Happy Saturday, everyone!
Today I’m visiting the wonderful Sue Vincent, who kindly offered to host me on her blog, The Daily Echo.
And here’s the link.
Come on over, hope to see you there 🙂
Barbie Noir
I have a daughter. I happen to think she’s a great kid, though I’m probably biased 🙂 Any of you who have children and smartphones probably have hundreds of images of your kids’ faces, taken close up. You know the ones. When they take your phone and wander off with it and you find it later with all the storage taken up and the settings messed around.
My kid is no exception. I have loads of photos and short videos of her squeaking or giggling or sticking out her tongue. Precious tiny moments captured in time, her face changing as she grows, gorgeous baby chubbiness giving way to smooth angles. I delete them off my phone because I need the storage, but not before saving them elsewhere.
However, when she was about four, she took a series of photos that surprised me when I saw them. I found them again the other day while looking for something else, which is what prompted me to write this post. They were taken in our old house in Australia, in the rear bedroom. The room had a long high window and faced towards the setting sun, so at certain times of day the light in there was very bright, the shadows dark and dramatic. It must have caught her fancy as well, for here are the photos she took:
Sure, maybe I’m veering into over-sharing, proud parent territory. But I think these are kind of cool, especially for a four-year-old. My Dad is an excellent amateur photographer and has taken some beautiful photos, so perhaps she’s inherited some of that from him. She still loves to take photos. And I love to encourage her 🙂
Spin Like The Spider
This morning, as I wandered home from school drop-off, a scene came into my head. ‘A-ha!’ I thought. ‘Here we go.’
The scene is for book three of my Ambeth series, Hills and Valleys. It came to me complete, and was just the scene I was looking for. Hills and Valleys is already written, as I’ve mentioned, but I’m now starting on the structural edit. So that means the new threads I added into books one and two need to be drawn up and woven into this story.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d dropped into a bit of a writing lull. This happens after I publish a book, all the editing and rewrites and formatting and fingernail-biting making a break from the keyboard necessary. Plus my brain sort of stops giving me ideas for a few days.
So it was nice to take a trip back into Ambeth this morning. I went home and typed up the scene and it reads well, so far. It will need some work, maybe expanding a little, but I’m happy with it and the direction it is taking my character.
Outside my kitchen window is a large rosemary bush. For some time now, an orb-weaver spider has made it his (or her) home, stringing a large web between the bush and the nearby wall. We’ve all grown quite fond of this spider, greeting it as we come into the kitchen, taking an interest in its doings. For it is a hard worker. Each day, it seems, the intricate web is dismantled, rolled into a ball and discarded. Then another web, just as large and intricate, is woven in its place. Yesterday, it hung heavy with raindrops, like a crystal garland. Today’s web is tight, fresh and new, ready to catch lunch, or dinner, after a hard morning’s work. It perseveres, this little spider, because there is no other way. If it wants to eat, it must spin.
And this is a little lesson for me. To persevere with this writing and publishing game, even though sometimes it can be daunting. For it is what I want to do. If I want to be read, I must write. And so like the spider I spin each day, writing stories and blogs, making connections, promoting my work in increments, a fresh start each morning. And I’ve had some wonderful surprises along the way, made new friends, had new opportunities. And I feel very lucky to be on this journey.
Well, from the looks of this post it seems my Pantser writer brain is back in action! Watch this space…
Some Blogging Awards
I’ve recently been nominated for two blogging awards: The Sunshine Blogging Award, courtesy of Melissa at NolanWrites, and The Creative Blogger Award, courtesy of Sue Vincent at The Daily Echo.
Thank you both so much for the nominations! It’s always a pleasure to be nominated 🙂 I hope you don’t mind me combining both awards into a single post.
The Sunshine Blogger Award comes from Melissa at Nolan Writes. Her blog is a wonderful mix of travel, cooking and luscious beauty products, so pop on over for a visit!
The rules of accepting The Sunshine Blogger Award nomination are as follows:
Acknowledge and thank the nominating blogger with a link to their website. Share 11 random facts about yourself by answering the questions the nominating blogger has created for you. List 11 bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love! (You can’t nominate the blogger who nominated you.) Let the 11 bloggers know that you have nominated them. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer.
And here are my eleven questions from Melissa:
1: Who are your favourite published authors?
