AUTHORS – Page 15 – Jenn J McLeod – small-town storyteller

Posted on 09/09/201529/02/2016 by Jenn J McLeod — 4 Comments

#WriteRoundOz w/ Jennie Jones – romance author

Fellow small-town fiction writer, Jennie Jones from Perth, Western Australia, lets me drop by in the fifth wheeler (as long as I do a little weeding on the way!!)

Check out the *** below for a little FACT or FICTION fun.

Thank you for letting my park my rig on your driveway–a five minute walk to the Indian Ocean.

You’re welcome, Jenn. Very impressed at the way you casually backed up a steep driveway and around two bends…but hang on to your drink because you’re still on a slope!

(It’s okay. I have wheel chocks!)

What’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’?

Beware of the cat (the small one).

(You have a big cat?)

Downsizing my life into a 24 ft caravan meant leaving lots of things behind in boxes. What (or who!!) would you have trouble leaving behind if you took off in a caravan?

My husband – because there wouldn’t be room for both of us (smile). But I’ve promised him I’ll write…

I miss my HUGE refrigerator. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

Scotch fillet steak for my husband and Eye fillet steak for me. Chilled champagne, cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, low-fat vanilla yoghurt and yesterday’s Webber bbq chicken.

Whose home would you like to visit in your van and why?

Any country manor – so long as it’s elegant and grand and whispers stories.

Houses are definitely Jennie’s favourite things. Check out her titles!!

Do you REALLY have room at your house to park a fifth wheeler caravan and do you mind visitors? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that one!! 🙂

It’s a complicated driveway and you were game enough to reverse up and around – if you could also do a little weeding while you’re here…you can stay.

Country curiosities…

My latest novel, Season of Shadow and Light, has a strong horse theme. (I love what horses can teach us). If you were an animal what would you be?

I’d be a cat. They’re so independent (so long as they’re fed on time) and so capable of looking after themselves (so long as they get what they demand when they demand it). But they are also very loving (when they want to be).

You’re cooking and your food is going up against the best cooks from the CWA (Country Women’s Association). What would be your winning dish?

Oh, heck. I’d lose, so maybe I’ll bring the wine.

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

I’m pretty good at starting a story due to ideas I have to get down, and it flows wonderfully from there for the first three chapters. I can grow the story at around three chapters per stage, but my huge stumbling block is making these stages glue together and make sense. So by three-quarters of the way through a first draft, I’m questioning my sanity. I don’t plot – even when I need to and think I’ve got the rest of the story outlined, the supposed plot changes as soon as I start writing – so I have to go through those difficult periods of wondering where on earth this is going and if it’s going to make the mark. One day, when I’ve got over twenty books under my belt, I might not find it so hard. That’s the hope, anyway.

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

She tried everything except parachuting (and bungy jumping).

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

“How did you amass such a fortune, Ms Jones?” But I’d probably wake up before I answered…

Favourites…

Favourite movie: Jane Eyre (most of the many versions).

Favourite quote: “Fate keeps on happening” Anita Loos

*** NOW – You’re a fiction writer, Jennie. Tells us something about you and we’ll guess if it’s true.

I once spent two weeks auditioning for a musical dance troupe – and after all that effort, got the job. Only to discover we’d be touring Indonesia and would be performing the play naked. I turned the job down. They were all arrested in Indonesia during the first performance.

What do you reckon, folks? Fact or fiction?

______________________________________

More about Jennie and her books…

Author Webpage: http://www.jenniejonesromance.com

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BUY: THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET – latest release.

And if you can’t get enough of HOUSE books, you can always check out my House for all Seasons (#5 bestselling debut novel in 2013)

Posted on 04/09/201529/04/2016 by Jenn J McLeod — 6 Comments

Would you like a prairie oyster to go with that?

Allow me to introduce you to ‘the prairie oyster’.

The dogs seem to enjoy them. Only not my dog. I think little Daiquiri’s tastes are a tad more discerning than Diva the farm dog’s. Poor little Dac simply needed a way to say…

“No thank you. No bull’s balls for me today. I’ll stick to my Greenies.”

Yes, the realities of farm life kind of hit me over the head today (or was that Diva tossing her prairie oyster around? Note to self: Wash hair tonight.)

No doubt about it. Kellie gets all the fun jobs! Prairie oyster prep. Someone pass their plate.

