SCBWI: Lunchtime Social Self Publishing with Debra Edwards and Camilla Chester

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On Saturday 11th March, I attended my first SCBWI event: The Lunchtime Social – Self-Publishing Discussion with Debra Edwards and Camilla Chester, held in Cambridge at De Luca Italian restaurant. Author Helen Moss coordinated the event.

First to arrive, Alex Mellanby, author of The Tregarthur Series, followed by Peter Hayward, writer of educational stories: Learn with Alex and Anna, Jamie Stevenson, picture book illustrator, Caroline Laidlaw, educational materials author, and two new members Dan Greaves, and Tanya Farrugia, illustrators and picture book enthusiasts.

Norfolk children’s fiction and YA author, Debra J Edwards began the discussion by regaling us about her inspiring journey to writing. She left school at the age of fifteen and returned to University, graduated and became a primary school teacher. In 2003 she made a resolution – to write a novel. Not only did she accomplish this, but she has now written four: a trilogy about tooth fairies, Aggie Lichen: Pilp Collector, Aggie Lichen, Pilp Collector: Hero Required, Arty’s Revenge, and Marvin’s Curse her first YA novel.

Initially, Debra’s route into publishing was plagued by rejections which she kept and placed in a folder. Undeterred, she secured an agent but lost her. She is now a proud member of Golden Egg, an initiative overseen by Imogen Cooper, previously Head of Fiction for Chicken House Publishing.

‘Golden Egg provides talks, workshops, and one2one editorial support.’ Golden Egg Academy.

Debra admitted that she chose the self-publishing route because she is a ‘control freak.’ She did just about everything she could herself, apart from employing a book cover illustrator. She set up her own publishing company: Purple Ray Publishing, organised a business account, ordered ISBN’s, bought barcodes, (simple mistakes can happen so authors make sure you put the correct bar code on the right book!) She opened an account with Waterstones, as well as Gardners Wholesalers – and negotiated a wonderful deal, 35% rather than the industry standard of 55 %.) The only relinquishment of control came in the form of her first book cover. She had intended a fairy image on the front cover of Aggie Lichen, but soon realised that this wouldn’t be cool for young boys so instead she decided upon a star! Now that Debra is an established author, she has reverted to her initial idea of fairies. Debra comes with a plethora of promotional material to hand out at schools: bookmarks, postcards, business cards, and ‘a don’t forget to review note,’ etc. She has discovered that E-books haven’t been very lucrative, and neither have bookshops, as they normally take a cut of 50%. Instead, she has made most of her profit from attending schools, doing talks, and workshops. This involves a lot of time, and personal engagement with schools – she’s a busy lady emailing up to three hundred schools a week.

Next up to join the illuminating discussion, author, dog walker, Camilla Chester whose debut novel Jarred Dreams is suitable for ages 9 and above. Her second book, EATS ‘is a culinary adventure tale, full of twists and turns that will have the kids on the edge of their seat.’ Camilla followed in Debra’s footsteps but took a slightly different route. Camilla was shortlisted in the 2015 New Author Prize with the National Literacy Trust and Bloomsbury. Initially, she also secured an agent but found that this didn’t magically produce a publishing contract. So, she joined SCBWI and met Debra. Thereafter, she accepted an invitation to her daughter’s school to talk about writing. This positive experience acted as a catalyst; Camilla found that the children were so encouraging about her book. So with this positive reaction from her intended audience, she made the decision to self-publish with the support of Matador Self Publishing. Matador expects their clients’ work to reach a certain level of quality and in return for a fee they simplify the process for their clients. If your work is accepted Matador quotes a price based on word count. In Camilla’s case the cost to get her book produced was £700. This is the set-up fee; it doesn’t include structural editing or a proofread. Nevertheless, Camilla decided this suited her style of authorship. She stressed that Matador doesn’t free you from promotional requirements. There is still considerable marketing to do, and you must believe in yourself, and ultimately believe that you are a children’s author. The downside to self-publishing is cost; you have to pay for it all. The book cover to Jarred Dreams cost Camilla £500, and she purchased 1000 copies, at a cost of £1,610 (to break even and recoup her outlay she would have to sell 603 books,), as well as this Camilla spent £280 on promotional material. To counterbalance these costs Camilla set about recouping some of her expenditure by charging for talks.

