Hello everyone. I hope you’re all well. This week I’ve been trying to work out how to use Facebook more efficiently and install the correct coding for my website to connect the two. It’s taken me weeks to finally understand what I needed to do, and then it literally took me about 5 seconds to add the code! It’s weird how you can look at something for so long and not understand it, then the fog clears, and it suddenly makes sense. Doh! Before that it was complete gobbledygook.

I was invited to be one of the hosts on Litopia‘s Pop-Up-Submissions recently, and they have kindly invited me back. I’m also running a seminar on the 11th June for The Essex Book Festival and Essex Libraries about how I set up my book launches in the run up to publication and also about how my books became bestsellers. I will be talking about promo stacking, networking, pricing, publication dates, reviews and more. If you are in the area, the tickets are available here: Seminar link

Other exciting news is that I’m woking alongside fellow romance author, Christine Penhall, to bring some writing buddy sessions and workshops to Chelmsford, Essex.

We have decided to start by hosting a writing buddy session at the gorgeous, Fete Café, on the 5th July, 10.30am -12.30pm. It will be free to attend, but is capped at 25 places. The venue has a really relaxed atmosphere, and if those attending already have a book out and are willing to donate a copy, then the owner of the café is happy to add your book to the event space bookshelves (attendees only). This means it will be seen by other customers of the venue!

You do not have to have written anything before to attend. It’s a fun way to get words onto paper and support each other.

The writing buddy session will be a 30 min writing sprint (no word count goals or pressure), a 20 minute coffee and pastry break (you are welcome to buy a coffee and pastry at the ground floor bar area), another 30 minute writing sprint and then a 30 minute chance to network with other writers at the end.

Have an amazing week everyone! From Lizzie. x

Happy Tuesday everyone! I run seminars and have written a book about book marketing and often talk about networking and the fact that it’s great way to discover like minded creatives to promote our work with. Each month, I meet fellow romance author, Christine Penhall and we spend a few hours chatting about our latest projects. We also swap contacts we have made recently and plan future events that we can work on together for our writing. At the moment we are planning a series of seminars about our writing journeys and some magazine articles. We are now also scheduling in writing buddy sessions to make sure we achieve our writing commitments and fill up our creative tanks, just by spending time with a fellow writer. As soon as we are back at our desks, we feel energised to tackle tasks we might be procrastinating about. Chris and I have different approaches to marketing, but we fit beautifully when we are planning something together and I find her a very inspiring lady.

Marketing doesn’t have to be scary or boring and Chris and I always meet for food or coffee and during our time together, we film TikToks for both of our social media feeds, plan a blog post like this one, where we cross promote our work and have a lot of laughs along the way. It is often blowing a gale, or pouring with rain when we meet up, but this doesn’t phase us and we are often found giggling like school children and running around the beach scaring the Seagulls. This is our latest TikTok adventure.

Finding different groups of people to inspire your creativity and share news of your work with, expands your network and you never know when opportunity might arise.  I was telling Chris how I’d taken some business cards into a cafe and added them to the notice board. By the time I left the cafe, three of the four cards had been taken by customers, so I replenished them. I was just showing Chris my cards when the staff member of the cafe we were in came to chat to us, so I asked if I could leave some cards and she put them in a card holder right in front of the till. Needless to say, we will both have cards with us next time. Chris was telling me about some people that she met abroad, who had recommended a screen writing course and we are now going to look into that option from Chris’ contact. Marketing doesn’t have to be big things, it can be lots of little things, done consistently.

If you haven’t popped by yet, check out  Chris’ website and her beautiful books, which are full of sandy beaches and romantic storylines, can be found, here.

Romance books by Lizzie Chantree and Christine Penhall.

I’m also 50 years old today, so I will probably be eating cake while you are reading this! I published my first book at the age of forty and feel very thankful for all of the amazing readers and writers I have met along my writing journey. I’m hoping to have a new romance book ready to publish soon, so watch this space for more fun and mischief from me.

Have a great week everyone! From Lizzie. x

Hello everyone. I hope you’re all well? I’ve been updating my website and social media branding and working on the sequel to my book, The little ice cream shop by the sea. I’ve written around forty thousand word so far, but there still seems to be so much more to write! This can be the point where procrastination sets in for me, but as i’m excited about the storyline and revisiting old characters as well as new, it’s keeping me motivated to finish the book.  I also have another book which is almost completed, so i’m trying to decide the best time to publish. I do have a traditional publisher, but often choose to self-publish. This is because I can decide on my own publishing schedule and work around family commitments. It also means I do the majority of my own marketing, which can be exhausting, but i’m lucky that its’ something that I enjoy. I have a graphic design and advertising background, which helps me immensely, but it still takes a lot of work.

