Morton S. Gray's Blog, page 18
April 18, 2022
Why I Write by Author Liz Harris
Today, I have Liz Harris, author of Cochin Fall as my guest. I’ve known Liz for many years now, but I am always fascinated that I often learn something new about my blog guests. Liz is going to tell us why she writes. Over to Liz …
I should imagine that everyone writing a novel would give exactly the same reason for why they write as everyone else – they write because it gives them pleasure.
It’s inconceivable that anyone would isolate themselves from the world, day after day, for the many months it takes to write a novel, unless the pleasure they ultimately derived outweighed any pain that the process engendered.
And, indeed, there are times which could be likened to pain. For example, you can be plunged into the depths of despair when, halfway through the novel, you wonder if anyone will ever bother to read that far, or if perhaps you’ve wasted all the money you spent on books for research, and possible travel for purposes of research, and all the hours of writing that you’ve already devoted to the book.
How we define the pleasure we gain, though, will vary from author to author. For me, the number one joy is that I absolutely love creating a fictional world, and the fictional characters who inhabit that world. As the novel develops, my characters become real people to me, who walk side by side with me throughout the day, sharing their elation and their distress, their hopes and their fears.
As I draw close to the end of the novel, their voices become louder in my head as they clamour for a resolution to their stories. I must be unbearable in my final two weeks of the novel as, like my characters, I’m impatient of anything that delays my journey to the end.
After I’d completed the three books in the Linford Series, available individually and as a box set, each of which focuses on one of the members of the Linford family, and I was giving birth to a new fictional world, with new characters, I wrote an article for ARRA (Australian Romance Readers Association), entitled ‘It’s a wrench!’. And it was, indeed, a real wrench to leave the characters with whom I’d lived for more than two years, and move on.
My other great source of pleasure when writing a novel, and one which will definitely go some way towards answering the question of why I write, is that it’s a way of learning interesting things. Perhaps this comes from being an ex-secondary school teacher, but whenever I read a novel, I hope to have learnt at least one new thing by the end of it, and when I write a novel, I feel exactly the same.
The Linford series is a saga set between the wars. The Dark Horizon takes the reader from London to the Cotswolds and to New York. The Flame Within is set in Waterfoot, a small mill town in Lancashire, and then in London, and The Lengthening Shadow takes the reader from London to a small town in Germany.
To write the novels, therefore, I had to familiarise myself with the political events in the 1920s and 1930s, with the changing décor in the homes, and with the clothes worn during those years. Also, I needed to know about the development of housing as the Linfords ran a hugely successful construction company, and the growth of the car industry, and I needed to know about life in a small mill town in the North.
The research for The Lengthening Shadow was fascinating, and I was able to chart the various stages of the insidious encroachment of Nazism in the life of a small German town in which, before Hitler’s rise to power, Jews and Christians had lived harmoniously together. What had seemed so innocent at the outset, had gradually assumed an altogether different appearance.
After the Linfords, I moved on to Asia, to Darjeeling Inheritance, Cochin Fall and Hanoi Spring, and I found myself learning about life at the time of the British Raj, and about the production of tea.
I hadn’t known, for example, that between the moment of the plucking of two leaves and a bud, to those same leaves, having been withered, dried, rolled, fermented and put in foil-lined crates, being on a train taking them to an auction house, it was twenty-four hours only!
Therefore, to sum up, I write because I enjoy the process of writing – that’s a given – and because I derive great pleasure from creating a fictional world that hadn’t existed before I put finger to keyboard, while at the same time, I’m learning more about the past and the present of the real world in which I live.
Many thanks, Morton, for allowing me to talk to you today.
I am always intrigued by what my blog guests will write and today is no exception. Thank you, Liz. Mx
About Liz Harris
Born in London, Liz Harris graduated from university with a Law degree, and then moved to California, where she led a varied life, from waitressing on Sunset Strip to working as secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company.
Six years later, she returned to London and completed a degree in English, after which she taught secondary school pupils, first in Berkshire, and then in Cheshire.
In addition to the fourteen novels she’s had published, she’s had several short stories in anthologies and magazines.
Liz now lives in Oxfordshire. An active member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Historical Novel Society, her interests are travel, the theatre, reading and cryptic crosswords. To find out more about Liz, visit her website at: http://www.lizharrisauthor.com
Social Media links
Twitter : @lizharrisauthor
Instagram : liz.harris.52206
Website: www.lizharrisauthor.com
Facebook: Liz Harris https://www.facebook.com/lizharrisauthor/
About Cochin Fall
British Cochin, 1934
Returning to her home among the palm trees that line the coast of Cochin, South India, after six years at school in England, Clara Saunders is thrilled to learn that the future mapped out for her by her trader father is the one she would have chosen herself.
It’s a future that will unite her with her childhood sweetheart, George Goddard, the son of a neighbouring trader. It will also cement her friendship with George’s vivacious sister, Lizzie, and bring even closer together the two successful trading companies.
Trader Lewis Mackenzie, an employee of Clara’s father, is both ruthless and ambitious. Keen on seeing an expansion of Saunders & Co, and frustrated by the complacency shown by Henry Saunders, he determines to take matters into his own hands.
One simple misunderstanding gives rise to further misunderstandings, and in the face of potential disaster, the happiness of several people hangs in the balance.
Book buying links for Cochin Fall
Cochin Fall is available on Amazon here and on other platforms on this Universal Book Link mybook.to/CochinFall
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
April 11, 2022
Where I Write by Author Julie Houston
A real treat this week as Julie Houston joins us to talk about where she writes. Julie’s new novel A Village Secret is out on 14 April 2022. Over to Julie …
For years I’ve had both Utility Room and Writing Space envy. In fact, I’ve been known to declare: I spend the whole of life in two damned cupboards!!
