Re-launch of Satchfield Hall by Pauline Barclay

Author, Pauline Barclay has been busy behind the scenes working on re-editing and polishing her novel, Satchfield Hall, for a re-launch today. Along with the work between the covers, Pauline has a brand new cover designed by Cathy Helms of Avalon Graphics in the US!

When the news reached Henry Bryant-Smythe about his daughter’s indiscretion, he not only dealt with it, but stamped on it with such a resounding thud, that the consequences ricocheted through the years and well into the future. Henry Bryant-Smythe cared nothing for the consequences of his actions and even less for the feelings of those involved, with the exception of his own, and these he cosseted.

Celia Bryant-Smythe’s disgrace set in motion events that would affect the lives of many people, taking decades to unravel. Lives would be lost and destroyed and it would take until the death of the one man who had callously started it all, Henry Bryant-Smythe, until it was finally over.

Satchfield Hall is not about gentleness, tranquillity and privilege; it is about, power, love, lies and in the end revenge.

Satchfield Hall is available for the Kindle at Amazon.co.uk for £2.32 and at Amazon.com for $3.25. In addition, a paperback version will be released in the coming weeks.

About the Author

Years ago Pauline gained a BA (Hons) degree from the Open University, today she spends her time writing fiction and has three books published: Sometimes It Happens, Magnolia House and Satchfield Hall.

She’s a Yorkshire lass, from the UK but has lived in several different locations including, Suffolk, UK, Surrey, UK and the beautiful country of Holland. Today, Pauline lives on the beautiful volcanic island of Lanzarote in the Canary Isles with her husband and her two gorgeous rescue doggies.

Launch Day for The One Who Got Away by loveahappyending author Jessica Strassner

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The One Who Got Away by Jessica Strassner

Everyone has that person in his or her life….. The One Who Got Away.

For Lucy, that person is Jackson.  Reunited after many years and many changes, Lucy and Jackson find themselves caught in a dilemma.  Both of them are struggling with the fact that their old feelings for each other have been reawakened…

And now both of them are involved with other people.

Should Lucy stay in a comfortable, routine relationship with her boyfriend, Matt, even though he doesn’t make her feel the way Jackson does?  Should Jackson keep going with the flow in his marriage to Sloane, his overbearing wife who is pressuring him to start a family?

What begins as a friendship rekindled, leads to a romance caught on fire as Lucy and Jackson question the decisions they made in their younger years and wonder if they are truly meant to be together.

The One Who Got Away is available for the Kindle at Amazon.com for $2.99 US and at Amazon.co.uk for £2.14.

A Shadow in the Past book trailer

Well, it’s almost ready to reveal. I’ve spent a lot of time today with my face in the computer working on it. And starting from scratch with the Windows 7.0 version of Movie Maker, it’s not so difficult to work with at all. So selecting my photos, transitions, effects and what not took a lot of time, albeit enjoyable. Then I spent a period of time where I was sequestered off in the bedroom recording the audio track of the first two chapters using my Sony MP3 recorder. It didn’t seem like it at the time but when I opened the file in Audacity, it was the better part of half an hour!

Another bonus to Audacity, is I was able to edit out any flubs I made since I don’t read out loud well (and believe me, I flubbed in a few places) and shorten some long pauses when I wasn’t able to move to the next screen on the iPad in a timely manner. My first recording might have lasted 30 seconds and I shut it down on my own. Second time around things went swimmingly but still a few moments but I perservered and finished the recording.

Back in touch with humans, I self-taught myself in the workings of Audacity. It’s a really cool program and am looking forward to doing more things with it than I did today. Anyway, I worked away at editing the audio track… reducing the length of gaps, removing moments of tongue-tideness and cut it down to about 8:00 minutes.

I’ll reveal the finished product here soon so stand by for the official announcement of its unveiling.

 

The Day After the Brian Henry Workshop

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.

I’ve received the Liebster Blog Award

My blogger friend, Janice Horton, has bestowed this award on me because my blog is  fun, creative and friendly. Thank you, Janice.

