As I sit staring out at a hefty storm smashing my home town and contemplating the year to come, I wanted to quickly thank everyone who's entered my life throughout 2017; to those I've worked with as an editor through my business, Lakewater Press, and through contests such as Pitch Wars; to those I've interviewed or who have guest blogged for me; to those whose books I've read and those who've read my book; and finally to those I've connected with on social media and other writer-y book-y events. 

 
It's wrong for me to say that this year has been a bad one, because compared to 2016, a year would have to truly go some with a sack full of Molotov cocktails to out-do that rotten bag of poop. So, 2017 hasn't been terrible. In fact I've been blessed with many wonderful moments, both personal and professional, for which I will always be grateful and remember fondly. It's been challenging at times, to say the least, and has definitely been my and my family's year for catching sickness bugs! But, I've learned some important lessons, and, most excitedly, have rekindled my love with writing and dug out a confidence that I buried a while back beneath a constant workload borne of never saying no. 

All in all, I'm not turning my back on 2017 with a heavy heart or bitter tongue; more a tired, drained, and relieved spirit waving a very shout-y "GOODBYE, I won't miss you", and whispering a tentative "Hello, 2017. Friends?"

I am looking forward to 2018 in many ways. I have heaps planned and hope to achieve as many of my goals as possible. I'm not going to list them as I always consider that to be some kind of jinx. But I have some amazing people in my corner, and whose corners I will forever occupy. 

I'm a grateful, soppy, and sentimental bunny as this final day of 2017 comes to an end, and full of appreciation for all the special, glittery, life puzzle pieces that I've discovered this year. 

Good luck to you all and I hope that we'll continue to be best buds in 2018. If you need me, you know where I am! 

Love ya! 

Today, I'm delighted to welcome my lovely friend Taryn Bashford to the blog! Her debut YA contemporary novel, THE HARPER EFFECT, is out now and to help celebrate this awesomeness we're having a bit of fun with a quickfire round of questions. Here we go! 

TARYN'S BEST! ​

Best Book: I have a new one every year. This year, without doubt, it’s Cath Crowley’s Words in Deep Blue

Best Band: I know Adele’s not a band, but I’m still saying Adele.

Best Song: I Can’t Make You Love Me - Adele

Best Holiday: A ski season in Colorado

Best Animal: Dog

Best Item of Clothing: Handbags – you wear them right? Don’t leave me alone with a credit card in a book shop – or a leather goods shop

Best Food: Sushi – the seafood ones

Best Drink: Coconut Water. I’m addicted.

Best Alcoholic Drink: French Champagne of course!

Best Friend: My laptop. We’re very close. She’s seen me through everything. 

Best Writing Moment: Being offered a two-book deal with Pan Macmillan. My throat ached for two days from the shouting.

Best Childhood Memory: Swimming the waterfall pools with my cousin.

Best Word: I’m not sure I have a best, but I do have a ‘most-overused’ which is JUST

Best Shop: Any bookshop with coffee and sofas

Best Sport: Running. Yep. Been doing that a while now.

Best Job: Being a writer. Sitting down at my writing desk every day feels like I’m coming home.

Best Saying: This too shall pass – courtesy of my Grandma. Whenever I’m having a tough time of it, this saying makes my spine straighten again.

Best Teacher: The Deputy Head, Mrs Nichols. She inspired me to be the best I can be.

Best Time of Day: 4.30am. Writing time.

​Best Room: Writing room. I feel calm and love what happens in there

​
Best Day Ever: Days – because I had two children, so their births.

Best Smell: Limes

Best TV Show: Billions

Best Gadget: My Bullet for smoothies

Best Sound: Singing tenors – a bunch of them together. Heaven.

Best Restaurant: Any decent sushi train, preferably on the beach

Best Movie: Forrest Gump – I get inspired every time I watch it.

Best Time of Year: January – the start of all new things.

​Best School Subject: English. Seriously. I studied it at University too. It has something to do with the books!

​The Harper Effect is in-stores today in Australia and New Zealand. If you don't feel like going out to do more shopping after the Christmas craziness, but you fancy curling up with a fab summer read, then you can also order it online right now.

This debut novel is an inspiring and heart-warming story of a girl who learns to win from a boy who has lost everything. Set in the world of international tennis, it's Million Dollar Baby meets the movie Wimbledon.



Harper can’t have happiness and the US Open.
 
Sixteen-year-old Harper was once a rising star on the tennis court until her coach dropped her, leaving her feeling abandoned by the sport she loved. Even worse, she now finds comfort in the arms of her sister's ex-boyfriend—a secret that could start a family war.
 
But when Harper is offered a chance to get back in the game by training with young tennis phenom, seventeen-year-old Colt, she throws herself back onto the court . . . and into his family’s scary world of steroids and alcoholism. 
 
As she walks a fine line between Colt’s secrets, her forbidden love, and a game that demands nothing but the best, Harper must choose between her past and her future, two boys who tempt her heart, and whether the cost of winning will actually cost her everything.

THE HARPER EFFECT should appeal to readers of Stephanie Perkins, Cath Crowley, and Heather Demetrios.
 
