W.I.P. Wednesday - 29th Feb

Hazel Osmond is joining me today to talk WIP

Photo courtesy of author

I am currently writing Book 3 which will be out in 2013 – working title ‘Grace under Pressure’. It’s about Grace who is a very calm, very organised person who likes her routines and works for a company that organises art tours in London. When a brash young American guy joins the company to give tours on more cutting edge art, weird things start to happen – pictures get stolen from galleries and Grace’s life starts to unravel. As it does, the reason why Grace keeps herself so in control, start to emerge.

I have a deadline of the end of April for the manuscript to be with Quercus, my publisher so I’m at that adrenaline pumping stage where you can’t make any more excuses about just needing another cup of coffee to get started. I’ve been an advertising copywriter for years, both in an agency and freelance, and I’m used to working to deadline… in fact, I feel a bit lost without one and have this weird notion that what I write is better when the pressure’s on.

Obviously I love writing – everything about it from getting the story idea to the planning to the writing and then the re-writing and the editing. Absolutely. Love. It. And I also really enjoy the research that’s involved. Again, as a copywriter, I’ve been used to researching topics so that you end up knowing quite a lot about, sometimes, fairly obscure subjects. For Book 2 ‘The First Time I Saw Your Face,’ which is out late summer, I had to research the skills blacksmiths use, the sheep farming year, library tasks and alcoholism! (Yup, it’s a hell of a book!)

This time it’s art I’m researching and I’ve just spent a couple of days down in London going to contemporary art galleries. I have tried not to stand in front of some of the installations, etc. scratching my head, but there is definitely a type of art that does not speak to me, or if it does, it’s saying something incomprehensible.

‘Who’s Afraid of Mr Wolfe’ – published April 2011

‘The First Time I Saw Your Face’ – to be published August 2012

www.hazelosmond.co.uk

Twitter : @hosmond

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hazel-Osmond/180418321996194

Review - Queen Hereafter - Susan Fraser King

• Publisher: Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc); Reprint edition (15 Jan 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-0307452801
• Also available as Kindle

The blurb

Refugee. Queen. Saint. In eleventh-century Scotland, a young woman strives to fulfill her destiny despite the risks . . .
 
Shipwrecked on the Scottish coast, a young Saxon princess and her family—including the outlawed Edgar of England—ask sanctuary of the warrior-king Malcolm Canmore, who shrewdly sees the political advantage. He promises to aid Edgar and the Saxon cause in return for the hand of Edgar’s sister, Margaret, in marriage.

A foreign queen in a strange land, Margaret adapts to life among the barbarian Scots, bears princes, and shapes the fierce warrior Malcolm into a sophisticated ruler. Yet even as the king and queen build a passionate and tempestuous partnership, the Scots distrust her. When her husband brings Eva, a Celtic bard, to court as a hostage for the good behavior of the formidable Lady Macbeth, Margaret expects trouble. Instead, an unlikely friendship grows between the queen and her bard, though one has a wild Celtic nature and the other follows the demanding path of obligation. 

Torn between old and new loyalties, Eva is bound by a vow to betray the king and his Saxon queen. Soon imprisoned and charged with witchcraft and treason, Eva learns that Queen Margaret—counseled by the furious king and his powerful priests—will decide her fate and that of her kinswoman Lady Macbeth. But can the proud queen forgive such deep treachery?

Scotland, 1067, Margaret , her mother and sister are taken ,by ship, to Scotland on the orders of her brother Edgar.  This Saxon family are in need of shelter and protection after the death of their father, King Edward. 

They are given sanctuary by King Malcolm, III, a fierce man who seeks a wife. This is not a match that Margaret desires, but fears this will be her destiny as a dutiful sister to Edgar.

Margaret finds herself falling for Malcolm and Scotland after the initial realisation that these people live and behave differently . 

