Elaina James

I have come to realise that my ambition of being a writer involves a lot of waiting. The frantic activity of typing like mad to get the submission in on time is offset by the weeks, if not months, of waiting to hear the results. Fortunately I’m a patient woman and don’t mind waiting for things. What I struggle with however are the overwhelming nerves that all this waiting creates. My solution is to distract myself with more writing, which means more busy activity of typing, more submissions and yep, you guessed it, more waiting. I think there may be a slight flaw in my plan…

Rating: About The Author Amy Lynch is an Irish author of humorous romantic women’s fiction, but not always with fairy tale endings! She has been working in the charity sector for many years, is married and has two young children. When she is not writing, she can be found juggling school runs, packing lunch boxes, tackling the laundry mountain and walking two large rescue dogs who stare at her until she walks them. Talk about multi-tasking! Her debut novel ‘Bride Without a Groom’ is a laugh out loud Bridezilla comedy, was published by Avon, Harper Collins in May 2015. About The Book Single, coupled-up or married, this laugh-out-loud summer read is the perfect anecdote for the wedding season! Rebecca has chosen the most luscious, five tiered, wedding cake. The engagement ring that she has selected is celebrity inspired. The wedding singer is on speed dial. He doesn’t usually do Michael Bolton, but as it’s for a first dance he’ll make an exception. Father Maguire is c...

Most families inherit things from their ancestors. An antique vase that no one can stand but can't bring themselves to get rid of because it has history. The colour of their eyes that comes from their father, or their mothers nose. Me, well I inherited the family quest in addition to my brown eyes from my dad. The quest has been passed down from my grandmother to my mother, aunts and even cousins. We all activity pursue the same goal, and so far we have all failed. So what is this impossible mission? It's the quest for the perfect handbag. I came close to achieving it once. I found a bag with just the right number of separate pockets. There was a place for my keys, a pouch for my phone, somewhere for my make-up and purse and even a handy little pocket for my business cards so I could avoid the embarrassing unprofessional rummage. Finally there was a larger section for everything else. There was just one problem, it turns out that there's a lot of 'everythin...

I'm thrilled to be able to share the cover for Kathryn Freeman's 'Before You'. When life in the fast lane threatens to implode … Melanie Taylor’s job working for the Delta racing team means she is constantly rubbing shoulders with Formula One superstars in glamorous locations like Monte Carlo. But she has already learned that keeping a professional distance is crucial if she doesn’t want to get hurt. New Delta team driver Aiden Foster lives his life like he drives his cars – fast and hard. But, no matter how successful he is, it seems he always falls short of his championship-winning father’s legacy. If he could just stay focused, he could finally make that win. Resolve begins to slip as Melanie and Aiden find themselves drawn to each other –with nowhere to hide as racing season begins. But when a troubled young boy goes missing, everything is thrown into turmoil, including Aiden’s championship dream. Before You is published by Choc Lit and is no...

The latest issue of Scribble is out and my article 'Embracing Fear' is in there. It's a lovely surprise when I open up a magazine and discover my name printed on the crisp white paper.  There's something so unexpected and thrilling about seeing it there, even though I knew it was going to be published. The first thing I did was to read the whole article. I always do. The words are never a surprise to me, after all it's not as though I've never seen them before. Yet the fact that it has been published is momentous, and such an event can not be allowed to pass by with a flick of the page.  Though admittedly I read with baited breath, silently praying that no typos had slipped through the countless pre-submission reads and rereads. I'm delighted that this article was selected for publication.  The remit was to write an article on the craft of writing to share knowledge and experiences with other writer...

When I taught full time, I used to write on weekends mostly, having marking and lesson preparation to do in the week, as well as the usual child rearing and running of a house. After writing The Chic Boutique on Baker Street, I decided to take the plunge and take a year off to write full time. Lots of time to write, I thought, the boys being at school 6 hours a day, plenty of time to do everything! How wrong I was! Looking back, I don't know how I ever fitted in a job as well as studying and everything else. I am getting to grips with everything now, so I thought I would share some tips I have picked up. NaNoWriMo: write a novel in a month. I fail this every year, but I did have a great start to my current WIP by taking part. 50,000 words in a month. Great support and encouragement, and well worth a go. Delegate: do you really need to do everything yourself? Could your other half do the bath time, or the tea once a week? An hour's worth of writing right there, run, hide, ge...