Happy 4th July to all my American readers! I hope you’re all enjoying the holiday wherever you are.
I’m just trying to catch up with everyone this sunny Tuesday, to let you know about the latest book, let you know how things are going and give you a few snippets about book 11.
Ok, well, Deceived is coming along nicely, and feedback has been really positive, so I’m both relieved and thrilled about that. I have some wonderful proof-readers working with me on this book, and I love that they give me really useful and honest feedback. Thanks to one of my longest-suffering helpers, I actually added a whole new chapter this time. She pointed out something that she felt was missing, and as soon as she did, I just knew she was right.
I spent the evening writing a new chapter which would bring the whole story tighter together at the end, and was rewarded when it got the thumbs up from everyone who read it.
I still have a few-proof-readers who have yet to come back to me with final edits, but I’m fairly satisfied that it’s ready for one last purge, which I’ll do next weekend and into next week. (Hello sleep-deprivation … here I come!)
As always, my thanks go out to my volunteer helpers, who help me get the books as clean as possible and ready for public consumption.
In anticipation of things going crazy again next weekend, I had almost a whole weekend off, enjoying myself with the family. (Ok, I still did some writing in the evenings, but for me, that’s nothing. Believe me!)
On Saturday and Sunday, I had tickets for the celebrity golf tournament at the Celtic Manor resort in South Wales. Not that I’m particularly keen on trudging around golf courses, mind you, being happier to watch from my armchair, but my son is a massive Gareth Bale (Welsh superstar footballer) fan, so he and I spent two days following the poor guy around until he finally took pity on my boy and signed his football shirt for him. My son was ecstatic!
These names won’t mean much to my overseas readers, but it was a brilliant weekend, with just the two of us, as my hubby was working, and we were thoroughly entertained by the likes of Keith Duffy and Bryan McFadden from Boyzone, sports stars like Craig Bellamy, Sir Gareth Edwards and Tom and Max Evans, not to mention an extremely hung over Mike Tindall! Plus, from TV there was Chris Hollings, Denise Van Outen, who managed to stay fairly sober for once, along with Gethin Jones, Anton du Beke and Bradley Walsh, who I actually thought was going to vomit on the first tee on Sunday morning, so hung over was he from Saturday night. He bent over to place his ball on the tee, and I thought ‘Oh no! He’s going to hurl!’
All credit to them, they raised a fantastic amount of money for charity, and gave us all a great weekend to remember.
The strangest thing was that just as we were leaving the Celtic Manor on Sunday afternoon, we spotted Rob Brydon, who happily posed for a photo with my son. What’s strange about that? I hear you ask.
Well, nothing, except on Monday, I had tickets to Wimbledon, and as I drove into Car park number 6 at eleven o’clock, who should be standing next to me but Rob Brydon himself!
I smiled at him and pointed out that he’d posed for a photo for me the previous day. He was very charming and admitted that he’d been following me around, but was so pleasant about it that I didn’t have the heart to be miffed with him. LOL
So, where was I? Oh yes, yesterday hubby and I had a lovely (if hot) day at Wimbledon, where I was able to watch Andy Murray for the 17th time.
Actually, I was supposed to be going with my dear tennis buddy Pete, but sadly he was poorly and couldn’t go, so hubby stepped up and escorted me, being the true gentleman he is, and carrying the picnic lunch and all the drinks etc. Good man!
Of course Andy winning was the most important thing, but nevertheless, the day was a lot of fun, and a huge change from the Davis Cup, which is loud and raucous and more my usual style.
So, that’s what I’ve been doing lately… plus a bit of writing!
Whilst I’ve been waiting for the proof-readers to come back to me, I’ve made a start on book 11, and it’s so not what I had planned out in my head!
It was supposed to be Charlie Lamar’s story, but as soon as I started writing the synopsis, that idea went right out of the window. I’m not going to tell you who it’s about just yet, but the idea came to me so easily, and involved pretty much the whole of the Alpha/Stalwart family that I had no choice but to change it.
Plus, the story puts a few of our Alpha/Stalwart women right at the forefront this time, so I just couldn’t walk away from it. I pride myself on creating female characters that are every bit as brave and badass as their male counterparts, so when I get an opportunity to highlight their strength, you can bet your last dollar that I’m going to run with it. Hannah will be her usual wicked-smart self, but a couple of the other ladies will be putting themselves in danger for the greater good as well, and I can’t wait. I’m literally chomping at the bit to get on with writing it!
I’m not going to tell you much more for now… I’m only about fifty pages in, so it’s all still fairly fluid at this stage. I could tell you I was going to do X, and by the morning I would have changed it to Y.
But once Deceived is out, there’ll be fewer distractions, and I should be able to get a good flow ready to take a few weeks off work in August. My plans for August are to write, write some more, have an occasional day-trip with my hubby and son, and then write some more.
I still plan to have book 11 out in October/November, with the concluding part 12 ready for Christmas, so as you can imagine, I’m not going to be spending too many more weekends off running around golf-courses!
What comes after book 12? Who knows? Not me, that’s for certain.
I don’t know if people still have an appetite for more Alpha/Stalwart, or even if I want to carry on with it myself. I absolutely adore my characters, and really don’t want to leave them behind altogether. But everything has a shelf-life, right?
If you have an opinion on whether it’ll be time to let go, or if you want me to keep going, let me know.
Use the contact page on the website, or email me at bethabbott2016@yahoo.com to let me know what you think. I genuinely want to hear the thoughts of readers, as some of you have followed the books almost as long as me.
Anyway, I’m gonna get back to writing now, before I fall asleep with my nose on my keyboard (again!).
Have a great 4th July everyone!
Beth
xx