I fell in love with Liverpool many years ago. It is my prince, on a horse, like the Old Spice man but better. I think it saved me.

The thing about Liverpool is that it is full of strays, it likes the underdog, it likes to mend the broken. It will rob you, it will hug you, there is no other place in the world where I feel at home. In Liverpool, I can be me. There’s no pretending.

I’ve had many a night out in Liverpool, there are things that happened that I’d never share on this blog. I like that Liverpool keeps my secrets. I’ve stumbled around in heels, I’ve sweated in nightclubs, I’ve eaten scouse in the Cavern accompanied by bottles of Diamond White (I am a cheap date). I’ve found myself sitting alone at the docks seeking answers at 1am on New Year’s Day. That was then, a million years ago. I even ended up marrying a scouser, that was a million years ago too, black hair, blue eyes, there’s a type. I walked down the aisle to a Beatles’ song.

If I believed in spiritual homes, Liverpool would be mine. But with having kiddies and with all that came with that, nights out in Liverpool became difficult.

But last weekend it was different. Last weekend was a celebration, was fun. And with that I got to stay at the very perfect Beatles-inspired boutique Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool.

I’d heard about the stunning Grade II listed hotel (it opened on 1 February 2008 to coincide with Liverpool’s tenure as the 2008 Capital of Culture) from a documentary. The objective was to offer high-quality accommodation with a difference. And that difference, for me, was obvious from the minute the door was opened. I was absolutely, totally and utterly, blown away by the decor, the attention to detail and the attentive staff (which is why I’m blogging about the hotel!).

The Hard Days Night hotel is all about individually designed guest bedrooms and bespoke facilities. I stayed in a luxury guest room. To say that it was tastefully fashioned would be an understatement. The new design has pulled on all of the contours and character of the original hotel building, yet with a perfectly modern twist. This isn’t a gimmicky hotel, this is stylish, stunning, it is clever. My room, like all the rooms, featured an exclusive Beatles artwork by Beatles artist Shannon and the bed was possibly the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. I didn’t want to leave.

On Saturday night I had cocktails in Bar Four, a meal at Jamie’s Italian, drinks galore on Matthew Street and then ended up back in the hotel’s The Lounge (the photos I took at that time showed just how flowing the drinks had been). The Lounge was all about retro decor, stunning Beatles artwork, artefacts, pictures, books, and poems from those who were actually part of the Beatles’ story. It was one of the most perfect environments ever. If you’re ever in Liverpool, really, seriously, the Hard Days Night hotel needs to be visited (and I’m sure I’ll be free!?!).

Two days on. My love affair with Liverpool is still winking.

To celebrate today’s launch of New Beginnings (recommended for children aged 8-11), I’m handing my blog over to (and wishing happy publication day to) Rebecca Emin. 

I remember going to see my English teacher after I got an A in my English Language O’Level. After thanking her, I said, “One day I will write a novel.”  Over the years I started many such novels. I would start, be really enthusiastic and then forget all about them for years at a time. I recently found a floppy disc (remember those?) for an ancient Apple Mac, with the word ‘novel’ written on it.  That was one I started at University, I think, in a vague attempt to avoid doing any proper work.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and suddenly there was a birthday looming; one of those ridiculously scary ones with a zero at the end. My mid-life crisis came in the form of knowing that if I didn’t get on and write now it would never happen. So I spent a few months mulling that idea over and eventually signed up to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in 2009; a challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. At the time, my children were seven, five and just under two. But I was determined; I was going to write The Best Chick Lit novel ever.

I always thought I would write chick lit. But on 31 October 2009, I had a flash of inspiration for a novel for children. So I sat down on 1 November, started a document and wrote everything that came into my head. I did exactly what they say you should do during NaNoWriMo, I didn’t look back, I typed madly, waffled on about nonsense and looking back made the following year incredibly hard for myself, but during that month, the story was born.

