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Author Archives: Susan Pape

NEWS: WRITING’S OK – WE LOVE DOING THAT – IT’S EVERYTHING ELSE THAT TAKES TIME

18 Monday Apr 2022

Posted by Susan Pape in News

≈ 2 Comments

That sound of rustling is Sue and me pulling off the dust sheets that have been covering this website for the last year or so.

It’s also me screwing up and throwing away the words: ‘We MUST do something about this website…’

I’ve uttered them many times over the last few months. I’ve even sat in front of the screen with the website glaring back at me with that: ‘You-don’t-love-me-anymore’ look on its face, and agreeing that I don’t actually love websites – ours included – because they take so much time and effort and I’d rather be writing than customizing and updating.

But needs must.

We’ve been quiet on the website front in much the same way we’ve been quiet on the writing-of-hugely-successful-books front (well, we think they’re hugely successful).

Excuses coming up:

  1. After a partnership of several years and the publication of three hugely successful novels (see above) our publisher announced she was closing the business. You can imagine the initial shock and the anxiety that followed. When you’ve been used to having a supportive publisher – and all that goes with it – life suddenly feels very lonely. You realise you’re going to have to live without all that support. Even though Sue and I have each other to write with, the world of books suddenly felt very big and alien.
  2. Sue and I thought that, as we’d written three hugely successful books (as above), it might be easier for us to approach new agents than it is for a writer who was completely new and facing the process for the first time. After all, we went through it all with our journalism text books – and then with our novels (the three Friends books which became known as the #Friends trilogy). We have books in print; Sue and I have been featured in newspapers and magazines; we’ve given talks throughout the North; we’ve appeared at literary festivals; and we’ve sold books and have royalties to prove it. Surely, we thought, an agent would be interested.
  3. Not a bit of it.
  4. Our hope was that an agent (see above) would have taken us up on the suggestion that we re-edit and re-launch the Friends trilogy. But how dispiriting it is – after researching the agents that handle genres and styles like ours – to send off well-thought introductory emails, synopsis and the first three chapters of a novel – to receive a ‘Thanks but no thanks’.

All that took time. We had also started editing the first book in the trilogy, A Falling Friend (AFF), because having published two further books in the series, we had learned much and realized AFF could do with a bit of tightening up. All that took time too and once it was done, we looked in detail at the other two books, A Forsaken Friend and A Forgiven Friend, and decided to give them a tweak too. You guessed it: all that took time too.

I do hope readers have stuck with this blog so far and are nodding in agreement. It takes time, doesn’t it, this writing business?

Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com
  1. Then came the Big Decide. If mainstream agents and publishers didn’t want us, we would self-publish (that’ll teach ‘em). And we learned a lot too. We had to find – and then work with – a new editor. Takes time. Then someone to format the books. Takes time. Then decide where and how to self-publish. Takes research and time. Then to do the actual deed. And in between all that Sue and I were juggling real life in a time of Covid which included death, illness, new arrivals, and moving house, and much more.
  2. Oh, but the feeling of pride and achievement when we finally pressed the big red button and our books were once again in print and on sale. And it now means we can sit down and complete our fourth novel which is three-quarters written (when and how did THAT happen?)
  3. Or we could if we didn’t have to write blogs and start marketing again to re-introduce the re-launched #Friends trilogy – and update this damn website.

A Falling Friend is available to buy here

A Forsaken Friend is available to buy here

A Forgiven Friend is available to buy here

Viewpoint: Where’s my inspiration gone? Lockdown has taken all my ideas away.

28 Thursday Jan 2021

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

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Could you please come and stand in front of my house, preferably near an open window, and say something. Doesn’t matter what.

You might like to bring a friend so you can speak to them. I don’t mind what the subject is, it would just be good to hear what you’ve got to say.

Pages: 1 2

Viewpoint: Just three clicks and you’re out … of social media, that is.

07 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

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Why does it take three clicks to log out of one of my particular social media accounts?

When I’ve had enough of idly dribbling my way through dozens of posts, I give myself a mental jerk and want to log out immediately. But no. I have to click on my profile; then click to select ‘Log Out’; and finally click again to actually log out.

WHY?

Pages: 1 2

Viewpoint: Tell me your health problems if you must. But don’t ask me to edit your family history scribblings.

30 Wednesday Sep 2020

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

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Writing for a living can sometimes feel a little like being a doctor.

