My New Novel: On Turtle Beach

Well the day has finally arrived where I can say ‘I’ve published my novel’. No more questions from people asking me ‘when?’ No more asking myself questions like How? What if? Should I do this? Should I do that? And I have to say it’s quite a relief to have got it out there now. I’m posting a day earlier than usual, because I can’t stand this waiting any longer. What comes next, I have no idea, sink or swim, maybe ;>) I will be posting about the journey soon, not all the technical stuff, there’s masses of information about that, so much it can drive you a little crazy, but more about the inner process.

And always at the back of my mind was (and still is) that great quote from Gandhi which I posted many months ago now, which to my mind pertains so aptly to creative people. When we lose a little heart from time to time, chanting this to yourself can put that heart right back in there.

”Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”

And I wrote about how I feel about this quote in an earlier post here

But now, I hope you don’t mind me telling you about On Turtle Beach (and I get to do italics now!), which is very close to my heart and always will be because it’s my first novel and I so relished the writing of it. US link to it here

Here is the full cover:

And here the description/blurb:

Struggling artist, Lucy, and her successful sister, Rhea, go on holiday together to Dalyan in Turkey to try to heal their relationship, and so fulfil their father’s dying wish. But they soon realise that Lucy’s passionate nature and Rhea’s restraint means it’s difficult to find common ground. Lucy wants to bond, but Rhea would rather read her novel. When Lucy tries to get Rhea to talk about their childhood and why their relationship suddenly deteriorated, Rhea refuses to discuss it and Lucy becomes suspicious she is hiding something. Tensions soon escalate, and against the backdrop of the turtle beach, Lucy is forced to come up with a plan to get her sister to open up. Can Lucy discover what family secrets her sister is hiding, the revealing of which threatens to destroy them both?

I’m just in the process of getting to know Goodreads, and I enjoyed answering one of their stock questions the other day, which I’d like to share…

Q: Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

A: I often used to wonder how my sister and I would get on if we went on holiday together, just the two of us, and I asked other women how they felt about this situation too. Most seemed to flinch at the idea, coming from the premise that they and their sister were too different, were like chalk and cheese and would probably bicker or come to blows. I thought it would be great to explore this. Holidaying in Dalyan, Turkey, gave me my setting for the story, and the themes came in from there. I thoroughly enjoyed writing the novel and actually miss the two sister protagonists very much! Meanwhile, just in case you’re wondering, through writing the novel, my real life sister and I are actually getting on much better than ever before.

That’s it for now, and thank you all for your support of this blog, it really is very much appreciated. Cheers until next time!