Escape Publishing – Page 3 – Jenn J McLeod

Posted on 06/10/201302/12/2014 by Jenn J McLeod — 8 Comments

Bar Yarns w/ Gracie Macgregor & ‘Hearts on Hold’ Giveaway

I met Gracie at her Calypso Bar. Now here she is at Calingarry Crossing pub having a bar yarn and a …. warmed olive? Oh well … Find out about the Calypso Bar below, along with details of how to WIN a copy of Gracie’s novel Hearts on Hold.

Come on in, Gracie. Grab a pew. What can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)

I have recently discovered this amazing Swedish strawberry and lime cider: it’s the very essence of harvest time! Tall glass, lots of ice, please!

Okay, well, here’s a beer coaster. How about a beer coaster blurb for Hearts on Hold?

The strongest sunshine casts the darkest shadows…

Cate Boyd is searching for a place where nobody knows her name. The sleepy Maltese village of Xlendi offers privacy, anonymity, and the serene life she craves, far from her former world. But her peace is shattered when monolithic development company Vena announces its plans to level her village, and threatens to expose Cate’s secrets if she stands in its way. The arrival of seductive, nosy professor Brandon Blackshaw seems too coincidental for comfort — especially when she discovers that Vena is his research partner. As the pressure mounts, Cate must decide which is more important: her hard-won privacy, or the future of her beloved Xlendi.

Hey, did you hear the one about … Tell us a joke (preferably one that comes with a punch line you actually remember!)

A footballer walks into a bar. You’d have thought he’d have seen it.

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

Sadly, I can’t “do” nuts, or I end up doing a run to the nearest hospital. It gets pretty ugly. Instead, I’ll be perfectly content with a lovely bowl of mixed olives – warmed, if you wouldn’t mind. I don’t want much, do I?!

Ahh, that beer hit the spot. Let me slip a drink coaster under your glass while you tell us: are you a messy desker or tidy desker? (NB: 1 = “I am a neat nut case” and 10 = “What desk? Where? Is there a desk here somewhere?”) Are you game to post a working space picture right now?

Gracie's Desk Sure. Happy to post a picture of my desk. It’s not where I work, though, because it’s got a bit of other stuff on it at the moment. I wouldn’t necessarily call it messy. “Messy” seems like such a pejorative term. I think my desk is… industrious. Really? You’re really going to make me rate it? Ok. I’m a 1. Just not where my desk is concerned.

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?

Can I have the drinks before I have to sing for my supper? John Denver all the way, baby. Why should my poor little Mazda be the only one to suffer?

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. (FYI- Links to You Tube clip)

Merry Clayton’s “Yes” from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack:
The Finns’ “Anything Can Happen”
Wendy Matthews’ “If Only I Could”

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

It doesn’t matter. The author’s going to have the best story about what happened next.

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

Keeping a tight grip on its (bank)notes?

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?

Choc-coated coffee beans. They’re sometimes the only things that keep me sitting at the space-which-is-not-my-desk pounding on my keyboard. Until I have to get up to refill the bowl. Then all procrastination bets are off.
My iPad. I do not like Macs as a rule (heresy, I know), but I do love my iPad.
My gorgeous teenaged son. I’ve left him until last in the list just so he doesn’t get too embarrassed. Or too full of himself. He’s already far too confident in his ability to get me to do pretty much whatever he wants!

Shhh! The last race of the day is on the TAB screen and I reckon I’ve picked a winner. I browse the race guide with the jockey colours influencing my bet. When browsing a bookshop, what influences you? (Order this list: Author. Cover design. Title. Tagline/blurb. First chapter. Last page!)

Author
Author
Author
Tagline/blurb
Tagline/blurb
Author. I have no memory for titles, I rarely notice covers and I NEVER read first or last pages before I can sit down and read the book from go-to-whoa.

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

Your lucky number is: 7. No, 8! No! 3! Sorry, I’m not being greedy. I used to be indecisive but now I’m not so sure.

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.

Jenn, thanks for asking, and thanks for inviting me along to the harvest, I’ve had terrific fun!

Readers can find me in these places:

Website & The Calypso Bar!: www.graciemacgregor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GracieMacgregorAuthor

Twitter: @graciewrites

Escape Publishing: http://www.escapepublishing.com.au/product/9780857990594

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/GracieMacgregor

BOOK GIVEAWAY TIME!

Jenn, I’d love to give away a copy of “Hearts on Hold” (epub format or PDF) to your choice of the best answer to this question: One of the least-recognised benefits of choc-coated coffee beans is …

Okay folks, over to you. You have about two weeks. Gracie and i will still be in the bar so we may need a nudge!

