Today, we welcome the awesome Toya Richardson to the blog to chat about the After The Rain anthology and the reasons she got involved with the fundraiser! 


Can you tell us a bit about the story you've written for the anthology?
 It’s about a florist, Rose, who’s trying to raise funds to buy back her mother’s floristry business. The shop had to be sold to pay for her mother’s dementia care home. A friend puts her in touch with a venture capitalist, but she’s unsure because they only usually fund large businesses but she agrees as she’s desperate to save the business. After a disaster whilst setting up a presentation and a mix up of identities, she’s surprised when he wants to hear more about her proposal. It’s a heartwarming story with all the feels that will leave the reader feeling uplifted. I can’t share any more or it will spoil the surprises.

How does your story reflect your usual writing style or does it differ significantly?
It’s my usual style of writing for this genre. I didn’t want to change my ‘voice’ for this. I’m a multi-genre author and this has a light romantic comedy element, whilst dealing with the serious subject of dementia, but it also has romance as that’s what I write.

What does the cause behind the fundraising mean to you personally?
Years ago, I worked as a civilian for the police dealing with witnesses and typing up witness statements. I saw firsthand how traumatic DV could be, and it shocked me how many of the victims, women and men, finally dropped the charges and went back to their abusive partners. It’s a hard cycle to break so when the chance came to be involved with a DV charity, I jumped at the chance to support it in whatever way I could.

How do you balance writing for charity projects with your other writing commitments?
This is the first charity anthology I’ve been involved with. It was an easy fix to move my other projects around to accommodate this 15k story. I’d already written a flash fiction piece which I used as the bones for Love in Bloom, so that helped me to write the piece faster. 

What are your future writing plans after this anthology is published?
I have several projects on the go at present. I have a romantic comedy coming out in August called, Love Inn the Sun. And I’m writing two different paranormal romances which I hope to be released sometime next year. Eventually, I have plans for Love in Bloom to become a full-length novel.


If you would like to support Hopefull Handbags, you can pre-order After The Rain here on ebook! Paperbacks will be available on release day, June 11th, and you will be able to read it through your Kindle Unlimited subscription! 

You can find out more about the Write Here, Write Now Community here!