I have a groaning bookcase full of books, so it’s going to be difficult to narrow it down. However, based on the amount of books I have by these authors, I will say Marion Zimmer Bradley (especially her Darkover Series), Charles DeLint, Guy Gavriel Kay, Kerry Greenwood (her Phryne Fisher series), and Douglas Adams. Honourable mentions to C.S Lewis, Tolkien, Anne Rice, Amy Tan, Charles Pellegrino, Geraldine Brooks, Ursula LeGuin, Charlaine Harris, Bill Bryson…
2: What did you want to grow up to accomplish in your life?
I think, like many kids, my answers changed a lot as I grew up. When I was very small, a flight to Tenerife impressed me so much I wanted to be a flight attendant, then there might have been a brief period when I wanted to be a mermaid. As I grew older, I wanted to be an archaeologist, but not having a Chemistry credit when I left high school (despite being an honour student) meant I couldn’t get into the degree course. Then I went with fashion and visual arts, moved into advertising and it’s only now that I think I’ve discovered what I really want to do, which is to write books.
3: What are your favourite Movies?
This answer may end up being like the answer to question one, with there being too many titles to list. The original three Star wars films, plus the Lord of the Rings films are favourites I’ll always go back to, as is The Princess Bride. I love all the Marvel films too. Um, I also like period romances, tearjerkers, horror (in small doses), comedies – the only sort of films I have trouble with are ones that depict violence (other than fantasy violence, for some strange reason).
4: What’s your favourite food?
Skin-on chips with salt and vinegar aioli. And strawberries with extra thick cream 🙂
5: What is your favourite temperature?
Mid twenties in the day, cold enough to sleep under a quilt at night. Basically, autumn weather.
6: Introvert or Extrovert?
I’m more of the former, though I sometimes act like the latter.
7: What are your favourite past times?
Family time, writing, painting, walking, dreaming.
8: What about yourself would you change if you could?
Nothing, really. Though it’s taken me a long time to get to this understanding. Why worry about things you can’t change?
9: Where is your favourite place in the world that you have ever visited and why?
North Wales is my favourite country in the world. I could just disappear into the misty mountains and stay there quite happily. One of the most dreamlike places I’ve ever visited is Hearst Castle in California. I went there when I was fifteen and fell in love with it. It has partly influenced my descriptions of Ambeth. I’m going back there next month and I will be taking loads of photos.
10: Why do you blog?
I started blogging with no expectations or ideas of what to expect – it was just something I thought I should do. Yet now I’ve met a wonderful community of people as well as increased my confidence as a writer. I write because I can’t not write. I blog because I really enjoy doing it.
11: Who are your favourite musicians or bands?
Ha. Another tricky question. When I was fourteen, I went to see Duran Duran, who were my absolute screaming-crying-fallingover favourite band. It happened to be the night they filmed The Reflex video. I still enjoy their music now, old and new. I also enjoy Muse, Kasabian, The Black Keys etc. My brother is a musician and I always enjoy his shows – I’ve seen him in every band he’s played in since he was thirteen. And if you were to look through the thousands of songs on my ITunes, you would find pretty much everything except jazz and country.
Thanks, Melissa, for a tough set of questions 🙂 Now, I will bend the rules slightly – I’m not going to nominate eleven bloggers. Rather, if you’d like to take the challenge, please do.
My second blogging award is from Sue Vincent at the Daily Echo. Sue is a prolific author and blogger, and her blog features, among other things, her fascinating exploration of Britain’s ancient sites, complete with beautiful photography.
Sue has nominated me for The Creative Blogger Award, the rules of which are as follows:
1. Display the Creative Blogger Award logo on your blog
2. Nominate up to 10 blogs and notify all nominees via their social media/blogs
3. Thank and post the link of the blog that nominated you (very important)
4. Pass these rules on to them
Thank you, Sue! Very much appreciated 🙂 And once again, being a slightly naughty person who doesn’t always follow the rules, I leave the nomination open at this time. However, I may come back with a list of nominees shortly.
Happy Monday, everyone!
xx Helen
Breathing Out
I’ve been in a bit of a blog lull this week. This usually happens to me after I’ve finished a big writing project – it’s as though my mind needs a few days to rest before it can get back to the business of working with words again.
I think it’s entirely natural, really. You can’t keep producing work without taking time, every so often, to re-set everything. When you’re inhabiting a particular fictional world for a few weeks, you need to withdraw from it briefly before diving headfirst into the next instalment. You can’t breathe out without first breathing in.