I was really looking forward to reading this tale about Margaret of Scotland, even though this is a period I know little about.   I struggled a little with the connections of all the characters, and could not have done without the  Genealogy map at the start of the novel.

Susan Fraser King has written a beautiful novel, fitting to the time period, that captures the wild landscape of The Highlands, in a turbulent time religiously and socially for the Scots, Normans and Saxons .   

A lovely read once I found my way around the 11^th Century and genealogy.

4 out of 5 for me!

review copy

Tagged!

I have been Tagged by the lovely Spangle at The Oliva Reader


Please do go and visit her.


As you must all know by now.  I am just a mirage, figment of your imagination, you are hallucinating ......
I am on a blog break of sorts, well there are still guest posts, giveaways, and reviews going on here, but I am not about so much.


Just could not resist this one!


Rules (which I am breaking a little)

The Tag rules;

1. You must post the rules!

2. Answer the questions and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.

3. Tag eleven people and link to them.

4. Let them know you’ve tagged them

The questions.....


If you could live in a fictional world, where would that be?


Oh, purely fantasy but I would like to live somewhere like the setting for Little House on the Prairie, but close enough to reach society, but not close enough to realise it. :)

Do you read in noisy or quiet places?


Both.  I save my more difficult reads for when the kids are at school or in bed.  I have a little quirk, in that I do love to read when my other half is watching the footie on TV.  I can cope with that level of noise and everyone is quiet.

What was the first book you ever read?


I cannot remember that far back, can I?  
Janet and John by Ladybird as a new reader at school.  
The first novel I remember finishing would have been Charlie and the Choc Factory by Roald Dahl

If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?


I wouldn't even know where to begin choosing this one.

Favourite author?


On the spot now!  I love the work of Maggie O'Farrell, Linda Gillard, Phillipa Gregory, and many more.

Do reviews influence your choice of reads?


To a certain degree.  There are some regular bloggers that I trust to tell me if a book is not worth reading.  This may influence me to avoid a book, but it also depends on whether that book has had great reviews elsewhere.

Fiction or Non fiction?

Fiction - to take me away from my stressful life.

Have you ever met your favourite author?

No, but I was rather excited to find that one of my favourite authors is following me on Twitter this week!  :)

Audio books or Paperbacks?


Paperbacks.  I did try audio recently, but did not really get on with it.  I don't have the time to sit and listen, sometimes due to noise levels at home, sometimes because I am moving around the house too much.  With a paperback I can pick it up and put it down at a moments notice.

Classic or Modern Novels?

Modern take over as there are so many fantastic novels coming out, but I do try to read a few classics, too.

Book Groups or Solitary Reading?

I envy those in Book Groups. I would think I have made it if I was in a book group.  Sadly, I do not have the time.

Winners!

Congrats to.....

Lucinda Fountain

A Russell

Congrats to.....

Lindsay

Julie

Winners have been notified by email

Thank you.

W.I.P. Wednesday - 22nd Feb

Today, Carole Matthews shares news about her research for her latest WIP.

The Joy of Research

Photos courtsey of Carole Matthews

Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will know that I’ve recently come back from a fabulous trip to Lapland. It was undertaken in a tearing hurry when I came up with a brilliant idea (well, I think so!) for my Christmas book 2013. All my friends laugh at me when I say I’m doing a ‘research trip’ and jet off to somewhere exotic but, as a writer, I really don’t think you can actually beat going to a place and doing the things that you’re planning to write about. Sometimes that simple act can throw up all kinds of plot ideas that you hadn’t previously thought of. I know that with my last book - Wrapped Up In You - readers said they really enjoyed the descriptions of Africa. Yes, you can do a lot from the internet these days, but actually being there is a whole different experience. As a total hothouse flower, a cold, cold trip wouldn’t be my first choice, but Lapland was simply magical. I spent a day dogsledding, drove a snowmobile, stayed a night in the Ice Hotel and saw the simply fabulous Northern Lights. The whole experience was very special and I have some great material to draw on.  I’ve put a few funny Things I’ve Learned About Lapland on my blog:  http://www.carolematthews.com/2012/01/things-that-i-learned-in-lapland/

