Thursday 30 June 2011

The Review Chair


Bagpipes & Bullshot is being discussed in the Review Chair with
Kim 'The Bookworm' Nash and Loveahappyending editor Ceri Autelli

Click here to read the feature

To celebrate the launch of the new interactive website loveahappyending.com
I am giving away SIX free copes of Bagpipes & Bullshot

To enter my Bagpipes & Bullshot book giveaway click here



Happy Reading!




Friday 24 June 2011

This week's Special Event!


Loveahappyending.com is celebrating its official launch on Wednesday 29th June.

It’s all happening on line - which means wherever you are in the world you can pop over to www.loveahappyending.com and wish all our authors and associate readers lots of luck and success with this new exciting interactive venture.

Interactive means everyone can take part - so why not enter one or more of our giveaways or consider buying one of our loveahappyending author’s books? Why not contact us with an an offer to review one of our books and take part in our regular The Review Chair feature? Click here for more information on The Review Chair.
 
We’ve romantic fiction and biographies, children’s books, saga and crime, poetry and short story collections: there is something for everyone at www.loveahappyending.com

During the run up to launch day and until the end of July - to celebrate my association with this exciting and innovative reader/writer website I have reduced the price of my e-book Bagpipes and Bullshot on Amazon to 90p - yes, just ninety pence! Click to download from Amazon.UK or Amazon.Com.

 

NOW just 90p on Amazon!

ON LAUNCH DAY

Bagpipes & Bullshot is being reviewed in The Review Chair’ by Associate Reader Kim ‘The Bookworm’ Nash and discussed with loveahappyending editor Ceri Autelli.

Also, as a Pisces author, I am being interviewed by Sharon Goodwin on what will be another regular ‘astrology based’ interview feature on loveahappyending.com - Shaz’s Stars’.

AND I'm giving away - yes, giving away SIX COPIES of my e-book Bagpipes & Bullshot. For more info on how to enter the giveaway: click here.

For all of this - and more - visit www.loveahappyending.com on Wednesday 29th June 2011


Tuesday 14 June 2011

Romantic Novelist's Association Blog


This week I’m blogging early because I’m excited about an author interview I’ve done for the RNA blog - the blog of The Romantic Novelist’s Association. It’s such an honour, not only to be a member of such a fantastic organisation, but to appear on the blog at the same time I have an article entitled ‘How My Book Became A Bestseller’ in the summer issue of Romance Matters - the magazine of the Romantic Novelist’s Association. Hip-hip-hooray for the wonderful RNA!

This is the link to my RNA Blog Interview.

This is the link to my article in Romance Matters Magazine (pdf)

Happy reading and writing everyone!

Thursday 9 June 2011

Pauline Barclay - Sometimes It Happens...

This week I’m chatting to author Pauline Barclay, whose contemporary women’s fiction novel Sometimes It Happens had me intrigued not only by the fantastic cover and title - but the tag line:  “Winning the lottery was just the beginning. Nothing prepared Doreen Wilkinson for her holiday at Villas Bonitas and nothing prepared Villas Bonitas for Doreen Wilkinson.”

Sometimes It Happens…is about secrets, deception, lies, love and laughter. An Amazon reviewer describes the novel as a "a delightful beach read full of equally delightful characters."


Pauline, tell us more about your fantastic new novel!
Sometimes It Happens…  is a book you can curl up with in the garden or on a sun bed on the beach on a summer’s day and feel like you are at the fabulous Villas Bonitas. It’s a good feel book and should make the reader giggle, a lot!

Please tell us how you got the idea for it?
I was with a friend one day who talked about what she would do if she won the lottery and it got me thinking about how an ordinary person would cope with such a large amount of money. As I started to write the story it just grew and grew and I found I wanted my main character to see the difference between seriously rich and posh!

To plot or not to plot? How much of a planner are you?
I’m not a planner in the sense that I write lots of notes, but when I begin a new story, I always know the beginning and the end, also the main character. It’s the middle bit that has me having sleepless nights!

 
What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?
When I sit down to write and nothing comes. I panic and the more I panic the worse it gets. I know it will pass, eventually, but I’m terrible at beating myself up!


How do you develop your characters?
Once I decide on the character, I let them percolate in my head and in time they become so real they develop themselves. I know this sounds crazy, but my characters begin to be real people and I think about how they would react to a variety of situations.

How have you promoted/launched your book?
In the main I have used social media and have been invited to several Blogs, including yours – thank you! I have also written to local newspapers and internet sites where I have had an interest in the area. These have all be wonderfully supportive. I also offer to write articles for other Blogs particularly on Indie publishing. My web site is kept updated daily and I have my book out with reviewers too.

What is a typical writing day - how do you manage your time - and where do you write?
I prefer to write in the afternoon, this gives me a good chunk of the day to get my other commitments dealt with: Though nothing is carved in stone so I fit my writing around everything else. My favourite place to write is outside, our climate allows this and of course I am away from the internet and twitter etc such scary distractions!

 
What are your interests other than writing?
I love cooking. I love reading, cycling, rollerblading and walking our doggies.

What can you tell us about a Work In Progress?
My latest WIP is my fourth book, though as much as the scenes are playing in my head they are not yet in my laptop! Being an Indie publisher means that marketing takes a great deal of my time and at the moment, getting my latest book, Sometimes It Happens… to as wide an audience as possible is priority. But I am itching to get back to more hours of writing.

Pauline Barclay lives with her husband and two doggies on the lovely island of Lanzarote in the Canary Isles, Sometimes It Happens… is her third book and she is currently working on her fourth.

Find Pauline at:
Twitter: @paulinembarclay


Thursday 2 June 2011

My Bookshelves...

This week I’m picking up on the bookshelf feature I started at the end of April, when I talked about Ruby Ferguson, one of my very favourite authors and showed off my prized collection of first editions. Next up on this feature, I’d like to talk about Jilly Cooper, who rocked my world when in 1985 she published her blockbuster ‘Riders’.


At the time, I lived in Cheshire and was very much part of a ‘horsey set’. My horse, a handsome eventer called Charles, was stabled at livery between the Polo Club and the Cheshire Hunt stables. It was a time of competitive fun. Not that my life was anything like one of the characters in ‘Riders’ you understand - as to fund my horsey adventures I would race up the M56 everyday to work - not on my horse but in my little white sports car. But at the weekends I would be either at the livery stables or at a horsey event and everyone I met would have two things in common. (1) They would be riding a horse and (2) they would be either reading Jilly Cooper’s Riders or talking about it!


That year, Riders went straight into the bestsellers chart at number one. I loved the book and so it seemed did everyone else. So it became my number one favourite book in the world and as you can see from the photo below, I have a beautiful first edition copy on my bookshelves.


Jilly’s novels are characterised by her intricate plots, multiple storylines, characters to fall in love with, dogs and horses, glamour, wealth, sex, and her clever and unsurpassable wit. And that’s just the fiction. As you will note, I’m a big Jilly Cooper fan!





 
A teary-eyed moment for me on Bagpipes & Bullshot launch day....



What is your favourite book in the whole world? Please tell me - leave a comment!

If you have a moment, please pop over to Pauline Barclay's Blog where I'm talking about life here in Scotland and how it inspires my writing!

Next Friday, I’m interviewing Lanzarote writer Pauline Barclay. Not to be missed!