Desperately Seeking Susan - no, I mean Votes!

August 31st is the last day for voting for the cover of my novel 'His Leading Lady' for August's Cover of the Month Award.

I'm in second place, but need a lot more votes to catch up with - or rather overtake - the one in 1st place.

So I'd be more than grateful if you could visit http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com and vote for my book, and for the great design by Kendra Egert.

You need to wait for the page to load (which can a few seconds as there are so many graphics on the page) and then scroll down to the poll on the right hand side.

I don't think I have a chance of catching up, but I'll persevere until midnight tomorrow - a sign on my optimistic (or stubborn? nature maybe?


Anyway, please vote - and if you add the link to your blog/Facebook page/Twitter/whatever, I'll be forever in your debt. 

You see, I'm Desperately Seeking ....!!

Six Sentence Sunday - First Meeting

Another excerpt from my recently released 'His Leading Lady'.  For those who've read my excerpts about Jess and Kyle's first kiss, I thought I'd go back to show you their very first meeting.

From behind the racks of multi-coloured leotards, leggings and cat suits, she had a clear view of the man who stood near the glass display counter at the front of the shop.  

He had his back to her, but the outline of his broad shoulders in a pale blue polo-shirt gave an impression of hidden strength.  His slim waist and hips in well-fitting dark blue jeans only added to the impact of his tall figure.

His thumbs were looped casually into his back pockets and Jess’s eyes rested momentarily on his firm hands and long slender fingers.  A pianist’s hands, she thought, then let her glance travel up his tanned arms to the back of his head.

His dark hair wasn’t exactly curly, more like a mass of waves that were layered casually into the nape of his neck, which somehow emphasized the ruggedness of the rest of his very masculine body.

More next week!

'His Leading Lady' (#4 in Whiskey Creek Press bestseller list) now available as e-book and paperback from www.whiskeycreekpress.com or from Amazon http://amzn.to/opp1ky

P.S.  While you're here, I really would appreciate your help in my last-ditch effort to get more votes for the cover of 'His Leading Lady' as August's Cover of the Month at Alternative-Read.com. Click here http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/, wait for the page to load then scroll down and you'll find the poll in the right margin.  Many thanks!

Growing Wild

This is the picture prompt for the GBE2 (Group Blogging Experience) this week, with the theme ‘Growing Wild.’  You can find links to the other blogs here.

It was the topic rather than the picture which made me think of other flowers which grow wild.

In 1915, a Canadian doctor, John McCrae was in charge of a field hospital during the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium, tending hundreds of soldiers who were wounded in the carnage of the Western Front.

One of his closest friends died and was buried in a makeshift grave with a simply wooden cross.  Wild poppies were already starting to bloom between the many crosses marking the graves, and this inspired McCrae to write what is probably the most famous poem of that dreadful war.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

The poppies still grow wild in that area of Belgium, but now in peaceful meadows where it’s difficult to imagine the mud, bloodshed and horror of the war which destroyed almost a whole generation of young men.  And, of course, the red poppy became one of the symbols of remembrance of all those who died. 

Six Sentence Sunday - After the Kiss

It's Sunday here in the UK so, for Six Sentence Sunday, here is the final 'After the Kiss' excerpt from my recently released 'His Leading Lady' which continues the aftermath of Jess and Kyle's sizzling first kiss (when Jess is pretending to be her twin sister). For anyone new to Six Sunday, please look back to my previous Sunday posts!

 

Relief, she told herself firmly. All evening she’d been worrying about how the evening was going to end, and when he’d said that he wasn’t coming in, it was simply relief that swept through her  

 
Deep inside, she knew there had been far more than that, but already her mind frantically tried to deny what had happened to her emotions and to her body too, when he'd kissed her. 

 
Instead, she diverted her thoughts to the TV interview the next morning. Once she got through that, this whole charade would be over.  She could go back to Ashfield and forget that Kyle Drummond even existed. 

 

 

While you're here, I really would appreciate your votes for the cover of 'His Leading Lady' as Cover of the Month at Alternative-Read.com.  Click here http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/, wait for the page to load then scroll down and you'll find the poll in the right margin.  Many thanks!

