Rachael Lucas

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We Met in December – my new book!

September 5, 2019 By Rachael

I wrote another book. Yes, it’s becoming a bit of a habit. It looks like this. And I know what you’re thinking: hold on, that says Rosie Curtis on the front cover and not Rachael Lucas. Yes! I have achieved the ultimate goal of my ten year old self and I (like James Herriot) have a pseudonym. Let’s gloss over the fact that when I was a little girl and I used to read the words “James Herriot writes under a pseudonym” in the front of his animal books that I thought a pseudonym must be some sort of special writing blanket. I was a very odd child.

Anyway! Here I am, writing as Rosie Curtis. She’s like me, only she’s less covered in dog hair.

 

And it’s out NOW in ebook and will be out in paperback next month. It’s set in London, in a huge, rambling house in Notting Hill, and it stars Jess and Alex. When they meet in their new house share it looks like they’re the perfect match – only life gets in the way, and instead they become fast friends, exploring London as they embark on massive life changes. But (aha) sometimes romance gets in the way of friendship, and… well, you can guess where this is going. That’s the nice thing about books with a happy ending. I can promise categorically that nobody died in the making of this book. So if you’re after something deliciously romantic to curl up with on this autumn afternoon, I’ve got just the thing. And best of all it’s ONLY 99p right now! Yes I know. Just pop over here to buy it: Buy We Met In December on Kindle for 99p

 

And here are some of the things that my favourite authors have already said (and I didn’t even pay them):

 

‘Bridget Jones meets Love Actually – the PERFECT Christmas story and I loved, loved, loved it’ Cathy Bramley

‘Like putting on your favourite Christmas jumper: cosy, heartwarming and gorgeously romantic’ Holly Martin

‘A perfect festive hug of a book. It’s packed with brilliant characters, beautiful settings, warm humour and a love story guaranteed to steal your heart. I absolutely adored this clever, wonderful story. Get ready to meet your new favourite author!’ Miranda Dickinson

‘Just what everyone needs right now – a gorgeously warm and uplifting story full of romance’ Alex Brown

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in which I write a book (again)

November 9, 2018 By Rachael

I should preface this by saying that this afternoon, while I was on a writing break* I googled “how long is a chapter” for the millionth time. And then I got in the car and looked at a copy of one of my books to try and work out what writing looked like, because I seem to forget how to do it inbetween times.

But. I went to Wales and I decided I wanted to write a book with a) horses and beautiful Welsh scenery and b) swoony Hallmark style romance and c) dogs and cups of tea and friendship and all the other stuff that I like writing about. I keep thinking I’ll write something else but they all seem to come out the same way. I tried to write a thriller once, and the characters had all sat down for a nice chat by the end of the third chapter.

Anyway. The reason for this Friday night ramble is because I’m supposed to be blogging every day in November and I forgot yesterday** and also because it’s now A Big Thing to get people to pre-order your books before the come out (actually, it was A Big Thing and then maybe they decided it wasn’t, but anyway). So. If you are an ebook sort of person, you can go here and pre-order Finding Hope at Hillside Farm and on the 27th of December, when you are too full of cheese to do anything else and you don’t have to go anywhere, it’ll turn up on your kindle.

If you’re not, you’ll have to wait until February when it’s out in the actual shops. Which ones we don’t know yet, because it depends on all sorts of things, none of which are anything to do with me. (I just do the writing bit.)

please click here and pre-order Finding Hope if you like that sort of thing

*eating cake in Costa

** I didn’t forget. I was being initiated into the compellingly awful and instantly addictive Naked Attraction on channel 4 by my sister and friend and we were all watching and crying with laughter via a group chat and then it was bedtime. And then today I wrote the first chapter of next year’s book. It has a boa constrictor called Stanley in it, which was slightly unexpected.