Posted on 05/06/201305/06/2013 by Jenn J McLeod — 13 Comments

Author Harvest ‘bales up’ Jennie Jones

Author Harvest I’ve been biting at the bit ‘bale up’ this lovely debut author (and what a striking book cover).

So Jennie (with an ‘ie’) I was wondering… Is it possible that when your mum named you that she wanted to name you Jenn (with two ‘Ns’ – as all great Jenns are named) but when explaining the spelling — Jenn with two ens — she spelled out, “J.e.n.n. i.e. – (only to the listener, the ‘ie’ translated to a ‘that is’. So … J.e.n.n. (‘that is’ two Ns!). See? Jenn with two Ns and no ‘ie’. Hmm, you might want to check on that! 😉

Okay…

Let’s start by you telling me if it’s scones and tea or some other homemade delight you have whipped up for me today! 🙂

Welsh cakes cooked on the griddle, with zesty orange butter. (You’ll love them).

(Not sure I’ve had anything cooked on a griddle – not since I visited Jethro and Elle-May Clampet for some of Granny’s cookies, but I’m keen. Must be a WA thing.)

At home with…

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy at your place?

It was always no, never – especially the colourful ones. But two years ago we moved Jennie stone man house and I found a little stone man in the front garden. There was no way I could bin him. He’s staying (even though he’s lost the top of his hat). The dilemma is – if we move, do we take him or leave him?

(Pic of my gnome attached, if you want to use it)

(A little stoned man? Cool! Oh, wait, you said STONE man. Not so cool. But I say leave him and tell the next owners to do the same. Imagine the stories he will tell in the dark of night when he comes alive and frolics with all the other stoned gnomes. Oh, sorry, STONE gnomes.)

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

A chicken and an egg – and me, staring at them wondering how I’m going to answer the chicken and road question.

(And obviously a little hash stash for those gnomes, hmm, JJ?)

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

Doesn’t everyone sort their wardrobe by colour? And season?

(Oh, you had me at season!)

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

Fluffy brown dressing gown with big white spots.

(Hmm, images of Granny Clampet!) The Beverley Hillbillies – For those young’us out there.

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

Anyone who has a country manor or stately home. They could trust me. I’d walk around loving the atmosphere and might be inclined towards some light dusting of the antiquities. I’d even be happy with any ghosts residing there.

Country curiosities…

We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Or are you a boots person?

I love hats. Here in Australia I go for the baseball cap, but when I lived in the UK I would find any excuse to wear a hat, especially at weddings. This winter I’m also buying me a pair of cowboy boots (high-heeled girly ones).

Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?

To cross, or not to cross, that is the question: –
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind, to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous side;
Or to take arms against a road of troubles,
And by crossing end them?

(#amspeechless!)

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being an author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

When I received a report from the Romantic Novelists’ Association and their New Writers Scheme. I knuckled down and worked tirelessly (not true – it was exhausting!) to get my manuscript up to scratch for submission. I knew, somewhere deep within me I had a chance. When it was accepted for publication, I couldn’t quite believe that the chance had really come my way, until I reminded myself that all the work, effort and sheer brain-slog had created the magic I wanted.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Creating the story plot. The characters and settings come easily, but what will happen to them and why gives me the heebie-jeebies, so I have to delve deeper and darker into the dimness known as: there is fiction at the end of the tunnel.

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

I Googled my name a while back to see how many more Jennie Jones’s were out there, and found a book written by Maggie Osborne entitled: The Promise of Jenny Jones. (And it’s a western – my favourite!) So if anyone ever wants to bother writing my biography, could you please call it The Promise of Jennie Jones and can there be some nice photos in it too?

(Or Jenn Jones. You’d best check on that spelling first!)

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

Reporter: “I understand you’re being ‘baled up’ by the Jenn J McLeod?”

Me: “YES! She asked me! Honestly, I didn’t have to beg or even pay her!”

(LOL Love it! Plus, you’re a Jenn (or a Jennie) and we are special!!!! )

Fun stuff…

What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator.

If I lined them up in a room, I think my heroes and heroines might stare at me blankly for a moment, then ask: ‘You’re going to make us do what?” I suppose at that point, I’d have to buy them all a drink and explain myself.

(Fictional friends. Cheap shout! Is that why it’s a bit of a dry argument right now? Something to wash down those Welsh cakes would be nice.)

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

Any woman who owns a stately home (even the ones in disrepair – I wouldn’t mind!)

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

I was an actor for many years, Jenn, so I’d sing and dance for you of course. Name your musical!