After NaNoWriMo 2009, I felt a massive anticlimax that it was over. I didn’t look at the document for about five months, and when I did it was terrible; like a ball of wool that had been knitted, twisted and knotted, and handed to someone to unravel. I read through it once, almost deleted the whole thing, left it for another week, and then started to pick away at it slowly but surely.

I have no idea how many times I went through the manuscript, both on screen and on paper, but by the time I handed it over to a professional editor, I was sick of the sight of it. It was terrifying waiting to get it back. But when I did, I discovered something I hadn’t expected at all; I love having my work edited. I read through all the comments and found myself nodding in agreement, smiling, and actually looking forward to working on the manuscript again. It was the best thing I ever did.

It was a lot of hard work, and it took longer than I thought it would, but the fact that someone read my manuscript, and wanted to publish it, made me realise that it was a story worth telling.

Looking back, I didn’t think I’d get anywhere with this novel. It was the first creative writing I had done for a long time; the first novel I had completed, and I have an in-built fear that everyone will laugh at everything I say/do/think/write. If you read my novel it won’t take a genius to realise why. They say to start writing from your own experiences, and that is what I did.

New Beginnings was more than just a novel for me, it was the best therapy I could ever have had. As I wrote the final chapters of the book I finally realised that after nearly thirty years, I have finally forgiven the girls who bullied me at school.

I am donating 10% of all profits I make from this novel to the charity Bullying UK.

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About Rebecca: Rebecca Emin lives in Oxfordshire, England, with her husband and three children. Her debut novel, ‘New Beginnings’ will be published by Grimoire Books on 23 January 2012. Rebecca has finished her second novel ‘When Dreams Come True’ which is also for older children.

Rebecca enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories and has had several flash fiction stories included in fundraising anthologies. ‘A Knowing Look and Other Stories’ is a collection of Rebecca’s short stories which was published in November 2011. Rebecca is also an author for Ether Books who publish short stories and essays to mobile devices via the Ether app.

You can find out more about Rebecca’s writing by following her on Twitter @RebeccaEmin, connecting with her on Facebook or by following her blog.

I’ve three local events coming up and they’re all part of the Here & Now project funded by Time To Read and the celebration of National Libraries Day. I’ll be giving talks on the writing of  ‘Like Bees to Honey’, my personal inspiration for the story and what makes me tick in a creative way (possibly even talking a little about the story behind my next novel, ‘The Drowning of Arthur Braxton’).

I’ll be at Helsby Library on Tuesday, 31 January 2012 at 5.30pm.Tickets can be obtained from Helsby Library for a charge of £1 for library members and £2 for non-members. Contact Helsby library to book a ticket – 01928 724659

And I’ll be at Birkdale Library from 2.15pm till 3.15pm on Thursday 2 Febraury. Contact Birkdale Library 01704 567380, for more information.

And I’ll visit Blackburn Library on Saturday, February 4 at 1.30 pm. Admission is £1.00 and tickets are available from Blackburn library. Telephone 01254 661221 for details.

All other Time to Read events are posted here.

So, a week ago I blogged a writing challenge to celebrate the launch of Xbox Live TV, and its integration with YouTube. I’d decided that it’d be a good idea to put together a collection of flash fiction stories, all inspired by songs on YouTube. And I’d decided that the collection would be published as an eBook on Amazon with ALL money collected going to the charity One in Four (a registered charity which provides support and resources to people who have experienced sexual abuse and sexual violence).

My personal aim was for a collection of 33 stories (think RPM), so I hoped for about 50 entries and set the deadline leaving the judges a single day to read them all. But, as is often the case with me, things didn’t quite turn out that way.

So – one week on:

• Over 350 entries.
• An overwhelming amount of RTs and shares and emails offering help (you lot are ace!).
• Judges volunteered (they have been amazing).
• Judges read all of the stories and decided on the 100 stories that would go in the collection.
• I read all of the chosen entries and listened to every song that inspired and emailed each author.
  