When I’ve shelled out a lot of money for a research trip, I try to make sure I do as much as humanly possible while I’m in the country. If my books are set in downtown Milton Keynes, it’s easy to pop back to somewhere if you’ve forgotten something. With this trip to 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle, it’s less so. Then I have to make sure that I have all my bases covered.  There’s no popping back! I write an extensive journal every day and Lovely Kev takes oodles of photos to remind me of what we’ve done.  (There are some fab pics up on Facebook). We have a big folder on every country we’ve ever visited!  So if we ever run out of money for research trips, it will be back to the filing cabinet which is filled with some wonderful memories.

I do two books a year now and work about eighteen months in advance. My publishers like to have a long lead time so that they can sell into supermarkets and plan some great publicity campaigns. It all takes time. I’ve already delivered my summer book for 2013 and have edited my book for this Christmas! And sometimes I wonder where the years disappear to!

SUMMER DAYDREAMS is out now in hardback and on Kindle, but I’ll be doing a lot more promotion for the paperback which follows on 24 May.

I’m on Twitter and Facebook. Come and chat to me there.

www.carolematthews.com

Review - 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 218 KB
• Publisher: Mondave Communications via CreateSpace (30 May 2011)
• ASIN: B0053GCGFS

This novella by Carolyn Moncel wraps up the story with a satisfying ending and although, I would like to have seen it as a full novel, it was an enjoyable read.

It was not all hearts and flowers, it was real. Affairs, tangled relationships are not always as easy and satisfying as some stories would lead us to believe.

I really enjoyed getting to know how the characters were feeling about their role in this love triangle and what happens eventually.

This is available on Kindle and would make a lovely quick read.

3 and half stars for me.

review copy

Review - Netherwood by Jane Sanderson

• Publisher: Sphere (29 Sep 2011)
• ISBN-13: 978-0751547634
• Also available on Kindle

The blurb

Above Stairs:

Lord Netherwood keeps his considerable fortune, and the upkeep of Netherwood Hall, ticking over with the profits from his three coal mines.  The welfare of his employees isn't a pressing concern - more important is keeping his wife and daughters happy and ensuring the heir to the family wealth, the charming but feckless Tobias, stays out of trouble.

Below Stairs:

Eve Williams is the wife of one of Lord Netherwood's employees.  When her life is brought crashing down, Eve must look to her own self-sufficiency and talent to provide for her three young children.  And it's then that 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' collide in truly dramatic fashion......

Coal mining was big business in the early 1900's.  It was a time of great changes socially and economically, but the class divide was still very apparent.  The mine owners were uneasy about the new wave of mining unions fighting for better conditions for the miners.

In this fabulous novel, the author explores those changes with a fast paced and action packed story that does not favour either of the classes.   The author has a real talent for scene setting and describing every last detail, whether it be the dressing of the ladies at the Hall or the working conditions down the mines.  I soaked up every line of the exciting and emotional read.

I read the author's acknowledgements first and was confident that the research aids she had used, including a book about the Fitzwilliam family, was going to make for a great read.  I was not disappointed.  These two books compliment each other. I am glad I have read both.

A magnificent debut novel from Jane Sanderson. When is the sequel due?   

My first 5 star read for 2012.  


Thank you to Sphere for a review copy

Review - Russian Winter - Daphne Kalotay

Look at that gorgeous cover!

The blurb

When Nina Revskaya, once a great star of the Bolshoi Ballet, decides to auction her jewellery collection, she believes she has finally drawn a curtain on her past.  Instead she is overwhelmed by memories of her life a half-century before.

It was  in Russia that she fell in love - and where, spurred by Stalinist aggression, a terrible discover led to a deadly act of betrayal.

