‘Are you sure? Thank you. I planned to leave about ten o’clock.’
Their roast dinners appeared at that moment and the three of them tucked in.
‘I hope you’ve got room in your suitcase for this,’ Maureen said an hour later as the three of them prepared to leave the pub and she held out a present bag to Joan. ‘Nothing too big or heavy. Birthday cards and small presents for both of them from Teddy and I.’
‘Thank you,’ Joan said. ‘I promise to hand them over on the right days.’
25
Liz found the note when she woke up early to join the others for a swim and smiled as she read it. She definitely did fancy spending time with Guy this afternoon – it would be something to look forward to after a morning writing. But first, a swim.
The other three were waiting for her in the hallway when she ran downstairs. She was relieved when nobody commentated on her absence on Sunday and the four of them made their way to the beach and were quickly in the water.
‘It hasn’t warmed up at all, has it?’ Liz said, shivering as she walked into the water until it was deep enough for her to duck her shoulders under and start to swim.
‘I checked and it’s currently about fourteen degrees Celsius,’ Lorraine said. ‘Another couple of weeks and it will be twenty. By August, it will be around twenty-three degrees and rising – almost bath temperature.’
Ten minutes later, they were all floating on their backs, getting their breath back before the swim back to shore, when Helena said, ‘I am so glad I booked this retreat. I’ve written more of my novel in one week than I’ve ever managed before. And Sandy’s advice has been wonderful. On top of that, I’ve made new friends. Are we going to keep in touch when we leave?’
‘Definitely,’ Lorraine said. ‘Shall I set up a WhatsApp group for the six of us and send you all the link?’
‘Yes, better than Facebook,’ Helena said. ‘Thank you.’
‘Time for breakfast,’ Mandy said. ‘I for one am starving. Race you back,’ and she was gone.
* * *
Sandy started the first informal session of the week talking about being a self-published author and asking Lorraine to explain why she went the self-publishing route.
‘I started writing romantasy before it was a “thing”. I got so many rejection letters telling me the story was well written and had caught their interest but they didn’t see a market for it. Getting an agent too was impossible, so I took a deep breath, watched lots of YouTube videos on how to self-publish and went for it. Now, of course, romantasy is big.’
‘And you’re one of its biggest success stories,’ Sandy said.
Lorraine nodded. ‘Yes, but I can’t stress enough how hard it was. Everything is down to the self-published author.Everything.Writing the book is the easy bit. Outsourcing cover design, editing and all those other essential things is difficult enough, but marketing requires a whole new skillset. The plus, of course, is without a publisher or an agent your royalties are higher.’
‘Are you planning on staying as a self-published author?’ Sandy asked.
‘I’m not sure, to be honest,’ Lorraine said. ‘Publishers have started to approach me, but none of them have come up with a truly tempting offer. I might try submitting the next book and seeing what happens. The dream, of course, is a Big Five publisher and a film deal.’ Lorraine laughed. ‘As if. But you’ve got to dream big, haven’t you?’
Becky, when she returned in time for the last few minutes of the session, was full of her glamorous weekend and the people she’d met. ‘You won’t believe the number of stars that are in Antibes already for the Cannes Film Festival. So many of them staying at the Eden Roc Hotel. Xavier took me to a party there. The security there was incredible. So glad I was with Xavier, I don’t think they would have let me in otherwise. I’ve been to lots of hotels down here, from Monaco to St. Tropez, but Eden Roc Hotel is sublime in every respect.’
‘It sounds amazing,’ Mandy said. ‘Were you allowed to take photographs?’
‘Not at the Eden Roc party, but I did manage to take a couple of shots of the grounds and the outside of the hotel. Lots of photos from the rest of the weekend, though. Have any of you looked at my socials today? No? Oh, please do. I’ve had so much interaction and lots of new followers.’
As the session came to an end, the others stood up and left Becky for her one-to-one with Sandy.
Becky sat back happily and smiled at Sandy. ‘So, what do you think about my book? It’s good, isn’t it?’
Sandy took a deep breath and chose her words with care. ‘I think the premise of the story is good, but, and there’s always a but?—’
‘I’ve worked really hard on it,’ Becky protested.
‘I’m sure you have,’ Sandy said. ‘And once you’ve finished it, you will have a first draft to do more work on before it’s good enough to send out to publishers. Writing a book is all about rewriting and rewriting. I’ve added some notes and ideas for you to consider.’ She hesitated, but she couldn’t ignore the amount of AI she’d noticed in the manuscript. ‘One of the things you need to work on is replacing the AI material with your own words.’
Becky looked at her. ‘Seriously, you could tell some of it was AI?’
Sandy nodded. ‘Yes.’ As Becky regarded her silently, she continued. ‘Read my notes and suggestions, talk to the others, show them some of the passages you’ve written and see whether they agree with my assessment of your characters lacking the depth and empathy that fiction needs.’
