At last!! I am very excited to announce my debut children's novel, The Boggins of Willow Drove, was published today! I started writing the book in 2017 and although I finished in quite quickly, it sat around, gathering dust, because I started writing The Towpath straight away. I'm pretty impatient like that! But recently my creative juices started flowing again (thank you very much HRT!) and The Boggins of Willow Drove has finally seen the light of day! It is available on Amazon in both eBook and paperback formats and I'm really proud of it. Although it is a children's book, it does contain a smattering of adult humour which I hope everyone will enjoy! I haven't received my author copies as yet but when I do I will be giving one away. So watch this space!
Tuesday, 7 December 2021
Sunday, 23 August 2020
Writer's Block
I've never had writer's block before. And I'm not sure that's what I have. But I just can't get motivated to pick up where I left off after having a break from writing Time and Tide. During that time I revisited the 'The Boggins Of Willow Drove' manuscript that was just sitting in my laptop gathering cyber dust. I wrote an extra chapter, a synopsis and started the submission process. I then started writing a food blog (it's called The Casworth Kitchen if you want to take a look) which occupied some of my time and I really enjoy doing. And now I am twiddling my thumbs and have all the time in the world to resume Time and Tide but... I just can't be bothered.
Maybe it's because writing books is time-consuming and solitary and ultimately seems like a huge waste of precious time if your book gets rejected over and over at the end of a very lengthy process. Time and Tide is my sixth book, I've been writing for eight years and I still don't have a publishing contract. I guess that's why I am starting to feel a little despondent. I love writing, it's therapeutic and meditative and is a wonderful creative outlet but... I dunno... what's it all about?
In an ideal world I would be a full-time writer, sitting in a garden room overlooking the sea, tapping away and churning out books to my hearts content. But as I get older, I realise that time is no longer on my side and if I haven't 'made it' now, the chances are I never will.
Maybe I should start a new hobby. God only knows what. I've never been a hobby sort of person. I've tried lots of things from rowing to yoga. I almost joined a choir last year but decided against it after seeing the hideous robe I'd have to wear. I once even auditioned for Pig Dyke Molly, a scary, blackened faced Morris dancing troupe that frequent the Fens. But I got so dizzy doing all the swirls and whirls in the dance routine I almost fainted. So no. I'm not really a hobby sort of person. I'm quite happy to cook and walk and listen to music... and write books.
Maybe I will just finish this one last book. Book Number 6. It's a good story. It has a good ending. I could see it as a movie. Starring Jessica Brown Findlay as Kitty and ooh... I think probably Josh O'Connor as Edward. They would be PERFECT!
Right, where was I...
Monday, 27 July 2020
I got there in the end!
At last, I can finally announce that I have FINISHED my debut children's novel, The Boggins of Willow Drove! I started writing the book in 2016 and actually wrote it quite quickly. I sent it to an agent who wrote straight back and said it was a 'stand out submission' but needed a little more magic. Feeling pretty offended (I don't take criticism well đ) I sneered at the email, forgot about the book and moved on to my next project. But having so much time on my hands during lockdown I decided to read it again and thought maybe that agent was right,so I added another chapter. With a bit more magic. I have just finished editing the entire book again and it has been read by several guinea pigs (not actual fluffy guinea pigs because they can't read) including my mother and some younger readers and I have had fantastic feedback. The next arduous task was to write the synopsis, which as many of you will know is my pet hate. But I did it and The Boggins of Willow Drove has finally been submitted for consideration. It's a scary old time which involves a lot of waiting and as an author, you must always be prepared for rejection. Even though it's not very nice it's part of being a writer. But I am feeling optimistic and have everything crossed. And in the meantime, it's back to Time and Tide... novel number SIX!! đ
Saturday, 27 June 2020
The Boggins of Willow Drove
I have almost finished the final edit of The Boggins of Willow Drove. This is a novel I started writing in 2016 and dipped in and out of during that time as I wrote The Towpath. I am adding another chapter as after reading it for one last time I felt it needed a bit more magic. When I have finished the chapter I will be ready to start writing the synopsis... always the most dreaded part of writing books in my opinion. I absolutely detest it! I can sit and write whole books pretty easily but the challenge of condensing that book into one A4 page is extremely testing! But I know it has to be absolutely spot on to get a foot in the door of that elusive agent so I'll give it my best!
I really love this story about the boggins. It's a story I've had in my head for a very long time, the foundations of which actually began as a child and spending a lot of my childhood at my grandparents' farm. To see this book in print would be a dream for me.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
I really love this story about the boggins. It's a story I've had in my head for a very long time, the foundations of which actually began as a child and spending a lot of my childhood at my grandparents' farm. To see this book in print would be a dream for me.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
Up in her room, with the
door firmly shut, Agnes took The Origin, Expansion and Demise of Plant Species
out of her school bag and lay it gently down on her bed. She looked at the
shriveled cuttings lying next to her on the bedside table and started to leaf
through the book, page by page. It smelled old and fusty and slightly of
violets. Chapter after chapter of intense botanical facts, much of it she
didn’t even bother to read and if she was totally honest, couldn't make head nor
tail of anyway.
Finally she reached the
section about extinct plants. Pages filled with columns of colourful drawings
of plants no longer in existence, long gone, forgotten; their place on earth
now just a distant memory. Agnes studied each plant and read the words that
accompanied each illustration until her weary, tired eyes started to ache. She
blinked and yawned and contemplated going to sleep but decided to turn just one
more page.
