AWARDS IN MIAMI

We finally fell back through our front door last Saturday night after a fantastic week in Florida. We were suffering a bit from jet lag, and DH brought an extra 5 million or so little visitors home too. As a result he’s been sleeping upright ever since. I’ve tried to tell him that’s a small price to pay for being married to an award winning author – he looked less than impressed.

“And a medal winning author at that!” I exclaimed waving the medal in his face. He grunted and reached for the tissues.

Secretly I think he’s quite chuffed and I’m not only thrilled, I’m amazed and flattered and re-energized and I still can’t believe it. It’s such a thrill to think that faceless judges, half a world away, think my writing is worth awards.

A silver medal for Walking over Eggshells in the Inspirational category non fiction and an Honourable mention for Amie an African Adventure. (Personally I think the bright green sticker prettier than the silver one) but Honourable comes after bronze, so she did well too. (Probably much to Amie’s disgust as I shall certainly continue writing about her and putting her through even more horrendous situations).

We stayed at the hotel where the function was held and they ran a shuttle to the Miami Book Fair in downtown Miami. We met up with another writer who – now wait for this – used to teach at the same school in Benghazi, Libya as I had. How likely is that? To meet up in the United States – and as the school wasn’t all that large, there could only have been a couple of dozen teachers there at any one time at the most.

We both drooled at the Readers Favorite book display which was selling copies of our books for St Jude’s charity.

And we also had them on display at the reception desk at the hotel. I threw in a few pens and they disappeared so fast!  (Several of the waiters had them stuffed in their pockets, but you never know, someone might look and log on and buy).

On the Friday evening we sat and listened to several presentations from major players in the book industry, and I tried to get my head around how I can do all these sort of marketing things from rural Spain. Not so easy, there’s the language barrier for a start.

The event itself was great, with the presentation, the interviews and the pictures.

The extra cherry was talking to and interacting with other authors – book people who breathe, sleep, dream and obsess over books – just like me. Sometimes you sit and wonder who cares about books, with computer games and Xboxes and movies and other stuff like that for leisure time – but they are still out there!

I met authors from all over the world and we swapped information and ideas and networked liked crazy.

All in all a fabulous trip, made even better by travelling up to Tampa to stay with a reader I met on Facebook – who organized something very special for me, but more on that next week.

PS  I sneaked a pic of DH in there somewhere – did you notice?

As usual I got carried away while writing this and forgot to mention links to my books etc. So if you want to find out what all the fuss is about you may like to check out a few.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E8HSNDW   Walking over Eggshells

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWFIO5K      Amie an African Adventure

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015CI29O4       Amie and the Child of Africa

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M67NRG4   Amie Stolen Future

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QE35BO2     Truth, Lies and Propaganda

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VF0S3RG      More Truth, Lies and Propaganda

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DPVB4M8                  Unhappily ever After

BIG TRIP CHANG MAI – ENTER THE QUEEN EVERYONE KNOWS

The last place we were taken to in northern Thailand was at Doi Suthep to visit Wat Umong and Wat Phrathat Doi. We had driven up into the forested foothills and stopped in a busy street.

and then whisked up in a cable car to the top of the hill

Which gave us amazing views over Chang Mai

and a vast temple complex.

More pics next week.

APPALLING HISTORY LESSON

By the time Victoria ascended the throne – yes, it’s Victoria, did you guess right? – royalty did not have a terribly good name. George III had been mad, all the fathers and sons had been at each other’s throats and all those extraneous children sired by William did not impress the public either.

She began with flirting with her new Prime Minister Melbourne who was dashing, romantic and dropped compliments like leaves in autumn. No wonder she insisted on seeing him every single day.

Till next week.

Smorgasbord Christmas Reading — Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life

Some great books that would make perfect gifts for all ages from some wonderfully talented authors. If you have a new book that you would like to promote as part of this series then please check o… Source: Smorgasbord Christmas Reading

via Smorgasbord Christmas Reading — Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life

THE BIG TRIP, A COUPLE MORE TEMPLES AND THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION

Now I’m not really here doing my Monday blog – no, I’m in Miami and due to clever technology this will be scheduled to pop into your mailbox on the right day – well maybe – you may have noticed my dismal record for techie wizardry.

I was impressed with the marketing techniques in the Far East. In the western world any attraction secular or otherwise would be surrounded by stalls, shops and hawkers selling cheap, tatty souvenirs. Often there were no retail sales near the temples, and on the occasion there were, these were low key and very discreet.

The temple complex we visited had once been the home of the emerald Buddha which has a fascinating history. It was discovered in Chang Mai in the 15^th century when the covering stucco began to peel off revealing it was made of semi-precious green stone.

Today it is housed in the What Phra Kaew chapel in Bangkok, and 3 times a year the king of Thailand changes the costumes adorning the statue, for the cool season, the rainy season and the hot season.

We were taken to a workshop where they worked aluminium, and I began chatting to a young man from Johannesburg who had travelled over to learn the art.