I have just made some Twitter book graphics for another author, as I make these designs for a small fee and I find it good to change up my work flow from time to time. I had my own retails shops for over fifteen years, so i’m also tinkering with the idea of designing some beautiful bookish accessories to add to my author website.

As it’s Valentine’s week, I’ve made one of my romance books, free for few days. My newsletter subscribers will already know this and will have hopefully downloaded their copies, but I’d love for you to have an ebook too.  Download Ninja School Mum here: viewbook.at/NinjaSchoolMumRomance

Reviews of Ninja School Mum:

‘Loved this book, very romantic and a beautiful story. Great characters, always love Lizzie Chantree books such a great read!!’

‘This is the third Chantree book I have read and I marvel at how she can take an ‘ordinary’ situation, in this case picking children up from school, and allow it to evolve into something so intriguing, so absorbing.’

‘This was a light-hearted, amusing and entertaining book. The opening chapters were particularly engaging and I was quickly hooked into the story. The main characters were empathetic and likeable; who doesn’t love a kickass heroine! ‘

Have an amazing week everyone. From Lizzie. x

Hello everyone! Are you feeling excited about Christmas?

I have been trying to support as many other authors as I can and have spent the whole year posting about other writers. This month I’ve showcased three or four authors each week, as I have tried to fit in as many beautiful books as I can, for you to discover, before the end of the year.  This week’s blog is celebrating the work of  talented authors, Hr Kemp, M J Mallon, Pinar Tarhan and Anita Belli.

Hr Kemp

About H. R. Kemp

I’m an Australian author and my debut novel, Deadly Secrets is a mystery/thriller. I’ve lived in Adelaide, South Australia, for about forty years although I grew up in country areas near Melbourne.

I have travelled extensively and have visited 40 countries (so far) – not counting short stopovers. I’m hoping that Covid hasn’t curtailed future travel, but our garage shelving system is full of albums from my 30+ years of travel. My writing draws on my experiences and anecdotes in these places, my latest book (due out early next year) has scenes drawing on personal experiences in Munich, Como and Amsterdam. I have a stack of travel diaries to refer to when I need a little more detail. I also lived in France for 6 months. It was my retirement gift to myself and I have plans to use that experience for one of my next novels.

My short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines, namely the UK anthology, When Stars Will Shine; the Australian anthology, Fledglings, by Birdcatcher Books; the online Canadian Scarlet Leaf Review Magazine; and the UK Writers’ and Readers’ Magazine. My second novel, another mystery/thriller, is due to be released early 2022.

Deadly Secrets: What unspeakable truths lurk beneath the lies?

In this multi-layered political mystery thriller, ordinary people uncover an extraordinary conspiracy. Their choice is to stay silent and condone unspeakable injustice, or speak up and risk everything. It’s about fighting the odds to do what’s right and saving lives.

Can ordinary people thwart a powerful conspiracy?

Shelley Ormond’s life is about to change forever. Her friend, a young refugee, dies suddenly and the federal police have shrouded her case in secrecy. Shelley has never been bold, but she will have to break the rules and jeopardise her safe, public service career to learn the truth.

Her new friend Adrian, a medical researcher, is studying a mystery illness in outback communities. Young children are falling fatally ill, but there’s no obvious cause although suspicious mining activity in the area is worth investigating.

Shelley delves deeper and is drawn into a sinister world of police cover-ups, organised crime corporate greed, and government corruption. If she obeys the law, the powerful will continue to break it.

The stakes are high, and the treacherous schemers will do anything to keep their deadly secrets. Lives don’t matter, not even hers.

 Can they expose the plot before more lives are lost?

Will the formidable and ruthless forces behind the conspiracy stop them?

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hrkemp01
Website: https://www.hrkempauthor.com/

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/hrkemp

Or from your favourite online bookstore: https://books2read.com/u/bzoZVZ

The paperback is also available from

Angus & Robertson – – Australia online
https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/deadly-secrets-h-r-kemp/p/9780648766308

Book Depository

https://www.bookdepository.com/Deadly-Secrets-H-R-Kemp/9780648766308

Barnes and Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deadly-secrets-h-r-kemp/1136661961?ean=9780648766308

M J Mallon

 My alter ego is MJ – Mary Jane from Spiderman. I love superheros!

