Today I am delighted to welcome Jaimie Adams to my blog as part of the Chateau of happily ever afters blog tour
Guest Post
September 2015:
It all starts with an email out of the blue from a lovely editor at Carina. (Then Carina, now HQ Digital.) Over the summer I’d sent a novella into a competition they were running, it hadn’t won, but they liked it anyway and wanted to publish it as part of an anthology called Christmas Wish Come True – it certainly was a Christmas wish come true for me!
December 2015:
Christmas Wish Come True is published. I’m busy writing a Christmas novel, expanding from 10k I wrote last year which just wasn’t working. Over the year, I’ve figured out why it wasn’t working and written myself a solid outline. In November I wrote 50k words (Thanks, NaNoWriMo!) In December, I write another 49k in the first two weeks as the book falls into place and I can have Christmas off.
April 2016:
After writing two other books in the early months of this year, I edit the Christmas novel and send it off to my publisher to fulfil the option clause of my contract. It’s very much like the novella they’d published, it’s a fun chick-lit story about Santa’s elves, and I’m quietly hopeful that my editor will be on the phone within a day to offer me a contract.
May 2016:
Radio silence from publisher. I tear a calf muscle and can’t walk. I eat a lot of chocolate and stare at a blank screen trying to force words into a YA book I’m working on.
June 2016:
I’m still limping. A pipe bursts in the bathroom, flooding the downstairs. As water is dripping out of the bedroom ceiling and I’m standing on one leg trying to catch it with a bucket, I get an email from my editor. They liked the story. BUT. Isn’t there always a but?
This ‘but’ is that they’re not currently publishing anything with a fantasy element (IE: Santa’s elves) so it’s a no. Technically it’s a nice way of saying ‘you’re in your thirties, why are you writing about Santa?’ But it’s not all bad. They like my writing and they ask me if I’ll consider writing something without elves, zombies, ghosts, etc in.
Cue panic. My writing revolves around elves, zombies, and ghosts. I have three finished manuscripts on my computer which contain one or all of the above. My only other fully formed plot idea involves a toy coming to life. (Yes, I am an adult, really.) How on earth am I going to come up with something normal?
A few days later:
I’m lying in the bath thinking about plots. I’m mulling over an image of a crumbling French château that I’ve had in my head for a while now. I’ve tried to fit it into books but it’s never fitted anywhere. Suddenly the idea of two people fighting over an inheritance pops into my head. They’re at the château. They both have an equal right to be there. Things start clicking.
July 2016:
Spend longer writing a synopsis than it would take to write actual book. Agonise over every word and eventually get so annoyed with myself that I hit send, absolutely certain that editor will laugh at ridiculous synopsis and horrible idea. Now made worse by the fact the characters have started talking to me and I really want to tell their story, and now I’ll be devastated for that reason if it’s another no.
August 2016:
It’s a yes! Re-read email from editor approximately 362 times. She likes the idea. She wants to see the first few chapters. Also, synopsis is terrible and needs rewriting. Start frantic research that I’d stopped myself doing before in case I jinxed things.
September 2016:
Get full manuscript request from an agent for a YA book that I haven’t edited. This is terrible. Never do this! In my defence, it was from an open submissions day that I found out about an hour before the open day closed. Only had time to edit first three chapters and write a synopsis. Synopsis was terrible and full of mistakes, god knows why agent requested the full. Unprofessionally beg agent for more time, spend week frantically editing manuscript, working until 5am most nights. Lose weight through not having time for lunch. Send off terrible YA manuscript. Never hear from agent again.
October 2016:
Writing!
November 2016:
Send off first few chapters. Go Christmas shopping. One day a year I don’t check my emails – miss email from editor wanting a chat.
Chat next day instead. They love The Château of Happily Ever Afters and want to tell
their story, and now I’ll be devastated for that reason if it’s another no.