 
EXCERPT... 
 
Aria turns to switch off the music.

There’s a rap on the door. But when I open it to find Jacob on the other side I’m overwhelmed by the image of him and Aria kissing – doing it. I gulp against a pinched-up feeling inside and swing away from the newly showered, lemon smell of him, from his tousled wet hair, from his Aria-kissed lips and those eyes that seem to search for something in my face.

‘Ready for pizza?’ Aria asks, taking her earrings out and keeping her eyes in the mirror.

Jacob leans against the doorframe, arms crossed, lazy grin settling in place. ‘Does Mr Greedy need pudding?’



Want to know more? View the book trailer now.
Want to read more? Click to buy The Harper Effect.
If you’re in the US/UK you’ll need to wait until May 2018 to purchase The Harper Effect. But for now, you can mark it ‘to-read’ on Goodreads to get reminders and giveaways.
Check out Taryn’s website! www.tarynbashford.com

​For the holiday season, we at Lakewater Press thought it would be a good time to share who we are with a little holiday blog hop.

Between December 1 and the 24th we’ll share holiday interviews with our authors and the Lakewater Press staff. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better, and to give our readers a peek behind the scenes–or pages!

Perhaps you’ll even find a new blog to follow, or your next favorite book!

(Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for our holiday giveaway!!)
​
Today’s interviewee:

​Name and LWP affiliation: Susan Pape, Author

Your blog (url): www.bookloversbooklist.wordpress.com

Where do you live? I live on the site of an old lunatic asylum (yes, it really was called that) in Menston, between Ilkley and Leeds in West Yorkshire.

What are your chances of having snow on Christmas Day? It’s possible that Ilkley Moor (behind our house) could get a light dusting…but I don’t remember ever having ‘proper’ snow on Christmas Day in West Yorkshire.

Do you have any favorite holiday traditions? My favourite Christmasses were spent with some really good friends who lived in a converted station near Saddleworth Moor. We played games, took part in a pantomime written by the host, tried to look serious during The Queen’s broadcast, and sat down for lunch and all the trimmings – that lasted from about 1pm until 9pm. I also love being away at Christmas – Florence was a wonderful place to be, and then Cambodia/Vietnam more recently.

Egg nog: Yes or No? Ergh…no!
​
Are you an artistic gift wrapper or a basic “paper & tape” warrior? Basic, I’m afraid. I’ve tried to do those classy, neatly tucked corners, but they fail me every time.

​Do you have any special holiday memories that include books? Are there any specific titles you remember? Christmas seems to be a time of giving ‘joke’ or ‘improving’ books. The joke books go straight on to the shelf in the downstairs lavvy and the improving ones (Shakespearian Tragedies; London Architecture and Tony Benn’s Diaries) get put in the pile for the charity shop.

What is your earliest book-related memory? My parents were not great readers (other than Reader’s Digest) but they did have a shelf full of Graham Greene so I worked my way through those until I was old enough to get my own library card. Not entirely sure it was suitable reading for a child.
​
Do you write/work during the holidays? Newspapers don’t stop for the holidays so a skeleton staff was always needed to be available on Christmas Day – and throughout the holiday period. When I worked on newspapers, it was usually down to staff without kids to work over the holidays – and that was usually me. I didn’t mind too much as I could take time off in lieu when life returned to normal after the Xmas excesses.

​Can you share what you’re working on now? Book Three in the Friends trilogy that Sue Featherstone and I are writing together. So many ideas are bubbling right now – and I can hardly believe this will be the end of the road for the two main characters, Teri and Lee.
​
What are your goals for 2018? To finish writing the third book in the Friends trilogy and then complete the murder mystery that Sue and I have already started. It takes us out of our comfort genre, so please, wish us luck.

Links to all the Lakewater Press participating blogs:

Barbara Quinn
Emma (E.L.) Wicker
James L. Weaver
Jodi Gallegos
Mia Kerick
Rebecca Carpenter
R.L. Martinez
Sam Boush
Samantha (S.C.) Alban
Sue Featherstone
Susan Pape
​
Enter the Lakewater Press giveaway for your chance to win a book of your choice (5 winners to be selected):

For the holiday season, we at Lakewater Press thought it would be a good time to share who we are with a little holiday blog hop.

Between December 1 and the 24th we’ll share holiday interviews with our authors and the Lakewater Press staff. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better, and to give our readers a peek behind the scenes–or pages!

Perhaps you’ll even find a new blog to follow, or your next favorite book!
​
(Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for our holiday giveaway!!)


Today’s interviewee:

​Today’s interviewee:Name and LWP affiliation: Sue Featherstone (author)

Your blog (url): bookloversbooklist.com
​
Where do you live? I live in Wakefield, just a stone’s throw from Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the UK’s leading outdoor art gallery, and the award-winning Hepworth Gallery, which together with their sister galleries – Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute, both in Leeds – constitute the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle.
The Hepworth, which has been described as the museum everyone would want on their doorstep, is artistically inspiring but I prefer YSP.
Set in 500 acres of parkland, just a mile-and-a-bit up the road from me, it’s home to one of the largest outdoor collections of Henry Moore bronzes.
Frankly, some of them are a bit weird – but, unlike other outdoor art galleries, the park hosts a changing programme of exhibitions so there’s always something new to see. And, come spring, nothing beats a stroll through the beautiful bluebell woods.

