Romy Gemmell's Blog, page 49

Author Spotlight: Debut Novelist Patsy Collins

A very warm welcome to debut novelist, mega published short story writer and online blogging friend, Patsy Collins. Escape to the Country is Patsy's first published novel. It is set in Kent, a county she visits regularly for the wonderful scenery, gorgeous gardens and historic buildings. It's no wonder Patsy’s blog is so popular as she combines her own upbeat, individual personality with regular links to free competitions. Those of us who follow her blog were delighted when Patsy won a recent novel competition from over 600 entries, and the result is the now published Escape to the Country. I don’t think any of us will forget Patsy’s happy dance video when she heard the news!

Escape to the Country

Leah is accused of a crime she didn't commit. Dumped by Adam, the man she planned to marry, she escapes to Aunt Jayne's smallholding in the Kent village of Winkleigh Marsh. Heartbroken and homeless, she strives to clear her name and deal with her emotions.

Jayne treats Leah's unhappiness with herbal remedies, cowslip wine and common sense in equal measure. In return Leah works hard for the delicious home-cooked meals they share. She wrestles with sheep, breaks nails and gets stuck in the mud - learning as much about herself as she does about farming. Soon Leah is happy milking cows, mucking out pigs and falling halfway in love with Duncan, a dishy tractor driver.

Back in London, steps are being taken to investigate what's happened to the missing money. It looks as though the real embezzler must soon be unmasked and Leah will have to chose between resuming her old life or starting a new one.

That's when her problems really start.

Escape to the Country is available in print and ebook from Amazon (UK) and Amazon (US)Thanks for answering the following questions, Patsy.

This is your first published novel, is it the first one you wrote? And do you have others in your bottom drawer? Or computer file!

It's the third one I've finished. The first will stay on computer quite a while longer, I suspect! The second is another light hearted romance. I'm currently giving that another polish before trying to get it published. I've also done most of the first draft of yet another romance.

You’re a well-published and popular short story writer. How did you find the transition to writing a full length work?

It was a gradual process. I began a short story that I couldn't seem to end. After a while I stopped trying to keep it short and turned it into a novel. I like it but I'm yet to find a publisher who feels the same way. The next time I had a story idea that seemed like it could fill a novel sized gap I did a bit of planning, including deciding on a genre (romance) and an ending.

I think that writing novels is in some ways easier than short stories. Although it's still important to stick to the storyline there's a lot more scope for adding in all those interesting little details or twists and turns I always have to cut out of short stories. There's no need to decide between short stories and novels though; I still write both.

Had you tried to get this book published before winning the competition?

Yes, twice. First to a publisher who was quite positive about my writing but felt this story wasn't right for them. I also tried an agency and was told they weren't taking new clients (despite their website giving submission details - grrr). I'd previously tried to get an agent for my other novels and never got anything other than a standard reject (sometimes not even that) and had begun to lose heart a little.

How are you finding the whole launch and marketing of your book? Is it more difficult than you imagined?

I don't know if difficult is the right word, but it's more time consuming than I'd anticipated. As a new novelist contracted to a small publishers I didn't expect to have a massive launch party and huge advertising campaign so it wasn't a shock to find marketing is mostly done online and through local press. If anyone would like to assist in this, I've been assured that a few good reviews on Amazon will make a big difference!

Do you miss living the country life?

Sometimes I think I do, then I go back to the farm and pick my way through the mud looking for my dad who's always busy doing something involving hard work. I like looking at the cute calves without having got up in the night to attend their birth or feeding the sheep once a year instead of every single day regardless of the weather.

Tell us one fun fact about yourself.

There are no facts - I'm a fiction writer! (A sneaky but good answer)

Are you going to concentrate on contemporary novels, or is there another genre you’d like to tackle?

I'll probably stick to the same kind of style, but if I got an idea I really liked that happened to be a different genre I'd give it a go.

Do you have any encouraging tips for new writers?

Read a lot and write a lot. Get feedback - always listen to this but only change your work if you're sure the change is one you want to make and that it will improve your writing. Feedback can come from a writing tutor or other professional or from writing group, either one you physically attend or online. Do these three things and you're bound to improve.

Remember, no one was born a published writer. Every writer had to learn to spell and where to put punctuation marks and all the rest of it. As far as I know all published writers have at some time had work rejected - if JK Rowling had given up after her 14th reject we'd never have heard of Harry Potter.