• Becky Adams (she designed/hand-stitched both the covers for my novel ‘Like Bees to Honey’ and novella ’99 Reasons Why’) agreed to design the front cover.
• There is talk of a singer-songwriter, mid-1980s pop-teen-idol-star writing the foreword.
• And the title has been narrowed down to ’100 RPM’, ’100 WPM’, or ‘Juke Box Stories’ or ‘Juke Box Stories: 100 WPM’ or something else. I am taking advice from a publisher.

It’s been quite a week (who needs sleep?).

Next it’ll all be about the title, about editing, arranging an order and proofing.

But. And this is the bit that I both love and hate. Today I announce the writers who will have stories in the collection. Some have more than one.  I know that this means that some people I really like and think are very amazing will not be in the collection. I’m sorry. This was not my decision.

But it also means that lots of VERY fabulous authors will be in the collection and there’s such a range of amazing stories in there. I’m stupidly excited.

And so I offer my congratulations and thanks to the following authors (in no particular order). They will all have stories in the collection:

Rowan Coleman, Angi Holden, Matthew Borgard, Stephen Shieber, Matt Hill,  Pat O’Connor.

Nasim Marie Jafry, Sylvia Petter, Cally Taylor, Angela Readman, Ray Robinson.

Katie Gunn, Angela Powers, Nick Cernis, Sophie Mackintosh, Peter Lewis, Laura Crosby.

Dan Purdue, Stephanie Ressort, Jessica Patient, Ryan Millar, Máire Carr, Dave Cornmell.

Ruth Aird, Nicola De Gouveia, D. J. Kirkby, Elizabeth Player, Dan Powell, Michelle Flatley.

Isabel Serval, Sara Crowley, Lynsey May, Simon Kewin, Fat Roland, Cathy White.

Karl McIntyre, David Kendrick, Vikki Ross, Alison Woodhouse, Scott Pack, Sal Page.

Helen Ladderbird, Hannah Harman, Catherine Walter,  Suzy Floyd, Sonya Oldwin.

Sam Wyld, Rachel N Joy, Emma J. Lannie, Annie Evett,  Jennifer M Schmidt, Anna Cardus.

Jodie Ansted, Red Morgan, D.E. Oprava, Donna Henderson, Xenia Smith, Louise Pearson.

Cassie Morrison, Cassandra Parkin, Sam Thewlis, Polly Burns, Pete Domican, Hannah Simpson.

Crystal Schwanke, Jennifer Domingo, Katherine Lewis, L J Hart-Collins, Lorna Louise Hutchinson.

Rebecca Emin, Caroline Luxford-Noyes, Edward Price, Carole McDonnell, Sarah Dunnakey.

Teresa Nusbaum, Simon Kearns, Mike Bursell, Lisa Richardson, Cath Bore, Edie Best, Alex Brown.

Tracy Tidswell, Sylvia Kelso, Kim Smith, J Bateman-Irish, Sarah Hutchinson, PC Wheeler.

Jamieson Wolf, Theresa Milstein, Jacqueline Christodoulou.

First of all, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. I’ve had an amazing response to my call for 100 word stories. I’ve already had over 150 entries (in less than 3 days!), I’ve been RTd and shared and favourited and emailed. I NEVER expected to have so much support, so many people wishing the project well and so many offers of help.

Almost all of the entries and support have come from people not at all involved in the short story world. They’ve come from published, unpublished and ‘first time ever trying to write a story’ writers. It shows that writers do, quite simply, want to write. And the entries have all been amazing. The song choices add a level of fun and depth to the writing. I’m truly excited about what we’re creating together.

Again, thank you ALL. And, KEEP THEM COMING. I’m very much open to advice and help and anything, really.

BUT.

It’s a known fact that I am a bit rubbish and a bit indecisive when it comes to titles. And that’s why I’m asking for help, today, again. I need to look at trying to get a front cover designed and that means I need a title.

So, could you throw some ideas my way? Please. The main points are:

• The stories are all flash fiction of 100 words or fewer.
• The stories are all inspired by a piece of music or a song.
• I’d quite like the cover and content to be influenced by vinyl – so 33/45RPM could be a theme. I may go for 78 stories being included or 33 or 45.
  