​What are your chances of having snow on Christmas Day? Hopefully, slim to non-existent: other parts of the UK (Scotland, for instance) often get snow in December but, thankfully, it’s fairly rare in my part of Yorkshire. I understand the bookies have offered odds of 4/5 on a white Christmas but it’s not a bet I’m prepared to risk.

Do you have any favorite holiday traditions? Santa always used to leave a little note for my daughters thanking them for his mince pie and sherry. It was years before they recognised my handwriting…

Egg nog: Yes or No? Hmmm…egg nog is not very big in the UK although we do have an Irish cream liquer which is similar but not as virulently yellow. And tastes better too. It can be drunk neat at room temperature or some people like to add it to their coffee. I prefer it in a long tumbler, chilled with a couple of ice cubes. Oooh, I think I wouldn’t mind a glass right now.
​
Are you an artistic gift wrapper or a basic “paper & tape” warrior? Definitely a warrior rather than an artist. Prettily wrapped gifts are a joy to behold but, honestly, I just can’t be bothered. Life is too short to stuff a mushroom and it’s also too short to fiddle around with Christmas bows and ribbons

​Do you have any special holiday memories that include books? Are there any specific titles you remember? Books are a very personal thing and, I think, a difficult gift to get right. One woman’s good read is someone else’s charity shop donation. Take Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, for instance, which I was given as a child. Please, take it: I still think it’s a huge shame Magwitch didn’t bop Pip on the head and spare us all the agony of his interminable wittering.
​
What is your earliest book-related memory? Well, my earliest memories of reading are at the breakfast table: corn, sugar, salt, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine…the contents of a packet of Corn Flakes. Otherwise I loved almost anything by Enid Blyton – wouldn’t you have liked to be a pupil at Malory Towers too? I also enjoyed Noel Streatfeild (Ballet Shoes, The Painted Garden), Jane Shaw (the Susan books) and Elinor Brent Dyer (the Chalet School series). As I got older I started to read some of the books on my dad’s bookshelves – Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason), Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple) and Nevil Shute (The Chequer Board and A Town like Alice). My first Christie read was Sad Cypress, which I still regard as one of her best murder mysteries.

​Do you write/work during the holidays? Yes – if the writing itch needs scratching, I scratch.

Can you share what you’re working on now? I was lucky enough to sell my first short story to People’s Friend, a UK fiction magazine, a few weeks ago. It will be published in their Christmas special – in 2018. I can’t wait.
The fiction editor was very encouraging and I’m hoping to write, and sell, more stories this year. I’ve got a couple of ideas bubbling away right now.
And Susan and I are in the early stages of drafting the final instalment of our Friends trilogy. We’ve also started a murder mystery but I’m not completely happy with the way it’s going and a re-think is needed. (Must make sure I mention this to Susan before she reads it here!)
​
What are your goals for 2018? Professionally, I want to get the Friends trilogy wrapped up and then to knock the murder mystery into shape. I like the characters we’ve created – they have a lot of potential for development but I’m not sure we’re making the best use of them. So, there’s food for thought there. I also want to work on my short story writing and I’d like to do a bit of freelance journalism too. Personally, apart from planning a trip to Australia to visit my youngest daughter, a couple of camping holidays in France and a spa trip with my eldest daughter I’m open to suggestions. Any ideas?

​Links to all the Lakewater Press participating blogs:

Barbara Quinn
Emma (E.L.) Wicker
James L. Weaver
Jodi Gallegos
Mia Kerick
Rebecca Carpenter
R.L. Martinez
Sam Boush
Samantha (S.C.) Alban
Sue Featherstone
Susan Pape
​
Enter the Lakewater Press giveaway for your chance to win a book of your choice (5 winners to be selected):

Today, I'm pleased to welcome author R. Bloom to the blog who is sharing a couple of extracts from her novel. Set in Manchester, UK, the story races across the European cities of Barcelona, Amsterdam and Antwerp. 
...

Nothing is ever what it seems.
 
Life’s bleak for a reluctant ex-criminal. Jude’s working the club doors in Manchester, fighting a drug habit and sleeping around.
 
But then Rae is kidnapped. And someone starts a game of cat and mouse, sending Jude the photos to blackmail him into a job. It’s the biggest challenge Jude’s ever faced and Rae’s life is on the line. Everything depends on his success.
 
When your world is turned upside down, what can you believe in?

 
Jude – Tuesday
Amsterdam
 
It was Sunday when she called and thirty-six hours later I was sitting in the aisle seat. I strained to see past the other passengers to the sky. The air was grey, the weather wet and stark. I hated flying at the best of times and right now I wanted both feet on the ground. The seatbelt sign flashed a couple of times and the voice-over from the captain assured everyone that we would be able to disembark shortly. I sank deeper into the large black overcoat and found my sunglasses in the front pocket. Sighing I slid them on. I hadn’t seen or heard from Coco since the split six months earlier until, out of the blue, her name lit up caller display.