M J Mallon was born in Lion city Singapore, a passionate Scorpio with the Chinese Zodiac sign of a lucky rabbit. She spent her early childhood in Hong Kong. During her teen years, she returned to her father’s childhood home, Edinburgh where she spent many happy years, entertained and enthralled by her parents’ vivid stories of living and working abroad. Perhaps it was during these formative years that her love of writing began inspired by their vivid storytelling. She counts herself lucky to have travelled to many far-flung destinations and this early wanderlust has fuelled her present desire to emigrate abroad. Until that wondrous moment, it’s rumoured that she lives in the UK, in the Venice of Cambridge with her six-foot hunk of a rock god husband. Her two enchanting daughters have flown the nest but often return with a cheery, heart-warming smile to greet her..

MJ’s motto is…

To always do what you Love, stay true to your heart’s desires, and inspire others to do so too, even if it appears that the odds are stacked against you like black hearted shadows.

Her favourite genre to write is

Fantasy/magical realism because life would be dull unless it is sprinkled with a liberal dash of extraordinarily imaginative magic!

Next Chapter Publishing – YA fantasy The Curse of Time series:

Book blurb:

Fifteen-year-old Amelina Scott lives in Cambridge with her dysfunctional family, a mysterious black cat, and an unusual girl who is imprisoned within the mirrors located in her house.

When an unexpected message arrives inviting her to visit the Crystal Cottage, she sets off on a forbidden path where she encounters Ryder: a charismatic, perplexing stranger.

With the help of a magical paint set and some crystal wizard stones, can Amelina discover the truth about her family?

A unique, imaginative mystery full of magic-wielding and dark elements, Bloodstone is a riveting adventure for anyone interested in fantasy, mythology or the world of the paranormal.

UK Book Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloodstone-Curse-Time-Book-1-ebook/dp/B097QZBKNY/

US Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/Bloodstone-M-J-Mallon-ebook/dp/B097QZBKNY/

Universal book Link:http://mybook.to/bstmm

And the 2^nd in the series coming soon

Golden Healer – The Curse of Time Book 2

Pinar Tarhan

Pinar Tarhan is a novelist, screenwriter, freelance writer, and blogger. She has always been fascinated by movies, rock music, and various forms of dancing. These fascinations sneak into her stories in the most fun combinations. She writes escapist romantic comedies and dramas. You can catch her musings about all things writing at writing.pinartarhan.com

Amazon link for the book: 

https://www.amazon.com/Change-Would-Do-You-Good-ebook/dp/B08YJMRN4P

Anita Belli

I used to be a dancer and filmmaker which gives me plenty to write about, especially as my other passions are art and history. I have been writing since I was a child, when the Manchester Evening News printed my poems and stories on their children’s page.

I grew up in Manchester, studied Dance and Filmmaking in London. I currently live in Essex, UK. I am an eclectic writer, so my fiction spans 20th century history and contemporary romance. Most recently, I have stayed into magical realism which I love. Writing across genre, my books explore families and how to survive them; art and history; secrets and lies.

I am a hybrid author, both traditionally published as well as publishing independently through our own imprint Hard Pressed Books.

As an author and creative writing tutor, I encourage other people to get hooked on telling their own stories and I have worked with all ages from 5-95 in some very unusual settings; on the streets, on a train and in Keats’ Kitchen as well as the more traditional settings of schools and libraries. I have written non-fiction books to accompany my workshop series on Write Your Life and Kickstart Your Writing and I especially love to work with children. I was recently awarded an Arts Council Grant to create a children’s workbook for key stage 2 and was delighted to be able to work with an illustrator for the first time. Together we created The Story Moles.

Ruby Sixpence Whistles Up A Storm

Meet Ruby Sixpence.

A long time ago, Ruby’s father bet a silver sixpence that his child would be born on a leap day; a spare day in which magic happens. Born in that enchanted crack in time where opportunities, and people like her, slip through. Over the centuries Ruby Sixpence has aged one year in four and her mission is to bring together reluctant lovers.

In Ruby Sixpence Whistles up a Storm, Ruby attempts to bring Katie Hope and Joe Lawrence together, despite their very different backgrounds and temperaments. Will they survive fog and flood, invasion by sheep and press intrusion; or will urban Joe decide the countryside is just too much like hard work, and Katie Hope even harder? And how will Ruby manage all of this before her deadline of the Spring Equinox?

With the stage set, Ruby Sixpence Whistles up a Storm and stands back to stir the pot.

BUY LINK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=anita+belli&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

The book I want to share with you today is magical realism with a character every woman would love to be; the ‘fairy godmother’ that many women already are.

And next up?

