Anna Bloom's Blog, page 15

Trafalgar Square at Night

I have just been writing one of my Guest Posts for the Blog Tour which is starting in a week or two and I have been describing my love affair with Trafalgar Square. Yes I know it is a bit weird, and you will have to read the full post to find out why I love it so much. But anyway I was googling for some pics to describe the scene I have based there in The Art of Letting Go and I found this amazing pic…. How beautiful is this? Now I just need to photoshop a Ben look a like on there and we will be good to go…

Ten reasons to LOVE 'The Art Of Letting Go' - Anna Bloom (+ Excerpt)

Reblogged from The Book Lovers:

Ten reasons to love The Art Of Letting Go

Anna Bloom’s debut novel – The Art Of Letting Go (the Uni Files, Year One) is released TODAY! YAAAY! I had the pleasure of reading this awesome book a few weeks ago…and it’s definitely 5 STAR material.

So I have put together ten reasons why you should buy The Art of Letting Go and why you should love it.

Read more… 989 more words

The Story of Us

So if you know anything about my book then you will know that Lilah McCanon lives her life to Taylor Swift songs.  I don’t even know how I came up with this idea, it just seemed rather amusing at the time of writing, and it still does now, so I am rolling with it.

 I  mean what’s better than writing a book about a girl in her twenties who can’t grow up than putting it to a backdrop of teenage music that girls all over the planet are currently singing away too (well and some thirty-five years olds but the less said about my singing the better).

 I always said that the day the book was released I would reveal the song that sparked off the whole writing process for me. It seems that day has come.

You see for such a long time (like my entire life) I’ve lived with stories in my head. My childhood could be split 50/50 between having a book in my hand and thinking up some crazy make-believe day dreams. I just never knew what to do with them, apart from worry that I should be carted off to the ‘funny farm.’

It was only about two years ago when it all clicked into place for me. I’m not mad. I just have stories in my head.

It was this Taylor Swift song that made it click. Daydreams are just stories, stories that can be written down.

How many times can you write ‘The Story of Us’?  How different can each ‘Story of Us’ be?

The answer is endless. You can write ‘The Story of Us’ a million times and each time it will be something unique and individual because that is what stories are; everything that you want them to be. Not like real life which is everything that it is.

That’s why from today when  people ask me what I do, instead of mumbling something about being a  teaching assistant, a dinner lady and a sometime writer I will instead say I am an author. And when the inevitable next question is asked “That’s nice, what sort of books do you write?” I will reply “I write stories about us.” Because in truth that is the only thing I ever set out to do, to tell it how it is. How life is, in The Story of Us.

 

 

Ps. When you are reading the book and you get to Lilah’s ‘Best Friend’ gaff (you  will know what this  is when you get to it) just know that this is the song I was listening too to write it. It’s just tooo perfect!

 

COVER/TEASER of The Art Of Letting Go - Anna Bloom

Reblogged from The Book Lovers:

The Art of Letting Go by Anna Bloom is a Mature NA Romantic Comedy set in England (and is full of British charm and humor!). We're excited to present you with the cover, an excerpt and a giveaway in anticipation of the release of this fantastic book on September 25th!

PS. I have already read this book and I can fully say you will all love it.

Read more… 1,331 more words

Excerpt...Cover and the chance of a $20 Amazon Card....now your can't say fairer than that!

The Art of letting Go – Title Inspiration

Here is it….the song that helped me finish my first novel and the song that lent itself to the title of the book. I listened to this song about a thousand times as I wrote the closing chapters. Ha! And that is not a spoiler….you have to learn how to let go of lot’s of things…

Listen very carefully and you will hear it!

Have you learnt the art of letting go?

One week to go….

What I should be doing…and what I am doing…

This is the way my mind works. I should be doing one thing. Therefore I will do something completely different.

I should be writing the huge amount of interviews and blog posts I need to complete for the Book Tour which is starting in under a month…

What I am doing is thinking about Cornwall, and the boy made out of the moon and sea. The setting and a character from a new novel I am working on.  I am half inclined to blame Ms Pope for this because I sent her a sneaky scene this morning, now I cannot stop thinking about it and I just want to write more. I know I can’t.

I am just going to have to screw my sensible brain on and work through things in an organised manner….or I could daydream about the boy made of moon and sea just a little bit more whilst listening to this song over and over again.

Yes let’s do that…

The Art of Letting Go – read-along…..

So autumn is here, it’s chilly, the nights are drawing in. What do we all like to do when there summer leaves us again for the year? Yes that’s right we like to curl up with a large glass of red wine and a book to enjoy…No? Just me?

Well just in case any of you like curling up with a good book (with or without the wine) we are going to be holding a read-along for the first Uni Files novel The Art of Letting Go which is releasing next Wednesday.

This is going to be a completely chilled out relaxed affair (hence the wine) basically we are going to start on the 27th and split the book up into three sections – One for each term of the academic year; Autumn, Spring and Summer. The Aim to be for us to finish around the time the blog tour starts.

Some lovely book bloggers have said they are going to take part so each section will be hosted by them and I will link it up here on AnnaBloomWrites. Basically we will be talking about our favourite characters, favourite scenes (limited spoilers please…) what they think of the book so far and more importantly where they think the book is going to end up. For me this is real big topic because I am really keen to see who can work out where the story is going or are surprised by any of the turns it takes.

