Julia Roberts Author

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2024 is Marching On at a Pace!

How can it be March already? And with an early Easter it feels as though the year is going very quickly… or maybe that’s just because I’m older!

Speaking of Easter, there is a competition on this blog to win one of two chocolate egg inspired prizes along with a signed copy of My Mother’s Secret which starts and ends at Easter with the action taking place over the twelve-month period between the two. More of that later.

Firstly, I must apologise for there being no blog in February. I had every intention of writing one however, I was up to my neck in edits for my latest book and sadly I had two funerals to attend.

The first was for the mother of my friend and duet partner from dancing school, Teresa. Her mum, Sadie and mine had kept in touch via phone and letter writing over the fifty odd years since Teresa and I were at the Nora Morrison School of Dancing together. In fact, the above photograph is of me with Sadie at Nora’s funeral in 2016. I hadn’t seen her in the longest time, probably not since Teresa’s wedding in the mid 1970s. 

To digress for a moment, the above photograph is of Sadie throwing confetti over Teresa and her new husband, Frank who just happened to be in the same class as me at West Bridgford Grammar/Comprehensive School, a school which Teresa didn’t attend! Small world, isn’t it?

I haven’t actually seen Teresa since around the same time when this photo of us was taken when she met up with me at QVC whilst over on a visit from Canada where she and Frank built their lives together. Teresa stayed in dancing, ballet to be more precise as you can probably recognise from her posture. She’s blonde now, but that apart she really hasn’t changed much at all. Despite the circumstances, it was lovely to catch up and reminisce about some of our dance routines and Chris and I also wanted to represent Mum as she wasn’t well enough to attend. 

To digress still further, although this photo wasn’t taken on Teresa and Frank’s wedding day, this was the dress I wore. I sometimes mention on QVC that I used to make all of my own clothes, and this is one of those creations! What goes around comes around in fashion because the tiered dress was very ‘in’ again last summer although possibly not in that fabric combination!

After the funeral gathering, Chris and I were going to visit my mum. As I mentioned, she’d been really unwell with a stomach bug which had taken its toll on her due to her age. She had an appointment booked at the doctor’s which we volunteered to take her to, but rather than eat in front of her we stopped to grab a bite of lunch at the café in her village as we’d been on the go since 6 a.m. 

The café was busy but there was a lady sat on her own at a table for four. I’m not sure whether Chris asked, or she offered but Maureen, as we discovered her name was, recognised me from QVC and we spent a lovely hour and half chatting and eating before going to Mum’s.

Thankfully, Mum is recovered from her illness now and although we won’t be able to visit on Mother’s Day as I have separate invitations from my two which take up the whole day, we will be seeing her the following Sunday as I’ll be in Leicester the day before at an event for The British Polio Fellowship.

Speaking of my two, one of the downsides of having time off from QVC when I’m not either writing or editing a book is that I do some ‘sorting out’! In this case, I was tidying the desk in my office when I came across this photograph of Dan and Sophie as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. This was taken over thirty years ago so before Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish was developed, and I have no idea how I managed to get the green face paint off.

Funnily enough, one of the scenes in my new book is set at a ‘musicals fancy dress party’ and the character dressed as Shrek would have had a similar issue! Also just to mention that I received the news about Sadie passing a few minutes after I’d hit the send button on an email to my editor at Bookouture with the edit of my new book. I’d changed the name of one of my feature characters but was still unsure I’d got it right. Another email to her followed fifteen minutes later requesting the change to Sadie which suits the character perfectly. I’m very excited for you to meet Melissa, Ruby and Sadie… watch this space.

So, today would have been my mother-in-law, Audrey’s birthday. The other funeral Chris and I attended was for his uncle Don, his late dad’s brother. It was held in the same place and conducted by the same celebrant as Audrey’s funeral fifteen months previously, which made it an even more emotional occasion. Because Chris moved away from Spalding due to his career in the music industry, we hadn’t seen some of his relatives for many years, so it was good to reconnect in person rather than just the annual Christmas cards.

