My Diary – Archive

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

April, like March has been dry and sunny. Lots of lovely solar power stored up in my battery and sold to the grid. I can highly recommend having solar panels installed in your house – these will have paid for themselves in five years and will have already added the cost to the value of the house itself.

I went on my second cruise two weeks ago and it will be my last. There was nothing particularly wrong with the cruise itself, but I just think I’m not a fan of being trapped in a ship at sea with fourteen hundred strangers. Having my closest friend sharing my cabin made things fun most of the time – I did go ashore twice – but missed the Scilly Isles which was a shame. I’ve cancelled the third cruise and a trip to Bath to stay with a friend as being away from home no longer seems to suit my constitution. Long Covid reappeared a few weeks ago – my GP said that this is happening a lot – which makes everything more difficult. Hopefully this will go away as suddenly as it came.

In future I’ll just go away for one night – I think Loki and I can cope with that. I’m going to my publisher’s party, Boldwood, in three weeks and hopefully I won’t be ill for that like I was for the cruise. I’m hoping to meet up with the friend I won’t be now seeing in Bath in London in the autumn – we can stay somewhere for the night and go to a show and have a meal and catch up.

On the writing front I’ve just had the last two of my backlist Regency books out yesterday – A Rebellious Bride and The Duke’s Bride, and I’ve got two of my Regency’s in a Kobo audio feature which is very good news. As you know I signed with another publisher to have further backlist Regency re-released and for a four book new series. I think that was a mistake – I’ve been spoilt working with Aria and now Boldwood and expected this new company to be as efficient and easy to work with. Hopefully the glitches will smooth out as this new digital first publisher becomes more established.

My series, Harbour House, is doing so well and thank you for supporting this new venture. I’m over half way through writing the fourth instalment – due out in October – and the third book, All Change at Harbour House, is due out on June 9th. Both Boldwood and myself are delighted with the amount of preorders.

In two days’ time I’ll be an octogenarian – how did that happen? My brain functions almost as well as it ever did but unfortunately my body often refuses to cooperate. I’m having an afternoon tea party for thirty on the day itself and I’m looking forward to being surrounded by family and friends. This will be the last time I celebrate a birthday – nobody wants to be reminded that they’re creeping inevitably towards their demise.

My garden’s looking spectacular – my little wildlife pond had three lots of frogspawn and is now teeming with tadpoles. As I’ve also somehow acquired a newt so I think the tadpoles days are definitely numbered. I’m so lucky to have this lovely garden, the perfect home, wonderful neighbours and family and friends within a short driving distance. I’m also incredibly lucky to be a bestselling writer.

Until next time

Fenella J Miller

Finally, spring is here and the garden is beginning to bloom. Despite the mild weather and sunshine we’ve had for the last few weeks according to Amazon last year my fruit trees were in blossom and they aren’t today. I’ve some tulips, some daffodils and narcissi and lots of shoots coming up of plants that I don’t know the names of. I think in a month the garden will be looking wonderful again.

I can’t remember what I wrote about last month but I think I must have told you that I signed up with a second publisher for Regency only. That seems to be going all right, but I’m struggling a bit to keep up with the workload. I’m having to write a Regency and a World War II at the same time – I don’t recommend it. I’m trying to push on as in a couple of weeks I’m going for my second cruise with my best friend – the last one I was unwell the whole time – so I’m hoping it’ll be better this time. A whole week with no writing, just talking to a friend, visiting Honfleur, Scilly Isles and Cork. The cruise is also a crafting cruise but I don’t think we’ll bother with that.

Spring must have gone to my brain – with the able assistance of my neighbour (who is in fact older than me) I’ve emptied five of my kitchen cupboards, cleaned and sorted everything, and Stacey Solomon would be proud of me. I’ve given all my precious French white porcelain china that we used when we had a French style bistro thirty-five years ago away to a friend who’s just opening a restaurant. I’ve not used any of it since I moved here five years ago but it had fond memories for me as Dusty and I bought it together on our many trips to France. These are the before and after pictures. Aren’t you impressed?

I’ve just one more cupboard to do – my neighbour is coming next week sometime – and then I’ll be able to open doors without things falling out. I turned the central heating off yesterday – I expect I’ll have to put it on again at some point but I really don’t need to be 26° in my main living room.

I’ve got the return of Long Covid, I didn’t know that was the thing but my GP said they are finding people who had long Covid at any point can get a relapse if they are unwell or under stress. I had an armful of blood taken – I think they must have tested for bubonic plague and leprosy they did so many. Everything was tickety-boo, which is good to know. I’m going for my spring Covid booster tomorrow which will mean I won’t work Friday as I’ll be in bed with a temperature of 38°. It only lasts a day or two that I’m going on a cruise I think it’s essential.

Until next month

Fenella J Miller

Lots of exciting news to tell you this month. I’ve just signed a nine book contract with a second publisher, dp digital, they have taken five Regency backlist and four new Regency titles. I shall continue to write World War II sagas for the fabulous Boldwood.  I also signed my third eight book contract with Boldwood so I know what I’ll be doing until 2028.

I’ll be an octogenarian in May – twenty years after I had my first book published I’m about to write my hundredth book – that will be out in the summer some time. I’m proud of what I’ve achieved and it just goes to show that age is no barrier if you’ve got the ability and the drive to achieve your dream. Every day I’m grateful that I write books that people want to read, that I’ve got a circle of wonderful friends and neighbours as well as my beloved family close by to support me in everything I do.

There are not many people my age who can still work full-time and earn three times the amount that they did when they were working full-time as a teacher. The adage that you can’t take it with you when you go is forefront in my mind. Therefore, I’m going on two cruises, a two-day trip to London and a five-day trip to Bath this year. I might even book another cruise for the autumn but I’ll wait and see how things go on the one in April.

I’m busy writing – I have to do two more books for Boldwood and three more for DP digital to hand in before the end of the year. This means that I’m writing a World War II book one day and a Regency book the next – hopefully this will mean I get everything done and in by my deadlines. Obviously, I won’t be working when I’m on holiday which takes three weeks out of the equation. My health isn’t always wonderful – very few people of my age are tickety-boo every day – but generally I’m not too bad.

The first two of my six book The Duke’s Alliance series came out last week, the second two  come out next month and the last two in April.  If you didn’t read them first time round I can highly recommend them – I think they are the best Regencies I’ve written to date.

My Harbour House series seems to have taken off and I’m delighted about that. The first book, Wartime Arrivals at Harbour House is ranking at 345, the second one, Stormy Weather at Harbour House which came out at the beginning of this month is 342, and the third one, All Change at Harbour House which has yet to have its proper cover and isn’t out until June is ranking between two and three thousand. I’ve just started writing the fourth one which will be out in October this year.

until next month

best wishes

Fenella J Miller

Thank goodness January is over – for some reason it seems to last for months. What’s new on the writing front I hear you ask? Well, I decided that as this is a significant year for me – twenty years since my first book was published with the wonderful Robert Hale, and this year my hundredth book will be out with Boldwood. They haven’t had a hundred books from me so far, although it might seem like that. In fact, I’ve written so far fourteen new titles and they’ve taken twenty-four backlist. I’m about to sign my third eight book contract which will take me into 2028. I also decided that this year I want to challenge myself – I’ll be an octogenarian in May – so another significant milestone.

Therefore, I dug out the two books I’d written in a romantasy series about a decade and a half ago, and see if they could be made publishable for today’s audience. They’ve never been published not even as indie books. At the time I wrote the required book of rules for the alternative universe which fortunately I’ve still got. My lovely editor listened to my pitch and said she’d read the first one and get back to me quickly. I’ve not heard and am not sure if this is because she doesn’t want it or she is actually reading the rest because she thinks it might work. The second book hasn’t been updated or rewritten and I’ve just got a brief outline for the third and possibly fourth book in the series. Watch this space.

My other project that seems to have overtaken the romantasy one is to start writing new Regency romantic adventures. Now I’ve dropped back to three books a year I’ve got plenty of time to write at least two new titles, possibly three, in between my World War II sagas. Ten of the backlist books that Boldwood took are Regency and they’ve not been gaining any traction at all although they are, if I may say so myself, excellent books in the genre. Four are Jane Austen variations around the main characters in Pride and Prejudice. The first one, Return To Pemberley, had a bookbub promotion yesterday and from nowhere it’s now ranking under two thousand. My editor and I discussed whether it would help the sales of these backlist books to publish new titles. As I can write a Regency in about three weeks you can see why I could make this work. I’m two thirds of the way through the first new title which I started last week and at the moment I don’t know if I’ll be indie publishing it or if Boldwood will want it. As it’s the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth this four book series is set in Bath.

Considering my antiquity, I’m in remarkably good shape for someone of my age. The usual -itisis, associated with getting old but apart from that nothing serious. I decided last year that this year I’d get everything organised for my departure from this world. I’ve prepaid my funeral and have everything ready. I’m starting to clear out things that I know will just be upsetting and unwanted by my son – I’ve still got literally hundreds and hundreds of photographs that my dearly departed husband took, and used to sit and sort out and put into albums when he was unable to do anything else. I couldn’t bear to part with them initially. I’m definitely going to take out the few that might be wanted and throw away the rest sometime this year.

I’m also going on my second cruise with Ambassador, might have been ill 80% of my five day cruise last year but I still enjoyed it. I’m sharing with a friend which will make things easier and we are going to Honfleur, Scilly Isles and Cork. France is my favourite country, the Scilly Isles should be beautiful with all the spring flowers in April, and my mother was born in Cork and I’ve never been to the Republic of Ireland. Also the last cruise was pop music themed which meant the other passengers had come for the music, the discos and the beer. This next one is a craft themed cruise so I’m sure those that those passengers who have chosen to come on this will be quieter as will the ship.

In August I’m going on all-inclusive incredibly expensive once-in-a-lifetime cruise with Saga to Norway. On this cruise I’m going with three other writers so it’s very much business related. The cruise ship is  going to put in their itinerary that four writers will be in the library on sea days and happy to speak to anyone who cares to come along. It’s not to sell books, it’s too get to know possible readers.

The Regency books are out at the end of this month and Stormy Waters at Harbour House is out next week.

I’d better stop rambling as I’ve already written far more than usual,

until next month,

best wishes

Fenella J Miller