Now living in Boston, Nina has kept her secrets for half a lifetime.  But two people will not let the past rest: Drew Brookes, an inquisitive young associate at the auction house; and Grigori Solodin, a professor who believes the jewels may hold the key to his past.  Together these unlikely partners unravel a literary mystery whose answers hold life-altering consequences for them all.

Oh, wow!  This is a stunning debut from Daphne Kalotay and is going to the top of my Best Reads for 2012!

The novel moves back and forth between modern day Boston and post World War 2 Russia.

The story centres around 3 main characters...

Nina - a principal dance with post war Bolshoi Ballet.  As graceful in her mind in her frail 80's as she was on stage all those years ago, she decides to auction her collection of precious jewellery to benefit others.  As the attention from the media focuses on this collection saved as Nina fled Russia, there are deep secrets from the past that are about to surface.

Grigori - professor, widow and owner of a precious piece of the collection that is about to be auctioned.  He decides to donate this piece of his history in the hope he will find answers to his questions about his past.

Drew - associate of the auction house.  She gets caught up in the story behind this collection and wants to know more about the jewellery and the people involved.

This novel was an absolute pleasure to read.  I fell in love with the characters and just had to know about the past.  The author's writing was a elegant and graceful as the ballet, and the suspense was a real page turner. 

I really enjoyed the way the author gave me another little piece of the jigsaw in either the past or present to then quickly change back to the other timeframe.

I thought I have the past all wrapped up but still wanted to carry on reading to find out with the characters how that came to be, only to find a bittersweet twist I just wasn't expecting.

5 out of 5 for me!

review copy 

Midwife of Venice - Roberta Rich - Blog Tour

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Ebury Press (16 Feb 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-0091944902
• Also available on Kindle
• 
  

Today Roberta Rich joins us as part of her blog tour for The Midwife of Venice.



Where did you get that idea?
 
Most writers, myself included, dread being asked this question. Often I just don’t know or can’t remember, so I just make something up like, ‘it came to me in a dream,’ or ‘the same thing happened to my sister.’
 
However, here are five genuine examples from my debut novel, The Midwife of Venice or from its sequel, (tentatively entitled), The Levirate Marriage.  Here goes―the creative process made real. The straight goods. I vividly remember being smitten with these ideas.
 
1. Birthing Spoons: I visited the Jewish museum in the Venetian ghetto and saw a pair of silver spoons resting slightly crossed, in a display case in such a way that I was reminded of my daughter’s birth which required forceps. And so my heroine, Hannah is struck with the idea of forceps as she is ladling out beet soup one Sabbath dinner. 
 
2. Make-up: I have always loved make-up and rarely leave the house without a bare minimum of mascara, lipstick, eyeliner, etc. It comes of having pale skin and a mother who always thought I was anemic and would, during winter months, force bitter ‘tonics’ down my throat.
 
Years ago, I started experimenting with mixing my own skin creams and got rather good at it. I read that kohl was originally made from soot and grease from cooking pots. I tried it but it made my eyes smart. I read a biography of Helena Rubenstein, who was a great instinctive chemist and thought of rich women using cosmetics compounded from ground pearls and powdered gold. I used this idea in The Midwife in a scene in which Jessica, a courtesan, dresses for an evening at the theatre. 
 
3. Coins on an icy window: In the first chapter of The Midwife, my protagonist, Hannah is looking out her frosty window one cold Venetian winter and melts two eyes holes with a pair of coins so that she can peer down into the square below. 
 
I grew up in an old brick house  in Buffalo, New York built just after the American Civil War. The house lacked central heating. On winter nights my sister and I used to warm pennies on our tongues and press them to the glass so we could watch the cute boy across the street out shoveling snow. 
 
4.  Scar on back: In the 16^th century, before the days of fingerprints, photos and DNA, how could one confirm a long lost person was who she said she was? One way was identifying marks on the body.
 
