MONDAY MAGIC - Louise Forster

Thank you Maggie for giving me this opportunity to join your blog.

Hi Everyone,

When Maggie ran out of books to read she wrote her own. When I ran out of books to read to my daughters, I made them up as I sat on their edge of their beds. You might think this is strange — how could anyone possibly run out of story books? But we were living in Holland at the time. Some of the stories stayed with me. Later, when the girls were grown up, I bought an old, second-hand computer and put the stories down on paper. 

I love romance and thought I’d try my hand at writing a romance novel. I loved it; I had so much fun with my characters. In 2000, I won the Emma Darcy award with my co-writer and editor Danielle de Valera (Ellis). After that, I began writing mainstream on my own and in 2008, I entered a US competition, The Charter Oak Romance Writers’ Golden Acorn Excellence in Writing Award, a chapter of Romance Writers of America, and came 3^rd with The Secret Life Of Bob, which is now entitled Finding Veronica, and is available in paperback and Kindle. This will soon be followed by, Finding Elizabeth and then Finding Alexandra — unless I come up with a better name, I’m open to suggestions. J

I’ve been an RWA member for 12 years and recently joined a writers’ site called YouWriteOn, which is funded by the UK Arts Council. I found it an excellent place to obtain reviews from other writers who don’t know you or your work. They often see things from a completely different angle, and make you think outside the box. I love brainstorming with family and a dear friend in Tasmania. This always helps me out of sticky situations. Suddenly, there’s a light-bulb moment and I’m given an escape route.

I consider myself lucky to have family who will listen to my questions about a scene. Writing is a solo career, but there are many who help bring a book to its conclusion, for example, critique groups, fellow writers, and online courses. Once I’m on the last draft, there are five people I can call on to read it through. One is great at telling me where it needs tightening. If I complain, I’ll get a look, then several looks and an eye-roll. Another is great at telling me where I’ve skimmed and suggesting where it needs depth. Yet another loves timelines. My Tassie friend Janine Rowe, does all of the above. She also suggested the title for the first book, which led to titles for the next two. I hope readers enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them.

If you have PDF you can read the first two chapters of Finding Veronica. If you pop in to my website, please drop me a line on the contact page, I would love to hear from you.

Thank you, and happy reading,

Louise Forster  

www.louiseforster.com   e-mail louise@louiseforster.com

Back page synopsis, Finding Veronica:

Funny, sassy, sexy, with a touch of mystery.

London based chef, Jennifer Dove believe she leads an exciting life, until her unconventional sister, and wanna-be Goth niece, join her to attend their uncle’s mad-cap funeral in Australia. Barely hours into her stay, she disturbs an intruder and is questioned by police. Sexy local, Calum McGregor, is an easygoing guy, unless he thinks Jennifer is in danger. Throw in fluffy pink stilettos, a fireman to the rescue, a Russian skulking about, and already life is more interesting, and it’s only day two. Will she ever unravel her uncle’s cryptic message and find his missing girlfriend, Veronica? Time is running out, in more ways than one.

FINDING VERONICA is available as paperback and on kindle at Amazon, The Book Depository, Barns & Noble, Booktopia, Fishpond etc.