Mo Fanning - British writer and comic

Rebuilding Alexandra Small

A dark romance I wrote today

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New York Romance

It’s been a while since I’ve released a book. People have been asking me when the next one is coming out, and today, I’m excited to announce that my new dark romance novel will be out towards the end of this year.

New York CityThis new book is special to me because it’s set in a city I fell in love with: New York. I’m still trying to decide on the final title – there are several in contention – and my beta readers are hard at work telling me what’s wrong. (Yes, I take feedback very seriously!)

It’s the story of a father who lost touch with his gay son due to words spoken in haste and his journey to reconnect. The main character, Silas, is an interesting man who weeds gardens and (once a year) dresses up as Santa. I’m sure you’ll love him as much as I do!

What they said about ‘Rebuilding Alexandra Small’

I’ve also received some wonderful feedback from my readers on my most recent book. Here are a few testimonials:

“A book that was easy to get into from the star.”

“Told in a chic lit format but with a gritty core”

“Witty and fast-paced”

“A lovely, fun, summery read that’s also smart and moving. Definitely laugh out loud so don’t say I didn’t warn you”

OK, so I’m shamelessly plugging my new book. But please buy a copy of my earlier books as well! They’re all available on Amazon and make great gifts for the romance reader in your life. Thank you for your support!

 

Beating an addiction helped process growing up an outsider

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Drinking alone

Any recovery programe starts in the same way. You admit you have a problem and it consumes you. In my case, it was drink. It could easily have been any of my other self-destructive behaviour patterns, but as a starter for ten, my body decided to tackle an unfettered love of jar.

For every success story, there’s at least a thousand people ready to stick up their hands and say giving up didn’t work for them. The failure rate is depressing. Those who fail are happy to speak out. Like when you watch reality casting shows and whoever happens to be this month’s Simon Cowell-alike tells a room full of eager faces how most of them won’t have the X-factor.

So what does it feel like to be four years sober and consider yourself a success? I should add, the four-year part doesn’t matter. There’s strength in white-knuckling a single sober day.

There’s one thing of which I am sure. The decision to stop drinking saved my life.

Hangovers

For years, I refused to own my problem. I would drink. A lot. I’d have hangovers and dread facing people the next day. As a functioning alcoholic, my career highlights include: finding myself with no wallet in the middle of nowhere looking for a phone box to call my sleeping parents 200 miles away and ask if they can prepay a cab to get a 25-year-old me home. I’ve woken with two cracked ribs and a broken TV. I’ve found myself thrown from a cab in a foreign city covered in sick that might have been mine.

I stopped drinking much like I stopped smoking. One day it didn’t happen

Towards the end, my evenings always started the same. With the intention to limit myself to what was in the kitchen. Once I took the first sip, I couldn’t stop and wanted to keep going to that place where I got sociable and fun and brave enough to not hide away. I wanted to think nothing. Half way through any evening, I’d stumble to the nearest shop selling wine and slur my orders.

I stopped drinking much like I stopped smoking. One day it didn’t happen. The next day was the same.

It took a year of not taking a drink to deal with the dark cloud that had followed me around. Until I could do that, I was simply a guy who drank too much.

Bit by bit, I asked why I let myself get literally legless, lifting the lid of a box marked PRIVATE. I came face-to-face with the hurt of growing up an only child, with industrial grade acne, no friends, no self-confidence, a weight problem … and a preference for men. In each and every respect, I felt alone. Add them together and the feeling manifested as alcohol abuse in my adult life. I was singled out by the school playground bullies because I didn’t know how to fight back. I stood alone in bars and clubs on account of zero social skills. People didn’t bother getting to know me, because I hid away in shadows.

Drink corrected everything.

Numb

As I identified each cause, the effect lifted. A little each day … until I no longer was consumed by the desire to drink. I no longer needed to be numb.

I don’t call myself sober. I prefer to say I’m not drinking today. Mostly because it saves on the embarrassed silences when ‘fessing up to being a reformed booze bag – or the people who implore me to have just the one glass when I stay quiet.

I let myself have a drink. Because I trust that I know when and how to stop. And why. Drinking was no longer fun. The pain and anxiety that drove my love of the bottle added bubbles to my beer.