And there it was. The
little plant with yellow flowers and heart-shaped seed pods. The plant the
world thought was no more but still grew on the banks of her muddy, old dyke.
She gasped and closed her
eyes, hardly daring to open them again for fear she may have been dreaming. But
this was no dream. It was her plant. The magic plant! Right in front of her
eyes. She read the words in the column alongside the drawing.
Bot Parsley (remedium petroselinium) Origin: Scandinavia.
This extinct plant was used by the Norse tribes of
Northern Europe as a healing herb. It was introduced to Britain after the
Viking invasion of AD793. The Anglo Saxons adopted the herb as their own and
used it widely to heal and cure many ailments from headaches and insomnia to
stomach disorders and sleeping sickness. The last possible sighting of the
plant was in 1826 by Reverend William Parsons of Gedney Hill (nÊe Isle of
Gaeda) in Lincolnshire. Rev. Parsons attempted to cultivate it, knowing of its’
superior healing properties, but failed.
Goosebumps prickled her
skin as she realised she had finally found it. A wave of elation rushed through
her body and she leapt to her feet and bounced up and down on the bed with joy.
She couldn’t believe it! She was a GENIUS! She had found the needle in the
haystack! Exhausted, she flopped down onto the disheveled duvet and gazed at
the pretty illustration and then at the cutting lying in the palm of her hand.
This was her plant! Bot
Parsley. All the facts matched perfectly. Every single one! Bot Parsley was an
ancient magical healing plant, it hadn’t been seen for almost two hundred years
and the last place it was seen was where the story began.
The Isle of Gaeda.
Wednesday, 27 May 2020
A The Towpath review...
I’m a bit disappointed reading a review of my latest book The Towpath by someone saying it contained ‘untrue facts’. I always stated that the book is a FICTIONAL book based on a true story and there is a disclaimer in the book saying that some characters and events were purely fictional and necessary due to the historic nature of the story. If this was a factual book it would be marketed as non-fiction. But it’s not. It’s a work of fiction. I hope that has cleared up the matter đ¤ˇđģ♀️
Saturday, 4 January 2020
The Towpath Paperback Is Here!
Well that was quick! The Towpath is now available to buy in paperback, which I must say is still my preferred way to read a book. Click on the link below to get your copy! Happy (not sure that's the right word for this book...) reading!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1654937894/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+towpath+tracy+hefferon&qid=1578132990&s=books&sr=1-2
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1654937894/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+towpath+tracy+hefferon&qid=1578132990&s=books&sr=1-2
Thursday, 2 January 2020
The Towpath is published!
Wow... I haven't blogged for so long but I have been very busy (as usual) and although I've been writing and editing and publishing, I've neglected my blog. A thousand apologies!
Anyway... I have some exciting news! The Towpath is published!
Anyway... I have some exciting news! The Towpath is published!
New year, new decade, new book! I am very proud to announce my fourth book is now published and on sale as an ebook on Amazon. I will be publishing the paperback version very soon for all those who prefer the 'real thing' đ
I LOVED researching and writing this book. I had no idea how to write a narrative non-fiction novel but I took the bull by the horns and found out everything I could about the story and just went for it. I'm really pleased with the finished book and it's a great story, albeit a sad one. I'd be very interested to hear any of your views with regards to the epilogue section of the book... the twist in the tale, so to speak. There will be no spoilers here but please feel free to comment on your ideas! As I say at the end of the book, if this case had happened in 2020, the outcome may have been very different. Forensics didn't exist in 1953 and people were convicted by the smallest of incidentals such as a speck of blood on a shoe or a witness statement.
Here is a teaser to entice you into reading the book. I hope you enjoy it!
The Towpath
It’s the end of May 1953. A heatwave has burned the country to a crisp and the whole nation is at fever pitch as it prepares to crown its beautiful new Queen. Streets are scrubbed spotless. Red, white and blue bunting is strung from every lamppost. And thousands of kitchens have produced thousands of cakes as the countdown begins to a magical day full of pomp, pageantry and patriotism, the likes of which the country has never seen before.
Barbara Songhurst and Christine Reed, two young friends from Teddington, have planned the weekend leading up to the big day with military precision. Christine is going to battle through the crowds just so she can see the dashingly handsome Prince Phillip with her very own eyes and Barbara has bought a yellow and white floral bathing suit from the West End which will hopefully clinch her the title of Beauty Pageant Queen 1953.
Alfred Whiteway also lives in Teddington. He despises the Royal Family and the Queen and everything she stands for. The only plans he has for the 2nd of June are to get completely rat-arsed and fuck a prostitute or two. With a penchant for knives and a reputation locally as a lunatic who swings through the trees of Bushey Park like an ape, Alfie is the kind of man best avoided.
But on the 31st of May, two days before Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, Barbara and Christine's paths crossed with Alfie Whiteway's. It was totally unavoidable. And it cost them both their lives.
Thursday, 8 August 2019
Bad Habits. We all have them.
Morning! Just a little plug for my latest book! Please let me know what you think of it if you read it. I'd love to hear your comments. Good or bad! :)
Judith Croft is a respectable, middle-aged, God-fearing schoolteacher. She is also a virgin. One day, she overhears two colleagues talking about her in the staff loos. Deeply wounded by their disparaging remarks, she sets about reinventing herself but to what consequence? Her life, after meeting the equivocal yet captivating Hunter Kyloe-Pilkington, descends into debauchery, which in turn sees her questioning everything from her faith to her status as a morally upstanding pillar of the community.
A dark, brutally honest, sexually-explicit and at times hilarious tale of friendship, family, colleagues and life. Bad Habits. We all have them.
