Janice Horton's Blog, page 29

Talking Chickens – chick-lit…?

I’ve got my first of three ‘Scottish Country Lifestyle’ features going out with Loveahappyending Lifestyle magazine today – an innovative new online mag that covers some fabulous aspects of life and living. In this feature I’m talking about keeping chickens and there are some photos of my ‘girls’ including this ‘free range’ photo of Kylie on the hill behind our cottage. This is the link if you’d like to pop over and take a peek!

Loveahappyending Lifestyle magazineHaste Ye Over There…!

Bagpipes & Bullshot: The Movie - who would you cast?

This week my tartan clad novel, Bagpipes & Bullshot, was in the Amazon Top 100 Chart for Humour right next to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which has been made into a film starring top actors such as Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Lisa Tarbuck, and Celia Imrie and others.

Okay, peeps – here’s a thought. You’ve got the same budget of $10,000,000. So who are you going to cast as the characters in Bagpipes & Bullshot: - Innes, Orley, Lady Buchanan, Fergus, Tanya, and the irrepressible Davina…?I’ve put my own very tasty suggestion on who could play the gorgeous hero of the story, Innes, on my Facebook Author Page. But before you pop over there to have a quick peep - can I ask you to consider voting for Bagpipes & Bullshot in The People’s Book Awards where it has been nominated this month? You can read an excerpt and find out more about my bestselling humorous tartan clad romance novel here. Please click on the link below the banner and it’s then just an easy clicking of stars. I’d really appreciate your vote. Thank you!   Click Here To Vote For Bagpipes & Bullshot   Haste Ye Back...! 

Sunshine…!

 I hardly noticed the awful wind and rain that dashed this part of the world this week, as I was happily holed up in my office, head down writing. Soon I’ll be able to send my non-fiction book ‘How To Party Online’ to my lovely Editor and very soon after that it will be available on Amazon for Kindle. It’s been a fun book to produce and quite a departure from the fiction I usually write. I can’t wait to find out what those of you who have encouraged me to write this book think of it! So, the week has flown by, and today not only did I discover it was Friday but that the sun was shining down on Scotland. Hurray! I was especially pleased to be awarded The Sunshine Award from my lovely friend Linn B Halton. Linn is a fabulous author and the founder of Loveahappyending Lifestyle. The award is a lovely sunny flower that bloggers give to other bloggers “who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”. Thank you Linn, I’m thrilled!
Now I have to answer a few questions:

Favourite Colour: Green. It always looks fresh - although I rarely wear green clothes!

Favourite Animal: I have two doggies – Polly and Ruby, my West Highland Terriers.Favourite Number: 7 (It’s my birth date)

Favourite Non-alcoholic Drink: Appletize or Becks Blue non-alcoholic beer.Favourite Alcoholic Drink: Red Wine – something robust like a Shiraz.

Facebook or Twitter: They are both too different to choose between – so both!Your Passion(s): My family. Travelling. Reading. Writing.

Giving or getting presents: Oh dear, I’m rubbish at this choosing game. Both!Favourite Day: Every day!

Favourite Flowers: Daffodils.And now I nominate these 7 lovely author bloggers whom I love to visit:

Paula Martin
Kit Domino
Rosemary Gemmell
Myra Duffy
Victoria Connelly
Jude Roust
Novel Points of View

Ruby, Polly, and Daffodils - three of my favourite things...

NEWS
My novel 'Bagpipes & Bullshot' has been nominated in The People’s Book Awards and I’d really appreciate your vote.
Please click the banner to go to the site and simply click on the stars to register your vote.
 

Thank you very much!
Haste ye Back…!
 


Best Forever Friends…

Last weekend I had my oldest friend stay over at the cottage. Not that she is old – it’s just that we have known each other for all of our lives. We were born next door to each other and our mothers were good friends too.   Best Forever Friends
Thinking about my real best friends led me to think about fictional characters and how we befriend them. Some characters will only be our friends for the time it takes us to read a particular novel but others stay with us, in our minds and in our affections, perhaps forever. There are classic examples: Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw. Emma Bovary. Jane Eyre. Rebecca de Winter… Unforgettable contemporary fictional characters include Rupert Campbell Black (who could ever forget him?!) and perhaps more recently, Christian Grey…? So which fictional characters would you count as your BFF’s…?Please do share...Janice xx

Spring Break…

This spring lamb is wearing a wee plastic raincoat! I hope you all had a lovely Easter holiday. I had a busy weekend with family visiting. The snow is still on the ground here in Scotland, in patches and on the hills, but the sun is shining and lambs are out of the field and so it feels like Spring has sprung at last. I hope the sunshine stays for this weekend as we have two birthdays happening. I’m also really excited that a very dear friend is coming to stay for at the cottage for a few days. So I’ll be taking a Spring break until next Friday and I'll leave you with a picture of the Easter eggs I received from my ‘girls’!
     Haste ye Back! Janice xx

Party On – virtually!