Of course, I’m not unique in this. Millions of us only drink once in a while. I have a penchant for an espresso Martini. But drinking is no longer a defined part of my life; something I do every day from 5pm until sleep takes over.

I’ve long been reluctant to write about this part of my life, even though I’ve published stories about recovery and made it the central theme of ‘Rebuilding Alexandra Small’. The thing is, I realise there are lots of drinkers like me. People who don’t accept their relationship with alcohol might be a problem. They’ll keep tumbling and hit new lows.

One of the best things I ever read is that you don’t have to hit rock-bottom to step out of the lift. You can stop self-sabotaging at any floor.

I was lucky. One day, drinking didn’t happen. I’m grateful it did. I’m grateful to Mark for making it so.

Moderation management
Moderation Management™ is a lay-led non-profit dedicated to reducing the harm caused by the misuse of alcohol. MM provides support through face-to-face meetings, video and phone meetings, chats, and private online support communities.

 

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Writing: How to decide on the story I want to tell

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In the middle of promoting my recent book – Rebuilding Alexandra Small – (99p for the month of July at most eBook sellers) I’m also writing something new. It’s the weird way of the writing world that you truly want to put all your energy into a new project, but need to set a decent chunk of time aside to sell something that’s over a year old in your head.

I’m midway through the third draft of what I hope to share either later this year or early next and the story continues to twist and turn and bend into all kinds of new shapes. I was sure I knew what I wanted to say with this next novel, but it turns out I want to say more thing. With rebuilding Alexandra Small, I wanted to address recovery and making amends – and what happens when someone you forgot about sticks their head up and says ‘what about me?’ The central storyline deals with paying the price for not saying sorry.

For my (as yet untitled) work in progress, I have three key storylines. An older couple, a younger couple. A gay couple, a straight couple. Something nefarious involving the church. And it’s all set on a Christmas cruise to the Bahamas. I started with the focus firmly on one of the key players, allowing others occasional goes at speaking to the reader. Then I switched in the second draft, dividing time equally. It’s just dawned on me in the third draft, that my previous favourite character is actually quite safe. She takes few risks. She could even be called dull (but only by a close friend). And I wanted to explore why. It’s helped me focus the theme for the new book. One of the other key characters suffers from the weight of meeting expectations and feeling inadequate. Another struggles to make good for an impulsive argument that split his family. I thought I might have many things to say with this one, but now I see I have just one: being true to yourself comes with a cost, but it’s worth paying.

Pitching your writing

As a writer, it’s vital to distil your story into one or two lines. This lets you stay focussed on the end-game and kill any non-helpful darlings in the edit – taking out each and every fabulously written chunk of prose that fails to advance the story. Having this essence bottled makes it so much easier to talk about your book when you reach the marketing or pitch stage. It’s a way to be sure of meeting the expectations of your genre, your readers and that demanding inner critic – the one who keeps bleating on about imposter syndrome. For me, everything starts with one (or more) character(s). You might work differently.

I’ll aim to share some pages with my mailing list subscribers in the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy the sun. If you’ve never tried placing a bottle of frozen water in front of a table fan, do it now. You’ll thank me.

And if you can spare a pound/buck/yoyo, please buy an e-book this month. It’ll help make paying my mortgage that little bit easier.

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Truly a joy to read – Rebuilding Alexandra Small

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Rebuilding Alexandra Small

This is a review of Rebuilding Alexandra Small from ‘The Book Review Crew‘ as part of the launch blog tour for my new book – which in case I forgot to mention is on sale now in ebook and paperback from each and every bookseller in the whole galaxy. (perhaps)

Rebuilding Alexandra Small was truly a joy to read.  It evoked ALL the feels: happiness, anger, surprise, slight anxiety and…. did I mention anger?

The story centers around PR exec and WAG Allie, who, with her semi- famous athlete husband Jed, is trying to have a baby. I immediately got the DANGER vibe from the fertility doctor and instantly hated her. (I mean, I even surprised myself with the level of loathing I had for this woman, the moment I met her on the first page of Chapter 2.) I thought the story was moving one way, but Fanning tricked me a bit and it went in a whole ‘nother direction.

Suffice it to say, Jed is a pig and commits a piggish act.  And Allie is blindsided.  This story is truly how she rebuilds her life after an incredible betrayal. Mix in a ton of LOL moments and it was a really great read.

a bit of a roller coaster ride … But an enjoyable one, for sure!

