Blog – Page 40 – Jenn J McLeod – small-town storyteller

Posted on 01/04/201429/02/2016 by Jenn J McLeod — 22 Comments

A Release Day Dedication and Apology

My special release day blog is both a dedication and an apology!

The dedication first …

“To Dad—my moral compass—for letting me travel my own path through life, for loving me no matter how I strayed, and for letting me make my own choices even when you didn’t understand them.”

These words might make more sense after reading the novel (and to those who know me). Suffice it to say, Simmering Season examines the impact of the choices we make and the paths we take. For my lead character, Maggie, a school reunion brings home more than memories when the past and present converge with the unexpected to form the perfect storm, blowing the lid of a lifetime off small town secrets.

While Maggie is facing stormy times – fictionally speaking – my gorgeous dad has endured his own perfect storm this past year. Many of you will remember I lost Mum 12 months ago, two weeks before my very first book launch. But there was my dad on my big night, alone in the crowd and proud as punch.

Well, it’s my turn to be proud of him – for all he’s achieved, all he’s taught me, and, more recently, all he’s endured while coming to terms with losing the woman with whom he’d shared 60 years of married life.

Although the first draft of Simmering Season was written some time ago and well before my own experiences – a story in which Maggie’s dad is coming to terms with loss, while the onset of dementia is stripping him of his treasured independence – the editing process last year came very close to home, mirroring reality in so many ways.

On a happy note, Dad inspired my love of music, and despite his efforts to teach the piano, it turned out the computer was my keyboard of choice. Writing Simmering Season, however, has allowed me to combine both passions and finally show Dad some of his amazing talent did manage to rub off. (At least I hope you agree something rubbed off when I release the Simmering Season song I wrote – the recorded version coming to a blog post soon!)

Now … about that apology.

I did that thing every writer dreads. I forgot to thank someone for their contribution in the acknowledgements last year. I remember the day I realised that House for all Seasons had gone to print and I’d left out one important name.

With Simmering Season I can now correct that omission. As I thank my many writer friends who show their support everyday by sharing the love, especially early readers of this novel, Annie Seaton and Tracey Alvarez, I am able to FINALLY acknowledge the special author friend who was instrumental in helping me through an early (frantic) draft of House for all Seasons and without that help Simmering Season would not exist today.

With that job done, I thank you – lovely readers – for getting this far down a very long but important (to me) blog post and hope you enjoy Simmering Season.

Watch the trailer…

Click to tweet or: Read a chapter, buy the book.
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Oh, and if you got this far, you might like to leave COMMENT AND WIN A COPY of Simmering Season or House for all Seasons. Your choice.

Posted on 28/03/201429/02/2016 by Jenn J McLeod — 19 Comments

Natasha Lester is at the bar and she’s shouting – TWO BOOKS!

“Drinks for everyone,” Natasha shouts out over the crowded bar.

Okay, so maybe not exactly EVERYONE (and not exactly drinks). Even better… She’s giving away TWO BOOKS!

(I’ll drink to that! See end of post.)

There is one copy each of: If I Should Lose You and What is Left Over After.

(Are they not the most intriguing titles??)

For those new to Natasha, she is a very generous author (obviously) and her website is ‘chockers’ with information for writers. For readers she has great stories, of course. But how will she cope having a bar yarn with me as I ask her the hard questions? See for yourself.

First up, here is a beer coaster! Take a minute to jot down the blurb for one of your books.

If I Should Lose You

Alix is a brilliant heart transplant surgeon. She sees hearts as purely functional – until she falls in love with Dan. Then a sudden tragedy forces Alix to rethink the way she views love and medicine and the consequences of this are felt many years later, by her daughter Camille.

Camille has two daughters of her own, and one is critically ill. Camille has no time to caretake her failing relationship with her husband, no time to face up to a niggling suspicion she holds about her mother. Because Camille is the one person who can save her daughter. Her daughter needs a new liver. Camille is an organ donor coordinator. How far will she go to keep her daughter alive and what might it cost another child waiting on the list?

(Did you know I have an organ in Simmering Season? Okay, so it’s only a church organ. Nothing too dramatic in that, until a teenage Maggie is forced to play another rendition of ‘I Honestly Love You’ for a gushing bride and groom. Then there’s some drama. ;))

C’mon, Tash… grab a pew. What can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)

A: Definitely a Gin, especially if it’s 5.30 and thus bath-time, dinner-time and general chaos-time for me and the 3 kids!

Hey, did you hear the one about …

A: All of the jokes I now know are suitable for a 3 year old to understand as that’s how old my youngest is, so I can’t promise and great laughs, but here goes:

Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Barbara!

Barbara who?

Barbara black sheep, have you any wool…

I’m a beer nut nut! What bar snack would you be and why?

A: A pretzel. Twisted into all kinds of weird shapes from trying to do 10 things at once, and from trying to be here, there and everywhere. Also from all the strange but relaxing yoga poses I try to practice a couple of times a week.

Ahh, that beer hit the spot. Let me slip a drink coaster under your glass while you tell us —on a scale of 1 to 10—as a writer are you a neat nut case or “What desk? Where? Is there a desk here somewhere?”