 

'His Leading Lady' (#4 in Whiskey Creek Press bestseller list) now available as e-book and paperback from www.whiskeycreekpress.com or from Amazon http://amzn.to/opp1ky

Wonderland Giveaway Winners!

Winners!

Many thanks to all who stopped by and who voted for my book cover.

Also thanks to Damyanti, SB Stewart-Laing and Ann Best for offering me guest posts or interviews on the blogs.

The winner of the PDF of 'His Leading Lady' is Kathy29156 - I need your email address Kathy!

I'm also trying to contact all those who asked for a guest spot on my blog or on Heroines with Hearts, as I'm sure I can fit you all in :-)  If I haven't contacted you, either by email, FB or Twitter, please email me at paulamartinromances(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thanks again for taking part, and also special thanks to Sylvia for organising this blogfest.

Wonderland Giveaway Blogfest!

I'm taking part in Sylvia Ney's Wonderland Giveaway today, where every participant gives and also, hopefully, receives.

So what am I giving?  Three prizes!
1. A PDF copy of 'His Leading Lady', my recently released contemporary romance, set in London's West End theatre world (check my website for more information)
2. An interview or guest blog here on my blog
3. A guest blog (with promotion opportunity) on our group blog, Heroines with Hearts.

What do you need to do to be in with a chance of winning one of these prizes?
1. Follow my blog (if you're not already a follower)
2. Vote for the cover of' 'His Leading Lady' at http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/ - scroll down to the poll on the right hand side.
3. Leave me a comment, telling me how many votes my cover has, and also which prize you'd like to win.  Comments should be left by August 19th to qualify.  Winners will be announced on August 20th.

Extra 'entries' can be earned by posting an announcement/link to this contest on your own website, blog, twitter, facebook etc. and leaving me a link in the comments. One entry for EACH announcement/link.

Over a dozen authors/artists are taking part in this giveaway.  They each have their own rules so check out what they are giving and hoping to receive by clicking here

Thanks for visiting - and good luck!

Cover of the Month Award

The cover of my contemporary romance 'His Leading Lady', designed by the amazing Kendra Egert, is up for Cover of the Month Award at Alternative-Read.com.
I'd really appreciate your votes for Kendra's cover, which captured the whole essence of my story.

Here's the quick link to the poll http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/ - scroll down to poll on left.

Many thanks!

PS If the poll doesn't show the first time the page loads, try refreshing the page  :-)

 

Six Sentence Sunday - After the Kiss

It's Sunday here in the UK so, for Six Sentence Sunday, here is another excerpt from my newly released 'His Leading Lady' which continues the aftermath of Jess and Kyle's sizzling first kiss (when Jess is pretending to be her twin sister). For anyone new to Six Sunday, please look back to my previous Sunday posts.

She looked at herself again in the mirror and tried to calm her thudding heart. 

She was wearing Lora’s clothes, Lora’s make-up, Lora’s hairstyle. 

Of course, he’d thought that he was kissing Lora, not her, and she’d responded as Lora, hadn’t she?

So that was some damn good play-acting, Jess! 

Except that it didn’t explain her own response.  Not just the way she’d responded to his kiss, but all those other feelings that she didn’t even want to think about.

 'His Leading Lady' (#4 in Whiskey Creek Press bestseller list) now available as e-book and paperback from www.whiskeycreekpress.com or from Amazon http://amzn.to/opp1ky

The Seven Wonders of MY World

My personal Seven Wonders of my world - this is the weekly topic at the Facebook group, The Writers' Post

I had to think long and hard about this topic. Which seven things have changed me - for the better?

Okay, here we go:

1. My family has to come first, of course. My two daughters, who drove me to distraction when they were teenagers, are now (in their 40's) the best of friends. And my two grandsons, as different as chalk and cheese. Matt, the 22-year old, with a university degree, so laid-back and laconic (and still working at Starbucks while he finds a 'real' job), and Jordan, the 17-year-old, so mature and articulate, and so self-motivated. I love them all.

2. Writing has always been as natural to me as breathing, ever since I was 8 or 9. I wrote stories, my diary, long letters, anything. Even when I wasn't writing fiction (for a long gap in my life), I was writing articles. Writing is me, that's the only way I can describe it.