Here is an excerpt from the book.
Bad Habits is available now as an eBook on Amazon priced at £4.99 or FREE if you are Kindle Unlimited subscriber.
Judith Croft is a respectable, middle-aged, God-fearing schoolteacher. She is also a virgin. One day, she overhears two colleagues talking about her in the staff loos. Deeply wounded by their disparaging remarks, she sets about reinventing herself but to what consequence? Her life, after meeting the equivocal yet captivating Hunter Kyloe-Pilkington, descends into debauchery, which in turn sees her questioning everything from her faith to her status as a morally upstanding pillar of the community.
A dark, brutally honest, sexually-explicit and at times hilarious tale of friendship, family, colleagues and life. Bad Habits. We all have them.
Here is an excerpt from the book.
She drained her coffee cup and stood up, packed her trolley and retrieved her coat from the hook in the store cupboard.
‘I’d better get off home. I’m having dinner with my parents tonight. And my mother is attempting to cook beef cannelloni.’
‘Out of jars or from scratch?’
‘From scratch. She said it’s one of Delia’s. I assume she means Delia Smith.’
‘I thought she was dead.’
‘No. That’s Fanny Craddock.’
‘Fanny who?’
‘Never mind. I just hope it’s edible. I don’t trust my mother with tinned tomatoes at the best of times let alone mozzarella. She didn’t even know what mozzarella was until this week. She thought it was something the Pope wears. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that's a mozetta.’
‘I’d better get off home. I’m having dinner with my parents tonight. And my mother is attempting to cook beef cannelloni.’
‘Out of jars or from scratch?’
‘From scratch. She said it’s one of Delia’s. I assume she means Delia Smith.’
‘I thought she was dead.’
‘No. That’s Fanny Craddock.’
‘Fanny who?’
‘Never mind. I just hope it’s edible. I don’t trust my mother with tinned tomatoes at the best of times let alone mozzarella. She didn’t even know what mozzarella was until this week. She thought it was something the Pope wears. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that's a mozetta.’
Bad Habits is available now as an eBook on Amazon priced at £4.99 or FREE if you are Kindle Unlimited subscriber.
Sunday, 9 June 2019
Time and Tide well under way!
It seems like ages since I last posted on my blog. It is ages. Two months to be precise. But I have been writing, when I can find the time. I've had a busy few weeks with only one day free for writing during half term but I'm plodding along, writing whenever I can snatch a few minutes in between working, swimming, gymming, walking, shopping, cooking, cleaning, eating, breathing and sleeping. It's tough but I have now written the first two chapters of Time and Tide, which equates to around 10,000 words.
I've had a lot of research to do with this book, mainly about the early 1900s and the first world war. The trouble is I get easily distracted during this phase as I end up reading one article then something will grab my attention and I find myself researching that too, whether I need to or not. It has been very interesting so far. It's a good thing I love history so much!
I have tried to put myself in the position of someone who has just woken up one hundred years in the future and just how surreal that would be. I've also tried to see it from my main character's point of view; stumbling across somebody who claims to have been fighting in WW1 one minute and flat on his back on a Cornish beach the next. I need to make it as realistic as possible even though the notion of time travel seems improbable to most of us. In my book it has happened. As absurd as that may sound. It has actually happened and both Kitty and Edward have to deal with the consequences, whether they like it or not.
I love writing. It is my favourite hobby. I have self-published three books and written a further two which are currently with agents but even if I never get a bona fide publishing deal, I don't really care. I write because it is my escape. Interestingly, I wrote an article recently for a women's magazine where I talked about a recent study discovering that a creative hobby is one of the best things we can do for our mental health. And I completely agree. Writing, painting, singing, crafting, gardening, dancing... the list is endless... all make you step away from your every day life and allows you to create time for you; an hour or so of pure escapism where your sole attention is focused on what you are doing in that moment. I will publish the article on my blog soon so you can read it and hopefully take up a creative hobby!
I've had a lot of research to do with this book, mainly about the early 1900s and the first world war. The trouble is I get easily distracted during this phase as I end up reading one article then something will grab my attention and I find myself researching that too, whether I need to or not. It has been very interesting so far. It's a good thing I love history so much!
I have tried to put myself in the position of someone who has just woken up one hundred years in the future and just how surreal that would be. I've also tried to see it from my main character's point of view; stumbling across somebody who claims to have been fighting in WW1 one minute and flat on his back on a Cornish beach the next. I need to make it as realistic as possible even though the notion of time travel seems improbable to most of us. In my book it has happened. As absurd as that may sound. It has actually happened and both Kitty and Edward have to deal with the consequences, whether they like it or not.
I love writing. It is my favourite hobby. I have self-published three books and written a further two which are currently with agents but even if I never get a bona fide publishing deal, I don't really care. I write because it is my escape. Interestingly, I wrote an article recently for a women's magazine where I talked about a recent study discovering that a creative hobby is one of the best things we can do for our mental health. And I completely agree. Writing, painting, singing, crafting, gardening, dancing... the list is endless... all make you step away from your every day life and allows you to create time for you; an hour or so of pure escapism where your sole attention is focused on what you are doing in that moment. I will publish the article on my blog soon so you can read it and hopefully take up a creative hobby!
Friday, 12 April 2019
It's true. Honestly.
With the Boggins and Towpath novels both out for consideration with agents, I have nothing else to do than START WRITING ANOTHER BOOK! My sixth novel (have I really written five books?) will be called Time and Tide and is based on a mind-bending experience I had on a beach in Cornwall nearly two years ago. And no, it didn't involve any kind of enchanted fungi either. In fact I got home from my holiday and wrote down the outline of the story straight away, it affected me that much. I have only now got round to writing it.