• This is going to be an eBook.
• There is a fun element to this writing.

So… any ideas?

Either leave a comment or tweet me (@Caroline_S with the hashtag #XboxMoreThanGames to ensure I see it).

I am proposing a writing challenge.

• Are you a writer?
• Would you like to be a writer?
• Do you write flash fiction?
• Do you fancy seeing your work published?

To celebrate the launch of Xbox Live TV, and its integration with YouTube, I am putting together a collection of flash fiction stories all inspired by songs on YouTube. This will be published as an eBook on Amazon with ALL money collected going to the charity One in Four, a registered charity which provides support and resources to people who have experienced sexual abuse and sexual violence.

I’ve always used music to inspire writing. This was the case for virtually every short story I wrote for ‘Freaks!’ and there’s a single line in a song that inspired novel 4.

It seems to me that many writers can find inspiration in a song lyric or video or the emotion that a certain song evokes within. I know that there are songs that I loved last year that will take me back to certain writing moments by hearing their opening bars. Those songs will take my breath away, just for a moment.

NOW, tie all of this in with it being a new year and many of us all being armed with our new notebooks and determination to write BRILLIANT things this year… AND I have a TINY writing challenge for you.

So here’s what will happen:

• Someone (still a secret, sorry) will pick the best stories (and I’ll be throwing one of mine in there too).
• These will then be professionally edited by BubbleCow and I’ll find someone to proof  (Eek! I like a challenge!).
• A Kindle version of the book will be available on Amazon for a small price (all money going to charity so no one will make a penny from this book other than Amazon and the charity).
• The cover will be professionally designed (Eek, again, but a challenge is being set!).

So what do you have to do?

• Write a story or a flash of a moment based on, linked to or inspired by a song on YouTube.
• It MUST be 100 words or fewer and in a language I can understand.
• Either email the story to me or blog it and let me know about it by leaving a link in the comments here or tweet the blog link to me (@Caroline_S with the hashtag #XboxMoreThanGames).
• Remember to name the song that influenced the story – that way we can build a track-list too.
• No song (for copyright reasons) lyrics should be included in the story.
• It must be written and given to me (in one of the above ways) by Wednesday 11 January (GMT). So you have less than ONE week!
  
• I’ll then bribe someone to read them all and select the stories to include.
• And THEN I’ll post the names of the selected stories on my blog on Friday 13 January.
• This writing challenge is open to everyone and the judge’s decision is final, but obviously you can send them abusive emails if you don’t get selected.
• Writers MUST hold the copyright to their stories and the stories MUST NOT have been published elsewhere.

But, really, this is all about writing. Because that’s what writers do, isn’t it? And if we can raise a few pennies for charity, then that’ll make me VERY happy. The reasons for choosing the charity One in Four will be obvious if you read THIS post.

So, off you go… 100 words or fewer in a week.

I’m waiting.

I wanted to start 2012 with a series of posts from people who MIGHT just inspire you to be a bit brave. This is the second in the series. Let me introduce you to Natalie Wills, as she talks about ‘Believe in Yourself and You Will Not Fail’:

There are things we know in life and things we choose to believe in. Caroline’s sign-off message at Christmas time got me thinking about the word ‘believe’ so I asked a few friends what the word meant to them?

Replies were varied and included a seasonal reference to Santa, talk of fairies and angels and the goal of Premiership survival for an avid football supporter. A strong belief in the holy trinity and life eternal and a cinematic Field of Dreams reference to the whisper of ‘If you build it, he will come’ were also mentioned.

One friend commented that believing means, ‘having confidence in the truth, the existence, or the reliability of something, without absolute proof that one is right to do so‘.

One asked for proof in order to believe and another felt believing doesn’t always make things turn out the way you want them to.