I’ve had a few people ask me already when book three in my Ambeth Chronicles will be out. They’ve already read books one and two (wow!) and are keen for more. This thrills me immensely. 🙂
In answer to their question, book three is already written. It also has a title, Hills and Valleys, and I’m now starting on the structural edit. And before you think that I’m some sort of crazy writing machine, I had written four of my Ambeth books before I published the first one – it just worked out that way, the story pouring out of me over a two year period. I’ve also written the very last line in the sixth and final book, and know just how the story ends. Which is fun, as it means I can add clues into the earlier books that will lead to events in the later books.
I’ve stated before that I’m a Pantser when it comes to writing – it’s the method that works for me, despite efforts to plan things out. I’ve also likened writing to weaving, bringing threads of different storylines together to make a pattern. And now I can see where threads need to be pulled and rearranged, appearing earlier in the pattern than I had originally thought. Which is where the structural edit comes in.
Finally, a little update on my marketing experiment. Since I ran my free promotion, I’ve had six new ratings on Goodreads (all positive, thank goodness), plus my KENP count is continuing to rise. I’m hoping to see an uptake in sales over the next few weeks, but we’ll see. However, early figures seem to indicate that I’ve definitely increased my reading audience already, which was the aim of my promotion.
And that’s my Friday 🙂 Happy weekend, everyone! Hope it’s a good one.
The BASH is BACK! The Second Annual #BloggersBash 2016
It’s back! I went to the Bloggers Bash this year and it was a fantastic day out, as well as a great opportunity to meet other bloggers in person. So I’m very excited to hear that next year’s Bash planning is underway – there were wild rumours about the British Library, Albert Hall and Buckingham Palace as venues, but let’s see if we can fill the whole of Pizza Express at least! Mark it in your diaries, write it on your arm, but whatever you do, save the date! Look forward to seeing you there 🙂
After the stonking success of the first Bloggers Bash, the committee crawled under their respective duvets and hid having exhausted their supplies of extroversion.
HOWEVER, we have recovered, reconvened… discussed, deliberated…. and guess what…. we’re going to do it all over again! THE BASH IS BACK PEOPLE. The bash is really back.
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Mountains and Surf
I took a couple of days off over the weekend.
There were a couple of reasons for doing so: the first was that I’d finally pressed ‘Publish‘ on No Quarter, the second book in my Ambeth Series. The second was that my husband had booked himself and our daughter in for sessions at Snowdonia Surf, the outdoor surf pool in North Wales.
I may have mentioned this before, but North Wales is one of my absolute favourite places on earth. Something about the landscape, the light, the grey stone and green dreaming mountains speaks to me, connecting to something deep in my bones. Most of my family come from Wales, so perhaps it is my blood calling me home – I don’t know, but whatever the case may be, I always feel a little bit like it’s Christmas morning when I’m there (and I’m a big fan of Christmas morning).
Friday night we headed out, stopping first at my parents’ house for dinner and an overnight stay, then leaving early the next morning and heading over the border into Wales. We stopped on the outskirts of Wrexham, in the small village where my grandmother was born. We were staying with family there as well, and an afternoon in Llangollen beckoned.
Our afternoon in Llangollen was lovely – the sun shone and we walked along the canal into the town centre, enjoying lunch at an ancient mill on the banks of the River Dee. A party of white water rafters became stuck in the shallows directly in front of the large restaurant terrace and bumbled around for about fifteen minutes trying to get free, to increasingly loud calls and hilarity from the crowds on the riverbank – we all clapped and cheered when they finally worked themselves loose and headed off down the river, no doubt glad to see the back of us.
After lunch we visited Courtyard Books, one of my favourite independent bookstores. After a couple of purchases we headed back along the canal to the car and I snapped a photo of Castle Dinas Bran through the trees. On my post about Rivendell last week, Barbara commented that she thought the ruins of Dinas Bran would make a great Weathertop, and I have to agree – what do you think?
The next day dawned bright and sunny and we headed off early to make our booking time. We took the A5 through Llangollen and into the mountains, driving through leafy tree tunnels opening out into valleys starting to gleam with autumn, looming mountainsides patched with bronze. I’ve driven along a few of the world’s scenic routes – the Sea to Sky Highway in Vancouver, the Great Ocean Road in Australia, the California Coast road through Big Sur and Monterey, and I have to say that I think this drive compares in beauty, especially when the sun is shining. So I was definitely in my happy place as we headed into the Conwy Valley, where the Surf Snowdonia pool is located.
