My Diary – Archive

September has been a difficult month for me in various ways. My health hasn’t improved but I have a cat scan at the weekend which hopefully will tell the consultant what’s wrong. A very dear friend, someone I was at school with, has been in and out of hospital and like me seems to spend more time with medical people than she does with her friends and family. Then yesterday I heard that my bridesmaid, four years younger than me, died in hospital. Brenda had a liver transplant thirty odd years ago and for the last few years things have been going wrong for her health wise. She used to ring me up most weeks for a chat and I hadn’t heard from her for a while. I wasn’t surprised when I got the news, obviously I’m very sad for her, for her husband and her family. She was the oldest niece of my husband, my only bridesmaid, and we stayed in touch over the years.
As she was more or less housebound – with a compromised immune system she had to be so careful since Covid – she became obsessed with collecting things. She told me she had a hundred thousand keyrings – I’m not sure there were that many but there was certainly many thousands. She also had a huge collection of ornamental elephants and pigs and also teaspoons. I think finding something else to go with one of her collections was what kept her sane.
On October 7 the fourth book in my Harbour House series will be published – Blitz Spirit at Harbour House. The cover hasn’t proved as popular as usual and I think it’s because the main characters look dishevelled. They have just emerged from a train crash caused by a dropped bomb and my editor wanted them to look less than tidy.
The fifth book, Trouble Comes to Harbour House, is with my editor now and will be out on February 1.
At the moment I’m writing the third book in my new Regency series – I have exciting plans in hand to join forces with two other historical writers and publish under an umbrella name so we can promote and support each other’s indie books. I thought I was finished with indie publishing but my experience with DP publishers has proved less than successful and I withdrew this series from them. I want them to be enjoyed and read so no option but to do it myself.
Hopefully I’ll have better news healthwise next month.
Best wishes
Fenella J Miller

First day of autumn today and I was wearing a cardigan – still sunny and warm – but you can sense that summer is over at last. I can’t remember ever having had to use fans in the sitting room and bedroom so often before. Tomorrow my fortnightly gardener comes and he’ll be picking my pears, have a bumper crop this year, and the apples and the ornamental gourds. I don’t know exactly how many of those I’ve got but I think about twenty – the first year I grew them I had over a hundred but they haven’t done as well this year. Then sometime this month my bulbs will come and those will be planted and then the garden won’t need any further attention until next March April time. I’ve made eighteen pots of plum jam and eight of mixed fruit chutney – all from my plum and apple tree. I also gave away 20 lbs of plums.
Healthwise hasn’t been so good this summer – I seem to spend more time seeing medical people than I do with my friends but I think that’s the same for most people of my age. I’ve had the all clear on the tests and investigations so far and the GP said he was very happy with the results. However, I now need a further investigation, not one I’m looking forward to. Basically, I don’t have anything major wrong with me apart from arthritis and I’ve got two close friends with far more serious problems as well as my sister-in-law.
Workwise I’ve done well and have completed the fifth book in my Harbour House series – Trouble Comes to Harbour House – and I just need to write the epilogue, add the dedication and so on and then I can send it to my editor and it will be almost 2 months early. This one will be coming out 9 February. The next one coming out is, Blitz Spirit at Harbour House,  out on 9 October and this is doing really well with pre-orders. The reviews on Net Galley have also been good which is a relief. The title that came out in June, All Change at Harbour House, continues to sell consistently. This series seems to be my best yet as far as sales go.
I think I told you I sold a book to Serbia, a Regency title, a couple of months ago and since then I’ve sold the first two of Harbour House to France. That means I’ll have three books in foreign translation – something I’ve always wanted. I also got another title into The Works this month – Army Girls: Operation Winter Wedding.
I parted company with dp Digital publishing – they still have five back list Regency as they’ve already released three of them. The final two are supposed to be coming out next month but so far I’ve heard nothing about covers and so on. I got back the new Regency series and have plans to indie publish that next year when I’ve written the final two books.
I’ve booked next year’s holiday to St Malo, a research trip as I intend to set a series of Regency books based on the privateers that docked there during the Napoleonic wars. I’m also going to meet a writing friend on a two day stay in Runnymede to discuss an exciting plan we hope to bring to fruition in the New Year together. More about that in November after we’ve met. The hotel is at the exact middle point between where she lives in Bath and I live in Weeley.
Until next month
Fenella J Miller

My fabulous publisher Boldwood is celebrating its sixth birthday today – I’m so lucky to be one of their writers and have the support of so many excellent people. I won’t repeat all the information I’ve just put in my blog – pop over and read that if you want to know more about the facts and figures.
I sold the first two books in my Harbour House series, Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House and Stormy Waters at Harbour House  to Spain and to say that I’m delighted about this is an understatement. The fourth book in the series, Blitz spirit at Harbour House, should be on net galley by the end of the month. I’m writing the fifth book – it’s a bit different to the others but I think that you’ll like it just as much. This is already on preorder and doing surprisingly well considering I’m only thirty thousand into it and it doesn’t have an official title as yet let alone a cover.
I’m hoping to team up with two other successful writers and set up a publishing consortium so we can indie publish books that we’ve written that don’t fit in with what our publishers want at the moment. I parted company with DP publishers as far as new Regency are concerned and I won’t be giving them any more back list either. I still want to write Regency and I’ve also written two of a four book series of romantasy which I’d also like to see published. I’ll let you know when anything concrete has been arranged.
I’m glad the heatwave is over for the moment – 30° is just too much for me and for most people. Loki didn’t seem to mind but he did get hayfever at one point. I’ve been enjoying the cricket – not everybody’s taste – but I grew up watching my father play, learned to score, and we moved to St John’s Wood so we could walk to Lord’s and watch the cricket. I was pleased that the Lionesses won the European cup again but I didn’t watch the match, neither did I watch any Wimbledon. Too much grunting from men and women to make it enjoyable.
I’ve booked a week’s holiday for next June with my best friend – the same one I had the less than enjoyable cruise with in April – and we are going to St Malo in Brittany. I went there three years ago with my niece and great-niece, we only stayed four nights and I spent a day and a half very ill with Covid. Despite that I have fond memories of that holiday and want to go back when I’m well and stay longer. Also, St Malo was the port where privateers docked and they were heavily involved in the Napoleonic wars – I intend to set a book around this. Also I think there might be something in it for a World War II book as well.
In October I’m meeting another friend somewhere near Windsor as that’s the midpoint between the two of us. We haven’t booked our accommodation but will be doing this soon. Getting to Bath is too much for me but I did enjoy the six days I spent there last year.
Until next time
Fenella J Miller