To cut a long story short, I think we – yes other people saw him too – might have seen a time traveller. Ok, it sounds weird and you're probably sitting there laughing and thinking 'oh my god, she has totally lost the plot altogether' but it happened and I really, REALLY wish I'd taken a photo of him. Actually, I really, REALLY wish I'd asked him straight out who he was. But I didn't. I had just found a three-foot-square pitch of wet sand to sit on after driving for two hours in increasingly bad weather to find the bloody beach. You'd think it was Torremolinos, it was that jam-packed. And everywhere we looked, glum, irritated, pale faces looked back at us as if to say 'isn't Cornwall shit when it rains?' After umming and aahing whether to stay there or not or just go back to the static caravan, watch the telly and crack open the red wine and Doritos, we decided to have our picnic then leave. I wasn't in the best of moods, it has to be said.
Just as I'd got the food out and we sat there staring at a grey sea along with an equally grey sky, popping snack eggs into our mouths like they were going out of fashion, this figure appeared over by the rocks to our right. I noticed him straight away. He wasn't dressed like a tourist so he kind of stood out. There were no combat shorts, slogan t-shirts or Converse on him, that's for sure. No sirree! He was wearing what can only be described as a military uniform. In fact, he looked like he'd just stepped off the set of a World War One movie. I watched as he carefully made his way over the rocks and started to pick his way through the crowd. He looked dishevelled and tired and kept pushing his hair back off his face. He carried an old cloth backpack over one shoulder and looked utterly bemused.
I nudged my partner, then kicked my daughter and said in low tones 'bloke at two o'clock, bloke at two o'clock - looks like he's stepped out of the war'. This confused my daughter initially. She'd never heard of using the clock for positional purposes before so she started rummaging around for her phone to tell me what the time was. I kicked her again and hissed 'just look at that man Florence!' All three of us held our breath as he walked right by our feet and I remember looking at his muddy leather boots as he passed and thinking 'I've just seen a bloody time traveller'. I turned and watched as he disappeared over the dirt bank behind us. I stood up, expecting to see him sauntering across the car park beyond, but he was gone. Vanished. Into. Thin. Air.
I sat down and we all looked at each other blankly. I asked my partner and daughter if they definitely just saw 'that man', thinking maybe I was indeed losing the plot, but they both confirmed they had. All I remember saying was 'that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen'. We talked about him for a few minutes and then carried on eating our picnic in silence.
Anyway, that's my time-travelling story. Last year a similar story made the headlines and national news. A photo was uploaded to Twitter of a beach in Cornwall (honestly) in the 1940s. There in the forefront is a man with both his hands raised in front of him. Somebody commented that it looked like he was using a mobile phone and so the time travelling story exploded. I checked out the photo. I wasn't convinced at all. That man was merely rolling a cigarette. Not texting somebody.
But I saw a REAL time traveller. With my very own eyes. And that is what my new book is about. It's going to be brill.
To cut a long story short, I think we – yes other people saw him too – might have seen a time traveller. Ok, it sounds weird and you're probably sitting there laughing and thinking 'oh my god, she has totally lost the plot altogether' but it happened and I really, REALLY wish I'd taken a photo of him. Actually, I really, REALLY wish I'd asked him straight out who he was. But I didn't. I had just found a three-foot-square pitch of wet sand to sit on after driving for two hours in increasingly bad weather to find the bloody beach. You'd think it was Torremolinos, it was that jam-packed. And everywhere we looked, glum, irritated, pale faces looked back at us as if to say 'isn't Cornwall shit when it rains?' After umming and aahing whether to stay there or not or just go back to the static caravan, watch the telly and crack open the red wine and Doritos, we decided to have our picnic then leave. I wasn't in the best of moods, it has to be said.
Just as I'd got the food out and we sat there staring at a grey sea along with an equally grey sky, popping snack eggs into our mouths like they were going out of fashion, this figure appeared over by the rocks to our right. I noticed him straight away. He wasn't dressed like a tourist so he kind of stood out. There were no combat shorts, slogan t-shirts or Converse on him, that's for sure. No sirree! He was wearing what can only be described as a military uniform. In fact, he looked like he'd just stepped off the set of a World War One movie. I watched as he carefully made his way over the rocks and started to pick his way through the crowd. He looked dishevelled and tired and kept pushing his hair back off his face. He carried an old cloth backpack over one shoulder and looked utterly bemused.
I nudged my partner, then kicked my daughter and said in low tones 'bloke at two o'clock, bloke at two o'clock - looks like he's stepped out of the war'. This confused my daughter initially. She'd never heard of using the clock for positional purposes before so she started rummaging around for her phone to tell me what the time was. I kicked her again and hissed 'just look at that man Florence!' All three of us held our breath as he walked right by our feet and I remember looking at his muddy leather boots as he passed and thinking 'I've just seen a bloody time traveller'. I turned and watched as he disappeared over the dirt bank behind us. I stood up, expecting to see him sauntering across the car park beyond, but he was gone. Vanished. Into. Thin. Air.
I sat down and we all looked at each other blankly. I asked my partner and daughter if they definitely just saw 'that man', thinking maybe I was indeed losing the plot, but they both confirmed they had. All I remember saying was 'that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen'. We talked about him for a few minutes and then carried on eating our picnic in silence.