We live in an old converted Yorkshire farmhouse and, despite the house itself being fairly spacious, as well as attempts to manoeuvre this windowless utility room elsewhere, I’ve spent years doing the laundry and the scrubbing of big pans standing vertically while squashed up against myriad coats, wellingtons and boots, sacks of dog food and burgeoning reusable supermarket bags (that I’m convinced have sex and reproduce their number nightly.)
My writing space wasn’t much better. While I appreciate not everyone can have a writing room to call their own, and I should be jolly appreciative of not having had to use the dining room or kitchen table on which to write, my actual writing room was a claustrophobic cupboard in which I not only wrote, but somehow managed to squash in children for private tuition. Very cosy.
When the children were small, we decided to join what was an old – very small – barn onto the actual house in order that they could have a playroom, shelves for books and toys and, as they became older, somewhere to entertain their mates. They put on plays down there, had noisy teenage parties and, because we live just fifteen minutes from the town centre, eventually became a meeting place (as well as dossing-down place after a night out) while they were home from university. Many’s the morning I’ve made my way down there to find unrecognisable (as well as sometimes unknown) comatose bodies stretched out on the large tatty sofas.
But I had my eye on it. Unfortunately, so did my husband who then, for several years, decided to work from home and make it his office, with the garage as warehouse. Last year, with my offspring both now living in London, I made my move. Husband was relegated to the cupboard and I WAS IN.
The wooden French windows and floor were damaged where rain had seeped in as well as the result of having heavy boxes dragged in from the garage. It took a couple of months during the second lock down, but I found workmen who installed new windows, a new floor and acres of shelving and cupboards for all my books, (previously tottering in dangerous piles in the writing cupboard) writing materials and teaching materials. I bought new curtains, an old chair, oriental rug and proper desk (rather than the cheap wobbly Ikea table) on eBay. And installed my piano.
The room, being originally a barn, has perhaps the best views in the house, looking down the valley and every writing day is an absolute joy and pleasure (except when I’m stuck on edits or trying to think up a new plot) to come down here to work.
It’s taken many years, but all comes to those who wait! I just need to sort the utility now!
Well, I do believe I have writing room envy now! Thank you for sharing this journey on my blog and good luck with the new book. Mx
About Julie Houston
Julie Houston’s first three novels GOODNESS, GRACE AND ME, THE ONE SAVING GRACE and LOOKING FOR LUCY were all Amazon Humour #1 best sellers both here in the UK and Australia. LOOKING FOR LUCY hit the #1 best seller overall in Australia. A VILLAGE AFFAIR was the seventh most downloaded book of 2019 and has sold over 300 000 copies in eBook and paperback. She is published by Aria/Headof Zeus and her tenth novel A VILLAGE SECRET is published this Thursday, April 14 and book number eleven, THE VILLAGE VICAR in January 2023. Her seventh novel, SING ME A SECRET won the Sapere Books Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2021.
Julie lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire where her novels are set, and her only claims to fame are that she teaches part-time at ‘Bridget Jones’ author Helen Fielding’s old junior school and her neighbour is ‘Chocolat’ author, Joanne Harris. After University, where she studied Education and English Literature, she taught for many years as a junior school teacher. As a newly qualified teacher, broke and paying off her first mortgage, she would spend every long summer holiday working on different Kibbutzim in Israel. After teaching for a few years, she decided to go to New Zealand to work and taught in Auckland for a year before coming back to this country. She now just teaches when the phone rings to cover an absent colleague, and still loves the buzz of teaching junior-aged children. She has been a magistrate for the past twenty years. Julie is married, has a twenty-seven-year-old son and twenty-four-year-old daughter and a ridiculous Cockerpoo called Lincoln. She runs and swims because she’s been told it’s good for her, but would really prefer a glass of wine, a sun lounger and a jolly good book.
She hates skiing, gets sick on boats and wouldn’t go pot-holing or paddy diving if her life depended on it.
She is published by HeadOfZeus/Aria and represented by Anne Williams at KHLA Literary agency.
You can contact Julie through her website www.juliehouston.co.uk and on Twitter @juliehouston2 and on Facebook Julie Houston author
About A Village Secret
A VILLAGE SECRET is published on Thursday April 14th 2022 by Head of Zeus/Aria
When Jennifer goes up to Cambridge University with her head full of the Romantic Poets, she never dreams that she will find her very own Byron. But then she meets gorgeous actor Laurie Lewis, and finds herself living a real-life love poem.
Fifteen years and two children later, Jennifer and Laurie’s relationship is starting to feel more like an epic tragedy. After a series of revelations turn her world upside down, Jennifer will do anything to keep her family together – even if it means moving hundreds of miles away to Laurie’s childhood home in Westenbury, Yorkshire.
As she reluctantly enters into village life – complete with interfering in-laws, new friends and a surprise delivery of alpacas – Jennifer is amazed to find herself feeling happy for the first time in years. But the village holds one last secret and Jennifer must decide once and for all what she wants her future to hold.
You can find A VILLAGE SECRET on Amazon here
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
April 4, 2022
What Have I Been Up To? By Morton S. Gray
It feels as if I’ve just had a month out of my normal life and today I’m back at my desk and it seems extremely weird.
My husband and I were due to go on holiday to the Lake District and then we both got Covid! Having been ultra-careful due to looking after my elderly mother and having a new grandson, it was a bit of a shock to see the positive line appear. Thankfully we both had a mild dose of the virus, although we both still have wheezy chests.
My faith in human nature was restored when the holiday cottage owner allowed us to delay our stay and shortly after testing negative again we headed north. The holiday cottage was absolutely lovely and just a short stroll from the town of Ambleside. We walked, read and pottered. I crocheted as usual. It was a lovely break and we couldn’t have anticipated the eighteen degrees sunny weather. I had taken the wrong clothes with me as I anticipated wet, cold walks and had to buy T-shirts! The temperatures and rain/snow only dropped on the day before we came home.