For each section I will also provide a little Anna Bloom insight and let you know what music was on my playlist for that part of the novel or what inspiration I was using – surprisingly this did not always take the form of a large glass of Pinot.

So if you want to take part then follow the blog using the little follow (via email) icon to the left and I will hook up with you to discuss which section you want to take part in. Or, you can just go wild and comment away the whole way through the Read-along! Join in, it’s going to be a good laugh.

Anna

Tomorrow Will be Kinder

I’ve been trying to write a post all day and for once the words just aren’t coming to me at all.

Normally I  have no issue accessing emotions to write about, but tomorrow I am facing the prospect of  saying a goodbye that I do not want to make.

So instead of writing I am going to listen and play this song for my family. 

Guest Post from Super Awesome Zoe Pope

Hi everyone *Waves*

So Anna asked me to write a guest post for her bloggy blog blog because you know we are like BFFs right? Oh sorry, I’m Zoe, you can find me over at www.lovebookreviews.wordpress.com – yes I am The Book Lovers, the one who is completely obsessed with Anna here (and she is a stalker of mine – she will opening admit to it, just ask her).

Anyway she asked me to guest post and of course I told her I would, so now you are stuck with my ramblings for a while at least. Good luck with that because this girl can ramble on and on and on….

I’m just kidding and I will totally get on with what I am going to spew crap about for you

So as you can tell from my blog, I am a book blogger. A HUGE book lover – hence the chosen blog name and of course, I am a complete author whore. Like seriously, I will stalk your ass if I fall in love with your book and I will crush so hard on your characters and pretend that they are my boyfriends. I am a complete book boyfriend slut. Okay, getting off topic here.

So I began to read when I was little, yano you kind of have to in school and then my friend handed me a Jacqueline Wilson book and I was hooked on this author. I think I have written nearly everything she has written – minus all the new stuff. I’m not a teeny anymore unfortunately.

So then I picked up a book I found in my mums room – A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks. My mum gave it to me and told me to read it and that’s what I did. I loved every single part of that book and I think that’s why its one of my favourite books – along with the movie of it.

It was my first Nicholas Sparks book and I must have been about 13/14 when I read it. For those of you who don’t know the storyline (Not sure why you wouldn’t) Here is the synopsis:

Every April, when the wind blows from the sea and mingles with the scent of lilacs, Landon Carter remembers his last year at Beaufort High. It was 1958, and Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had once been in love. Certainly the last person in town he thought he’d fall for was Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town’s Baptist minister.

A quiet girl who always carried a Bible with her schoolbooks, Jamie seemed content living in a world apart from the other teens. She took care of her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and helped out at the local orphanage. No boy had ever asked her out. Landon would never have dreamed of it.

Then a twist of fate made Jamie his partner for the homecoming dance, and Landon Carter’s life would never be the same. Being with Jamie would show him the depths of the human heart and lead him to a decision so stunning it would send him irrevocably on the road to manhood…

I’m not sure what it is about A Walk To Remember, but I know I was completely hooked by it. Sure it’s based in 1958, but there was just something so different to it that what I had previously been reading with Jacqueline Wilson – well DUH! JW writes children’s books and well this book was more grown up. It had true love and heartbreak and cancer as a storyline. It was about a good girl and a bad boy falling in love and it was about changing and bettering yourself.

I do have to admit, when the film came out I just used to come home from school, put the movie on and say every line along with the actors. This went on for about 6 weeks. YES, that is how in love I am with this book/film. Although there is quite a few scenes in the book that are not in the movie, none of that matter. The love they had in the book, was portrayed brilliantly on screen. I think that is what had be obsessed over A Walk To Remember, and still now, after so many years have passed.

So yeah, from Jacqueline Wilson to Nicholas Sparks to then Sophie Kinsella. Sophie came along in year 9/10. My friend gave me The Undomestic Goddess to read, and I knew, after reading it, that Sophie Kinsella would become one of my favourite authors. After giving the book back, I asked my mum to buy me some Sophie books for Christmas (It was around Xmas when I borrowed it). I was not disappointed at all, and after receiving The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me? and Can You Keep A Secret? I went out and bought The Shopaholics books. Since then, I have also purchased her books under ‘Madeleine Wickham.’ and bought her recent books. Can you say obsessed much? Yes, yes you can.

So there you have it, how I got into reading. Technically it was school, or my mum or my friend but who cares right? All that matters is that I am besotted, utterly in love with reading now, and there is nothing I would rather do than to curl up in bed, music playing with my kindle and a bloody great book for company.

Saying that, that is what I am off to do now.

BYEEEEEEE

Picture settings for The Uni Files

Here are some images of places used as settings in The Uni File.

Oh I so wish I was heading back there this week to swan about feeling all intellectual and clever… I said feeling not being!

For those of you planning on reading The Uni File – The Art of Letting Go in a couple of weeks time this is the Halls of Residence I had in mind when I was writing Year One. My besties Suz and Jac lived here during our first year.. Sadly I lived across the road with crazy people.