Do you have a dream?

Elaine is looking at our dreams and ambitions ahead of the publication of her novel The West End  Girls on Thursday.

The novel is set in World War One London. The main character, Annie, in The West End Girls had a childhood dream, that wouldn’t go away, but it didn’t match what her parents wanted for her. Annie had to decide how far she would go for it. As they say nothing comes for free. She needed the support of her friends, and a wake up call, to give her the push she needed to move forward with it.

Dreams and ambitions come in many forms; they can be for you, your family, and friends or for the people of the world.

Do you have a dream? Can you share what would motivate you to try to achieve it? Can you tell people what it is? Are there people in your life that would support you if they knew about it? That support may not be directly helping with your ambition, it might be to do the ironing or other tasks to free up your time. Is it something you can put the building blocks in place for when you’re ready to take the risk of going for it?

My ambition for as long as I can remember was to write, but life got in the way of it that is until about ten years ago. I was in my fifties then and I suddenly realised that time was running away from me. So with the support of my family I started to attend classes to learn, that was in 2012.

I also watch a poet on YouTube, Prince Ea. His poem, Everybody Dies But Not Everybody Lives, struck a very powerful cord within me and I would definitely recommend listening to it. I will add the link at the bottom of the post. I haven’t listened to all his posts so I’m only talking about this particularly poem. It made me realise I don’t want to be a ‘Kinda’ person; which is what he talks about. I wanted to at least try to achieve my dream so whenever I got down I listened to the poem again and received the much-needed boost.

Reaching your dream can be a wonderful thing, a massive feeling of achievement, but sometimes it’s not always as we imagined it would be. It took me six years to achieve my dream, it was a compromise on my original one but I’m more than happy with it.

Good luck with whatever you wish to do in life, just make sure you live it.

You Tube: Prince Ea – Everybody Dies But Not Everybody Lives

Amazon: The West End Girls

Growing up on a farm in the country, Annie Cradwell has always dreamt of singing on stage. So when she hears her friend Joyce has a room to spare in London, she sets off with best friend Rose for an adventure beyond anything they could have imagined. 

In London, Annie and Rose stumble into jobs at the Lyceum Theatre. Being a dresser to capricious star Kitty Smythe wasn’t exactly what Annie had in mind. But then the musical director, Matthew Harris, offers her singing lessons. And Annie starts to wonder – could this be her chance? Or is it all too good to be true? 

With the threat of war in the air, everything is uncertain. Is there a place for hopes and dreams when so much is at stake? 

Annie, Rose and Joyce are three girls with very different dreams – but the same great friendship. 

Elaine’s New Photo

Author Bio

Elaine Roberts had a dream to write for a living. She completed her first novel in her twenties and received her first very nice rejection. Life then got in the way again until she picked it up again in 2010. She joined a creative writing class, The Write Place, in 2012 and shortly afterwards had her first short story published. Elaine is very proud of The Foyles Bookshop Girls saga trilogy, which her late husband encouraged her to write. She, and her extended family, live in and around Dartford, Kent and her home is always busy with children, grandchildren, grand dogs and cats visiting.

What’s Your Dream?

Elaine Roberts talks about what a difference a year makes.

Firstly, Francesca and I should apologise for being missing for so long, where has this year gone?

Due to a few family problems I have been in a reflective mood lately and it’s made me realise a few things, mainly how lucky I am. I thought I’d share a snippet of my world, without boring you with too much detail.

A few years ago my niece visited me and while we were talking she asked me, if I could do anything, what would it be? I told her I didn’t know. What was interesting was that, apparently, my sister had said the same thing. We came to the conclusion that we had never been asked about our own dreams and ambitions. It was from that conversation that I remembered, when I was in my early twenties, I used to write in the evening when my children had gone to bed. I had sent my work to Mills and Boon who sent me a delightful letter. It was a rejection, but it was encouraging. That was in the early eighties, I think, but then life took over.

In 2012, I joined a writing class and my dream was resurrected.

In April 2016, I had the opportunity to take redundancy from work and grabbed it with both hands, because I had a dream I wanted to follow.