Camilla closed the discussion by sharing her thoughts on the pros and cons. Self-publishing enables you to produce books more quickly – there are no soul destroying rejections or disappointing agents but it is expensive and there is no guarantee that you will get your money back. Don’t expect to sell your much-loved books to lifelong family friends! Camilla found this out the hard way. It tends to be difficult to sell to a wider market, international sales are notoriously hard to achieve, so like Debra, Camilla has benefited by targeting schools, bookshops, and her local community.

Author Links:
http://www.camillachester.com/
www.purpleraypublishing.co.uk

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Camilla writes for 8-12s. She has always written but after moving to Hertfordshire with her family in 2010 she enrolled onto an OU Creative Writing Course (receiving a distinction), joined several writing groups and then discovered the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) before publishing her debut, Jarred Dreams in 2016. Camilla’s second book EATS is out at the end of April 2017 and her third, Thirteenth Wish is due to be published in April 2018. In addition to being a Children’s Author Camilla runs a small dog walking business.

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Debra J Edwards is a children’s/young adult writer living in Norfolk. She is a long time SCBWI member and part of the Golden Egg Academy. Her first writing outing produced an MG fantasy series, Aggie Lichen. The books tell the story of a gang of feisty tooth fairies trying to save their world. They are both funny and ridiculous. I mean, teenage tooth fairies indeed. Debra has also published her first young adult novel, Marvin’s Curse, as an ebook. She worked secretly under cover as a ghost whisperer in order to bring something extra to her central character. Debra is currently at dragon slayer bootcamp perfecting her new YA novel, The Iron City.

Marjorie Mallon
Blog: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com
Twitter: @marjorie_mallon
My New Author Support Club: Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club

Fellow administrators of the Rainbow Support Club: Authors Colleen Chesebro, and Debby Gies: D. G. Kaye Writer.

This report is featured in the SCBWI – Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators online magazine – Words and Pictures.

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Colleen’s Weekly #Poetry Challenge # 27 – “Light & Dark”

Light and dark  – what great prompt words from Colleen this week.  I’ve always been fascinated by the interplay between light, and darkness.

Here’s my haibun inspired by a paragraph from my current manuscript: The Curse of Time, which I am currently in the process of editing….

Sinister Tinge

The Black Obsidian paint pot called me next, beseeching me to open it. Just like before, it refused to do so. In frustration, I slammed it down hard. The pot exploded with a loud bang like a child’s burst balloon. As I dipped the brush into the paint, a gripping sensation overcame me. I painted in haste with a multitude of dissolving crystal paint flecks staring back at me from the canvas. A dark grey, bluish black, sinister tinge blemished the artwork. Shades of varying hues moved across the painting competing for supremacy in a powerful duality of light and darkness.

Black kisses,Rich with Flecks of lightness,Mesmerise and puzzle,Tattooing your family'sHappiness dark. (1)

 

Ohhh, that’s a bit dark… but wherever shadows linger there is bound to be light.

Colleen Chesebro’s Weekly Haiku, Tanka and Haibun Challenge

I have no idea if this is a haibun or not! LOL… hope it is. My first attempt so if it’s wrong, please do let me know.

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My Links: 

Goodreads

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook: Writing, Blogging and Photography

Facebook: Rainbow Support Club

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Danny Introduces a Friend…

Danny the dog is a guest of Chris at the story reading blog he’s introducing us to a short novel written by an extremely young author, Aoibha Walsh, entitled Pegasus Rewritten. Please reblog, share, buy a copy and review.

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Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club – News and New Members

 

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Fabulous News!!! Colleen Chesebro and Debby Gies have joined me as marvellous group Administrators of the Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club.

I’m so thrilled to have Colleen and Debby helping me.

I’ve had some questions regarding the Facebook club, so to answer these I’ve decided to write a sort of statement of club intention….

What is the Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club?

Don’t worry folks, it is not a cult! LOL…

It’s a friendly community of authors/bloggers/book reviewers working together to support each other in a multitude of ways – e.g. by writing or sharing reviews, highlighting author spotlights/book launches/interviews, and posting writing/poetry/blogging tips, or tips about writing reviews, or discussing general topics of interest.

DON’T FEEL THAT YOU HAVE TO DO ALL OF THESE!!!! LOL!!

Also I hope that it will be a place that you can ask for help and advice if you need it. Writing can be isolating so feel free to find some writing chums here. Just join in, as and when you can, or would like to. Any content about books is really welcome whether it is pretty pictures of books you’ve read, or libraries you’ve visited, etc. Also occasionally do feel free to post news to tell your blogging friends what you are up to. Especially, if you’ve just published a book, won a prize, been nominated for a award, or you’ve been somewhere creative, interesting, or exciting! Recently, I posted my British Museum photos which I had uploaded using Ripl, which I thought might be of interest to fellow Instagram enthusiasts.

IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE YOU HOPE TO GAIN FROM THE GROUP PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Members can add your own blog posts to the members page, (email me, or Colleen, or comment below, if you want to become a member: marjma2014@gmail.com, or colleenchesebro3@gmail.com) and do feel free to share, like and comment on your friends posts too.

Who runs the group?

Currently little old me, and Colleen Chesebro, and Debby Gies.

Also we have quite a few new members!! Yippee….

First up, is….

Lizzie Chantree

Lizzie is pretty much woman extraordinaire as far as I can see. I’ve just had the delight of welcoming Lizzie recently for an Author’s Spotlight on my blog: Author’s Spotlight: Lizzie Chantree

Bio:

Lizzie is an enthusiastic inventor, businesswoman and artist. She founded her first company at the age of 17 and has been creating products and driving her family mad ever since.

Lizzie appeared on Sky News, ITV Lunchtime News, This Morning, The Big Breakfast, BBC’s Worldwide Radio Service, amongst others for becoming one of Fair Play London’s Female Innovators for her invention, Runaway Spray. Runaway Spray is a ‘ladder’ stop spray for stockings and tights, which has been on sale for over fifteen years. She has also developed a range of greetings cards and puzzle books for children with phonics and short stories inside to encourage independent writing skills in children.

Lizzie lives in Essex, with her gorgeous husband, two bouncy children and a very unusual dog. In between the school run and baking cakes (or burning them!), she sits in her rooftop studio daydreaming about gaps in the market and how she can fill them. Babe Driven is her first novel and she has written two other novels, Love’s Child and Finding Gina. Lizzie is currently writing her forth novel.
Twitter: @Lizzie_Chantree
Facebook: Facebook.com/LizzieChantree
Email: liz@chantree.com
Blog: LizzieChantree.com

Debbie Harris

Debbie’s blog is a visual delight, as soon as you step in you feel as if you are immersed in a land of wonder. Just like Lizzie, she sounds like a wonder woman:

I am Debbie – I am a wife; mother; daughter; sister; friend; blogger; reader; runner; walker; cyclist; Rail Trail enthusiast; traveller; Rotarian; Whovian; teacher.

And now I’m a retiree!!  Very early retirement!

I’ve been called a humming bird on speed and WonderWomanDebs. There are stories there believe me!!

Debbie has a page on her blog where she lists all the books she’s read and she’s broken them down into years under the main menu.

https://debs-world.com/books-ive-read/

Debbie loves reading, travel, family, photographing, running, cycling and blogging at debs-world.com.

She tries her hand at most things, poetry, flash fiction, even a children’s story: https://debs-world.com/2016/06/05/big-debbies-purple-boots/

Debbie participates in a book club but doesn’t always like the books she is given but she reads them anyway and learns a lot from the discussion. I couldn’t agree more – broadening your reading is such a fabulous adventure!

Debbie’s twitter: @wonderwomandebz

Goodreads: Debbie Harris

Marsha Ingrao

Marsha is a retired school teacher who loves to blog about books, travel, photography, blogging and writing tips.

I blog on two sites. The first one I started as an experiment 5 years ago after I retired from education. This is my travel, community activities and photo challenge blog primarily. https://tchistorygal.net/

My other blog is where I use my experience as a teacher, writers, and administrator to help new and hobby bloggers, writers and photographers with tips and longer articles. Both blogs started out as an experiment, and have blossomed from there. This one is my experiment in monetizing as well as helping people from my mistakes as I branch out! http://marshajustwrites.com/

Hi, my name is Marsha Ingrao and I created Always Write for us. You and me! Together learning.

If you know everything there is to know about blogging, writing, and photography, you will hate this blog! If you want to share what you know and learn from others, come on in.

Grab a cuppa coffee and sit down and visit. Blogging is my hobby, my experiment, my life changer. Welcome! Maybe, like me, blogging is your hobby. Or maybe you write books or are an amateur photographer. Join the party.’

I was very impressed recently upon discovering this excellent article written by Marsha about writing professional book reviews: Always Writes – Marsha’s advice on writing top book reviews

Marsha’s twitter : @MarshaIngrao

Adele Marie Clerk

Adele is  a ‘writer of horror/fantasy/urban/wordbuilding all those nice things which mean I get to use my imagination.’ Adele has just been nominated as a contestant in The Next Great Horror Writer Contest. Her bio on her blog reads, “Horror invaded my life and I devoured everything it threw at me. Stephen King, Ramsay Campbell, Anne Rice and Clive Barker. Horror holds my hand tightly. I can’t escape and I don’t want to. I write to scare. The monster under the bed is my reality. Welcome to my world.”

