Chasin' A Dream With Margaret Tanner!!!!

Welcome back, TLN'ers!!

We've got another awesome author visiting us today! Ain't that a great way to start the day?!

Please give a warm Howdy-do to MARGARET TANNER! She's back with a guest blog sure to inspire us all. Kick up your heels and grab another danish, don't worry no one will tell! Get ready, because here we go . . .


Thank you Sarah for inviting me to The Lovestruck Novice.

My latest release from The Wild Rose Press, Frontier Wife, has led a tortured existence. It has been briefly published before (twice) with the title of The English Rose, great title but very unlucky in my case. Each time, something happened with the publishers that was beyond my control - like going out of business. This was my first published novel and I wanted to curl up in a corner and die, I really did, but I re-worked my story and sent it to TWRP and after some great editing work it is now out in the public arena once more and I couldn’t be happier. So, the moral of the story is – have faith in your work and never give up.

Now, as a follow up to this, and reinforcing the adage of never giving up, I am posting part of a talk that I once gave on this topic.

So you want to get published.

You have written a fabulous novel, your mother loved it and your girlfriend said it was the best story she had ever read.

Now, who is the lucky publisher? You know everyone will want it. The dollar sign lights up in your eyes. Six figure advance, well maybe you would take five for starters. You are already debating what you will wear to your first book launch. Who will play the lead role when your masterpiece is made into a movie? Be honest, haven’t we all thought like this?

I have sent manuscripts to the large category romance publishers. The bigger the better I thought and received rejection letters, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. I could paper the side wall of my house with them. Along the way I entered and won, or was commended in, unpublished manuscript awards so I was reassured that I had some talent.

In desperation, after a few rejections, I once sent a manuscript off and pretended to be my husband. I wrote a little introductory note saying I was a male nightshift worker at an international airport, (which he was. Of course, he couldn’t write a romance novel to save his life).

A couple of months later the manuscript was returned from the junior editor saying she quite liked the storyline, I really did write like a woman, but they had read something similar only a few weeks previously. Devastating news.

A few weeks before Christmas, a friend of ours proposed a daring plan that would get me out of the ‘slush’ pile. He said. “Wrap the manuscript up in Christmas paper, put a fancy ribbon on it and send it off addressed to the senior editor. No junior editor would dare open the boss’ Christmas present.” What a master stroke I thought, the man was an absolute genius.

Well, a couple of months later, said present winged its way back to me, my pretty ribbons intact, sticky tape untouched by human hand. The note was brief and to the point. Thank you for the gift, but we don’t accept presents, wishing you Merry Christmas etc. etc. The rejection was killing. I felt like the world had ended.

Then I got smart, and started researching publishers who published the kind of novels I wrote and whose business structures were sound.

It has taken me years and a lot of perseverance to get this far, but I am multi-published now and have two publishers, Whiskey Creek Press and The Wild Rose Press.

BIO: Margaret Tanner is an award winning multi-published Australian author. She is a member of the Romance Writers of Australia, the Melbourne Romance Writers Group (MRWG) and EPIC.

She loves delving into the pages of history as she carries out research for her historical romance novels, and prides herself on being historically correct. No book is too old or tattered for her to trawl through, no museum too dusty, no cemetery too overgrown. Many of her novels have been inspired by true events, with one being written around the hardships and triumphs of her pioneering ancestors in frontier Australia.

FRONTIER WIFE
Only in the new world can a highborn young Englishwoman and a tough frontier man, ignite the passion that will fulfil their hopes and dreams in ways they never imagined possible.

Tommy Lindsay arrives in colonial Australia to claim the rundown farm she and her brothers have inherited.

Hidden behind her fragile English beauty, beats the heart of a courageous young woman. She will need all this strength to survive the unforgiving heat, and the dangers lurking around every corner. Lost in the bush, capture by a feral mountain family, raging bushfires are nothing compared to the danger she faces if she gives her heart to Adam Munro.

Adam Munro, a rugged frontier man, has no room in his heart to love a woman. All he ever wanted was a presentable wife who would provide him with heirs. He didn’t need passion in his life, not until he fell under the spell of the beautiful young Englishwoman living next door to him.



Now, that is what I call a sweet treat! I'd like to thank Margaret for coming back to hang out with us and for sharing such a wonderful post, too! If you'd like to know more about Margaret Tanner, please click on over to her lovely website: Margaret Tannerhttp://www.margarettanner.com/

FRONTIER WIFE published by The Wild Rose Press
http://www.thewildrosepress.com/frontier-wife-p-4099.html

THANK YOU, TLN'ers! It's always a treat to see you here! I want to take you back and get your toes tapping to a tune with a whole lot of heart! Here's SHANIA TWAIN with WHAT MADE YOU SAY THAT! Take care and have a great weekend! See you Moanday!

Get Addicted to Margaret Tanner!!

Oh-Da-Lolly!! Like a bad penny, I'm baaaack!

Hope you've got a fantastic weekend planned. Nothing like spending time with family and friends to make us appreciate the good things in life!

If you're in need of a read for your holiday travel and historicals are on the menu, well, belly up to the bar-b-que because I've got another author on the TLN Hot Seat!

Please help me welcome the delighful Margaret Tanner!!

Whether it be a love story set in 1800's Australia or WW1, readers are sure to be swept off their feet. Her latest release, WILD OATS, is fresh out of the garden over at The Wild Rose Press.

Snitch a "Me time" moment and fall in love with Margaret Tanner!!


1)If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

Margaret Tanner’s historical romantic adventures have tortured but gallant heroes and brave compassionate heroines. They will transport you to another time and another place.

2) Using three words, describe your voice.

Passionate. Dramatic. Emotional.

3) What's been the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome in your writing?

Finding enough time to write. There are never enough hours in the day.

4) How to you structure your writing time? All plotting or do you wing it? Word/page count goal to reach each day?

I wing it I suppose you could say. If I have an idea, I just go with it. I always write my first draft in long hand, trying to get the words down as quickly as I can. I don’t bother with full stops, commas, capital letters etc. because it stops my flow. Plenty of time for revision later. And as someone once said, you can’t revise an empty page.

5) If you had to start all over again, what's the one thing you've learned that would be the most beneficial?

Join a writing group.

6) Any tips on collecting and organizing research?

The only advice I can give is do what is comfortable for you. I mainly write historical novels, so I take lot of notes as I can’t rely on my memory. I visit historical sites, trawl through reference and history books in the library, trudge through cemeteries and badger elderly relatives for information. Also taking photos of historic places can be helpful.

7) What can Margaret Tanner fans look forward to this year from you?

My novel, Wild Oats, has recently been released by The Wild Rose Press. It is the prequel to The Trouble With Playboys.

EXCERPT:

Phillip gave the hovering waitress their order, and when she left he leaned back in the chair and surveyed Allison. No classical beauty, yet she exuded a glow that turned mere prettiness into something special, and she was not yet a woman. Her generous mouth begged to be kissed, and passion, still not awakened, smouldered in her eyes. His experienced male instinct told him this.

“Phillip, your mind is wandering again.” Her fingers touched his wrist where it showed beneath his crisp white linen.

“Sorry.” His tanned, gentleman’s hand clasped her small, work-roughened one. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I’m not very interesting.” Nevertheless, she chatted on until their food arrived. Jim and Tommy were mentioned often, the old man not at all. He had heard about Jack Waverley being the town drunk, so little wonder the man did not figure in her conversation.

With an almost childish abandonment she tucked into the cake. He had never met anyone like her, happy and laughing even though she lived such a wretched existence.

“What about you? Do you live in one of those big ancestral English castles?”

He laughed. “Not a castle. A manor house would be nearer the mark. It’s in Yorkshire. We have a house in London, too.”

“Oh.” Her eyes became wide as saucers. “Do you have any brothers and sisters?”

“No, I’m an only child.”

“What about balls? Do your parents give them?”

“Yes, several times a year.”

“The gentry out here hold a hunt sometimes, and they always have a ball afterwards.”

“Have you been?”

Her laugh sounded spontaneous and without malice. “We’re not gentry. Anyway, Jim says if I went to a toffy turn I’d do something stupid, like trip over.” Her infectious amusement made him laugh.

“Phillip you’re not eating your other cake.”

He pushed the plate away. “They’re too sweet for me.” He looked up and smiled. “Would you like it?”

“Yes, please.” She ate with youthful enjoyment then licked her fingers, something a lady would never do, yet with her it did not seem out of place.

“All finished?” he queried.

“Yes, I enjoyed it. I hope you don’t think me too greedy.”

“You’re sweet.” He seduced her with his eyes, but there was not a flicker of awareness. More innocent than he’d first thought, he realized, but this did not stop the twisting knot of desire building up in his groin.

Now, there is a tasty tidbit to leave you hungering for more! I'd like to thank Margaret for her time. She's coming to us from gorgeous Australia. (Wah-hoo for some Tim-Tams!! Yum!) If you'd like to know more about Margaret Tanner and her books, please check out: http://www.margarettanner.com/
Buyers Link: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/wild-oats-p-3893.html

Thank you, TLN'ers!! Here's hoping your weekend is full of fun and festivities! Let's get the mood going with some BRAD PAISLEY and his LITTLE MOMENTS. Take Care and enjoy those little moments this weekend . . .