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Book Lovers' Booklist

Category Archives: News

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

News: A Falling Friend, by Sue Featherstone and Susan Pape, is four years old today

25 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by Sue Featherstone in News

≈ 3 Comments

Happy Book Birthday to me and Susan Pape.

It’s four years today since A Falling Friend, the first book in our #Friends trilogy, was published.

It’s been described as a 5* ‘rollicking good read’ and ‘chic lit with attitude.

Get your print or digital copy from Amazon.

News: Happy book birthday to A Forgiven Friend, final novel in our FRIENDS trilogy

19 Tuesday Nov 2019

Posted by Sue Featherstone in News

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

A Forgiven Friend, FRIENDS trilogy

Birthdays are always great fun – and there’s no fun like a book birthday.

It’s publication day for our third novel A Forgiven Friend – the final instalment in our FRIENDS series.

It continues the story of best friends Teri Meyer and Lee Harper as they juggle work, life and love – usually with a glass of wine or a cup of weak Earl Grey tea to hand. Or ‘gnat’s piss’ as Teri usually describes it.

News: Our books – introducing our five titles

Featured

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 →

News: Writer’s Showcase events at Wakefield Literature Festival 2019

23 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by Sue Featherstone in News

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

@wordfocus, Mocha Moocha, Wakefield Library, Wakefield Literature Festival

Thrilled to bits to be making two appearances at the 2019 Wakefield Literature Festival.

After a two year absence, the festival has been revived by Louis Kasatkin and will run from Monday, September 16 until Saturday, September 21.

Full programme details are below, but you can join me at 2-3.30pm on Wednesday, September 18 at a Writer’s Showcase panel at Mocha Moocha – a lovely cafe in the city centre – and again, with Susan Pape, at 2pm on Saturday, September 21, at a second Writer’s Showcase at Wakefield Library, (above) which is more-or-less across the road from Westgate railway station.

Hope you can join us.

Full programme details can be found here.

 

News: Chemical reaction from ‘Sue and Susan who write books’ baffles Pointless hosts Armstrong and Osman

03 Saturday Aug 2019

Posted by Sue Featherstone in News

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

@Daily_Express, @richardosman, @XanderArmstrong, Pointless, Roxanne Hughes

Not quite how either of us remember it, but Susan and I – described in a recent article on The Daily Express website as Sue and Susan who write books – had a little chuckle at the account by TV reporter Roxanne Hughes of our debut on television quiz show Pointless.

She described our consternation when co-hosts Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman announced the first round of the competition would be on chemical elements.

We seemed, she said, to be incredibly excited – which completely baffled both Armstrong and Osman. Continue reading →

News: A very special People’s Friend short story debut

12 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by Sue Featherstone in News

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@LakewaterPress, @TheFriendMag

Christmas came early to the Featherstone household this morning when the postman brought a very special present: The People’s Friend Christmas Special, featuring my short story A House of Prayer.

I’ve been floating on clouds ever since.

A dream come true.

Ever since I was a little girl, and used to curl up in a corner to read my grandmother’s My Weekly magazine, I’ve dreamed of becoming a writer and seeing my byline in print. Continue reading →

News: Just imagine – we’re signing on Saturday at Imagined Things bookshop

17 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by Susan Pape in News

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The two of us will be meeting readers and signing copies of our books, this Saturday (October 20) at one of Harrogate’s newest and most beautiful bookshops.

Continue reading →

News: BBC TV debut for Sue Featherstone and Susan Pape

01 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by Sue Featherstone in News

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

BBC1, Pointless, Sue Featherstone, Susan Pape

Fans of the tea-time TV quiz Pointless might spot a couple of familiar faces onscreen next week.

Yes, Susan and I are making our Pointless debut on Friday, June 08.

Sorry, we can’t tell you how we did – you’ll need to tune in to BBC1 at 5.15pm to find out – but click here for Susan’s write-up of being on a show.

And don’t forget to tune in on Monday, June 11, as well.

Oops! Is that a clue?

News: Talking about books, writing, getting published – and the blogosphere

17 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by Susan Pape in News

≈ 2 Comments

Sue and I are increasingly being asked to give talks about our writing and answer the question: how do two people write together? And we love it. It means we get to meet lots of keen readers, people who have read our books, or people who want to buy our books.

And it has involved quite a bit of travelling. 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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