…And I am so grateful and overwhelmed at the reception it has received so far. Plus, all those videos and pictures on social media that readers have taken the time out to produce. All for my book!
As you can tell, I don’t update my blog that much, but please add me on social media platform, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok & Twitter!
The Attic Child… coming SOON
And as always I’m thankful to God for giving me the strength, the faith and the courage to write the story I have wanted to write for four years – even when it looked like it wasn’t going to happen.
One of my favourite quotes is by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr:
Take the first step in faith. you don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Lola x
A Letter to my Characters…
Dreams can come true. You know, like a REAL British summer identical to the one we now have. As well as that THING you have always wanted to do. Whether it’s start a business, write a book or become a master baker! Dreams have a way of resurfacing again and again, no matter how much we (or others) try to dampen them down or push them into a place we can’t access. As for me, I can’t live without mine and one of them was to get a book published. So here I am enjoying my tenth year as a PUBLISHED author. Yes, I wrote that in caps because being published ten years ago, doesn’t mean it was only ten years ago that my journey as a writer began. I was striving long before that time; writing for free, filing those rejection letters (and then emails) praying, waiting, and believing that one day, my time would come.
And it did.
(and here’s a video of me watching my first book being printed – and screaming about it!)
And I will never forget the day I received the call from my agent that SOMEONE WANTED TO PUBLISH MY LITTLE BOOK! I thanked God and then proceeded to go into semi shock… and then I may have shed a tear.
The book I had written in my PJ’s whilst watching a very special and inspirational episode of the Oprah Winfrey show was going to be shared with the world.
I had never set out to write a tearjerker. Simply the story of a young girl (Lois) who loses her father and tries to connect with him through letters he has written to her. But it was a story I HAD to tell. 
Ironically, it wasn’t Lois’s story that was itching to be told- it was her father, Kevin who begged me day and night to tell his story. This character I had never met, who didn’t actually exist, yet was to become a huge part of my life via my book; By The Time You Read this. Kevin was a young man, taken down before his time. A man with hopes and dreams – the biggest one being, to see his little girl grow up.
Although Kevin is a fictional character, I know there are many human beings around the world who have been in a similar position- gone before their time without having the chance to write to their love ones; to tell them they are loved; to teach them their version of the meaning of life and love.
I have met, loved and lost such beautiful people and you may have too.
So before, my tears wet this laptop, I’d like you to help me raise an invisible toast to Kevin and Lois- beloved characters of my first published novel By The Time You Read This published exactly ten years ago. And here’s MY letter to these amazing characters:
Dear Kevin & Lois; Thank you for sharing your story with me. So many have read your story and I even got an email TODAY from the Philippines where you were mentioned. Your story has also appeared in the German, Korean and Serbian languages and according to the wonderful Harper Collins US team, your American cover was inspired by Barack and Sasha Obama. Even ten years later, your story is still available in paperback and is currently 99p on Kindle! I will never forget you, Lois and Kevin for getting that publishing ball roiling.
With Stars On,
LOLA
My latest book, Orphan Sisters (2017) is available to buy now.
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Happy Bookiversary To Me!
Hello Lovely Readers!
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.
Is it me or is the year just flying by? I’m not just using this as an excuse for not writing my blog posts on time (OK maybe a bit) it just feels like it was only yesterday we were celebrating Christmas.
It’s also six whole months since my fifth novel Orphan Sisters hit the shelves in paperback. And if you enjoyed reading Orphan Sisters as much as I loved writing it, please leave a review HERE Reviews are mega helpful to authors and I also love hearing what readers think.
It is also TEN YEARS this year since my first novel By The Time You Read This was published. I can’t believe it’s been a whole decade since a book I wrote in my pyjamas was published and translated into several languages including German, Korean and Serbian. It’s still available in paperback and is currently 99p on Kindle! I still get tingles thinking about that book!
It’s been a while since my last post. Forgive me, I do have an excuse. I have been hard at work on my next novel which has the working title: Flower Girls and is due out this year. I’ve also been trying my hand at script writing and of course watching Netflix and catching up on my reading. At the moment I’m reading the wonderfully compelling The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson which will be out in May.
So, all in all- an action packed start to the bright and springy month of May. But alas, like this week, my blog post is short.
Until next time…
Lola
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Happy New Goals!
So this is my first blog of 2018, and I’m about 2 weeks too late in writing this post. So, A belated Happy New Year and I hope you have all started off on your goals for the coming days, weeks and months.
As for me, it was a crazy 2017 which saw me get my first book published in 5 years, have major surgery, be diagnosed with a chronic illness, meet an amazing human being and have some of the best times of my life. My faith in God only got stronger and I learnt the art of facing my fears and coming out of it the other side! What a ride 2017!