‘Hey baby, how are you?’ Coco asked as if it were yesterday.

‘I’m okay,’ I replied, lying. ‘You?’

‘Jude. You know where I am. You know how to find me, if you want to that is …’
 
She was still living in Amsterdam, laughing at life, challenging me the way only she ever had. The opaque offer of a couple of nights to hook up was tempting. Having nothing better to do, I’d succumbed.
 
Fifteen minutes later I was standing at Schiphol Airport, reflections of colour and chrome bounced off an over polished white tile floor. The language on the signs the only real difference between Schiphol and any handful of Euro-Airports, every one of them impersonal, sprawling and overbearingly fluorescent.

The other passengers moved out of my way as I headed towards the luggage track. A year ago I would have enjoyed the way they parted; now I was just used to it. My size and the way I walked cleared a path through a lot of places. Not that I was intentionally menacing or threatening these days, I was depressed and needed a break. Life wasn’t going anywhere fast or anywhere at all. Nothing worked out the way I wanted it to and I wasn’t interested in trying to rebalance the apple cart. But when she rang I took that call.
 
 
 
 
Rae – The Office, Tuesday
Manchester
 
The warehouse isn’t really that big. It has one office with scarlet painted walls, and one boss very fond of designer labels that collects girlfriends like bees to the honey, and me. I have another life out of this place, a world I’m trying to cook my way into filled with flavour and taste. In that world I’m just ‘Rae’ and no one cares about the latest sales figures.

But four days a week I keep the boys in the warehouse in line, work the office, stay on top of the deliveries, chase the stock and pick up the boss’s dry-cleaning. Seven nights a week I study for my cookery degree, look after Scott and deal with my mother. Add the two together and that makes eleven days a week, every week.

Alex’s iPhoneX goes off again, he’s left it on the desk and it’s buzzing like a beetle on acid. I glance down at the display, Sienna calling. I have no idea who ‘Sienna’ is but I mentally add her to the pile and wonder how long she will last. I pick up a thousand pounds worth of Prada biker jacket, and drape it over the back of the dark red chair. Alex, my boss, wouldn’t know how to ride a motorbike if it fell on him. And that jacket would be as much use on a bike as he would. ….
 
A gust of cold air surges into the office. Someone has left the door wide open, again. I turn to see a man standing in the doorway. He fills the space, looks around and then slowly strolls into the warehouse as if he owns it, which I find odd, as I’ve never seen him before. As the light falls on his face it’s clear he is not the Terminator or Colin Farrell, although he is more than six feet tall and does look like a movie star. He has thick black hair, which falls leisurely to his cheekbones and dark chocolate coloured eyes. His mouth has been struck by a beauty spot in a facial hit and run, and he’s on his mobile phone…  

Racheal was born in Manchester, grew up in the North, and then moved South to attend university and study English. After a decade or more spent in Oxford and London, she decided Manchester still felt like home. She lives there with her husband and their cat, and can often be found at live music venues, when she’s not writing! Red Mice is her first published book.

Website
Amazon UK
​Twitter

​For the holiday season, we at Lakewater Press thought it would be a good time to share who we are with a little holiday blog hop.

Between December 1 and the 24th we’ll share holiday interviews with our authors and the Lakewater Press staff. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better, and to give our readers a peek behind the scenes–or pages!

Perhaps you’ll even find a new blog to follow, or your next favorite book!
​
(Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for our holiday giveaway!!)


Today’s interviewee:

​Name and LWP affiliation: Samantha Alban, Staff (Assistant Editor)

Your blog (url): www.scalban.wordpress.com

Where do you live? Sonoma County, California

What are your chances of having snow on Christmas Day? Most likely 0%, but who knows…this year has been full of weather surprises!

Do you have any favorite holiday traditions? I love setting up the train around my Christmas tree. Last year I even bought liquid smoke for it! I was heartbroken when it broke down and I spent days trying to troubleshoot and fix the problem. After the fourth (I think) day, I finally got it working! I was so excited, I totally forgot about the liquid smoke and didn’t even find the bottle until after I had taken it down for the year. So this year, it’s all about getting that train running WITH the liquid smoke ?

Eggnog: Yes or No? YES!!!! (but, I drink Coconut Milk “Egg” Nog).
​
Are you an artistic gift wrapper or a basic “paper & tape” warrior? Nothing says a traditional
Christmas like brown wrapping with a simple red bow. I call it “simple chic.”

Do you have any special holiday memories that include books? Are there any specific titles you remember? I always try to give a book to someone every holiday season. I could spend hours in a bookstore and even though books are available for purchase online, I still love walking into a decorated bookstore during the holiday season. And spending the time in the store, looking through all the titles and trying to find the perfect one for someone else to love and enjoy is something that I’ve always done and still love to do.