Excellent answers, Patsy. You can find out more about Patsy on her blog and Facebook.
Patsy Collins lives on the south coast of England, with her fiance. Over 150 of her stories have been published in a range of British, Irish, South African and Australian magazines including Woman’s Weekly, Take a Break's Fiction Feast, The Weekly News, Woman’s Day, That's Life! and My Weekly. Patsy maintains a blog where she gives details of free to enter writing competitions, rambles on about writing, gardening, cakes, and other random stuff that interests her. She'd love you to visit and perhaps share your thoughts on these important matters.Patsy entered Creative Print Publishing's monthly competition after featuring it on her blog and encouraging other writers to have a go. She decided to follow her advice and when she was informed her story, Escape to the Country had beaten over 600 other novels, she was very pleased she did. Patsy likes to research her stories thoroughly, so before writing this story she lived on a small farm for 26 years and learned to milk cows, drive tractors and deliver calves just as her main character Leah does. She also tried getting rescued from mud by handsome strangers, but was less successful at that.

Sevens and Plot Structure

Once again, I'm delighted to be mentioned in the Lucky 7 challenge - this time by lovely writer and blogging friend, Angela Barton. One of the nice things about this challenge is finding out what other writers are currently working on, or have just completed.

The rules again are that we go to page 77 of our WIP, count 7 lines down, and copy down the next 7 sentences into our blog post. Then we should pass the challenge on to 7 others! So here goes with a little passage from the current novel I'm trying to finish, Midwinter Masquerade:

He regarded her in mock surprise. “Why Miss Montgomery, you do me a great injustice. I merely happened upon you at the most opportune moment. But I can certainly try to ensure I stay well away from you in future, lest you should actually injure me in your escapades.”

Annabelle was uncomfortably aware she still stood far too close to her rescuer and could actually see the light change in his eyes. Suitably chastened for her rudeness, she stood back a little, unable to hide her embarrassment at being caught in such difficulty again. And this time with a torn dress!

Rather than pass this on to specific people again, please feel free to take this challenge on your own blogs and let me know so I can read what you're writing!

*
In case anyone has never come across Michael Hauge's Story Mastery website, here's a link to his excellent article Ten Simple Keys to Plot Structure. Just need to take time to study it now!

Rosemary

Author Spotlight: Eileen Ramsay

I’m so delighted to welcome Scottish romantic novelist Eileen Ramsay to the Reading and Writing blog today. I’ve known Eileen for many years and was thrilled when she was nominated for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award with one of my favourite books, Someday, Somewhere. She also won the Elizabeth Goudge Trophy a few years ago. But even before then, I regarded Eileen as an inspiration on first meeting her at the Scottish Association of Writers Conference when I was a complete beginner. Not only did she teach, but she rose early each morning to write successful novels before going to the day job. Many years on, Eileen Ramsay is still one of my favourite novelists. She also writes occasional short stories and serials for women's magazines.

Like a number of traditionally published authors, Eileen has now begun making some of her backlist available on kindle, which means it’s even easier to read her books. Never Call it Loving is the latest on Amazon. It's a story that takes the reader on an emotional journey into the world of opera.

Never Call it Loving

Journalist Fern Graham believes she’s a typical modern woman, as she attempts to balance work, home and family. If she sometimes feels something is missing, she assumes she’s being foolish. Fern relaxes by listening to music, especially the voice of Pietro Petrungero, an Italian tenor.

She is stunned when her agent rings to say that Petrungero is looking for someone to write his biography and wants to interview Fern as he and his wife appreciate her work. Weeks after the worst interview ever, Fern gets the assignment and arrives at the palatial Petrungero villa. The relationship between Pietro and his wife, the famous soprano, Maria-Josefa Conti, makes Fern compare her own marriage to theirs. There is, however, a malevolent undercurrent in the villa and, while doing her research, Fern uncovers secrets which will stun the opera world.

The assignment takes her to some of the world’s greatest cities and, as she spends more time with the singer, she finds herself physically drawn to him. Soon they are falling in love. Deeply moral, but unable to fight, Fern is torn between two men and two worlds.

Can there be a happy ending, or does her future hold only heartache?

You’ll have to read it to find out! Never Call it Loving is available on Amazon (UK) and Amazon (US).

Thanks for answering the following questions, Eileen.

Have you always written in the romance genre?

Labelling genres is a mine-field, Ros. I’ve been told that some of my titles – The Stuff of Dreams, as an example - should be sold as crime novels. Apart from my children’s stories, however, there is always a ‘love interest’ in my stories. All I think about when writing is creating a good story; I leave the labelling to others. (Quite right!)