On her blog’s about me page she describes herself thus:

I’m Adele Marie Park a writer. Simple.....what? I`ve got my muse in my ear telling me I have to write more than just that. Okay….sighs.

Im originally from Rousay. An island in the Orkney which is rich in folklore and legends. I learned these legends and folklore from the cradle lol. I write about folklore but with a modern or faerie themed twist. I am also passionate about horror. I love vampires and grew up with the Hammer Horror version before cutting my teeth…pardon the pun…on Buffy and Angel.

So…I write urban fantasy, folklore fantasy urban or otherwise, horror and apocalyptic fiction. I like to write character-driven fiction and I hope that somewhere someone reading my work will gain an insight into themselves from it. That is not meant to sound all egotistical, I gained many insights into myself through reading others work and still do.

I am happily married. We live in a very happy house, a mad house but a happy one.

Adele Marie Park’s blog

Adele’s Twitter: @Binky567

Sacha Black

Sacha’s blog is a delight – full of writing tips,  art, and her weekly wonders. Sacha is the founder of the Bloggers Bash, a fabulous annual event held in London: Sacha Black’s blog, which I have had the pleasure of attending twice since its inception in August 2015.

These two short paragraphs sum up Sacha’s love of writing in the most wonderful way: Sacha was always meant to write, she was the girl who spent her lunch break tucked away in the corner of the school library, head buried in a pile of books, pencil in hand, weaving stories on the page. But she grew up, stumbled and fell forgetting her dream and then spent a while lost in a dark and twisted place.

Then, one day she sat in front of her laptop and started to write. She remembered that all she’d ever wanted to do was write stories in far away places filled with curious creatures and magical happenings. Characters started to talk to her, fill her brain with incessant chatter and demanded their stories be told. And so, The Netherworld was created, and Eden’s story began.

Sacha is currently in the process of editing two novels: Keepers, the first book in a planned trilogy, and Adultland. More about that here: Sacha Black – Novels

Sacha also has a non-fiction book entitled 13 Steps to Evil, ‘the ultimate guide to crafting Villains,’ which will be released in 2017.

http://sachablack.co.uk/

Sacha’s twitter: @sacha_black

Lorinda J. Taylor

Lorinda’s (also known as TermiteWriter in cyberspace) is a retired librarian who worked in academic libraries as a cataloger and now lives in Colorado Springs, CO.  Besides an M.L.S, she has a B.A. and an M.A. in English, and some work toward a Ph.D.  As a child, she was always making up imaginary worlds, but she didn’t start writing fantasy until she read “Lord of the Rings” in 1969 and discovered that even serious scholars like J.R.R. Tolkien can continue to create such worlds far into their adult lives. In the early days she attempted unsuccessfully to get published, and then family considerations forced her to take a hiatus from writing from 1983 until 2000. Since then, she has self-published twelve books, mostly science fiction or a science fiction/fantasy hybrid, all with a literary slant.  Her books deal with future history, psychological subjects (one of the most interesting alien environments is the human mind), and first contacts, including the adventures of a species of giant intelligent termites who relive Earth myths.  She has a special interest in constructing languages for her extraterrestrials to speak.  She has published the first part of The Man Who Found Birds among the Stars, a fictional biography of the spaceship Captain who first made contact with extraterrestrials in the 28th century, and she is continuing to work on additional volumes (it’s epic length!)

All her books may be found at:

Amazon http://amzn.to/u9bYWa

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/KdNtR1

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/TermiteWriter

Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/1Lz1NRQ

She has two blogs, mostly inactive these days.

www.termitewriter.blogspot.com (Rumination of a Remembrancer, covering general topics and material on The Termite Queen and The Man Who Found Birds among the Stars, plus information on my Mythmaker syster)

www.termitespeaker.blogspot.com (The Labors of Ki’shto’ba Huge-Head, covering that series plus information on myth in literature)

Her twitter handle is @TermiteWriter

Teagan Genevieve

Bio:

I’m Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene and I write fantasy fiction.  This blog is mostly limited to writing and related topics.  It began as part of my “grand experiment” in indie publishing.
 
