Sometimes naughty and sometimes sweet...

I have a guest blogger and yes, I’m sure she really is a combination of naughty and sweet, but mostly she is a clever, witty and very talented reporter/presenter/writer, who has a fabulous new e-book out which is also available as an audio book! You can tell I’m a member on the Gilly Fraser fan club can’t you - and once you’ve read/listened to Forbidden Love and Other Stories - I bet you will be too!

Take it away Gilly...!

When I was a kid, we had an old tree in the back garden which was just perfect for sitting in. I used to scramble up to my favourite perch among its branches with a pad and pen and scribble away to my heart’s content, writing story after story after story. In those days they all featured ponies - the first great love of my life. Now despite the fact that I’m a Gemini - well-known as the flighty, fickle, flibbertigibbets of the zodiac, I have remained true to those two early passions - I still love all things equine - and I still love to write.

I was lucky enough to have nine books published by Mills and Boon under my pen-name of Rachel Elliot, and now I’m diving headfirst into the exciting and brave new world of epublishing, but this time without the lifejacket of a nom de plume. I love the freedom that epublishing affords - freedom to write on any subject under the sun, freedom to wander at will from your normal genre without an irate publisher hauling you back by the scruff of your neck, freedom to write without worrying that you might get ignominiously dumped for unsatisfactory sales.

I particularly enjoy writing romance - sometimes naughty and sometimes sweet - but I’m also keen to explore other avenues. A story has been bobbing about in my head for the past couple of years which has a darker side to it, and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into it to see where it might lead. It’s not a romance, it’s not a thriller, it’s not crime - and that in itself would be a no-no for most agents and publishers because they do like something they can pigeonhole.

Nowadays when I write, I sit in a tatty old leather chair before a desk liberally strewn with letters, magazines, post-it notes and books in a room which lays claim to being an office but is really a glory-hole, providing a home for all the stuff in the house that didn’t quite fit in anywhere else. Which probably includes me, come to think of it!

A few years ago I visited Gracelands in Memphis and came home with a poster of a young Elvis on a lovely Palomino horse with the words… ‘Getting up in the morning is always easier when there’s a horse waiting for you.' Elvis said it - and I ain’t about to disagree with the King. To that I’ll just add - ‘the day gets even better when there’s a half-written story waiting for you as well…’

My first ebook ‘Forbidden Love and Other Stories’ can be downloaded from Amazon or Smashwords, or you can buy an MP3 cd version through my blog gillyfraser.wordpress.com It will soon be available as a hold-it-in-your-hands and turn-the-pages book as well - just as soon as it comes back from the printers. Please let me know what you think of it!

Gilly Fraser is a former reporter/presenter with Carlisle-based Border TV, a Mills & Boon novelist under the name of Rachel Elliot, and the owner of pony-trekking centre in the Scottish Borders. She is currently the Co-Presenter of BBC Radio Cumbria Show, Gilly & Kim Let Loose with Kim Inglis, she is also a Freelance Journalist writing for magazines and newspapers, and the owner of small PR and dvd production company. Gilly is also kickstarting romantic novel-writing back into life after a long sleep and in the future she plans to be the winner of prizes for wonderful romantic novels, many of which will be turned into Oscar-winning movies. Obviously! She also loves horses, dogs, cats – and her husband Malcolm, who apparently sings great songs.

Gilly's Blog: Reclaim The Romance

Gilly on Twitter: @GillyFraser

'Forbidden Love and Other Stories' on Amazon UK and Amazon.Com and Smashwords

Janice says: This week, I'm still busy working away on edits for 'Reaching for the Stars' but next Friday I'll have an excerpt for you together with exciting news about a launch date. Do come back then!

Links...

This week, I’ve got some fabulous shiny new links for you!

First up: Thanks to lovely columist friend Gilly Fraser, I’m mentioned in the November edition of DG Life (Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland) magazine - most regions of the UK have these wonderful newsy glossy coffee table style magazines and it’s really exciting to be featured as a ‘local’ author - so do have a wee read by clicking here: DG Life Magazine

Next up: I was a guest on fellow loveahappyending author Mandy Baggot’s blog this week - on what she calls Author Meet and Greet - which was great fun because Mandy asks the most amazingly different questions. If you want you find out what I answered click here: Mandy’s Meet & Greet

Lastly: thanks to talented writer Pauline Barclay, I discovered there IS a way for a Kindle author to sign their e-books! Kindlegraph is a website that features thousands of books and thousands of authors. All you have to do to request a Kindlegraph from the site, is to sign in with your Twitter account, and provide either an email address or your Kindle e-address (there are 1-2-3 step instructions on how to do this). You will receive not only a signature and book cover, but a personal message from the author of your choice, and you don’t even have to have bought a book yet (although you know you’ll want to soon, right?) How e-fabulous is that...?

So, if perchance you would like ahem.... my special personal message to you... ahem. Click here: Janice Horton’s Kindlegraph

Coming up: The e-edits......... I’ll keep you posted!

Janice xx



Just to say thank you...

To everyone who took part in my Author Roast & Toast on Friday and Saturday.

Who would have guessed that having an on-line party could be as much fun as having a real one or that virtual drunken revelry could last much longer than normal drunken revelry?

My Highland Gathering party to celebrate my humorous romance novel Bagpipes & Bullshot kicked off at 10am on Friday morning and by 6pm that evening, I had been sitting at my laptop for most of the day, typing, giggling, and having a fantastic time.

When the sun went over the literal yard-arm as well as the virtual one here in Scotland, believe me, I was ready for a very real glass of bullshot and was happily singing ‘The bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond’ for real too!

As early evening became late evening and there were something approaching two hundred comments on the blog, my wonderful Author Roast & Toast hostesses and I declared the whole event to have been amazing fun and a tremendous success, and I thought about collapsing on the sofa next to my dear husband (who had tried hard to understand the concept of a virtual party but failed).

But I had forgotten one very important and crucial thing to do with the world being round and not flat - and that was of timing and time difference. You see, as I saw the sun go down and the moon come up, for my dear friends across the pond and beyond, the opposite was true - and they were all raring to go and very keen indeed to join the virtual party.

So party on, I said, and by gosh we did - all around the world and back again!

Do pop over to my friend Gilly’s new blog if you have a moment. She’s a very interesting journalist and romance writer and this week she is talking about her monthly column in glossy DG Life magazine and about the subject of e-book marketing - in which she gives me a wee toot.

On Wednesday this week I’ll be taking part in Talli’s Roland’s “If I could be anyone, I’d be...” blog hop extravaganza. So do pop back to see which celebrity I’m going to choose to be. It’ll be great fun!

On Friday I have very special guest, Kenneth Rosenberg, talking about the launch of his brand new novel to Amazon Kindle in the wake of his Number 1 Bestseller ‘No Cure For The Broken Hearted’. Not to be missed!

Love, Janice