Something Blue?

Here's a quick peep at what I've been up to... crafting this... available on Ebay here if you're in need of something blue :)

Back soon
Laura xxx

News!

Hello everyone-

I thought I should pop in with an update and say hi to you all... So hi! Hope you're all rested after the A-Z... I didn't quite manage to get past T is for... but sometimes real life really does have to take the driving seat. Anyway- thank you to everyone who has emailed me for updates about my mum. If you don't know the story so far, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of last year, had a mastectomy and was heading into her chemotherapy course. Unfortunately mum reacted very badly to the treatment, and ended up with long stays in hospital, and on the third treatment became dangerously ill.

Mum made the decision to completely stop her chemot and is now home and recovering really well – her hair has even started to grow back! Thank you to everyone who has contacted me to send her love and support- I know it meant a lot to her.

Next bit of news – my 15,000 ft skydive for Lifeworks charity is due to happen this Saturday- so cover your ears, you'll be able to hear me screaming from anywhere in the world! The sponsorship has gone really well – I'm almost at £600 and would love to get there by Saturday. Thank you to everyone who has donated- and if you would like to help me close the last £47 and get me to £600, the link is http://www.justgiving.com/Laura-BambreySkydive2013

You can find more info about Lifeworks and the work they do with learning disabled children and young adults on their Facebook site www.facebook.com/lifeworksUK or on their website www.lifeworks-uk.org

Thanks, and I'll let you know how it goes!

Laura xxx

April A to Z

If you are looking for my A to Z posts, this year I'm doing the challenge at my other place

http://chicklitlove.blogspot.com - see you there! Laura x

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

A - Z Leg-Up

Happy Saturday blogland!
How is everyone this weekend? Geared up for A-Z?

Just thought I'd let you know that my book 100 Blog Prompts is reduced to the special price of £0.77 (down from £1.97) and US equivalent until the beginning of April to help all you A-Zers and anyone else who fancies a bargain!

So if anyone's struggling with ideas or feel like you need a bit of back-up, grab a copy and let me know what you think.

Available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Happy weekend
Laura x

Review: Girls Love Travis Walker by Anne Pfeffer

The Blurb:

To nineteen-year-old high school dropout Travis Walker, women are like snowflakes-each one different, but beautiful in her own way.

He can charm any girl he meets, and yet down deep he fears he'll always be a loser like his jailbird father. As the landlady threatens to evict him and his sick mother, Travis takes a job he hates and spends his evenings picking up girls at a nearby night spot.

When he enlists in a teen program at the local fire station, he finds out he’s amazing at it. Then he meets the smoking hot Kat Summers, enlists Kat’s friend Zoey to help him woo her, and falls in love for the first time ever.

But he keeps the details of his life secret. His girl will never love him back if she knows the truth about him…

This book is one of those rare gems that has the satisfaction factor, makes you feel better about your lot in life and causes you to take a long, hard look at your prejudices and preconceptions of the world around you. All this, and yet it is completely without the “preach” factor. A unique coming of age story is beautifully woven with a romance to make the hairs on your neck stand on end- creating memories that will stay with you for days after you’ve finished reading.

Far from being the teen-romp I thought I was delving into, despite its young protagonist and leading cast members, this is a mature, deep and gut-wrenching book, and one I would recommend you add to your kindle right away. 

The ebook is currently free and the promotion will continue until midnight March 23. I seriously recommend you grab it- also, the first fifty people who place reviews on amazon and goodreads and send the links to girlslovetravis@aol.com will be entered into a draw for a $50 amazon gift certificate! Too good to miss... here are the links...

Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Catch you soon
Laura

Oi Oi

Evening Blogland,
How goes it out there? Well, I have to say I'm still grinning because Wales thrashed England in the Rugby... small things, eh?!

Don't really have masses to report today- but didn't want you to feel neglected! I've been reading loads for my reviews over at Chick Lit Love, spent time cajoling people into sponsoring my Skydive  (at £320 now- just £80 left till I hit my minimum target) and talking to my dad as mum has been back in hospital for nearly 2 week with complications due to her chemo (spare her a loving thought, if you have one to spare!)

In other news, I've been editing my chick-lit novel, Welly Booty Goodness, due out this summer, whilst my fantasy is fermenting a little on the side. Oh, and I've decided to do the A-Z over at Chick Lit Love to build up my romantic following over there... and debating whether to do it here at the same time. In for a penny...

So as you can probably tell by now, very few coherent thoughts going on at this end. How about you?
Laura xx

Dithering Debutante

Hi guys - today, I'm handing over the house of Dodo to Tara, aka. Amber T. Smith, soon to be published author of her fantastic debut novel, If The Shoe Fits. A lot of you will know Tara of old from her blog Princess of Procrastination. Anyway- here's the lady of the hour telling us about the roller coaster ride that has brought her this far...

