I’m delighted to welcome Kate Baker, a New Writers’ Scheme member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, to my blog.
For those unfamiliar with the RNA - New Writers’ Scheme, the scheme offers unpublished writers the chance to network with fellow writers, agents and publishers…and includes many more membership benefits.
Hello
Kate – Thank you for joining me on Arabella’s Blog and Chit-Chat, today. As we
whizz through a few Questions & Answers, hopefully, readers and followers
can gain an insight into some of the things that matter to you as a writer.
It's a chance for all of us to get to know you a little as you make your way
towards the publication of your novel. So, let's get started... 😊
Arabella: How did you hear about or discover: The Romantic Novelists’ Association - New Writers’ Scheme?
Kate: I learned of the RNA through a reading-buddy in a Facebook
group called The Fiction Cafe Book Club. She very quickly became a
writing-buddy - the lovely Julie Morris.
Arabella: What is your romance genre and why have you chosen this particular type of novel to write?
Kate:
I
struggle to pinpoint my exact genre, having written one contemporary romance
suspense manuscript, and now a historical romance. A third idea is an
intergenerational friendship-based contemporary story. If I realise my dream to
find an agent, perhaps they’ll help me to hone one genre!
Arabella: When and where do you write? Early mornings
when the world is still sleeping? Late afternoons when you’ve time to relax? Or
other opportune moments…?
Kate: This summer I
turned a box room upstairs into my writing room, to keep it separate from the
farm accounts desk which is in the busy thoroughfare that is our hallway.
Upstairs, I can close the door and stare out into the fields, put some music on
and type undisturbed. I just hope my self-assembled desk and chair don’t give
way!
Arabella: Do you have anyone supporting your writing endeavours? Friends, family, writing groups, etc?
Kate: My musings
blog has been fairly stagnant for six months while I allocate my rare writing
time to my novel and, more recently, weekly zoom workshops with Anstey Harris.
I watched her win her award at the RONAs in March, and immediately bought her
winning title, 'The Truths & Triumphs of Grace Atherton’. I fell in love
with her writing, and then discovered she is a tutor. I left school at 16, and
had many gaping holes where knowledge should be!
Arabella: You’ve arranged
to meet up with friends and family for an afternoon of fun. Where do you go and
what do you do?
Kate:
I miss
meeting friends in Covent Garden, securing an upstairs table at the Punch &
Judy and sipping a spritzer overlooking the cobbles where street entertainers
brighten any day.
Arabella: So…you are a member of the RNA’s – NWS which means you are in the throes of writing the next bestseller.
No spoilers and without
revealing too much about your plot… (otherwise, someone might pinch your great story
ideas before they’ve been published… J ) Tell us briefly about the
romance you’ve submitted to the RNA’s - New Writers’ Scheme for a friendly
critique, before approaching an agent or publisher with your completed
manuscript.
Kate:
My
suffragette novel went through the NWS system this summer and I had some
wonderful advice from my Reader in the Report. So many details I’d not given
enough thought to and to have the opportunity to improve those, and to develop
the plot is essential. It would be so easy to waste a one-to-one opportunity
and submit a first draft, thinking it was good enough. I’ve since gone back to
the drawing board and had some further help from a mentor and am about to
embark on a serious edit during the remaining weeks of 2020!
Thank you so much for sharing something about yourself with us, Kate.
Meanwhile, best wishes for any NWS works in progress, and I hope
your manuscripts find a home with the romance agent or publisher of your
dreams.
Arabella
About Kate Frances
I live on a Suffolk farm with my husband of
twenty-six years. Our two grown-up children still spend time with us by
choice, so we’ve done okay in the parenting department! I’ve run my own
horse-rug cleaning and repairing business in a workshop here for
fourteen years and last year was allocated the role of farm secretary by
my seventy-something father in law, so that’s been a baptism of fire!
I’ve read more novels since I’ve started writing and there’s nothing I prefer than sinking into my old and thinning beanbag with an emotional yarn.
Social
Media Links:
Facebook: Kate
Baker
Instagram: katefranceswrites
Twitter:
@BleuViola
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