Deborah Lawrenson – February 2016

Author Deborah Lawrenson came along to our February meeting last week. Sue Boag tells us all about it here…..

The Woldingham Writers’ Group were pleased to welcome author Deborah Lawrenson to their February meeting. Deborah is the author of eight novels, including The Lantern, which received much critical acclaim. She is published in both the UK and the US, enjoying success in both markets, and, despite being a very busy lady, was generous in sharing her time with us.

Deborah took us through the highs, and sometimes lows, of her journey to publication, and I know we were all enthralled by that journey. Her honesty was refreshing, and entertaining, as was her openness in answering our many questions. We quizzed her on such practicalities as ‘How many words do you write each day?’ or ‘Who does your editing?’ to the all-important ‘How do you get an agent and actually get published?’

One of the things that really came across from meeting Deborah, was her sense of fun. It is clear that she has worked hard at becoming a success, but that she has balanced that with realism and self-awareness. She fully understands that publishing is a business, but that writing should be a pleasure and should remain so to get the best from it.

Aside from exhorting us to have fun, she also reminded us that we actually need to put pen to paper. Something I know I forget at times, especially when busy with other things. She also reminded us as aspiring writers that practice helps, but that while we don’t always need to be perfect, we do need to make that start and then build on it. All really positive comments that we sometimes forget when our lives take over.

Deborah’s latest novel ‘300 Days of Sun’ is published in April 2016, and I for one will be ordering a copy alongside catching up with some of her previous work. Our thanks go to Deborah for sharing her time and knowledge with us, I know we all appreciated it very much.