Isabella Connor's Blog
March 31, 2015
Liv's Lovely Blog Hop
My fellow Choc-Lit author, Liz Harris, tagged me for 'My Lovely Blog Hop', to talk about things that contributed to making me 'me'.
You can find Liz's own blog here: http://www.lizharrisauthor.com/?p=2634
Memory
My memories are many and varied, and mostly insignificant - except for my dad dropping dead of a heart-attack when I was fourteen and alone in the house with him. Luckily, we had wonderful neighbours, but it was traumatic. Another traumatic memory involved a car journey to Berwick when we were involved in an accident at Scots Corner. A car hit us from behind, and no-one was injured, but I do wonder if that's what caused my fear of travel. I constantly worry about journeys, whether road, rail, sea or air. Happier memories involve my gran's lovely feather bed and my tenth birthday party, when I went to school and invited everyone in the class on top of those already invited - and without telling my mum. Apparently, my mum and my gran watched in horror from the kitchen window as an endless stream of children emerged from my dad's - obviously Tardis-like - van.
Books
My favourite Blyton books were the Adventure series, and the first I read was The Circus of Adventure, so I had the joy of catching up with all the previous ones. When I wasn't reading, I was writing. Usually adventure stories in the Enid Blyton mould. I called one The Lake of Adventure. Basically, I was a plagiarist, but I was very young! Other books that stick in my mind from those wonderful days, were those featuring The Bobbsey Twins, Just William, and Worzel Gummidge. I read and re-read Heidi, Little Women, and What Katy Did/Did Next. I had a volume of Grimm's fairy-tales that I never tired of, and (worryingly perhaps) I was never disturbed by them. As an older child I met Bilbo Baggins and didn't know it at the time but it was he who was instrumental in the creation of Beneath an Irish Sky (or to be fair, maybe it was J R R Tolkien). I 'met' my co-writer, Val Olteanu, on a Lord of the Rings message-board. She was my inspiration to actually knuckle down, and believe. I didn't only read books. Every Friday night, I would get a bundle of comics - Bunty being the one I remember most. Maybe that should come under memories? As an adult, I found Dean Koontz, Ken Follett, Maeve Binchy, Patricia Scanlan, Lesley Pearse - to name just a few. Books are like the universe and just as frustrating - there are so many out there that I may never get to discover.
Libraries
Many of my childhood memories involve the library. I can still remember the layout of the children's section as clearly as though I was there yesterday. I rarely took out Enid Blyton books....I already had most of them. More recently, and just prior to the internet taking over the world, I would spend hours in the reference library, searching for answers for a really difficult postal quiz (Quizmail). One year, a friend and I nearly won the title - we had full marks every month for eleven months, and then on the twelfth month, failed to research one question fully. We fell at the last hurdle and watched the title go to someone who didn't get blase.
What's Your Passion
Apart from my family - reading, writing, quizzes, the tv series Once Upon a Time, and Ireland. I love animals and have a soft spot for tigers, giraffes and orangutans. Oh, and pandas. And gorillas and elephants and...well, shall we say I love animals full stop.
Learning
I don't think I've every been especially scholarly. I like to learn but at my own pace, and the things I'm interested in. I did toy with both German and Spanish at nightschool, but came to the conclusion that to learn properly, I'd need to spend more than one evening a week in an educational environment. So to coin an old cliche, I now learn at the school of life. I do enjoy learning through research, because if it's for a novel, then it's sure to be a subject I have an interest in.
Writing
Like reading, writing is an escape but it has that added extra of giving you the ability to create as well, events, places, people. It's the closest I'll ever come - ever want to come I should stress - to being a megalomaniac, with the power to give or take life, to control people's actions. It also enables me to meet the perfect man...not necessarily one without flaws, as if there was such a thing as the perfect man, I think that might automatically render him imperfect! Writing is a challenge. I find it hard to move on from characters I've grown to love, so then I have to create more characters to love, but they have to be different. Sometimes it seems impossible and I feel myself straying into the psyche of one of my past, much loved, characters. Breaking away is like ending a long-term relationship and can be just as traumatic, but so satisfying when you get it right.
Am handing the baton over to two of my writer friends, Mandy James http://mandykjameswrites.blogspot.co.uk/ ; Mandy will publish hers on 3rd April.
and Jo Walter http://thewriteromantics.com/ ; Jo's contribution will be published on 22nd April.