Anyway, that's my time-travelling story. Last year a similar story made the headlines and national news. A photo was uploaded to Twitter of a beach in Cornwall (honestly) in the 1940s. There in the forefront is a man with both his hands raised in front of him. Somebody commented that it looked like he was using a mobile phone and so the time travelling story exploded. I checked out the photo. I wasn't convinced at all. That man was merely rolling a cigarette. Not texting somebody.
But I saw a REAL time traveller. With my very own eyes. And that is what my new book is about. It's going to be brill.
Tuesday, 26 March 2019
The Charm
There has been a sudden resurgence in The Charm, five years after it was published! If you fancy reading it, you can find it on Amazon (as an e-book) at the below link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Charm-Tracy-Hefferon-ebook/dp/B00KWL9HVA/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=the+charm+tracy+hefferon&qid=1553619446&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
Or if you would like to buy a beautifully-printed, white-paper paperback, please click on the link below.
https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=The+Charm+Tracy+Hefferon&type=
Happy reading!
Friday, 15 March 2019
Bad Habits is now on sale!!
I am very excited to announce Bad Habits is now available on Amazon for Kindle (and other e-reading devices!) for just £4.99! It took a while to get to this point but finally it's out there for all to read! Well, maybe not all but you know what I mean :) And please do leave a review if you read it. It's a very easy process and it will be great to know what you thought of the story.
So, here's a bit of blurb about the book...
Judith Croft is a respectable, middle-aged, god-fearing school teacher. She is also a virgin. One day, she overhears two colleagues talking about her in the staff loos. Deeply wounded by their disparaging remarks, she sets about reinventing herself but to what consequence? Her life, after meeting the equivocal yet captivating Hunter Kyloe-Pilkington, descends into debauchery which in turn sees her questioning everything from her faith to her status as a morally upstanding pillar of the community.
A dark, brutally honest, sexually explicit and, at times, hilarious tale of friendship, family, colleagues and life.
Bad Habits. We all have them...
Please click the following link for more information and to purchase :)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PGBHRH5
So, here's a bit of blurb about the book...
Judith Croft is a respectable, middle-aged, god-fearing school teacher. She is also a virgin. One day, she overhears two colleagues talking about her in the staff loos. Deeply wounded by their disparaging remarks, she sets about reinventing herself but to what consequence? Her life, after meeting the equivocal yet captivating Hunter Kyloe-Pilkington, descends into debauchery which in turn sees her questioning everything from her faith to her status as a morally upstanding pillar of the community.
A dark, brutally honest, sexually explicit and, at times, hilarious tale of friendship, family, colleagues and life.
Bad Habits. We all have them...
Please click the following link for more information and to purchase :)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PGBHRH5
Monday, 11 March 2019
Sunday, 3 March 2019
Bad Habits
I've spent an awful lot of time lately fine-tuning the Bad Habits manuscript and making sure all is in order for publication. The story is about a middle-aged, dowdy school teacher, who is deeply religious, unmarried and, as a consequence, still a virgin. She decides to reinvent herself after hearing two colleagues ripping her to shreds in the staff loos. The transformation is staggering and soon she is online and looking for love. Enter Hunter Kyloe-Pilkington, a David Gandy lookalike with a penchant for facial hair and tattoos. Judith's life descends into debauchery, forcing her to question her life, her faith and everything else in between.
Bad Habits is a dark, explicit, humorous tale of morality, friendship and the human condition. Here is an extract from the book.
Bad Habits is a dark, explicit, humorous tale of morality, friendship and the human condition. Here is an extract from the book.
She drained her coffee cup and stood up, packed her trolley and retrieved her coat from the hook in the store cupboard.
‘I’d better get off home. I’m having dinner with my parents tonight. And my mother is attempting to make beef cannelloni.’
‘Out of jars or from scratch?’
‘From scratch. She said it’s one of Delia’s. I assume she means Delia Smith.’
‘I thought she was dead.’
‘No. That’s Fanny Craddock.’
‘Fanny who?’
‘Never mind. I just hope it’s edible. I don’t trust my mother with tinned tomatoes at the best of times let alone mozzarella. She didn’t even know what mozzarella was until this week. She thought it was something the Pope wears. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that is a mozetta.’
Publishing dates to be announced very soon :)
Sunday, 27 January 2019
Good afternoon!
After everything I said about NOT writing another book this year... well, I lied. How can I not?! I had an idea for a novel a couple of years ago and I have been working on the plot outline this afternoon as well as submitting The Towpath to a couple of agents. I absolutely hate the submission process but I am ready for it now, having written the synopsis (a short and a long version) and edited the final draft of the manuscript. It has gone off to several agents / publishers and all I can do is hope one of them sees a glimmer of promise in the story. Until then, I will start work on book number six!
So... to my new novel! The title came to me in about ten seconds flat. It will be called Time and Tide. It is set in the Cornish creekside village of Lerryn and is about a woman called Kitty who is approached on a remote beach by a man dressed in what can only be described as a World War One fancy dress outfit. He seems confused as he stumbles towards her and asks if she speaks English. She says of course she speaks English! He frowns and asks her for water. She hands him her bottle and he drinks it all in one go. He then asks where on earth he is and, bemused, she replies that this is Cornwall, England. His face turns grey and he says that can't possibly be. Just a few moments ago he was fighting against the Germans in Arleux, Northern France.
'This is the 28th of April, 1917, right?' he asked.
Kitty's blood ran cold as her eyes swept over his face, his clothing and his great, big, muddy boots.
'It's the 28th of April alright, yes...' she stammered, feeling the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. 'Right date, wrong year.'