What is your earliest book-related memory? I grew up surrounded by books. I devoured them as a child. I had my own bookshelf since I can remember and it’s always been stuffed with books. I LOVED all my series books, as a child. In elementary school, I had all My Babysitter’s Club, my Nancy Drew’s, my Sweet Valley High’s, and all of my Christopher Pike’s and later on, all my King’s and Rice and Twain and Dicken’s books all along the shelves squeezed in between all my classics. My most favorite thing to do, after dusting my room (my most hated chore), was to take them all off the shelf and reorganize them. I know, mucho nerdy.

Do you write/work during the holidays? I write all year round, so yeah, I usually squeeze in a bit of time on a holiday.

Can you share what you’re working on now? I’d love to. Right now I have mucho projects, but I’m really excited about this YA magical realism I’m working on called THE MIRROR WALKER. It’s about this girl with a special ability to travel through mirrors to other worlds. (Ed. note: Samantha writes as S.C. Alban)
​
What are your goals for 2018? Yikes, I’ve got so many! Let’s see…to publish Book 3 in The Strega Series (Death Before Dying), clean up my 2 YA novels for querying, find two amazing books I can suggest to the Lakewater Press list, tackle a new WIP I’ve been stewing on for a while, and snag agent representation (hey, dream big or go home, right?)

​Links to all the Lakewater Press participating blogs:

Barbara Quinn
Emma (E.L.) Wicker
James L. Weaver
Jodi Gallegos
Mia Kerick
Rebecca Carpenter
R.L. Martinez
Sam Boush
Samantha (S.C.) Alban
Sue Featherstone
Susan Pape
​
Enter the Lakewater Press giveaway for your chance to win a book of your choice (5 winners to be selected):

​
I thought I’d write about life after NaNo (National Novel Writing Month), even though I feel a bit of a fraud as I didn’t even attempt it this year.
​
But I have - *pauses to push back up the halo* - been doing a version of my own.

It started back in August. I was doing a talk at the Feva Arts Festival in Knaresborough, Yorkshire, where I was asked about my writing routine. I’ve been asked this many times before and I’ve talked about it many times before when teaching.

There’s the writing practice of my dreams, I find myself saying, and then there’s the reality.

To set the context, I think it’s fair to say that I’m not great at ‘doing nothing’, even though I try really hard sometimes. In fact, one of my life time ambitions is to watch TV and films all day and all night, just once, when I’m not ill. I suspect the reality is that I'd hate it though, slope off to the PC or the washing machine and never come back. Indeed, last summer when I was supposed to be recuperating from a stomach op, my hubbie, ever supportive of my efforts to be a total sloth, revamped a Victorian railway trolley into a sun lounger for me, providing the perfect base from which to carry out the blissful couple of months of reading I'd envisaged. Two months! Can you imagine! And in May/June 2016, even the sun obliged. Suffice it to say, rarely used for its original purpose, the lounger didn’t go to waste; it simply evolved into more of a chair so that one of us could work at the outside table, or a bench to seat a few of us as we sipped a glass of something chilled in the garden at the end of the day. I guess my comfort zone is ‘busy’.

But boy, can I procrastinate!

Mum's taxi, the day job, washing, pairing socks… they're all hugely important stuff, of course, but even I can recognise that it doesn’t all need to be done before I do my own writing. It certainly doesn’t need to all be done before I do one single, solitary hour of writing. Because you know, an hour a day can be all you need to be fairly prolific. Even if you’re a more ponderous first draft writer or you’re in a tricky re-writing phase, you’ll still rack up the words quickly if you write a hundred or so of the fine things every day. In fact, write 250 words a day for a year and you’d have an 80,000 word first draft before the twelfth month was out. I know this. I quote this. I even have a funky little slide I made for my students to remind us all of this.
If you’ve ever even attempted NaNo, you certainly know this.

And yet, I tell the audience at the Feva Festival, I no longer practise what I preach. Writing has lost its place at the top of my priority ladder. I’ve allowed myself to shove it to the bottom of the list. And I never finish my list. So days and days go by with no words of fiction written and the first draft of my second novel only inches forward. They didn’t know it, but I silently vowed to myself there and then, on that stage, that this had to change.

The first task was to ask why I’d allowed my writing habit to slip, and the answer was that I’d allowed myself to sink not swim when I found myself in the Danger Zone.

And this is where NaNo writers come in.

The Danger Zone is generally the result of circumstance or curve balls. It's when an unexpected piece of work, a visitor, technological malfunction, children’s cry for help or illness takes a swipe at the time you’d allotted to write. These things happen. You’re disappointed when it happens, but one day with no writing won’t hurt, will it? You’ll write twice as much tomorrow. But when the same happens the next day, and the next, then the words not written don’t hurt quite so much. You're entering the Danger Zone. It has you in its grasp. It's engulfed you, enveloped you with temptations and it's going to take a gargantuan effort to find a way out.

The period after NaNo is Danger Zone for committed November scribblers. You’ve lived and breathed your novel. It’s only for a month, after all, so you can absolutely prioritise your writing. It’s so liberating not to worry about the other stuff, because your single focus which you’ve officially signed up to this year, is to write your first draft of a novel in a month. Brilliant. The concept is brilliant because even if you don’t find the words, 'The End', appearing on November 30th, you’ve discovered, or rekindled, the daily writing habit and that has the potential to change your writing world forever.