You can find Liz's own blog here: http://www.lizharrisauthor.com/?p=2634
Memory
My memories are many and varied, and mostly insignificant - except for my dad dropping dead of a heart-attack when I was fourteen and alone in the house with him. Luckily, we had wonderful neighbours, but it was traumatic. Another traumatic memory involved a car journey to Berwick when we were involved in an accident at Scots Corner. A car hit us from behind, and no-one was injured, but I do wonder if that's what caused my fear of travel. I constantly worry about journeys, whether road, rail, sea or air. Happier memories involve my gran's lovely feather bed and my tenth birthday party, when I went to school and invited everyone in the class on top of those already invited - and without telling my mum. Apparently, my mum and my gran watched in horror from the kitchen window as an endless stream of children emerged from my dad's - obviously Tardis-like - van.
Books
My favourite Blyton books were the Adventure series, and the first I read was The Circus of Adventure, so I had the joy of catching up with all the previous ones. When I wasn't reading, I was writing. Usually adventure stories in the Enid Blyton mould. I called one The Lake of Adventure. Basically, I was a plagiarist, but I was very young! Other books that stick in my mind from those wonderful days, were those featuring The Bobbsey Twins, Just William, and Worzel Gummidge. I read and re-read Heidi, Little Women, and What Katy Did/Did Next. I had a volume of Grimm's fairy-tales that I never tired of, and (worryingly perhaps) I was never disturbed by them. As an older child I met Bilbo Baggins and didn't know it at the time but it was he who was instrumental in the creation of Beneath an Irish Sky (or to be fair, maybe it was J R R Tolkien). I 'met' my co-writer, Val Olteanu, on a Lord of the Rings message-board. She was my inspiration to actually knuckle down, and believe. I didn't only read books. Every Friday night, I would get a bundle of comics - Bunty being the one I remember most. Maybe that should come under memories? As an adult, I found Dean Koontz, Ken Follett, Maeve Binchy, Patricia Scanlan, Lesley Pearse - to name just a few. Books are like the universe and just as frustrating - there are so many out there that I may never get to discover.
Libraries
Many of my childhood memories involve the library. I can still remember the layout of the children's section as clearly as though I was there yesterday. I rarely took out Enid Blyton books....I already had most of them. More recently, and just prior to the internet taking over the world, I would spend hours in the reference library, searching for answers for a really difficult postal quiz (Quizmail). One year, a friend and I nearly won the title - we had full marks every month for eleven months, and then on the twelfth month, failed to research one question fully. We fell at the last hurdle and watched the title go to someone who didn't get blase.
What's Your Passion
Apart from my family - reading, writing, quizzes, the tv series Once Upon a Time, and Ireland. I love animals and have a soft spot for tigers, giraffes and orangutans. Oh, and pandas. And gorillas and elephants and...well, shall we say I love animals full stop.
Learning
I don't think I've every been especially scholarly. I like to learn but at my own pace, and the things I'm interested in. I did toy with both German and Spanish at nightschool, but came to the conclusion that to learn properly, I'd need to spend more than one evening a week in an educational environment. So to coin an old cliche, I now learn at the school of life. I do enjoy learning through research, because if it's for a novel, then it's sure to be a subject I have an interest in.
Writing
Like reading, writing is an escape but it has that added extra of giving you the ability to create as well, events, places, people. It's the closest I'll ever come - ever want to come I should stress - to being a megalomaniac, with the power to give or take life, to control people's actions. It also enables me to meet the perfect man...not necessarily one without flaws, as if there was such a thing as the perfect man, I think that might automatically render him imperfect! Writing is a challenge. I find it hard to move on from characters I've grown to love, so then I have to create more characters to love, but they have to be different. Sometimes it seems impossible and I feel myself straying into the psyche of one of my past, much loved, characters. Breaking away is like ending a long-term relationship and can be just as traumatic, but so satisfying when you get it right.
Am handing the baton over to two of my writer friends, Mandy James http://mandykjameswrites.blogspot.co.uk/ ; Mandy will publish hers on 3rd April.
and Jo Walter http://thewriteromantics.com/ ; Jo's contribution will be published on 22nd April.
October 7, 2014
An Irish Promise
My second book has been e-launched, whilst I'm still getting over the shock (and joy) of having the first one published.
An Irish Promise deals with the subject of school bullying, and it's effects and consequences on the bullied, the bullies, and all their families.
Rachel, the female protagonist, has been damaged by bullying. She returns to the small Irish village where she lived as a child, intent on revenge - but is revenge ever justified? And what happens when romance gets in the way? How focused can Rachel remain on her plan - should she even go through with her plan? Is it worth risking the chance of happiness with a man she feels she could have a future with?