3. My computer and the WWW - how did I ever survive without them? I was into word-processing way back in the 80's - so different from the 'old days' of writing in longhand thern typing out my early novels on an ancient upright typewriter. But it's more than the 'convenience' of transferring my thoughts via the keyboard to the screen and correcting/editing as I go. It's been my link, not just to a wealth of research (yay for google!), but also to my cousins in America, my friends in different parts of the world, and also to other writers and friends.

4. 'The West Wing' - I have to include this TV series as one of the things which changed my life. I got hooked on it, not when it was on TV to start with, but when I bought the DVDs of the show. I've always been fascinated by American history and politics, and this show captivated me, not just because my favourite actor, Martin Sheen, played President Jed Bartlet, but also because it told me so much about American politics. It was also pivotal in my return to writing fiction after a 30+ year gap. I wrote several fan-fiction stories about Jed and Abbey Bartlet (my favourite couple on the show) and, as a result, my fiction muse finally returned and I started writing novels again.

5. Travelling -I LOVE visiting new places, in my own country and elsewhere. I've travelled extensively in Britain, mainland Europe, the Middle East, America and Canada. I've been to places which, at one time, I never thought I would ever visit - the place I used to learn about in Geography lessons many moons ago. I've seen the Pyramids, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Gettysburg, Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the Somme battlefield in France, the Abu Simbel temples at sunrise, and sunset over Galway Bay - just a few of the awesome places I've seen.

6. Ireland - there's just something about this small island which is total magic for me. I only 'discovered' it about 5 years ago, and have been back there 2 or 3 times each year ever since. So much history and scenery, not to mention the friendly people there and the music too. I am totally in love with Ireland.

7. England's Lake District - a beautiful area of lakes and mountains in North West England which I got to know in my teens when my parents bought a caravan there. It's the part of England I love most of all, and has so many memories for me, from being there with my parents to the times when my daughters were younger. I've set two of my novels there, and will probably set more there.

Six Sentence Sunday - After the Kiss

It's Sunday here in the UK so, for Six Sentence Sunday, here is another excerpt from my newly released 'His Leading Lady' which continues the scene of Jess and Kyle's sizzling first kiss (when Jess is pretending to be her twin sister). For anyone new to Six Sunday, please look back to my previous Sunday posts.

As she went into the apartment, she caught sight of herself in the hallway mirror. 

             

“Oh God,” she whispered as she brought both her hands up to her flushed cheeks.  For a few moments she couldn’t think straight.  All she could feel was Kyle’s mouth, his tongue, his whole body, and a quiver ran down to somewhere deep inside her.

             

In the next moment her eyes widened with horror.  How could she have let him kiss her like that? 

'His Leading Lady' (#4 in Whiskey Creek Press bestseller list) now available as e-book and paperback from www.whiskeycreekpress.com or from Amazon http://amzn.to/opp1ky or Fictionwise http://bit.ly/oBqh5u

Our Characters' Instincts

'Instinct' is this week's topic for the Facebook GBE2 group (Group Blogging Experience).  When the topic was first suggested, my mind was totally blank.  I had absolutely no idea what I could write.

Since then, I've already read some excellent posts on the subject - our writing 'instinct', the dangers of ignoring the 'warning bell', a mother's instincts, a teacher's instincts - and many more.

I started to think how one person's instincts can be different from another's.  Our personal 'warning bell' about whether or not something is right is individual to each and every one of us.

From there, my thoughts rambled on (as they do!) about whether we unconsciously confer our own kind of instincts to our characters, or whether they develop their own, which might or might not be the same as ours. 

Put another way, how many of what we call our "instincts" are actually a product of our own background, upbringing, environment and experiences?

My conclusion (I think!) is that the instincts of, for example, a person who has been brought up in a beautiful area of the country surrounded by a loving family can be poles apart from a person who has been brought up in abject poverty and subjected to abuse (of whatever kind).  That's an extreme case.  At a different level, an experienced detective's instincts can be very difference from a young nurse's instincts in their professional lives but possibly the same (or similar) in their personal lives.

Maybe this all shows my muddled thinking at the moment but I'll be very interested in your views - which might help me to clarify my own!