Tag Archives: Elizabeth Haynes

Book Launch – Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes

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A bonus post for you this week because I just had to tell you what I was up to last night!

Me, The Hubster and our daughter attended the book launch for friend, my Co Nano ML and talented writer Elizabeth Haynes 3rd book, Human Remains.

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Elizabeth is a huge inspiration to all aspiring authors, having used Nanowrimo to kick start her writing career.

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It was lovely to see so many of the Kent Wrimo’s at the launch party and of course, hubby insisted that he had to have his own copy of the book!

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I’m looking forward to the read if Keith B Walters review is anything to go by! (Lovely to meet you last night Keith!).

So this morning I’m feeling slightly worse for wear (too much Champagne!) so if you could all keep it down today it would be much appreciated 😉 I’m off out in a sec for a writing session with a fellow Wrimo….which begs a question that came up last night….. Can you write while you’re drunk?

Do you write whilst you’re under the influence? Can you? Hemingway said “Write drunk; edit sober.” And look at how successful he was 😉 I’ll let you know if writing with a hangover is a good or bad thing later lol

The Booker Award

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The lovely Whitney over at A Serendipitous Happenstance and the lovely Anneli at Words From Anneli have both nominated me for The Booker Award 🙂

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This is a new one I’ve only started seeing recently so I’ll give it a go 😉

The rules for the booker are to list your 5 favourite books:

1. Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

2. Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

4. Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue

5. The Writers Book of Days by Judy Reeves

And then pass it on…..

Liz at Libro Full Time
Rebecca at Novel Girl
Ali at HeavelAli
Nicky Wells
Joanne Phillips

If I didn’t tag you, but you want to take part, please feel free 🙂 Tell me in the comments, what are your favourite books?

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Brainstorming

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Just recently I’ve had a couple of brainstorming sessions with my friend J who is also an aspiring writer. The most recent, being a 2 hour car journey (to a workshop) which was great fun.

My brain never stops. I’m constantly looking for ideas and inspiration, all around me. I think J was a bit overwhelmed by the journey as every road sign became an idea for a persons surname, along with any vans company logo’s that we passed *snigger*

J had an idea for a story centred around a fashion magazine. We ended up coming up with the name of the owner of the mag, the 2 villains, the protagonist and the name of the magazine. It was a great way to pass the time, and very productive 🙂 I think to be honest, she was a little bit scared at my enthusiasm and passion, but, those who know me in the real world will know that if I really enjoy something I get very enthusiastic *giggles*

The only problem I have is that when I’m on my own driving I can’t write anything down….hmmmm, so I’m thinking I really should try to figure out how my phones voice memo works. Not ideal whilst driving I know, but I’m not sure what else I can do 😦

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so what do you do if you suddenly get an idea and there are no scraps of paper or a pen within a 50 metre radius?

I went to Elizabeth Haynes book signing session yesterday, which seemed to be going well when we got there 🙂

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I spent the rest of the day reading proverbs…..don’t ask lol 🙂

Yesterday’s prompt about an ending inspired a short scene about a husband and wife, the husband’s head being buried in a book lol. Today’s prompt is “first time I saw her…” which is screaming 1st person POV at me, obviously 🙂

Book Launch

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Last night I attended Elizabeth Haynes Book Launch for her 2nd novel Revenge Of The Tide

We’re all so proud of Elizabeth. Even only a few days ago we learnt that Amanda Ross has publicly announced that Into The Darkest Corner (Elizabeths brilliant debut) is one of the 4 books she recommends you must read this year! So what with that and being voted as Amazons Book of the Year 2011 and the The TV Book Club Elizabeth is hot stuff at the moment (and long may it continue!!!!).

I met Elizabeth through a writing group (just as she was getting a book deal for the first book) and she has been a wealth of information. Always eager to encourage and share information with those of us who aspire to be where she is now 😉

I went to the last launch (in Central London) with the ladies from the writing group, but this time, as it’s more local, hubby came with me. We read Elizabeth’s first book simultaneously (I bought 2 copies) so no doubt we’ll be doing the same with this new one.

