December 2021 – JO LAMBERT

DECEMBER CATCH UP…

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Jo Lambert - Author

Well, here we are, at the end 2021, and how quickly the time has gone. It’s been a mixed year. A tenth novel completed and published and 77 books read and reviewed on my Goodreads Challenge, nearly double the 44 I had originally set up to complete. I’m a bit of a book junkie. I belong to Netgalley where I’m able to request and read advanced review copies of the latest offerings from authors. I am also auto-approved by Bookouture, which means I can choose titles and have them automatically delivered to my Kindle without having to request them first. I’ve always been a lover of romance, sagas and historical fiction. Now another genre has been added: psychological thrillers and Bookouture authors write some of the best.

Back home in my own writer’s den, I’m currently working on book three of my Cornish trilogy. This time my main character is the daughter of a hotelier. Yes, I know, we’ve been there before with A Cornish Affair, only this time the hotel in question is not situated on a clifftop overlooking the Atlantic. Instead it overlooks the harbourside in Kingswater, the fictitious Cornish estuary town where the trilogy is based. Hayley Young, who was a friend of Ava Warren, the central character who narrates Shadows on the Water, now has her own story. Although Hayley appeared in both Shadows and A Kingswater Summer, all readers knew about her was that she was a young single mother with a small daughter and worked with Ava. I gave very little detail about her background. I guess this was a good move, as it has enabled me to start with a blank sheet and an opportunity to create something completely new. I’m 15,000 words in, not that far along a road which will probably reach 80,000 – 100,000, but so far it’s going well. I plan to really get my head down next month, once Christmas and the New Year are out of the way, with a first draft finish by end February. Then the hard work begins.

With so much going on in December, I’ve cut back on reading this month. Only two books – both of which were worthy of five star reviews. Moving on into January, I kick start the new year with six.

So it just remains for me to wish everyone a happy, healthy and peaceful 2022. Where has the time gone? It only seems like yesterday we were welcoming in the Millennium!

Best wishes and I’ll be back at the end of January.

Jo x

Writing

I’m on the Move!

Posted on December 9, 2021January 3, 2022 by Jo Lambert - Author

I’ve moved over to a new Twitter Account. I’m now Jo Lambert Author. Join me there…

Writing

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER UPDATE

Posted on December 2, 2021December 1, 2021 by Jo Lambert - Author

Well, here we are, marching towards Christmas. How did 2021 go so quickly? It seems only yesterday we were welcoming in the New Year, and now it’s almost time to bid it farewell.

October ended up being so busy I missed my update, so am bringing it along to join November’s. The tenth month seemed to be filled with all sorts of appointments, both dental and medical, plus visits to friends and meals out. The final few days of the month saw us in Brockenhurst for our wedding anniversary. The weather was a mix of overnight rain and windy, showery days. We had a two night stay, meaning one whole day there to ourselves. The hotel was an absolute gem of a find and we will definitely be back next year. Everything there was so well organised, the rooms clean and bright and we were welcomed with coffee and cake. Breakfasts were enormous and set us up for the day. The in-house restaurant did some pretty exceptional meals and just as well we opted to eat there as the evening were pretty wet! Not the kind of weather to venture out to eat. Our one ‘day there saw us in Lymington during the morning, and after a wander and a coffee we headed out to Christchurch, stopping on the way to take a photo of The Needles, just off the Isle of Wight. Although we managed this between showers, the wind was so strong we both had trouble keeping upright! Sadly this had a detrimental effect on capturing anything in the way of a sensible shot!

Back from Hampshire it was straight in to Trick or Treat which saw a goodly number of local costumed children with their buckets – and adults accompanying them – knocking on doors and gathering goodies. Days later it was Bonfire night – usually an event that starts in mid-October and goes on well into November with nightly bangs and whooshing of rockets. This year, for whatever reason, it was much quieter. Maybe people decided to go to the many official ones around, who knows?

Mid-November our new front door and a team of fitters arrived. Ordered in August and held up due to an unprecedented demand at the manufacturers, we were really looking forward to the change. Unfortunately, it was not the door we had ordered. We only discovered this once the old door had been cut up. It meant they had to fit it and re-order. We’ve now been told it’s due here on 9th December, so fingers crossed all will go well this time.

I have to admit to have been struggling with my current WIP. It’s all there – plot, characters, the lot. It simply needs to be written. And that’s where the problem has been – finding my writing mojo. So, I have been working on it in small steps. Usually I like to have at least 2,000 words completed from any one writing session. However, on this occasion I know that pushing myself to accomplish this is not the answer. It will only make matters worse and be counter productive. So when I get an idea for a scene I just write that one scene. If anything comes from that, say, moving it on to the next scene, then I will happily go with it. But I do not force myself to complete something I don’t feel any current inspiration for. I’m hoping that January – which is my least favourite month and usually very quiet – will proved to be the time to kick start everything again as there will be no distractions.