A great new addition to our YWO stable of books

The Witches' Tree
by
Jacqi Campbell-Elliot

Will the Witches’ Tree give up its secret?

Maggie MacQueen flees to the Highlands of Scotland to recover from a broken love-affair. As the beautiful scenery and gentler lifestyle begin to work their magic, she finds herself being haunted by the ghostly figure of a woman and encounters a strange character from Scottish folklore. She sets out to discover the reason behind these supernatural happenings, wondering if there is a link between them and the grave of the Unknown Maid in the local churchyard.

At the same time, she has to deal with her developing feelings for Angus Cameron, landlord of the Loch Shee Inn. Both fight against the growing attraction between them; Maggie is certain she cannot face the heartbreak of loving again and Angus fights shy of commitment. The crisis comes on the night of a terrifying Highland storm when human and supernatural worlds collide.

***

My review

What a well-written, intriguing story, Jacqui. The preface was a good introduction with a promise of strange happenings to come.

Your descriptive powers are excellent and you handle the little dips into back-story very well.

Your dialogue is real and convincing. An example of one of the many pieces of prose you wrote that I loved, is - noticing that soft fingers of mist were beginning to creep lazily across the contours of the hill. Poetry in motion!!!

Extremely well done Jacqui. Good luck with it.

Somebody find me an unpaid publicist!!!

Well, my book is selling quite well already. I don't know exactly how many. But it looks as if it's doing well in various charts.

My family and friends are doing a sterling job all over the world. What I need is loadsa money to pay for someone to take over! It is fun and very exciting doing it myself though. It just takes up so much time! I am a writer and need to write.

Still, one day...

My Children's book is out!!! Yabba Dabba Dooo...

Happy Days!!!

Just when you don't expect it, my book popped up on Amazon yesterday, while my husband was doing a quick search, after it not appearing in the usual list.

It's everywhere now. All over the world. It's hard to take in and a great feeling.

The cover by my daughter Emma Hogan (BA-Animation) looks absolutely terrific. Thank you sweetheartxxx

Thank you so much Ted and all at Legend for all your hard work.

And a big thank you to my husband, Bill for his contribution, my sister, Tricia Tvrdik in Chicago for hours of editing on two of my books and my 'English teacher'/friend for edificating me and giving up a great deal of her own writing time. I know you wish to remain anonymous!

Big thanks as well to the numerous writers/members of YouWriteOn.com for all your reviews and help since. It really helped transform it into a proper book.

It's been a long time!

Due to ill health and other things, I have not been blogging. I am still not 100%, but finding my way back into the land of the living. I have updated my fellow YWO writers books on my website and will add the others as they appear.

I am still to waiting for my baby, Keeper of the Enchanted Pool, to appear. It should be any day now, according to my publisher.

I can't wait for children to read it and be transported back to a time when children were much more innocent than today. There is a Nanny and teddies for my 14 year old, Lottie. Yet though innocent, she is strong and sensible. Lottie needs these qualities after her parents are missing, believed drowned, when the Titanic sinks. Strange things happen, nothing is as it appears and she finds her way to a mysterious new land, where she has an exciting and sometimes dangerous mission.

A very merry christmas to all

Latest news

More and more books are appearing in the lists of online retailers from the pens of YouWriteOn.com members. It is very exciting and a thrill to see. Especially books that I have reviewed and enjoyed.

Congratulations to all who have been published so far and happy selling.

I am still eagerly awaiting mine, but due to the massive volume of books it will take time.

So watch this space folks, hopefully this blog owner will be a published author very soon.

In the meantime, do check out the other authors on my list at the top and my growing 'book shop' on my website.

Excitement mounts as D-Day approaches for members of YouWriteOn.com

Excitement and tension is rising for all of the writers who have taken part in the Arts Council sponsored http://www.youwriteon.com/ publishing deal. We should start hearing about our books tomorrow.

This is a colossal task for Edward Smith and his team and the people of Legend Press, who have worked around the clock to fulfil 5000 authors dreams.

It is also going to be very beneficial, too, as 10% of profits will be donated to charity. The first of which is Sightsavers International. A very worthy cause indeed. Sight is so precious and considering that 75% of the 37 Million men, women and children who are blind, needn't be.

Many celebrities are ambassadors and supporters of this vital charity, including Joanna Lumley, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Le Saux and Debra Winger.