The launch went really well. I got to meet up with the ladies from the Mermaids Writing Group and the lovely Maidstone Writers were all there. Plus, I met a BookCrosser from Essex who I’d corresponded with through email and it looks like I’ll be going to Colchester at some stage 🙂

So, if you’re reading this Elizabeth….CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! it really is much deserved. I wish you luck and success for the future, and can’t wait to be invited to the opening of “The Shed” lol 🙂

Elizabeth looking stunning with her pole dancing cake 🙂

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Yesterday’s prompt about the fog turned from a creepy tale of a woman breaking down in her car on an empty fogged road, to a romance, where along came a knight in silver armour….awwwww, perhaps happy endings aren’t so bad after all 😉 Today’s prompt is write about your fathers eyes. Oooo, errrr, that’s a bit close for comfort….I didn’t even meet mine til I was 26! Lol

I’ve Been Tagged lol

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As part of the Writers Platform-Building Campaign I’ve been tagged by Sarah to answer 11 questions.

The 11 questions Sarah has given me are:

1. What is your weapon of choice?
Ha ha ha, it has to be a fountain pen…..very dangerous in the wrong hands 😉

2. What is the name of the first story you wrote voluntarily?
It was Nanowrimo 2010….. 65,000 words lol. A story about a family, murder, suicide, corruption, and an undercurrent love story. It’s still not finished. It’s WIP title is The Secret Keepers

3. What genre do you write?
Hmmmm…..I’m not sure lol. Everything I write has a dark undercurrent. I’m not sure it really fits into a specific genre, contemporary fiction? 😦

4. Besides reading and writing what are at least 2 of your favourite past times?
I like watching films and I’m an Internet junky…..can I say blogging? Lol 😉

5. What is the coolest/strangest thing you’ve ever done?
Coolest was probably front row at a small Oasis gig…..strangest, for me was probably flying to Toronto all on my own to stay 4 nights at a convention where I didn’t really know anyone. I was sooo brave 🙂

6. What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?
Never, ever give up. If you want to write…..write!

7. What are your 5 most used websites?
Wordpress- FaceBook – Google – Amazon – Wikipedia (I visit every single one every day!)

8. What is your favourite book, author, movie?
My books change frequently….at the moment it’s Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes as for author? I couldn’t possibly pick one. It’s a toss up between Fay Weldon – Linda Gillard – Anita Shreve
Movies are My Fair Lady and Wuthering Heights, the one with Timothy Dalton in (swoon!)

9. If you could be invisible for 1 day what would you do?
Spend the day following a friend or family member around *evil snigger* 😉

10. What are your hopes for your writing future?
To have something published 😉

11. Is there anything else we should know about you?
No, not really, apart from the fact that I’m a huge cat and dog lover lol

So here are my 11 questions 🙂 I’ve tried to be, oh, what’s the word? I’ve tried to use questions that my tagee’s (is that actually a word?) could possibly use as writing prompts….in fact, hmmmm, I might use a couple of them myself lol

1. What thing have you written that you’re most proud of?
2. What are you working on at the moment?
3. Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years time?
4. You buy an old lamp, whilst cleaning it a genie appears…you know the rest lol. Your 3 wishes are?
5. List 2 of your bad habits? Come on, we all have some.
6. If you were a superhero, what special power would you have?
7. Tell us the name of one of your characters, one you really like?
8. What scares you?
9. Sum up your personality in 3 words?
10. Name 2 of your vices?
11. Do you have a pet peeve/hate? What is it?