 This week I’ve attended several Facebook Events – virtual parties where peeps can share photos, comments, laughs and celebrations – and it was all fabulous fun!When I hosted my first virtual party, Mr JH thought I’d gone a bit crazy and he couldn’t stop laughing. He just couldn’t see the point of fun without leaving your laptop or even changing out of your PJ’s (this has happened to me – as virtual partying, being global and therefore 24/7, can be surprisingly all consuming!) But fun it certainly is and even more so if you can laugh your way up a bestseller chart or two at the same time.Over the past year, I’ve been prompted to explore online partying in greater detail, from both the promotional angle and the fun aspect. During that time, I’ve been asked many times how to plan, organise, arrange, and host a variety of fabulous and fun online party events. I was even asked to talk on the subject at a ‘real’ writer’s event last summer. As a result, I’m now collating this advice for online party peeps as an ebook.My cover designer finalised the cover this week and I’m thrilled with it – what do you think?


How To Party Online will soon be available to download from Amazon.
I was thrilled with this quote from DG Life Magazine and I have used an extract from it on the cover of How To Party Online. “Janice has made it her business to get stuck into the whole self-publishing malarkey. Savvy enough to realise it’s not enough to simply write, she’s studied social media marketing until it could be her specialist subject on Mastermind. She can plan a book launch, maximise publicity, keep the momentum going after the first initial flush, and perhaps most of all, she knows how to make the whole thing fun, which is no mean feat”.  DG Life Magazine.

So while I’m still busy exploring virtual party fun -what are you doing this Easter weekend?

Author Showcase - Nicky Wells

Today I’m hosting fabulous friend and fellow Loveahappyending Lifestyle author Nicky Wells, as part of her launch tour for Sophie’s Run, the second book in her trilogy featuring the rock star and the girl next door.



Hi! My name is Nicky Wells, and I am the author of the Rock Star Romance Trilogy. It’s my great pleasure being here on Janice’s fabulous blog and to give you a peek inside my character’s rock star lifestyle, you see I’ve brought them with me, Dan the rock star and Sophie the girl next door. Or rather, I’ve brought you a little glimpse behind the scenes at one of Dan’s recent gigs in Edinburgh. Are you ready to rock and roll?

The truth, and nothing but the bare naked truth? Now this is a really special treat for you; it’s actually an out-take and this scene isn’t in any of the books. BUT there is mischief, innuendo and more in Sophie’s Run, so go on, join Sophie and Dan on their adventures on this second leg of their journey!

Sophie: *enters the Green Room, skids to a halt, mouth hanging open incredulously* What are you doing?
Dan: *flashes her a smile* I’m getting dressed for the gig. *twirls*
Sophie: I can see that but… what are you wearing?
Dan: *takes a careful bow* A kilt.
Sophie: A kilt?
Dan: A kilt. It’s kinda obvious, don’t you think? *twirls again*
Sophie: *giggles* But… why?
Dan: When in Edinburgh, do as the Edinburghians… the Scots do, right?
Sophie: *waggles her head doubtfully* Don’t you have to be at least part Scottish to wear a kilt, legitimately, like?
Dan: *frowns* What’s the problem? Don’t you like it?
Sophie: I do. I do. You’ve got fine knobbly knees and all that. It’s just…
Dan: What?
Sophie: *shrugs and remains silent*
Dan: What?
Sophie: Well… you do a lot of dancing and jumping in your shows. I must make sure I get to be in the front row tonight.
Dan: *frowns some more* Why?
Sophie: *rolls her eyes* Go on then, do me an air guitar solo of… of… White Poison.
Dan: *obligingly pretends to play the guitar, takes giant leaps around the room* Duurrrr-durrrrr-dur-dur-durrrr-roooinnnng
Sophie: I knew it, I knew it! *chases Dan around the room, trying to get a peek* You’re going commando under there, you are, you so are.
Dan: *screeches to a halt* OMG, is that what got you so excited?
Sophie: Why, of course. I’ve always wanted to know.
Dan: You know wrong.
Sophie: *lifts corner of kilt, then recoils as Dan swats at her hand; steps away, singing* I am so right, I am so right, and there is nothing under there but the bare naked truth…
Dan: Wrrraaaggh! *chases Sophie around the Green Room* Come here you Sassenach wench, I’ll show yer the bare naked truth!
Sophie: *stops abruptly so that Dan crashes into her, swiftly wraps her arms around him* Now then, is that a promise or a threat…?
 
 
About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!

Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star and the girl next door.  A signed author with U.S. publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing, Nicky is in the throes of publishing her Rock Star Romance Trilogy. Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters.  When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and occasional teaching assistant.

Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys. In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in London and Washington, D.C.  

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course, an ongoing update on her work in progress. You can also follow Nicky on Twitterand find her on Facebook. Nicky is a featured author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.comand has joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Nicky also has author pages at Sapphire Star Publishing, Amazon and, of course, Goodreads.
  

It’s a Whiteout Writeout…!

Yes, that's really me – on the hill at the back of our cottage and holding my sister’s Labrador puppy out of the snow . It’s a whiteout again here in Scotland and despite the slightly longer days, the promise of Springtime is nowhere to be seen. There are no daffodils in bloom, no buds on the trees, and my poor hens won’t come out of the hen hoose. I know how they feel!
But it’s not all bad, as this weather has been super conducive to writing, and while holed up in the cottage I’ve been working on my new book. It’s a nonfiction guide to online promotion and its title is How To PromoteParty Online with all the emphasis on fun. Thank you so much for all your comments last week, which were all super helpful.
I’m hoping to show you the cover next week, as I’ve seen a couple of drafts and my wonderful designer is soooo close to the final version now.
So, I’m going to ignore the whiteout and I’m going back indoors to write.
I could be some time!
What are you doing while the winter lingers on – are you doing lots of writing or reading or both….? 

Janice xx

Help with The Work in Progress...

One of my current writing projects is a work of non-fiction – it’s a 'How To' on tackling aspects of online promotion and making it fun. I’ve been prompted to write this by lots of lovely fellow writers who, over past year or so, have emailed me for advice on hosting online parties to promote or launch their book/s.
Some of those writers are debut novelists and others multi-pubbed. Some are with traditional publishers and others are indie. Most have previously attended or taken part (and reportedly enjoyed) my launch parties and want to know how I did it and more to the point, how they can do it too.
The title of this new and fun look at book promo is ‘How to PromoteParty Online’ with the emphasis on the party aspect, because everyone wants to have fun, right?
So, I have a couple of questions for you to help me with research and I’d really appreciate your comments. You can leave them here on the blog or in an email to me at: janice@janicehortonwriter.co.uk
Q1: Have you attended one or more of my launch parties - which one/s?
Q2: Did you personally find it fun and engaging – and can you say why?
If you are not familiar with, or like me you were a bit giddy with virtual fizz at the time, then these links will give you a wee recap on our previous online frivolities:
Bagpipes & Bullshot Day
Reaching for the Stars – Wish I Was Here Party
How Do You Voodoo? – The Spellbindingly Fun Party
Voodoo Wedding – Facebook & Twitter Party
I’d really appreciate your feedback as it will help me enormously. The info you give will help me to focus on giving helpful advice. If I would like to use your comment as a quote – please be assured that I would always contact you first to ask for your permission. The book will be available soon from Amazon for Kindle. Thank you in advance.
Love, Janice xx

Books, books and ebooks!

This has been a busy week – a wonderful week – a week full of books and talking about books. On Tuesday night I was chatting via Skype on Blog Talk Radio with Inspirational Storyteller host Nancy Wait in New York. The subject was ‘inspiration’ and the special guest on the show was Linn B Halton, my lovely friend, fellow author, and the inspirational founder of Loveahappyending.com. Linn has written a fabulous blog about the programme here and there are links to the show.  Inspirational Storytellers on Blog Talk Radio Also this week, it’s Read an Ebook Week! Check it out on the website. You may or may not know that my books are exclusive to Amazon to download and read on the Amazon Kindle Ereader. If you are an Amazon Select customer my books can be downloaded for free. If you don’t have an ereader and would like to read my books, then don’t despair, because you can download a FREE Kindle App from Amazon for your PC, Mac, Tablet, Android Phone and other mobile device. Just click here to pop over to Amazon and find out more about their range of free Apps.
Did you know that yesterday, March 7th, was World Book Day? Billed as the Biggest Book Show On Earth, the websiteis a fabulous resource. If you are a teacher, parent, bookseller, librarian or journalist – let’s celebrate books and help kids to read and enjoy books in all formats!
Also this week, I’d like to thank my writer buddy and fellow Romantic Novelist, Jude Roust. She surprised and delighted me by posting my debut TV appearance of three years ago to her blog 'Mad About Romance'. This short ITV news feature came about after I’d had a piece on research published in a writer’s magazine. At the time, I was researching my ‘disgruntled celebrity chef’ novel Reaching for the Stars, which caught the attention of a TV Producer. It just goes to show how one thing can lead to another! You can see the short film on Jude’s blog here.
This has also been my birthday week – so thank you for all the lovely messages on Facebook and Twitter and for your emails – I have enjoyed and appreciated every one!   
Thank you to my lovely friend Jeannette for making me this birthday cake! See you next Friday - Haste ye’ Back!