I have recently received a Literature award from Arts Council England to write a new novel which brings together my main themes; exploring how the past ripples through the generations with unintended consequences. It is the story of a young woman’s search for identity in the melting pot of a London art school in the 1960’s:

One imaginary friend. One long lost aunt. And a road trip to liberate Clara Brown from the ties that bind her to the hypocrisy of the past.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Blog: https://anitabellibooks2020.wordpress.com

www.anitabelli.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/anitabellibooks

@anitabellibooks

Meet The Story Moles here: https://thestorymoles.wordpress.com

Today, it’s my great pleasure to showcase four wonderful authors. Check out their work and discover some amazing new reads! Introducing, Abigail Osbourne, Liza Miles, Lesley lodge,  and Sonia Stanizzo.

Abigail Osbourne

Would you give up your husband to save your best friend’s life?

Bonded by their traumatic childhoods, Flora and Sophie are inseparable friends who married brothers.

What they could not have anticipated was their mother-in-law, Cecelia. Disappointed that her children have married beneath them, Cecelia takes every opportunity to belittle and taunt her daughters-in-law.

When Cecelia learns that Flora and her son are moving away, her wrath escalates, and Flora’s world begins to fall apart.

Meanwhile, Sophie’s life is also crumbling around her. Her marriage is not what it seems, and she is desperate to escape the clutches of the poisonous family she has married into.

Is Flora being tormented or is she losing her mind?

Will Sophie and Flora be forced to leave their husbands in order to survive?

With a mother-in-law like Cecelia, anything is possible…

Liza Miles

Lesley Lodge

Lesley Lodge grew up in the New Forest, a place where ponies roam freely. Her love for the outdoors and horses in particular stems from there but she spent many years in London, Colchester and Sheffield, studying and working.

A first degree in English, two Master’s degrees and careers in journalism, economic research and housing policy equipped her with some useful research skills – skills which she used to the full in the long processes of writing first Lights! Camera! Gallop! The Story of the Horse in Film and now Wayland’s Revenge, a historical crime novel. Lesley’s protagonist in this novel is a blacksmith who seeks to avenge his wife’s brutal murder. Blacksmiths had a degree of independence at that time, being neither gentry nor peasant class and were regarded with some awe and superstition for their mastery of fire, molten iron and horses.

Wayland’s Revenge is set in seventeenth century England – a time of civil war and bitter divisions which chimes with today’s turbulence. Can revenge ever satisfy – and if so, at what price?

Lesley now lives on a smallholding bafflingly close to Luton, Bedfordshire.

Wayland’s Revenge is available in paperback, eBook and Audiobook.

Sonia Stanizzo

Blurb

He’s everything she’s turned her back on.

And she’s everything he didn’t know he wanted…

On a night she’d rather forget, aspiring makeup artist, Holly Ainsworth meets actor Ethan Doyle.

Holly wants to keep her distance from Ethan, but working on his movie set has thrown them together. She vows not to fall for his gorgeous looks and heated stares—it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

As hard as she fights, it’s not long until she can’t ignore the attraction when he’s near, and soon forgets the promises she’s made to herself.

The chemistry between them ignites but they realise their lives are heading in different directions. Ethan wants fame and fortune. Holly wants obscurity and simplicity.

Ethan and Holly are just another tragic love story… or are they?

Book link

http://mybook.to/RiskTaker

Website: www.soniastanizzo.com

This week’s showcase is a wonderful group of talented authors.  Angela Britnell, Drema Drudge, and Wendy Scott. Please take a moment to check out their books, find out more about their writing and discover some books to add to your Christmas wish lists!

Angela Britnell

Angela Britnell grew up in Cornwall, England and returns frequently from her new home in Nashville, Tennessee to visit family and friends, drink tea and eat far too many Cornish pasties!

A lifelong love of reading turned into a passion for writing contemporary romance and her novels are usually set in the many places she’s visited or lived on her extensive travels. Thanks to over three decades of marriage to her wonderful American husband she’s a huge fan of transatlantic romance and always makes sure her characters get their own happy-ever-after.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Her first novel ‘Truth and Consequence’ was published in 2006 and she’s now had 35 novels published internationally and multiple short stories in women’s magazines.

