Category: AUTHORS

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#WriteRoundOz w/ Chris Taylor (WIN)

A few years back, when managing a writing competition, was the first time I saw the synopsis for The Profiler. I remember thinking at the time it sounded like a great story. Now I have Chris Taylor, from NSW, on my blog with a copy of The Profiler to give away to one lucky reader.

Chris Taylor The Profiler 2012-06-02 16.24.13

Hi Chris! Thank you for letting me park my rig in your front paddock. I’ll be sure not to run over the lovely row of oleanders you have growing there.

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

“Beware of the kids”

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

Lots of leftovers. I cook huge meals and then feed the kids leftovers for the next few days. Saves me having to cook every day. They complain of course, but I’m the boss, right?

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?

With five young kids, it will be a long time before I get to leave anyone behind for a caravan!

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

Hugh Jackman because he is so hot and so darned nice!

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!! 🙂

I live on 25 acres about 10km from my nearest town. There is plenty of room, Jenn. Drop in anytime!

(Oh, 25 acres. Yowza!)

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 love horses, too, but I would like to be a dog. Everyone loves dogs and they get lots of attention.

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?

Angel food cake

(What is angel food cake? Sounds sweet?)

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Plotting. I like to sit down and summarise the story from start to finish before I begin. Once I have my summary, the writing comes easily.

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

The Aussie author from the bush who made it big!

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

Never given it any thought, Jenn. I always try to answer honestly, no matter the question.

Favourite things…

Favourite place in Australia: anywhere along our beautiful coastline

Favourite holiday destination: Nashville, Tennessee

Favourite movie: Les Miserables, starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway

 If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

Read for you from one of my favourite books!

*WIN* a paperback copy of Chris’ first book in the Munro Family Series, The Profiler.

Tell us one of your favourite books (it does not have to be one of ours!) to enter the draw. Winner announced end June 2015. (*Aust postal address only*)

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#WriteRoundOz w/ Deborah O’Brien (WIN!)

TTM_Front_Cover 420 Deborah O'Brien_colour5x7 420

At home with Deborah O’Brien from the Southern Tablelands of NSW.

(And what a clever, clever cover. Can you make the connection between the title and the design?)

 

Deb! Thank you for letting me park my rig on your…

Oh, you have a paddock! Wonderful.

You’re very welcome, Jenn. Just watch out for the wombat holes.

And what’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’, Deb?

Carve canem – which simply means ‘Beware of the dog!’ I have two dogs – a kelpie/cattle dog cross and a Border collie – both very friendly, but potential burglars don’t know that.

(And they like freeloading grey nomads?)

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

Oh my goodness – a stack of Lindt chocolate bars, several half-empty bottles of white wine, leftover roast beef and far too many jars of mustard, chutney and pesto – I seem to collect them!

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 dogs could come with me, but I’m not sure how my eighteen-year-old tabby cat would cope. So no caravan trips for me.

Whose home would you like to visit in your van?

My relatives in Parkes NSW.

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!! 🙂

Of course, Jenn. You’re welcome any time.

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 love horses too for their nobility and grace, but if I were an animal, I would want to be my kelpie, Angel. She’s tough, resilient and clever.

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?

My apple strudel, which was adapted from a family recipe belonging to a German friend, Sonja. The trick is to add a dash of lemon juice to the apple mix.

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

For me, the hardest part of writing is not being able to do it whenever I want to. Sadly, real life keeps getting in the way – all those relentless domestic chores like washing, ironing, grocery shopping, and cleaning.

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

‘It’s Never Too Late’ inspired by the George Eliot quote: ‘It’s never too late to be what you might have been’. It refers to the fact that although I’ve been writing all my life, I was a closet storyteller and wrote non-fiction for publication. It wasn’t until six years ago that I started my first novel. Actually I found myself working on two manuscripts at once – making up for lost time, I suppose!

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

  1. What do you like most about writing?
  2. I love the element of make-believe, the ability to escape into a fictional world and go to places, both physical and psychological, that I wouldn’t normally visit in real life. Occasionally, though, the world I create is so dark I’m quite relieved to return to reality.

Favourite four

Favourite place in Australia: Apart from the Southern Tablelands of NSW, my favourite place is Rose Valley (near Gerringong).

Favourite holiday destination (anywhere): Paris

Favourite movie: David Lean’s ‘Brief Encounter’

Favourite quote: ‘When it’s dark enough, you can see the stars.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

I’m hopeless at singing and dancing so, as an artist, I’d probably draw something for you – a quick portrait perhaps.

Or you could tell us about your book: THE TRIVIA MAN

If only his life was a quiz . . .

From the author of Mr Chen’s Emporium comes a quirky and heart-warming tale about finding your true place in the world, set against the backdrop of a weekly trivia competition.

‘Trivia is a serious business, not a social occasion’

Kevin Dwyer, the ‘trivia man’

 Dubbed ‘brainbox’ by his peers and ‘weirdo’ by his sister, Kevin Dwyer is a middle-aged forensic accountant who has never had a real friend, other than his eight-year-old nephew Patrick. When Kevin joins the Clifton Heights Sports Club trivia competition as a one-man team, and convincingly wins the first round, he is headhunted by the other contestants. But Kevin would prefer to be on his own. That is, until he meets Maggie Taylor . . .

