Guest blogging

Hi!

Today I'm guesting on Cassie Mae's blog which I'm really excited about because it means I've travelled the Atlantic and am in the USA! Please come and visit us. I've attempted to impart some words of wisdom on the subject of being a writer (yes, I call myself a writer without apology, ner!)

See you there, I hope!

A Year and a Day with Patsy Collins

 

 

Today I'm really pleased to have the incredibly prolific Patsy Collins here again. The last time, it was to promote her book Escape to the Country which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Not wanting to steal the thunder from her new release A Year and a Day, which you can find on Amazon UK here, and here on Amazon.com, I can also recommend her recent novel Paint Me A Picture. Patsy also has what seems like millions of short stories published, including her anthology Not a Drop to Drink.

 

And now, on to the business of the interview!

 

Patsy, it's great to have you!

 

Thanks for inviting me onto your blog, Linda! 

 

 

A fortune teller features in A Year and a Day. What are your thoughts on palm-readers, crystal balls and the whole predicting the future thing? Do you believe in that sort of stuff? 

I am interested in the subject. (You probably guessed that anyone who'd write a whole book based on the events that resulted from a visit to a fortune teller would be!) 

You've only got to open almost any newspaper or woman's magazine to find a horoscope, so a vague interest in the general idea of fortune telling is probably fairly universal. I don't believe them though and would never act on them unless they suggested I do something I'd already intended doing (one of the few things I have in common with A Year and a Day's main character, Stella.  

I know many people do believe in various forms of spiritualism, I have friends who do. It's not that I think they're deluded or batty or anything, I just don't share their belief. (Actually I do think a couple of them are a bit batty, but it's not because they talk to dead people, or think prettily decorated cards reveal something about the future) 

Have you ever been to a fortune teller, or to a medium? 

A drunk woman once insisted on reading my palm. If she actually had any skill the alcohol must have blurred her vision because she didn't get anything right, despite making rather a lot of suggestions. 

I did go to see a proper medium with a friend. It was a kind of show in a theatre rather than a private reading. His information was detailed (none of that asking 2,000 people if anyone had known someone with a J in their name, or maybe it was a G or K). I couldn't see how he cheated and wasn't really sure that he had, yet still I wasn't convinced. I wonder why not. 

At one point a lady, sitting near us, put up her hand and said the person who'd 'come through' sounded like a relation of hers. As she listened to the message she cried and I'm sure hearing the person was now happy and at peace was of comfort to her. His other messages seemed to help people too. Even if the whole thing was nothing more than a gimmick, it seemed to do some good and no harm. 

Would you consider visiting a professional fortune teller?

 Yes, but only as research for a story. 

Do you like the future to be full of surprises and don't want them spoilt?

 

I do like to feel that we create our own futures and would be uncomfortable thinking everything was already decided. Maybe that's why I don't believe in fortune telling - I don't want it to be true.

 What's the idea behind A Year and a Day? 

Two girls who've been friends since they were little kids have their fortunes told. It's Daphne's idea. She never makes a move before consulting her horoscope and of course believes everything  Rosie-Lee the fortune teller says. Stella has to be manoeuvred into agreeing to have hers done and doesn't believe any of what she hears. 

Rosie-Lee gives Stella a letter, that she's not to open for a year, which she claims will prove her words true. The letter gets sealed up and is then taken by John, Daphne's really annoying brother, before Stella or Daphne can read it. 

Stella attempts to prove Rosie-Lee wrong and Daphne tries to prove her right, which leads to them meeting Luigi. He's tall, dark and handsome enough for any fortune teller, plus he has a wonderful accent and hates to see a girl go hungry. Then there's Doug, also tall dark and handsome and with the knack of acting out Stella's fantasies. Sometimes a girl just has to accept her fate - at least temporarily. 

There's loads of yummy Italian food, chocolate and cocktails in this story (subjects that I researched very thoroughly) I predict that reading it will make people fancy pizza or a glass of Prosecco.

 

Can't wait to get stuck into my copy - who cares about diets anyway?

Patsy, I wish you the best of luck with the new book!

 

Coming up...

My blog is beginning to feel like a 'proper' blog this year!

On Wednesday I hosted the fab Elizabeth Seckman, but that is not all!

Next Friday 25th I will be a guesting on Cassie Mae's blog, on Sunday 3rd Feb I will be hosting the brilliant Annalisa Crawford, and next week I'm interviewing the prolific Patsy Collins.

Whoop!

