Author Ella Carey talks about Writerly Experience and Giveaway!

Please help welcome Australian debut author Ella Carey. And she's got a kindle copy giveaway of her debut release THE PARIS TIME CAPSULE to one commentater.

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 The Paris Time Capsule

Writerly Experience …

There are many benefits to working with a writing mentor, and I have been lucky enough to work with the lovely Melanie Milburne. Melanie, as many of you will know, is the award winning, multi-published writer of Harlequin Medicals and Presents novels, while I write women’s fiction.

(Read about Melanie Milburne here!)

First, and foremost, Melanie has become a wonderful friend whom I value and adore. She has a vibrant, lively personality and whenever we start talking it is as if we are both falling over ourselves with so much to say! Melanie is generous with her time and I know that she takes a real interest in many aspiring writers.

I think one of the best things for any aspiring writer is having someone who tells you that your writing has potential. Writing is a lonely business, and when an established writer can pick up a thread in your work and see that it may develop into something worthy, it gives you such a lift!

I first met Melanie seven years ago when I heard her speak. I was writing some novel that I cannot even remember now, but after Melanie’s talk, we started to chat and ultimately, Melanie took my phone number, offered to have a look at my manuscript, and then called me to invite me to have lunch with her and Felicity Roger, whom she had been mentoring as well.

This was, of course, hugely exciting for me, and it was the beginning of many such lunches, that went on for most of the afternoon and probably could have gone on all night too as we chatted so much. There were many topics covered, problems shared and wonderful writing advice dispensed by Melanie, just organically, as things came up in the conversation.

Melanie would read my work and give me feedback. This was enormously helpful, in many ways, in terms of developing stronger characters, structure, building in conflict, and also just helping with the nuts and bolts of writing, and conventions with regards to presenting manuscripts.

Melanie and I have attended several conferences together. These have been special for me, because as well as having the opportunity to spend time with her and with other writers, sharing new ideas with your mentor and then discussing them really can move your writing in directions that are unexpected and wonderful.

I have spent hours and hours refining my own work, studying writing craft, to be honest I have avoided putting my work out there until I felt I was ready with ‘The Paris Time Capsule.’ One piece of advice Melanie gave me was that it was better to wait until you are really ready and think that you can produce something that is your very best.

Then, Melanie kindly offered me the opportunity to write a story alongside her own for the ‘Review of Australian Fiction.’ So, my first experience of publication was alongside my mentor! I would say that was a fabulous thing!

Now, I know I have a writerly friend who is honest and supportive, whom I look forward to spending more time with over the years, and who I know is always there on the end of the phone. I hope that Melanie feels she has exactly the same thing in me!

If you want to ask any specific question about the experience of writing mentors, please feel free to ask Ella!

Inspired by the true story of an apartment in Paris that was abandoned for seventy years. The owner fled Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion in 1940 … but why did she never return? 

New York photographer Cat Jordan has fought hard to free herself from the past, but when a stranger dies, Cat finds herself the sole inheritor of a treasure filled apartment in Paris that has been locked up and abandoned for seventy years. A stash of love letters belonging to Marthe de Florian, one of the Belle Époque’s most famous demimondaines, and the appearance of the mysterious Isabelle de Florian’s grandson leads Cat in search of the reasons why Isabelle kept her Paris apartment a secret, and why she left her entire estate to Cat. As Cat unravels the story, she too begins her own journey, realizing that the secrets in the apartment may finally unfasten the future.

Praise for Ella Carey:

"Ella Carey creates an almost impossibly romantic atmosphere."Rachel Edwards, Review of Australian Fiction.

I am so looking forward to the release of The Paris Time-Capsule. Ella Carey is one of the most talented writers I have ever worked with. Roll on release day!'Melanie Milburne, USA Today best selling author

For more information please visit www.theparistimecapsule.com 

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BUY LINKS:

Amazon UK        Australia

 India      New Zealand 

US and rest of the world      Amazon US

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Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Paris Time Capsule

by Ella Carey

Giveaway ends April 30, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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