Edward screwed up his face in confusion.
'What do you mean wrong year?'
Kitty swallowed hard. Why the hell hadn't she stayed at home today and baked some bloody cakes?
'It's not 1917. We've moved on a hundred years from then. Today is the 28th of April. But the year is 2017.'
I'll keep you posted... :)
Sunday, 13 January 2019
Happy New Year!
Well, after a snotty Christmas that affected just about the whole family, we're finally into the new year and already it's been a busy one.
I've had The Towpath read by an independent editor who has given me some great advice and a small list of changes, which I am about to do. I will then start the submission process and wait to see if anybody likes it! I am then going to re-visit The Boggins of Willow Drove and a short story I wrote about a year ago about a Robin. It was meant to be the text for a children's picture book but it ended up being far too long so I'm going to be a bit harsh and cut it back by at least half and see if I can shape it into something submittable. (I'm not sure that is even a word.)
A lot of people often ask me how many books I've written and are surprised when I say five, seeing as only two are published. So for the record, my published books are The Charm and Finding Vega, and can be found on Amazon in both eBook or paperback format. My third book is The Boggins of Willow Drove, a children's book. The fourth is Bad Habits, adult fiction about a schoolteacher who reinvents herself and The Towpath, is my fifth novel, which I have just finished and is based on a true story.
I chose not to self-publish Boggins because it's for children and children like real books. So ideally I wanted to get it published and out there on the shelves. Also I wasn't entirely happy with the finished novel and after receiving some amazing feedback from an agent who told me the submission was great but needed just that extra bit of magic, I took their advice and am going to re-work it. As for Bad Habits, the 'naughty book', I am going to try to get that on Amazon in the next few months. So watch this space!
I have a walking blog you might like to take a look at. It's called Fenland Ramblings and is all about my love of walking. It's quite new and I probably started it at the wrong time of year weather-wise, but it will feature lots of local walks to me and the odd far-flung one when I am travelling so please have a read and let me know what you think. Toodle pip!
http://fenlandramblings.tracyhefferon.com/
I've had The Towpath read by an independent editor who has given me some great advice and a small list of changes, which I am about to do. I will then start the submission process and wait to see if anybody likes it! I am then going to re-visit The Boggins of Willow Drove and a short story I wrote about a year ago about a Robin. It was meant to be the text for a children's picture book but it ended up being far too long so I'm going to be a bit harsh and cut it back by at least half and see if I can shape it into something submittable. (I'm not sure that is even a word.)
A lot of people often ask me how many books I've written and are surprised when I say five, seeing as only two are published. So for the record, my published books are The Charm and Finding Vega, and can be found on Amazon in both eBook or paperback format. My third book is The Boggins of Willow Drove, a children's book. The fourth is Bad Habits, adult fiction about a schoolteacher who reinvents herself and The Towpath, is my fifth novel, which I have just finished and is based on a true story.
I chose not to self-publish Boggins because it's for children and children like real books. So ideally I wanted to get it published and out there on the shelves. Also I wasn't entirely happy with the finished novel and after receiving some amazing feedback from an agent who told me the submission was great but needed just that extra bit of magic, I took their advice and am going to re-work it. As for Bad Habits, the 'naughty book', I am going to try to get that on Amazon in the next few months. So watch this space!
I have a walking blog you might like to take a look at. It's called Fenland Ramblings and is all about my love of walking. It's quite new and I probably started it at the wrong time of year weather-wise, but it will feature lots of local walks to me and the odd far-flung one when I am travelling so please have a read and let me know what you think. Toodle pip!
http://fenlandramblings.tracyhefferon.com/
Tuesday, 11 December 2018
The Towpath
The Towpath has been an amazing book for me to write but after the fifth read / edit, I was all towpathed out. I've had a little break from it and have finally finished crossing the t's and dotting the i's. The next task was writing a 250-word pitch which I always find daunting. Writing a book is easy. You just sit down and write it. But condensing the story into just 250 words is hard. Writing a synopsis is even harder. But I've managed to complete both and am really happy with everything I've done. The book is with a reader at the moment and I avidly await his feedback. And then I shall start submitting.
I remember an email I received from an agent after submitting The Charm several years ago. It was a rejection email and said these exact words:
Malorie Blackman wrote 9 books and was submitting for 2 and a half years (and got 82 rejections) before her first book deal... and then she became Children’s Laureate - so do persevere!
Those words of encouragement stick in mind and always will. I know it's hard to get that book deal but I will try as hard as I can to get one! In the meantime here is the 250-word pitch I wrote for The Towpath. I do hope you enjoy it.
I remember an email I received from an agent after submitting The Charm several years ago. It was a rejection email and said these exact words:
Malorie Blackman wrote 9 books and was submitting for 2 and a half years (and got 82 rejections) before her first book deal... and then she became Children’s Laureate - so do persevere!
Those words of encouragement stick in mind and always will. I know it's hard to get that book deal but I will try as hard as I can to get one! In the meantime here is the 250-word pitch I wrote for The Towpath. I do hope you enjoy it.
It’s the end of May 1953. A relentless heatwave has
burned the country to a crisp and the whole nation is at fever pitch as it
prepares to crown its’ beautiful new Queen. Streets are scrubbed spotless. Red,
white and blue bunting is strung from every lamppost. And thousands upon
thousands of kitchens have produced thousands upon thousands of cakes as the
countdown begins to a magical day full of pomp, pageantry and patriotism, the
likes of which this post-war kingdom has never seen before.