Any particular reason why several of your novels are set in the operatic world?

I’ve always been interested in the Arts. Ballet first and then when I was about fourteen, I was given an ancient 78 – at least I think it was a 78, something very old. It was, believe it or not, Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, played by the twelve year old Yehudi Menuhin. Sublime. I listened to everything I could get and was lucky as the Convent school I attended had loads of fabulous instrumental and orchestral recordings. At college I discovered the human voice in the spoken word and in opera. And that was it. Opera, the ultimate art form. When I started writing seriously I had the idea of rewriting all the opera plots.

For instance what if Othello were to become jealous and Desdemona were to say ‘Get over yourself’, as a modern woman might say. Result – no story. As you know, I do thorough research and have been lucky enough to meet wonderfully talented musicians who have helped me.

How did it feel to be nominated for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award?

Wonderful!

Do you prefer print or eBooks?

Print, but I have to say I have fallen in love with my Kindle; it’s the ability to enlarge the print. Unfortunately it’s also too easy to buy books!

What is the most difficult part about starting a new book?

Knowing where to start, and which book to start. We all have so many ideas and unless a book has been commissioned, the ideas parade themselves shamelessly crying, me, me. Like an Italian ice cream shop, each one looks fabulous and it takes ages to decide if a particular idea has legs and will run.

What kind of books do you prefer to read?

Almost anything well-written! For pleasure I read well-written crime. Strangely enough, most of my favourite authors are women: Kate Atkinson, Louise Penny, Donna Leon, Aline Templeton, but I’m enjoying the Lewis books by Peter May. I also read a lot of what might be called Light Lit – Anita Shreve and Anne Tyler as examples. And I constantly reread favourite classics.

Do you have a favourite writing place?

Not really. All I need is a table and a chair that supports my spine. I have an office but it’s too cold in the winter. At this time of the year, I’m writing in an upstairs bedroom because a flowering cherry fills one of the windows – so beautiful.

Do you find time for hobbies?

What’s a hobby?!! I read and I listen to music – and I have catholic tastes. We have three absolutely adorable grand-children and I always have free time when there’s a chance of seeing any one of them. The whole family got together to take the babies to see the pandas at Edinburgh zoo. Definitely a walnut-shell day!

Are you working on another novel (if you want to answer that!)

Rosemary, you know writers are always working on another novel!! I’m writing two books at the moment and when I have any spare time I’m finishing the book that won the Elizabeth Gouge award several years ago. I intend to put that one out on Kindle. Alan Lennon Design in Edinburgh will do a cover for me. He did the Never Call it Loving cover and I think he’s superb.

Any tips for new writers?

Read a wide variety of books. Reading is like eating – you can’t say you don’t like something new until you’ve tried it. Don’t wait for the right time or the right place to write – they might never come. Just write. Listen to advice with an open mind, take it in and think about it. Eventually you’ll be able to see what’s right for you.

Once when I was doing a school visit a boy asked me quite seriously if writers ever said, ‘that’s it, I’m away for my tea?’ That’s actually a very deep question and since I was a school teacher for thirty years, I’ve heard it in many forms. What he meant was, did we sometimes give up and go off too early. I think the answer is a resounding yes. We leave the work before it’s properly edited. A first draft is not enough – unless you are quite amazingly brilliant. Put the story down, by all means, and have your tea! But pick it up again and read it – aloud preferably. Weaknesses jump out at you. Put it aside for as long as you can and then reread. It’s amazing what you’ll see and honestly, even if you’re off mowing the lawn or doing a pile of ironing, maybe even watching television, the mind continues to work away on that book.

Fabulous answers, Eileen, thank you for that wisdom.

You can find out more about Eileen and her long list of published novels on her website.

Eileen Ramsay was born and brought up in the south-west of Scotland, and used that lovely countryside in her first historical saga, The Broken Gate. After graduating, she went to teach in the USA for a year - and stayed for 18 years. Many of her special memories are connected to her time there. Once married to her Scottish scientist husband, she returned to Scotland and now lives in the north-east. After teaching for a few years, and getting up at 4am every morning to write, Eileen became a full time writer. She has since published novels, serials, short stories, and a novel for young teens. Apart from her family the great love of her life is opera.


Eileen is an honorary member of the Angus Writers Circle, and was vice president of the Scottish Association of Writers. She has been a member of the Society of Authors for many years and was on the committee of the Scottish branch for about six years, and Secretary for four. She is also a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Reader Survey

Hm - just trying out the new look blogger this morning. I guess, like all things, we'll soon get used to the difference!