If you'd like to guest on my blog, please let me know! I'd love to have you :-)

Elizabeth Seckman - Healing Summer Blog Tour

Maybe Love, Not Time, Heals All Wounds

Ditched at the altar…biopsied for cancer…Mollie Hinkle is having a bona fide bitch of a summer. When life sucks so hard it takes your breath away, what's a girl to do? Pack a bag, grab a few friends, and leave the past and the worry in the rear view mirror. What wounds can’t be healed by a drive across the Heartland, where quarter flips at cross roads determine the route and the future? All roads lead to Craig, the second son and bad boy of the haughty Coulter line. Has fate brought her to the miniscule Montana town to find happily ever after or will it just break her heart?

“Healing Summer” is the second book in the Coulter Men Series.

 

 

I've lent my blog to Elizabeth today as part of her Healing Summer Blog Tour. In return, she rose to the challenge to write a post with the word effervescence as the prompt...

 

I love that word! It actually reminds me of my second son. He was born with red hair and eyes such clear blue they sparkled. He had these dimples that framed a smile that made strangers stop. 

And he smiled a lot. He had a natural effervescence. He was so sweet and pleasant, I'd had to interrupt his baby play of singing to ceiling fans to hold him. A friend laughed and asked me why I picked him up when he wasn't crying and I told her if I waited for the little fella to fuss, he'd never get picked up. 

He's sixteen now and he's still a positive, funny guy. Even when his mom tells him, "There's my Cole-E Bear, my effervescent baby."  

Though I don't know what he'll say about me putting it on the Internet.

But none of you will tell, right?

 

 You can catch up with Elizabeth's Blog Tour here or you could visit her Facebook page or find her on Goodreads where there is a book giveaway.

You can buy Healing Summer on Amazon, here or on Amazon UK here.

To thank people for stopping by, Elizabeth has set up a Rafflecopter for $100 - you can enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

As I'm a bit of a technophobe and that rafflecopter link might not work, you can also find it on Elizabeth's blog!

Elizabeth with Cole - not so small now!
 

Thanks for stopping by - if any of my links don't work, please hop over to Elizabeth's blog as it's all there! (So confident, aren't I? But then if you read my 50 Things list last week, 'learn how to use Blogger' was in there!)

 

 

 

 

 

50 things to do!

My bloggy-friend, Vikki at The View Outside gave me this idea (well, actually I stole it as I didn't ask first, but that's just a technicality, surely?)

It seems that she (shamelessly) stole it from another blogger, Paula Acton.

The idea is to create a list of 50 things to do before you reach 50 (or I guess you can substitute any age with any number of things!)  50 suits me fine as it gives me just over 5 years to get some of these (I'm not pretending I'll get around to all of them...) under my belt.

You can find my list here.  What would be on your list?

IWSG

I feel it would be a negative start to the year for my first blog post to be about feeling insecure - and this year is going to be all about being positive in as many ways as possible!

I haven't got a lot of resolutions - I think I have finally found a work/life/write balance so I want to keep that up - and as I said in my last post, I want to spend less time on Facebook and more time catching up with reading at times when I'm not writing.

Last year was good for me - I had several successes and only one rejection - and I THINK I have a more balanced view of rejections these days (although they are still ouchy!)

I daresay that by the first Wednesday in February I'll be feeling wobbly about something, but at the moment I'm bursting with life and raring to go - the gremlins are well and truly banished for now!

Are you feeling positive about your writing at the start of this new year? I'm looking forward to popping along to some of your blogs to find out!

Just in case you need a bit of a nudge in the right direction, here's a happy little bunny to cheer you on.

Ready, set... go!

Happy New Year to you!

After the mad blogging spree of the A-Z in April, I have neglected my poor little blog somewhat, I think.  Blame the day job and the pressures of running a household!

Unsurprisingly, my New Year's Resolution is to get it back on track - to have guests over to my blog and to schedule a post for at least once a week. I can't pretend I'm going to have more time, but I'm going to try to spread myself a little less thinly this year thanks to my new discovery...

Actually, I didn't discover it, a fellow blogger very helpfully recommended it...

THE TIMER

 

Ta-daaaaa!

 

 

I have been setting a timer to write for one hour at a time which has worked fantastically for me because it makes me keep on with it instead of dipping in and out of Facebook all the time while I'm supposed to be working.  I'm now going to extend that and set a timer for a maximum of , say, 10 mins a day looking at FB and another 15-30 mins on email/other internet browsing.  Three times a week I'll give myself 30 mins for catching up with blogs and/or writing mine. If I added up all the time I've spent sitting on my bum staring at a screen this year (not including writing time) I know I'd be shocked. In 2013, I'm giving my eyes a rest when the writing's done and taking myself off to do something equally productive - like cooking or reading!

 

So, that's my resolution for the New Year - what will yours be?