FUNKY FRIDAY - with author Carol Hedges

Today I welcome my Twitter buddy and fellow lady Pope (we live in hope of a world of sparkly things, cake and bubbles!) Carol Hedges ...

Carol and I lounged in silk pyjamas, had grapes peeled for us by hunky men and sipped on our Champers (after she'd parked her pink 2CV - which you can see in all its glory over at her blog). 

So, Carol, describe yourself as a writer in five words.

Perfectionist, adventurer, pantster, OCDer (is there a word?), worrier.

You've been invited on Big Brother - Writers Special!  Do you accept?

No - the thought of lots of other stressy writers appals!!

Dream time.  Ultimate dinner party?  You can have anyone dead or alive there - who would you have and why?

Charles Dickens - pick his brain about Victorian London

William Blake - fascinating man

Seamus Heaney - sit at his feet

How do you deal with the dreaded bad review - are you a sulker of a shrugger?

Bit of both, though so far reviews haven't been bad.

If you were offered a squillion pounds to never write again, would you take it?

No.  Absolutely no.  Never. Never ever ever.  Hahaha.

It's your dream week as a writer - ANYTHING is possible!  Tell us what happens.

My books get reviewed enthusiastically in the press.  I sell.  I buy a Tuscan Villa and a Maserati for my husband.  Following week: back to the laptop .... sigh.

QUICK FIRE ROUND

Planner or Winger?

Winger, but with an outline plan

Night or Morning?

Afternoon - from about 2ish

Doer or procrastinator?

The latter leading to the former - though will always 'do' if there's a deadline awaiting

Writing/first draft or editing?

Both.

Tea or coffee?

Coffee.  IN a bucket.  All day!!!

Thanks so much for joining me, Carol - it's always a pleasure and one day we WILL rule the world! 

If you want to know more about Carol, follow her on Twitter: @carolJhedges  or buy her books here.

Next week, I chat to fellow Indie and friend, Rachel Dove.

* NEWSFLASH *

This week saw me release my latest Christmas novella, 'Cinderella's Buttons'.  For less than you'd spend in the Poundshop, it's panto in a book and available for Kindle at Amazon.  Also in paperback at Lulu.

 

Wetting Lottie's Head

Last night I was treated to a book launch dinner at our close friends' house.

As one of themes of 'Lottie's Luck' is her dog walking business (hence the foot attire which features on the cover),  I was highly amused to arrive for the evening to see wellie wearers!

Of course the evening had to begin with the teens playing with the dog in the garden.

I was given some beautiful flowers but I looked dreadful in every photo of me holding them so I won't share with you.  Suffice it to say they were pink, yellow and cream roses.

Instead, here I am proudly showing off my book with friends (our husbands were too busy gossiping)

A well deserved glass of wine.

Hubbie and friend

God-daughter engrossed in the new book.

First book she's read in years and she took it off to bed with her!

Me with my boy and my new 'Lottie's Luck' balloon.

The decor was pink and white with bunting, pom-poms and 

toadstool fairylights.

We had thai green curry and this was the remains of the offending

chili which rendered me speechless for ten minutes.

Delicious Eton Mess

(but I opted for the chocolate tart and some very stinky cheese)

Looking very smug!

We had party poppers and champagne blowers.

I always seem to end up decorated with the poppers innards!

It was great to have the teens there - they did disappear to do their own thing but not before we had a game of 'Would I Lie To You?'  What a great bunch of liars we are - we all fell for my friend's story about how she was poked in the face with a Mars bar which appeared from a hedge she was passing!  But rather worryingly, we had hoped that my God daughter's story was a lie but it turned out that it wasn't.  She said she was about five and walking along the road holding Daddy's hand but suddenly she found she was holding an old lady's hand and not Daddy's!  'Daddy' got in a bit of trouble from 'Mummy' for that one last night!

Another 'lie' from my son had us chuckling.  He said he was about seven and in a playground at the park when a swan chased him out, pecking at his bum.  Now, I am infamously known as the most paranoid mother ever to walk this earth so one question from my friend's husband, 'Where was Mummy when this happened?' revealed the lie.  Son answered, 'She was at the coffee shop.'  ''Nope!' Friend's husband answered. 'Not Amanda!  Would never have happened!'

When I revealed that I had once had a wee in one of the guests' gardens when he was out, they all said I was lying. It was, in fact ... the truth!  Bear with and I'll tell you why before you judge me.  Said friend lives in a huge house in the middle of the country and we were on our way to his son's wedding reception which involved passing the house.  We'd been stuck in traffic for ages and I was desperate - no pubs, no secluded bushes anywhere.  Now I know this friend often leaves his front door unlocked so we pulled into his driveway in hope.  Locked!  I was near to tears now, so I sneaked to the side of the house and weed in his bushes, accompanied by his very confused cat.  The friend said he will never look at the yellow patch of grass in the same way again.

So, 'Lottie's Luck' was launched in style with good friends, fine wine, yummy food and bucket loads of laughter.  I can't wait til December for the next one.

