Competition time! Win an ebook!

Posted on September 28, 2016 by juliaibbotson

Sometimes you need to escape to find yourself …

My October competition is to win an ebook copy of Drumbeats. The book is set in 1965-6, a decade I love to read about – and write about! All you need to do is to tell me (briefly!) your favourite decade and why. You can either send your message on here, my blog, or via my facebook page (if you are a facebook ‘friend’) at https://www.facebook.com/juliaibbotson or on my author facebook page (Julia Ibbotson Author) at https://www.facebook.com/Julia-Ibbotson-author-163085897119236 I’ll need your email address in order to send you the ebook copy, so you can message me privately via my website (see homepage) or PM me on facebook. The winner will be chosen at random by ANO.

Closing date is Saturday 29th October, in time for Halloween, as there are some spooky parts in the book, with drumbeats reverberating across the Ghanaian villages and spirits wafting through Jess’s dreams – to warn her of danger …

Please spread the news!

Good luck!

Invitation! Authors love Reviews.

Posted on July 16, 2016 by juliaibbotson

INVITATION! A SHOUT OUT FOR REVIEWS!
I’d like to invite folks to write a brief review of any of my books they fancy. Authors are always really grateful if readers do this, and often copy/paste them onto their facebook posts! I’ve now written four books: The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen ( a memoir about renovating a Victorian rectory in the heart of the English countryside – with yummy and historical recipes!); Drumbeats and Walking in the Rain (the first two of t…he Drumbeats trilogy) following Jess from 1960s Ghana to millennium England; and S.C.A.R.S a children’s book (9-14) about a troubled boy who slips into a fantasy medieval world. My new book, A Shape on the Air, is an adult historical time-slip into the Dark Ages. It’s magical and mystical and there’s a mystery to solve and a home to save.
I’ve now captured my direction as a writer. With a love of history and specialising in medieval language and literature, I am now focusing on historical time-slip (both adult romance and children’s adventure). My work will be focused on the medieval period, both the early Dark Ages and the Anglo-Saxon period.
I do hope you will like my books and if you do, it would warm my heart if you could post a review! Many thanks. Just click on the link below and on one of my books to write a brief review!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0095XG11U

Tamworth LitFest: Romancing the Word

Posted on June 12, 2016 by juliaibbotson

What a lovely day we had in Tamworth (Staffordshire) at the LitFest, with the theme Romancing the Word. Great to see and chat with readers and fellow authors, sign our books and (for me) give a talk. All in the welcoming and beautiful library and the amazing and very interesting historic church, St Editha’s. Here’s what we got up to in the pics below …

Me, signing my books; my children’s novel S.C.A.R.S seemed very popular!

Laura Morgan who writes a variety of powerful other-worldly novels and with whom I discussed time concepts and quantum mechanics!

Christine Smee, who gives talks on medieval herbal remedies with whom I had a very interesting chat about the medieval world. Loved her costume.

Jane A Heron, a lovely lady with a great book stall and lots of goodies. Good to meet her daughter and fiancé.

S J Warner (Sally) who has a great line in personalised key rings and showed me how to use a logo effectively on swag (hers is a gorgeous – and naughty – pink corset!).

L A Cotton (Leanne) who writes fabulous contemporary romance and romantic suspense.

The Tamworth Writers – what a wonderfully supportive and lively group; I wish I lived in Tamworth!

And others I didn’t get to photograph: AA Abbott (Helen) who writes crime thrillers, Sue Flint publishing great short stories and articles, Carol E Wyer, who is a whizz at romantic comedy, Helena Fairfax, a fellow RNA member who gave a super workshop, Lucy Felthouse, Pat Spence … and more … Wow, what a line-up.

It was a fantastic day of laughter, fun and sharing. Days like this make me realise what a wonderful community writers create, and what enormous joy they give to readers. I’m sure that the readers who attended enjoyed the day and returned home enlivened and inspired.

Many thanks to all who organised the day: the Tamworth LitFest team, including Tina Williams, Anthony Poulton-Smith, Caroline Barker. A day to remember.

Music – the soundtrack to my life

Posted on May 16, 2016 by juliaibbotson

I wonder what songs or pieces of music you would choose to represent the soundtrack to your life? When I wrote my blog on “If music be the food of love …” I was thinking of the music and musicians in my books. I confess I have a ‘thing’ about men’s hands playing the piano, and that comes into Drumbeats, Walking in the Rain, Finding Jess and the new novel A Shape on the Air. In fact, Walking has a song title for each chapter which fits the plot but is also a kind of soundtrack to my own life. It was fun to look back at decades which were significant to me – my teenage years, my student years, first boyfriend and first serious relationship, getting married, having children. etc, etc. OK, what would my ultimate list be?

First boyfriend: I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Teenage years: Cryin’ (over you)

First serious relationship:: Dedicated (to the One I Love)

Student years: A Whiter Shade of Pale

Getting Married: The Things we do for Love

Breaking up: Everything I Own

Getting over it: I can see clearly now

Second family life: You lift me up

What are yours?

My friend Elaina James has a lovely blog in Mslexia about which she, in her own words, says:

“My blog series has focused on chasing your writing dreams, told from the perspective of a lyricist with stage fright. The final blog focuses on the unexpected chance to turn my words into an actual song with music.”

It’s a great blog series and I do recommend it for a good read. It’s at

http://www.mslexia.co.uk/author/elainajames

and Elaina’s website is

http://www.elainajames.co.uk

Do check them out.

“If music be the food of love, play on …”(Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night)

Posted on April 25, 2016 by juliaibbotson

My homage to the Bard on the 400th anniversary (last weekend!) of his death, is a quotation which often comes to mind and is very meaningful to me. Just as certain music is the soundtrack to my life (another post on that to come soon!) also music is the sound track to my writing and often works its way into my novels.

In my children’s book, S.C.A.R.S, it’s rap. In Drumbeats it’s (apart from Ghanaian village drums and 1960s pop) the piano pieces which my hero Jim plays for Jess, for example Fauree’s Cantique do Jean Racine and Mozart’s Requiem. And also the LP records he plays her of Mozart’s clarinet concerto in A and of Bach. In my latest, A Shape on the Air, it’s Nella Fantasia, probably made famous by El Divo but played in the novel by mandolins.

Maybe music is the food of love, because my heroines have a habit of falling in love with the men who play this music to them. In Drumbeats, Jess loves to watch Jim’s hands and fingers as he plays the piano and it touches her heart. There is something about a man’s hands playing the keys sensitively that stirs her (and me!). In A Shape on the Air, Viv plays the music on her ipod and the Rev Rory has the same on his voicemail.

As I write, I always listen to music, usually classical but sometimes the songs I’m learning for Rock Choir. If I’m writing music into my words I always listen to those tracks to inspire and set the scene for me – get me in the mood.

Recently, I’ve been interested to read my lovely friend, Elaina James’s blog in Mslexia about which she, in her own words, says: