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Guest Post: How I Started Writing. By Carole Matthews.

I’d always been an avid reader, but I never really dreamed of being a writer. When I left school I worked as a secretary and then as a beauty therapist. It was then that I first started to write. I landed a job on Central Television presenting on a programme called Look Good, Feel Great and I wrote my own scripts for a weekly slot on aromatherapy. I then went on to work freelance for a number of magazines Women in Golf, Today’s Runner and numerous others who wanted to feature articles about beauty therapy or massage.

      I was also getting Writers’ News and Writing Magazine at the time, for market leads and decided to enter their Annual Short Story Competition. My story was the first piece of fiction that I’d written since leaving school and was called Another Bouquet. It was a dark little tale of adultery and deceit and off I sent it and pretty much forgot about it.

       To my astonishment, I won. To my further astonishment and that of others, I spent my thousand pound prize money not on shoes and handbags, but on a writing course. Quite possibly the most sensible thing that I’ve ever done in my life!

      I went to Fen Farm Arts in Norfolk, sadly a place that has since lost its funding and no longer exists. But I had a great time there, focussing for the first time on my writing. I started a novel tentatively called Hanky Panky. The tutor, a lovely writer called Margaret Pemberton, read it and suggested that I send to an agent and very kindly gave me the name of one.

      I went away, finished the novel and, during Christmas week, submitted it to Darley Anderson’s agency. At the time they were getting 150 unsolicited manuscripts every week (now they get about 450) and, by some miracle, it was the only one that landed on his desk that week. So Darley took it home with him.

      He telephoned me when his office opened in the new year and took me on. Within a week he’d sold my novel to Headline and it became my first book, Let’s Meet on Platform 8.

      Now it’s seventeen years later and my twenty-first novel is just out, With Love at Christmas, but I’m still as big a fan of women’s fiction as I was then and there’s no job I’d rather do.

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‘Jules is a gifted college student- but at a personal cost. She has acquaintances instead of friends and family she's ashamed of- including a father battling addiction. When she discovers she can earn much needed money by donating her eggs, she believes she has finally found a way to save her father. Annie married her high school sweetheart and became a mother. After years of staying at home and struggling to support her family on just her husband's salary, she thinks she's found a way to recover a sense of purpose and bring in some extra cash. India has changed everything about herself: her name, her face, her past. When she falls for a wealthy older man, Marcus, she decides a baby will ensure her happy-ever-after. But her attempts at pregnancy fail, and she must turn to Annie and Jules to help make her dream come true Then each of their plans is thrown into disarray when Marcus' daughter, intent on protecting her father, becomes convinced that his new wife is not what she seems...’

When gold-digger India marries an extremely wealthy older man, she feels a child is just what they need to cement their marriage. But having a baby isn’t nearly as easy as she thought, especially as her new step-daughter believes there to be an ulterior motive to her plans. India ends up enlisting the help of Jules, a student desperate enough for money to donate her eggs, and Annie, a mother herself, who wants to help support her family by being paid to be a surrogate. However, even the best laid plans can fall apart and when tragedy suddenly strikes some very tough decisions need to be made.

When I read the blurb to this book it sounded like an absolutely brilliant idea for a story: these women’s relationship is based solely on their connection with a child whom they’ve all had a part in creating, and I was very interested to discover where Weiner would go with the concept.

India was extremely cleverly written – she reinvented herself completely so she could catch herself a rich husband, and her plans have finally come to fruition. Despite this rather mercenary behaviour, she is, somewhat unexpectantly, a really nice person: she loves her husband and is genuinely kind to Annie in particular. Her intelligence also appealed to me, and, although she certainly makes mistakes, she ultimately redeems herself.

Annie was a delightfully stable character, and completely adores her family. I didn’t really agree with what she decides to do to make the extra money her family needs, and could more than understand why her husband finds the situation so difficult. Despite this, she deals with everything brilliantly, ensuring that she makes things as easy as possible for everyone concerned. She’s rather dowdy compared to India, and the contrast between the two was nicely done.

One thing that I was a little surprised at was the lack of any sort of scene with Annie handing the baby over, particularly as all the plans which were so carefully put in place have gone somewhat awry by this point. I couldn’t work out whether the omission of such a scene was a deliberate ploy of the author’s or not.

All in all, ‘Then Came You’ lived up to my early expectations. I thought the book was well-written, and it certainly kept my interest throughout. I loved how different all its heroines were, and how such an unlikely bunch came together. Although I might not have approved of some of their actions, they were all ultimately likeable and I could empathise with them. Weiner really gets to the bottom of her characters, which is what made this novel a very satisfying read.

4 stars

For more reviews go to my review section.

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This is the latest in Tony Robinson’s ‘Weird World of Wonders’ series. It was published for this year’s World Book Day and I got it for free with my World Book Day voucher.

Once again the Curiosity Crew are off on their adventures. The Crew are Jojo, Stig, Grace, Peewee and Nits the dog and in this book they are investigating different inventions.

 I think Tony Robinson is a very good author; he’s great at explaining things in an amusing way. My favourite part of the book was about an automatic boomerang, this had a picture of a dog with a speech bubble that really made me giggle!

‘Inventions’ is shorter than the others in the series as it only costs £1, but it’s still very funny. I didn’t think this was quite as good as Tony Robinson’s history books from the same series, but it’s still well worth getting! I can’t wait for the next books in this series.

 4 stars

For more of Christopher's reviews visit his page!