Thank you Lizzie, today I would like to share my latest release – Do What You Love  – Fragility of Your Flame, Poems, Photography & Flash Fiction.

 

 

 Blurb

 Do What You Love Fragility of Your Flame Poems, Photography & Flash Fiction is a personal poetry collection celebrating how the fates may have a part in all that we do.

With special poems and short reflective moments inspired by family, flowers and nature, love, scrumptious morsels, places I’ve visited, lived and intend to live in, the friendships and hopes I have for the future.

The overarching theme is to live a life well lived… And to do what you love.

float along with me

create clouds of sweetest joy

to do what you love

hold fate’s hand as we venture

near and far on life’s journey 

Release Date: 25^th November 2022, currently on preorder until then. Available to buy via the following links. 

Buy Links Do What You Love:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BKLC9DYY/

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/What-You-love-Fragility-Photography-ebook/dp/B0BKLC9DYY/

Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/What-You-love-Fragility-Photography-ebook/dp/B0BKLC9DYY/

Excerpt – This one is especially for you Lizzie as I know you love dogs… I had the pleasure of looking after this little fellow, Zog. Just one of my reminiscences that I share in Do What You Love.

ZOG THE GENTLEMAN DOG

Zog spiced up the days

warming our hearts with his charm

he sugared our attention

making friends, leaving presents,

such a gentleman dog, Zog. 

© 2022 M J Mallon

I am thrilled to say that two of my poetry collections, (Mr. Sagittarius and Lockdown Innit,) have been requested by prestigious libraries in the UK: The British Library, The Bodleian Library Oxford University, the Cambridge University Library, National Library of Scotland, National Library of Wales and Trinity College Dublin for Legal Deposit.

Add the book to your TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63114445-do-what-you-love

The cover of the paperback and kindle have been designed by Colleen Chesebro who has a new service for authors which I can highly recommend. Colleen also designed the interior and cover of The Hedge Witch And The Musical Poet.

https://unicorncatspubservices.wordpress.com/my-services

Portfolio:
https://unicorncatspubservices.wordpress.com/portfolio

https://wordcraftpoetry.com/unicorn-cats-publishing-services/

Other poetry/flash fiction collections:

Kyrosmagica Publishing

The Hedge Witch And The Musical Poet

https://books2read.com/u/mv1OeV

Mr. Sagittarius Poetry and Prose

http://mybook.to/MrSagittarius

Anthology – This Is Lockdown, (poetry, diaries and flash fiction – kindle)

http://mybook.to/Thisislockdown

Poetry during Lockdown – Lockdown Innit

 http://mybook.to/Lockdowninnit

Poetry also features in my highly acclaimed YA Fantasy series.  Each chapter begins with a short poem. The Curse of Time Book 1 Bloodstone and Book 2 Golden Healer are published by Next Chapter Publishing.

https://www.nextchapter.pub/books/bloodstone

https://www.nextchapter.pub/books/golden-healer

https://www.nextchapter.pub/authors/mj-mallon

Author Bio

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 storytelling began bolstered by these vivid raconteurs. 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 sometimes in the UK, and often times in Portugal.. Her two enchanting daughters have flown the nest but often return with a cheery smile to greet her.

Her motto is to always do what you love, stay true to your heart’s desires, and inspire others to do so too.

It’s my great pleasure to introduce today’s guest author, Rachel Brimble.

Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of 29 novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). Her latest novel, Victoria & Violet is the first book in her new Royal Maids series with the Wild Rose Press and released 17^th October 2022.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical Novel Society and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.

   

Inspiration – settings/characters/plots…

The most common question authors get asked by readers and interviewers is how or where we find inspiration for our stories.

The simple answer is…Inspiration is everywhere! Snippets of conversation, news articles, TV programmes and movies, your experiences/others experiences, places, history. I could go on, so how about I talk about one aspect at a time??

Setting

Setting is where the majority of my stories begin to take shape in my imagination. I love visiting modern and historical places, looking for new story ideas. I’m lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK. Wiltshire is rich with history, phenomenal countryside and beautiful villages. I am also lucky enough to live just a short thirty minute drive from the famous Georgian city of Bath.