Hi, my name is Tara, and I'm a scared woman right now. Not too mention utterly bamboozled by the fact that I have a novel being released in just over a month. To sum it up, I would have say that I am confuzzlegasted. What's that? Well, as a person who is fond of making up words, 'confuzzlegasted' is my own creation, melding 'confused', 'puzzled' and 'flabbergasted' all into one. And it's a fitting fusion, trust me.

As a born procrastinator, achieving a finished manuscript was monumental, but seeking and actually finding a publisher was downright staggering, not least because, quite apart from the dithering, there is also that bone-deep fear you have when you send your book-baby out into the big scary world.

I've been extremely fortunate, no question. Within six months, and on only my fourth query, I got my contract, and I am under no illusion that this is the norm when it comes to getting your book accepted.

My publishers, Crimson Romance, are awesome, and SPEEDY!  I had the book accepted on the 7th of February, and my book - If The Shoe Fits - releases April 29th. Initial edits are already finished, and I'm now eagerly waiting for the cover art, and final version approval. But honestly, the last month has sped by so quickly, that I'm not sure whether I'm standing upright or on my head.

This brings me back to the scary thing. You see, for a procrastinator, the month leading up to a book release - especially a debut book - is truly frightening. Things just can't be put off like they normally can. There is promoting to be done, after all. And that means pulling my butt off the chair - where I am usually quite happy playing silly Facebook games , or lurking through the depths of the blogosphere - and actually doing something constructive.

And you know, to a procrastinator, 'constructive' is pretty much a swear word.

When Laura approached me and offered to help, I was over the moon (thought still sat on my chair, clicking between my inbox and Video Bingo *shifty*). I'd already managed to secure myself two blog visits on or around my release date (still not sure how my dithering self managed that, but I'm not going to ponder too much over this astonishing fact), but scheduling further visits was still something that I could put off for a week or two. At least, that's what my Inner Scaredy Cat was firmly telling me.

See, it's not the blog visits that scare me, as such. True, I'll have to be a little more organized and actually make myself DO something, but, despite my habit of putting things off, usually I can knuckle down when I have to. Blog visits are, therefore, not the things that are giving me the heebie jeebies. I think it's safe to say that I managed to book my first two blog visits mostly because they are going to be pretty straightforward. The first, a guest post on the Crimson Romance blog, will be easy. I can write what I want, and am not restricted. The second blog visit will be in the form of a Q&A, so again, nothing I really have to worry over.

But others? You know, those visits that I haven't scheduled yet because I'm a yellow-bellied chicken? They are nail-biting, grip-the-blanket-and-hide-underneath kind of scary, because I have to seriously promote my book. I need to push for sales, which, obviously, I WANT, but wanting sales and getting them are two different things. Not least because, if and when I DO get sales, it is highly likely that reviews are going to start popping up here and there on the interweb.

Yep. *nods* Nothing is more scary to writers than reviews, in all their stomach-clenching glory. If you thought querying was bad enough, let me disabuse you of the idea. While querying for publishers and/or agents is tough, and prone to causing several nightmares, at least the rejections aren't public. But if someone buys your book and hates it, and then decides that they need to share their disgust with the world at large, then your rejection suddenly becomes public humiliation.

That's more than scary, it's petrifying.

But you know, most of this fear is part of being published for the very first time, and though I expect it's the same for every author, whether it's their first book or fiftieth, I know that I just have to suck it up and be philosophical about it. There are millions of potential readers out there, and frankly, if they all loved my book, I'd be highly suspicious.

We all have different tastes, and I’m thankful for that, or there wouldn't be such a diverse range of fabulous reading material out there. And if someone flames my talking pussycat-cum-fairy godmother, then I'm not going to be overly surprised. It takes a certain kind of person to appreciate silly, innuendo-filled humor, just like it takes a certain kind of person to appreciate sparkly vampires with a penchant for over-angsty girls.

So while I am scared, I am resigned to the inevitable negative reviews that will surely come my way. It just means that I will be even more tickled when someone praises my verbal feline for orchestrating a fairytale ending for my vodka-slurping, accident-prone heroine.

And there we have it. The inner thoughts of a soon-to-be-published author...

Best of luck with the release Tara and thanks for appearing at Daily Dodo! 

Please 'Like' Tara's author Facebook page, or you can find her onTwitter or at her author's blog.

I'll be popping a review up over at Chick Lit Love in the next few days, so keep your eyes peeled here for the link

See you soon

Laura x