We walked from Ambleside to Grasmere twice, clocking up ten miles each time. My step count for the fourteen days was 205,385, an average of 14,670 steps a day! I’m really pleased with that considering I have a clicky knee and don’t consider myself particularly fit.
As a writer, there are benefits to having some time out of my normal routine, as with a relaxed mind I begin to see stories everywhere – an old building, an overheard conversation, or an unusual name called and I’m off into my writing world. Home now with a notebook full of ideas, let’s see where I end up …
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
March 28, 2022
Why I Write by Author Vicki Beeby
This week I’m featuring a good friend and fellow Apricot Plotter, Vicki Beeby. Author of some great books set in World War 2, her latest A New Start for the Wrens is set in glorious Orkney! I’ve included my own review at the end of the post. Today, Vicki is going to tell us why she writes …
Many thanks for hosting me on your blog, Morton.
A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by BBC Shropshire Radio about the local writing group I attend. As I’m not particularly eloquent (translation: I’m completely tongue-tied in most social situations) I prepared answers in advance to any questions I thought I’d be asked. But one question took me aback: ‘Why do you write?’
I can’t remember what I said after much umming and erring, and no amount of money will persuade me to listen to a recording, but I’ve thought about it a fair bit since then. The simple answer is that I’ve felt an urge to write ever since I learnt to read. Reading is my consuming passion, and from the first time I lost myself in a story, I’ve wanted to create my own stories, characters and worlds. But that’s not the complete answer.
Writing is an excellent way to get into the minds of different people. I often find myself confused about why people say and do the things they do. Creating stories and characters helps me work out what makes people tick and how it feels to be like them. In particular I find myself wondering if I’d been born in a different time, to different parents or to a different social background, what would my life have been like? Writing about people from different backgrounds and from different periods of history is a way of exploring those questions.
Another reason is that the more I learn about the remarkable things women did during the war, the more I want to tell their stories. Until recently, films and books about the British involvement in the war have focused mainly on men. Although women were just as involved, whether single-handedly running their homes and caring for family, in the workplace or in the forces, what they did has been largely ignored. I hope that in some small way my books can help to restore the central place women held in the war.
Thank you, Vicki – we could be sisters! I feel exactly that same as you about writing. Mx
About Vicki Beeby
Vicki Beeby writes historical fiction about the friendships and loves of service women brought together by the Second World War.
Her first job was as a civil engineer on a sewage treatment project, so things could only improve from there. Since then, she has worked as a maths teacher and education consultant before turning freelance to give herself more time to write.
In her free time, when she can drag herself away from reading, she enjoys walking and travelling to far-off places by train. She lives in Shropshire in a house that doesn’t contain nearly enough bookshelves.
To keep in touch with Vicki, you can use the following links:-
Twitter: @VickiBeeby
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VickiBeebyAuthor
Website: vickibeeby.co.uk
About A New Start for the Wrens
Are these newly trained Wrens ready to protect Britain’s coastline?
Following a humiliating experience involving the man she thought she’d marry, Iris Tredwick signs up to the Wrens in order to escape and find ‘the right sort’ of man to please her mother. After a bumpy start, Iris manages to befriend outspoken Mary and dreamer Sally as they are sent to their first posting – in Orkney.
There she meets mechanic Rob, whose flirtatious nature both charms and confounds straight-laced Iris. Much more appropriate for her is local doctor Stewart, if only she felt the same spark for him as she does for Rob…
As Iris, Mary and Sally work to interpret signals from incoming ships, they realise the enemy is somehow one step ahead of their manoeuvres, dropping sea mines under the cover of darkness. Could there be a spy on the island? And can the Wrens prevent disaster striking before it’s too late?
A thrilling and lively Second World War saga for fans of Kate Thompson and Daisy Styles.
To buy the book you can use the following links:
Amazon: mybook.to/NewStartWrens
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/a-new-start-for-the-wrens/id1592079460
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-new-start-for-the-wrens
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=gO1UEAAAQBAJ
Morton’s Review for A New Start for the Wrens
Loved This Book – More Please
5 Stars +
Loved this book! I binge read it as I wanted to know what would happen. The three main female characters Iris, Mary and Sally are all so easy to relate to and care about, as is Rob. Love the glimpses of Orkney and the poignant history. Cottoned on to the baddie early on and kept shouting warnings at my Kindle lol. Loved Vicki Beeby’s Ops Room Girls series and was worried this might not be as good but it is! Can’t wait for the next instalment in this series.
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
March 21, 2022
What I Do When I’m Not Writing by Author Jenni Keer
Jenni Keer returns to my blog today to tell us what she does when she’s not writing. I’ve just read her latest novel, The Secrets of Hawthorn Place, so I’ll add my review at the end. Over to Jenni…
Hello, Morton, and thank you so much for having me back on your wonderful blog. Ooo… new cushions? Did you crochet them yourself? (Lol, Jenni is referring to what I do when I’m not writing Mx)
I’m here today to talk about what I do when I’m not writing. The main answer to this is feel guilty about not writing! This is unfortunately one of the downsides to being self-employed in any capacity – it is so difficult to switch off – and I constantly feel guilty for not getting a few hundred extra words down.
However, there are things that I enjoy doing which take me away from the keyboard and sometimes even out of the house, and the first is my passion for dance. I’m not built for poise and grace as I’m tall and clumpy, but I do know how to plaster on a smile and give it my all, and what I lack in talent, I certainly make up for in showmanship!
I’ve been part of a dance group for about twelve years now and attend Kelly Clarke’s Dance Motion Academy every Thursday night. She covers a variety of dance styles, including rock and roll, disco, street, slow and Charleston. It helps me combat the writer’s bottom but, more importantly, the stresses of life. There’s nothing like a good giggle over your hip thrusting to release the old endorphins.
