08 Oct Ottercombe Bay #3 by Bella Osborne #BlogTour #GuestPost

Hey guys, hope you’re all having a nice and relaxing weekend. It’s a beautiful sunny day here in Macedonia and I really hope you’re having loads of sun in your part of the world. Today I have lovely Bella Osborne as a guest on my blog. It’s always a huge pleasure when she visits as she’s been such a huge support of This Chick Reads for which I am grateful from the bottom of my heart. Bella’s just published the third installment in the Ottercombe Bay series and I’m more than excited about checking it out. But for today, I’m leaving you with a guest post from Bella about her normal, usual day, writing routine and life in general. I absolutely adore getting to know authors bit better and seeing how a normal day in their life looks like. Hope you guys enjoy it and many thanks to lovely Bella for visiting.

Ottercombe Bay: Raising the Bar by Bella Osborne
Series :Ottercombe Bay #3
Published by Avon
Published on 5.4.2018
Genres:chick lit, women’s fiction
Pages: 96

Escape to the Devon coast, with Part Three of a brand-new four-part serial from the author of Willow Cottage.
Daisy Wickens has returned to Ottercombe Bay, the picturesque Devon town where her mother died when she was a girl. She plans to leave as soon as her great uncle’s funeral is over, but Great Uncle Reg had other ideas. He’s left Daisy a significant inheritance – an old building in a state of disrepair, which could offer exciting possibilities, but to get it she must stay in Ottercombe Bay for twelve whole months.

With the help of a cast of quirky locals, a few gin cocktails and a black pug with plenty of attitude, Daisy might just turn this into something special. But can she ever hope to be happy among the ghosts of her past?

A day in the life of Bella Osborne

I am very pleased to be on your blog today, here’s roughly what I get up on an average writing day.

I am usually woken before 7.30am by my husband. Sometimes if I’m very lucky he brings me a cup of tea but there doesn’t appear to be any key criteria for this, at least none I’ve worked out. I have a quick scan of what’s occurring on Twitter and Facebook followed often by a mad hunt for something the child has realised she can’t find and HAS to take to school else the world as we know it will end.

7.45am Shower and then breakfast with the child firing various questions at me or vice versa depending on whether she’s looking ready for school or watching YouTube whilst wearing a single sock.

8.15am I kiss the child and eject her from the house so that she doesn’t miss her bus.I’m not entirely sure what happens between 8.15am and 9am and probably need to investigate this as I rarely make it to my desk before 9.00am.

9.00am I hide away in our spare bedroom, which acts as my writing room, sit down at my desk, who is called Duncan (long story), with a mug of tea in hand and scan my To Do list and emails. I’m a big planner so I plan my stories and characters in detail before I start to write. This involves new stationery and lots of coloured sticky notes – oh, how I love those things! If I’m writing I’ll just get my head down and work until about 11am when it’s wee and tea break time which is fairly self explanatory.I don’t set a word count goal but I consider 2,500 words to be a good day and 5,000 a great day.Some days the writing is replaced by rereading what I’ve written and despairing at how shockingly bad it is – this stage is called editing. Most days I’ll get interrupted by the cat – there’s only so much typing you can do with a lazy feline sprawled across the keyboard so I eventually cave in andplay fetch or chase with her (she thinks she’s a dog).

12.30am I’ll stop for lunch. In the winter I make a big batch of soup,which usually lasts a few days and is quick to reheat.I’ll have a catch up on social media while I’m eating my lunch then make a cup of tea and get back to it.

3.00pm More tea and a cheeky biscuit (I am currently favouring M&S coconut and chocolate cookies). I have a bit of a review of where I am for the day and finish any actions or emails I needed to do before my daughter gets home at 4pm and everything stops. While she’s doing homework I’ll sneak back to work.

5.30pm I make dinner for about 6pm-ish. I try to cook from fresh most days and always cook something new once a week which elicits a lot of eye rolling and occasionally some tentative food prodding from the child and the husband before they eat it and declare that to their amazement ‘It’s all right.’ But if it’s NaNoWriMo or I’m chasing a deadline then it’s something quick and easy. Usually that’s it for writing but if I’m up against a deadline or completely engrossed in a story I’ll carry on working after dinner until my husband comes to check I’m still alive which is usually my cue to pack up for the day.

The evening is a mix depending on what day of the week it is and can involve a trip to the gym, helping the child with homework, playing a board game or a spot of telly. I like crime dramas and reality TV, which I watch whilst having a last check on social media.

10.00pm Then it’s off to bed with a good book and lights round about 11.00pm.

11.00pm – 7.30am I wake sporadically and jot down plot resolutions, new ideas and all the things I forgot to do during the day.

About Bella Osborne

Bella has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember. Her first story, written when she was nine, was about a thief who stole the crown jewels and this sadly remains unpublished. However, undeterred, she continued to write stories for adults and ‘It Started At Sunset Cottage’ is her debut novel.

She likes to find the humour in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories. Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz and planning holidays.

She lives in The Midlands with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping).