Those of you who have young children or grandchildren may well have had an Easter egg hunt last Sunday but, as we have neither, we decided to do something a bit different.
We had the Easter bunnies go in search of not just mini eggs but also a couple of my books and as you can see, they did pretty well in finding both Little Girl Missing and My Mother’s Secret… clever bunnies! As you probably already know, Little Girl Missing is currently on a Kindle Monthly deal at only 99p, which means if you wanted to buy the DCI Rachel Hart series it would cost under five pounds.
I think we can all agree that is considerably less than what it would cost for the stash of eggs the bunnies uncovered and no calories either!!! Actually, chapter 1 and the final chapter of My Mother’s Secret are both set on Easter Monday, twelve months apart, and they are both set on the beach in the Lincolnshire seaside town of Mablethorpe.
My Mother’s Secret was almost finished when my husband, Chris and I attended his uncle’s funeral last September, in Spalding where Chris is originally from. Despite it being a sad occasion, it was a gloriously sunny day and after having lunch with Audrey, my mother-in law, I suggested driving to Mablethorpe rather than returning straight home. It was actually further than I thought and was quite different from how I remember it the last time Chris and I visited over forty years ago. Funnily enough, that was on an Easter Monday too and I remember being inappropriately dressed in a cotton skirt and flip-flops; it started to snow on that occasion!!
It was almost 4pm when we finally arrived, but we parked up anyway and went for a short walk on the beach. It was a bit challenging for my ankle, even though I was wearing my ankle brace, so after dipping our toes in the North Sea we sat on the wall of the promenade and had an ice-cream. It made me smile that the striped windbreaks I had written about in chapter 1 of my latest WIP were very much in evidence along with families playing beach cricket and dogs chasing around at the water’s edge. In fact, I think I took the photos to send to my editor at Bookouture, Ruth to give her a flavour of the Lincolnshire coast!
Speaking of Ruth, I have received my first round of edits from her which need to be back with her in a couple of weeks. I always have a moment when I see all her notes and comments. Once I’ve got past the feeling of ‘I can’t make this work’ I make a few notes of my own and we have a telephone conversation where we talk everything through. Having a good working relationship with your editor is an essential if a book is going to be the best it can be for your readers. We may even have a cover and title by the end of this month, always very exciting because then it starts to feel real.
Just flipping back to Easter Sunday for a moment, how lucky were we with the weather particularly as in England we are still restricted to meeting up outside. My daughter, Sophie and her family came over for a barbecue and ended up staying until 9.30pm, by which time I could barely feel the end of my nose because it was so cold sitting out on our decking, despite being wrapped up in warm slankets (blankets with sleeves)! We’d also enjoyed a game of Taskmaster – I use the word ‘enjoyed’ loosely as some of the tasks were a bit tricky, like building a shed in five minutes from objects in your garden! I liked the word rounds though, although there was a debate over words that ‘rhyme’ with grass as I’m from Nottingham so pronounce it with a flat ‘a’ as in crass, rather than the southern pronunciation which ‘rhymes’ with farce… which it almost turned into!!
So, the last batch of Alice in Theatreland competition winners’ books were sent earlier this week and I’ve seen some great pictures on social media. This one was from Denise on Facebook and I loved the idea of photographing it with her shoes, similar to the pictures Katie took.
Lynn posted these, also on Facebook – thanks so much for your kind comments about the other books of mine that you’ve read and for alerting people to the fact that they are all available to purchase on Amazon (and to order through your local book shop or Waterstones when they re-open on Monday).
And Sharon posted three photos on Instagram – I chose this one as it has a brilliant quote from an early reviewer on the back cover… ‘fabulously wicked people who are easy to loathe’ – that sums up Richard and Franco perfectly.
Well, just as I’m finishing writing this, I’ve heard the news about HRH Prince Philip. He shared the same birthday as me – so sad that he couldn’t quite make it to one hundred years. RIP.
Much love
Julia xx
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