As a columnist!

In case you missed the Tweets flying around, and have come direct to my blog via some source other than Twitter or Facebook, I thought I’d say something about the columns I write for two lifestyle magazines.

SURREY LIFE is a glossy, regional, monthly magazine available in Surrey shops and also free online through their digital archive, each issue accessible about a month after the print version. I have been writing for this magazine since April this year and the feature is called Notes from a Small Village.

LoveaHappyEnding Lifestyle eMagazine (#LLm) is just online and I have been contributing to this for years. It has a global following with tens of thousands of hits a day.

For both publications now I write on the same theme – people who put life into village life, unsung heroes who go the extra mile and bring their small communities together in a rich variety of ways. As you can imagine this is a lovely thing to do, ferreting around in the lovely county of Surrey, and beyond for the LLm magazine, meeting and chatting to inspirational people.

So here you go:  An article about Writing for Surrey Life posted on the LoveaHappyEnding Lifestyle Magazine –  neatly brings the two together with all the links you need to see both.  Here's the link to Surrey Life archive , although it is embedded in the article.

I hope you enjoy meeting these fabulous people as much as I did!

I Wrote it My Way - Linn B Halton

I am delighted to give a huge, loud, warm welcome to the amazing Linn B Halton, who not only writes 'contemporary women's love stories that reflect life ... often with a psychic twist', but also spearheads the fantastic Love a Happy Ending project that has brought together writers from both the UK and abroad. This has now evolved into the Loveahappyending Lifestyle magazine of which she is Editor in Chief. This is one very versatile and talented lady!

So - fanfare over, we ask ourselves what set Linn off on her particular genre and style? Just reading Linn's first paragraph here leaves me in awe!

'There was no forethought involved when it came to sitting down and writing my first five manuscripts. I had waited a long time to have the luxury of giving up work and being able to sit down and write. So I opened a blank word doc and didn’t stop typing until I had completed five manuscripts. 

However, it wasn’t until after that point that I began Googling what to do next and realised the writing was the easy bit! I also hadn’t realised how specific the genre headings were, or in some cases how ‘wide’. One of my books was a true story – easy, memoirs/biography. Two were psychic romances – but I wouldn’t say they were ‘paranormal’, which to me is much heavier. My light touch is because the incidents I write about come from my own experiences. I like to keep it real. One was a collection of stories about love at all ages, although there is a cameo appearance from a spirit named Sarah. And then I decided to write a chick lit, where the subject is in her early forties! Forty is the new twenty… what can I say? 

I suppose because I knew nothing about the writing business, I wrote from the heart. I was also trying to stretch myself with each manuscript I penned and experimenting to test myself.  

It’s rather nice to be at the stage where all five of my books are now ‘out there’ and I will learn from reader feedback as my writing journey continues! 

Thank you for featuring me on your lovely blog Miriam, you are a fascinating lady and I love the gypsy theme running through your books!'

Thank you so much Linn for giving us a teasing little insight into how you write from personal experience, yet somehow blend this reality with the surreal.

Doesn't it make you want to know more? I do! Intriguing ...

A loveahappyending.com author
Signed by: Sapphire Star Publishing
Twitter: @LinnBHalton
Facebook: Linn B Halton

Linn's Books on Amazon.co.uk
and on Amazon.com

 

On the radio - again!! BBC Glos

On Saturday I am going back to school. I may have mentioned before that Love a Happy Ending are putting on a stupendous show for booklovers at Sir William Romney's School in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Love a Happy Ending is a group of talented and diverse authors - 30 of them (actually 29, as they are looking to recruit 1 new member - are you the right person?) - from UK, Canada and USA. 17 of these writers are taking part this Saturday in 'Summer Audience'.

When I was lucky enough to become a member of Love a Happy Ending I had no idea their main book event of 2012 was planned to take place in my old school. Linn B Halton, who spearheads the group, was similarly surprised and delighted.

I was invited to BBC radio Gloucestershire on Tuesday and raced back from giving a talk to the Society of Authors lunch group in Guildford, to be sure I was sitting by my landline in time!

You can listen here - there is a certain amount of gabbling at the end, as I was expecting to talk about me, then some music, then about the event ... but, well, you'll hear what happened.

The brief interview is still there on 'Listen Again.' I was on for about 10 minutes or so at about 16:10 on the programme that starts at 14:30; time on iPlayer is 1:42:00.  This should go straight through to my bit  BBC radio Glos

After Tuesday, 19 June, you can find it here:   clip of interview

I will be reporting back a few days after the event to let you know the full impact and fall-out!