Saturday 31 December 2016

Happy New Year!!!

Just popped in to wish you a very happy and healthy new year! May 2017 be a darn good 'un for us all! 


Thursday 22 December 2016

Seasonal Felicitations!

Well, the portly chap in the red suit has almost caught up with us (and his pesky reindeer are already nipping at my heels!) so I'm going to sign off for a few days.

But before I go, I'd like to wish you all a very peaceful, healthy, and happy Christmas time. 



Tuesday 13 December 2016

A Cautionary Tale...

That moment when you realise your card details were saved on your son's Xbox and, since the last week of November, he's spent a whopping £187!!!

Yes. You heard me right. Let's all say it together, shall we?

One hundred and eighty-seven P.O.U.N.D.S!!!



Fortunately, the nice people at Xbox support (0800 FML!!!) were extremely sympathetic and well accustomed to witless parents phoning them up in a panic because they'd just realised their precious offspring could spend actual real-life money inside the Robux game. 

They kindly gave me a refund with the understanding that this was a one time deal. If this ever happens again, tough titty.

Needless to say I have removed my card details from Microsoft's data base, and am now preparing the wee talk I'll be having with my boy when he gets home from school.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Happy Thanksgiving...


To all my friends on the other side of the pond.
May you have a very happy and peaceful Thanksgiving.
And pie. Lots and lots of pie!





Monday 21 November 2016

The Results Are In...

Just in case you were wondering whether sharing a post actually makes a blind bit of difference, take a look at the screen shots below.

Both 'Wolfsbane' and 'Ironheart' are currently residing in the top 40 (paid) of time travel romance over on Amazon.com. 



Hemlock, meanwhile, is sitting pretty near the top of the heap on the TTR free chart.





So, yes. Sharing definitely works! THANK YOU!!! 




Saturday 19 November 2016

Sale Time!

As an indie author, it's all too easy to disappear without a trace, submerged beneath the veritable tsunami of books out there, and
I need you to help me stay afloat.
The book world runs on reader power! Never underestimate the influence of your reviews, shares, likes, and recommendations.
They matter.
A lot!
Thank you! 





Friday 18 November 2016

T.G.I.F!





Apparently 'I stalked Colonel Fitzwilliam because it seemed like fun.'

So, tell me, what did YOU do? :)

Saturday 5 November 2016

Cold Comfort...

A chilly, but perfect Lake District day, then back home in time for fish 'n' chips and fireworks. Life doesn't get any better than this!







#BownessonWindermere

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Very Superstitious...

So, let's talk Witch Marks! 



Have you ever seen any? How about my friends at the other side of the pond? Are any of your historic buildings witch-marked? 
I'm wondering how far back in time they go. And what about more our modern structures? Do people still do this, I wonder?

Monday 31 October 2016

Fright Night...

'When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam,
May luck be yours on Halloween.'

~Author unknown




Friday 28 October 2016

Forever Autumn...

The walk to school. 

Nobody about except me and a posse of nut-crazy squirrels!







Sunday 23 October 2016

Woe is me...

... I think Man Flu might have actually made it across the gender barrier!


 

Wednesday 5 October 2016

Wheal Treasure...

Have you all been watching the BBC's adaptation of 'Poldark'? What am I saying? Of course you have. What a question!

Anyway, in the spirit of all things Ross and Demelza, here's a Poldark character quiz for you to play around with. Here's who I am... apparently!




Who will YOU be, I wonder? Leave your result in the comments. :)

Thursday 29 September 2016

Two Go Loopy in Lytham...

Hello, m'dears. 

Yesterday was a great day because I got to meet up with one of my favourite FB author friends (who has now progressed to the heady delights of being classed as one of my RL friends!), M's Annie Whitehead.

We spent a happy few hours at Lytham Hall, having lunch, and talking books, life, and all the other important stuff.

There's nothing better than spending time with someone who really  'gets' you, is there?




Annie in reflective mood.

Second-hand books and an honesty box? We are so there!


For those who aren't aware, Annie is the author of not one, but two, IndieBRAG award-winning books, 'To be a Queen' and 'Alvar the Kingmaker', stories based in early medieval Mercia, the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the Midlands


Monday 26 September 2016

Scene stealing...

 As many of you are already aware, I write the first drafts of my books the old fashioned way. i.e. longhand.

What can I say? I've tried composing straight onto the old lapdog, but for me there's no quicker way to constipate my word gland. 
(Is that an actual thing, a word gland? If not, it ought to be.) 

There's a definite downside to this method, though. When it comes to writing the second draft, (which for me means transferring all the notebook contents onto the computer) I often have so many notebooks on the go, I tend to lose track of them all. Yes, it's chaotic but, unfortunately, it's how I roll.

Take this morning, for example. It'd been another splendid writing day. The story was really flowing, I'd hit my daily word count, and all my people were still chatting to me. Why not push on and try and nail down another vital scene, thinks I. 

Oh, what a great plan, Batman!

The problem was, although I had a vague recollection of the scene in question, could I find it in any of my notebooks? 

Er... nope!

Which means that tomorrow's writing session will commence with another game of Hunt the Notebook. *sigh* 

Why am I so disorganised? WHY?



Thursday 22 September 2016

The Sweetest Thing...

Watched 'Toy Story 3' again, for the umpteenth time, last night.

So, did I make it through the final scene without snivelling this time?



Negative, Houston. That's a big fat nope.



What's the one movie that always makes YOU cry?







Friday 16 September 2016

Word Fuel

On some days, writing is difficult, like extracting the stump of an old tree.
On other days, however, it's free and oh-so easy. Over a thousand words in just over an hour this morning and I'm still going strong. 
Think I've earned a coffee break! Let's keep those words flowing.
#whataride

Sunday 11 September 2016

Wrong Numbers...

Numbers have never been my friend.
It's safe to say that I have little-no natural mathematic ability. 
My brain just isn't wired that way. 
And so, in order to avoid humiliation, I've made it a rule to avoid anything math-y other than the simplest addition, subtraction, and multiplication. (I once achieved the grand total of 7% in a written exam! Yes. Really. )
This weekend, however, in between child wrangling, and aided by a simple how-to session on Youtube, I finally made a start on something I've been avoiding for years...
Spread sheets! 
You know what? It wasn't nearly so terrible as I'd been expecting. 
Once I'd arranged all my columns, it was then just a matter of entering the correct numbers into each box (or 'cell'!) and pressing the 'sum' squiggle thingie to get my total. 
Easy as pie! 
It's worth noting that up until this weekend, I hadn't the foggiest idea of how many books I've been shifting. I'd guessed I'd shifted maybe 30k or so of all my titles combined.
 Hah. How wrong was I?
Since January this year - get this! - I've moved 32k of book one alone. Yes. That's thirty-two thousand books in nine months. Wow!
Granted, 'Hemlock's a permafree and it'll probably never float to the top of most people's ereader TBR piles, but even so, I find this figure  staggering. 
If only I could translate this success over to my paid books, eh?


9/11

"After all this time?"

"Always."

(J. K. Rowling.)




Sunday 4 September 2016

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you all have a safe, happy, and wonderful day!