Another thing I really enjoy doing is meeting people. (This is pretty much the same as saying I love talking!) and am extremely lucky to have an enormous group of friends from all areas of my life. Pandemic aside, meeting up with people has always been important to me. I have schoolfriends, uni pals, mums I’m still in touch with from the school gate, old work colleagues, author and reader chums, neighbours, and I even hang out with my teenage sons and their mates from time to time – yes, really! I’m allowed to join in as long as I behave myself…
And I guess I wouldn’t be an author if I didn’t enjoy stories, so a large percentage of my time is spent reading books and watching films. I definitely have phases where I prefer one medium over the other, sometimes reading a book in a day, or binge-watching an entire season in one night (*cough* Bridgerton). I am fortunate to claim this as work and enjoy telling my husband that a day in front of the telly counts as professional development. I’m not sure he believes me!
As a notorious Jack of all trades but master of none, I occasionally turn my hand to gardening (the vegetable patch was a triumph during the 2020 lockdown), baking (but I don’t have a sweet tooth so this is sporadic), paper crafts and even sewing on rare occasions. The results are most definitely mixed, but it is the head space that is the most important thing, not the pie with the soggy bottom or the wonky hem on the curtains.
Ultimately, it’s not what you do with your free time, but that you make sure you carve some head space from your busy life to feed your soul. This is even more important when you are self-employed as switching off is hard. I carry my characters and my plot lines around with me from the moment I wake up. But, as an author, I am lucky enough to claim that all activities I embark upon, even if it’s just eavesdropping on someone else’s gossip as I tan myself on a beach, counts as research and therefore work.
Jenni x
About Jenni Keer
Jenni Keer lives on the Suffolk/Norfolk border has four teenage boys, four cats, and is currently author of four novels… ooo, and she has a husband, but only the one! After the success of her first two romantic comedies, she dabbled with history and wrote the bestselling The Secrets of Hawthorn Place – a dual timeline romance – but her upcoming novel, The Legacy of Halesham Hall (out Sept 2022) is her first totally historical work.
You can connect with her on the following links:-
Twitter @Jennikeer
Instagram jennikeer
Facebook Jenni Keer Author
and Tiktok JenniKeer
About The Secrets of Hawthorn Place
Two houses, hundreds of miles apart . . . yet connected always.
When life throws Molly Butterfield a curveball, she decides to spend some time with her recently widowed granddad, Wally, at Hawthorn Place, his quirky Victorian house on the Dorset coast.
But cosseted Molly struggles to look after herself, never mind her grieving granddad, until the accidental discovery of an identical Arts and Crafts house on the Norfolk coast offers her an unexpected purpose, as well as revealing a bewildering mystery.
Discovering that both Hawthorn Place and Acacia House were designed by architect Percy Gladwell, Molly uncovers the secret of a love which linked them, so powerful it defied reason.
What follows is a summer which will change Molly for ever . . .
The Secrets of Hawthorn Place is available here and is currently stocked in The Works Stores across the UK at just £2 for the paperback.
Morton’s Review of The Secrets of Hawthorn Place
Five Stars of History, Mystery and Romance
An unusual and intriguing story with threads in the past and the present and even a touch of magic.
I loved the story in the past of Percy Gladwell and Violet and would have loved more of this storyline. I wanted to tell Molly’s mother off for letting her grow up so hopeless with practical living, but I guess she made exceptions for her daughter given their circumstances. Given this, I found it more difficult to relate to Mollie, but warmed to her as the book progressed. And admired the changes she made in her life.
The architectural details about Arts and Crafts houses and the insight into the architect’s life are fascinating. I liked the fact that I had previously visited Wightwick Manor near Wolverhampton, which has William Morris wallpapers and an Arts and Crafts collection and could visualise the houses and the wallpaper in the book very vividly as a result.
The book had me laughing aloud at times and thinking deeply at others. A great read.
Thank you for joining me on my blog this week Jenni, it is always a pleasure to have you over. Mx
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
March 14, 2022
Why I Write by Author Luisa A. Jones
I’m joined on my blog by Luisa Jones. I’ve never met Luisa in real life, but after being on several writer’s Zooms over the last few years I know I will like her very much when we finally get to meet in person. Luisa is here to tell us why she writes …
Making the Best of It Cover FINAL BlackHello Morton, and thank you so much for inviting me to contribute to your blog. I’m an independently published author of two novels so far, with another ready to be shared with the world and a fourth currently being written. There are a few further ideas in my head which I hope will one day also become books! In this blog post I decided to focus on how I became an author, and what drives me to continue writing.
Ten years ago I started writing the story that would eventually become my first book, Goes Without Saying. It wasn’t the first time I’d started writing a novel. As a child, I started several; later in life, a couple of others made faltering beginnings but soon fizzled out. This one was the first I actually finished, although since that first draft it has changed more times than I could ever count.
By the time I sat down at the computer and faced the terror of a blank Word document, Goes Without Saying had been brewing in my mind for nine months or so. The spark of inspiration came when I wandered around the classic camper vans for sale at a VW festival and thought to myself: “Wow. These are so expensive. Imagine if a guy bought one without asking his wife… And then, imagine if he went off on holiday without asking her, without taking her with him… And then, what if he had not only spent all that money but he also left her looking after their kids… And then, what would make it even worse – what if she was also heavily pregnant? She’d be pretty furious. What would make someone behave like that, and what impact would it have? Could she ever forgive him?”
Unlike all my previous attempts at novels, this one quickly burned itself into my brain. I knew from the start how it would end, and found myself loving the characters of Megan and Tom. I came to know them so intimately: the things that made them tick and the reasons they did what they did. There was a joy in writing their banter and creating friends for them, inventing situations that could trip them up or bring them together. I drew upon my experiences of the classic VW scene, parenthood, marriage, my previous career as a teacher, and mental health issues, and poured them into making my characters as real as possible.