My new novel can be found at Amazon UK and Amazon.com - only £1.97 for Kindle - or in paperback at Lulu.

Launching 'LOTTIE'S LUCK'!

Little bit excited here at Misfit house as today is the release of my fifth full-length chicklit novel.

Want to see my lovely cover?

And for those who missed it, here's the blurb:

I’m Lottie Truman

and this is my story.

My life was simply tickety-boo

until a neighbour’s prediction

seemed to coincide with

my luck running out.

Join me on the path

I needed to take to get me

to where I am now.

But don’t judge me.

Because sometimes you have to

make a few diversions to allow fate

to push you in the right direction

I ran a competition for a couple of weeks in the lead-up to the release and all those who retweeted me on Twitter went into a draw to win a free Kindle copy.  About 140 people were 'in it to win it' and I thank each and every one of them for helping to spread the word. I decided one giveaway seemed a bit mean given the response so I decided to go for three and, after giving each their own number in a hat, I asked my trusty teen to pick them at random.

Congratulations go to:

@justkaren_

@janeigraves

@tyrrellnook

If you DM me your email address on Twitter I will get a Kindle compatible copy to you as soon as possible.

For those who are still interested in reading about Lottie's adventures you can buy your Kindle copy in the UK here, USA here (for less than the price of a coffee!) and paperback copies at Lulu (slightly more than a coffee but you can hug it and sniff the pages - always a bonus, I think.)

Today will see me mostly celebrating (and checking sales!) and also getting ready for my first group-girlie night out in years!  I also have my book launch dinner to look forward to on Saturday, courtesy of my lovely partner-in-crime 'Fenella'. Blog to follow soon after.

Once again, thanks to all my loyal and supportive readers - I hope you like this one.   If you should buy a copy today, why not tweet about it, using the hashtag #lottiesluck.  And if you enjoy, please leave a review - your words help sell mine.

You can find all of my other novels here UK and here US.

Fanfare Please!

So did you have a lovely long weekend of Jubilee celebrations?  Did you feel a little let down by our Great British weather or were you not surprised?  After all, Bank holiday = rain!

I was dragged, kicking and screaming (literally!) by my Aussie husband to see the gathering of the boats for the flotilla, down on the Thames at Putney.  This involved parking the car and then taking a rather muddy hike across the common to get to the river.  Relieved I’d ditched the sandals and gone back to boots, the trudge with lingering sciatica was still not good.  Neither was the fine rain in my hair or the pain in my cold ears.  Not a very happy bunny!

Once we’d seen the majority of the rowing boats set off, hubbie was still looking rather too keen for more.  ‘OK.’  I told him.  ‘I’m happy to drive along the river to see what we can see from the car.’  Son seemed happy enough with this too as he could plug himself into his iPod and become a non-communicative teen again.

Little did I know that we'd end up near Battersea Park, where hubbie had other ideas - to find a parking spot and hit the river again.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not a misery guts but by this point I had the hump.  I’m not a massive Royalist, I have a very annoying bladder (which tells me I need to pee if it knows it can’t) and I HATE crowds.

But we did it.  Aussie husband loves the spectacle and pageantry.  He got his way and I was then rewarded with pizza and wine.  Son enjoyed giving us a running commentary of what the Queen might be saying.  ‘Oh, Phil!  Hope I didn’t leave the gas on.’  And, ‘Gagging for a G&T old boy!’  A good time was (eventually) had by all.

Then, yesterday we had our street party - well what can I say?  It was very British - we were drenched but we sang through the rain and did our best to enjoy ourselves.  Community spirit rules!

But during all of the festivities and jubilation, the main thing in the back of my mind was the arrival of today.  It might be have been a busy time for Queenie but it’s been pretty full on for me too.  FANFARE PLEASE, as today is the launch of my third novel ‘Completing the Puzzle.’

If you’ve read the Mummy Misfit books, I hope you’ll continue on my writing journey into romance and see what else I’m capable of.  Fingers crossed you’ll like it because I’m currently working on my fourth novel (release date December) and if you all say you just want more Misfit Madness, I may cry.  A lot!

So here’s the blurb:

Middle aged and middle-of-the-road,

Fee Crawford has been drifting through life in a passionless marriage

and hurtling towards the menopause.

With her twin boys grown up and needing her less,

why does she still feel incomplete?

Coping with her elderly dad, increasingly distant husband

and flighty best friend, Cordelia,

her life seems to be spiralling out of control.

Will a chance meeting with a handsome vet

be the missing link to make everything fall into place?

From the author of the ‘Mummy Misfit’ books comes:

‘COMPLETING THE PUZZLE’

A tale of families, love and mid-life crisis.

So, what do you think?  If you’re tempted, head on over to Amazon to pick up your copy for Kindle for just £1.97 or in paperback at Lulu.

It will be a scary week for me as I watch my sales and wait for the first reviews to trickle in.  But I have a lovely book launch dinner to look forward to on Saturday.

Watch this space, I may post photos.

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All THREE of my books can be found at Amazon or Lulu - just look for me, AMANDA EGAN