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About Me
- Anita Burgh
- I am a writer - late developer since I wasn't published until I was 50. I have now written 23 novels, numerous short stories and articles.
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Wednesday 28 December 2011
It also
raised another interesting point for me, that is, why do some people see a story
that needs to be told and yet the next person does not.
One evening,
watching TV, there was a news cast about a woman who had won a small fortune on
the football pools. She looked to be
early sixties, and as if she had worked hard all her life. A very mumsy sort of woman. Surrounded by her family they were hugging
her and saying what a great mother she was and it couldn’t have happened to a
better peron . . . the usual, somewhat banal expressions. But then I noticed at the back was a young
man with a steely expression and a chill ran down my spine. “It’s all lovely,” I said to Bill, “What
about that blog at the back. I don’t like the look of him, I wonder what comes
next? There’s a book in this.”
“I don’t see it myself,” Bill said with a
shrug.
I knew there was; how would she
cope? How would her relationships pan
out? What would happen within the
family? Some of you know that once I
have a premise or theme, I make a list of words I related to the theme. So soon I had a listl; jealousy, avarice,
suspicion, gratitude, bullying, love . . . on and on went my list.
The problem I had however was making the
subject of football and the pools, sexy and enticing. Difficult.
My editor was not over enthusiastic about the project and I could not
blame her. I had serious doubts myself.
Then, suddenly, all was resolved. The Prime Minister, John Major, bless his
cotton socks, announced there was to be a national lottery. However, another difficulty loomed; this
lottery was some time away and so I had to write the book imagining how the
winner would be treated, what ceremony would there be. Camelot, were as helpful as they could be but
they themselves did not know what the final result and the machinations would
be. So I carried on in the dark - made
it up as I went along since I had to write it in time for the November launch
of the real lottery. I did it! There was plenty of time left over, we could
present the book at the very same time.
Now, publishers move in interesting ways
which we mere mortals cannot understand and never will. For reasons unknown, the launch date was to
be in the summer - the following year! I
am not a publisher nor am I an advertising expert, marketing is a mystery to me
BUT in my opinion they were daft, pure and simply daft not to ride on the wave
of publicity the lottery and Camelot created.
When I posted
the story behind Love the Bright Foreigner I received so many emails saying how
interested they were to learn how it came about. While their starts are not so dramatic, I decided
to explain a little about each new one when it appears on Kindle
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Wow - thanks for that story behind the story Annie. I agree - in hindsight the publisher may have missed an launch opportunity - but then the lottery seems to be as popular as it ever was and I'm sure the Kindle version of 'Lottery' will be too!
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