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Jan 31, 2013

Next Big Thing Blog Hop

My first blog hop! This is a great idea it introduces you to other writers’ blogs. There are 10 questions about your latest project and I would like to thank Carole DeSanti for tagging/inviting me to take part.

1. What is your working title of your book (or story)?

It started out as Lottery Protection Agency or LPA for short but that didn’t feel right, I wanted a one-word title and on a trip to England the national lottery had rolled-over that week and everyone was going mad buying tickets. Rollover was born.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea came from watching a TV show about the crazy things that some UK lottery winners do. They quit jobs, squander money on massive houses, expensive cars, they fall out of nightclubs at 1am drunk as a skunk and I wondered why the lottery company didn’t have some kind of unit that looks after lottery winners, protects them from themselves. I created a small close knit team who aren’t perfect but really enjoy what they do.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Rollover is a fast moving British mystery with comedic elements.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Emily Blunt would make a great Nikki Doyle, she’s feisty and could pull off the one liners. Jamie Bamber could handle the role of über boss Simon. Nikki’s colleagues: Philip Glenister as Fred, Gareth David Lloyd as Tony, Sarah Parrish as Beth. Tom Hardy could play Gavin Lancaster or if he wasn’t available Tom Ellis would be a good substitute, they both have that bad boy vibe. Hardest to cast would be the mercurial Lydia, I’m thinking Dervla Kirwan.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

ROLLOVER features an inventive premise, a cast of engaging characters and surprisingly dark undertones. A debut that’s fast, pithy and fun. (thanks to Chris Ewan for providing that!)

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am represented by Kleinworks. We are in negotiations with several publishers at the moment.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

That’s a loaded question. I did nanowrimo in 2007 and that is where the manuscript originated. I started working on it full time about 2 years ago. So 6 years or 2 years depending on your point of view!

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I can’t think of anything I’ve read that is similar. If I were to compare the lead character to any of my favourites it would be Lisa Lutz’s Izzy Spellman.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A combination of Nanowrimo, working in a such a creative environment as King’s English and having so many former english teachers as colleagues. Sue Fleming, Linda Gurrister, Jen Adams and Wendy Foster Leigh are among the many people who critiqued the manuscript.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

I can promise plenty of twists, turns, humour and in Nikki, a flawed narrator who learns from her mistakes (usually) and solves the crime in her own unique way.

So there you have it. Now I'm passing the Next Big Thing torch to some amazing Utah writers. My good friend Donna Bailey. A guest post coming soon from Becky Hall and please visit Lynn Kilpatrick’s brilliant blog. I can’t wait to see who gets tagged next.

Jan 18, 2013

The pitfalls of blurbing e-arcs

First pitfall, I now have arcs stored on two devices. It's easy to forget what is where.


Second pitfall, out of sight... Clutter busters may tell you that piles of books are unsightly (I wholly disagree) but seeing the pile means reading the pile.


Third pitfall, I have to leave post-it notes all over my computer reminding me to blurb e-arcs.



I like my e-reader but I will never love it the way I love physical books.

Jan 17, 2013

The Uninvited, Liz Jensen

I read this yesterday, all I can say is I'm really, really glad I don't have kids. It doesn't help that the kid on the front cover looks like my eldest nephew. Here's the review

In the near future with seas rising, salinity levels increasing and the scientific community on the verge of tearing up Einstein’s theories a pandemic of sabotage breaks out.

Hesketh Lock’s company gets involved as Hesketh is good at finding patterns. Hesketh has Asperger’s syndrome and the sabotage he realizes is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Domestic violence is spiking too, domestic violence caused by children. . .

Jan 4, 2013

Slow Fix, Carl Honore

How many quick fixes have you performed today? And how many will actually work? In truth? not many, from the knee jerk reaction of firing the coach when the football team is on a losing streak to miracle diet pills that promise instant weight loss, we are addicted to the siren song of the quick fix.

In Slow Fix, Honore argues persuasively that long-term changes for the better can’t happen overnight. Among many examples he visits an airbase in the UK where no one hides their mistakes and the place is a lot safer for it and a lifeboat company in Norway that almost went to the wall but was saved by a slow recovery program. Honore also looks at the creative potential of a mixture of disciplines working together in Paris and the benefits (and perils) of crowdsourcing.

Throughout the book Honore sprinkles the ingredients you can use to perform your own ‘slow fixes’ A copy of this book should be on the desk of every CEO and every politician in the world.

Cover of Snow, Jenny Milchman

The whole business started over a quarter of a century ago, worst incident the small town of Wedeskyull ever experienced…

Nora Hamilton married a cop, moved back to his hometown and she’s about to start her own business when everything she ever believed in comes crashing down. Why would Brendan take his own life, did someone take it for him? Nora begins asking questions but she may not like what she uncovers.

2013

After one of our best seasons at TKE ever, its back to reading and blurbing and finishing T'ball.

A great help with this is my new idea board which came courtesy of the 'The Slow Fix' a review of which follows. I took the time to ponder my problem whilst looking through the window that leads onto our back garden and then it hit me, the window.

So now I write my ideas or plot threads on the window. In a stroke I solved my problem and there's the added bonus of the child-like glee I get when doing something I was always told I shouldn't.

Currently flying through arcs of The Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell and The Tooth Tattoo by Peter Lovesey. Also those of you who know that Code Name Verity is an easy handsell for me (our bookclub are reading it in April) and my penchant for reading cascades well, 'Verity' triggered 'A House for Spies' by Edward Wake-Walker and I'm trying to get hold of former Lysander pilot Hugh Verity's memoir 'We Landed by Moonlight' as he features heavily in Wake-Walker's book.