Writing it was both difficult and thrilling. My husband spent many evenings alone while I wrote until way past bedtime. Finally, I completed it: just over 100,000 words of it. I felt proud, but also anxious. What should I do with this story, now that it was done?
Once I had that first draft, I started learning more about the craft of writing. It turned out that many of the writing techniques I’d thought were great were actually wrong. Hours digging in a thesaurus for different words to say “said” didn’t make my writing skilful after all, despite what I’d been taught in primary school. It wasn’t okay to chop and change between different characters’ points of view without a break in the story. And I had to try to show what was going on, rather than tell it as an omniscient narrator. For a long time I was discouraged by even the merest hint of negativity, and there were many months when I didn’t touch my story at all. I told myself it didn’t really matter if no one else ever got to read it.
The trouble was, however hard I tried to forget about them, Megan and Tom lived in my imagination. It dawned on me that the only thing stopping me realising my childhood dream of becoming an author was me: my skill level and, perhaps more importantly, my mindset. Both could change with some determined effort.
After a huge amount of work I reached a point at which my faith in myself and in my story was strong enough to risk sharing it with the world. I thought about my children. How sad it would be for them to live fearfully, cowering inside their comfort zones. I want them to have big dreams and to work hard to achieve their goals. Now they won’t be able to say when I’m gone: “Poor Mum. She always wanted to be an author, but she never quite plucked up enough courage to go for it.”
My books still aren’t perfect, but since I shared them with the world I’ve learned that some people genuinely love them. They’ve made people laugh and cry. One reader whom I’ve never met even told me that my second book helped her through a difficult time when she’d recently lost her dad; another told me she reflected on her own marriage after reading about Megan and Tom. Apart from my three wonderful children, I consider my books to be my proudest achievement. These days, I couldn’t imagine life without a story or two filling my head and demanding to be developed.
I love your covers, Luisa and the concept of your books sounds great. I can’t wait to read them and finally meet you sometime. Mx
About Luisa:
After narrowly avoiding being born in the back seat of a Ford Cortina, Luisa A. Jones was perhaps destined to have a keen interest in classic vehicles. She and her husband are the proud owners of Gwynnie, a Volkswagen camper van built in 1974.
Luisa lives with her husband, a dog and a cat in beautiful South Wales. She takes inspiration from the Welsh countryside, towns, and of course its people. Her writing explores the dynamics within relationships, the pressures that mental health issues can exert to push people apart, and how these can be overcome. She has three children.
Luisa studied Classical Studies at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, and qualified as a primary school teacher at the University of South Wales, Newport. Her previous jobs have included tour guide in an historic house; teacher in both primary and secondary schools; careers adviser; and corporate trainer/assessor. Becoming an author fulfilled a lifelong ambition.
Sign up for a newsletter and free short story at www.luisaajones.com
Luisa is on Twitter and Facebook. You can also contact her via email.
About Goes Without Saying
“Most people run away from home when they’re in their rebellious teenage phase. But not you, Tom. Oh, no. You waited until you were a forty-year-old father to do it.”
Tom Field promised his wife Megan he’d never leave her. So when she finds his note saying he’s gone away, she can’t help but wonder if that’s the only vow he’s broken.
Following him and his treasured camper van to the beautiful coast of North Devon, she has plenty of time to reflect on what’s gone wrong between them. Time to decide whether their marriage is worth saving.
But all too soon reality threatens to catch up with them. Can Tom make things right before it’s too late?
To buy the book you can click here
About Making the Best of It
Tom Field is at breaking point. He’s been making the best of things, letting his responsibilities get in the way of his dreams. But now, grief-stricken after a tragedy, he knows he can’t keep putting his life on hold. Escaping the city and his unfulfilling job to live near the sea could give him everything he longs for… or it could destroy his marriage and cost him his family.
Before disaster struck, Megan didn’t think she needed her father in her life. Now she’s desperate to find him before it’s too late to get answers to the questions she’s always longed to ask. But her quest re-opens old wounds and leaves her mother and sister feeling betrayed. What’s more, Tom’s pipe dream of abandoning the city she loves threatens to turn her world upside down.
How can Megan and Tom create the perfect life together, when their dreams risk tearing their family apart?
To buy the book you can click here
Making the Best of It Cover FINAL BlackTha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
March 7, 2022
Where I Write By Author Georgia Hill
This week I’m joined by a good writing friend and author of The Great Summer Street Party, Georgia Hill, as she tells my readers about where she writes. Over to Georgia …
Huge thanks to Morton for having me on her blog.
Last year, for my birthday, someone sent a card with this on:
Virginia wasn’t wrong! I’ve moved house often but wherever I’ve lived, I’ve created a writing space, or cave, of my own. Sometimes it’s been the tiny corner of a tiny room. For a while I had a spacious bedroom and fitted it out with a sofa and telly, lots of bookshelves and a desk with a view of the distant hills. That was a pretty good writing space! It became my man-cave, or perhaps a better description would be she-shed. I had all my favourite pictures hanging up and my favourite ornaments nearby. The little pottery bird I was so fond of became a casualty of a house move and was lost. I still miss it, it used to sit on the windowsill next to me.
In the last house, I had a tiny box room. The house was a new build so was a blank canvas. To white walls and a neutral carpet, I added a pink and white stripey lampshade, a pink throw and a bright canvas on the wall. I always get very ‘nesty’ with my writing spaces!
Much to my surprise, I managed to squeeze most things in that I needed. The bookshelves had to go in the sitting room downstairs, and I had an overflow bookcase on the landing but everything else was in reach. Although small, and no room for the TV and sofa, it was the perfect writing space.