August 2016:
It’s a yes! Re-read email from editor approximately 362 times. She likes the idea. She wants to see the first few chapters. Also, synopsis is terrible and needs rewriting. Start frantic research that I’d stopped myself doing before in case I jinxed things.
September 2016:
Get full manuscript request from an agent for a YA book that I haven’t edited. This is terrible. Never do this! In my defence, it was from an open submissions day that I found out about an hour before the open day closed. Only had time to edit first three chapters and write a synopsis. Synopsis was terrible and full of mistakes, god knows why agent requested the full. Unprofessionally beg agent for more time, spend week frantically editing manuscript, working until 5am most nights. Lose weight through not having time for lunch. Send off terrible YA manuscript. Never hear from agent again.
October 2016:
Writing!
November 2016:
Send off first few chapters. Go Christmas shopping. One day a year I don’t check my emails – miss email from editor wanting a chat.
Chat next day instead. They love The Château of Happily Ever Afters and want to publish it. Cannot believe my ears. Think phone call is a joke. Spend most of it going ‘oh my god’ and ‘really?’ Boil kettle ready for when Ant & Dec/Ashton Kutcher pop out to tell me I’m being Punk’d.
December 2016:
Finish first draft and put it away over Christmas. Deadline to hand it in is on my birthday. Spend last few days of Christmas holidays editing and chopping bits out. Send very long and rambling first draft in at 2am on Jan 3rd. Go to bed and wake up for birthday cake a few hours later!
February 2017:
Revisions! I don’t know why I put an exclamation mark there, revisions do not excite me. Revisions make me feel like the worst writer in the world and wonder how I could inflict such rubbish on my poor editors.
Do revisions. Have now read book 37493 times and hate every single word. Start liking new scenes that I’ve put in and character development that editors suggested. Realise they are bloody good editors and I love them!
April 2017:
Revisions accepted. See cover for first time. Waste three days staring lovingly at it. Get cover reveal date, release date, copy edits. Write posts for blog tour. Realise that in less than a fortnight, The Château of Happily Ever Afters will be on NetGalley for people to read – eeek!
Bio:
Jaimie is a 32-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, watching horror movies, and drinking tea, although she’s seriously considering marrying her coffee machine. She loves autumn and winter, and singing songs from musicals despite the fact she’s got the voice of a dying hyena. She hates spiders, hot weather, and cheese & onion crisps. She spends far too much time on Twitter and owns too many pairs of boots.
She will never have time to read all the books she wants to read.
She is the author of chick-lit romantic comedies The Chateau of Happily Ever Afters and Kismetology, and she has also written young-adult romantic comedies Afterlife Academy, Not Pretty Enough, and North Pole Reform School.
Author links: http://www.jaimieadmans.com http://twitter.com/be_the_spark http://facebook.com/jaimieadmansbooks
The Chateau of Happily Ever Afters: Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06Y69QZGP Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y69QZGP
Will also be available from all other ebook retailers.
Blurb:
Where dreams come true…?
Wendy Clayton stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago. Instead, she has a ‘nice’ life. Nice job. Nice flat. Absolutely no men. Until her life is turned upside-down when her elderly neighbour, Eulalie, passes away and leaves her the Château of Happily Ever Afters!
But there’s a catch: she must share the sprawling French castle with Eulalie’s long-lost nephew, Julian. And no matter how gorgeous he is, or how easily she finds herself falling head over heels, Wendy needs to find a way to get rid of him…
Because surely happily ever afters don’t happen in real life?
Escape to beautiful France this summer with this uplifting romantic comedy. Perfect for fans of Kat French, Caroline Roberts, and Holly Martin.
Giveaway: 
French-themed stationery goodie bag.
1 x Paperchase Paris notebook and pen
1 x The Chateau of Happily Ever Afters notebook
1 x little Eiffel Tower model
1 x Eiffel Tower bookmark
1 x The Chateau of Happily Ever Afters magnet
1 x Signed postcard
click link below to enter this amazing giveaway
NATSCLOUD 