June has been absolutely sweltering – temperatures of over 35 centigrade outside and 30 centigrade inside. Last night was the worst – I was so enervated I didn’t even have the strength to clean my teeth before I went to bed and that has to be a first, ever. However, this morning it was raining – wonderful as we did need it so badly – and is now a pleasant 23 centigrade. Long may it last.
Global warming is a serious danger to the world and for our government and others to still be using fossil fuels, giving licences to drill for oil and dig for coal is not just stupid, it’s immoral. Parts of southern Europe are going to be uninhabitable in my lifetime which is a global disaster.

My health hasn’t been great but nothing fatal, just difficult to cope with sometimes. That said, I’m remarkably fit for someone of my age and am so grateful to still be here and relatively in one piece.
My family are well, my grandson did brilliantly in his end of year assessments and we are proud of him. My garden is looking spectacular – I’ve got plums, greengages, apples and pears in abundance for later on. I’ve come to the conclusion that I no longer have the energy or inclination to take holidays so I’m going to stick with days out and not be away from home. However, when my good friend Lizzie Lane is able to offer me accommodation for a few days in Bath next year then I shall certainly make the effort to go there as I really enjoyed it last year.

I am busy writing – my sales are good on the whole and I am absolutely delighted to be a successful member of the Boldwood team. I passed the half a million sales milestone and have a framed poster to prove it. Boldwood have set up a new scheme with The Works and we now have a Boldwood Bay and I was fortunate enough to be one of the forty-two books that were selected to go in it. Trouble at Pemberley is the title that the buyers at The Works selected which surprised me as my Regency backlist books with Boldwood have really not gained any traction at all.

I shall now have a short break and then start research for the fifth book in my popular Harbour House series set in Wivenhoe in Essex. This doesn’t have to be in until the end of October but I intend to start writing before the end of this month. The fourth book, Blitz Spirit at Harbour House, is on preorder and out on 9 October and is already ranking around 1500 to 2500 every day on preorders. This is the best I’ve ever done on pre-orders and the reviews for these books have been really good. This will be the fifth book I have written this year, (two are full length Regency) and there might well be a sixth depending how I feel.

Now to the most important piece of information that you’re all waiting for – Loki – my constant companion and light of my life is thriving and I couldn’t love him more. You can just see him under the bench in the photograph. Sometimes I think I might get a second British shorthair because he’s so wonderful but as he was an absolute demon when he was a kitten I really couldn’t face that again. Also cats don’t really like companions apart from a human one and I wouldn’t want to upset him. Another reason not to get a second cat is that I have to get up at dawn to let out Loki and goodness knows how many times I’d have to get up if there were two of them. Until next time,
best wishes
Fenella J Miller

Here we are again – the first day of summer and so far in the UK the weather has been unseasonably warm and dry. The warmest and driest spring on record – which is very concerning. However, my garden is looking spectacular so like most people I’m enjoying the unexpected bonus of sunny days.

Some fantastic news on the writing front as far as I’m concerned. The first piece of good news is that I’ve sold half a million copies with Boldwood since my first book came out in February 2021. Strangely I was even more pleased to hear that someone who won a book of mine in a raffle – a year six teacher – enjoyed it so much that she’s reading it to her children as their class book as the subject they’re studying is Women in War. I’m not sure which book she is reading as I can’t remember the titles I donated to the VE Day celebration.

I’ve now handed in the fourth book in my Harbour House series – Blitz Spirit at Harbour House – and don’t have to start writing the fifth one until next month. This series is doing very well and as I’m contracted to write for more books (an eight book series) it’s a good thing that readers are enjoying them.

As you know I’m contracted to DP digital publishers and so far three of my backlist Regency Series, the Earl’s Disputed Inheritance, have been published and they are giving me exactly the covers that I want, which is good. I wish sales were better but you can’t have everything. I’m also contracted to write four new Regency titles but I renegotiated my contract and now only have to give in two books this year instead of four which is much more doable. I’m not exactly sure when the first book will be out, sometime in the autumn I think. I’ve already written one book and two thirds of the way through the second so plenty of time to get that done.

On the domestic front I think I told you that I’ve got long Covid back – it seems if I do anything energetic like going out for a day it reappears and I then take two days to recover. Also if I am unwell with one of my other minor unrelated problems that also triggers an episode. Apart from that, considering my age, I’m doing remarkably well.

Loki is wonderful as always and my constant joy and companion.

Until next month

Fenella J Miller