Author Kate Harrison, a member of the RNA (Romantic Novelists' Association) is doing a 2012 Reader Survey about fiction (any genre) for research purposes. If you'd like to take part, please go to her website. It's a good idea and I'd love to know the eventual result.

Rosemary

YA Author Pat McDermott on Flights of Imagination

Hope you can pop over to my Flights of Imagination blog to meet interesting Irish-American Young Adult writer, Pat McDermott. Modern Ireland, a US Ambassador's granddaughter, a prince in disguise, and a touch of Irish fairy magic and danger - that's great YA novel, Glancing Through the Glimmer!

Some of the writers on Authors Electric are giving away free kindle books (Monday and Tuesday) for World Book Night.

Rosemary

Free Recipes and Links

Some of the authors from Champagne Books who blog at The Writers Vineyard, have compiled a free cookbook of recipes available in Pdf format. It's an innovative idea to showcase some of our books, while providing cooking inspiration, and it includes authors and recipes from around the world. Mine is simple Scotch Broth soup. The recipe collection will soon be available from various sources, but you can now download it free here. Or I can email the Pdf to you if you prefer.

Blurbs for great books and free recipes - what's not to like!



If anyone is looking for some good competitions to enter, Carol Bevitt has given links to a few – worth checking out.

Rosemary

Author Spotlight: Catherine Czerkawska

I’m delighted to welcome wonderful storyteller, Catherine Czerkawska to the Reading and Writing blog today. Plays, short stories, novels, poetry, articles - Catherine has written and published them all and is a professional writer in every way. She has an interesting story to tell about the reason she changed from traditional publishing to taking control of her latest three novels. Today, we’re introducing her beautiful sweeping love story, The Amber Heart , which is set around 19th century Poland.

The Amber Heart Blurb and Short Excerpt

A beautiful, butter-yellow mansion.
A spirited heroine and a troubled hero.
An epic tale of obsessive love and loss in 19th century Poland.

When Maryanna Diduska first meets Piotro Bandura, they are both children but their situations could not be more different. Maryanna is the pampered daughter of Polish aristocrats while Piotro is the child of a poverty-stricken Ukrainian widow.

Stefan took a pouch from his jacket and, with a laugh, scattered coins, as though scattering grain, watching them spread out and dive, hunting among grasses, squabbling volubly, fighting for what they could find, like so many starlings. But one of them didn’t move. He was the tallest and the oldest, a boy of perhaps eleven, his hair black and matted, his face sallow under the grime, his eyes an unexpectedly bright cornflower blue. He stood still, hands hanging by his sides, fists clenched, and he stared up at Maryanna, unsmiling, unmoving. She shifted uneasily. For perhaps the first time in her life, she saw a gaze of pure resentment directed straight at herself. She turned her head into her father’s jacket.


‘Daddy, tell the boy not to look at me,’ she whispered.

This is also the tale of the beautiful pancake yellow house of Lisko, Maryanna’s beloved childhood home, and the way in which the lives of its inhabitants are disrupted by the turmoil of the times.

The Amber Heart is a vivid, dramatic and unashamedly romantic story of love and loyalty, of personal tragedy and triumph, set against an intriguing foreign backdrop: the turbulent Eastern borderlands of 19th century Poland.

The Amber Heart is available from Amazon (UK) and Amazon (US)

What kind of writing did you start with and which do you prefer?

I began in my teens with poetry. I had some success with it: a couple of collections and even an Arts Council Award. I also used to write fan fiction before it was invented – stories in which Beatle John Lennon was the hero. I also tried writing plays for radio when I was young. I have more than 100 hours of produced radio drama to my name but these days I only write plays for the stage. Now I find myself focusing more on fiction, long and short. I certainly have plenty of ideas waiting in line so will probably concentrate on novels in the future.

How much did your Polish ancestry inform your writing?

A lot. I went to Warsaw by train when I was in my twenties. We had to cross East Germany and the guards came aboard with dogs and guns! I spent some time with my father’s uncle and aunt, and my great uncle, Karol Kossak, was like a throwback to another age. Later, I saw a production of the Merry Widow in Vienna, and Danilo reminded me of him. He would take me out walking or for rides in the horse drawn droshkis that were used as taxis in the town where they lived. We would go to cafes for coffee and cognac and he would draw little sketches on paper napkins for me (he was an artist, from a distinguished family of artists.) He would kiss my hand and generally behave exactly as a hero should. I think I was in love with him, even though he was in his eighties. I wrote poems about him, and then a couple of radio plays reflecting my Polish background, but I always knew that eventually I would write a historical novel, or perhaps more than one, set in Poland. The Amber Heart is that novel and Karol found his way into it as Julian – the heroine’s brother-in-law.

