland, Devon, Greece. Now I live in Gloucestershire where I'm happier than I have been anywhere else. I feel at home, contented and although the cottage we live in is very small and not very convenient I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Yesterday I was playing about on the Internet and went to the 1901 Census site. I've never had the patience to research my family but, this time, up popped my grandfather at my first try. I was hooked and off I went adding people, generally snooping about. And then I discovered the oddest thing. A great uncle had been born in this very village where I live so happily. And so, it would mean, my grandfather lived here too.

Is that why I'm so content? My paternal family genes have come home so to speak. It's a nice idea.

Apart from this it's been a hectic week since I had to do the proofs of my new novel. Readers often complain to me at the mistakes they find in books and how irritating it is. If only they knew the care that is taken; I do them, my partner does too and then they will be checked at the publishers and still mistakes slip through. So, I'll apologise now, in advance for anything that might be there.

Have a happy week.

Teaching

2007-09-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

One of the things I like most after writing is taking courses on novel writing.
Now I don't believe that you can teach anyone HOW to write - writing is a gift - but I can help people hone their skills, give them confidence, tell them what is required and how to present their manuscripts.

It is fun and I learn from it too and I always return full of renewed enthusiasm for my own work. I have made real friendships with some of my pupils. One group is planning a reading weekend here in January when they will bring the novels that they started on the course I led way back in April and we shall read and discuss them This will be a first and it will be interesting to see how it works out.

I have just agreed to take a weeks course in Tuscany next year which I am looking forward to. I've had groups in France, England and Scotland so Italy is a new venture.

So you see, the idea that writing is a lonely job just isn't true. Not only do my characters keep me company but I get out and about meeting interesting people.

Sundays, the best day.

2007-09-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Sundays are different there's no doubt about it. For a start I don't have to feel guilty about not getting up, about not writing, about not doing much! Having a work ethic can be a pain at times.

I like to get up and slob about and read the Sunday papers - catching up on the gossip. Then about noon we go to Bibury Court Hotel for a drink with friends. It's more like a club than a bar, it's always the same people and the same chat, but then I like that, there's a sort of comfort in the repetition.

When I got home today I went to Amazon and filled in a I am the author section for one of my books - The Broken Gate. I've never done that before. I explained why I had written it. It will be interesting to see if I get any feedback from it.

After supper, I shall watch TV, I watch a lot. I say it's research but that's a lie. I love it!

Blogging

2007-09-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

The first Tuesday in the month I go to lunch with a group of writers in a pub just outside Oxford. We all belong to the Romantic Novelists Association, a brilliant organisation whether you are published or not. People get the idea that writers are at each others throats, not so members of the RNA; you could not find a more supportive and helpful group of people.

And I find I need to go since it is important to me to keep in touch with other authors, for we understand each other better than most. We talk about books, writing in general, what we are writing, the problems authors have but also the joys.

Writing, you see, is an obsessive occupation, and one needs ones fix!

While there, Debbie, another writer, told me she'd visited my blog but that I'd got to loosen up, that it didn't sound a bit like me. I wasn't surprised, and I told her, I was afraid of it. But perhaps I'll get used to it - I hope so.

But then I got to thinking what does sound like me? I've no idea, for after all you never hear yourself, do you?

Hey ho, will try to do better.

Welcome

2007-09-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog - a new venture for me.
I wanted to start one so that I can tell my readers any news of what is going on in my professional life.

At the moment I am involved in writing a series of books called The Cresswell Inheritance. It is about a West Country estate in the first 50 years of the last century and details the changes in the lives of the Cresswell family, their servants and the estate workers. The estate is a microcosm of the social changes occurring in England at that time.

It is a period which has always fascinated me for, with the First World War, everything changed and was never to be the same again. Women in particular found their lives turned upside down and their demands for more I]independence could not be ignored.

Book One - The Broken Gate and Book Two - The Heart's Citadel are published.

There has been a long delay for the third book - The Breached Wall. It is now finished and is in production and will be out in November 07.

I have to apologise for this delay but I have been unwell and not inclined to write. But all is now resolved and my old enthusiasm and love of writing has returned. All I can do is apologise and thank the many readers who wrote to me asking when it would be available.

There are distinct advantages to being poorly, once recovered one looks at life in a different way, it underlines how precious normality is.

So, here we are, my first contribution.