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Guest post. Karen Louise Hollis

/ lizziechantree / Leave a comment

I’m thrilled to have Karen Louise Hollis on my blog today. Karen runs her own (very popular) blog, alongside writing lots of beautiful books. I asked her about both and she’s here to tell us more.

From Karen:

I started writing my blog because I have been reviewing books online since 2000, when I wrote reviews for sites like Ciao and Dooyoo. I also used to review books on Facebook, but realised they could only be seen by my Facebook friends, so I decided to start a book blog two years ago.

This led to me joining various blog tours and using my blog to review those, alongside the odd blog post about my own writing and some interview posts. Then more recently, I decided (after finishing writing my third novel), I should put more time into my blog and try to create content on a daily basis, instead of the usual three posts a week I had been doing.

So I started to contact authors I knew online, or those who had written books I had read and enjoyed, or those whose work I was interested in to see if they would like to be on my blog. I was amazed how many did and especially thrilled that some of my favourite authors like Milly Johnson and Lisa Jewell said yes! Wow! I tend to ask the same ten questions, though I vary it occasionally depending on who I am interviewing.

I have written many more non-fiction books than fiction and these include lots of gymnastics books where I have interviewed gymnasts who competed for their countries from the 1950s to the present day. As both my parents were journalists, this feels like my natural home. I am fascinated by people and truly believe everyone has a story. I ask the questions I want to know the answer to and I hope readers will find the answers interesting too. This is the same with my author questions. My first question I ask is about the books and authors they read as a child and wow, nearly everyone says Enid Blyton (me included), she was such a wonderful writer for getting kids reading and caught up in all the magical worlds we find between the pages.

BLURB

Becki is fifty and a single mum to eleven-year-old Jemima, after being widowed five years ago. Dan is forty-eight and a single dad to eleven-year-old Freddie, after his wife left him five years ago. They have both given up on love. But when they all go to Silver Sands Bay on the Lincolnshire coast for the summer, will they be able to put the past behind them and find love again?

Links

Twitter – https://twitter.com/KarenLNHollis

IG – https://www.instagram.com/karenlouisehollis/

Blog – iheartbooks.blog/blog

Amazon Author Page – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karen-Louise-Hollis/e/B00NSLQME6?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1691933322&sr=8-1

Bio – About Karen Louise Hollis

I was born in Lincoln, England in 1969. I loved writing from an early age, being the daughter of two journalists. I am a mum to five children and have three grandchildren. I have had over twenty books published and have written about a variety of topics including motherhood, poetry, Doctor Who and gymnastics. My first novel Welcome to Whitlock Close came out in 2022 and my second one Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay in 2023.

/ lizziechantree / 6 Comments

Happy new week everyone. I’ve been feeling a bit low over the last week, trying to meet publishing deadlines and fulfil other commitments. There is a lot of Christmas cheer around, which is wonderful, with fairy lights adorning houses and Christmas carols playing on the radio, but our boiler is broken so our toes are a bit frosty right now. I think i’m missing working with my mum, who I haven’t hugged since March. Even though I work on my own a lot of the time, i’m feeling – as i’m sure is everyone else in the world – the loss of chats over a table with friends. This photo is from two years ago and is Christmas lunch with the lovely Chelmsford Romantic Novelists’ Association  members.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, with news of vaccines and possibilities that we may be able to be together again soon, so i’m trying to shake off the procrastination and find my usual enthusiasm. Writing these words onto paper helps me to focus on what I need to achieve this week. There are lots of exciting things on the horizon, with at least three new fiction books out next year, The little ice cream shop by the sea (out March 2021), Invisible Woman (out July 2021) and the third title will be revealed in the run up to launch day in May.

Romance reads from Lizzie Chantree

Romantic suspense reads from Lizzie Chantree

This week i’m taking part in the Chick Lit blog hop on Wednesday 9th Dec. I have some incredible prizes to give away via my Facebook page, including book themed socks, a beautiful notebook, a copy of bestselling book ‘Seven kinds of people you find in bookshops’ a copy of my own bestselling book, Finding Gina and a simply stunning set of 36 inspirational quote magnetic bookmarks. I’m also being interviewed for a Mumpreneur summit, details of which i’ll post later in the week or early next week.

I really appreciate your support of my writing and blog posts and hope you are all staying safe, well and that you’re managing to avoid procrastination – unlike me today!

If you could wish for one gift under the Christmas tree this year, what would it be?

 

The day after launch.

/ lizziechantree / 5 Comments

I finally launched my latest book with my first ever Facebook party last night. I had 86 guests and seven prize winners. It was so much fun and the party over ran and lasted three hours!

I ran a competition for readers to post a picture of their copy of Ninja School Mum and had great response and saw some photos I will cherish. Some of the photos are below.

I have now changed my launch page on Facebook to a team networking group for creatives. Join in if you’d like to. We will all be talking about new marketing ideas for our work. There are just under 300 members so far, so it’s a great place to chat about your ideas.

Today I am also very excited to have been invited back to the blog of wonderful author and amazing supporter of others, Jan Hawke. Jan has read and reviewed Ninja School Mum and the review almost made me cry happy tears! Check out Jan’s blog post and review here.

Isabella Ninja pic  Marje. Ninja Pic  Louise Ninja Pic  FullSizeRender-6.jpg  FullSizeRender-8  FullSizeRender-15