Welcome to Avalon

It won't be long until the 4th book in my Avalon series, Fourth to Run is released which has left me feeling somewhat reflective.

I was twenty three when I first went to Avalon and wrote about Aiden's introduction to the town and its secrets in First to Fall. I didn't anticipate that a number of years later - I can't say how many since a lady doesn't disclose her true age ; ) - that I'd be preparing to head back to Avalon once more.

Both Aiden and the town of Avalon are very special to me as they've evolved along with me right from my first initial steps in to the scary world of being a professional author.

If you've yet to visit Avalon it is a small town with very big secrets. The more time Aiden spends there the more he becomes embroiled in the town's intricate web of lies. But in Fourth to Run his loyalty to Avalon is pushed to the limit. Just how far will he go to protect the town he calls home?

In the lead up to the release of the new book the first three novels are all currently on offer so its a good time to snap them up!

Hopefully I'll have a shiny new cover to share soon! Until then have a great weekend and do pay Avalon a visit if you get chance : )

xoxo

A Very Special Package

This morning I had literally just finished writing the latest chapter in my WIP when the doorbell rang. Grumbling I removed my blanket, reluctantly left my laptop and headed down the stairs. When I opened the door and saw the UPS guy my heart starting pounding because I knew what it meant; my books had arrived!

Shipped all the way from America my books had been on a long journey and had finally reached my anxious little hands! I couldn't open the box fast enough, while Rollo sensed my excitement and started to try and chew the corners. When I opened the box and reached in to find ten beautiful copies of Dare to Dream the world slowed and for the first time in ages...I cried.

The books are BEAUTIFUL! The pictures I've taken seriously don't do them justice. As I turned over those few first pages and read the familiar opening lines of Dare to Dream it all suddenly seemed so wonderfully real. I was sat alone in my bright pink writing room holding a copy of my book. So much of my time is spent locked away in solitude that I rarely have moments like these which are worthy of celebration. 

But my jubilation was short lived as Rollo eagerly shoved his wet little nose in to the box and tried to grab his own copy. I managed to distract him with the packaging which he merrily chewed on while I let the excitement of the moment sink in. And then it was back to reality. This afternoon will be spent editing another book and tomorrow I'll be writing yet another chapter in my WIP. 

I need to offer my publisher, Reuts, huge congratulations for how they have helped me on my long road to publication. They took my story and placed it in this beautiful package which I'm utterly thrilled about! Seriously, you all need to go and buy a copy simply to behold it's wonder first hand! 

xoxo

Heart to Heart

Dare to Dream has been out for almost two weeks now which means that reviews have started to come in. Reading initial reviews for a new book is always tense. You worry that people won't enjoy the story, that they won't connect with your characters or understand what you are trying to convey.

It is an inevitable truth that not everyone will like your book. You really cannot please all the people all the time. What's important is reaching out to the people who will. The people who will get it and will enjoy it. 

And so the first reviews are in and I can breathe a sigh of relief. People are enjoying Maggie's story, they are getting excited for the next book in the series, which spoiler alert will be called Dare to Believe. 

Reading these reviews I've noticed an interesting similarity between them. Dare to Dream seems to have an impact on reader's hearts which can only be a good thing!

'The final line of the book sent my heart a flutter. I love it when books do that.'

'My heart was racing through the last 150 pages.'

'“When the last stone falls, the world will end” - That sentence made my heart pound with anticipation.'

As a writer I'm always striving to have an impact on the reader so I love reading people's reactions to the story. It makes all my hours of solitude locked away in my pink writing room worthwhile. If you've not read Dare to Dream yet why not grab a copy and see what it does to your heart? : ) 

If you're addicted to that new book smell (and come on, who isn't?) you'll be pleased to know that from tomorrow you can order Dare to Dream in all its paperback glory! Yay!

xoxo

New Beginnings

Today for me the start of a new week also means the start of a new story. I always get really excited about starting a new WIP (work in progress). I babble about the story to anyone who will listen, I run key scenes in my mind when I'm walking the dog or taking a bath and then I suddenly disappear...

When I'm writing a story I delve right into it. I stop talking about it and just start...living it I guess. It can be quite consuming but I love it, especially when it's a story I'm crazy excited about. But as the excitement wears off I feel bad for all the other ideas I've brushed aside in honor of this current one. I saw a writer on Twitter talking about how each time she publishes a book she breathes a sigh of relief as it's another story out there because she fears she might not live long enough to write all the stories within her.

And as morbid as that is I totally relate to that. I have a growing list of stories I just have to write. Until they are all down I'll keep having this gnawing emptiness within me, this incessant need to just keep writing. Because writing isn't a choice, its an involuntary impulse like breathing. Both are equally essential to my well being. I know, I know I sound like I'm being WAY overly dramatic but I'm truly not. When I look back at the unhappiest moments in my life they are always the times when I've not been writing. Writing keeps me sane, it keeps me happy.

I just hope that one day I do get to write all of the books residing within me. With each new start to a story I'm one step closer to completing my literary bucket list!

So here's to a new week, a new story and numerous new chapters!

xoxo

Extract from Dare to Dream

I'm really excited because the ebook of Dare to Dream is released a week today! Woo! In honour of the impending release I wanted to share an extract of the story on my blog today. 

The lead character in the story, Maggie Trafford, is very much an outsider and even invisible in the chaos of our own home. In the Trafford household, her siblings choose any moment to be disruptive, even dinner time...