The trouble with NaNo being in November, however, is that it’s followed by December. And nobody needs me to remind them of the monumental thief of our time which is the month of December, with the decorating, cooking and cleaning on top of the present buying which didn’t get done in November because, well, you were writing your novel. Where will we find the time to respond to the December Time Thief? From our daily writing habit, if we’re not careful, that’s where.

I succumbed to the Danger Zone four years ago when ill health called time on my 5am writing habit. As far as I was concerned, a lifetime of chancing it on the sleep front had laid low my defence system when I really needed it and I wasn’t prepared to risk it anymore. Thus I’ve been setting my alarm for two hours later ever since. I have to admit, I immediately felt much better for it. But my writing habit took a battering and before August, I'd never managed to find a replacement slot. Teaching, editing and all the other stuff had crept to a seven day a week discipline, with plenty of evenings thrown in, and my own writing was paying the price. I took action, deciding to take a six month teaching sabbatical. But even that wasn’t too effective. Yes, I wrote more, but still I had days with no fiction because I still prioritised everything else over my fiction writing. Until that day in August, the day I remembered the tweets from Prolifiko, and decided that this was my best chance of kick-starting a sustainable writing habit. 

Now, Prolifiko is a new website and there will be other sites doing a similar job, I’m sure. But Prolifiko worked for me because of the nature of its challenge: the personal challenge. It didn’t matter what you signed up to, whether it was four hours of writing a day, or fifty words, just as long as you committed to a daily writing habit for one five day stretch. My commitment was to write for one hour a day. Simple. I had to check-in and say I’d done it. Anyone out there who’s managed NaNo - and I salute you - is laughing into their Redbull now. An hour a day, you cry. You’ve done two hours before I can even say I’ll grab a coffee first. But the principle is this: Prolifiko will badger you to create a manageable daily habit that could become a sustainable daily habit. And that's exactly what I needed.

Prolifiko worked for me on so many levels. It reminded me that if I devoted just one small hour to my fiction, I still got all the other stuff done - the essential stuff, anyway. And it reminded me back in August that if I had even the smidgeon of a chance of completing the first draft of novel two by Christmas, I had to keep going.

I’ve continued my commitment to those good people at Prolifiko. I've tweaked my goal, now I have to write 1,000 words per day, five days per week. Because I’m on the first draft, I can write 1,000 words fairly quickly. At the subsequent draft stage, I’ll change the commitment. The key is that it’s a manageable, daily habit - like cleaning my teeth. To make it happen, I write it in my diary as an appointment.

I stick to it, because I daren’t not stick to it. Because if I don’t stick to it, I’ll enter the Danger Zone and I just don’t trust myself to find my way out of the Danger Zone every time. Prolifiko rules me by fear, and I love it because it works. I have a couple of pages left to write of my first draft with a few days to go before Christmas. Back in August, those words were the stuff of dreams. It’s a load of drivel, of course, with the odd nugget of potential, I hope, but we all know that you can't edit an empty page.  

So, my advice, as an annoying, reformed-ish writing procrastinator, to anyone who successfully, or even unsuccessfully navigated NaNo (but can it ever be classed as 'unsuccessful' if you wrote anything at all?), is to acknowledge that few of us have the luxury of being able to keep up the NaNo style ferocious scribbling of November once the month is out, so give yourself a break. Don't even try to find a few hours every day to write if that wasn’t something you did before embarking on NaNo. Instead, set a realistic goal which equates to a personal daily writing habit that is sustainable. Don't beat yourself up if you find the Christmas to-do's are squeezing your day, but do give yourself an oar to safely paddle through the Danger Zone. You can do it, because even when you're busy, you still brush your teeth, right? In a year's time, you'll be so happy you did.

Picture yourself in December 2018 when you look back on your year: you won't remember the bathrooms you cleaned, or even much about the box sets you watched, but you will remember the words you wrote.
 
Happy writing, and good luck!

Foot note: Alas, I am not being paid any commission by Prolifiko but if this post has piqued your interest, you can find out more, here: https://prolifiko.com/.

​Jackie Buxton is a writer, editor and teacher of creative writing, living in Yorkshire with her husband and two teenage daughters. Author of self-help memoir, Tea & Chemo (Urbane Publications, November 2015), Jackie's first novel, Glass Houses, was published in July 2016. It's about two women, their terrible mistakes, the repercussions and the silver linings. Jackie's short stories can also be found in three anthologies, as well as in Chase Magazine and on-line.
When not writing or reading, involved in domesticity or teenage taxi driving, Jackie can often be found running, cycling or tripping up though the beautiful Yorkshire countryside. Jackie's ambitions range from drinking more coffee with friends, to film deals and the big one: beating secondary breast cancer. 

Find out more about Jackie and her books with these links! 

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Tea & Chemo on Amazon
Glass Houses on Amazon

​YORKSHIRE AUTHOR AND CANCER SURVIVOR WINS BEST BOOK PRIZE AT CANCER AWARDS
 
An author from Harrogate, Yorkshire has won first prize for her cancer self-help book at an inaugural cancer awards.
 