Other than the prototype in Spain, Surf Snowdonia is the first facility of its kind in the world, and is pretty amazing. It’s a large man-made lagoon with a long pier stretching down the middle – this is where the waves are created. A large block moving along a track under the pier pushes the water ahead of it, creating a perfect surf wave. There are zones for beginner, intermediate and advanced surfers, and the fact that you have to book a time means the waves are never crowded.
Additionally, and a bonus for someone like me who doesn’t enjoy sitting on beaches for hours on end, there’s a very nice restaurant alongside the pool, so you can sit in comfort and watch the surfers go past. However, I found I spent a lot of time outside – the weather was so glorious and the pool so fascinating to watch I couldn’t resist.
The final verdict was one word: awesome! Both surfers had a great time and, as we headed home under the super moon hanging like a golden lantern in the sky, we took a moment to appreciate the weekend and all we’d experienced.
And now 
I’m sharing it with you 🙂
Guest Post – Geoff LePard – Tracing Your Ancestry
This week I’m starting with a guest post from pink-bearded lawyer, blogger and author extraordinaire, Geoff LePard. I had the pleasure of meeting Geoff at the Blogger’s Bash in August (when his beard was pink and he went by the name ‘Geoffle’ for the day – I’m sure he was thrilled when I told him that ‘jaffle’ was an Australian slang term for a toasted cheese sandwich!). Geoff has written two books – the first called Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle, and the second and new release called My Father and Other Liars. Journey To Ambeth is the last stop on his blog tour, and he’s written an interesting piece about our desire to explore our ancestral DNA, a key theme in his latest book. Take it away, Geoff!
———–
When I began writing My Father and Other Liars I decided to set up my own Church, the Church of Science and Development. As I explained over at Hugh’s Views and News, I needed to write a philosophy for this Church. At about this time, I had been reading an American Crime Writer, Tess Gerritsen. In one book, I forget which, she referenced the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, a Biblical story that recalled days in Sunday School. This is a brief summary of the Ten Lost Tribes:
10 of the original 12 Hebrew tribes, which, under the leadership of Joshua took possession of Canaan the Promised Land, after the death of Moses. In 930 BC the 10 tribes formed the independent Kingdom of Israel in the north and the 2 other tribes, Judah and Benjamin, set up the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Following the conquest of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 721 BC, the 10 tribes were gradually assimilated by other peoples and thus disappeared from history.
I had already decided on one theme, namely how the Church leader, Isaac Beaumont was obsessed by his ancestry so I took this story and wove it into the backstory of the Church. This extract is from the Testaments of Truths, the philosophical background to the Church as written by Isaac’s father, Joseph and updated by Isaac (you can find more of the Testaments at the back of MFOL).
“The Bible tells us of 12 children of Jacob, himself a direct descendant of Adam.
Those children formed 12 tribes of which ten were lost. Anthropologists tell us the
original human migration was from Africa and there is evidence of this dispersal
elsewhere in Africa, in China and Asia. But those tribes and their eventual homes
remain a mystery. It is my view that the Diaspora was God’s Plan all along, to spread
Man’s strengths, to let Man develop and then bring the tribes back together to create
stronger, healthier societies and strengthen the species to achieve God’s Highest
Purpose. This was God’s Plan for Man: to improve humanity. But it was a slow and
difficult path. Pollution and corruption are necessary consequences of close
proximity breeding so spreading out, growing stronger then re-mingling and
spreading again was one. The powers he gave us, the instinct to push, to look for
new pastures, to improve… they were all part of His Plan. We are to use every skill to get stronger, fitter and cleverer so we can survive longer.”
Isaac is determined to prove his father right. His mission to Nicaragua as a young man (which is central to the conundrum at the heart of the book) came about because Isaac wanted to study the dispersion of the Amerindian groups and show the links back to the original Jewish Diapsora. His (blinkered) enthusiasm to fund a genetics’ research facility at the Beaumont University is the result. What happens because of Isaac’s one eyed devotion to this idea is at the core of the story and the drama that unfolds.
While researching for this book I found that there are any number of people who are
convinced they have found and can trace those linkages back to those Ten Lost Tribes.
“In 2010, the Guardian reported that Israel was to fund a genetic study to test the veracity of a genetic link to the lost tribes of Israel. The article stated “Historical and anecdotal evidence strongly suggests a connection, but definitive scientific proof has never been found. Some leading Israeli anthropologists believe that, of all the many groups in the world who claim a connection to the 10 lost tribes, the Pashtuns, or Pathans, have the most compelling case.”