I used the lack of a scar as a way of raising suspicions about Ada, one of the characters in The Levirate Marriage, who is not who she claims to be. 
 
Ada’s late husband spoke of her having a scar on her back from a drainage tube when she suffered from pleurisy as a child. Ada has a mark on her back but is it from an operation or is it simply a burn mark?
 
My mother, as a child, contracted pleurisy. It was long before the days of antibiotics. The doctor inserted a tube in her back to drain her lungs. 
 
5. Eating a rat: Last year my husband and I visited the maritime museum in San Diego, California. The oldest sailing ship of the lot was the Star of India, a square-rigged beauty.  Her walls were covered with enlargements of diary excerpts from passengers who made the trip from  Britain to New Zealand. Many mentioned ‘ship’s steak’’ and described different cooking methods. It was all wonderfully disgusting and an entirely fitting ordeal for my villain to endure. 
 
So there you are. Ideas all come from somewhere. The trick is to remember where. 
 
  
Roberta Rich 
Author of The Midwife of Venice


Find out more about Roberta  Rich  here

MIdwife of Venice Blog Tour

Personal message

Guys,


I need a break.  I love reading and reviewing. I love the blogging community.  I love twitter and facebook.
All these medias take up a lot of our free time.


Free time is something I don't have a lot of at the moment.  


On top of being a full time mum to 3 children, I am organising my wedding which is in September.
After telling my partner, we could not organise a wedding in less than 12 months, I actually had no idea how much work was involved in organising it in just over 6 months!


The main reason I began blogging was my love of books.
I want to concentrate my only free time, in the next few weeks on reading the lovely books that are waiting to be reviewed.


I do have some guest authors, giveaways and features coming up on the blog and these will not stop, but I want to take a break from the community side of blog/twitter/facebook, for a few weeks.


I do hope you will understand if I do not comment on your blogs, or tweet for a little while and hope you will all still be here when I get back into the swing of things.


Love


Carol
DizzyC   xx

W.I.P. Wednesday 15th Feb

I follow many authors and new writers via facebook, twitter and blogs. 

Often I see questions I feel sure are for research for their latest WIP, or what their word count for that day is,  or the fact that twitter/facebook is keeping them from working and wonder.....What are they working on now?  When will we see the next book?

Now we can find out with W.I.P. Wednesday

Photos courtesy of the author

Today Linda Mitchelmore tells us more about her W.I.P.

At present I am nearing the end of the edits on my debut novel TO TURN FULL CIRCLE which has a publication date from the publishers, Choc Lit, of 7th June 2012. 

This is an historical romance set in a Devon seaside fishing town between the years 1909 and 1911. My heroine is orphaned Emma Le Goff a young girl who, despite the awful position she finds herself in, has spirit and ambition. TO TURN FULL CIRCLE  is the first in a planned trilogy. 

I've begun the sequel but there's a way to go with that yet - it looks at the end of book one that all will be well for Emma and her hero, Seth - but will it be plain-sailing?? I'm giving nothing away at this stage! 

The third in the trilogy is a little niggle at the back of my mind at the moment, although I do know what period I want it to be set in - late 1920's. Emma Le Goff will feature in all three.

I have a launch evening and booksigning booked up at The Torbay Bookshop in Paignton for Thursday, 7th June from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. or thereabouts. Wine will be served. Conversation is sure to flow. And the good bookshop is a Thornton's franchise as well as selling artisan-made chocolates, so what reason could anyone have not to come along??

 

 I also write short stories, my biggest markets being Woman's Weekly and My Weekly in the UK, Allas in Sweden, Hjammet in Norway, and That's Life! Fast Fiction in Australia.

I'm a member of The Romantic Novelists' Association and was awarded the Katie Fforde Bursary in 2004, so this novel has been an embarrassingly long time coming.....but all good things come to those who wait, I say.