By day I’m a career professional, a technical editor and writer in the information technology (IT) field.  That’s my “real” job.  Of course I’d love to be able to put a roof over my head just blogging and writing novels!
Although I was born in the southeast (USA), I call the desert southwest home.  I left those enchanting lands for a major east coast city.  Now my goal, wish, and desperate dream is to move to either the southwest, or a small city with a milder climate.
Here’s a link to all the information about my books:  About Teagan’s Books  It includes my debut novel, an urban fantasy called Atonement, Tennessee. (https://www.amazon.com/Atonement-Tennessee-Teagan-Geneviene-ebook/dp/B00HGSVA8A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490288789&sr=8-1&keywords=Atonement%2C+Tennessee )
At my blog, Teagan’s Books (https://teagansbooks.com/ ) I do a variety of things.  You’ll see posts on writing process, snippets from my novels, and short stories that are usually taken from the “universes” of one of my books.
It was originally a “pantser” serial, driven by random “things” sent by readers of my blog. It was absolutely spontaneously written.  
I went on to do four more serials in that manner.  Some time this spring I will publish the second serial, Murder at the Bijou, Three Ingredients-I.  That one is a culinary mystery!  Here’s a blog post where I introduce the characters:

 

Well that’s it for this members post…….. I’m too shattered to do anymore as I have a bit of a cold this week….

 

I will be featuring the next bunch of members next time: Geoff LePard, Galit Balli,  Wendy Anne Darling, Daniel Rumanos, , Annette Rochelle AbenLaurie Peterson Oien and Cynthia T. LunaShehanne Moore.

Our group page is growing: Authors/Bloggers Rainbow Support Club

 

So do come and join the club!

Bye for now,

 

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

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Hi,

I found this graphic on Canva for Mother’s day and it really spoke to me… what would we do without our mothers? Well, we wouldn’t even exist without mum, and of course dad!

Here’s an old photo of my mum and dad, but it is one of my favourites….. I love photos that make you wonder what had just been said and this one definitely does that!

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Without mothers, we wouldn’t have that special someone to turn to for a hug and a laugh, who listens and is always there for us. Mum is our confidante, (when we get a little older!) a best friend, a rock through times of crisis, and of course a very handy taxi service, cook, laundry lady and homework help! Mum is the supreme multi-tasker, extraordinaire!

Basically, mums are just so lovable. Mums rock!  Hope you have a very enjoyable and relaxing mother’s day.

Let me know in the comments what you are up to…

Bye for now,

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Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge #26

 

Colleen’s prompt words this week are : Earth and Water. I decided to stick with the Tanka form, but you can write either a Tanka, Haiku or a Haibun.

Very saddened to hear about the terrorist atrocity in London’s Westminster this Wednesday. So my Tanka this week reflects that mood.

I contemplate EARTh,LonG to hold it Tight, and Safe,But to No Avail,

 

Here’s the link to Colleen’s challenge:

https://colleenchesebro.com/2017/03/21/colleens-weekly-poetry-challenge-26-earth-water

Let’s hope that the days to follow do not bring any further distress.

Take care,  much love,

 

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Author Spotlight: Lizzie Chantree

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A warm welcome to Lizzie Chantree, it is such a pleasure to invite you on my blog today.
Lizzie is a new friend who I discovered recently, and a member of my: Author/Blogger Rainbow Support Club. Her author biography below will totally inspire and enthral you with the multitude of her wonderful and diverse talents.  This lady writes, invents, produces cards, and puzzle books is a businesswoman and artist, has two children, a hubby, and an unusual sounding dog. Wow, when does Lizzie ever get time to sleep?
Oh, and by the way, she has invented a ladder stop… what might that be? No, it’s not something DIY based, no rigid device to secure ladders to climb up and fix loose masonry.
It’s the other kind of ladder, the invention to stop those pesky ladders that we always get in our tights. I like that, a word with two meanings…. Being a writer, I can see the humour in that. That sounds beyond useful, how come I never heard of an inventor like that? My youngest daughter is always getting ladders in her tights!

 

Author Bio:
 

Lizzie is an enthusiastic inventor, businesswoman and artist. She founded her first company at the age of 17 and has been creating products and driving her family mad ever since.

Lizzie appeared on Sky News, ITV Lunchtime News, This Morning, The Big Breakfast, BBC’s Worldwide Radio Service, amongst others for becoming one of Fair Play London’s Female Innovators for her invention, Runaway Spray. Runaway Spray is a ‘ladder’ stop spray for stockings and tights, which has been on sale for over fifteen years. She has also developed a range of greetings cards and puzzle books for children with phonics and short stories inside to encourage independent writing skills in children.

