One Week and Counting!

I am VERY excited! A week tomorrow (March 4th) my e-book-version of Somewhere Beyond the Sea will go live, and on the Friday of that same week another e-book Dancing in the Rain will be launched. YES - that's two! I can hardly contain myself. What actually does that phrase mean? How would one contain oneself - in a box? A trunk with a padlock perhaps, Houdini fashion... sorry I digress.


So, they are very different books, though both within the romantic suspense genre. Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a mystery/suspense set in Cornwall, where all is not what it seems in the household of Dr Tristan and Karen Ainsworth. One of them has a dark secret that is at risk of exposure. But how far will the keeper of the secret go to protect it, and could their marriage survive if all the skeletons were to come tumbling out of the cupboard? I loved writing this book, because I found it a challenge to try to keep the reader guessing who has the secret and what that secret actually is. I hope I managed it!

Dancing in the Rain, as well as being a mystery/suspense also has a paranormal/spiritual aspect. It was the first adult novel I every wrote about eleven years ago. Needless to say it has been carefully edited and changed as I have learned so much about writing since then! It starts in England when our hero - research scientist, Jacob Weston's job and troubled dreams lead him thousands of miles away to Monument Valley Arizona. There, he finds answers to who he really is. His world is rocked by the realisation that his past has been built on a lie, but what is expected of him in the very near future is even more terrifying.

As you can imagine, I am over the moon (another odd phrase) that this novel is now being published and I hope both of them will be well received. I am already getting second (and third) book nerves! After the success of my first novel with Choc Lit Publishing, A Stitch in Time, I guess it's only natural that I wonder if it could be repeated. 

So, with a huge amount of excitement and a little dollop of trepidation, I'll carry on counting down the days ... 

A Stitch in Time Wins an Award!

I was so chuffed yesterday to discover that I have won an award for A Stitch in Time!  Here is is!

It is from the Single Titles Reviewers' Choice Award and more information can be found about it and other winners here. It was totally unexpected and made my day! 

Another thing that made my day was seeing the new artwork for my new ebook  with Choc Lit Lite Dancing in the Rain  out soonish. I hope to be able to share the cover sometime in the near future - but for now you will just have to wait! It is all under wraps :)

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is due out on the 7th of April too, so I have an exciting few months ahead. Can't wait!

Real Life Copying Fiction?

So ... two weeks ago I eventually joined a choir. Hurrah!

I have been talking about it for the past few years and just never got round to it. I have always loved to sing, and once I sang to an audience of over a thousand. Okay, granted, they were a captive audience - (a school summer assembly) and I had the help of two other colleagues, one on keyboards, one on guitar, but I did do it! The TV programme - The Choir also convinced me that I wanted to join one, but I didn't want to sing classical stuff. So I looked up the Rock Choirs that have sprung up all over the shop but decided that they were a bit too pricey. Then I found one about twenty minute's drive from me, but the dark winter nights put me off.

And then ... just when I had forgotten the whole idea, my daughter told me that she'd found out from someone at playgroup that there was one just down the road - less than ten minute's walk! Well, you can imagine, I jumped at it. The Indian Queens Community Choir turned out to be just what I had been looking for. There are about 26 of us, mixed ages and gender (though it has to be said, there are more women than men) and seem a really nice bunch. So far we have sung  Rule The World, (Gary Barlow) Sweet Child of Mine and last week joy of joys, Coldplay's Viva La Vida! They are one of my favourite groups and I know most of their songs very well. I was told by the lady next to me, Barbara, who is Justin, the choir leader's mum, that Fix You was on the list too. I love that song! So, I was chuffed to little mint balls.

The strange thing is that Somewhere Beyond the Sea, my next paperback out on the 7th of April (ebook version March) has a choir in the story too. One of my main characters, Karen Ainsworth, has an extraordinary singing voice, (unlike me) and though she has many worries in her life, eventually decides to try and put those behind her when she joins her local choir in the fictional Cornish village of Kelerston. Unfortunately, that's where the real nightmare begins for Karen and her husband...

Now, of course I really hope for my sake that I don't encounter such horrors at my local choir!  I can't see that happening actually, as my group are a real nice bunch and there's a great community atmosphere in the room. I love belonging to a community. Since we moved to Cornwall in August from Bristol I have met some lovely folk who are so friendly. Even strangers on the street say hello when they pass.

So if you live in the area why not come and join in? You will be really glad you did :)

2014 - Hurrah!

I am so looking forward to this year! 2013 was very good to me with a successful launch of A Stitch in Time. It has some lovely reviews (45 five-star!) and is at the time of writing, it is  #1 again in Time Travel!