We are fascinated by finding out about our ancestry – the TV is full of programmes tracing someone’s family tree. Increasingly we are turning to DNA coding and genetic testing to show the links. We are becoming familiar with a strange language: Haplogroups – Y Chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA – used to determine genetic populations. Isaac is, in his own way, no different for many wanting to trace where they came from, the better to understand who they are today. And in so doing he, as do others, expose some of the lies we are told by our forebears or which we have misdirected ourselves into believing.
Lies. They are at the root of everything, especially a good book.
——-
My Father and Other Liars is the second book by Geoff Le Pard. Published in August it is available as an ebook and paperback here:
His first book, Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle can be found here:
Geoff Le Pard started writing to entertain in 2006. He hasn’t left his keyboard since. When he’s not churning out novels he writes some maudlin self-indulgent poetry and blogs at geofflepard.com. He walks the dog for mutual inspiration and most of his best ideas come out of these strolls.
Published! No Quarter
Yay!
I’ve made it through the formatting maze and have (deep breath), hit the ‘Publish’ button on both Kindle and Createspace, which means that No Quarter is now available on Amazon!
Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Amazon.com.au
‘Alma, even I do not know what he is capable of…’
Things couldn’t be better for Alma. She’s returned the lost Sword to Ambeth and is finally with Deryck, Prince of the Dark. But what’s really going on? Deryck is struggling with his father, who wants to control Alma, while Alma is struggling with her best friend Caleb, who doesn’t trust Deryck one inch. Plus it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with her life in the human world. Falling in love shouldn’t be this difficult. But things are about to get much worse…
Quests and friendship all fall by the wayside when there’s romance to be had. Plus, spending time with handsome Deryck is much more appealing than with an increasingly angry Caleb. The Light are always on about making choices, so they shouldn’t have a problem with her choosing to be with Deryck. Besides, he’ll protect her from his father – won’t he?
Now I might take a couple of days off 🙂 See you next week!
xx Helen
Bits and Pieces
I’ve been a little bit absent from the blogosphere this week – mainly because I’ve been working on the final edit for No Quarter, the second book in my Ambeth series. This is the part of writing I like the least. (though I still know how fortunate I am to be able to do this at all).
I had some issues with my proof copy, as you know – thankfully the lovely people at Createspace got right on it and it is now resolved, plus they are replacing my faulty proof copy. It hasn’t stopped me from reading through and sacrificing endless quantities of sticky notes as I record small changes and the occasional typo. These corrections have been made, the new file uploaded and, once I get through the fiddle-faddle of formatting for Kindle, I should be ready to publish.
One part of the process I find frustrating is that everything always takes longer than expected. This is why I’ve not yet explored the option of setting up pre-orders for my books. I’ve already had to push my (self-imposed) publication date out several times, due to health, family life, the edit taking longer than expected, and issues with the proof. I would hate to be in a position where I was locked into a date and had to deliver a book that wasn’t finished to my satisfaction
The other thing I don’t like about this part of the process is the doubt. Scurrying up like beetles from under the floorboards, doubts come to plague me as I read through my book for the last time before pressing ‘publish’.
Is the story good enough? Will people like it? Have I covered all the different storylines? Does the language flow? Will anyone read this, ever?
I don’t think I’m alone in this, nor am I alone in thinking I will unleash dragons or some form of unpleasantness onto the internet once I hit that publish button. And yet, I’m still going to do it. And then I’m having a couple of days off. 🙂
Oh, and in my post the other day, Autumn Sky, I recounted the tale of a teacher I once had. A few of my commenters suggested I look him up and, guess what, I did! I had thought maybe he would have passed away, as I remember him being about 60 when I was in his class, almost thirty years ago. And yet, a google search of his name and my high school revealed… he is still working there??!!!
And a further link revealed, complete with photo to corroborate, that he was also working there in 1961!!
So we have four options: Either he was younger than I remembered when I took his class (though I distinctly recall him having silver hair and a beard), or he has been working at the same high school for 54 years and refuses to retire, or the website listing him as employed at the school has not been recently updated, or he is a vampire.
What do you think?
Oh and finally, the lovely Geoff LePard is coming for a virtual visit on Monday, with a guest post to promote his new release, My Father and Other Liars – yay!
Helen Glynn Jones 