A: I have to go with a 5 because my desk is either one extreme or the other, so both extremes cancel one another out and end up somewhere in the middle. If I’m very into the book I’m writing, my desk will be an absolute mess; if I’m in an admin phase or not right in the middle of a book, it will be relatively neat. (There is always a cup of tea and a baby monitor on my desk, as the photo shows).

The publican offers you free drinks all night if you will:

Dance to Gangnam Style
Sing John Denver’s ‘Take me Home Country Roads’ on the Karaoke machine
Spend an hour washing dishes

Which do you choose?

A: I have to confess to knowing none of the moves to Gangnam Style and I hate washing dishes. I do still remember many of the words to Take Me Home, Country Roads after learning it in primary school in the old Singing and Listening Sessions we used to have piped into the classroom every Friday afternoon – anyone else remember those? So, the karaoke option it will have to be – better clear the pub out now!

Time to liven the place up. Got a buck? We can crank up the old jukebox in the corner. You get to pick three songs.

I’ve been getting into a 1920s theme with the book I’m writing so Ain’t Misbehavin’
Dancing Queen – Abba
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

An author, an agent and a chicken walk into the bar… how do you know which one crossed the road?

A: We have 5 chickens and none of them are clever enough to have crossed the road. The agent is probably a mirage, teleported in by the author’s wishful thinking that she might actually acquire one, one day. So it would have to be the author, who probably needs a drink while she’s waiting to hear if her latest book has been accepted or not.

There’s a stapler on the bar. Tell me what it’s doing there.

A: Because I’m trying to keep my kids occupied with craft while I attempt to have a conversation that lasts for more than 3 minutes without an interruption of “Mum!”

The pub is the heart of a small town and most locals would be lost without one. What are three things you’d be lost without?

My laptop (self explanatory)
My kids and hubby (also self explanatory)
Sleep

There are a few good prizes up for grabs in the bar jackpot. Do you have a lucky number?

#4. I have no idea why, it just is.

Last drinks, my friend! It’s been great. But before we go, tell us how we can find out more about you and your writing/books.

Like most authors I have a website: www.natashalester.com.au and I’m also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NatashaLesterAuthor and Twitter https://twitter.com/Natasha_Lester

I also blog most weeks at: http://whilethekidsaresleeping.wordpress.com so I’m pretty easy to find on the net.

You can buy my books through Booktopia: http://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=natasha+lester&productType=917504

Leave a comment below to go into the giveaway draw. Maybe tells us… What is your favourite ABBA song? CLOSED

In the meantime, watch out … It’s on the way …

This storm season, in Calingarry Crossing, a perfect storm is heading Maggie Lindeman’s way.

Find out more, right here. Simmering Season: April 1, 2014

For emergency alerts and warnings for Simmering Season, subscribe to Jenn J McLeod’s blog before you go, or follow her on Facebook.

Posted on 28/03/201428/03/2014 by Jenn J McLeod — 3 Comments

Jenn’s not-so-perfect cover!

You’ve all seen the fabulous cover for my April 1 release – Simmering Season. Not even the lovely Roberta and Larissa (Simon & Schuster) — responsible for the real thing — know about this ‘other’ cover.

When Dianne Blacklock and I were ‘talking’ on her blog recently about our planning/plotting process, I explained that part of my creative process includes making up titles and tag lines to get me into a story. In the early days I would go so far as to design a visual to stick on the wall. (I dug this pretend cover from the archives the other day and had a giggle.)

It seems Maggie/Magpie was always going to find her way into a story and she finally has – in Simmering Season.

Maggie’s story (a vague resemblance) began close to a decade ago. At the time I was toying with a book series using bird titles: magpie – the protector, bower bird – the collector, koel – the home wrecker, kookaburra – sadness behind the smile. Get the idea? (Hmm, you can see why that bird brain concept didn’t get me anywhere with a publisher!!!)

But I was stuck on the magpie idea. I love the birds and I knew there was some merit in a magpie storyline: territorial, maternal, desirous of human interaction, the magpie’s courtship tends to be devoid of all the drama that accompanies so many matings (dance, song, quirks). In fact, the female magpie will generally build her nest alone and often in the most exposed parts of the tree with full exposure to the sun and sky – a kind of bold strategy to prevent ambush. Mother magpies do it all.

Enter Simmering Season’s lead character – nicknamed Magpie – bold and protective: a devoted mother, daughter and wife grappling with her responsibilities as well as being the reluctant town publican and community event organiser for the town’s centenary and school reunion.

Lucky for me (and Maggie) my lovely publishers have a better idea about book covers which means I can now leave the visual creative stuff to them so I can focus entirely on the story telling (while finding new ways to procrastinate – namely Facebook and Twitter).

But I thought you might like to know a little about my Maggie.

As in House for all Seasons, my female leads don’t necessarily fit the fiction heroine mould. Maggie, in particular, is not strong or brave. She is not rescuing anyone or saving the day; Maggie Lindeman is lucky to save herself. She’s far from perfect, desperate, but proud, the kind of everyday woman I hope resonates with readers, much like Poppy, Sara, Amber and Caitlin in House for all Seasons.

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