Did you have to do a lot of research for this novel?

I’ve researched it for years. My late dad filled notebooks with memories and sketches. I sent letters to Polish newspapers and people responded. I also read lots of personal memoirs – and the Austrian authorities were unbelievably helpful too. (Poland was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time). I also researched costume, food, traditions and so on. I love the domestic background to fiction and do my best to get it right.

I discovered that my great grandmother married her estate manager (something which was frowned on by the rest of the family.) She was a youngish widow with children when an elderly unmarried relative died and left his big estate to her eight year old son, my grandfather. She had to appoint an estate manager and must have travelled between the two houses. It was clear that she fell for him although I don’t think they lived happily ever after. I took the bare bones of that story, imagined it happening in mid nineteenth century Poland and wove it into my novel, but in greatly modified form. New writers will often say ‘but it really happened like that’ but that’s no excuse for clumsy plotting. You always have to remember that you’re writing fiction.

Why did you eventually decide to self-publish your novels?

I’m a natural mid-list writer and publishing was becoming impossible for me. I had an agent and a good track record and several novels waiting to go. Crunch time came when my agent read The Amber Heart and said he thought it was ‘wonderful.’ My old agent, the late Pat Kavanagh of Peters, Fraser and Dunlop, had had the same reaction some years earlier. She had done her level best to sell it (she was a mega agent and if she couldn’t sell something nobody could) but although it had rave reviews from editors, it always fell at the sales and marketing hurdle. ‘We don’t see how we can market this.’

When a new draft was sent out, all these years later, I began to get the same reaction and I finally saw the light. For years, I had been wondering why in Big and even in Medium Sized Publishing, everyone except the content creators could make a living, even if it was only a modest living. It was always accepted as a given that even time served and experienced writers needed a day job. And yet we are still expected to behave as humble supplicants. There’s been a lot of talk about publishers ‘nurturing writers’ but nurturing is for babies. I simply wanted a professional relationship. Thanks to Amazon and Kindle, I have that. I don’t need them to be nice. Just businesslike.

Do you think eBooks are the future?

In a word, yes! I love paper books too, but the next person who talks to me about the ‘smell and feel’ of books will probably get a dusty answer. If you’re talking about gorgeous Folio editions, I’d agree, but eBooks are just another method of delivery and a very good one.

How do you promote your books and does it work?

You have to be prepared to do a lot of it: blogging, using social networking, joining groups, connecting with readers. You’re an inspiration in this area, Rosemary! I think the problem for new writers, starting out on eBook publishing, is that they don’t have enough work, they aren’t prepared to pay for things like editing and cover art, and they don’t do enough promotion. The gorgeous cover of The Curiosity Cabinet was a gift from an established artist friend, but I commissioned the others from professional artists and have been very pleased with them. You have to change your mindset. Treat yourself as a business. For my last mainstream novel, The Curiosity Cabinet, I did lots of promotion myself, most of it online, so I was well aware of what was needed. I’m now a member of an excellent group called Authors Electric – we blog and help each other with advice and promotion. I’ve also just joined the newly formed Alliance of Independent Authors. The trick will be to balance the promotion with the writing. It’s a steep learning curve.

What is the most difficult part about starting a new book?

The first draft. I love the planning and the research and once the first draft is written, I could go on revising for ever and then some, but getting that first draft down is a bit of a slog. I once read a piece of advice suggesting that you should stop when you really don’t want to – it will be easier to pick it up again the next day because some of that excitement will be there. If you stop at the end of a chapter, it will be hard to get going again. I gallop through it as quickly as I can. Nobody ever sees that draft but me.

Did you read a lot when growing up – any author in particular influence you?

I read all the time and everywhere. I loved William Brown, the Wind in the Willows, historical novelists like Rosemary Sutcliff and Henry Treece. I loved Alan Garner’s books, especially the Owl Service. I had a passion for Mary Stewart and Daphne DuMaurier and the Brontes, especially Wuthering Heights. I also read The Lord of the Rings long before it became a cult – my dad found old copies in our local library, read it and passed the books on to me. I was enchanted.

Do you have a favourite writing place?

I have a nice quiet room upstairs with a view of gardens and distant woods. It’s wonderful, but I don’t seem to get into it half often enough.

Do you find time for hobbies?