You will have noticed that I have a list of our authors at the top of my blog. I am also going to have a showcase on my website of as many of the books that will be on sale as I can. I will be a wee bit busy if I manage to locate all of them!

Allan Mayer's blog. Check it out!

For anyone who's self publishing, including the YouWriteOn.com 5000, Allan Mayer's blog is full of support, information and lovely bunnies! Click the title and check it out.

Keeper of the Enchanted Pool – A journey from Maine, New England, USA to Devon, Old England, UK!

My children's fantasy novel came as quite a surprise to me, having been more interested in writing and reading crime and thrillers. It was born in Maine, home of my hero Stephen King, in Dysarts Truck Stop.

My husband and I went to live in Prince Edward Island, Canada, for a while. Where he worked for a trucking company. I went out on the road with him as he could be gone for as long as eight days and he needed the company, (looking after). It was a really great experience. We travelled from the Island to many places in America and Canada. As far south as North Carolina, and west to Ontario and north to Quebec, Brrrr!

The most thrilling sight for me, was seeing the Amish in Pennsylvania. They stood by the side of the road complete with long hair and beards, black clothes and straw hats, men that is, no women about. We even saw them in their horse drawn buggies.

So, back to my children's book and the truck stop. I... had a dream... I did honest, and when I woke up I wrote as much as I could remember. I then began to start writing a few ideas in my notebook and transferring them to my laptop when we stopped. Before I knew it, I had a 16,000 word story that was growing fast and almost completely out of my control. The characters had taken over! This was a first for me, I had read that it can happen in Stephen Kings, On Writing, (a very amusing and informative must read for aspiring writers), but thus far it hadn't happened to me. Things happened I didn't plan. it was a very weird but satisfying feeling.

I finished writing the last few pages in England. A complete 45,000 word children's story. I did leave it alone to 'prove' for a while whilst I carried on with other work. When I did read through it again, it was so weird. 'Did I write this?' I couldn't remember writing much of it. Such a strange experience. I then did what I considered to be a thorough redraft. Then sent it out to various agents and a couple of publishers, with a firm 'No,' response from all.

The one good thing that came out of it was a referral to YouWriteOn.Com from Chicken House I didn't look at their website straight away, mores the pity, as I was wallowing in self pity about my poor rejected baby. It was a couple of months later that I was going through my little pile of rejects that I read the letter from Chicken House again, and thought I'd take a look at YWO. That was a big turning point in my writing career. Lottie – my pet name for Keeper of the Enchanted Pool– was praised, ripped to shreds, criticised, lambasted in every way and loved. It was a metamorphic journey that has turned my very rough draft into what I, and many other think, is a lovely book for children.

But for the help of all the reviewers on YouWriteOn.com, my book would probably still be 'unpublishable rubbish', as one unsolicited reviewer told me at the start.

Yes, it was hard work getting the textblock and cover ready to send to the printer. I learned many new things, postscript files, pre-flight checks, distilling etc. Using my printer, Lightning Source's template for my book cover. It's a wonder I have any hair left! But, although I didn't get much sleep and my nerves went through the grinder, I can actually say that I loved every minute of it.

My daughter, Emma Hogan,BA, did a sterling job on a picture for the cover for me. It was as much stress for her, too, as she knows how important the cover is.

Keeper of the Enchanted Pool is published by Arts Council sponsored YouWriteOn.com and Legend Press.

 

 

Something queer has happened!

Yes, you've guessed it, I've just started reading one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books, with all those lovely old words and phrases that we don't, or can't use any more. Well, as the title suggests, something jolly queer has happened. A very nice fellow in Chicago, wants to read my book Green Eyes, Black Heart, with a view to writing a screenplay for a film. And, he works for The Leo Burnett Agency, one of the biggest companies in the world! (Jeremy Clerkson impression). How jolly spiffing is that? (spellchecker didn't like spiffing!)

It was a jolly fine fellow, telling another jolly fine fellow, all about it. ENOUGH of the 1940's prose; it's too long winded and tiresome. Needless to say, I'm quite excited at the prospect, should it come to fruition, and if it doesn't? That's for another day, and another blog. In the meantime, however, I have all these thoughts buzzing around in my head, beginning with what if...? I haven't got the foggiest idea what happens in such a case. Who does what, to whom and when. It's another puzzle to be solved. But for now, I'm off back to Kirrin Island to see what that queer fellow, Uncle Quentin, is up to in the glass tower with all those wires waving around queerily! Ahh, research! I love it. Toodle pip.