Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Please Welcome Romance Author, Paula Martin Who Writes at Midnight

Paula Martin had some early publishing success with short stories and four romance novels, but then had a break from writing while she brought up a young family and also pursued her career as a history teacher for twenty-five years. She has recently returned to writing fiction, after retiring from teaching.

She lives near Manchester in North-West England, and has two daughters and two grandsons. Apart from writing, she enjoys visiting new places and has travelled extensively in Britain, mainland Europe, the Middle East, America and Canada. Her favourite place in Ireland. She’s also interested in musical theatre and tracing her family history.

Website: http://paulamartinromances.webs.com/
Personal blog: http://paulamartinpotpourri.blogspot.com/
Writers’ Group Blog: http://heroineswithhearts.blogspot.com/


Paul'a Newest Release - Fragrance of Violets


The title comes from a quote by Mark Twain: Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. The story, set mainly in England’s beautiful Lake District, is about two people who need to forgive each other and also deal with other issues in their lives.

Abbey Seton distrusts men, especially Jack Tremayne who destroyed their friendship when they were teenagers. Ten years later, they meet again. Can they put the past behind them? Abbey has to forgive not only Jack, but also her father who deserted his family when she was young. Jack holds himself responsible for his fiancĂ©e’s death. He’s also hiding another secret which threatens the fragile resumption of his relationship with Abbey.

Will Abbey ever forgive him when she finds out the truth?

Fragrance of Violets and Paula's previous novel, His Leading Lady,  are available from Whiskey Creek Press at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/ also from Amazon and Bookstrand.

And Now Paula Tells Us About Writing at Midnight


I’ve always been a night owl, never a morning person. When I was a child, I used to read under the covers with a flashlight long after my parents thought I must be asleep. Maybe not until midnight but certainly much later than my supposed ‘bed-time’.

As a teenager, I’d turn off my light, wait until my parents went to bed (probably about 10.30 or 11pm) then switch on my light again and either read or continue writing the next chapter of my current story, for my friends to read avidly the next day. Okay, those early romances of mine were very corny but my friends enjoyed them!

For a lot of my adult life, I had to cease burning the midnight oil. Baby era: 10pm feed then get some sleep before she wakes again; 25 year teaching era: have to get up at 6.30am so need to get to bed early.

Not all the time though. When I worked backstage in amateur musical theatre, rehearsals were held at a local sports club which, being a private club, could stay open long after the statutory closing time for licensed premises. We stayed too, often until midnight, although that made it doubly hard to get up the next morning.

Show week itself was even worse. Adrenaline-fuelled, we needed time to unwind after the show, so it was often well after midnight before we left the theatre bar.

I never had any problem staying up late. The problem came the next morning when I had to get up early to go to school. To my credit, I have to say, I was never late for school, although not necessarily alert and raring to go!

My colleagues got wise to me. It was summed up by one of them: “Never ask Paula a question before 10am if you want a sensible answer from her.”

Then came retirement. Oh wow, freedom to do what I want, when I want! And that included staying up as late as I wanted, because I didn’t have to get up at (to me) some silly o’clock in the morning. I might get up about 8am but most of my friends know not to call me until after 10am.

I do my best writing at night. I may have a whole day free (sometimes!) but day-time writing doesn’t work for me. My mind seems to work so much better from about 9pm onwards. My muse is obviously a night-owl too.

I’m full of admiration for people who can get up at 6am and start writing. But me? Yes, I’m a midnight writer.

How about you? Are you an early bird or a night owl? When do you your best writing?

Paula's Website: http://paulamartinromances.webs.com/
Personal blog: http://paulamartinpotpourri.blogspot.com/
Writers’ Group Blog: http://heroineswithhearts.blogspot.com/

Please leave a comment to welcome Paula Martin to Acme Authors Link

24 comments:

margaret blake said...

I confess to being a lark. I do my best when I can get up[ early, get all the things done that have to be completed, and then write.

Early to bed with a good book, that's my motto - so will be taking
A Fragrance of Violets with me very soon.

Paula Martin said...

I'm the exact opposite, Margaret! I don't think my brain wakes up until a couple of hours (at least!) after I've got out of bed, so I can rarely get anything done (properly) when it's too early!
Hope you enjoy Fragrance!

Heather said...