Finn Mackenzie is an actor, and appears to be one of life's golden people - happy, successful, handsome. But Finn isn't all he seems - he has suffered losses and rejection in his life, and the confident facade is one of the best performances of his life.
And what of the bullies? Did they become adult bullies too, or did they learn from their mistakes?
Do Finn and Rachel stand a chance or will Finn's emotional baggage force her into the arms of another man?
So many questions - but no answers here. :)
An Irish Promise deals with the subject of school bullying, and it's effects and consequences on the bullied, the bullies, and all their families.
Rachel, the female protagonist, has been damaged by bullying. She returns to the small Irish village where she lived as a child, intent on revenge - but is revenge ever justified? And what happens when romance gets in the way? How focused can Rachel remain on her plan - should she even go through with her plan? Is it worth risking the chance of happiness with a man she feels she could have a future with?
Finn Mackenzie is an actor, and appears to be one of life's golden people - happy, successful, handsome. But Finn isn't all he seems - he has suffered losses and rejection in his life, and the confident facade is one of the best performances of his life.
And what of the bullies? Did they become adult bullies too, or did they learn from their mistakes?
Do Finn and Rachel stand a chance or will Finn's emotional baggage force her into the arms of another man?
So many questions - but no answers here. :)
August 7, 2013
A special day!
Today is a special day - but before I get into that, I just realised that my profile was set not to receive messages, so apologies to those who tried. I've changed it now.
So about today...a special day. 7th August 2013, the day Beneath an Irish Sky was officially launched.
I feel a Tom Hanks moment coming on...
Thank you to the Choc Lit reading panel for making this possible. Thank you to Lyn Vernham for following it through and having faith in us. And thank you to the Choc Lit staff and authors for the most unbelievable support and encouragement - when you're a Choc Lit author, you're never alone.
Thanks to my family, even though they actually thought I was just time-wasting; my work colleagues (friends) who are amazing; my dogs - Sheri(RIP) and Sophie, for listening to me rant and not interrupting; Val for accepting the challenge without hesitation; Mr & Mrs McFadden for producing wee Joe, our inspiration; Joe himself for having eyelashes to die for; Di Baker for proving you don't have to be sane to be lovely; Claudia, our dear German friend, whose English is better than mine and who has the patience of a saint - the number of times she must have read that draft; Enid Blyton for getting me started; JRR Tolkien for writing Lord of the Rings which led to the message board where Val and I met; Kelly's of Cornwall for their amazing icecream;
*break in voice and choking back tears*
Thanks too, to the writers of Once Upon A Time for making me look forward to the ending of the weekend; to Arsenal for selling us Van Persie; to God for giving the Irish that accent and for blue-eyed, dark haired men; to Kingsmill for their Crustless 50-50 (makes lovely toast)....
*Is carried off stage still muttering inaudible thanks to everyone from Barack Obama to Faramir of Gondor.
Liv x
So about today...a special day. 7th August 2013, the day Beneath an Irish Sky was officially launched.
I feel a Tom Hanks moment coming on...
Thank you to the Choc Lit reading panel for making this possible. Thank you to Lyn Vernham for following it through and having faith in us. And thank you to the Choc Lit staff and authors for the most unbelievable support and encouragement - when you're a Choc Lit author, you're never alone.
Thanks to my family, even though they actually thought I was just time-wasting; my work colleagues (friends) who are amazing; my dogs - Sheri(RIP) and Sophie, for listening to me rant and not interrupting; Val for accepting the challenge without hesitation; Mr & Mrs McFadden for producing wee Joe, our inspiration; Joe himself for having eyelashes to die for; Di Baker for proving you don't have to be sane to be lovely; Claudia, our dear German friend, whose English is better than mine and who has the patience of a saint - the number of times she must have read that draft; Enid Blyton for getting me started; JRR Tolkien for writing Lord of the Rings which led to the message board where Val and I met; Kelly's of Cornwall for their amazing icecream;
*break in voice and choking back tears*
Thanks too, to the writers of Once Upon A Time for making me look forward to the ending of the weekend; to Arsenal for selling us Van Persie; to God for giving the Irish that accent and for blue-eyed, dark haired men; to Kingsmill for their Crustless 50-50 (makes lovely toast)....
*Is carried off stage still muttering inaudible thanks to everyone from Barack Obama to Faramir of Gondor.
