Writing The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts: Part Two

I decided to keep a little diary while writing The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts, so I thought I'd share it here on the blog during the run-up to publication.

First Draft:

Week 2

Day 9:

I heard back from my editor today with feedback of the first three chapters of The Sweetest Kiss*. There are a couple of changes suggested and at first I was a bit ‘aaaaarrrrrgggghhh – she thinks my writing is pooooooop!’ but then I took the dog for a walk and had a good think about the pointers and how I could implement the changes. At the moment, the book is told by two POVs – Maddie’s and Caleb’s. But would the story work better with just Maddie’s POV? Would it work at all?

The answer is yes, I think it could work – and hopefully better. The way Maddie and Caleb meet would no longer work out (or at least not as well) but I’ve jiggled things around in my head and put the pieces back together and I’m happy with how it looks. In fact, I’m raring to get stuck in and get it down on paper!

Day 10:

Have cut almost 4,000 words (Caleb’s chapters so far). I'm not going to lie - it hurt, but I know it’s for the greater good and it could have been worse (i.e. many more words). Now I just need to get on with Maddie's story - I've got a bit of catching up to do!

Words cut this week: 3,777

Word Count: 11,504

* The Sweetest Kiss was the working title of The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts

From fairy cakes to first dates!

Maddie Lamington’s dreams are crumbling around her. If she doesn’t come up with a plan to save her little teashop on Sweet Street soon, it might be too late…

So when she sees how the perfect apple crumble brings together her lonely father and faithful customer Birdie, inspiration strikes: she’ll set up a dating night involving all her sweetest bakes.

Luckily, seriously gorgeous Caleb is on hand to help sprinkle a little magic – and a lot of sugar! Could one night of scrumptious first dates fix Maddie’s heartbreak and save her beloved teashop, too?

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