Maggie is a Latin teacher and movie buff, who’s good at her job but unlucky in love. In fact, she’s still besotted with the man who dumped her years ago. Nagged by her friend Carole about getting out and meeting people, Maggie reluctantly joins the trivia team founded by Carole’s husband Edward.

Over a season of trivia nights, Kevin, Maggie and her team will experience arguments and crises, friendships and romances, heartbreaks and new beginnings.

And maybe, just maybe, Kevin will find his happy-ever-after.

Win a signed copy of The Trivia Man, complete with a cover postcard. Leave a comment below.

(Aust postal addresses only)

Connect with Deborah…

Website: www.deborahobrien.com.au

Publisher – ‘The Trivia Man’ page

 

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#WriteRoundOz w/ Tess Woods (book giveaway)

Tess Woods from the beautiful Indian Ocean shores of WA tells a great yarn and has a beautiful real life love story…Love at First Flight by Tess WoodsTess Woods- smaller photo

Tess, congratulations on your debut novel. It is a fabulous read and one lucky person will win a copy by just commenting below.

And thank you for letting my park my rig next to your veggie patch

 

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

“Friends Always Welcome, Family by Invitation Only.”

If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

Two fridges and more food than you could poke a stick at. I’m Egyptian. We eat big. There is enough food crammed in there to survive a zombie apocalypse. My hubby thinks the six large bags of mozzarella in there are overkill. I think “but what if we have 35 people show up unexpectedly and they all want toasted sandwiches?” Common Egyptian thought process…

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?

The two big fridges…

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

George Clooney’s chalet in Lake Como. I don’t really care about the chalet. Or Lake Como.

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!! 🙂

Haha! No definitely do not have the room, but what the hell, come anyway, the neighbours have a huge drive. 

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 would be my cat. My cat has the life one can only dream about. 

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

This is on my bucket list, for real. I want to take my lemon pie to them and I want a ribbon. I want this very, very badly. 

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Research, I hate it. I know some authors love it, but my wish is to be able to just write whatever I want and have nobody question its validity! I so wish I could get away with that and not have to research AT ALL.

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

She’s Good with her Fingers! 🙂 (I’m a physio, I knit, I cross-stitch, I bake and I write.)

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

“How did you and your husband meet?”

I love my own love story with my hubby and I’ve always wanted an excuse to share it. So, yay, thanks for asking!!

I saw him for the first time standing over the photocopier in the library at university, and it was an instant phwoar moment for me. I thought he was the hottest guy I had seen on campus. I drooled from afar but I didn’t approach him. He was older than I was and we had no common classes and I didn’t see him again for a while. A few months later though, a friend of mine introduced him to me as her boyfriend. Doh! I saw him out and about socially for a while then and I continued to drool over him from afar. But they broke up and I didn’t see him again for two years. Then I was at a university ball and out of nowhere he appeared and said he remembered me from before and asked me to dance. After we had a dance, he told me I looked beautiful in my ball gown and invited me to have a drink. I declined, because I had a boyfriend at the time. Doh!! He disappeared again. Cut to two years later, once again, and I happened to see him by chance at a crowded bar in Geelong. We were both there for a mutual friend’s party. Quite literally across a crowded bar our eyes met. He walked over and his first words were “so did you lose the boyfriend?” We celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary this year.

Favourite four…

Favourite place in Australia: Scarborough Beach, Perth at sunset.

Favourite holiday destination: Venice.

Favourite movie: Dirty Dancing

Favourite quote: “Throw me to the wolves and I shall return leader of the pack.”

 If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

Belly Dance!

About: Love at First Flight 

A family is threatened by an irresistible attraction in this compelling debut that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Anita Shreve.

Looking back on it now, I can see it was instant. The second we locked eyes. Boom. Just like that. The me I had spent a lifetime perfecting began its disintegration from that moment. And despite the carnage it brought to all our lives, I still don’t regret it. 

What would you risk to be with the love of your life? And what if your soul mate is the one who will destroy you?

Mel is living the dream. She’s a successful GP, married to a charming anaesthetist and raising a beautiful family in their plush home in Perth. But when she boards a flight to Melbourne, she meets Matt and her picture perfect Stepford life unravels as she falls in love for the first time ever.

What begins as a flirty conversation between strangers quickly develops into a hot and obsessive affair with disastrous consequences neither Mel nor Matt could have ever seen coming. Mel’s dream life turns into her worst nightmare.

Love at First Flight will take everything you believe about what true love is and spin it on its head.

Jenn J’s review on Amazon 

Links:

Author website: http://www.tesswoods.com.au/

Facebook page

Goodreads

Amazon

iBooks

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

About the author: Tess Woods

Tess Woods is a health professional who lives in Perth, Australia with one husband, two children, one dog and one cat who rules over all of them. Love at First Flight is her first novel for HarperCollins. When she isn’t working or being a personal assistant to her kids, Tess enjoys reading and all kinds of grannyish pleasures like knitting, baking, drinking tea, watching Downton Abbey and tending to the veggie patch.

WIN a ebook of Love at First Flight

Leave a comment to go into a draw. Open to all. Winner announced here end June.