There are so many places that inspire me – from churches and cathedrals to the tiny hidden hamlets which hold an abundance of secrets in my imagination. I love wandering around Bath and contemplating the generations of people who have lived in such a wonderful city, the struggles they faced and conquered. I ask myself, “Who lived here?” “Who fought here?” “Who fell in love here?” “Who lost a loved one here?” And then, “Why?” “When?” “How?”

Characters

Many writers start their stories with a character or two, especially in romance, but the characters are rarely my starting point. Occasionally, I will hear a voice or a line of dialogue and have to explore who said it and why, but it is usually a case of me finding the characters to fit my story idea.

I trawl the Internet looking for pictures of famous actors or models who will be my hero and heroine (and villain if I have one!). Once a face catches my eye, I know I’ve found my character. Then I complete a full character sketch looking for how they will fit into the premise of my story. The sketches usually produce their goals, internal motivation and conflict. Then comes the plotting…

Plot

I try to make the hero and heroine’s goals conflict to provide solid obstacles for them to overcome during their journey and romance. The most important element of storytelling, and the aspect that runs throughout the book, is the characters’ internal conflict/their biggest fear or pain point. Whatever is difficult for the characters to get past is usually what is holding them back from reaching their full potential and/or happy ever after. Everything revolves around finding a way for these characters to grow and change.

So, there you have it! That is a whistle-stop tour of story inspiration.

In my latest novel, Victoria & Violet, I have included real characters and events so certain aspects of the story were already written in history, but it is really the romance between my hero and heroine, Violet and James that makes up the crux of the novel. These two were entirely drawn from my imagination and were an absolute joy to write.

I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Rachel x

Blurb & buy link for Victoria & Violet:

It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen of England…

When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent.

Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her

mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.

Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service, their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.

Only Victoria’s court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and conspiracies…

BUY: https://geni.us/u0GmS5

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To buy Rachel’s books, click here

Hi everyone. I thought I’d post to let you know that the first book in my new series is just 99p for one more day.  I have had a great time at a book group author takeover today and made some posts for the group, which I hope they enjoyed. It’s always such  fun to chat with the members of book groups.  I wrote posts with captions about certain parts of the story and it brought memories back of writing these characters.

The little cupcake shop by the sea, is about Fern. She runs a beautiful cupcake shop and has a rather unusual boyfriend, but after meeting some long lost family, she realises that perhaps there is more to life than waiting at the end of a phone for someone who cares more about himself than about the person he’s dating.

When Fern finally takes a leap of faith and buys her new cupcake shop, it comes with a sitting tenant and a flourishing surf shop next door. The problem is that the owner of the surf shop, handsome local man, Jessie, also wanted to buy the property and Jessie feels that Fern has swept the opportunity out from under is feet and has somehow been underhand.

Book 1, The little ice cream shop by the sea, is in an Amazon Kindle Deal for September, which means the price switches back to £2.99 on the 1st October.  Book 2, The little cupcake shop by the sea,  is available now.

Grab your copy here: 

Universal book buy link: The little ice cream shop by the sea: viewbook.at/IceCreamShopByTheSea

Universal book buy link: The little cupcake shop by the sea: viewbook.at/LittleCupcakeShopBySea

Happy September everyone. This month I’ll be running my second writing buddy session with fellow author, Christine Penhall, at Fête Café in Chelmsford, Essex. U.K. After a brief introduction, we have a 30 minute writing sprint, then a coffee/cake/water break with pre-ordered refreshments from the café downstairs. This is followed by a further 30 minute writing sprint and 20 minutes to chat about your work or talk to other authors and make connections.

There are only ten spaces remaining for this event. 

It doesn’t matter if you are a new or established writer, it’s just a fun way to write in a relaxed environment. The aim is to bring likeminded people together, to write, support and share creative ideas.

 

It was great fun last time, with lots of words being put onto paper, or computer and contacts being made. If you are in the area and would like to join us, then the session is free to attend, you just need to book a space via the café website and this link: https://www.exploretock.com/fetegraysyard/event/356097/free-writing-buddy-meet-up

Treat yourself to a copy of, The little ice cream shop by the sea, for just 99p this month as part of a Kindle Deal! 

Book two in the series, out soon.