The London Book Fair, The Sunshine Award and digging dirt!

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Mandy Baggot and Sue Fortin

 

Another CRAZY week for me with hardly time to draw breath, not least some thoughts about moving house… and the excitement of that thought is quite a buzz, but first:

A trip to the London Book Fair meant a fab day out with friends and fellow authors Mandy Baggot (who is also with Sapphire Star Publishing) and Sue Fortin. Thrilled to meet up with fabulous authors Sue Moorcroft, Christina Courtenay and Henriette Gyland for a quick chat and a welcome sit down after visiting the Choc Lit stand.

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Sue Fortin and Mel Sherratt

Attended some great talks, including a fun and informative one with Mel Sherratt and Tim Cooke, who talked about their self-publishing success with Amazon KDP.

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Helen Hart, Silverwood Books

A fun, although tiring, day – included meeting up with Helen Hart on the Silverwood Books stand and admiring WWII fiction author Harvey Black’s new covers. Another brief rest and a cuppa to put stickers on our books for the ‘Books On the Underground’ scheme, the brainchild of Hollie Belton. These trademark stickers tell recipients to take the books donated and read them at home, then put them back on the tube to spread the reading love.

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Myself with Sue Fortin and Mandy Baggot!
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Stickers strategically placed and ready…

Fellow Sapphire Star Publishing author Dana Mason handed me The Sunshine Award, a lovely sunny flower that bloggers give to other bloggers “who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”. She is one amazing and talented lady and I was thrilled to ‘receive’ my flower badge. Visit Dana’s wonderful website http://danamasonromance.com/the-sunshine-award/.So now I have to answer a few questions:

sunshine-awardFavorite Color: Green – light green, dark green, pastel, vibrant … you get the message!
Favorite Animal: My cat, Mr Tiggs of course! He’d be very upset if I didn’t nominate him.
Favorite Number: Five. Fives and multiples always feel comforting, although no. 13 is my lucky number.
Favorite Non-alcoholic Drink: Apple juice, or any juice to be honest.
Facebook or Twitter: I stumble around blindly on both – so 50/50.
Your Passion: Feeling fulfilled by surrounding myself with things that matter and making other people happy (when I can…).
Giving or getting presents: I’m not big on presents – but giving, always.
Favorite Day: Any day I can get a bit of a lie-in, which isn’t often.
Favorite Flowers: Roses, especially the old varieties that have a wonderful perfume.

And now I nominate 12 author bloggers whom I love to visit:
Patricia Sands http://patriciasandsauthor.com/
Bonnie Trachtenberg http://www.bonnietrachtenberg.com/bonnies-blog
Sue Fortin http://lovereadinglovebooks.wordpress.com/
Kit Domino http://kitdomino.wordpress.com/
Sheryl Browne http://www.sherylbrowne.com/
Nicky Wells http://nickywellsklippert.wordpress.com/
(I know you’ve been nominated already, but you truly deserve it)

Janice Horton http://janicehortonwriter.blogspot.co.uk/
Emma Calin http://www.emmacalin.com/Welcome.html
Stephanie Keyes http://www.stephaniekeyes.com/the-blog/
Miriam Wakerly http://miriamwakerly.blogspot.co.uk/
Anneli Purchase http://wordsfromanneli.wordpress.com/
Melanie Robertson-King http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/wp02/

DSC04284 (1024x765)In contrast, my fun days with little Bill included digging up the garden several times over and filling up a watering can with soil, then tipping it back out. Just for the fun of it. It was nice to enjoy the sunshine and whilst it wasn’t ‘hot’, it wasn’t unpleasant being out in the air and wrapped up warmly. A few games of kicking a football around the garden and then back indoors to get out ‘Bob-Bob’ (Bob the builder) toys. We assembled at least half a dozen different train layouts for Thomas The Tank and numerous building block towers that were knocked down within seconds. Sort of puts the rushing around I do into perspective. Simple pleasures are the best!

ShoppingI had a fab day out with my brother buying furniture for the lovely little cottage he’s been renovating. We filled half a van within about an hour, which is pretty good going. Oak framed mirrors, stools for the new kitchen, oak side tables and some lovely garden containers. Then off to check out scatter cushions for the new sofas that are arriving in a few days. Of course, with browsing, travelling and a great pub lunch it was a whole day, but we had fun. That’s what put me in the mood for thinking about a new project of our own… seems Lawrence has now caught the moving bug too (although we LOVE Byre Cottage and have only just finished renovating it…) but we’re viewing some properties this coming weekend. So who knows?

I hope your week was fun, productive and full of the joys of spring too!

Linn