My second novel with Choc Lit, Somewhere Beyond the Sea will be out in March and another ebook out around the same time. (Title to be decided) I am hoping for Cross-Stitch, the sequel to A Stitch in Time to be out at the end of the year if all goes well, fingers crossed. This will depend on a favorable report from Choc Lit's tasting panel  ;)

On a personal level, I have a beautiful granddaughter Esme who was born in July. She is so full of life and desperate to start crawling. She's really cute and bright as a button, just like her big brother, Ronan.

Esme

 I can't wait for spring so we can take full advantage of our recent move to this stunning part of the world.

Bedruthan Steps (20 mins from us!)

I wish you all a brilliant, happy, healthy and successful New Year. If it is anything like the last one I will be over the moon! :)

The First Three Chapters...

I am offering an assessment and advice service to writers for the first three chapters of their work. As any writer knows, the first three chapters need to make a big impact and grab the attention of publishers or agents if the work is to stand a chance. Over the last few years I have been helping people privately, but now have decided to open my advice to any writer who feels they might need a bit of help. I am a published writer and also have been a teacher for seventeen years. There will be a small charge. If you are interested, drop me an email  -  mandykjames@hotmail.co.uk and we'll go from there.

At Last I Have Moved to Cornwall!

Well, we only went and did it! After years of talking about moving to the wonderful county of Cornwall, we are here. Not just my husband and I, (gawd I sound like the queen), but our daughter and family and soon, my parents (both in their mid 80s ) will hopefully make the journey from Bristol too.

I first came here when I was four - about 40 years ago (okay and the rest) and we stayed in Looe. I have vivid memories of running down a very steep hill from our little chalet on the cliff to the beach with my brother every day. When it was time for breakfast, mum would hang a red towel out of the window and we would go back. I also remember walking along a quayside - not sure which one now, and seeing a row of sharks hanging on hooks. There was a big sign saying words to the effect of,  'Do Not Touch The Sharks -Skin Abrasive. So, what did I do? Yes, and I grazed my finger.

Over the years I have returned on numerous occasions. I just seemed to feel at home  in Cornwall and adored the Atlantic north coast in particular. It is more rugged, wild and  - breathtakingly beautiful of course. I do love Falmouth though, especially pootling around the shops there. I feel so lucky now as I never really thought that I would live near the ocean here, despite my endless dreaming.

Newquay

Falmouth High Street

We are about six miles in from Newquay and can just see the sea across the fields out of the bedroom window.

Okay, yes, I would have liked to have bought an old cottage overlooking the ocean, but wouldn't everyone? Our new house is exactly that - brand new. It is small, but perfectly formed and it is beginning to feel more like home with every passing week. There are a few drawbacks, like every time we want to go anywhere we get stuck behind a tractor or a tanker, and the shops we took for granted back in Bristol are at least twenty minutes away, but I think I can put up with that!

The internet took an age to set up , but that was the fault of BT not the signal! Four weeks without it nearly killed me (slight exaggeration), no Twitter or Facebook meant I felt totally out of it. But every cloud has a silver lining, because I used my enforced exile from the outside world to finish my sequel to A Stitch in Time. My next novel, Somewhere Beyond The Sea is out in April and set in the fictional Cornish town of Kellerston. It's weird to think that I was still dreaming of moving when I finished it back in April, and we managed to achieve it by August.

I am sure that this inspirational place will provide more ideas for future books. My next purchase will be a new notebook to take to my favourite beach (Mawgan Porth 15 mins away) just in case I get a new idea or two.

Mawgan Porth

I do realise I am so lucky to be living where I feel most at home, but my recent experience of trying to get published has taught me some valuable lessons. If you believe in yourself and really want something to happen - work bloody hard for it, be determined, never give up... and now and again, it does.

Somewhere Beyond The Sea

I am beyond thrilled with the beautiful new cover for my new book out next April. It encapsulates the dark mysterious nature of the plot and as many who have seen it have already said, very evocative, and extremely eye-catching!



































I was completely bowled over by my first cover with Choc Lit Publishing, but I have to say that this is another triumph! I have printed it out and put it on the fridge so I can drool over it every time I open the door. Because of the beautiful artwork I have opened the door more often than usual. So if I have over indulged on the chocolate or other goodies, then the cover is to blame. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

So, next April I will be able to hold it in my hands and caress it's gorgeous surface. What do you mean I have a problem? lol. I am sure you will want to do the same.  But if you can't wait until then and haven't read my first novel with Choc Lit, here it is. Just click on the link. A Stitch in Time It is a romantic time travelling tale, full of adventure and heart-stopping trips back to the past.

Right, now I think it's time to visit the fridge again and have another loving look at my new cover...