Tag: Lily Malone

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I have a confession …

I once said, at the very start of my publishing journey (back in 2012) that I would never do the new-fangled thing people called ‘blogging’. I disliked the word (and therefore the concept) because no matter how I said it—“I need to blog” , “I have a blog” , “It’s time for a blog” —-it just didn’t sound inviting.

Eventually, I relented and I did blog—a lot. I’ve even missed the process, and so here I am, years later, asking …

Do you read blogs? Should I start again?

I used to have so much fun expressing my thoughts (the weird, the whacky, the sometimes wise and always wordy). I only stopped because Facebook seemed to be the place to go. But if you’re like me you’ll be finding social media, and particularly Facebook, very hit and miss when it comes to keeping up to speed with your favourite people. I mean, who wants to wade through TEN ads to finally finding ONE post from someone you follow? Not me!

I’m starting to think the book-loving community might have had it better in the good ol’ days when authors blogged on our websites–a place that has no faceless controller banning us, and no creeps spamming, stalking or cloning us. (And we can all do with fewer marriage proposals from uniformed servicemen, and from overseas doctors wearing scrubs!)

I’m in the process of shutting down my newsletter due to cost increases. (I send so few newsletters these days.) As such, I’m hoping those of you wanting to keep in touch will re-subscribe to my new newsletter, or to my blog.

As I revisit my BLOGS + FEATURED AUTHORS posts (see the menu above), I’m reminded of all the fabulous and often personal stories from some of our favourite Australian Authors (some of whom were just starting out at the time) like: Lily Malone, Tess Woods, Kim Kelly, Rachael Johns, and Pamela Cook. Also before they were big names, I had fun grilling: Jaye Ford, Annie Seaton, Sara Foster, Natasha Lester, Fiona Palmer, Helene Young, Maggie Christensen and Nicole Alexander. (So many more feature throughout the 6 annual blog series: Author Harvest, My Blog Crawl, Author Bar Yarns and Beer Nuts, A Letter to Myself, and Author Portraits.)

The question remains… “To blog or not to blog?”

Do let me know you like my posts, and I’ll BLOG again. That’s when I’m not:

  • busy writing a new story (titled Saving the Moondance Drive-in and inspired by the small country town of Jericho, Qld),
  • shouting from the rooftops that my 4th audio book is now out (see below);
  • and releasing a new edition of The Other Side of the Season (and with a cover I love.

 

 

 

 

 

So, there we are then! My first blog in years. Perhaps I’m getting my groove back.

That’s all from me from chilly Stanthorpe – our home for a week. Wherever you are, may you be blessed with good books—and good friends who allow you time alone to read them.

Or if you’re a listener…. Click to preview the opening chapter of The Tides That Lie.

Jenn and the J xx

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Lily Malone – Portrait of an Author (w/ giveaway)

Welcome to my fun Q&A where you’ll discover new things about some of our favourite authors. I’m delighted to welcome my good friend (funny, very talented and multi-published), Lily Malone, to a blog series that celebrates another art form (as my new novel is a love story about a sitter and an artist!!) NOTE: giveaway is not closed.

 Let’s start, Lily …

Q: As pose and composition are important factors for a portrait, choose what kind of ‘look’ would you like for your portrait.

  • On a chaise lounge (Kate Winslet/Titanic style)
  • Fully clothed in a rocker (Whistler’s Mother style)
  • A close up of your face (Girl with the Pearl Earring style/Mona Lisa)
  • In all your formal finery befitting your ‘authorly’ status (Regal style)
  • Other

I’d like something a bit more glamorous thank you very much, because everyone thinks of glamour when they think of me, (they do, don’t they, Jenn?) thinking Reese Witherspoon/Nicole Kidman red carpet at Big Little Lies premier-style.

Q: *Snap* I just took your photo as a reference for my portrait of you. Tell us where you are and what you’re wearing. (Be honest.)

I’m at my computer desk. Wearing socks. Black leggings (I’ve just been for a walk) and a long sleeved pink sloppy shirt. Oh, and a wrist brace because I’m an author and I type too much! (I also have my hair in pigtails. Don’t tell anyone!)

Q: Given a choice, what precious item would you want to be included in a portrait of you?

A bottle of red wine. A pack of cards, Joker facing out.

Q: With acquired savant syndrome* featuring in my next novel, I’m curious . . . If you were to wake up from a coma one day to find yourself totally obsessed and a genius (in something other than writing, of course) what would you want it to be? (music, painting, languages, maths, touching your toes while typing, etc)

Is that what acquired savant is? I’d no idea. I’d like to be brilliant at poker. A genius/world champion at Texas Hold-em. If that’s not an option, then golf. A genius at golf would be good (not to mention lucrative).

Q: If you happened to wake up one day and be a genius with a paintbrush, whose portrait would you want to paint and why?

I think I’d like to paint Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Harrison Ford (Han Solo) together, now they’re old. They made me cry in the first of the newer Star Wars movies (Was it The Force Awakens?), and now, of course, the very lovely but so tortured, Carrie Fisher has passed, I wish even more that I’d had this skill and opportunity.

Q: Your preferred medium would be?

A: Oil on canvas

B: Watercolour

C: Pencil/Ink

D: Pastels

E: Kiddy crayons

Lily says: F: Patricia Arquette

(Oh, Lily, you always make me laugh.)

Picasso once asked the question: “Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind it?” In my next novel, the artists says to 58 y.o Ava, “A mature person has depth of character and it’s their layers, built from life’s lessons that interest me the most—when wisdom replaces curiosity and experience replaces youthful exuberance.”

 Q: What two traits would you hope an artist captures in a portrait of you?