MORE HISTORICAL INCORRECT INFORMATION

The next queen was informed in her nightgown. That is to say the visitors had arrived very early in the morning after William IV has passed on during the night, so she didn’t have time to get dressed. The dear old sovereign had lasted until his successor was eighteen years and one month old. There was be NO regency!

Of course Mummy was simply furious, especially as her previously biddable daughter’s first command was to have her mother’s bed moved out, in future she would sleep alone – well for now.

Have a great week.

7 Reasons why you will live a mediocre life

Really good points – encapsulated in a nutshell.

Genius Unbound

Most people love the mental image more than they desire to put in the work to get it. They are more in love with how the idea looks, than with the process of taking part in the actions that it requires to make the idea happen.

When it all boils down, it takes no effort on your part to fantasize about the life or the results we want but it takes 100% effort to make it happen. If it takes up too much time and requires a sacrifice, most people wont even make an attempt and they’ll even go out of their way to justify it by creating excuses, or what I like to call “crutches”.

People will dupe themselves into believing  their own excuses because they don’t want to face the fact that they never really wanted the dream in the first place. If this is you, I’m going to give you 7 brutally honest reasons for why your life…

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THE BIG TRIP AND TEMPLES – ENTER NEXT MONARCH

The morning continued visiting more temples and my head was spinning from all the images. They were just amazing. All that gold!!

I admit to breathing a sigh of relief when I saw the tape at the bottom of these steps. I don’t do steps too well.

Everything moves with the times, and these waxwork images of elderly enlightened men are remembered with great respect.

Everywhere we went, we didn’t know which way to look, they were all so lavish, yet the people who cared for them owned almost nothing at all.

As I visited so many of these shrines in quick succession, it was almost as if my brain refused to process it all. It was sensory overload.

 

AWFUL HISTORY LESSON

Now the next monarch coming up had a pretty terrible childhood. Mummy was a bit of a monster if we are to believe the history books. She’d worked out that her daughter just might inherit the throne one day and thought what fun it would be to be regent. So she and her boyfriend (let me hastily add here she was now a widow for the second time), cooked up all the schemes they could while waiting for the fateful day. In the meantime it was very important to look after the daughter. This was taken to extremes – for example she was not allowed to sleep in her own bedroom, or walk down the stairs by herself. She was wrapped in cotton wool and oppressed beyond belief. She wasn’t even allowed to go out and hang around the mall with the boys.

The race was on – would William go to meet his maker before she turned 18? Watch this space!

And have a great week.

Finalist Voting McGrath House Independent Book Awards 2016

I am being a bit crafty here as Sarah Jane Buttfeld, Christopher Fischer and several other good authors are in the finals – um, including me. We’d all love your votes I’m sure and S Jackson is clever enough to post the link – way too techie for me!

When Angels Fly

Please vote in this competition for When Angels Fly, thank you so much. 

Finalist Voting McGrath House Independent Book Awards 2016

Vote for the finalists of each category on your favourite books.

Below are a list of the finalists in each category – based on the nominations received from the start of August. Congratulations to those authors who have been chosen as finalists!

Voting will remain open until 15 November 2016 and winners will be announced before 30 November 2016.

Each category will have one winner receiving a $5 Amazon Gift Card.
There will also be an overall Winner announced with a $50 Amazon Gift Card as a prize.

Link to vote

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AMIE – STOLEN FUTURE

I was really thrilled to read Christoph’s review of Stolen Future. He’s an author I really admire and praise from him is high praise indeed.

Even modestly I have to admit I think this is my best book so far. With each new book I’ve learned something and hopefully put the lessons into practice.

Maybe I should let Christoph tell you what he thinks  🙂

I am quite in awe of this story. The third in this series it features Amie back in Africa with her husband Jonathon. You know something is bound to happen to them again, the suspense starts early and lingers with a sense of impending doom. Being familiar with the characters and their past helped, but you can’t help feeling for admiring Amie as the high octane roller coaster ride of events unfold.
The tension makes the reading quite compelling, even when the pace gives you a few minutes (not more) to breath.
The author’s background in journalism and her familiarity with Africa show: The story is tightly edited and very readable, sharp and concise and sums up many problems some African country face. These blend perfectly into the dramatic and explosive thriller.
I was quite unprepared for some of the events, and found myself on the edge of my seat, finishing the book in two marathon reading sessions. Many series lose their touch as they move along, this has got even better. Superb.

Thank you Christoph for being one of the first to read it.

All three books in the series are available on Amazon – though they say they are not available as a set – sigh.

If you like fast action-packed books set in Africa with a strong female character, you will enjoy this series. (Well Amie doesn’t start out too strong, she’s naive and a bit of a whiner), but she wises up as events overtake her and survives some terrifying challenges.

Amie an African Adventure

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWFIO5K

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LWFIO5K

Amie and the Child of Africa

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B015CI29O4                                                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015CI29O4

Amie Stolen Future

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M67NRG4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M67NRG4

I’d be really thrilled if you could possibly pass this on? Getting the word out is such a challenge!