Not a lot. I deal in antique textiles and vintage clothes from an eBay shop but that’s mostly to buy time to write. But I also collect textiles for myself, and enjoy boot sales and antique markets and auctions. I garden a bit too. And we live in a very sociable village.

Are you working on another novel (if you want to answer that!)

It’s called The Physic Garden, it’s set in early nineteenth century Glasgow and it’s a book about male friendship and betrayal. I’m 90,000 words into it, but it needs work. There’s a hole in the middle of it and it needs filling! On an editor’s advice, I attempted to change it from first to third person, but I couldn’t do it. I don’t mean it was too difficult, I mean I literally couldn’t do it. It felt like wading through treacle. At last I woke up in the middle of the night, as though somebody had prodded me, and thought ‘he has to tell his own story!’ My central character, whose name is William, has such a powerful voice that he isn’t going to be elbowed aside for anything.

Any tips for new writers?

1 This was one from Pat Kavanagh and it’s about fiction. Only write a novel because you can’t bear NOT to write it. If you can take it or leave it, if you’re bored with it, if you don’t get excited just thinking about it, then you shouldn’t be doing it. The nuts and bolts can be challenging, but you have to feel passionate about it.

2 If you find yourself ‘watering your Dylan Thomas adjectives and watching them grow’, (which is what another writer once told me I was doing) make sure you are looking for the right noun or verb, rather than piling on the adverbs and adjectives. I don’t mean get rid of all of them – but finding the precise noun or verb will make your writing much stronger.

3 Revise, let your writing lie fallow for weeks or months, revise again. Read aloud and revise. Print out and revise again. It’s amazing what you will see in a printed version that you will never see on the screen. I revise too much, probably. But the main fault with new writers is almost always that they don’t revise enough. They think it’s finished when it’s only half way there.

Wonderful answers and tips - many thanks, Catherine!
 
You can find Catherine on her Website, Blog, and the Amber Heart Blog
 
Catherine is an award winning novelist and experienced playwright. Now, many years after she was first published, she is embracing the digital revolution. The Curiosity Cabinet, one of three finalists for the Dundee Book Prize, was first published by Polygon and is now available only on Kindle along with a trio of short stories called A Quiet Afternoon in the Museum of Torture and a novel called Bird of Passage. Her new novel is The Amber Heart, an epic historical novel, a tale of love and loss, loosely based on her Polish family history. Much of her fiction is historical – but not all of it. She has never slotted comfortably into any one genre although she would call herself a natural mid-list writer.

She has held Creative Writing fellowships and residencies and spent four years as Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of the West of Scotland. When not writing, she deals in antique and vintage textiles, clothes and other collectables which often find their way into her writing.

The Pleasure of Guest Posts

As regular readers of this blog will know, I enjoy hosting guest authors on most Thursdays, although I had a short break over Easter. But look out for another batch of great authors from tomorrow. The pleasure is two-fold. I get to interview some interesting writers and find out about their new books, while perhaps introducing them to a new audience.

I also enjoy being interviewed myself and with a new tween book out, several people invited me to guest on their blogs over the next few weeks. I decided not to do an actual 'blog tour', as I'm too lazy to race about all over the Internet in one week, so it's spread out a bit!

So today, I am very pleased to be interviewed on Pat McDermot's lovely blog, Across the Plain of Shining Books - isn't that a great title (you can see where it's from on her blog). I'd be delighted if anyone has time to pop over and say hello.

Rosemary

Sicily for Montalbano Fans

I was sad to see the end of the current series of Inspector Montalbano last night. It fast became one of our favourite weekend programmes. Apart from the lovely setting of Sicily, and Montalbano's home by the sea allowing him a daily swim, the characters are fun and each has his little quirks. How good to see the cute Fazio finally get the girl.

So for all fans who might have to wait some time before another series, here are a few photos I took in Taormina, one of Sicily's popular tourist attractions. We visited a couple of times from cruise ships and, once the taxi negotiated the steep, winding road to the hill-top village, we could have stayed longer than a few hours. It has a mix of Roman and Greek influences and plays are still performed in the little Greek theatre. Mount Etna is visible from certain view points - you can just see it faintly in the background here.


Think we need another visit soon!
Rosemary

The Party Continues!

Having a great launch party for Summer of the Eagles on the Flights of Imagination blog today. Still plenty of wine, cake and chocolate for everyone! Trailer is running and the conversation flowing (along with the wine!).

I've decided to add the trailer I made for Summer of the Eagles to this blog too, as I like the music so much!




Rosemary