In September 2016, The Foyles Bookshop Girls, which is a World War One family saga, hadn’t even been thought of. I was writing a Victorian novel.

At the end of November 2017, I signed my three-book contract with Aria.

My debut novel, The Foyles Bookshop Girls, was published in June 2018.

The second novel in the series, The Foyles Bookshop Girls At War, is published in January 2019.

I am currently writing the third novel, Christmas At The Foyles Bookshop, which is out in August 2019.

It’s all been very exciting. Since signing the contract, my life has been dogged with my own self-doubt and serious family illnesses. At times, I have wondered if I had time to write another novel, or even if I could. I have questioned myself, over and over again, but my laptop went everywhere with me in case I got ten minutes to lose myself, away from the stresses of my reality at that time.

I also wondered whether all writers go through the same emotional rollercoaster, and having spoken to a few authors, I believe the answer is yes.

Anything creative is subjective, so that is easily followed by self-doubt, because everyone has an opinion, and definitely won’t all agree with each other.

A magazine short story

It took me a long time to tell someone I was an author. I built it up in my head to be this great unveiling, and didn’t want to come across as something I’m not. Haha, it was such a let down when I finally got round to saying it out loud, because I got no response whatsoever. The second time I said it, the response was “I don’t read books”. How sad is that? I can’t imagine going through life without a book on the go. My biggest problem is not having enough time to read all the books I want to.

I love a good book, and to write a novel has been a dream of mine since I was young.

Thanks to my hard work, determination and a great support network around me, and to my readers I have achieved my goal. The biggest thanks must go to my niece for asking the question in the first place and my tutor for guiding and bullying me into writing short stories as well as the novel.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, or what life throws at you, don’t lose faith or hope that you will achieve your dream. It may not be your time now, but remember, it’s never too late.

It’s The Real Thing

Elaine Roberts talks about how her dream has become a reality.

When you have a dream, or what you think is an unachievable ambition, and it suddenly becomes a reality, does it live up to what you expected?

In my case, the dream, or the lofty ambition, was to become a published novelist and to see my name on a cover. I have been lucky to have many short stories published in different countries, but the novel was always my dream for as long as I can remember. There were times when it felt the learning curve, the work, the commitment needed was insurmountable, but it wasn’t. It just needed time, patience and reminding there was no rush. I had to learn my craft.

The followers of this blog will know that I signed a three-book contract with Aria, Head of Zeus, at the end of 2017. Since then, my dream has become a reality. I’ve had structural and copy edits in, thankfully nothing too onerous. Rightly or wrongly, the copy edits made me chuckle because I hadn’t realised how many times I’d used the phrase “took a deep breath”, despite reading through quite a few times before sending it off. Thanks goodness for editors. I met my editor for lunch this week and I think we could have talked long into the night, and without alcohol, amazingly. Part of our conversation was about book four onwards – now that was scary. Joking aside, the team at Aria are lovely to work with.

Thanks to my son, I now have some wonderful business cards and a nearly finished website, with an interactive business card on it. I got so excited about the card on the website, I was like a child at Christmas. I also have an author page on Facebook. So you can see, I am now on another steep learning curve about promoting myself. If you visit my author page, please feel free to like and follow me. It’s always good to talk.

I’m sharing the cover of my first novel, The Foyles Bookshop Girls, here first.

I was beyond excited when it became available for pre-order on the Amazon, Kobo and WH Smith’s e-book sites.

Amazon:          The Foyles Bookshop Girls

Kobo:               The Foyles Bookshop Girls

WH Smiths:    The Foyles Bookshop Girls

 

So my opening question was, does the reality live up to the dream? My answer is a resounding yes. It is hard work and there are times when I hate what I’m writing, that’s usually around the 30,000 word mark, but I can’t stop writing. It’s in my blood, my DNA. You can rest assured I have ordered a kindle version of my book but when it becomes available I will also order a paperback copy as well. It’s so exciting!

By the nature of the word “dream”, what you want always feels unachievable, but what you have to remember is, if your dream was easy, everyone would be doing it and then it wouldn’t be your dream, because it would be the norm.

