Last night, I attended the Museum of Cannock in Staffordshire to participate in an author Q&A event alongside the gorgeous Phillipa Ashley. Our interviewer for the evening was Kim Nash, publicist from Bookouture. It's the first in-person event I have attended since this dreaded lurgy entered our lives, so you can imagine my excitement; I was dressed and ready to go an hour ahead of time! Seriously, you'd think I'd never been out out before!

We were greeted by an audience of 25 avid readers, who were eager to ask us fabulous questions and entertain us authors for two hours! We talked non-stop, as authors do, about our publication journey, our writing process and our inspirations. I gave away two copies of my book 'Taking a Chance on Love' to two grateful readers.

As I drove home, delighted to have spent a Friday night outside of my house, I thought about the audiences' reaction to certain questions and whether I've explained to my blog readers the true beginnings of my journey.

One question asked last night was, "When did I start to write?" My answer was received with a gasp! I began writing in July 1994, when I moved into my first home which provided me with space to write. It was my secret hobby. I never intended for my words to be read by another, I was writing a book purely for me, to know if I could. As the years went by, I gained more confidence and slowly my aim changed. I joined writing groups, attended courses and began chasing publication. After many, many rejections, my moment came on 14th March 2017 when I was offered a three book publication contract. So after 23 years of secret writing it paid off with publication of my debut 'A Christmas Wish' on 1st August 2017!   

Look what's happened this morning, the latest weekly edition of 'Inside Soap' magazine has come out and look whose book is included on 'The Hot List' ... mine! 

Yesterday, my publishers surprised me with the news, so I've nipped down to my local newsagents and bought a copy. Ahhhh, it's like being in the local paper when you were a little kid, but on a much larger scale plus, I never shared the Tammy Herald page with the four fabulous Sex And The City ladies!

A picture paints a thousand words!

​As you can see Shetland book 4 is going very well. I will continue to write after I hit 50,000 words; NaNo is the 30 full days of November! Another tiny self-imposed rule I have! 

This week, I finished writing Shetland book 3 and submitted it to my agent and editor. I have to say there were two scenes near the end that I edited and which made me burst out crying. Seriously, the Universe sent me additional ideas as my fingers were rapidly typing and boom! I was crying. Twice, in one day!  

Anyway, book 3 has left the building, so I can focus upon the two projects remaining upon my desk: Shetland book 4 (the NaNo project) and the secret hand-writing project - which is plodding away nicely.

I've had a few days off, as I did push the boundaries regarding working hours this week; you know how it is when a deadline is looming for any of us ... we work stupid o'clock hours! After three days, I now feel refreshed, reenergised and ready to attend a writing retreat for the weekend, which you know I love. So, that's my plans for the weekend. I've set a self-imposed goal of 10,000 words for my Shetland Book 4, NaNo project and I'll be heading off alongside my writing buddies for a three day weekend to work on some words! 

Following the announcement of my new four-book deal, I can now share more details with you guys. My current NaNoWriMo project is actually book four in my Shetland series - it has a publishing date of September 2022, which works of me! Its birthday, like most of my books is 1st November, but I have until March 2022 to complete and submit the full manuscript. Though as you know from following this blog, I'll write towards an earlier self-imposed deadline in my head, like always.

Book 3 of the series was written a while back, this is the project that I'm polishing  this week as it's due on my editor's desk next Monday, 15th Nov. This was the secret project from earlier in the year that neither my editor nor agent knew about until it was written; it goes without saying, they were happy bunnies.

Anyway, back to NaNo - it's going well. The words and tea are flowing nicely, I've developed a girl crush on one of my ladies and I've had considerable help from readers, who helped me to name a Sheltie and her litter of six pups. My brain was literally hurting, so I asked for suggested names via social media. Boy, did the names flood in! The added bonus was that several suggested names fitted with a herd of alpacas which I was also trying to name and write about so win:win! Though it was a strange way to spend a Friday night! Anyway the dog names chosen were: Mum - Pepper and her pups Skye, Emily, Cass, Marble, Sheba and Sherbert - all pretty and feasible as dog names. The added bonus: the readers were thrilled at the thought of their suggestions being included in a book.  

That's basically it, to be fair. I'm doing two Nano session a day to hit my 1667 word count and the rest of my writing day is being spent polishing book 3 ready for delivery. 

(A little whisper) the little hand-writing experiment which I'm chilling with each day is coming along nicely too - again, don't tell my editor or agent; shhhhhhh a secret. 

I'm absolutely thrilled to bits to announce that I have signed a 4 book deal with my current publishers, Headline Publishing Group for books 9, 10, 11 and 12!!!!!  The titles will consist of two more Shetland series books to be published in May 2022 and September 2022 plus, two currently untitled novels! Yeah, bubbles are a flowing!!!!

Anyway, that's my big news for a Monday, as you were!

If you want to know the details on my new Shetland titles you'll need to sign up to my brand-new FaceBook page: press for the link Erin Green Readers 

The nights are drawing in, it's cosier to stay at home with a glass of your favourite and meet on-line, so why not!

You are cordially invited to join me via Zoom for an author talk, where I'll happily answer questions, discuss my current projects and answer any burning books questions. I'll be giving away a signed paperback during the session.

If you wish to join the evening, please hop over to my FaceBook group at: Erin Green Readers - you'll find the event link posted.

Save the date and I'll see you there!

I'll be joining the lovely book club at Gwaun Cafe Gurwen library, Y Lolfa on Thursday evening via Zoom for an author chat. The book group were so wonderful during my last meet-up with their fabulous questions and book chat that we ran out of time so ran over our allotted slot by an hour as nobody wished to leave the Zoom meeting!

I'll be chatting about my latest book 'FROM SHETLAND WITH LOVE AT CHRISTMAS' which will be published in paperback from next Thursday. The ebook and audio version were both published in September 2021.

I'm sure the scope of conversation will cover my publishing journey, the pit falls and high points along the way, the joys of writing, creation and planning and much discussion about favourite characters and their antics!

If you are interested in organising a Zoom author visit for your book club please make contact via email at ErinGreenAuthor@mail.com

​If you're a reader who wishes to know more about my writing than why not join my FaceBook group: Erin Green Readers