Hopefully that my life is rich with wonderful family and friends, and that I’ve made some big mistakes but they didn’t kill me, and they’ve made me stronger.

Q: Because every fireplace deserves a portrait, in whose house would you hang a portrait of you as a surprise and what would they say?

My friend Carrie’s, where it would sit over our Thursday night girls card table… and (if we refer to 3 above, I would have my pack of cards with the Joker showing.) Carrie would say: “bloody Lil, and she reckoned she never gets dealt the Joker”)

Q: Keeping in mind that lucky recipient of your portrait, how would see yourself framed?

  1. Minimalist or no frame at all – just the canvas (take me as I am) This one!
  2. Modernist – chrome, nothing too fancy
  3. Sophisticated – warm, wood, old world
  4. Flamboyant – go all the way and gilt-edged!

A: Minimalist or no frame at all – just the canvas (take me as I am) This one!

Q: Finally, if someone was to add a plaque/title your portrait, how would it read?

Life is always about the next hand

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Lily Malone might have been a painter, except her year-old son put a golf club through her canvas. So she wrote her first book, His Brand of Beautiful instead. Lily has now written three full-length rural romance stories and a novella all published by Harlequin Escape. Her debut trade paperback, The Vineyard In The Hills was published by Harlequin MIRA in September 2016, and her new release with MIRA is Water Under The Bridge, Book 1 in the Chalk Hill series, out now. When she isn’t writing, Lily likes gardening, walking, wine, and walking in gardens (sometimes with wine). She loves to hear from readers and you can find her on Facebook, and on Twitter: @lily_lilymalone. To contact Lily, visit www.lilymalone.wordpress.com

GIVEAWAY: NOW CLOSED AND WINNER ADVISED

Lily is giving away a print copy of her book – Butterfly House Book 1: Who Killed The Bride? (a whole lot of fun and based in her hometown, featuring the very famous Cowaramup Cows. Oh, I do love cows!)

Just LIKE this post and tell us in the comments if you’d like to be in the draw. (Aust. only, sorry. Blame Aust Post for the exorbitant prices.)

Before you go, I have some more author portraits to celebrate the release of my 5th novel (March 19 in Australia/NZ and April 5 overseas) so you might want to subscribe to my blog (right) or check out my Book Room for info about A Place to Remember.

*Acquired savant syndrome, in which a person acquires prodigious capabilities or skills following dementia, a head injury or concussion, epilepsy or other disturbances.

 

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Author, Lily Malone, Writes To Her 19 y.o Self

Dear Lily,

Here you are, about to board the plane to London today.

You already know that you’re running away from a small country town and a cute country boy, and running towards bright lights and adventure. Good on you! Every girl should travel while they’re young. Travel while you’re bold enough to do all those risky things because when you’re a middle-aged mum you’ll have other responsibilities and you won’t be so fearless (or flexible).

So go white water rafting (hold on tight when you get to the second rapids in the Zambezi, the lady beside is gonna fall in and try to take you with her); go hot air ballooning across the Serengeti (it will be a bumpy landing but don’t worry about that, you’ll pull through). Remember to pack some kind of roll-up mattress. Africa is very bumpy if all you have between you and the earth is the tent floor.

Mostly, I want you to consider this . . .

Your friends will move on while you’re overseas travelling. Some will go to university, some will get married, others move away and some will have babies by the time you get back. Life moves on… don’t expect that you can leave now and come back and step into your old life. You’re doing your life in a different order. You’re having the fun now and you’ll come back and get stuck into career, study, the wrong boyfriends and much later, the right boyfriend who will become your husband, and then your family. The downside of that is, your body is older, and you won’t roll with the 2am, 4am and 5am punches of needy babies. But you’ll deal with it. Take heart in the knowledge that the never-ending nappies do actually end, and you won’t be the milk truck forever.

If there’s one thing I’d say to you, it’s this: “Stop worrying so much about what other people think of you. Other people are not talking about you or watching you every second of every day. You are not that interesting! Don’t be so self-absorbed. It is not all about you!”

A word to the wise: Don’t take every rejection personally. (This will help you deal with 1-star book reviews when you’re 45).

Love,

Your 45 year old self.

p.s. That Queensland cane-cutter who is sweet on you in Crete? Don’t dance the Lambada with him. It only leads to trouble…

p.p.s Buy shares in a company called Google.

 lilym_lowresTheGoodbyeRide_ Lily Malone

Lily Malone writes Australian Contemporary Romance with Escape
Publishing. You can BUY The Goodbye Ride from Amazon AUS . Lily’s writing style blends romance with her delightful (sometimes cheeky) sense of humour and fresh, whimsical turn of phrase. Also by Lily Malone: So Far Into You, His Brand of Beautiful, and Fairway to Heaven.
[Tweet “What advice does @lily_lilymalone give her 16 y.o self? #LetterToMyself https://www.jennjmcleod.com/blog/a-letter-to-myself-author-list”]

Wanting to honour the lost art of letter writing through this blog series, I also opened my fourth novel with a character writing a letter. And not just any letter. It’s a story –perhaps the most important he’ll ever tell.

The Other Side of the SeasonReady for a sea change

Life is simple on top of the mountain for David, Matthew and Tilly until the winter of 1979 when tragedy strikes, starting a chain reaction that will ruin lives for years to come. Those who can, escape the Greenhill banana plantation on the outskirts of Coffs Harbour. One stays—trapped for the next thirty years on the mountain and haunted by memories and lost dreams. That is until the arrival of a curious young woman, named Sidney, whose love of family shows everyone the truth can heal, what’s wrong can be righted, the lost can be found, and . . . there’s another side to every story.

CLICK for more or leave a comment below for Lily.