At the moment I work in the corner of what we call the snug – a casual sitting room. The main advantage of this space is I have a fine view out.
I’m often watched by two fat pigeons sitting on the fence, a cheeky robin stops by. I like to see the passing seasons reflected in the different flowers in the bed opposite and I spend endless hours staring out, watching those pass by. I’m nearly always joined by a dog or two.
The main disadvantage is it’s a room which is also used by us to watch TV and eat in. As well as the dogs joining me, Darling Husband often pops in for a chat …
Last year I suffered from writers’ block, something I’d often disbelieved. Not any longer, I couldn’t write a thing! In an attempt to combat it, I tried working in a different room and found a different cosy spot. If I’m first drafting, I can write anywhere (I find a long train journey very stimulating) and often write on the bed with a laptop propped up. Depends on how my back is feeling.
Whatever the space, I like to surround myself with:
a pen pot with favourite pens and pencils a mug of tea, coffee or ginger tea, or an enormous glass of watera notebook having details of the work in progress, the WIP ‘Bible’fingerless gloves for when it’s cold and a neck fan for when it’s hota notice board – with fun things friends have sent me – and a To-do list which is less funan iPad a printerscrap paper – I have a terrible memory and have to jot everything downseveral pairs of glasses – I’m old and need different pairs for different thingsa radio tuned to Radio 2, with the volume turned down very low – see above!a collection of my own books to give me a boost when the writing is hard!
I’m due to move writing caves soon and I’m going upstairs into a little spare bedroom which used to be my husband’s office. I’m hoping to reinstate the sofa. I’ll miss the view and the easy access to the kitchen, but I’ll have a door which closes. Quite important if you have a newly retired husband like me!
About Georgia Hill
Georgia Hill writes warm-hearted and up-lifting contemporary and timeslip romances about love, the power and joy in being an eccentric oldie and finding yourself and your community. There’s always a dog. It’s usually a naughty spaniel of which, unfortunately, she has had much experience. She lives near the sea with her beloved dogs and husband (also beloved) and loves the books of Jane Austen, collecting elephants, Belgian chocolate and Strictly Come Dancing. She’s also a complete museum geek and finds inspiration for her books in the folklore and history of the many places in which she’s lived.
She’s worked in the theatre, for a charity and as a teacher and educational consultant before finally acknowledging that making things up was what she really wanted to do.
She’s been happily creating believable heroines, intriguing men and page-turning stories ever since.
Links to keep in touch with Georgia:
Twitter – @georgiawrites
Facebook – georgiahillauthor
Instagram – georgiahill5681
Website www.georgiahill.co.uk
About The Great Summer Street Party
The Great Summer Street Party is issued by publisher One More Chapter in three parts.
Sunshine and Cider Cake is out now …
Ashley Lydden arrives in the quaint coastal community of Berecombe feeling more than a little lost. The former art teacher desperately needs a fresh start after a car accident that cost her everything. How is it that the town’s older residents seem to have more zest for life than she does?
A certain American history lecturer, Eddie McQueen, has also blown into town, just like the GIs did seventy-five years previously. Then, as now, they shook things up, and left secrets trailing in their wake.
Ashley knows all too well, like the D-Day soldiers, that laying the past to rest is easier said than done although her new community seems to believe that tea and cake – lots and lots of cake – solves most of life’s problems. And as Ashley is forced to admit, they are nearly always right…
To buy the book you can find it here
Part 2 – GIs and Ginger Beer is out on 11 March 2022 and Part 3 – Blue Skies and Blackberry Pies is published on 20 May 2022.
Thank you for joining me this week Georgia and good luck with the book – gorgeous covers by the way! Mx
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
February 28, 2022
Can You Speak Camel? Why I Write By Author Marie Laval
Marie Laval joins me this week to talk about her newly released novel with Choc Lit, Queen of the Desert, to tell us why she writes and to ask the question – can you speak camel? Gorgeous cover, Marie and over to you …
Thank you very much, Morton, for inviting me on your blog today to talk about my writing, and more specifically why I write. This is a question people often ask, but I very rarely ask myself. I have always loved reading and escaping into fictional worlds, and writing is just another way of doing that – with the added bonus that I get to make up my own fictional worlds and populate them with characters whose life, dreams, flaws and struggles I have imagined.
Another thing I love about writing is research. It’s truly amazing what you find out when you write a novel!
For example, while researching the background and setting of my historical romance Queen of the Desert, which was released by Choc Lit on February 15th 2022, I came across fascinating material about North Africa – enchanting Tuareg poems and legends, accounts of expeditions in the Sahara, beautiful photos of the most breathtaking scenery…and fabulous snippets of information about camels, taken from the anthology ‘Contes et Légendes du Niger’ by Pierre-Marie Decoudras and Laurence Rivaille and published by Karthala, Paris.
Why was I so interested in camels?
Much of the story is set in Southern Algeria where my hero Lucas Saintclair travels with the heroine Harriet Montague in the hope of finding her missing father. On the way, they encounter danger and treason, adventure and passion, of course – it is a romance novel after all. They also hook up with a Tuareg tribe to travel to Tamanrasset, and Harriet gets to find out a little about the nomads’ way of life.
Camels aren’t only essential to local tribes as a means of transport. They are also companions and ‘an inexhaustible source of information’. Not only do they know where to find pastures and water holes, but they also warn their owners of dangers and trouble ahead. Some nomads even claim that their camel can talk!
Here are a few examples recorded by the authors. When a camel walks around the campsite several times at dawn then kneels down in front of its master’s tent and grunts, it is warning about unwelcome visitors. When it stands looking to the East sniffing the air for several hours, it announces a storm. And if a camel refuses to stand up whilst being harnessed, it’s a sign that its owner shouldn’t travel that day, but stay in his tent and drink tea.