A new award celebrating remarkable people doing incredible things in the cancer community has announced its winners, and blogger and author Jackie Buxton is one of them.
 
Buxton, from Harrogate, has been awarded the Best Cancer Book prize for her 2015 book, Tea & Chemo: Fighting Cancer, Living Life, at the inaugural Spotlight Awards by Live Better With.
 
Tea & Chemo is full of laughter, tears, honesty and hope, and offers inspirational words to everyone facing the life challenges that cancer inevitably brings.
At the age of 45, wife and mother Buxton was diagnosed with breast cancer. Determined to learn as much as possible about her condition, Buxton devoured patient information leaflets and online articles. But what she really wanted to read was the account of an ordinary person being treated for cancer who, crucially, emerged on the other side still smiling.
“I felt there was brilliant information from Macmillan and the hospital I needed on everything I needed to know factually,” said Buxton. “So I had no complaints finding that sort of information. But I wanted to find positive stories straight from the horse’s mouth. And they probably were on there online, but I was really scared of looking online because I didn’t want to find anything I didn’t want to read.”
 
Unable to find anything, the mother-of-two decided to do what she does best: write. Detailing her experiences in a blog, she soon found that people began to write to her saying that her blog had helped them in their own struggle with cancer. Delighted to be having an impact on others, Jackie realised that she had much more to say.
“People kept saying ‘you should get it published, you should make it into a book,’ but I thought people could read it online so there would be no need for a book,” explained Buxton.
“I suppose with the blog, the posts were very much in the moment, it was really a bird’s eye view of how it felt to be going through treatment and all the emotions attached to the treatment and the side effects. A few months on, after the active treatment, I felt like I had a lot more to add, almost a hindsight view. And because I had met a lot of other people along the way, and heard their views and opinions, I could use that to add a bit more depth.” And so Tea & Chemo was born.
The award-winning blogger was treated at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s very own Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre, and to give something back to the team who supported her so well, a third of the book's profits are donated to the centre.
On the book’s success, Buxton said: “Two years later, I’m still getting feedback from people which is lovely. Getting the feedback, that’s the best thing. For people to take the time and try and find me online and message me to say ‘thank you, this book really helped’, that’s what I dared to hope, but I didn’t assume it at all. I just dared to hope it would help and be useful, and it seems that it has been, and continues to do so.”
The first of its kind, the Spotlight Awards shine a light on the achievements of truly remarkable people, products, and services in the cancer community. Nominated by the public, and voted by a panel of expert judges, the winners are from all walks of life, of all ages, and from across the world.
 
The Spotlight Awards have been organised by Live Better With, an award-winning online platform where cancer patients and their loved ones can find products and information to help with the symptoms and side effects of living with cancer.
 
Live Better With Spotlight Award - Full winners list
 
BEST BLOGGER Beth Semikin of Tumour Has It
BEST BOOK Tea & Chemo by Jackie Buxton
BEST SUPPORT GROUP Younger Breast Cancer Network (YBCN)
BEST SERVICE Together Against Cancer (TAC)
BEST SKINCARE PRODUCT Defiant Beauty
BEST HAIR LOSS PRODUCT Chemo Headwear
BEST COMBATING NAUSEA PRODUCT Sea-Bands
BEST BEING COMFORTABLE PRODUCT Care + Wear PICC Line Cover
BEST MIND & BRAIN PRODUCT The Cancer Comfort Gift Hamper by CancerCareParcel
BEST EATING WELL PRODUCT The Royal Marsden Cancer Cookbook by Dr Clare Shaw
BEST MASTECTOMY PRODUCT Knitted Knockers
 
REMARKABLE PERSON (Five winners)
Charlotte Wood, founder of Drain Dollies
Sarah Jane Thomson, Specialist nurse at Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow
Sophie Trew, Vlogger and founder of Trew Fields Festival
Becki McGuinness, Blogger and cancer and fertility campaigner
Diane Redington, Founder of the GCS Project
 
-ENDS-
 
For more information:
Contact: Rykesha Hudson, Rykesha@livebetterwith.com
Visit: www.livebetterwith.com/spotlight-awards/
More about Live Better With: Read about us in The Huffington Post
Phone: 0800 118 2705
 
 

​For the holiday season, we at Lakewater Press thought it would be a good time to share who we are with a little holiday blog hop.

Between December 1 and the 24th we’ll share holiday interviews with our authors and the Lakewater Press staff. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better, and to give our readers a peek behind the scenes–or pages!

Perhaps you’ll even find a new blog to follow, or your next favorite book!
​
(Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for our holiday giveaway!!)


Today’s interviewee:

​Name and LWP affiliation: Sam Boush, Author

Your blog (url): http://cyberwarbooks.com/blog/

Where do you live? Portland, Oregon

What are your chances of having snow on Christmas Day? Nearly zero. Probably the same chances as me finding a suitcase full of cash and winning lottery tickets under a bench at the zoo.

Do you have any favorite holiday traditions? My favorite part is getting that Douglas fir through the front door. It makes the house smell like Christmas.

Egg nog: Yes or No? Yes. But I take mine with Lactaid and bourbon.

