Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have author and public relations dynamo Adrienne Vaughan chatting about the importance of dreams.

Here’s Adrienne!

I’ve always loved that song, you know, the one from South Pacific, Happy Talk. It’s so true, if you don’t have a dream, how on earth are you going to make a dream come true?

There again, have you ever met anyone who doesn’t dream they were someone or something else? Most people wish for something different, but it’s the dreamers, and I mean the real dreamers who make a difference. Sighing and wishing achieves very little, as far as I can tell, it’s the proper, ‘let’s take this seriously’ dreamer who gets things done, changes themselves, their environment, the whole world if they mean too.

But it wasn’t until Joanne kindly invited me onto her blog, and I was giving this notion some thought, that I realised that’s exactly what I am, a serious dreamer!

I knew very definitely what my first act would be, from the age of seven I wanted to be a writer, no ifs or buts. I was given a Petite Typewriter and my fate was sealed. I wrote poems, plays, short stories and articles – pasting them together on the kitchen table, creating my own magazines.

My mother, taking a well-earned break with a cup of tea and a copy of Women’s Own, would open the pages and scream. I had usually chopped half of it out, leaving holes in the articles and no pictures to the features.

I was twelve when I decided I was going to be a journalist, ideally the editor of a glossy magazine, where I could meet and marry a rock star – David Bowie or Bryan Ferry were ideal potential husbands in my opinion – so I packed my dream in my suitcase and left Dublin to work in London, on a glossy pop magazine, of course.

Fast forward twenty five years and my career has turned from poacher to gamekeeper, I now run a busy PR practice, and my second act is well and truly upon me, emerging as part of my development as a writer, rather than a real need for change.

Writers write, it’s what they do, so of course I have any amount of half-baked novels under the bed, one is nearly thirty years old! But it wasn’t until I became involved with the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the New Romantics Press and Amazon that perhaps, my most serious dream came true. I published my first novel, The Hollow Heart and to finally hold my work in my hand as a real book was without doubt, one of the best feelings ever. Now, as I blearily edit my third novel, due out at the end of November, I keep pushing the dream on and it’s getting bigger and better.

My advice for anyone pursuing a second act? Use all the skills, contacts and determination you used pursuing your first. I would be nowhere without the RNA, Amazon and my precious chums, Lizzie Lamb, June Kearns and Mags Cullingford – and I wouldn’t even have known them without relentlessly pursuing my serious dream.

This is what’s stuck on my computer screen …She turned her can’ts into cans …and her dreams into plans! Go on, you can do it!

Moping about glumly wishing things could be different, if only I were rich, pretty, clever is never going to work is it.

Adrienne’s Books

Marianne Coltrane is a feisty,award-winning journalist who is far from lucky in love. Taking herself off to the wilds of the west of Ireland to recuperate, she literally runs into Ryan O’Gorman, the most conceited, infuriating man in the world. He’s an actor who’s just landed the biggest role in movie history and he loathes journalists. One thing they do have in common is they both think their chance of true love has passed them by…but fate has other ideas!

Escaping to a remote Irish isle, journalist Marianne Coltrane had not bargained for a tumultuous affair with movie star Ryan O’Gorman. When Ryan leaves to pursue his career, Marianne remains on the island to care for those who need her most, but Ryan soon realises he cannot live without her and returns to woo her back. Tricky enough without his problematic ex-wife or the contract he cannot break, but when a good deed puts all they treasure in jeopardy, it’s time to take stock and fight for what matters most…or is time running out for this charismatic couple and everything they hold dear?

Bio

Adrienne Vaughan’s books have been described as Maeve Binchy meets Jackie Collins – as these authors are two of her heroines, she thinks this is just fantastic!

Adrienne Vaughan has been making up stories since she could speak; as soon as she could pick up a pen she started writing them down. No surprise she wanted to be a journalist, ideally the editor of a glossy magazine, where she could meet and marry a rock star! Today she runs a busy PR practice, writing novels, poems and short stories in her spare time.

She was born in England, was brought up in Dublin and now lives in rural Leicestershire with her husband, two cocker spaniels and a rescue cat called Agatha Christie; she still harbours a burning ambition to be a Bond girl!

Adrienne is working on the final book in the Heartfelt trilogy Secrets of the Heart, which she intends to publish in November 2014. She has outlines for her next two books, which are set on the same island but feature different characters and storylines.

A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme since 2012, Adrienne is the current editor of the RNA’s magazine Romance Matters and a founder member of the indie publishing group, The New Romantics Press. In her professional life she is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Chartered Institute of Journalists. She also holds a licence to drive a powerboat.

Where to find Adrienne…

Website | Amazon | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Adrienne, thank you for sharing your inspiring journey and providing wonderful advice and insights. Your books sound delicious. I’m putting them on my TBR list.