So, what happened to us lot growing up? None of them mentioned self-belief and that really surprised me. We encourage children to believe in themselves to rounds of applause no matter what their singing or dancing is like. We tell them ‘of course you can do it, just try’. If they fall at the first hurdle we reassure them that practice makes perfect. My children ooze self-confidence because underlying self-belief, ‘USB’ as I like to call it, is repeatedly instilled in them. As adults we don’t receive as much reassurance or as many compliments, least of all in business, hence we lose some of that ‘USB’. We shrug it off for fear of appearing cocky or arrogant.

Don’t get me wrong, I falter where ‘USB’ is concerned, as I’m sure we all do from time to time. However, I fully believe – there’s that word again – in the need for ‘USB’. When I falter I try my best to pick myself up again. When my self-belief is restored I won’t be told by anyone that something is beyond my reach. I must, from the outset, believe I can reach my aim or realise an ambition otherwise I will fail.

During 2011, my role at work was made redundant at a point in my life where I felt I could least cope with further upheaval. I was struggling to accept the sudden and unexpected death of my mother, my compass in life, six months prior to redundancy and was petrified that more enforced change would shatter my world.

So, I spent the summer with my children before my eldest started school. What should have been precious time was, in fact, a very confusing time – grieving, playing, worrying about the future. I clung on to the belief that all would be ok. I have to believe because it has to be true. I have to believe I can accommodate grief into my life and I do believe I will succeed in my new business venture. My new business began on a memorable day, the day my son started school. I know it might not be be plain sailing but I believe I will get there and I’m prepared to give it my all.

With Vivian Greene’s words in mind I’m hoping and believing 2012 is not going to be, ‘about waiting for the storm to pass’. It’s going to be about ‘learning to dance in the rain’.

I hope the new year sees me believing in myself more consistently whilst I strive towards my goals. If I believe a little more and doubt a little less I know 2012 will be a better year.

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About Natalie: Natalie Wills is a Publishing Consultant and Writer with over 15 years of experience in the publishing industry. Having forged a successful career in international sales & marketing, including product development, she started her own business in 2011.

NSW Consulting is her business consultancy which specialises in flexible, focused and affordable project management support to book publishers.

For more information and to contact Natalie details are:

Natalie Wills

Publishing Consultant & Writer

NSW Consulting

Tel: +44 (0) 7957 198967

Email: natalie@nswconsulting.co.uk

Website: www.nswconsulting.co.uk

You can follow Natalie on Twitter (@nswconsulting) and Facebook.

I wanted to start 2012 with a series of posts from people who have ‘taken the plunge’ or ‘followed their dreams’ or had a ‘now or never’ moment, because it MIGHT just inspire you to be a bit brave too…

First up, the delightful Talli Roland:

I tried for five minutes (at least) to come up with a cliché-free title for this post . . .  and failed. Because ‘following your dreams’ is such a cliché, isn’t it? Just uttering the phrase aloud is enough to ensure a eye-roll from anyone within earshot. In fact, I usually employ a pre-emptive eye-roll myself.

But for all the nausea-inducing triteness it conjures up, there’s nothing more satisfying than making a start at something you truly love. Four years ago, I left behind my corporate life and made the jump to full-time writing, with the goal of becoming a novelist. And not just a novelist: a published one.

Looking back, it was a definite leap of faith – but when is following your dreams ever practical? I’d trained as a journalist, so I knew I had the mechanics of writing somewhat conquered. But could I write fiction, a completely different kettle of fish? I’d never written a full-length ‘adult’ novel. In fact, the last oeuvre I’d penned was at age thirteen. Eep!

Motivated by fear, I sat at my desk and started writing. Eighty thousand words and a few months later, and my first novel was complete. Cue copious rejections! And repeat for novel number two and three and four… and five.

Thankfully, along the way, I met a publisher who contracted me to write a London travel guide, 24 Hours London. Although it wasn’t fiction – and not my dream – I was thrilled to finally tell people that YES! I had something published! My book was in the shops, I got the Mayor of London’s endorsement, and things were finally moving.