The story moves fast; there are quirky characters and funny, funny one liners.  I had to remind myself a few times it was written by an Englishman so some of the slang cracked me up, where anyone living in the UK would probably read over it like we do with our popular swear words.  (To me, “I told him to get to f” is just hilarious. I don’t know why. I’ve never heard “f off” said like that.) Her family is funny and super supportive, even though the author lets us into Allie’s past where there were a host of bad decisions and dark times.  None of us are perfect, and Allie has some serious regrets of yesteryear. But unconditionally, her family loves her, even if her mother is a bit of a wild card.

Several different story lines orbit around Allie and Jed; the media who want the scandalous story and the bottom feeders who dig up dirt to keep Allie and Jed the front page’s headline. The relationships she has with her family play out, including  her father’s story and how it connects to her. She is forced to face past errors in judgement and coming to terms with what she really wants out of life.  Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to make you see where you want to go.

Fanning does a GREAT job of throwing us into ALL our emotions within these two hundred and sixty eight pages.   It really is amazing. I could be ready to reach into the pages of this book to throttle Jed and then someone drops a one-liner that almost makes me wet myself from laughing. (It’s a thing folks. I’m 46. It happens). He also does a great job of making Allie accountable, not simply a damsel in distress. So many female characters are “rescued” and that is so old and boring.  Allie falls on hard times, and it is hard for her to pick up.  She is betrayed and lied to, but doesn’t run right into the arms of someone else to feel better.  (Although there is this one guy….there is ALWAYS a guy….) The price of being a famous athlete’s wife is high and  when things goes awry, she is thrust into the unknown. She handles it with grace but also a little bit of grit, and gives a bit sour-tasting medicine right back to a couple  of mean, mean bitches. (You know who you are, but no spoilers here so you remain anonymous for now).

I think the book ties up nicely at the end and comes full circle, although it takes us on a bit of a roller coaster ride to get there. But an enjoyable one, for sure!

A solid, funny 5 star read! I will definitely be checking out his first book, “The Armchair Bride”.

Genuinely lovely reading – another review for Rebuilding Alexandra Small

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Rebuilding Alexandra Small

This is a review for Rebuilding Alexandra Small from Handwritten Girl’s blog, as part of my book launch blog tour.

Six years sober, Alexandra Small has it all… and then one day, she very publicly doesn’t. When her perfect world crumbles, a face appears from Allie’s drunken past, hell bent on revenge. Can she rebuild her life before a stranger destroys it forever? And should she spend three weeks in an overheated shed having colonic irrigation with daytime TV’s Megan Macmillan? In this laugh out loud treat of a novel, Mo Fanning tackles the difficulties and misadventures of work, love, and being seen for who you really are.

Can I just say, that I loved this book!

a fun and witty story about new beginnings, love and facing new challenges that is genuinely lovely reading

I started reading it late on a Sunday evening which was a big mistake and spent most of Monday looking longingly at when I couldn’t read it.

The story is seen through the narrative of recovering alcoholic Allie, who’s life has fallen apart when her marriage to a famous footballer ends, she’s loses her job and someone is selling stories about to her the press.

All these things happen to Allie in a short time and not once does she give up. She keeps strong and is determined to reinvent herself and start a new career owning the childhood cafe that her and her best friend Izzy went to. She hires a handsome Polish solicitor called Tomas to sort out her divorce and like her, I found myself falling for the sweet character who’s like Allie in many ways.

I loved the characters in this book, they were vibrant, bitchy and strong females all out for justice and independence. Another character who was great was Megan, who was the face of daytime telly and is determined that Allie works with her to get both their careers back on track with her own failed marriage. She’s outspoken and ballsy and made for hilarious reading in parts.

The story is also written in the past tense in some parts, as Allie reflects on how she became an alcoholic and reliant on drink. This makes for sad reading at times, as her childhood was far from perfect with her own father battling depression.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I did have one small gripe. There was one character who was particularly vile to Allie and I would have loved to have seen more of her getting her comeuppance. Apart from that issue, this book was a fantastically uplifting read.

‘Rebuilding Alexandra Small’ is a fun and witty story about new beginnings, love and facing new challenges that is genuinely lovely reading.