Lizzie lives in Essex, with her gorgeous husband, two bouncy children and a very unusual dog. In between the school run and baking cakes (or burning them!), she sits in her rooftop studio daydreaming about gaps in the market and how she can fill them. Babe Driven is her first novel and she has written two other novels, Love’s Child and Finding Gina. Lizzie is currently writing her forth novel.

 
 
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Finding Gina book synopsis:

A contemporary romance read with a magical twist! By Lizzie Chantree.

Can a sprinkling of stardust overcome a past full of demons?

Gina had traversed the breadth of the country in her little campervan to try and find everyone on her grandmother’s list, before her father drunk himself into an early grave. She leant down and pulled the battered and worn journal from her bag and opened it to the latest page. The neatly written names were etched onto her heart and she was determined to visit every single one and compensate them in some way. Her family’s debt had to be repaid.

Lewis read another provincial story about a ‘guardian angel’ who had been helping families across the country and his reporters nose began to itch. He was sure that if he could track down the girl they were talking about, he would unearth an even bigger story. He just had to work out how to locate her and then find out what it was that she was running from!

Reviews for Finding Gina:
Reader review: 
This is the third book I have read by Lizzie Chantree and again I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality and depth of her writing..
I love a good edgy romantic ‘Chick lit’ Novel and this very much reached my expectations..
The characters are portrayed in such a way that you can really envisage how they look and the environments they live in; to the point that I’d love to stay with Gina in her VW van – v envious.
The story had remained with me; which isn’t always the case with Novels of this genre.
Really worth a read – Lizzie Chantree can really compete with her contemparies (I’m a long devotee to Lisa Jewell and Freya North). I look forward to her next offering.
Reader review: 
 
A really great romance read. This book has humour and romance and kept me guessing the whole way through. Lizzie Chantree is fast becoming my new favourite author!
The main character Gina is running from her past, but discovers her future along the way. The other characters are just as interesting and I especially loved reading about Tom, the gorgeous baker who works at the tearoom and Lewis the intrepid reporter. The tearoom’s owner, Rachel is quite mean, but even she grew on me as the story progressed. She is quite a character! This would make a great holiday read and once I picked it up, I couldn’t put the book down until I had read the last page.
 
Contact info:
 
Book links: 
 

 
Well that was lovely wasn’t it? I do love having guests on Kyrosmagica. They add a certain magical sparkle to my day.

Don’t forget to let me know if you would like to feature on my next Author/Blogger Spotlight. Or perhaps you might like to join my Author/Blogger Rainbow Support Club? Don’t be shy do get in touch by leaving a comment below, or emailing me: marjma2014@gmail.com.

Bye for now,

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Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka #Poetry Challenge # 25 – Clouds & Spring

Yesterday, I had a lovely day out with my eldest daughter. She’s planning on writing a dissertation on the Parthenon Sculptures – British Museum so we trundled off to investigate.

I love day trips to London, especially when the sun shines. We had a thoroughly entertaining day out, which consisted of a ridiculous amount of eating, walking, more eating, and then more walking… It happened to be quite a funny day too.

Here’s my daughter…

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and me…

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We stopped for lunch at Leon. The weather was so inviting that we sat outside on the terrace. A bloke in motorbike gear took this as an invitation to approach us and join in our conversation. I had offered my daughter some money for lunch, as she’s paid on her student card, (yes I am that stingy! LOL… ) and he thought he’d asked for a fiver too! When we declined to give him the five pound note he took it in good spirits and asked for a high five instead. My daughter obliged. Later, after some shopping we decided to go to Bella Italia for dinner, my treat this time, and on our way out of the restaurant we asked the waiter where the toilets where and by some weird coincidence he replied, ‘only if you give me five pounds!’ So, I told him about our earlier encounter and we all laughed… Perhaps these two young men were somehow twins?

The ladybirds didn’t really make an entrance but somehow they seem to make everything all the more colourful, and springlike… So here’s my Tanka…
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Now, unless you are Italian, or have Italian friends you’re probably thinking what in heavens is a Sfogliatella? The name conjures up all sorts of imagery doesn’t it? In reality, Sflogliatella are a lovely shell-shaped filled Italian pastry native to Campania. I’m in the know because my youngest has an Italian boyfriend. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any Sfogliatella this time but we did have some little Italian cakes and coffee in the Cafe in the garden at Russell Square. Munch, munch…

Ciao, see you soon…

Here’s the link to join in Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Challenge

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