Good luck to everyone who has a dream, no matter how small that is. Stick with it. With perseverance and patience, you can get there. If I can do it, so can anyone.

Facebook:        Elaine Roberts Author

Website:          www.elaineroberts.co.uk

Twitter:           RobertsElaine11

 

 

Are You A Daydream Believer?

Elaine Roberts asks can dreams be met in isolation.

This last week has been an emotional rollercoaster. Seven writers travelled together by train, first class naturally, to attend the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Conference at Lancaster University, and what a hectic four days it was. The university campus was very large and, needless to say, we did get lost, but in the process we met some lovely people who were kind enough to point us in the right direction.

 

Elaine, Francesca, Natalie and I at our Ramsgate Writing Retreat earlier this year.

It was wonderful to meet up with old friends and make new ones; don’t tell anyone but an awful lot of wine got drunk while we were there.

I was lucky enough to secure meetings with a couple of agents, who shall remain nameless at this stage, but they were very helpful in giving me direction and making suggested amendments to improve my work, before I send in my whole manuscript. I was thrilled with my feedback and it all helps to keep the motivation going. However, the work feels a little overwhelming and the thought of sending in the whole manuscript is quite scary!

There were some wonderful workshops and panel talks, which I attended. It is always good to be reminded of aspects of the writing world, which may have been forgotten in the rush to write a novel. All seven of us came away with good news and constructive criticism on our work, which is worth its weight in gold.

What I think is important is the support network that family, friends and the

The original WMWP Bloggers at The RoNA Awards

RNA have given me, I am certain that without that I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have. I attend The Write Place in Dartford and Elaine Everest is very encouraging and supportive of everyone who attends there.

If you have a dream follow it and see where it takes you. There may not be time to do it full time because of work, family or other commitments, but start with small steps. Join a class, a group or an organisation. Look into an on-line course, but give yourself a chance. There will always be someone around you being negative, but don’t let them stop you from trying; as the saying goes, “it’s better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all”. I was on social media and someone added a link to a video, Omeleto, talking about Regrets, please search and watch it to the end. It’s a highly recommended watch. It left me asking the question am I a “kinda” person? No I am not, so I am working hard on my edits and sending my work off.

Are you a “kinda” person?

Follow your dream because it can become a reality, I believe I am within touching distance of mine.

@RobertsElaine11

I’m So Excited…

Elaine brings her dream to life.

Happy Easter everyone, I can tell you I have never wanted Easter to arrive so much as this year. I hope you are shouting, or at least wondering, why.

I have finally been given the opportunity to stop working for someone else and embark on my second career as a full time writer.

A spare bedroom has been converted into an office for me; a white board has been put on the wall, in my line of vision. I can leave my work sprawled out and shut the door on it ready for the next day. There are no excuses now. There is no hiding behind work commitments. Will I finally be found out or will I succeed in getting my novels published. This opportunity is a dream come true for me and I intend to grab it with both hands and not let it pass me by.
Of course, my dream has taken on a life of its own. Not only am I hoping to become published with my novels, I already am with my short stories, but I’m also hoping to lose a couple of stone in weight. No, the two aren’t connected but the office where I worked always had lots of biscuits and
cakes, so with the temptation being removed, I’m hoping the fat will follow suit, but I’ll keep you posted on that one.

Do I have a plan? Indeed I do. My day will be structured as if I am still leaving the house to go to work, only not as early. I write best in the morning because a half an hour siesta is always welcome in the afternoon, that’s probably due to spending many years living in Cyprus. The idea will be to set a word count for the day; however, if I’m in the zone then I will continue to write. When that is completed, I will plan the writing for the following day. I still have to write approximately 40,000 words before my novel target of 100,000 words is completed, I would say it’s a first draft but it isn’t, although it will still need editing.

My excitement can be tempered with fear of the unknown and the hard work that is ahead of me, but the difference is I will be doing something I love. It just goes to show if you plan, prepare and keep the dream alive, anything is possible. The next step is to carry that dream to the next level. Plan, prepare and keep the dream of publication alive.

Share your secret dreams with us. If you could give up work and do anything, what would you do, other than watch daytime television?

@RobertsElaine11