 

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what writing looks like today

November 7, 2018 By Rachael

Sometimes it looks like this. It’s 10.40pm, and I’ve managed to read a bit (Sarah Morgan is one of my favourites, because she writes people who are so fully rounded and real that the second you start reading they’re alive) and write a list, and find some post it notes, and… well. I haven’t written. I have looked at lots of photographs of the house where my new book is set, which funnily enough has just come up for sale (so my Rightmove stalking habit has paid off). And I’m wondering where I can find a spare £650,000 to buy it. And now (having failed to call the orthodontist) I’m going to bed. Tomorrow is another writing day, with no mistakes in it yet, to paraphrase Anne Shirley. Wish me luck.

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a ten point guide to procrastination

November 6, 2018 By Rachael



1. Sit at your desk and go Facebook-Twitter-Facebook-Twitter for at least an hour.
2. Do some Very Important Cleaning
3. Drive to supermarket to buy stuff for dinner because that way you can keep going without having to stop and etc.
4. Stop at McDrivethrough and pick up flat white. Drink in car park whilst going Facebook-Twitter-Instagram like a human pinball.
5. Come home, tidy desk.
6. Complain to writing friends that you’re stuck. Grumble a bit.
7. Get in car and drive to cafe to meet writing friend for inspiration.
8. Come home, full of inspiration but very tired.
9. Have a bath, or a nap, to recover.
10. Wake up. Start process from 1. Repeat.

(Thank you to Alice Broadway, author of Ink and Spark, for rescuing me from myself today. Tomorrow I will definitely write something.)

(Besides this.)


 

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A short letter to Victoria Beckham and the Duchess of Cambridge

November 5, 2018 By Rachael

Dear Victoria, and Kate (you don’t mind if I call you Kate, but Your Highness seems a bit of a mouthful),

I have some thoughts. I have these thoughts a lot, during my week. They start in the shower. They start when I get into the shower not with a bottle of luxury salt scrub and some moisturising body lotion, but with a bottle of Mr Muscle shower spray. I think about you two as I scrub the tiles with a flannel (sorry, children, but I’ve told you not to leave stuff lying around). I wonder if you ever treat yourself to a luxurious five minutes of cleaning followed by a refreshing hair wash with Sainsury’s tea tree shampoo because that’s the only thing that’s left because someone’s nicked all the nice stuff.

I wonder if you meet other parents in the supermarket, bending down to the bottom shelf of shame where the tea tree shampoo lives. Once (clearly when we didn’t have any tea tree shampoo) I went on a luxury cruise to South America for work. (One glorious week.) Anyway, I was at a meet and greet dinner thing and I noticed a small piece of something on my hair as I was about to meet the Jamaican ambassador. So I pulled it out of my fringe and realised it was waving at me. Does that ever happen to you?

Just wondered. I’m going to carry on writing now, and later today when someone asks why my hair is looking so shiny and soft and asks me what treatment I’ve used, I’ll say Hedrin. Maybe they’ll go into the hairdresser and ask for it.

Much love,

Rachael (yes, I probably should be writing my book.)

 

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Silent Sunday

November 4, 2018 By Rachael

Long before I was a full time writer, I wrote a blog. Back then – when blogging was something you didn’t mention in public, when Twitter was a place where you could chat to your friends and nobody could find you, there were lots of little blogging traditions. One of them was Silent Sunday, where the premise was one photo, no words. Ahem.

Anyway. I’m blogging every day this month and this was supposed to be a silent post, but there you are. Here’s a photo from Wales, where my new book is set. And now I’m going to stop talking, make Sunday lunch, light a fire, and spend the afternoon doing not very much at all.

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why you shouldn’t show people what you’re working on (a lesson)

November 3, 2018 By Rachael

It was two years ago that I started writing The Horse Book. The weather was wet and wild and wintry. I made my desk beautiful (you may notice a theme here, if you’ve been following along on my #BEDN* adventures) and sat down with a pencil. Not to write, but to draw.

I was writing a book I loved, which was more complex than anything I’d written before, and it was November, which is my favourite writing time. And I was writing about horses, which are one of my favourite things to write about. So I sketched the characters, and I shared my word count progress with my author friends, and daydreamed about my imaginary people. I’d spent half term in a farmhouse halfway up a hill in Wales and the setting was so perfect that I could feel it all as I wrote it into my story. It was all very lovely.