Barbara Songhurst and Christine Reed, two
young friends from Teddington, have planned the weekend leading up to the big
day with military precision. Christine is preparing to battle through the crowds just so she can
see the dashingly handsome Prince Phillip with her very own eyes. And Barbara
has bought a yellow and white floral bathing suit from the West End which will
hopefully clinch her the title of Beauty Pageant Queen 1953.
Just a few streets away lives Alfred Whiteway. He despises the Royal Family and he despises the Queen and everything
she stands for. The only plans he has for the 2nd of June are to get completely
rat-arsed and fuck a prostitute. Maybe two. With a penchant for knives and a
reputation locally as a lunatic who swings from tree to tree like an ape, Alfie
is the kind of man best avoided.
But on the 31st of May, two days before
Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, Barbara and Christine's paths
crossed with Alfred Whiteway's.
It was totally unavoidable. And it cost them
both their lives.
Saturday, 17 November 2018
Good morning!
Blimey, I've been busy... The only writing I have done lately is for Queen Bee magazine and my blogs. I have started the process of publishing Bad Habits on Kindle but my other life has taken over and I've got bogged down in training and case studies and all sorts of stuff!
I found a really interesting agent who I really would love to read The Tow Path so I am considering submitting to her today and will await her response with baited breath. I'm still considering writing it as a screenplay but that would take up the next year at least as I'm a complete novice at screenwriting and I'm not sure I can devote that much time to a project at the moment.
I have a couple of ideas for my next book but I think I am going to concentrate on what I've already written first before I get stuck into another! I have three unpublished novels at on my laptop... which is not where I want them to be! I may revisit The Boggins of Willow Drove and rewrite certain parts of it, which I am looking forward to rather than dreading. I want to make it more fantastical and am looking for a group of children to be my little army of readers. So if you know any budding bookworms out there, aged between eight and ten, please get in touch!
I found a really interesting agent who I really would love to read The Tow Path so I am considering submitting to her today and will await her response with baited breath. I'm still considering writing it as a screenplay but that would take up the next year at least as I'm a complete novice at screenwriting and I'm not sure I can devote that much time to a project at the moment.
I have a couple of ideas for my next book but I think I am going to concentrate on what I've already written first before I get stuck into another! I have three unpublished novels at on my laptop... which is not where I want them to be! I may revisit The Boggins of Willow Drove and rewrite certain parts of it, which I am looking forward to rather than dreading. I want to make it more fantastical and am looking for a group of children to be my little army of readers. So if you know any budding bookworms out there, aged between eight and ten, please get in touch!
Sunday, 14 October 2018
Hello Autumn!
Wow... what a difference a day makes! Yesterday we were walking the Nene Way in 25 degree sunshine, today I'm sitting here in a wooly jumper and slippers watching movies because it's raining and cold. But at least it means I can catch up on my writing work and unfortunately I've had a bit of a shock. I realised about two hours ago that the version of Book Three which I've spent the last two weeks editing and formatting is an old version and the version I should have been working on was sitting in a duplicate folder and has ALREADY been edited and formatted! I did it about a year ago, which is why I completely forgot I'd done it! I didn't swear or shout or jump up and down. I simply sighed and told myself never to duplicate anything ever again.
I have found an agent I would like to submit the book to and submission complete, am about to press send. I did say in my last blog that I was going to self-publish it but as I haven't submitted this novel to anyone yet, I thought I'd better give it a shot first before going down the KDP route. The book is sexually-explicit in parts, as in it's written graphically and straight to the point. I tried to write the sex scenes in that Mills-and-Boon-old-fashioned way, you know, talking about sex but not talking about sex, but it just doesn't work in modern day society. You want to read about things in real-life terms, read is at is is, using real-life language. I've been watching BBC dramas like Killing Eve and Wanderlust recently and love how sexually explicit language and visual scenes are becoming part of every day television.
I work in a school and my book was a topic of conversation the other day in the staff room. Several colleagues questioned whether I would publish it under my own name or a pseudonym because of my association with the school. It is a church school and I can understand why its publication may cause a ripple of commotion amongst certain folk. But I will cross that bridge when I come to it. It seems a little strange going to all the effort of writing a novel and then using a totally fictitious name to publish it under. I'm proud of everything I write and I'm certainly not going to not publish something just in case in offends somebody. I think I'd rather get another job than do that.
Talking of other jobs, I have been commissioned to write a regular magazine article and an accompanying blog detailing walks that I do, discover and talk about on my Instagram page. I walk my dogs every day, the same old route, but I try to do a long walk, somewhere different, every weekend. Some of these walks are popular, mapped walks, others are invented by me usually after going wrong and getting lost. This happened yesterday so that will be my first published walk as it was actually a bloody good one, taking in long boats, river rapids, a natural bathing pool (I almost stripped off for a wild swim yesterday but was suddenly joined by an over-enthusiastic spaniel so decided best not), grazing horses, woodland, a ford and some very beautiful old villages. I always take lots of photos to document each walk as can't wait to get started! I hope to get the blog up and running in the next week so watch this space for details of the site. You can also follow my Instagram page, see link below.
www.instagram.com/tracyhefferon_author/
I have found an agent I would like to submit the book to and submission complete, am about to press send. I did say in my last blog that I was going to self-publish it but as I haven't submitted this novel to anyone yet, I thought I'd better give it a shot first before going down the KDP route. The book is sexually-explicit in parts, as in it's written graphically and straight to the point. I tried to write the sex scenes in that Mills-and-Boon-old-fashioned way, you know, talking about sex but not talking about sex, but it just doesn't work in modern day society. You want to read about things in real-life terms, read is at is is, using real-life language. I've been watching BBC dramas like Killing Eve and Wanderlust recently and love how sexually explicit language and visual scenes are becoming part of every day television.