Meal times were perhaps the most chaotic moments of all. The family were forced to cramp six seats around a table meant for only four, which meant that an awful lot of pushing and shoving occurred. Maggie would have been much happier eating her dinner alone upstairs, but her mother insisted on them all dining together in an ill-judged attempt at creating some family unity. The boys were always first to the table and would wolf down their food as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks. The girls talked as much as they ate, which meant that they took longer. Their mother always began by attempting polite small talk, asking each of them how their day had been, but it always somehow managed to erupt into a huge argument and dinner would end with people leaving the table angrily, followed by a succession of slamming doors. Once, Jack had punched Kyle over a dispute at school that they had not managed to settle during the day. Their mother had cried that night.

This mealtime played out like all the ones before it: this time it was Catherine and April who were having a heated exchange over their spaghetti bolognaise. The argument reached a head when Catherine called April a slut, to which April’s reply was to throw the remainder of her dinner over her sister’s head. It was a typical dinner in the Trafford household. Maggie began cleaning away the dishes whilst her mother wiped clean a sobbing Catherine. April, not wanting to be disciplined, had slunk off during the chaos to her friend’s house across the street. It was unlikely that she would return that night.

With dinner having drawn to a dramatic conclusion, the family had dispersed for the evening. Catherine was with their mother in the small living room watching the soaps, while Jack and Kyle had gone out to meet friends and play soccer, which seemed dubious considering how cold and dark it was. Maggie was pretty certain that they had gone somewhere with much less noble intentions, probably to drink cheap cider and smoke cigarettes, but she had learnt what happened when she told of their plans and so she kept quiet. Now that the house was relatively empty, she could at last relax and begin to unwind after a hectic day. Maggie chose to have a bath: it was one of her favorite things to do. She loved nothing more than to lie amongst the warm bubbles and let her mind wander. It offered her a rare chance to be alone and was more often than not the highlight of her day.

To win a signed paperback copy of Dare to Dream head over to Goodreads

xoxo

Meet Dawn Brady

Since it's #TeaserTuesday I thought I'd put the spotlight on one of the main characters in Dare to Dream; Dawn Brady. Dawn is Maggie's fiercely loyal best friend who proves that she's more than just a pretty blonde. So I'll let Dawn do something she's pretty good at, which is talking about herself...


Hi, okay, so I'm Dawn Brady. You have probably already heard of me. I'm fourteen and I go to Bainbridge Wells High which is just a dump. I think there are prisons which are nicer than my crappy school! But it's not all bad. Mags is there. 

Mags, Maggie, is my BFF and I love her to bits. She's seriously the smartest person I've ever met! We do pretty much everything together. Maggie even watches my Hartford's Place DVDs with me even though I can tell she doesn't like it since she can never keep track of who is dating who. But I LOVE Hartford's Place it is like, the best show ever! I wish my school was more like Hartford High, full of hot guys with great suntans and ripped abs...

What else is there to say? Umm. Well si My favorite flavor ice cream is cherry, I never leave home without my lip gloss and my inhaler and I can just about wrap my leg around my head. It's pretty much the only thing I picked up when my Mum used to make me take gymnastics lessons. I don't really do sports. Sweating is just...urgh. Wrong. 

I can't wait to leave Bainbridge. As soon as school finishes I'm getting the hell out of there and I'm taking Maggie with me! Though I'm pretty sure she's destined to go to some hot shot university like Oxford or Cambridge. So maybe I'd follow her to London, I don't know. What I do know is that Mags is my best friend, without her life would totally suck. She makes me laugh and actually listens to me. I'd follow Mags to the ends of the earth if she asked me because that's what best friends do. 

 xoxo

Want to read more about Dawn and Maggie? Well you don't have to wait long as Dare to Dream is officially being released on 17th February! That's just a few weeks away! Until then make sure you add Dare to Dream on goodreads are there will be some exciting competitions being announced on there shortly!

The Motivation Behind Dare to Dream

Since it won't be long until Dare to Dream is released in to the big wide world I'm going to focus my next few blog posts on the book because it's my newest book baby and I'm crazy proud of it!

Today I want to share what motivated me to write Dare to Dream. In a nutshell I was inspired by a book I read.

A few years ago I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road. For those of you not familiar with the story it is a harrowing tale of a father and son struggling to cope in the aftermath of an apocalypse. We are never told what plunged the world in to despair, just that it had happened. McCarthy sort of drops the reader in to the bleak wilderness and encourages them to follow along with the main characters and will them to survive.

The end of the world is not a great place to be there is no denying that. But as I read the book I started thinking about how I'd love to have read the story which occurred before The Road, where I'd be given an insight in to what happened.

As a writer I'm always keen to push my characters to their limits as it is when people are pushed to extremes that they are at their most interesting and revealing. And it is from this place that the original idea for Dare to Dream was born.

When I was writing the story it was called Maggie Trafford Dreams of Armageddon. Kind of lengthy, right? The story was about a teenage girl who preempts the end of the world. I wanted to give my story an anchor through Maggie, I also didn't want to paint as bleak a picture as McCarthy did because I think however dark it might be at the end of the world, hope will always manage to shine through.

Maggie is hopeful, brave and fiercely determined. Dare to Dream details the start of her story but it is far from over.

I can't wait to share Maggie's journey with everyone. It would be amazing if her story prompted someone to write a book of their own! ; )

If release day feels too far away don't despair as Reuts are starting to filter tantalizing teasers in to the world so make sure to follow them on Twitter so you don't miss anything!

And check out Dare to Dream over on goodreads as I've got a feeling there might be some competitions launching over there soon...

xoxo