A Busy Year Being An Adaptable Writer by Georgia Hill

An interesting post by blog regular Georgia Hill as she explains to readers why she has been busy being adaptable as a writer this year …

Hi everyone. A very grateful thank you to Morton for allowing me to guest on her blog again!

In a weird twist of fate I’ve had three books out this year. Magpie, my witchy dual narrative was planned well in advance from last year. Then I had the good fortune to finally place The Sea Glass Necklace, a book I’ve been trying to get out for years and which is its companion novel.

My new Christmas contemporary romance, New Beginnings at the Little Christmas Inn, came about in an odd way. It’s become the third in my Lullbury Bay series, set in west Dorset in a town which is based on a combination of Lyme Regis, West Bay and Bridport.

Livvy’s boyfriend and business partner bails on her at the very last minute forcing her to go it alone with a project to turn a rundown cliffside inn into the gastropub of her dreams. It’s brim-full of Christmas cheer and features one of my favourite heroes. I love an understated, beta-male and Mark is the perfect example. (I think most of my heroes owe a huge debt to Gabriel Oak from Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd. Men who are quietly there, supportive but unobtrusive. Appropriate for a book set in Dorset!)

But I digress. I said the book came about in an odd way. Back in March I was approached by Bloodhound Books, for whom I write the Lullbury Bay series, asking if I had anything Christmassy to offer. I didn’t think I had but I love writing for them and it seemed a fantastic opportunity so had a hunt through long neglected files on the pc. Here’s a tip aspiring writers: never throw anything away! The only thing I had even vaguely suitable was 50,000 words of a dual narrative about a woman taking over a rundown coaching inn in a seaside town, discovering it was haunted and finding out about the tragic lovers who once met there. It had begun its life when cockapoo Bella was a tiny, very demanding puppy and I got some words down, in between bursts of frenetic activity, while she slept. Bella is now 7! I’d given up on the book as I’d lost confidence in it. Was it a ghost story? A dual narrative, or a novel about a woman setting up a business? Now, I returned to it. Could I adapt it into a contemporary Christmas romance? And, more importantly, get it written to deadline?

It was an interesting challenge and not one I’d like to repeat too soon. I hadn’t a clue where to begin so started with the obvious – reading it. I picked out the main plot points, condensed the time line into the months leading up to Christmas and began adding to the 50,000 words but rearranging the main events. This is where my planning board came in handy. It’s just Post-Its on a cork notice board but I can see, at a glance, what’s happening where. I can also easily move scenes around to fit the standard 3 act novel structure. Here it is set up for the book I’m currently editing.

I was cruising to a healthy 65,000 or so words (my contemporary novels tend to be around 80,000 words long) when I had to take an almighty deep breath and jettison the secondary plot. All the ghost story had to go, as did the historical narrative. Gulp. I reduced the manuscript down to 45,000 words and I had to meet an end of May deadline!

Weirdly, it made the book better, or I think it did. I now knew what it was about: a woman setting up her own business and facing all the challenges that brings. Plus it now had a clear romance storyline. Readers seem to agree. It came out on the 7^th October 2025 and topped the Christmas Romance Chart straightaway. I’m thrilled.

Wonder what else I’ve got lying around on the computer?!

Here’s a brief extract. Livvy is alone in the pub’s car park and senses something is amiss. It’s the first hint that not all of Lullbury Bay’s residents are supportive of her plans for the pub:

***

As she heard the Mercedes’s familiar growly engine start up, she wondered where Mark had been coming from. None of your business, Livvy, my girl, she reprimanded herself. The car’s lights swept the car park and left her in the dark. A gull keened mournfully overhead and far below her, the sea shushed and murmured. After the busyness of the skittles match it seemed very lonely. The car park yawned, empty, into the darkness and to the beer garden beyond. On the other side of the pub was attached a three storey Georgian town house but the car park faced onto the blank wall of the back of an office block. Its metal escape stairs rattled in a sudden blast of wind. Wishing she hadn’t been so hasty as to insist Mark go, she turned to lock the door of the skittles alley and then stiffened. Sensing rather than knowing, she knew someone was watching her. A prickle of fear traced down her spine. Keys shoved between her fingers, she braced herself and then turned back to face the car park. ‘Hello? Is there anyone there?’ The security lights flared on, temporarily blinding her. There might have been a shadow, maybe a figure flitting the far end, towards the road, but it had gone before she’d really registered. Unnerved, she ran to the pub’s side door, unlocked it and ran in before the security lights cut out again. Her hands shook as she locked the door and double checked it was secure. Her heart pounded into her throat. Ridiculous to be so spooked but she was convinced someone had been out there, watching. Probably bored teenagers. Leaning her forehead against the door and deliberately calming her breathing, she made a note to get the security lights fixed.

***

About Georgia Hill

Georgia Hill writes warm-hearted and up-lifting contemporary and dual narrative romances about love, the power and joy in being an eccentric oldie and finding yourself and your community. There’s always a dog. It’s usually a naughty spaniel of which, unfortunately, she has had much experience. She lives near the sea with her beloved dogs and husband (also beloved) and loves the books of Jane Austen, collecting elephants, and Strictly Come Dancing. She’s also a complete museum geek and finds inspiration for her books in the folklore and history of the many places in which she’s lived. She’s worked in the theatre, for a charity and as a teacher and educational consultant before finally acknowledging that making things up was what she really wanted to do. She’s been happily creating believable heroines, intriguing men, and page-turning stories ever since.

You can find her here:

Twitter/X @georgiawrites

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/georgiahillauthor

Website www.georgiahill.co.uk

Georgia’s lovely Christmas book New Beginnings at the Little Christmas Inn can be bought by clicking here