 

Now, life throws some curved balls at time and the one that got me was losing my hearing to some sort of virus - just a gradual decline at first then massive drops which meant I was offered a cochlear implant in 2002. Deafness is quite isolating and I began to write as a way of communication......thousands of people read your words in women's magazines so it felt like I was talking to them through my stories. It was then a short hop to an agent (for short stories, although that agency has since closed, alas) and then membership of the RNA's New Writers' Scheme.

My cochlear implant opened up my life for me because it has enabled me to have one-to-one conversations (group things still a bit difficult) and has given me the confidence to get out there and meet people rather than have my head stuck in a book at home. Being a member of the RNA has further enhanced my life through the wonderful people I have met, and the places I have been.

 

I have a blog www.lindashortstories.wordpress.com

My Twitter is @lindamitchelmor - without the e on the end as there was another person with the same name.

Facebook page -  Linda Mitchelmore

I'm also a member of an online blog http://novelpointsofview.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Linda.   I will be looking out for To Turn Full Circle

DizzyC

Russian Winter - UK/Ireland Giveaway

The publisher has kindly offered 2 copies to giveaway to UK/Ireland addresses only.

• 
  
• Publisher: Arrow (5 Jan 2012)
• 
  
• ISBN-13: 978-0099547396

If you would like to be entered into the giveaway for a copy, please complete the following form.


UK/Ireland addresses only


Closes 21st Feb 2012


Please see giveaway policy

Guest Author - Daphne Kalotay

Today I have the honour and pleasure of introducing Daphne Kalotay, author of the historical novel Russian Winter as part of her blog tour.

Photos courtesy of Author/publisher

The UK cover

Blog tour schedule......


Monday, February 6th: She Reads Novels
Wednesday, February 8th: Reading With Tea
Thursday, February 9th: Fleur Fisher in her world
Tuesday, February 14th: DizzyC’s Little Book Blog
Wednesday, February 15th: Pining for the West
Thursday, February 16th: Chuck’s Miscellany
Monday, February 20th: one more page
Tuesday, February 21th: I hug my books
Wednesday, February 22th: The Sweet Bookshelf
Thursday, February 23rd: A Book Sanctuary

1)  Daphne, Please tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a writer and teacher whose first book, Calamity and Other Stories, was published by Doubleday in 2005; I’m a big fan of short fiction and love writers like Chekhov and William Trevor.  Russian Winter is my first novel and brings together my love of dance and my passion for Russian literature.  In it, I hope to show that history is the thread that unites us all, whether or not we are aware of the ways we are connected to people we may never know.    

2) How did you come to write Russian Winter?

I wanted to write a story about an American student of Russian literature who falls in love during the same winter that she is helping out an old woman—a former Bolshoi ballerina—who is preparing to move into a nursing home.  The dancer owns an amber necklace of mysterious provenance that seems to have strong significance to her, and the student begins to tease out the truth behind it.  But the story was very long, and I realized I needed the space of a novel to fully explore the potential subplots. In the novel, the amber necklace is the link between the narrative threads.

3) Researching this book must have been very interesting; what part of the research did you enjoy the most?

I loved reading first-person accounts of life behind the Iron Curtain, as uncomfortable as many of those narratives were. I kept a list of details about Moscow and daily life in the USSR and tried to learn as much as I could about that time period.  I also traveled to Russia, but only after I’d completed the book, because I was worried that seeing Moscow’s current incarnation would upset the historical version I had created in my mind.

3) What are you working on next?

I’ve been writing another novel, about professional musicians living in Boston.  I’m still very interested in what it means to be an artist, and in the transformative power of the arts. 

4) What book/s is/are on your bedside table?

I’m reading three books right now:  Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids, Alex Gilvarry’s wonderful novel From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant, and the letters of Penelope Fitzgerald, a writer I particularly love

Thank you, Daphne for taking time to answer my questions.

 Daphne's website, her Facebook page, and the reading group guide.

