Category: MY BOOKS

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A Release Day Dedication and Apology

Dan and Benny Acton in action cira 1970

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.

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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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I’m #5 – Top 10 Best Selling Debut Novels 2013

Well, well, well…

Blow me down! I am #5 best selling author on the official Nielsen Bookscan list 2013. (The folk at Nielsen collect all bookshop sales info – printed books – to rank and report on sales across Australia.)

And a pretty impressive list it is too …

 

 

Not hard to guess numbers 1 and 2, but to see so many friends and acquaintances sharing the top 10 with me is mind blowing. (Let me bold and highlight that, in case you miss it!)

1. Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
2. The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion
3. Thornwood House – Anna Romer
4. Redstone Station – Therese Creed
5. House for all Seasons – Jenn J McLeod
6. Ryders Ridge – Charlotte Nash
7. Be Careful What You Wish For – Gemma Crisp
8. Walking on Trampolines – Frances Whiting
9. Fractured – Dawn Barker
10. The Russian Tapestry – Banafsheh Serov

I will try and feature all these authors on my blog sometime during the year. Maybe I can get them over for a bar yarn and beer nuts in the Calingarry Crossing hotel!

Right now I am going to get a sharp object and burst the bubble (and the big head – before it gets bigger) and get back to my writing. Book four in my Seasons Collection is on the plotting board and I am very happy about that.

To my lovely readers – thank you for embracing House for all Seasons. I hope you enjoy Simmering Season just as much – maybe more. I am, as yet, undecided which book I love the most. I think… maybe… it’s the one I’m writing right now! 🙂