Isn't this just awful to confess but the best things I've written have been late at night having just come home from the pub. Coincidentally the stress about writing had gone down with the level of wine in the bottle and the words flowed beautifully. What's more they still made sense in the morning. Fortunately and unfortunately I very rarely do that sort of thing...:/

Toni Lynn said...

I used to write at night, but now it's in the morning after I take my son to school. I do write at night and if I'm on a roll, I won't stop until my brains says...get some rest!

As for tracing your history, Paula, we have a new show in the states called WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE...see if you can pull it up on the Internet. Very interesting. Reba McEntire was feature this past Friday and found something very interesting.

Good luck with FOV...the story is awesome so I expect to be reading more GREAT reviews!!!

Paula Martin said...

Heather, I know exactly what you mean. A few nights ago, my characters wouldn't co-operate or talk to me. Half a can of lager later they were chattering away again!

Paula Martin said...

Toni, when you have family, you have to fit in your writing whenever you can!
We've had 'Who Do You Think You Are?' for several years over here, and in fact I was involved in the launch of this programme back in 2004 when 20 of us produced digital stories with the BBC for the first programme in the series.

Bob Sanchez said...

Hi Paula,
What a great quote from Mark Twain. I'd never seen it before.

Here's wishing you much success with your books.

Morgan Mandel said...

Welcome to Acme Authors Link, Paula. I'm the exact opposite type of writer. I like to start early. By dinner time, my brain is fried and I relax.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

Paula Martin said...

Hi Bob - I'd never seen the quote before, but found it when I was googling 'forgiveness quotations' and knew it had given me the title for my novel.

Paula Martin said...

Hi Morgan - and thanks so much for having me as your guest here today. I think maybe there are more early writers than midnight writers,

T. Forehand said...

I am such a night owl myself, the words don't even begin to come until dusk. Great to read about you and your books.

Paula Martin said...

Oh, I'm so glad to find another night owl, T! I usually start round about now (8pm here in the UK)

Maryannwrites said...

I used to be a night owl and would do some writing until the wee hours. Was not much fun when I had babies waking me just a few hours later.

Now, I get up early, but it is to tend to my animals. Then I will take care of some business in my office. My best creative writing time seems to start about mid afternoon and could run for hours if I did not have to stop to fix dinner. Wonder if I could hire a chef?

Paula Martin said...

Sounds like a good idea, Maryann! I try to tell myself I could get a lot more writing done if I re-trained myself to write in the afternoons, but I don't think my body-clock would co-operate!

Mayra Calvani said...

I wish I could write after midnight too, but I'm 100% and early bird. After 9pm my mind is a noodle.

Debra St. John said...

Hi Paula!

So nice to 'see' you here...my other 'home'!

I am definitely not an after midnight writer. For me it's in bed by 9:00 with a book and lights out by 10:00.

Helen Ginger said...

I used to be more like a 2 a.m. owl. Like you, I loved writing at night. As the kids got older, I had to adjust. I now write during the day.

Paula Martin said...

Mayra, 9pm is when I usually start writing! And it's now 12.15am here in the UK, and I'm still here - and writing!

Debra, I have friends the same as you, bed at 10pm, but if I went to bed at that time, I'd be awake at 5am - and now I'm retired, I don't need early get-ups!

Helen - I wonder sometimes whether my 'night' writing stems mainly from when I was working full-time, and also had kids, so I couldn't 'do my own thing' until later in the evening.

Margot Justes said...

Welcome to Acme. I'm still employed, therefore not a night owl, along with Deb, asleep by 10:30. I love to travel too
Margot Justes
A Hotel in Paris
www.mjustes.com

Paula Martin said...

Hi Margot - yes, when you're still working full-time, burning the midnight oil isn't really an option, is it? That's why I love retirement!

Paula Martin said...

Thanks again for having me here at Acme Authors, Morgan. It's been fun :-)

Kate Dolan said...

I can tell that I fit in the night owl category because my first thought was "wow that's impressive - I can't always write late at night." Then I realized that I don't consider midnight to be "late." That's average for me.
Getting up and working at six, now that's impossible! Even if my body is up and moving, my mind does not function until at least 9 or 10.

Cheryl said...

I'm a night owl too. I can't write anything much in the morning.

Best of luck with your writing.

Cheryl

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