I completely empathise with that camel. I often feel like that in the morning too!
Grumpy camels aside, I hope that readers will enjoy the adventure and the mystery in Queen of the Desert as much as the romance between Harriet and Lucas, who remains one of my all time favourite heroes…
About Queen of the Desert
Sometimes the most precious treasures exist in the most barren and inhospitable of places …
Harriet Montague is definitely too much of a gentlewoman to be frequenting the backstreet taverns of Algiers. But her father has been kidnapped whilst on an expedition to the tomb of an ancient desert queen, and she’s on a mission to find the only person who could save him.
It’s just unfortunate that Lucas Saintclair, the man Harriet hopes will rescue her father from scoundrels, is the biggest scoundrel of the lot. With a bribe in the form of a legendary pirate treasure map, securing his services is the easiest part – now Harriet must endure a treacherous journey through the desert accompanied by Saintclair’s band of ruffians.
But on the long, hot Saharan nights, is it any wonder that her heart begins to thaw towards her guide – especially when she realises Lucas’s roguish façade conceals something she could never have expected?
Queen of the Desert is available as ebook from Amazon and Kobo
About Marie Laval
Originally from Lyon in France, Marie now lives in Lancashire and writes historical and contemporary romance. Best-selling LITTLE PINK TAXI was her debut contemporary romantic novel with Choc Lit. A PARIS FAIRY TALE was published in July 2019, followed by BLUEBELL’S CHRISTMAS MAGIC in November 2019 and bestselling romantic suspense ESCAPE TO THE LITTLE CHATEAU which was shortlisted for the 2021 RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Suspense Award. HAPPY DREAMS AT MERMAID COVE is her latest contemporary romance. QUEEN OF THE DESERT is Marie’s second historical romance, following on from ANGEL OF THE LOST TREASURE which features another member of the Saintclair family.
She also writes short stories for the bestselling Miss Moonshine anthologies, and is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Authors. Her novels are available as ebooks and audiobooks on Amazon and various other platforms.
You can get in touch with Marie on Facebook and Twitter
Thank you for this, Marie. I just love your new cover. Can’t wait to read the book! Mx
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
February 21, 2022
What I Do When I’m Not Writing By Author Kirsty Ferry
This week, Kirsty Ferry, who writes for Choc Lit and is just about to release It Started With a Wedding (22 February 2022) returns to my blog to tell us what she gets up to when she’s not writing.
Over to Kirsty …
Like most other writers, I have a day job, so that takes up three days a week. Fortunately, I love my job at a local Uni and work with a brilliant little team; so, it might take time away from writing, but, contrary to popular belief, most writers are not millionaires and I won’t be ‘giving up the day job’ any time soon, despite people asking me that on a regular basis!
When I’m not at work, I love to spend time with my friends and family, and take my little old Yorkie, Robbie, for walks. He’s almost 13 and a rescue dog we’ve had for 6 years. We’ve trained him very well. His favourite walks are the ones that end in a coffee shop…funny that! He was and is my little co-worker, as I worked all through lockdown, like many other people, and I worked from home. He lies beside me when I work, and even now, as I’m typing this, he’s under the table snoring his head off.
In the summer I love to be out in the garden, but I’m writing this in January and the garden looks a bit sorry for itself. I’m hopeful that it won’t be too long before I can crack on in there again, but it isn’t pleasant in the winter. I’d much rather hibernate with a jigsaw (I’m currently doing a Pride and Prejudice one which is particularly tricky, despite being only 252 pieces big).
I’m also really enjoying my art again. I failed my exam at school and have promised myself I’d resit at some point, and this September I got the opportunity to enrol to do my NCFE Level 2 in Art and Design, with Gateshead Council Learning Skills, which is equivalent to a GCSE. We’re mainly focusing on watercolours but throwing a bit of mixed media in there as well. I’m absolutely loving it. To me, it’s two and a half hours every week where I’m in a classroom and ‘have’ to do art. Win win! I also have a very nice carry case I use to take my stuff with me to class, which my husband bought me – and it’s filled to the gunnels with lovely things.
If you’ve read my books, you’ll know I do have a soft spot for art and artists. I usually make my characters be good at that sort of stuff because I’m better at writing than drawing and painting – but I am getting better. I also have a soft spot for Watercolour Challenge on television, and the book I have coming out in the summer is based a little bit on that. I called the competition in the book Watercolour Wonders – and after I’d submitted the book and joined my class, I realised their nickname was Watercolour Wonders! I haven’t yet confessed to them that I write books, and certainly haven’t told them I used their name in a book before I knew it was their name…tra la la!
I’m currently writing a new book, but decided that as I was finding it difficult to sit my bum down at my laptop and focus, I’d try writing it by hand in a notebook first. However, my handwriting is pretty illegible, even though I’m using a nice fountain pen with a variety of different coloured cartridges, and to be honest I’m still not focusing well on it. I know it’ll get there at some point, but I’m not sure when. It’s picked up a character from It Started with a Wedding, and I don’t know whether I’m struggling with the story because it feels as if Schubert should be in it, or whether it’s because it’s not really sorted out in my mind yet if it wants to be contemporary or timeslip. If it’s timeslip I need to change the point of view. If it’s contemporary, I’m fine with it the way it is. But not a lot has happened yet, so one of the things I’m doing when I’m currently not writing, is considering what I should be writing, when I get my bum into gear to sit down properly to write…!
All of the above, of course, leaves very little time in my schedule for things like the gym, or jogging, or otherwise working on being skinny and attractive…. Oh well. Time for the next coffee shop, anyway. And maybe a cake…. Tra la la.
About Kirsty Ferry
Kirsty Ferry is from the North East of England and lives there with her husband and son. She won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 and has had articles and short stories published in various magazines. Her work also appears in several anthologies, incorporating such diverse themes as vampires, crime, angels and more.