Are you an artistic gift wrapper or a basic “paper & tape” warrior? Paper and tape. The utilitarian approach.
​
Do you have any special holiday memories that include books? Are there any specific titles you remember? The list of titles is long, but let me pull one memory out of the ol’ Santa hat.
It was 1995. I was living in France, an eighth grader far away from friends for a year. Generally, I hated it. Then my uncle sent me a box of books for Christmas.
It was a windfall.
English-language paperbacks cost about $40 in today’s money, and were only available in one store. Obviously, I couldn’t afford any of them. So those dozens of Philip Jose Farmer, Michael Crichton, and Orson Scott Card titles were like gold. I re-read them until they fell apart.

​What is your earliest book-related memory? I wrote a Winnie the Pooh themed “book” when I was about four years old. And by “wrote” I mean I drew the pictures and dictated what I wanted it to say to my Mom. But somehow the pages got all mixed up and my Mom threw my creation into the trash. (No one recycled back then.) So, obviously I was deeply scarred and that incident led to the tortured poor-life-decision of pursuing a writing career.
And, being a parent myself now, I strongly suspect the “accident” that took down my masterpiece was an inside job. Mom, I’m onto you!

Do you write/work during the holidays? I try to spend family time with my family. But if the muse pulls me onto the dancefloor, I won’t turn her down.

Can you share what you’re working on now? It’s mostly marketing now for ALL SYSTEMS DOWN, which comes out in February. But realistically, “marketing” means scrolling through Twitter trying unsuccessfully to come up with something witty. Then drowning my failure in cheap Mexican beer.
But – and this is important – is there such a thing as expensive Mexican beer? I’m going to go out on a limb and say there is not. Coffee. If you’re going to pay too much for something, coffee is where you should spend your money.

What are your goals for 2018? My main goal is to get a lot of people to read ALL SYSTEMS DOWN. I don’t care how they get it, just so long as there are eyeballs on it.
Not literally. That’s disgusting.


Links to all the Lakewater Press participating blogs:

Barbara Quinn
Emma (E.L.) Wicker
James L. Weaver
Jodi Gallegos
Mia Kerick
Rebecca Carpenter
R.L. Martinez
Sam Boush
Samantha (S.C.) Alban
Sue Featherstone
Susan Pape
​
Enter the Lakewater Press giveaway for your chance to win a book of your choice (5 winners to be selected):

​For the holiday season, we at Lakewater Press thought it would be a good time to share who we are with a little holiday blog hop.

Between December 1 and the 24th we’ll share holiday interviews with our authors and the Lakewater Press staff. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better, and to give our readers a peek behind the scenes–or pages!

Perhaps you’ll even find a new blog to follow, or your next favorite book!
​
(Be sure to read all the way to the bottom for our holiday giveaway!!)


Today’s interviewee:

​Name and LWP affiliation: R. L. Martinez, LWP author

Your blog (url): https://robinLmartinez.com

Where do you live? Central Oklahoma

What are your chances of having snow on Christmas Day? Meh, Oklahoma is tricky. So, I’d say about 50%, just to be on the safe side.

Do you have any favorite holiday traditions? When I was a teen, we started having two holiday celebrations. On Christmas Eve my mom would cook a big Asian-inspired meal: gyoza, teriyaki steak kebobs, and lots of desserts. We were permitted to open 1 present that night and then we would play board games (Monopoly mostly). It actually was more fun than Christmas Day!
Egg nog: Yes or No? Yes! but I can’t have eggs any more so now it’s a wailing NOOOOOOO!
​
Are you an artistic gift wrapper or a basic “paper & tape” warrior? Uh… gift bags all the way. I’m horrible with gift wrap

​Do you have any special holiday memories that include books? Are there any specific titles you remember?
One year I received a blue duffel bag (with yellow straps) filled with books. I believe The Neverending Story (all-time favorite) and Matilda (another favorite) were among the offerings.

What is your earliest book-related memory? I actually remember writing my own book when I was in elementary school. Our teacher gave out thin, white blank books and I wrote (and illustrated) a story about a black horse. I’ve still got it somewhere!

Do you write/work during the holidays? Sure. Since moving to Oklahoma, we don’t have any family nearby. So our holidays are very low key and casual.

Can you share what you’re working on now? Book 3 of the Witchbreed
​
What are your goals for 2018? I have a lot of WIPs to finish. Projects that I’ve been putting off. I have one contemporary fantasy romance novel that is finished and just needs to be cleaned up. I’d like to start sending it out to more agents & publishers. I have a fantasy-romance featuring dragons that I’ve been trying to finish for years now. And several other books that have pieces written but nothing more. My ultimate dream goal would be to break into the romance genre by securing a traditional publishing deal.

​Links to all the Lakewater Press participating blogs:

Barbara Quinn
Emma (E.L.) Wicker
James L. Weaver
Jodi Gallegos
Mia Kerick
Rebecca Carpenter
R.L. Martinez
Sam Boush
Samantha (S.C.) Alban
Sue Featherstone
Susan Pape
​
Enter the Lakewater Press giveaway for your chance to win a book of your choice (5 winners to be selected):