Liv x
August 4, 2013
Reviews
Reviews are scary.
Releasing your book into the wild is a bit like your child's first days at school, when you worry about them being picked on!
BAIS has, so far, received positive comments from everyone - even the more critical ones say it's well written, and that's really as much as we can hope for, because there aren't many books that will suit everyone.
We may (or may not :) ) have stretched belief in some areas, and gone a bit soap-operish, but hey, this is fiction. :) The comments are appreciated though, because what better way is there to learn, and to gauge opinion on what works, and what doesn't.
Whatever, we certainly appreciate that people take the time and trouble to read and to offer construction criticism, and we take note of all comments.
Thankfully we've not yet had any of the downright cruel reviews that seem to be a personal attack on the actual writer more than the book. I suppose that's the problem with an open house like the internet.
So am off now to see if I can buy myself a nice winter coat in rhino hide.
Liv x
Releasing your book into the wild is a bit like your child's first days at school, when you worry about them being picked on!
BAIS has, so far, received positive comments from everyone - even the more critical ones say it's well written, and that's really as much as we can hope for, because there aren't many books that will suit everyone.
We may (or may not :) ) have stretched belief in some areas, and gone a bit soap-operish, but hey, this is fiction. :) The comments are appreciated though, because what better way is there to learn, and to gauge opinion on what works, and what doesn't.
Whatever, we certainly appreciate that people take the time and trouble to read and to offer construction criticism, and we take note of all comments.
Thankfully we've not yet had any of the downright cruel reviews that seem to be a personal attack on the actual writer more than the book. I suppose that's the problem with an open house like the internet.
So am off now to see if I can buy myself a nice winter coat in rhino hide.
Liv x
July 18, 2013
My first blog
Is my heat-addled brain up to making this first blog entry?
I love the sun, but not the heat. Especially when I come home to find that the fridge door hasn't been shut properly all day, and I had to throw away all the ice-cream. When you're craving a choc-ice, that doesn't go down well.
But, I digress. I should be introducing myself. I'm Liv - one half of Isabella Connor, and thrilled that my/our debut novel, Beneath an Irish Sky, is published next month by Choc Lit. (Already available on Kindle, where you can try before you buy!)
At the risk of sounding like a cross between Gwyneth Paltrow and Tom Hanks, I'd like to thank the other half of me, Val Olteanu, for sticking with it and being part of this incredible journey, and thanks too, to the Choc Lit panel for making this all happen, and to Choc Lit, for believing in us.
And moving on...Dog TV? What's all that about? Nice idea, but surely if your dog is alone at home, you shouldn't be leaving a tv on? I'm not so sure it would be restful for a dog anyway - my Westie tends to get very excited if she sees other animals, and then runs to the door. I'm sure she must think the tv is a window. Well let's be honest - she's not going to be thinking it's a television is she? I can see her frustration when she gets outside and wonders where the elephants/tigers or the sheep dog and sheep from the Specsavers ad. have gone.
It must be very frustrating for an animal to constantly wonder why there's always so much action outside until they get out there. Constant disappointment.
I'm rambling. It's the heat again...time for a cuppa.
Liv x
I love the sun, but not the heat. Especially when I come home to find that the fridge door hasn't been shut properly all day, and I had to throw away all the ice-cream. When you're craving a choc-ice, that doesn't go down well.
But, I digress. I should be introducing myself. I'm Liv - one half of Isabella Connor, and thrilled that my/our debut novel, Beneath an Irish Sky, is published next month by Choc Lit. (Already available on Kindle, where you can try before you buy!)
At the risk of sounding like a cross between Gwyneth Paltrow and Tom Hanks, I'd like to thank the other half of me, Val Olteanu, for sticking with it and being part of this incredible journey, and thanks too, to the Choc Lit panel for making this all happen, and to Choc Lit, for believing in us.
And moving on...Dog TV? What's all that about? Nice idea, but surely if your dog is alone at home, you shouldn't be leaving a tv on? I'm not so sure it would be restful for a dog anyway - my Westie tends to get very excited if she sees other animals, and then runs to the door. I'm sure she must think the tv is a window. Well let's be honest - she's not going to be thinking it's a television is she? I can see her frustration when she gets outside and wonders where the elephants/tigers or the sheep dog and sheep from the Specsavers ad. have gone.
It must be very frustrating for an animal to constantly wonder why there's always so much action outside until they get out there. Constant disappointment.
I'm rambling. It's the heat again...time for a cuppa.
Liv x
