Has anyone else living in the Chandler’s Ford area published an ebook or printed copy?
I’ve just published my first novel, Marriage A Journey And A Dog, and I would love your feedback.
I read how it takes 5 minutes to upload a book onto Kindle Publishing. It does when you have a perfect manuscript and all the required information correctly formatted. The process of writing a contemporary romantic novel, Marriage A Journey And A Dog, took me three years to complete. Then it took me 3 weeks to learn how to upload it.
by Brenda Sedgwick.
About the novel: Natalie is married to a man who loves sport more than her. Her daughter is becoming independent, her dad is moving away and her job as a Bingo caller is at a dead end. What will happen to her now she is 40? She wants romance in her marriage and doesn’t know how to kindle the flame. Her love of art and photography are buried inside her. Her life turns around after driving alone in France and Spain with her dog and returning to a difficult marriage but also new opportunities. Will her habit of restraint, brought on by her past, let her go into a new life of love and creative success?
I understand how artists always want to touch up their work and never agree it’s finished, but one day recently I pressed the publish button. The heroine in my novel lives in Eastleigh and travels to France and Spain, an easy thing to do when you live in our area.
Do you know of any other novels set in this area, famous or not? A literary agent at Winchester Writers’ Conference once said to me that she had come to Winchester looking for novels set in Hampshire and was disappointed to find that no one had sent her one.
I write because I enjoy creating characters and telling their story. My career was in education and my retirement is spent helping the family and volunteer teaching in Sri Lanka. When I want some quiet time I hide away and write.
There must be lots of writers in the area and it would be interesting to read a blog post from you on Chandler’s Ford Today.
If you would like to see the result of hours of writing, editing, and computing then look up Marriage A Journey And A Dog on Amazon and check the look inside option. It is only in Kindle format but I’m working on producing a paperback.
I hope other local writers will share a blog post and I look forward to reading about work in progress or successful published books.
Marriage A Journey And A Dog by Brenda Sedgwick
My debut novel Marriage A Journey And A Dog is in the genre of contemporary romance, but primarily intended to entertain. Laughter and tears weave their way through the heroine’s self searching journey, through France and Spain. My home is in the South of England where the novel begins.
I taught in Adult Education including working on communication and media studies in a high category prison for men and women and encouraging mental health patients to write. I love the creative use of language and the escapism it brings.
Now I go to Sri Lanka a lot, working in a school and with the people in a poor village. My husband is researching the effects of snakebite and chemical poisoning there. It’s a good place to take time out and write. Looking out over the Mahawali River to the jungle on the far side, listening to the birds and watching the monkeys, gives me the space to think and write. I am pleased to have my book available on Kindle and I would like a second book to be ready next year.
This novel goes beyond romance and provokes you to dig into mixed emotions such as love, loss, shame and guilt.
It confronts your fear and triggers you to face your deep-seated secrets and your raw emotion. It shows beautifully the interconnectedness of the life of the people around us.
As the story is set in Eastleigh, it brings alive the senses and smells that we’re so used to from the south of England.
I’m touched by the pursuits of the characters in the story. If love is transient, are you brave enough to break away from the norm and embrace the unknown? Are you worthy of happiness?
The story is rich in conversations and you hear different voices from the characters.
Interestingly, the philosopher Confucius considers reaching the age of 40, one should be established and have no delusion. One should be free from doubt and perplexities in life. Yet in the story, at 40, the character Natalie is trying to unravel her life. She examines her inner voices and faces up to her doubts in her imperfect life. It takes courage to even attempt unsettle an established lifestyle.
I would think a novel that gives you pleasure, while challenging your status quo and disturbing you at the same time, is a success. It’s also ambitious.
Marriage A Journey And A Dog is definitely worth your time.