So, February wasn’t the best of months in some respects, although we did have Valentine’s Day and I was the lucky recipient of these gorgeous flowers in my favourite colour. 

It was also the month that the Rachel Hart series joined all my other full-length novels in the Kindle Unlimited scheme. If you read a lot, it’s a great way to pay a monthly subscription and then be able to download books for free. Authors still get paid for their work on a ‘pages read’ basis, so it’s a win/win really.

And authors receive payment for ‘borrows’ from libraries. My most loaned book over the past twelve months was My Mother’s Secret which leads me nicely into the competition.

As I missed writing a blog last month, I thought I’d make it up to you with two competition prizes. Each winner will receive a signed copy of My Mother’s Secret and some Easter chocolate yumminess. To be in with a chance of winning either of the options all you need to do is answer this simple question in the comments section below before midnight on Sunday March 24th ( sorry, UK only). The winners will be randomly selected and notified in time for the prizes to be sent out pre Easter.

The question is…

What is the period between Shrove Tuesday and Easter called?

To finish on a brighter note, Chris and I decided on a last minute two-night break to round off my annual leave from QVC. I’m not sure who thought Cornwall, a four-and-a-half-hour drive from us was a good idea, especially at this time of year when the weather is so unpredictable. It was fine when we arrived at St Michael’s Resort in Falmouth on Sunday and lovely to stretch our legs with a walk along the sea front after our long journey.

The next morning was a completely different story with lashing rain and crashing waves. Fortunately, the hotel had an indoor pool so I had a lovely swim before we headed to St Ives in the hope that the weather might be slightly better on the north coast.

They’d obviously had lots of rain too but as we pulled into the carpark, the sun came out and it stayed dry long enough for us to grab a bite of lunch and a stroll on the beach.

I hadn’t realised when we booked that we would be in Cornwall for St Piran’s Day, 5th March for the second consecutive year. We sat outside in really warm sunshine for a bite of lunch in Porthleven, after a bracing walk accompanied by the crash of waves on the shore. 

We bought ourselves a Cornish Pasty (vegan) to have for our dinner when we eventually arrived home and it was delicious! As an aside, because of the sunshine and showers we saw a total of five rainbows – this was not the best one, but the others were all while I was driving. 

Note to self for the future, much as you love it, Cornwall is too far away from home for a two-night trip!

I’ll finish there. Good luck in the competition and do sign up to receive my newsletter as the unveiling of the title and cover of my new book is imminent!

Much love

Julia xx 

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Comments

  16. Thank you for the blog post. It was good to catch up on all your latest news.

    Please enter me into the competition to win a signed copy of My Mother’s Secret and some Easter chocolate (which does look rather appealing!). The period between Shrove Tuesday and Easter is called Lent.

    Reply

  20. The answer is Lent.
    Love reading your blog Julia.
    Sorry to hear of your recent bereavements though.
    Glad your lovely mum is feeling better. Enjoy your time together on the 17th March. X

    Reply

  40. What does the answer and My Mother’s Secret in libraries have in Common?
    They are both …… LENT
    🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

    Reply

  51. Hi Julia,
    The answer is Lent. Glad to see things are looking up for you. I must admit I do like winter walks especially across a wild windy beach. It certainly blows the cobwebs away. Have a great weekend.
    Big hugs
    Mandy :-)x

    Reply

  53. The answe is Lent.
    We’re off to Perranporth on Wednesday, fingers crossed for nice weather.

    Reply

  61. Oh Julia your having a time of it 😟
    Spring is in the way and good times to accompany it!

    The answer is Lent

    Xx

    Reply

  73. Lent (aka Quadragesima – my quiz-loving husband has just informed me. Who knew?!)
    Happe Easter when we get there
    Lindsay

    Reply

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