And then I made a mistake.

Sometimes ideas are like tiny little wisps of smoke cupped in your hands. Open them up to show someone, and they just curl away and disappear.

I’m sure it was lovely the someone says. Show me when you’ve got some more.

But they look a bit dubious, and you start to wonder if you perhaps imagined there was a swirl of smoke and actually there was nothing there at all. So you dust your hands off on your jumper, and go back to the desk and try and create some more.

And then it doesn’t happen.

(My therapist would point out that when I started talking about the tough stuff I switched from I to you, distancing myself. I feel I should point this out, because if I was in a therapy session I would say oh look, here I go again. You’re welcome. Bet you wish I’d stick to blogging once a year.)

Anyway. It took me another year to really look at that book again, and then three months after the edit before I could hand it back and feel like I’d done the best I could. It still didn’t feel quite finished. Then we did some more work on it, and now it’s fully grown and ready to go out into the world. (It’s out in February.) And (hi, yes, I have issues) I still haven’t sent the final final last check version back, because I’m a neurotic writer. We are so much fun to live with.

It’s by far the hardest book I’ve had to write**, which is funny because I’ve written about much darker subjects in my YA books. I think it was hard because I showed it to someone when it wasn’t ready, and their comment stuck in my head and kept coming back every time I sat down to write. I’m writing this as a note to self, really, because I’m writing two things right now. And I’m writing this as a note to anyone else out there who has Labrador tendencies*** to remind them that you can trust what you’re doing. Trust your writing. Don’t show it to anyone else until you’re ready.

(And if you think you’re ready, wait a few days.)

*Blog every day in November. Surprisingly good for getting my brain into writing mode.

**Anyone who writes contemporary romantic fiction* will know that in the first week of publication someone will ask me how I churn these books out. With difficulty, I will say. They won’t believe me.

*** You don’t need to gallop up to people with half a book in your mouth, tail wagging furiously, and drop it at their feet, panting, and wait to be patted on the head. If you recognise the signs, visit my incredibly wise friend Natalie Lue – she is brilliant.

*thats what we call it now. Yes, I know you’re thinking isn’t it called something else, but no. We have Moved With The Times. In my next novel there isn’t even a romance, and the woman realises that actually she doesn’t need love to make her happy and she buggers off to Peru to farm goats.

I’m going to stop talking now. More tomorrow. I bet you can’t wait.

PS sorry for the mixed metaphors. It’s my day off.

PPS the goat stuff isn’t true. Yet.

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the great writing space clear out

November 2, 2018 By Rachael

For reasons best known to my subconscious, I have to do an enormous clearout of the house before I start work on a book. I have no idea why, because as soon as I start writing I completely ignore everything and everyone, pausing only to shout “I don’t care what you have for dinner, why don’t you just have pot noodles”. Sometimes there’s swearing in there, depending on how well the book is behaving.

So as I said yesterday (get me, with my two blog posts in the same month – this is blooming miraculous) I’ve been clearing out the study. And today I finished it, and here are the after photos…

Fireplace, complete with Buddha from a trip to Bali when we were moving to Australia when I was little, and a heart shaped stone R found on Polzeath beach on our first family holiday.

Bookshelves which are very much not ordered or organised (despite living with a librarian). If you zoom in you’ll see an entire shelf dedicated to HRH Jilly Cooper, of course.

My desk, which has an in tray the size of a novel (it’s been a busy few months) and a sparkly lava lamp and a wolf (for my next YA novel) and lots of research books for A Secret Thing I’m working on as well as for the adult book, which will be out in 2020.

Enormous reading chair (impossible to get out of) which currently faces the television where they used to play the Xbox. I’m wondering if I should leave it there so I can watch Netflix for, er, research. The Hallmark Channel is research if you’re writing romance, isn’t it?

So that’s my (lovely, tidy, nobody else is allowed except the dogs and only if Martha doesn’t try to eat the guinea pigs) writing room.