Imagine meeting someone from the medical profession at a social event (imagine too that we’re allowed to have social events someday soon). Aren’t you even slightly tempted to tell them about your dodgy knees or the heartburn you think might be something more serious? Or you might have read about a cure for the common cold, and you use it as a conversational gambit because you know they’ll be interested.

Pages: 1 2

Viewpoint: Books and bags – two essentials that this writer can’t be without. But don’t get carried away.

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

≈ 3 Comments

I should be asking what you’re reading at the moment. I should be enquiring how you feel about the latest bestseller. I should ask you to name your top ten summer reads. I should be posting pictures of a stack of books in my TBR pile.

I could even show a little video of me teasing you as I prepare to cut open a cardboard box with a pair of scissors to reveal – WAIT FOR IT – the paperback editions of my latest novel. Continue reading →

Viewpoint: No need to advise me about working from home. But thanks for the jigsaw and the keep fit video.

26 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

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I wonder how many other writers, bloggers and reviewers are getting a tad fed up reading all those hints and tips about how to ‘survive working from home’.

A huge number of salary earners can no longer go to their offices so they’re forced to balance laptops on whatever table’s available, hold video conferencing calls instead of attending interminable meetings, and make their own sandwiches instead of popping into Pret’s at lunchtime. For many it’s the first time they’ve had to work like this – and sections of the media are going overboard with suggestions as to how to cope. Continue reading →

Viewpoint: Engaging with social media can spoil your whole day. Enter with care.

13 Friday Mar 2020

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

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Right. That’s it. That’s me done with Facebook and Twitter. Let this blog be a warning if you try to engage with social media.

Do you engage? Daft question – you’re reading this on Facebook or Twitter, so you’re engaging. But to what extent? Continue reading →

News: Our books – introducing our five titles

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Posted by Susan Pape in News

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Our third novel, A Forgiven Friend, is the final book in our FRIENDS trilogy.

We have now written five books together – three novels and two journalism textbooks – and the thrill, and trepidation, of sending each book into the world has always been just as intense whether it’s the first or the fifth.

It’s quite a few years since we first started writing together when we were both teaching journalism to higher education students. Me at Sheffield Hallam and Susan at Leeds Trinity. Continue reading →

Viewpoint: Celebrities telling stories about their lives? It must be literature festival time and they’ve books to flog.

07 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

≈ 3 Comments

You can hardly open a newspaper this month without there being articles featuring comments, opinions and stories by, from and about celebrities.

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis on why she’s banned from wearing bright clothes on screen; David Cameron talking about his daughter asking if it’s true he was prime minister; former Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys accusing the BBC of bias…

And many more… But why now?

Easy: it’s literature festival time and these celebrities have been appearing at one or another – because they’ve got books to flog. Continue reading →

Viewpoint: When did you start to write? Have you joined a band of authors who left it until they’d retired?

26 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by Susan Pape in Viewpoint

≈ 4 Comments

There have been lots of messages on Twitter and Facebook about when writers started to write fiction with the emphasis being on those who didn’t start ‘seriously’ until they’d given up full-time, paid employment.

It seems a remarkable number waited until they retired before feeling they had the time (and the financial resources) to take up writing – even if writing was something they’d wanted to do since they were young. Continue reading →

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Recent Posts

  • NEWS: WRITING’S OK – WE LOVE DOING THAT – IT’S EVERYTHING ELSE THAT TAKES TIME
  • Viewpoint: Where’s my inspiration gone? Lockdown has taken all my ideas away.
  • Viewpoint: Just three clicks and you’re out … of social media, that is.
  • Viewpoint: Tell me your health problems if you must. But don’t ask me to edit your family history scribblings.
  • News: A Falling Friend, by Sue Featherstone and Susan Pape, is four years old today

Recent Posts

  • NEWS: WRITING’S OK – WE LOVE DOING THAT – IT’S EVERYTHING ELSE THAT TAKES TIME April 18, 2022
  • Viewpoint: Where’s my inspiration gone? Lockdown has taken all my ideas away. January 28, 2021
  • Viewpoint: Just three clicks and you’re out … of social media, that is. December 7, 2020
  • Viewpoint: Tell me your health problems if you must. But don’t ask me to edit your family history scribblings. September 30, 2020
  • News: A Falling Friend, by Sue Featherstone and Susan Pape, is four years old today April 25, 2020

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