Competition time! Win an ebook!

Drumbeats pic PhotoFunia-Drumbeats cover Endeavour Press

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.

Photofunia hearts

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 the 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

Music – the soundtrack to my life

P1010066I 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.