I always get nostalgic at this time of the year. I suppose we all do, in a way. Looking back on all that has been. Looking forward to all that lies ahead in the New Year.
2015 was an important year for me. It started with lots of nerves and sleepless nights! After the success of The Girl Who Came Home in 2014, I really felt the pressure to follow up that success with A Memory of Violets. Family and friends told me I had nothing to worry about, but I worried anyway. Thankfully, my second novel was very well received. It even had a moment on TV in the U.S!
I breathed a sigh of relief as I continued to write my third novel,known for many months as ‘The Muse’ and finally given the wonderful title, later in the year, The Girl from The Savoy. As I work through my final proof read here, I am getting more and more excited about the book’s publication in June. Lots more to come on that over the coming months, including the reveal of the UK paperback cover.
In 2015, I feel that my writing life became more real. More solid. It became more about getting on with the job and less about dreams coming true, and I was glad of that. I was no longer a debut author. No longer a writer of just one book. My dreams became my career this year, and for that I am so grateful.
2015 also saw me take on a new challenge in writing a 10,000 word short story for the WWI anthology, Fall of Poppies. Working with eight other authors and a new editor was an entirely new and thoroughly enjoyable writing experience. The Great War was a new event and era for me to research and I became so fascinated by it that I hope to revisit it again at some stage. Fall of Poppies will be released on 1 March in the U.S. in ebook and paperback, and will be available in the UK/Ireland in paperback in April. The title is available to pre-order now, and individual e-shorts of each contributing author’s short story will also be released over the coming months.
In March, I won my first writing award, when I was presented with the RNA award for Historical Romantic Novel of the Year for The Girl Who Came Home. It was a moment I will always treasure – and I still pinch my self that it actually happened! It is lovely to see readers still discovering the book towards the end of 2015 (a book I wrote at my kitchen table in quiet obscurity in 2011) and to hear that it is still being enjoyed around the world. (p.s. *shameful self-promotion warning: it is currently on sale for just 99p on the UK Kindle store as part of their 12 Days of Kindle promotion!)
In the summer, I visited the new HarperCollins offices in London and my new UK editor, Kate Bradley, and the HarperFiction team who will be working on The Girl from The Savoy. To see my books lined up on the bookshelves behind the glasses of champagne was a moment I will never forget! I babbled on about nonsense while scoffing macarons, but they are still publishing the book, so that’s a relief!
I also saw my first foreign translation this year, with the Hungarian edition of The Girl Who Came Home. A new title ‘Sea Waves’ and a new cover made for another new experience. The book will next be published in Slovakia.
There were lots of other highlights this year, including speaking at Kanturk Arts Festival and Kildare Readers’ Festival, meeting secondary school students who have studied The Girl Who Came Home, speaking about social media at the annual RNA Summer Conference in London, interviewing Kate Mosse at Harrogate History Festival, learning that two friends finally got the book deal they had been hoping for, attending the HarperCollins Big Book Bonanza and Summer Party, and attending the Irish Book Awards. We writers spend so many hours alone worrying and looking haggard, it really is lovely to dress up and talk to real people every now and again!
As a wonderful end to the year, I am so thrilled to learn that four UK book bloggers, Becca’s Books, Boon’s Bookcase, On My Bookshelf and My Reading Corner have all chosen A Memory of Violets as one of their top 10 reads of 2015. Knowing how many books these amazing ladies read each year, this is such a huge honour. Thank you!
It has been a busy year and an exciting year. Privately, I’ve had my ups and downs, but I always try to remain positive outwardly and be mindful of the fact that when I’m finding it tough, or read a bad review or have a frustrating writing day, I am doing the job that I love – I am writing books for a living! That always takes any writing blues away pretty quickly!
For 2016, there is already so much to look forward to. The publication of two books: Fall of Poppies in March in the U.S. and April in the UK/Ireland, and The Girl from The Savoy in June in the US and Ireland, and September in the UK (and all available to pre-order now). I will also soon have exciting news to share with you all about future projects!!
For now though, as we say farewell to the year that was, I want to thank you all for following this blog and for your amazing support and enthusiasm for my books. I really do appreciate it so much.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and all good things in 2016.
Hazel
x
Dearest Hazel,
Just finished your book today ” The Girl Who Came Home”. I love anything about Titanic and Ireland. In 2013 I was in Ireland for the first time and it was a dream come true. Besides my children, it was the highlight of my life. Been to County Mayo and Cobh ( know I know where Queenstown is ) thanks to insights and interviews from your book. I never known of the Addergoole Fourteen group. Very interesting and this book is very authentic and there was a real feeling about the first, second, and third classes.
Sincerely,
Billy Flanagan
New Brunswick Atlantic, Canada
Thank you so much, Billy! I’m thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the book so much! 🙂
This brought a tear to my eye. What a wonderful blog to be able to write. I hope you take this the right way when I say I am immensely proud of everything you have achieved. When I think back to about 8 years ago when you lost your job and I quit mine and we started out with a skill and a passion and decided to put them together. We blogged and we started writing and we found our feet. Your resilience and determination has been an inspiration to me, and standing at your book launch in Grafton street last February (March) when my own world had just fallen in, was a real moment of grit for me. (That and your blog when you stayed in the Library hotel!). And a year later I will stand in that same book shop and launch my own and I will only be a year older but a decade wiser. I will be two new things – a single parent and an author. Thanks for helping me get there (with the second – not the first… you’re not his type!). A well deserved year of wonderfulness for you and I look forward to your successes next year too. And we must plan a night of gin – my friend and I are starting a Gin club so I’ll keep you posted! Well done you, and have a happy, well-written 2016!