My two fave musical songs (you may see a certain seasonal influence):

South Pacific’s ‘Younger Than Spring Time’ because I wish I was! (Do you know that one? Here, I’ll get you going… “Younger than spring time, are you / Gayer than laughter are you… La, la, la!!! )

Oh and State Fair’s – ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’ (Oh, happy days, I just found the ringtone online!!!!) And some lyrics…

I’m as busy as a spider spinning daydreams
I’m as giddy as a baby on a swing
I haven’t seen a crocus or a rosebud or a robin on the wing
But I feel so gay in a melancholy way
That it might as well be spring…..

Gotta love old-time songs.

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Unsliced bread, ripped apart whilst warm and devoured with real butter and Welsh cheddar cheese.

(I don’t believe you. Prove it – right this minute!)

How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).

I’d like to say 2 but I think those who know me would be frowning. Therefore, I admit to 9, but prefer to think it’s the arty part of me that pushes that envelope.

Thanks Jennie, I am soooooo happy to be welcoming a new House to the block. Pretty soon House for all Seasons will have an entire street. (Oh, there’s a blog idea!)

Now, tell us about The House on Burra Burra Lane:

A dilapidated house, a city girl looking for a tree change, and a rugged vet with a past. Just another day in rural Australia…

Just ten days after her fresh start in the isolated Snowy Mountains, Samantha Walker trips over a three hundred pound pig and lands in the arms of Dr. Ethan Granger — and the firing line for gossip. It was hardly a ‘date’ but sparks of the sensual kind are difficult to smother in a community of only 87 people. Now there’s a bet running on how long she’ll stay and what she’ll get up to while she’s in town.

Ethan has his own issues — Sammy’s presence in his childhood home brings with it painful recollections of family scandals and a bad‐boy youth. When the gossip around them heightens, his life is suddenly a deck of cards spread on the table for all to see. Then Sammy’s past catches up with her… and it looks like all bets are off.

Wonderful. Now, if you don’t know Jennie, here’s how you can find out more and connect with her. She is a lot of fun to know.

Links:

Buy The House on Burra Burra Lane

Jennie Jones Romance Webpage: http://www.jenniejonesromance.com

Visit Jennie Jones Romance Author Facebook page

Posted on 14/01/201302/12/2014 by Jenn J McLeod — 25 Comments

Author Harvest ‘bales up’ Lily Malone

I believe I may have met my match.

Lily Malone is one witty, wine-loving, lady. I am so glad I found her lurking on her blog (a blog that is littered with gold, BTW.)

Trouble is, every time I see her name I start singing Lili Marlène* over and over in my head. (For Gen X and Y – it’s an old Vera Lynn, WWII… oh, just forget it and watch the clip – or not.)

Okay, Lily, now I have that out of the way, start by telling me if it’s scones and tea or some other homemade delight you have whipped up for me today.

Hubby has previously described my attempt at muffins as “like ice-hockey pucks” and I dread to think what I might do to a scone… but I am a QUEEN of chocolate brownies. And in particular I make a white chocolate and cherry brownie (sometimes with crushed hazelnuts) that is kind of gooey and almost tea-cakey-chewy (very un-brownie like) but dang, it’s DIVINE!

(After so many Author Harvest posts I’ve learned not to be fussy, so… Plate ’em up, Lil!)

At home …

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy at your place?

No gnomes here. I do have an African lady that was a wedding present. (Here’s a photo). The idea is to put your keys in the basket on her head so if you forget your keys, you can always get in the house. Oops. Do any potential burglars read Author Harvest?

(Nah. You’re safe here. Anything about the family jewels you’d like to add, though?!)

What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?

Good tomatoes. I have struggled to grow tomatoes. They generally come out looking all Bonsai. But dare I say, this year I have thrown everything into the soil and so far, they are looking fab. One is VERY close to being picked.

(Is that it? The one behind you in the profile pic above? Well, I hope you enjoy it. I hate to tell you but I have tomato bushes just pop up every season on their own so I have to make chutney!)

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

Yikes! Right now there is a bottle of Jansz bubbles. Coopers Pale Ale. Coopers Stout. There are vegetables in the crisper which are probably the floppy side of crisp. Lots of condiments and a homemade muesli slice which, incidentally, I probably could also have shared for you with the white choc-cherry brownie I mentioned above. But the brownie is more glam, and for you Jenn, glam is the go!

(Lily, as I mentioned to Jaye Ford the other day on Facebook. As one ages, one needs to avoid making reference to anything being ‘floppy’.)

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

Definitely not a wardrobe sorter. Black would probably dominate. I’m also a bit of a purple/burgundy kind of girl. I own nothing orange and nothing green.

(Hmm? What was that you said? Burgundy? Why, yes, pour me a glass!)

