The Monster of Fame, and The Big Stooshie

I've been wondering what to write about for my first post. I've just spent the best Sunday of my life, watching my favourite band – James – perform at a charity festival (The Big Stooshie) in Auchtermuchtie (yeah, try saying that five times, its hard enough to say once!) and thought what better way to introduce myself and my book, The Monster of Fame, than to chat about the music which inspired it.

I'm one of those writers who can't write in silence. I need the right song to get me in the mood, into my characters' heads and thankfully, James has a lot of good songs which helped me get into my hero's. The song I had on repeat when I was writing from Miles' perspective was Laid – and yes, its pretty much a song about sex. But it was the stalkerish fascination he has for the heroine, rather than the act itself, which the song inspired. :)

Plus the festival was pretty awesome too. Despite the chilly rain and long day, me and my friends had so much fun. We laughed ourselves silly at some of the chat up lines. 'You're braw, fancy coming back to my tent' had us in stitches. Er...no pal. Thanks. Seriously though, Scottish men seem to be direct and to the point, not the stuff of great romances, but at least they don't mince their words. Especially when there's gallons of cider about to loosen their tongues.

Anyway, onto my book. The Monster of Fame was a NanoWriMo project which I wrote because a. I wanted to tell the story, and b. I wanted to challenge myself to write a book in a month. I hadn't planned on sending it anywhere, in fact I wasn't sure it would fit anywhere.

After a little persuasion from my CP, I let her read it. She told me it was the best thing I'd ever written. Of course, it needed work. Lots of work to bring it up to the mark. With her encouragement, I rolled up my sleeves and got to it. I can't thank her enough for it, especially when I received the offer of contract from Beachwalk Press! I was so happy I could have flown to California to hug her.

Here's a little bit about my story...

Annabelle MacIntosh enters a reality singing contest to save her family from debt. Miles Oliver, celebrity judge and multi-billion pound music mogul, doesn't think she has what it takes.

Driven by the guilt he's carried for years, Miles tries everything in his power to make sure Annabelle doesn't succeed. Though that proves difficult since she's the only woman he's felt attracted to for six years...

Annabelle grows stronger every day and sets out to prove herself to Miles. The longer she stays in the competition, the deeper her attraction grows to the man who's trying to destroy her dream.

Can Annabelle convince Miles she's strong enough to fight the Fame Monster and win?

So a little bit about me. I live in an 'interesting' town in Scotland. There's never a dull moment. It rains, its sunny, it snows – and all this before I've had my breakfast. But the views are breathtaking, the people are lovely and I would miss everyone terribly if I moved too far away.

That said, I have a bit of wanderlust. I hope one day to travel and see everything the world has to offer. I've been to Mexico, the Canary Islands, Florida, Spain and Portugal. Egypt's top of my list for places I want to wander to, as is India. How cool would it be to stand in front of the Taj Mahal?

See you in two weeks folks, Aimee x