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Crack another bottle! It’s my one-month anniversay.

House wine memeToday marks the one-month anniversary of House for all Seasons and what a month it’s been.

I had Canadian duo – Carli and Julie – and their lovely Small Town Stories song for my online launch on March 1st.

Monday 4th was my local Coffs Harbour launch.

My Blog Crawl has kept me busy. FYI – A blog crawl is like a pub crawl: partying late, tripping barefoot from pub to pub, throwing up in your neighbour’s garden. Ahh, what memories! These days I party online (and my neighbour’s chrysanthemums are glad about that). I’ve visited some fabulous authors as part of my Blog Crawl. Check out who right here.

Then there’s been the library talks, book shop signingsmy first Writers Festival as a ridgy-didge author where I made new friends. And I’ve still managed to ‘bale up’ amazing author to add to my growing Author Harvest.

Best of all, my House for all Seasons is selling well and reviewing well.  Take a look at some reviews. I even made the Dymocks Pick of the Month in the March Australian Women’s Weekly.

But what I really want to say in this post is THANK YOU– to those you have read, are planning to read, or even contemplating House for all Seasons. (I know, I know, there are so many great books to choose from and only so many hours in the day.)

But if after reading House for all Seasons you feel inclined to share your thoughts with other readers, I would love, love, love a review or a rating (direct link to): Amazon, Goodreads, The Reading Room. They all help.

And of course, my Monday Memes have been fun so far. More to come too.

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If you’re interested in helping authors in other ways, Kate Forsyth did a fabulous post recently – Six ways you can help a starving author. (Okay, so I’m not exactly starving but you’ll get the drift.)

Thank you for dropping by my blog, sharing my journey, and helping me celebrate the first of many milestones.

Jenn J

 

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A Festival of Authors!

Me (L), Katherine Howell & Jessie Cole (R)My favourite collective noun has to be: A Festival of Authors, especially after attending my very first event as a ridgy-didge published author – the 2013 Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival (just last month).With House for all Seasons on the shelves barely three weeks, I delighted in hob-knobbing with the rich and famous… Err, hang on… This was a writer’s festival. Rich and famous is reserved for that other collectivfiction writer t-shirte noun: A Red Carpet of Hollywood A-Listers! We were ‘just’ a festival of hard-working authors, albeit at varying stages of our journey, and even with a line up including short-listed 2013 award nominees: Jessie Cole, Druscilla Modeska, Carrie Tiffany, Romy Ash, and Cate Kennedy I definitely felt part of a tribe. (Oh, and in the pic above – that’s Me (L), Katherine Howell & Jessie Cole (R)

The oddest feeling was perhaps sitting on a panel in front of a paying audience for the first time in my published author life. People were there to hear what I (and others) had to say, which is why I put so much work (read: angst) into preparing a small presentation for both panels. (Definitely NOT a pantster when it comes to presentations.)

I think I did okay. (And yes there were lots of people in the rows BEHIND those empty chairs in the pic!!!)

Best of all, being Bellingen—a thirty minute drive south along the Pacific Highway—I met up with other Coffs Harbour writers (hello Willa and Shannon) and some locals introduced themselves (hello Debbie and Kerry).

I guess that makes a lovely local festival of authors, keen to get together and share stories over a coffee or two…or three.

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Book Launch Love – Coffs Harbour

Web_a proud dadHere’s me with my proud dad. (I’m his baby girl.)

Now my baby has been set free into the unknown. Okay, so that’s slightly melodramatic; it’s not a real baby and I’m not exactly setting it free. And thanks to a few terrific reviews this last week, the unknown is now also a lot less ‘unknown’. (see below)

I admit to being terrified that readers wouldn’t like it, that book reviewers would stab me in the heart (sorry, there I go with the dramatics again), and that Simon & Schuster would be left shaking their heads and saying: “Geez, that was a mistake!” So there was a kind of audible, if somewhat shaky sigh that escaped my mouth with that first review (and I’m pleased to say the good reviews keep coming!).

Of course, the best thing about publication week is the book launch; planning for such an event started years … err … I mean months ago. I decided to hold the event in the best little, big bookshop. The Book Warehouse at Toormina was going to be perfect for the small no-one-will-come-anyway event.

Hmm, fifty-plus RSVPs later, poor Julie spent sleepless nights wondering how she was going to rearrange the shop to accommodate the growing guest list. (Not to mention the added angst with The Mayor of Coffs Harbour – Denise Knight – officiating on the night.)

Totally out of the blue, a visitor (and a much-needed distraction) lobbed on my doorstop the day before the launch. Carolyn and I started hairdressing together at sixteen; she’d driven up from Sydney as a surprise guest. We hadn’t seen each other for 25 years. (Here she is as my bridesmaid thirty-odd years ago and you can tell one of us is still in the beauty industry, while the other is a struggling artist without a hairdressing budget!)

I admit that my publication dream has always included the glamorous book launch – a fabulously flamboyant affair – author swanning around, signing books and hobnobbing with literati, with much muttering about literary awards and movie deals. And that’s EXACTLY what I got (okay, minus the literary awards and movie deal). But the night was everything I could have hoped for – and more – with a humbling number of people coming from far and wide to help me celebrate. Most importantly though, as I read the first chapter – seven whole minutes (I timed it) – not one guest fell asleep, or if they did we were so crammed into that little store that they couldn’t have fallen anywhere anyway!

If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing (and in fact I probably will do it all over again this same time next year when The Simmering Season comes out. (I hope the sun has come out in Coffs Harbour by then too!)

Thank you to everyone who attended. Those who sent messages. Those who braved the elements. Those too far away to even try. Those watching over me. You were with me.

I think the Chinese proverb from the card I received from The Book Warehouse team says it all:

“I dreamed a thousand paths. I woke and walked my own.”

Enjoy these images of the launch – House for all Seasons March 4, 2013.

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What people are saying:

Daystarz Book Review – (full version)

Told from the alternating perspective of each of the four women, once childhood friends, House for all Seasons is a delightful read. I found myself engrossed in this story from the first few pages. It is a book that holds your attention throughout with enough interesting detail about the characters to have you wanting more. This book is believable and it draws you in as each of the women faces their past and their relationships with each other during their youth.

It takes the reader on a journey back to the days of the girls youth in Calingarry Crossing and to a tragic event that initially tore them apart yet now reunites them. It’s fascinating to read how each of the girls perceived this event, their part in it and what impact it still has on their lives.

We follow along as each of the four main characters confront their past and present in a way that enables them to shape their future, leaving old demons behind.

I thoroughly enjoyed the depth of character development and by the end of each of the women’s stories felt that I knew them personally. Each of the women’s personalities and lives were so different; their back stories so interesting that at times I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I really liked Poppy and Amber probably just because they were the most contrary and seemed to have the most growing to do.

There is a significant twist to the story that I just didn’t see coming and which really makes for a great ending to this book.

Jenn J McLeod has written a brilliant book in House for All Seasons which has me eagerly awaiting her next literary venture. This book is a must read and is the first on my top ten books list of 2013. I cannot say enough good things about this book, I highly recommend it as a must-add to your personal library.

Gotta be happy with that!

More reviews:
Book’d Out
1girl2manybooks
Goodreads – Helene Young