I’m tagging:

Michael Haynes
Barbara McDowell
Yikici
Jamie Dement
Gwen
Jennifer McMurrain
Sorcha
Sherri Hutchins
RaeAnn

I managed to catch up with my animal dream prompt, which turned into a story of a woman waking up naked in the tigers cage at the zoo. Only she wasn’t actually in the cage, she was outside of it….work that out lol 😉 Yesterday’s Jewel prompt inspired a strange story of a housekeeper who puts on the ring of her employer, which she then can’t remove……today’s prompt is black as a crows wing which sounds rather interesting 😉

Really enjoyed my class Wednesday night, and got some great comments on my short story “Eating Out”…. Will now be submitting it to a comp and a magazine 🙂

I Do Love A Sale ;)

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What can I say, I’m a sucker for a sale! I went to Waterstones in BlueWater yesterday where they are selling some of their stock off for 99p…..sooooo, £15 later…..you do the maths 😉 more TBR’s lol

I still haven’t done yesterdays prompt which was about an unfamiliar object, nor today’s which is the place where wings unfurl so guess what my afternoon will consist of 😉

I did however have a rather fabulous morning today. I was moaning on Face Book at how unmotivated I was in getting my assignment sorted. I kind of had a story, but I just couldnt finish it with the correct word count. Sooooo, the lovely Elizabeth Haynes offered to meet me for a Nano style ‘write in’ at Cafe Nero…… How could I resist? 🙂

I managed to completely finish my story, get my word count up to 2,600 words and do a bit of editing in the 3 hours I was there. So thanks Elizabeth it was the kick up the backside I needed lol 🙂

While we’re on the subject, I can highly recommend Elizabeth’s book

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Even my hubby read it and thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂

Sooooo, all I have left to do on my assignment is some editing….I guess I better go and get started lol 😉

WOW! :)

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I am so chuffed right now! I’ve just received a Kreativ Blogger Award thanks to Sandra Madeira

Thank you sooooo much Sandra :o) When I started this Blog I didn’t expect anyone to read my ramblings, so it’s nice to know that someone does, and actually enjoys it!!!!! 🙂

So, I will play the game 🙂

The Kreativ Blogger award rules are:

1. Share 10 things about yourself that readers may find interesting
2. Pass the award on to 6 other Bloggers. Be sure to leave a comment on their blogs to let them know.

So here goes 😉

10 Things About Myself

1 I’ve only been writing since October 2010. Prior to that I hadn’t wrote any fiction since being at school, a gap of approx 20, ahem, years.
2 I’m a Face Book addict lol
3 I am a yo-yo dieter 😦
4 I attended Swanwick for the first time last year, and will definitely be going again this year, and probably for ever more lol
5 I am a BookCrosser
6 I’m a huge Oasis fan (the band not the drink lol)
7 Dom Perignon is my favourite champagne (expensive taste lol)
8 I work (occasionally) with my husband. We have our own printing business.
9 My favourite authors are Fay Weldon, Anita Shreve, Elizabeth Haynes and Linda Gillard.
10 My daughter is a hairdresser (lucky me) 😉

Blogs I’m Nominating (in no particular order)

Quillers Place A great blog by Sally Quilford, a Pocket Novel author. Always something interesting to read on her blog 🙂

Curly Mum A blog by Beccah, who I met through Nanowrimo. I love hearing about her family life, the perils of a young mum trying to write.

Libro This blog is by a lady called Liz Broomfield who I’ve known for, ooooo, quite a few years 😉 She’s now a full time editor/proof reader and her blog is full of little snippets regarding grammar etc that all us writers really should already know about 🙂

Two Moons I haven’t been reading Jenny’s blog long, but, what I have seen so far is very entertaining.

Strangling My Muse I love Sandy Ackers blog 🙂 If I’m ever stuck for something to write about, this is the place to go!

The Writing Calendar Sally Quilford has put together a calendar of Writing Competitions…..a great resource :o)

That’s it! I would have nominated Sandra’s Place but we don’t want her to get too big headed now do we 😉

Edited to add…… Oh, go on then…..Sandra gets a nomination for the link above, so my list is actually 7 😉

Again, thank you Sandra, I feel very honoured 🙂