DizzyC

Guest Author - Kathy Dunnehoff

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

Today I have the honour and pleasure of featuring Kathy Dunnehoff, read on to discover a gift from Kathy to all readers....

Photos courtesy of the author

Valentine's week and I'm thinking about when I'm going to find the time to make cupcakes for my daughters (13 & 16 but still in need of treats!), have lunch with my husband (I'm teaching at a community college Valentine's Day night, unfortunately), clear a way to the broken hot water heater when the plumber arrives, and launch my third novel (this year!)

And the best part about being a woman? I know that everyone out there has a variation of just this kind of life. It's what brings us together for chatting and complaining and support. And, I suppose, it's both what I live and what I write about.

I set out to tell women's stories fifteen years ago. I'd been writing since childhood, but the novel didn't capture my interest as a writer until my oldest daughter was one. With a newly mobile baby, it seemed like a good time to launch into novel writing! Of course, there's nothing logical about wanting children or writing novels, so both actually did come from the same impulse.

And I was right. I was right to want the babies that became toddlers and now teenagers, and I was right to put what extra time and energy I had into telling women's stories. This week my first novel hit the Amazon Kindle Top 100 list. It was exciting and overwhelming, and I'm very grateful, but that's not why I was right to be on this path. The real reason is that writing women's stories, living with them for a year at a time, makes me happy.

Sitting here in my little home office in Montana, I love what I do. And while having readers is the Valentine's Day present I hold in my hands with joy and appreciation, writing is the Valentine's Day present I give to myself. I wish for all of us, amid the cupcake baking and plumbers, a Valentine's Day with a little something for ourselves.

As a Valentine's Day present from me… 

Back To U is a free e-book all day February 14^th!

Here

Kathy Dunnehoff is the award-winning, bestselling author of the romantic comedies, The Do-Over, Plan On It, and Back To U. Despite her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Montana, she finds herself warehouse shopping for ketchup way too often, blogging and tweeting about the mixed joys of mid-life, and guarding writing time from family invasion!

She teaches writing and creativity courses at Flathead Valley Community College, her screenplays have placed in numerous competitions, and she was a recipient of a Zola Award for fiction from the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association.

Kathy Dunnehoff titles

The Do-Over: 

 Just before her fortieth birthday, Mara Jane Mulligan, devoted wife and mother, runs out of bubble bath, and the ensuing panic attack drives her to Canada for more. She realizes that one foamy soak probably won't cure what ails her, so she takes a 30 day vacation from her life. (What woman doesn't need one of those?)

Surely her family will understand. Her son's visiting Grandma, and maybe her husband won't even miss her. Unfortunately, her husband doesn't miss much and tracks her to Abundance, a Vancouver bubble bath company.

As her 30 days sail by, Mara Jane Mulligan discovers she has a decision to make that even Dorothy couldn't avoid... Will she click her heels for home or kick them up for good?

http://www.amazon.com/Do-Over-Romantic-Comedy-ebook/dp/B00537STB2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329151275&sr=1-1

Plan On It:

Six men in six months.
It's a logical plan to Professor Hattie McLean. Date 6 men in 6 months and one will be the clear choice to father her child. But biology involves the heart as well... even if she didn't plan on it!

http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Romantic-Comedy-ebook/dp/B006PNS1O8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329151223&sr=1-1

Back To U:

When Gwen hits the big 4-0, her husband leaves and her daughter takes off with a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band. Taking her daughter's place at the university seems like a good idea until she runs into the reason she dropped out twenty years before... and he's also found his way Back To U.

http://www.amazon.com/Back-To-U-ebook/dp/B0078HYCU2/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329151151&sr=1-3

You can find out more about Kathy Dunnehoff.....

Kathy's blog:   http://kathydunnehoff.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kathy-Dunnehoff/100342156725545

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/KathyDunnehoff

Many thanks to Kathy for joining us today.  I look forward to reading Back to U and Plan on it which are loaded to my Kindle.  :)