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

It’s about 37 degrees in Adelaide today, so it’s a little blue sundress that my sister (who loves shopping and buys brilliant presents) gave me for Christmas last year (2012).

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

Someone like Gai Waterhouse or Bart Cummings or Peter Moody. Actually, make that Peter Moody. I am a Black Caviar freak and I’d love to see memorabilia of all these amazing horses. If Peter Moody’s house looked over the paddocks and Black Caviar was out there… that would be pretty amazing. But any rural/horsey/paddocky type thing would do.

Country curiosities…

We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Or are you a boots person?

I love hats. The widest brim straw hat I have always blows off in the wind, which may mean my head is not big enough. (Some would argue this fact). But I really love wearing beanies in winter and I have quite a few.

If you were a tree (or animal) what kind of tree (animal) would you be?

I don’t know about tree. But I was asked what animal I’d be many, many moons ago at a Nutrimetics party of all places, and I said if I was an animal, I’d like to be an Otter. Go figure.

Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?

She saw Timothy Olyphant on the other side.

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being an author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

This is very very recent for me. In fact I still don’t think I can call it a “career”. But my biggest turning point was when a scene from His Brand Of Beautiful finaled in the RWA First Kiss competition in 2012. When Kasey from RWA rang me up to tell me, I was just blown away. It was the first time anyone who I felt “knew” the romance genre and so, made a good judge, gave me an indication that what I was doing was actually any good. (Or even potentially good – it still had a heck of a long way to go at that point). But I think this was a moment where I thought, okay, if I work and work and work… maybe I can just do this.

(And you did! It’s all official today, I believe. Fantastic.)

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Finding the time. I have two young kids and I work part-time. It isn’t exactly the ‘time’ itself that is the hard part, but it’s quality time. I have struggled a lot with feeling that my writing is selfish time, and that I should be putting those hours to cutting out and colouring in and painting pictures with the kids… I really am not that type of crafty mum. And I’m a bit of a procrastinator. But once I get stuck in, I’m fairly disciplined.

(Not “THAT type of crafty mum”! So what sort of ‘crafty’ mum are you exactly?)

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

Lily Malone: Glass Half Full

(Ha! Love it! I’m definitely more full bottle. What? Why are you laughing?)

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

I can’t think of one! I have actually been the answer to a Hockey Club quiz night question once. Does that count?

(Was the question something to do with you puck-like muffins?)

Fun stuff …

What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator.

Christina Clay would find my fashion sense very boring, but she would love my hats and we would drink beautiful champagne together.

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

Do you know? I think it might be Lady Di, or possibly if it was now, Kate Middleton. Just to see what it was like being a princess. That lifestyle is so far from mine…

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

Pop the cork on a bottle of Moet. I have two in the pantry right now, waiting for the day my book is released! But if you twist my arm, I’ll make an exception for you! (Ouch! That was a hard twist, Jenn!)

(I BYO’d Lily. Here you go. Today is the champagne occasion. Cheers to Escape Publishing for having the good sense to see your talent.)

What food would you be?

I love making icecream cakes… I’m not much of a baker otherwise, (outside of the Brownies in Q1 above). I think I’d be something vanilla-ish, with a chocolate swirl of crushed-up Flake and Tim Tams and with a couple of fresh cherries artfully plonked on top. I like artfully plonking.

(Yes, plonking much more acceptable than flopping!)

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Mel Gibson in Braveheart, or perhaps Brad Pitt in Troy. Or no! Definitely Russell Crowe in Gladiator.

(So, men in skirts do it for you, huh?)

Name 5 uses for a stapler that has not staple pins.

My stapler rarely has pins. The kids are forever emptying them.

How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).

I don’t think I’m weird, not really. So I’d go with a 2.

Thank you Lily, and congratulations on your contract.

Folks, if you aren’t already subscribed to Lil’s blog, do. She brightens a day and makes for fun procrastination moments. www.lilymalone.wordpress.com

Here is the blurb about her debut novel – for release March 2013

His Brand Of Beautiful – Lily Malone
When marketing strategist Tate Newell first meets wine executive Christina Clay he has one goal in mind: tell Christina he wont design the new brand for Clay Wines. Tell her: Thanks but no thanks. So long, good night.

But Tate is a sucker for a damsel in distress and when a diary mix-up leaves Christina in his debt, he gets more than he bargained for.

What does a resourceful girl do when the best marketing brain in the business wont play ball? She bluffs. She cheats. And she ups the ante. But when the stakes get too high, does anybody win?

Falling in love was never part of this branding brief.
His Brand Of Beautiful will be published by Harlequin Escape in March
For more information or to contact Lily, visit www.lilymalone.wordpress.com