Rules for accepting the Liebster Blog Award are as follows:

The recipient agrees to:

– Thank the person who gave them the award and link back to that person’s blog
– Copy and paste the award to their blog
– Reveal the 5 blogs they have chosen to award, commenting on their blog to break the news!
– Hope those people in turn pay it forward by accepting and awarding “The Liebster Blog Award” to bloggers they would like to honour.

To be in the running for this award, you must have fewer than 200 followers. 🙂

So, the 5 blogs I’ve chosen to award are… drum roll please…

Scribbles – Pauline Barclay
Romancing History – Rosemary Gemmell
Chris Longmuir, Crime Writer
Chocolate for Writers – Juliette Sobanet
and finally
Twisting in the Wind – Dorothy Bush

Another Brian Henry Workshop coming up

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

Launch Day for The Black Banner by loveahappyending author Helen Hart

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The Black Banner by Helen Hart

‘Gold and Glory!’ The pirates took up the chant. ‘Gold and Glory! Gold and Glory!’ Instantly our men surged from their hiding places, weapons primed… Between snatches of smoke and billowing sulphurous fumes I caught glimpses of fighting… Musket shot whistled through the air and splintered the deck timbers. A dozen pirates became two dozen, and then three as Logan’s men massed on the deck…

1719, and the high seas are plagued by the lawless. Pirates rule the crystal waters of the Caribbean, hunting heavily-laden merchant ships with savage ferocity. Entire crews are condemned to die beneath a cutlass blade unless they swear allegiance to the black banner.

Penniless Becky Baxter (13) is determined to escape a life of poverty. Cropping her hair and dressing in breeches, Becky leaves the backstreets of Bristol far behind to embark on a new life of adventure and fortune on the high seas. But when the ship she’s sailing on is captured by pirates, Becky faces a stark choice: join the pirates, or pay with her life…

Publisher: SilverWood Originals (an imprint of SilverWood Books)
Length: 240 pages
Language: English
Print: ISBN 978-1-906236-46-5

Amazon (UK) paperback (buy): http://amzn.to/p84Ahd for £7.99
Amazon (UK) Kindle (buy): http://amzn.to/pptP82 for £3.58
Amazon (US) paperback (buy): http://amzn.to/qTOIEV for $14.00
Amazon (US) Kindle (buy): http://amzn.to/oFhCQT for $5.00
Author website (buy): http://helenhart.co.uk/

Book Review – Gunther the Underwater Elephant written and illustrated by Ginger Nielson

I recently had the opportunity to read fellow 4RV Publishing author, Ginger Nielson’s, delightful children’s picture book Gunther the Underwater Elephant.

Written for children from ages 4-8, this story tells about a young elephant who discovers that he can swim underwater by using his trunk as a snorkel.

One day while swimming, he gets separated from his family and ends up out of the jungle river and in the ocean where he befriends some other creatures who help him find his way back home.

Each page is filled with colourful illustrations that will fascinate curious children and keep them enchanted from the turn of the first page to the closing of the cover at the end.

Gunther the Underwater Elephant can be purchased from the 4RV Publishing Catalogue during the Christmas sale (ends December 5) for $11.55 US. It can also be purchased from Amazon.com for $12.47 US, Amazon.ca for $16.21 CDN, and on Amazon.co.uk for £9.03. Gunther is also available through Barnes & Noble currently retailing at $11.51 US.

Launch Day for Dear Dee by loveahappyending author Sue Uden

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Dear Dee by Sue Uden

John wants retribution for his daughter’s broken life.  And he wants to fix it.  Nickii, his wife, wants for the pain of this quest to stop threatening his health.  All Jackie wants is for a miracle rewind to take her back to being a young mother living with her husband and children.

Set in the 1980s, Dear Dee is a story of a family struggling to come to terms with living with mental illness.  It highlights in part how a family in need of help and advice could fall through the net of care and support.  At times sad, but also uplifting and, hopefully, raising the odd smile the book tells how they eventually find a sense of peace after tragedy.

Paperback:  195 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 9781848971479
Classification: Fiction
Publisher : Olympia Publishers http://www.olympiapublishers.com

Dear Dee can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk for £6.29 and from Amazon.com for $11.99 US.

My Scottish roots and writing by Melanie Robertson-King