So now we’re in the new year of 2018 and I’m pumped and ready to get on with my goals. First off, I have to finish editing my new book which has a working title of The flower Girls. For those of you who bought and read my current novel Orphan Sisters, thank you sooo much and I hope you enjoyed it. If you haven’t read it yet- what are you waiting for? Go and get yourself (and the dog) a copy!
This year marks the tenth anniversary of my first ever published book; By The Time You Read This. What an amazing adventure life as an author has been and it all started with that book – written in my PJ’s after watching an Oprah segment.
I’m also busy motivating and trying to inspire other would be writers as a motivational coach. If one of your resolutions has always been to write a book then get in touch. Together we can;
- Help you set weekly or monthly writing goals
- Help you structure and fine tune your writing.
- Hold you accountable to your writing goals
- Keep you focused and motivated
There is so much more to come in 2018 and I am ready to enjoy the ride. What are your goals for the coming weeks, months and year?
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How I Wrote a Novel in 12 Weeks
It’s been a while since I updated my blog, even though I promised to do it monthly.
BUT I have an excuse!
Within twelve weeks, I started and finished book SIX!!! (well, a rubbishy first draft that will almost disappear once I go over it with my red pen) But one hundred thousand words in three months nevertheless and a record for me! Plus, I even got showered and dressed, cooked a bit and managed to see friends! Yaay!
If you opened this blog to find out how to do it, here’s how I managed it…
- Turned off all known devices like the pink smartphone aka the Pink Queen of Procrastination.
- Switched off Netflix, the satellite box and all other known devices that can beam 6 hundred boxsets into my working space.
- Stared at my computer.
- Prayed.
- Stared at my computer some more.
- Wrote.
- Took a break.
- And I wrote again until I had achieved the word count of 2K that I had set myself (Unless I had a really good excuse like the solar eclipse or something, I would usually achieve the number). And of course, I had days off to do other things.
Don’t worry if 2k seems a bit steep (some of us writers also have kids, dogs, demanding jobs- life stuff to deal with) just pick a number that works for you… but stick to it. As in, try not to fall below it but do of course, allow yourself to go over it.
Consistency is key.
It feels so rewarding at the end of the day to realise that you actually did what you set out to do!
I knew I could handle 2,000 words a day because the words were just flowing out of me. In my brief history of book writing, it doesn’t always happen that way; only when there’s a bunch of characters BEGGING me to tell their story (an epic tale I will get to share with you in 2018!) My current novel Orphan Sisters took a bit longer to write, but I had written that book during a different time and set of circumstances. In fact, I will address that in the next blog…
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Orphan Sisters is out TODAY! I’m serious. IT IS!!
My first published novel in FIVE years, Orphan Sisters is out on pre- release TODAY!
I mean the official release date of the mass market paperback is still 21st September 2017 but today the e-book is available to download! Yipeeeeeeee!
It’s actually out there and I don’t think I can believe it!
It’s been a long and emotional five years.
I lost three members of my immediate family, left a job I had worked at for 12 years, moved countries and through it all, I carried on writing. One of the manuscripts I wrote during the first part of this hiatus was indeed Orphan Sisters. My agent at first did not find a home for it so I simply carried on writing. And writing. And writing. A few manuscripts later, Orphan Sisters was sold to Ebury at Penguin/ Random House, proving that as a writer anything can happen! So Orphan Sisters will finally get ‘her’ moment to shine whilst the other manuscripts wait in the wings (or in the external hard drive of my computer). Some of them will also one day (soon) get their time to shine, some never will. That’s the nature of publishing. It’s a tough business but I love it!
Five years is a long time.
But through it all, I never gave up. I KNEW I’d be published again one day. I knew this was the path leading to the purpose God has set out for me. So I persevered and here I am. A new novel!
Champagne and book launches will be on hold until September, but for now, I will celebrate this milestone with a Coca Cola toast and a prayer of thanks.
Order the pre release today!
If you take the ‘subtle as a sledge hammer ‘ hint and go off and download my book, please leave a review. I’d really like to know what people think of my 5th book. Seriously, I would.
Wow, I still can’t believe ‘she’s’ out there!!!!!!!!
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Hello… again!
Hello Dear Readers,
My promises to update this blog regularly… OK, I’m not even going to insult your intelligence. In my defence (or defense depending on where you are reading this) I have been writing… I’m also going to appear at a few events during the upcoming weeks (nice change of subject there).
The first is an author Chat arranged by the Women’s National Book Association- Atlanta Chapter!
A bit about this organisation: The Women’s National Book Association was established in 1917, before women in America even had the right to vote. WNBA is a national organization of women and men who work with and value books and exists to promote reading and to support the role of women in the community of the book.
So basically, you get to ask me anything. Well not ANYTHING, but stuff about publishing and writing and all that good stuff.
Tickets are available right here…