As if being castrated isn’t enough!

While Kellie has the cattle in the crush it’s a good time to brand them.

This, folks, is what it really looks like when you have a lot of irons in the fire.

So, there you have it. And while Kellie gets all the fun jobs, I am left with the difficult task of writing the prairie oyster into a scene in my current work. I figured the least I could do, even though this book is a long way off, is whet your appetite with this teaser of words–as I’m sure I didn’t do it with the prairie oysters.

Here you go: The excerpt.

‘G’day!’

‘Hello.’ Gina alighted from the car, her once shiny leather boots covered in dust.

‘Where you’ve parked under the tree is fine. Good shade for a couple of hours.’ He spoke as quickly as he walked, barely glancing her way. ‘ We’ll be done by three.’

‘We will?’

‘If we get started without any delays. This way.’

‘Excuse me but . . . You are J.B. Tate?’

He paused to look back. ‘I am. Why do you ask?’

‘You’re not what I expected.’

‘Well, that makes two of us. You’re not the usual run of the mill worker I’m used to either. Not sure why they sent someone so . . . ’ His gazed travelled the length of her body—up and down. ‘Are you sure you can handle it?’

‘I’m quite capable, Mr Tate.’

Whatever the hell it was. Gina was going to do it—and do it well.

************

‘So, you wanna tell me what you had in mind when you fronted up today for the job?’ He was laughing, which was more than Gina was capable of right now. She’d thrown up as the first testicle hit the ground and the kelpie snatched it up.

‘Prairie oysters,’ he’d told. ‘Dogs love ‘em.’

Thank goodness the actual farmhand had shown up in the nick of time.

‘I thought you were your father.’

He chuckled. ‘Ahh, another journalist looking for a new angle, eh? All credit to you for the dedication. Do you always go to such lengths to get your story?’

‘No, no, I’m not a journalist,’ she said, frustration mounting. ‘I know I should’ve said straight up except . . . Well, whenever a man questions my ability—’

‘You’ve gotta prove otherwise. I get it. I do.’

‘I feel like an idiot. I assumed that whatever the job was it would involve the hospitality part of the business. I assure you I can do most things food and event related without throwing up or passing out.’

********

I hope you enjoyed that little tidbit (the excerpt, not the prairie oyster), although I am told some people consider the cow off-cuts a delicacy.

Please let me know if you are one of those people, or if you’ve partaken in one of these meaty morsels, and I will be sure to think twice before accepting an invitation to dinner!

Jokes aside, I know this stuff has to happen. I just wish that they wouldn’t look at me like that.

I keep wanting to say, “It wasn’t me! No bull!”

If you don’t mind a good cow story, you might enjoy Season of Shadow and Light. It has cows and a fun cloven hooves scene – my favourite!

Posted on 30/08/201517/04/2015 by Jenn J McLeod

Six Degrees by Honey Brown: Review

Six Degrees by Honey Brown I was excited and delighted when asked to read Honey Brown’s, Six Degrees, prior to release.

When I say there is something for everyone in this book, I really mean . . . THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!

With a foray into a genre different from her full-length novels, Honey Brown proves she’s an author for every reader. (And any reader who says they can’t relate to one of the six short stories that makes up the Six Degrees reading experience, well, they’re just not being honest!)

Six Degrees takes you to places you’ve never thought you’d go—and I’m not talking geography! 😉 In saying that, Honey’s writing transports you from the seedy skimpy bars of a WA mining community to the ‘so-called’ safe suburbs (with a desperate housewife, or two.)

For the reader, Six Degrees provides a keyhole view into all walks of life, what lurks behind closed doors, and even what’s right under our noses.

For the writer, Honey has provided a text book for great characterisation. (And not a cliché in sight!)

Cleverly structure and sublime writing are the cornerstone of this novella which I read in one sitting. I am a fan of a novel written in parts, in which the individual stories turn out to be more than the sum their parts. (I used a four short story structure for House for all Seasons, with a clever twist at the end.) Six Degrees most definitely hits the mark, and while Honey wraps up the six stories, she left me wanting more, more, MORE!

This was a hard book to put down and an easy book to review, even though slightly confronting at times. Six Degrees will, I’m sure, both surprise and delight Honey Brown followers, like me, and bring her a whole new bunch of fans.