And move they did! Since that first London book, I’ve published four others (including three novels): 24 Hours Paris, The Hating Game, Watching Willow Watts, and Build A Man. From a standing start four years ago, sometimes I can’t believe what the past few years have brought – and I couldn’t be more thankful.

So has ‘taking the plunge’ paid off? I think you know my answer!

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About Talli: Talli Roland has three loves in her life: chick lit, coffee and wine. Born and raised in Canada, Talli now lives in London, where she savours the great cultural life (coffee and wine). Her debut novel, The Hating Game, was an Amazon Top 100 bestseller and shortlisted for Best Romantic Read at the UK’s Festival of Romance, and her second, Watching Willow Watts, was selected as a 2011 Amazon Customer Favourite. Build A Man is her latest release. Talli blogs here and can be found on Twitter here.

So, Doctor Who, Season 5, Episode 2, ‘The Beast Below’. Amy Pond takes her first trip in the TARDIS and they discover Britain in space. Starship UK is full of British people searching the stars for a new home. And there’s a Voting Booth. And Amy watches something horrific and then gets the chance to ‘forget’ by pressing a button. She does.

And although I’ve been watching the entire Season 5 over Christmas (and fallen a bit in love with Matt Smith), that episode, or rather that ‘forget’ button really got me thinking.

It’s the end of 2011, most of us will be feeling refreshed, raring for a new start, thinking 2012 will bring with it all that 2011 failed to deliver (cynical much, me?). But will it? So many of us will be making resolutions we’ll almost definitely break, we’ll be promising to stop smoking, lose weight, be a better person and then feeling depressed in about two weeks’ time when we’ve smoked, put on a pound, bitched for England. That’s what we do. It’s traditional. Because for all the best intentions in the world, change takes effort, overcoming obstacles takes effort, realising that we’re responsible for who we are is massive. That doesn’t change just because we enter a new year.

But am I the only person who breathes a sigh of relief that I’ve managed to survive another year? Maybe that’s just me, maybe that’s part of my baggage. But, for me,  there are no resolutions to be made, no promises that I won’t keep and maybe, if I’m totally honest, there’s fear about having a whole new year to deal with, to survive.

Which brings me to the ‘forget’ button.

I’ve been looking back on 2011, as we all do at this time of year, and although I wasn’t ever really one for regrets, this end of year I’m faced with them. And there’s a chance that those regrets could eat into me and make me bitter and twisted and no longer me. If I let them. But, don’t get me wrong there was also SO much that was amazing in 2011. Just I tend to remember bad, before good.

So if I was offered that ‘forget’ button, would I press it? Would I erase 2011?

Part of me thinks I would. It’d take away those regrets. But then there’s that other part of me, the part that realises that ‘forget’ button would also take away so much that was good and magical and beautiful. I can’t help but feel that 2011 was paving the way for 2012, that lessons were learned that’ll last a lifetime, that connections were made, were broken, for reasons.

Everything happens for a reason. Doesn’t it?

So I won’t be pressing that ‘forget’ button. And I won’t be dwelling and letting bitterness grow and destroy me. I’m letting go of those regrets and embracing that belief, that idea that everything happens for a reason. I’m believing in me a little bit more.

And, so I’ll make a tiny wish instead. And the thing I want most in 2012 is to have tiny moments when something happens, when I hold my breath or squeal or laugh so hard I cry, when I feel utterly alive and excited. That’s what I want for 2012, that’s what I’m believing in. I’ll take the bad too, because that’s life, life throws us bad, I’ll take them as payoff for those moments of breath-taking beauty that thread through and make you realise just why life’s magical.

Goodbye 2011, I liked your cake.

And hello 2012, let’s be friends.

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And for anyone interested:

My top two books of 2011: ‘Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal’ by Jeanette Winterson and ‘The Tiny Wife’ by Andrew Kaufman.

My favourite songs for 2011: This and this and this and this.

My favourite cake for 2011: Almond and lemon drizzle.

Happy End of 2011, to you.