Category Archives: Workshops

Authors, Book Launch, Novel covers, Novels, Publicity, Publishing, Reading, Workshops, Writing

Gilli Allan re-launches Torn in paperback!

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The new cover for Torn by Gilli Allan

the new cover

Gilli Allan’s new cover for both her ebook paperback will be available on September 22nd!

Same great novel… great new appearance, designed by Gilli, herself.

Gilli is thrilled to be able to offer her novel in a new format for those who don’t have e-readers or those who do but love a physical book.

Torn:

You can escape your old life, but can you ever escape yourself?

Jessica Avery is a woman in her early thirties with a three year old son, Rory.  She has made a series of wrong choices in her life – job, men and life-style.  Her job came to a disastrous conclusion.  The men in her life have let her down and her life-style involved too many pills, parties and promiscuity. But she believes that by quitting her old relationship and moving from London to the country, she has escaped all that.  Her choice now is to live a steady, responsible life in a tranquil new environment, putting her son’s needs and her role as mother as her number one priority.

But she finds country life less serene and bucolic than she expected. Her ex-partner tracks her down and assaults her as she leaves a local pub.  Luckily, a witness to the encounter steps in and helps to defuse the situation, but she is left badly shaken.  As an in-comer – and even worse, an ex-investment banker – Jessica is not made very welcome by the local mothers.  Then there is the management of the rural landscape – the interests of commerce versus the preservation of the environment – which begins to engage her interest and concern. She wonders if leaving London was the right move.

The narrative is played out against the low-key background story of a proposed by-pass to the local town. Initially Jessica favours a new road until she realizes the route it might take, tearing through the landscape she’s come to love.  She is torn between the pragmatic and the romantic decision. The friends Jess makes represent the differing positions. There is Danny Bowman, the counter-culture shepherd; his employer, James Warwick, affluent widowed farmer and father to three year old daughter, Sasha; Gilda Warwick, James’s match-making mother; and Sheila, the feminist nursery school owner.

The title – ‘Torn’ – can also be understood as referring to the personal choices which confront Jessica.  Despite vowing she wants no emotional entanglements in her life, she is attracted to two very different men.  She finds, to her cost, that in the face of temptation it is not so easy to throw off old habits and responses.  She is a woman who claims she has never been in love. Eventually she is prompted to re-evaluate this stance and to admit to herself, that beyond an undeniable physical attraction, she has indeed fallen in love, but with which one – the suitable man or the unsuitable boy?

You can buy Torn from the following links:

Amazon.co.uk Paperback *new cover* http://www.amazon.co.uk/Torn-Gilli-Allan/dp/1477517014/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1347292020&sr=1-1

Kindle edition http://www.amazon.co.uk/TORN-ebook/dp/B004UVR81Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347292020&sr=1-1

Amazon.com Paperback *new cover* http://www.amazon.com/Torn-Gilli-Allan/dp/1477517014/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347292265&sr=1-1&keywords=torn+gilli+allan

Kindle edition http://www.amazon.com/TORN-ebook/dp/B004UVR81Y/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1347292265&sr=1-1

You can follow Gilli online at the following links:

Writer Cramped. Gilli Allan’s Blog
On Facebook Gilli Allan
On Twitter @gilliallan
And over at Famous Five Plus

Authors, Novels, Reading, Videos, Workshops, Writing

Wanted – One New Member!

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Loveahappyending.com is looking for one new Member!

HEARD THE BUZZ ABOUT A SUMMER AUDIENCE?

Yes? But have you heard that we are looking for one more author to join us?

 That could be YOU!

Have YOU bought your ticket for a Summer Audience yet http://loveahappyending.org/buy-tickets-now? 17 authors, a full programme of speakers and an address by celebrated author
Jeannie Johnson

If you are a reader, writer or even a

 

published author, then you will LOVE

A Summer Audience on 16 June 2012

Being held at:
Sir William Romney’s School in Tetbury, Gloucestershire

It’s a day of talks that will interest everyone who loves books – from branding and publishing, through to an insight into some very personal writing journeys. Readings from a wide range of genres, mini-workshops and mingling. A fun summer day out, that we hope will encourage a few new writers to begin their journey and for the more experienced to hear other new authors sharing their knowledge. But also for avid readers who are interested in getting a glimpse of the before and after life of a published novel.
loveahappyending.com has 30 featured authors who were hand-picked and ‘invited’ to be members of our group … but we are marking our first ever event in a very special way – we are looking for our 31st author!

One lucky ticket holder who enters our ‘No. 31 Competition’ by 6 June 2012 will be chosen to join our group and become a loveahappyending.com featured author.