Kirsty loves writing ghostly mysteries and interweaving fact and fiction. The research is almost as much fun as writing the book itself, and if she can add a wonderful setting and a dollop of history, that’s even better.
Her day job involves sharing a building with an eclectic collection of ghosts, which can often prove rather interesting.
For more information on Kirsty visit:
https://www.facebook.com/kirsty.ferry.author/
About It Started With a Wedding
It’s one thing to be asked to plan your sister’s wedding; it’s quite another when your sister is Nessa McCreadie …
Alfie McCreadie wants his twin sister Nessa to have the best wedding ever, but he’s not happy at being roped in as wedding planner – especially as, unbelievably, his main assistant seems to be Nessa’s cat, Schubert. Anyway, Alfie is a scientist. He might know his protons from his neutrons, but what does he know about weddings?
It’s Nessa who points him in the direction of Bea’s Garden, just outside Edinburgh, where he’s tasked with picking a “very-relevant-bouquet”. It’s there he meets Fae Brimham, who might be prettier than any bouquet bloom but doesn’t seem impressed by Alfie’s sensible, scientific side.
But when Nessa and Schubert are involved, surprises are bound to happen and, despite less-than-perfect first impressions, perhaps something new and beautiful can still blossom for Alfie and Fae …
Buying links can be found at: Kirsty Ferry (choc-lit.com)
Thank you for joining me this week, Kirsty and have a great publication day! I love your art and look forward to seeing more. Mx
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
February 14, 2022
What I Do When I’m Not Writing By Author Angela Barton
This week I’m joined by the lovely and highly talented Angela Barton. Angela has published three novels with Ruby Fiction and Choc Lit Publishing, but today she’s joining us to talk about what she does when she’s not writing …
Hello Morton
Thank you very much for inviting me to share a different aspect of my life with your readers. As an author, I love to tell stories and create characters and settings, by using the written word or material. Both take planning, imagination, patience and a passion. This brings me on to what I do when I’m not writing.
I love crafting.
I find embroidery and jewellery making very therapeutic; it’s almost like meditating. It takes concentration to design a picture, choose just the right material, cut shapes, sew an image and find the perfect frame, so it leaves no room for negative thoughts. When making jewellery, I enjoy choosing beads that compliment each other or cutting and smoothing broken china into shapes for earrings or necklaces. I designed and embroidered a robin and had it printed into Christmas cards last December. As well as being a great calming therapy, being happy with an end result and knowing someone wants to buy my work, is very rewarding.
As I made more embroidered landscapes and jewellery, friends began to ask for commissions. They encouraged me to have an online shop, which after some thought, I set up a website and called it www.buttonmooncreations.com
To my surprise and delight, a local gift shop and café asked to hang half a dozen of my framed embroideries on their walls, and I’m lucky enough that customers buy them and I have to replace them with more. It’s only pocket money, but the true worth comes from the calming, meditative effect it has on me while I’m making each product.
Thank you – I love your craftwork, Angela and I can fully relate to the therapeutic effect of making things. Mx
About Angela Barton
Angela Barton was born in London and grew up in Nottingham. She has three grown up children, adorable seven-year-old twin granddaughters and a new baby granddaughter born Christmas 2021. She is passionate about writing both contemporary and historical fiction and loves time spent researching for her novels. In 2018 Angela signed publishing contracts for three of her completed novels with Ruby Fiction and Choc Lit Publishing.
She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and a reader for their New Writers’ Scheme. Angela is also a member of Nottingham Writers’ Studio, the Society of Authors and Ellipses and Ampersands’ fiction critique group.
You can keep in touch with Angela on the following links:-
Social Media links:
Website angelabarton.net
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/angela.barton3
Twitter https://twitter.com/angebarton
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/abarton3862/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/authorangelabarton/
About Angela Barton’s Books
One woman’s struggle to fight back against the enemy in order to protect the ones she loves.When Arlette Blaise sees a German plane fly over the family farm in 1940, she’s comforted by the fact that the occupying forces are far away in the north of the country. Surely the war will not reach her family in the idyllic French countryside near to the small town of Oradour-sur-Glane?
But then Saul Epstein, a young Jewish man driven from his home by the Nazis, arrives at the farm and Arlette begins to realise that her peaceful existence might be gone for good …
Buy this book with this link – Arlette’s Story: amzn.to/2lAyIlb
When you open up your home and your heart …
Rowan Forrester has it all – the happy marriage, the adorable dog, the good friends, the promising business and even the dream home after she and her husband Tom win a stunning but slightly dilapidated Georgian townhouse in London at auction.
But in the blink of an eye, Rowan’s picture-perfect life comes crashing down around her and she is faced with the prospect of having to start again.
To make ends meet she begins a search for housemates, and in doing so opens the door to new friends and new beginnings. But could she be opening the door to new heartbreak too?
Buy this book with this link – Magnolia House: smarturl.it/fttfc2
Three isn’t always a magic number …
There are three reasons Tess Fenton should be happy. One, her job at the Blue Olive deli is dull, but at least she gets to work with her best friend. Two, she lives in a cosy cottage in the pretty village of Halston. Three, she’s in love with her boyfriend, Blake. Isn’t she?
Because, despite their history, Blake continues to be the puzzle piece in Tess’s life that doesn’t quite fit. And when she meets intriguing local artist Daniel Cavanagh, it soon becomes apparent that, for Tess, love isn’t as easy as one, two, three …
Buy this book with this link – You’ve Got My Number: http://amzn.to/35Q19jB
Tha nk you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Summer at Lucerne Lodge published as an eBook, paperback and audio download too – Amazon Check on my Choc Lit author page for other purchasing options here
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.
Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.
Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also a s a paperback and audiobook.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