From Angela: 

I only started to write because back in 1999 I had three very lively sons and taking a creative writing class promised me six quiet evenings away from breaking up arguments, listening to gripes about homework and feeding them! Another fun snippet is that I don’t suppose many romances get an Amazon UK bestseller flag in Manufacturing but my 2020 Christmas book did, Christmas at Moonshine Hollow, was set in a Tennessee moonshine distillery and I’m happy to claim it! I have to say that the research for that particular book was brutal 😊

CHRISTMAS AT PEAR TREE FARM

BLURB:

Pairing up at Pear Tree Farm in time for Christmas …
Pear Tree Farm in Cornwall, owned by the kind-hearted Nessa Vivian, is known for taking in lost souls, and ex-soldier Crispin Davies is certainly one of those. But the once sleepy caravan park is now a thriving business, and far from the peace and quiet Crispin was craving, he soon finds himself roped into helping out with a short-notice Christmas festival, organised by Nessa’s force-of-nature sister, Lowena.
But despite Crispin’s initial reluctance, his involvement in the festival serves to throw him together with Ashley Spencer, an American woman and fellow lost soul, who works at the nearby Tregereth House. Could Lowena’s ambitious scheme result in a more hopeful Christmas and New Year for them both – with a few surprises along the way?

BUY LINK:

mybook.to/christmasatpeartree

CONTACT DETAILS:

www.facebook.com/angelabritnell

www.twitter.com/angelabritnell

www.instagram.com/angelagolleybritnell

Drēma Drudge

From Drēma

Drēma wants a treehouse more than anything to both read and write in. When weather permits, she writes outdoors on the porch of her favorite coffeehouse which will have to do until her hubby gets her treehouse built. In fact, if she could live most of her time outdoors (but with all the creature comforts), she’d be one happy camper.

Author Bio:

Drēma Drudge suffers from Stendhal’s Syndrome, the condition in which one becomes overwhelmed in the presence of great art. She attended Spalding University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program where she learned to transform that intensity into fiction.

Drēma has been writing in one capacity or another since she was nine, starting with terrible poems and graduating to melodramatic stories in junior high that her classmates passed around literature class.

She and her husband, musician and writer Barry Drudge, live in Indiana where they record their biweekly podcast, Writing All the Things, when not traveling. Her first novel, Victorine, was literally written in six countries while she and her husband wandered the globe. The pair has two grown children.

In addition to writing fiction, Drēma has served as a writing coach, freelance writer, and educator.

Blurb:

Victorine Meurent is a forgotten, accomplished painter who posed nude for Edouard Manet’s most famous, controversial paintings such as Olympia and The Picnic in Paris, paintings heralded as the beginning of modern art. History has forgotten (until now) her paintings, despite the fact that she showed her work at the prestigious Paris Salon multiple times, even one year when her mentor, Manet’s, work was refused.

Her persistent desire in the novel is not to be a model anymore but to be a painter herself, despite being taken advantage of by those in the art world, something which causes her to turn, for a time, to every vice in the Paris underworld, leading her even into the catacombs.

In order to live authentically, she eventually finds the strength to flout the expectations of her parents, bourgeois society, and the dominant male artists (whom she knows personally) while never losing her capacity for affection, kindness, and loyalty. Possessing both the incisive mind of a critic and the intuitive and unconventional impulses of an artist, Victorine and her survival instincts are tested in 1870, when the Prussian army lays siege to Paris and rat becomes a culinary delicacy, and further tested when she inches towards art school while financial setbacks push her away from it. The same can be said when it comes to her and love, which becomes substituted, eventually, by art.

For more about her writing, art, and travels, please visit her website, www.dremadrudge.com, and sign up for her newsletter. She’s always happy to connect with readers in her Facebook group, The Painted Word Salon, or on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Book links:  http://amzn.to/2QoEqXM

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/artfulfiction

Wendy Scott

From Wendy:

Back in March 2019, my sister visited from Canada, and we explored some of our childhood haunts.

We set a sister challenge to each write a short story while we were tripping around the lower South Island of New Zealand. This is when I crafted the first draft for ‘Sleighed’.

Author Bio:

Wendy Scott has a New Zealand Certificate in Science (Chemistry), which allows her to dabble with fuming potions and strange substances, satisfying her inner witch.

Wendy writes short stories, fantasy, and children’s novels. Her books have won multiple international book awards.

One of the creeds she lives by is to always – Live a life less ordinary!

Please visit www.wendyjscott.com to learn more, read Wendy’s blog, sign up for her newsletter, or to leave her a message. She loves hearing from readers.

Blurb:

Tinsel is the newest apprentice in Santa’s Workshop, but this young elf lands himself in strife on his first day!

He’s sent to care for the reindeer and instead ends up on a magical adventure.

Will the Toy-Inspector allow him back into the Workshop?

A fun Christmas story for younger readers and those young at heart.

Amazon Universal Link http://mybook.to/Sleighed

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ChildrenAuthorWJScott

Twitter: @WendyJayneScott https://twitter.com/WendyJayneScott/

Pinterest: https://nz.pinterest.com/wendyscottbooks/

Children’s Websites: http://www.authorchildrens.com