Rules:
1. Purchase a ticket; one entry per person and a ticket number MUST be provided
2. Open to new writers and published authors alike, who are keen to join a mutually supportive and active group to promote each other’s work
3. Applicants must have a Twitter and FB account and be active on social media on a regular basis. This is a 100% active group
4. Entry requirements are listed below and must be received by midnight on 6 June 2012. Entries after that time may not be considered
5. A panel of loveahappyending.com members will pick the winner and their decision will be final
6. Please click through to read our website rules and confirm in your Email that you are happy to accept those rules if you are offered a place.
How to apply –
Send a short Email to : loveahappyend@gmail.com with the following
information:
Name (if you use a pen name please supply your real name as well) Ticket number Country in which you live Genre/genres in which you write What have you written to date? Please list titles; if you are working on your first manuscript indicate when you expect to complete it Do you have a blog/website? Please insert URL Your Twitter A/C: @name

Answer the question ‘Why would you like to join our group’ – just a short paragraph Confirm you have read and agree the website rules
You will receive an automatic response confirming your Email has been safely received. Please note that this is a Inbox

And to those who enter – good luck, we can’t wait to see who will be joining
our wonderfully supportive group of Authors and Associate Readers!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ApKgIG68jFY”

Authors, Interviews, Novels, Publishing, Reading, Reviews, Workshops, Writing

Passionate about books?

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A new summer experience…

loveahappyending.com

presents …. a Summer Audience

of Readers and Authors at Sir William Romney’s School,

Tetbury, Gloucestershire in the UK

 

Passionate about books? Interested in new authors, writing in general, and gaining an insight into what a writer’s world is all about from that very first idea through to the final novel? This fun day out is hosted by loveahappyending, an interactive Reader/Author website.

 Keynote speaker: celebrated author Jeannie Johnson

A Summer Audience is a relaxed and friendly event aimed at READERS and those who think they might like to begin writing. Fun, informative and a chance to chat with a passionate, talented and enthusiastic group!

Throughout the day there will be:

*        Interesting talks & readings by authors you may have already read and some exciting newcomers

*        How to get published … find out about the various options open to writers

*        Learn a little more about the loveahappyending.com project—and how to become an Associate Reader

*        A chance to attend a fun workshop on the day to learn about the writing process

*        Cast your vote for the loveahappyending.com Author competition – one lucky voter will win a stack of books

*        Look at the displays and examples of some new Authors’ work; buy signed copies

*        Branding and self-publicity — take part in a discussion and let our Authors know what YOU think

Saturday 16 June 2012

10am—4pm

Light lunch included

 coffee at 9.30am

             £20 per ticket if purchased before 1.3.2012  (£25 after that date)

To purchase tickets online:-

http://loveahappyending.org/buy-tickets-now/

Alternatively to reserve tickets and pay by cheque Email: loveahappyending.com@gmail.com

 or phone: (UK)  07906377571; (Int) +44 7906377571

Articles, Family, Stories, Workshops, Writing

The Day After the Brian Henry Workshop

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On Saturday, November 19th, my husband and I both Brian Henry’s inspirational and motivational writing workshop “Writing your life & other true stories” in Kingston.

I always learn something at Brian’s workshops, and yesterday was no exception. My husband and I share an interest in genealogy and we thought that being able to tell the story in an interesting way would be far better appreciated by the family whose stories we’d be writing.
The genealogy software we use does create “book” format but it contains just raw genealogical data and while that’s good, there’s no personal reflections, memories, observations in it. Mind you, if you’re writing about someone/something from the 1800s or earlier, you’re not going to have much to go on other than a general social history of the time (since you weren’t alive then) and assume that your ancestors were in the same predicament as everyone else. If you’re lucky, you had an ancestor who could read and write and kept journals.
Whether either one of us tackles a segment in time of one of our ancestor’s lives and writes about it remains to be seen, although I have written articles on Home Children, including one on my father. Still not quite the same as a novel-length memoir.
Now that I have the knowledge of how to write it and the tricks of using novel writing techniques to get it “on paper”, I’ll be much better equipped for when the times comes.
I’m looking forward to my next workshop with Brian.
Family, Photographs, Stories, Workshops, Writing

Another Brian Henry Workshop coming up

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On Saturday, November 19th, I’ll be attending another of Brian Henry’s inspirational and motivational writing workshops in Kingston.

“Writing your life & other true stories” workshop, Sat, Nov 19, in Kingston

  
Writing your life & other true stories
Saturday, November 19, 2011
1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Lions Club, 935 Sydenham Road, Kingston. (Map here.)

Have you ever considered writing your memoirs or family history? This workshop will introduce you to the tricks and conventions of telling true stories and will show you how to use the techniques of the novel to recount actual events. Whether you want to write for your family or for a wider public, don’t miss this workshop.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Moncton. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.

Fee: $32.74 + 13% hst = $37 paid in advance
or $35.40 + 13% hst = $40 if you wait to pay at the door.

To reserve your spot, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Novels, Publishing, Workshops

After the Sabrina Jeffries workshop…

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I think everything I learned at the all-day Sabrina Jeffries workshop last weekend has finally been totally digested and assimilated. Afterwards, everyone said they felt the light go on for them and their writing. For me it was more like light flashbulbs going off and I was on the red carpet amidst all the brilliant bursts of light. WOW!

I came away knowing that I’m going to split my first manuscript into two, where it will be split, how it will end – and best off all I’m feeling confident that my decision is the right one.

Things are moving in the right direction.

Thank you Sabrina!