Now all I have to do is write the book. I might just have a cup of tea first…

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Filed Under: about writing, Books and Writing, inside and outside, Writing, writing blog Tagged With: author blog, author posts, BEDN, books, books and writing, creative writing, creativity, how to write, how to write a novel, inspiration, novel, novel planning, rachael lucas, write for joy, writers, Writing, writing a novel, writing tips

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  • The Telephone Box Library is out in just six weeks - I’ve just looked through the final pages that have gone off to print and I can’t wait for it to be out on the shelves! It’s a story about Lucy, a burnt out history teacher who takes a sabbatical in a little village. She gets caught up in village life, and makes friends with Sam and his teenage daughter Freya, and Bunty, the extremely feisty ninety-something woman who lives in the cottage next door. When the decision is made to turn the disused village telephone box into a free library, the secret of Bunty’s work during the Second World War and her connection to nearby Bletchley Park is revealed. It’s in the shops in early January - but if you have a moment to call or visit your local bookshop and order a copy, it makes all the difference! (Gorgeous cover by @sarah_mcmenemy)
  • Winter arrived in New York overnight and the trees - which had previously just started to contemplate changing colour - dropped all their leaves in surprise. Yesterday morning the streets were carpeted and the air was that clear, crisp cold that makes you feel properly alive. And now I’m sitting on a train on the way home to everyone and I can’t wait for my own bed and a nice cup of tea. Going away is lovely, but coming home is even nicer. I’ve got pages of notes for the next two books, and lots to think about...
  • Last view of Montana, taken from the airport in Bozeman. Now I’m sitting by the window listening to New York on a Saturday evening and thinking about how to take the peace of the mountains back home with me.
  • Swipe for my last Montana sunset. I think I’m leaving a bit of my heart here.
  • Good morning from Gardiner, Montana, where I appear to have stepped into an episode of Northern Exposure. This has been a week I’ll never forget, where I’ve seen and heard wolves, met friends, and eaten the most amazing food. Next stop is New York, where I’ll be celebrating the publication of We Met in December and meeting up with my best friend from university, who I haven’t seen for 23 years. I don’t expect there will be quite so many wandering deer there, mind you. 🦌
  • Little fox on a mission. 21 wolves spotted today - the biggest pack here in Yellowstone. Oh, and hanging out with them - a grizzly bear. Huge thanks to @wolftracker for making this week such a dream.
  • Nine wolves spotted today, from two different packs - and howls heard close by from the most elusive pack here in Yellowstone. It’s been another amazing day.
  • Here I am, windswept, sunburnt, squinting at the camera, and having the most amazing time at Mammoth Hot Springs. I love Yellowstone.
  • Sunrise over Yellowstone. Today I saw eight wolves and heard lots more. This place is magical. (More in my Instagram stories.)
  • I have had a small cry at the beauty of this place. This is where I’m staying for the next five days. Tonight we are going to a talk with a lot of the biologists who reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone, and tomorrow we get up at 5 to go and look for wolves. The silence here is very loud.
  • Everything in Montana is huge. Looming mountains, gigantic trucks. I’ve had two days to recover from the long journey (and discovered that the weird spacey feeling I had wasn’t jet lag but the start of a really grim chesty cold, which is not very helpful). Later this morning I’ll be meeting our guide from @wolftracker and the other eleven people who are coming along this week, and we’ll be heading down to Gardiner, at the entrance to Yellowstone. You know that feeling you get when you look at the sky at night and realise how small you are in a huge universe? That’s what being in Montana feels like.
  • I’m drinking tea and eating M&Ms for breakfast. I think ten year old me would be very much in favour of this whole situation. This is my last alone day until next weekend, because the wolf tracking tour has another 11 guests. I’ve been imagining them and can’t wait to see if my writing mind has come up with the sort of people I expect... who travels to Yellowstone in freezing weather to spend hours hoping for a distant glimpse of a wolf? We shall see. Meanwhile, I’m going to drink my tea and then go and explore Bozeman. Last night I went to bed at 9pm and woke after what felt like a full night’s sleep to discover that it was actually only 11.25, so my jet lag processors are clearly on high alert. Managed to get lots more sleep, though, and I don’t feel seasick with tiredness any more. Hooray.

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