I’m thrilled to welcome author, Diane Chamberlain and her blog tour to Novel Kicks today. Diane is the best-selling author of The Silent Sister and The Dance Begins. Her new novel, Pretending to Dance was released by Macmillan on 8th October 2015.

About Pretending to Dance: 

When the pretending ends, the lying begins . . . Molly Arnette is good at keeping secrets. As she and her husband try to adopt a baby, she worries that the truth she’s kept hidden about her North Carolina childhood will rise to the surface and destroy not only her chance at adoption, but her marriage as well. Molly ran away from her family twenty years ago after a shocking event left her devastated and distrustful of those she loved. Now, as she tries to find a way to make peace with her past and embrace a healthy future, she discovers that even she doesn’t know the truth of what happened in her family of pretenders.

To celebrate the release of her book, Diane has shared with us the twenty four things she’s learnt when writing a novel. Over to you, Diane…

• Figure out your ending first. Although it may change ten times during the writing, it gives you a target to aim for.
• Don’t stress about formatting. I once asked an editor what font and margin size she preferred. She responded “I wish writers wouldn’t worry about that sort of thing. Just give me a good story.”
• It takes an hour to sign your name 250 times. When my novel Necessary Lies was a Target Bookclub Pick, I had to sign 5000 copies. It took 20 hours and half a bottle of Tylenol. (But so worth it!)
• No matter how brilliant your novel is, several people will still give it one star on Amazon. Get over it.
• Editors are your friends, not your enemies. They want your book to be every bit as extraordinary as you want it to be. Take their suggestions to heart.

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