It Started With a Kiss week 12: Names, edits and book spotting...

All this year, I'm keeping a video diary of everything that goes into writing my third novel, It Started With a Kiss, due to be published on 10th November. This week, the edits continue, there's a new hat of the week and I answer your questions on spotting readers of my books and where I find my character names...

After a week of laryngitis and problems with Blogger, here's my latest vlog post - sorry for the wait!

The edits are going well and this week I've taken a week off work to get the lion's share of the editing done. There's been a lot more to change than I initially expected, but I'm really pleased with the results. I think you're really going to love It Started With a Kiss when it's released!

Please keep your questions coming in - I love finding out what you'd like to know! Also, if you have an old hat that you'd like to see get its nine minutes of fame on a future vlog, drop me a line at mirandawurdy@gmail.com

So, here it is - enjoy!

p.s. This week's YouTube-nominated freeze frame is entitled, 'Oops, I blinked!'

Welcome to the It Started With a Kiss Tour!

All this year, I'm keeping a video diary of everything that goes into writing my third novel, It Started With a Kiss, due to be published on 10th November. I'm filming the next episode as we speak, but in the meantime I'd like to invite you on a very special tour...

It Started With a Kiss begins in Birmingham, on the last Saturday before Christmas, when Romily tells her best friend Charlie that she loves him - and it's clear from his reaction that she's misread the signs. Mortified, she runs from the Starbucks cafe in New Street, through the city's famous German Christmas Market - and straight into the path of a handsome stranger! What happens next turns Romily's world upside down - and sets the scene for a yearlong Quest to find the mystery man again.

Birmingham is an amazing City and I wanted to share with you the locations that inspired me for the novel. In this tour, we'll take in the location for Romily's fateful confession, the gorgeous Victoria Square where the German Christmas Market takes place and the scene of her unexpected kiss from the handsome stranger! I'll also take you to lovely canalside BrindleyPlace where Wren lives and show you where to get the best bacon sandwich in the whole of Birmingham. PLUS! The first sighting in my vlog of my fiance Bob!!

So are you ready to go? Good. Keep close and follow me! Enjoy :o) x

p.s. Please let me know what you think! Post a comment below and let me know if you have any questions, too..

A bit of a Friday chill-out...

Seeing as it's such a lovely sunny day, I thought you might like some suitably chilled-out music to relax to...

I found this amazing video today for a song I co-wrote and performed on with the amazing chill-out composer and producer Reuben Halsey.

The Meaning of Life came about after Reuben saw a YouTube video made by an American girl and was inspired to compose a song around excerpts of her thoughts. When it came to me, I wrote the melody and lyrics based on her thoughts, adding some of my own. As usual, Reuben turned it into something magical and you can hear the results below. (My vocal comes in around 1:32, in case you were wondering!)

I've worked with Reuben on quite a few songs now, two of which you can hear on my album here - Running Home and Let The Sun Shine. I'm hoping to start working on an album with Reuben soon - watch this space!

Anyway, enjoy the song and video - let me know what you think! xx

Listen to my album!

While I'm waiting for YouTube to finally upload this week's vlog (grrr), I thought you might like a bit of a treat...

So, here, for your listening pleasure, is my album, About Time, which will available soon on iTunes and my website. All the tracks are here in full - hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think, lovelies!

p.s. Make sure you scroll to the bottom (use the slider on the right-hand side of the box) to hear all 15 tracks!

It Started With a Kiss week 8: Structural edits, big decisions and writers' block...

All this year, I'm keeping a video diary of everything that goes into writing my third novel, It Started With a Kiss, due to be published on 3rd November. This week, I'm back in the living room (they wouldn't let me stay in Cornwall, boo!) and the hard work of editing begins in earnest.

I'll tell you about one of the major changes that I've already made to the initial draft and also let you in on a bit of a challenge I'm facing with the first chapter. Plus, of course, your amazing questions - thank you so much and keep asking!!

Your fabulous questions this week include overcoming writers' block, how I've changed as a writer and an editor, how long Coffee at Kowalski's - my original novel that became Fairytale of New York - was on Authonomy.com before it was discovered and how I started writing. Big thanks as ever for your questions, especially the very lovely Joanna Cannon, who as JoannaCannon is one of my Twitter tweethearts and quite a brilliant writer to boot - make sure you go to her blogand say hi!

Oh, and hope you like the hat. I couldn't resist it in the January sales and this it its official World Premiere...

Enjoy!

p.s. This week's YouTube generated freeze frame is entitled: "(slightly scary) Easter Bunny"...

It Started With a Kiss week 7: writing retreats, book covers and more...

All this year, I'm keeping a video diary of everything that goes into writing my third novel, It Started With a Kiss, due to be published on 3rd November. This week, I've finally made it out of the living room! So, from the beautiful Cornish fishing village of Polperro, I'm answering your questions on book covers, manuscripts, writing sacrifices and schedules.

I was fortunate enough to be asked by my very lovely friend, fab author and now RNA Romantic Comedy award nominee, Ruth Saberton to be a guest author at her Writing Weekend in stunning Polperro, so I took my trusty Flip video camera and headed down to Cornwall. It was wonderful to meet writers on different stages of their literary journeys - from an unpublished writer preparing her manuscript for agent submissions, to a very talented author who has just signed a huge publishing deal and needed reassurance before she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime!

This week, I answer your questions on who designs my book covers (and let you know about plans for the cover of It Started With a Kiss), how to prepare a manuscript for submitting to publishers and agents, what sacrifices you have to make as a writer and what my writing schedule is like. Thanks so much for all your questions - please keep them coming!

Oh, and in case you didn't notice the subtle plug above, I now have a publishing date for It Started With a Kiss! It's November 3rd this year, which suddenly seems scarily close... This is the time where it starts to appear on Amazon and Waterstones sites (even though it's still being edited!) and they put up an awful 'days to publication' counter that eventually Bob will ban me from looking at because I start to get a little obsessed!

In addition to this week's vlog, I also couldn't resist putting together a little video of my weekend in Polperro, including an interview with Ruth! I can't recommend her writing holidays enough - whether you're a published author looking for space and inspiration for your new book, a new writer just starting out, or an aspiring author preparing a manuscript for submission to agents, Ruth's writing courses and retreats are perfect.

Enjoy!

p.s. The freeze frame on this week's vlog I've lovingly termed 'Talk to the Hand'... ;o)

Week 7 vlog


Polperro Mini-Vid!

It Started With a Kiss week 6: Editing, covers and film deals...

All this year, I'm keeping a video diary of everything that goes into writing my third novel, It Started With a Kiss, due to be published in November. This week, I'm doing things a little differently, so there are two parts to the vlog! Part one is about the editing process that began this week and in part two I'm answering more of your fab questions.

So much has been happening this week, it was impossible to cram everything into one video (you know how much I can talk!) I'm starting the editing process, so I'll tell you about the mammoth seven-hour editorial meeting I had on Monday - and let you in on how writers really feel about edit notes from their publishers...

Thanks again for all your fabulous questions! This week, I'm answering questions from Emily and fabulous book-bloggers-extraordinaire Dot from Dot Scribbles and Leah from Chicklit Reviews. Please check out their sites if you haven't already - they're awesome.

I also have a brand new hat (yeah, baby...)

So sit back, grab a cuppa and prepare yourself for a double-bill of nattering!

p.s. I'm calling this week's YouTube-designated freeze-frame shots 'Invisible Dog' (part one) and 'Invisible Rabbit' (part two).

PART ONE


PART TWO