I work in a school and my book was a topic of conversation the other day in the staff room. Several colleagues questioned whether I would publish it under my own name or a pseudonym because of my association with the school. It is a church school and I can understand why its publication may cause a ripple of commotion amongst certain folk. But I will cross that bridge when I come to it. It seems a little strange going to all the effort of writing a novel and then using a totally fictitious name to publish it under. I'm proud of everything I write and I'm certainly not going to not publish something just in case in offends somebody. I think I'd rather get another job than do that.
Talking of other jobs, I have been commissioned to write a regular magazine article and an accompanying blog detailing walks that I do, discover and talk about on my Instagram page. I walk my dogs every day, the same old route, but I try to do a long walk, somewhere different, every weekend. Some of these walks are popular, mapped walks, others are invented by me usually after going wrong and getting lost. This happened yesterday so that will be my first published walk as it was actually a bloody good one, taking in long boats, river rapids, a natural bathing pool (I almost stripped off for a wild swim yesterday but was suddenly joined by an over-enthusiastic spaniel so decided best not), grazing horses, woodland, a ford and some very beautiful old villages. I always take lots of photos to document each walk as can't wait to get started! I hope to get the blog up and running in the next week so watch this space for details of the site. You can also follow my Instagram page, see link below.
www.instagram.com/tracyhefferon_author/
Friday, 5 October 2018
The last few weeks
I've not blogged for a couple of weeks but I have been busy, not just with my writing but in my regular, day-to-day life too. I've almost finished editing The Towpath but after the third back-to-back read of all 90,000 words, it started to get on my bloody nerves and I've had to take a mini-break from it! Instead I've been having teeth pulled out, going for walks and bike rides, watching lots and lots of really good telly (think Peaky Blinders, Wanderlust, The Bodyguard, Killing Eve...) and making loads of 'future life plans' which has been very exciting indeed, if a little cloak-and-dagger.
I've decided, since I haven't done much with the third novel I wrote and it's still sat here on my laptop gathering cyberdust, I'm going to get it out there and self-publish it. I've started the laborious task of formatting and hopefully by this time next week it will be on Amazon and ready for everyone to upload. It is rude, I won't lie, and it does feature certain profanities beginning with the letters 'f' and possibly 'c' (The Towpath has much, much more swearing). It also features graphic descriptions of certain sexual acts, but I'm guessing if this kind of stuff offends you, then you won't be buying it or reading it anyway so I'm not quite sure why I'm giving out all the warnings.
Bad Habits: The Undoing of Judith Croft is a story about a primary school teacher who, at the age of forty-four, finds herself unmarried, stuck in a rut and a reluctant virgin to boot. She's also a devout Christian and after hearing two work colleagues bitching about her displeasing demeanour in the staff loos, she sets about reinventing herself, turning her back on her faith and morphing into the enigmatic, liberated Jude.
Now, working in a school myself, I would just like to stress this novel is a work of fiction and isn't based upon anyone I know or currently work with. It is however, based loosely upon everyone I have ever known and worked with, just as every fictional character that's ever been created in every book, film and play, all over the world has. So if you read the book and see a piece of you in one of the characters, feel very privileged that I thought you interesting enough to write about :) Inspiration comes from everyone you meet, whether you are aware of it or not, and when you create fictional characters all kinds of traits and mannerisms from these people naturally seep into them, bringing them to life. I once had a woman in a shopping centre approach me and ask if a certain lady we both knew was one of the characters in The Charm. I had to reassure her that she wasn't but it was a jolly good comparison all the same ;)
So, I'll crack on and I'll let you all know when it's published!
I've decided, since I haven't done much with the third novel I wrote and it's still sat here on my laptop gathering cyberdust, I'm going to get it out there and self-publish it. I've started the laborious task of formatting and hopefully by this time next week it will be on Amazon and ready for everyone to upload. It is rude, I won't lie, and it does feature certain profanities beginning with the letters 'f' and possibly 'c' (The Towpath has much, much more swearing). It also features graphic descriptions of certain sexual acts, but I'm guessing if this kind of stuff offends you, then you won't be buying it or reading it anyway so I'm not quite sure why I'm giving out all the warnings.
Bad Habits: The Undoing of Judith Croft is a story about a primary school teacher who, at the age of forty-four, finds herself unmarried, stuck in a rut and a reluctant virgin to boot. She's also a devout Christian and after hearing two work colleagues bitching about her displeasing demeanour in the staff loos, she sets about reinventing herself, turning her back on her faith and morphing into the enigmatic, liberated Jude.
Now, working in a school myself, I would just like to stress this novel is a work of fiction and isn't based upon anyone I know or currently work with. It is however, based loosely upon everyone I have ever known and worked with, just as every fictional character that's ever been created in every book, film and play, all over the world has. So if you read the book and see a piece of you in one of the characters, feel very privileged that I thought you interesting enough to write about :) Inspiration comes from everyone you meet, whether you are aware of it or not, and when you create fictional characters all kinds of traits and mannerisms from these people naturally seep into them, bringing them to life. I once had a woman in a shopping centre approach me and ask if a certain lady we both knew was one of the characters in The Charm. I had to reassure her that she wasn't but it was a jolly good comparison all the same ;)
So, I'll crack on and I'll let you all know when it's published!
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