Could the daughters of Downton Abbey cope?

Imagine the daughters of Downton Abbey losing their home, their parents, their wealth, their status, their friends.
This is what happens to the characters in my historical novel, Kitty McKenzie.
Kitty has lost everything, and as the eldest daughter, she has to now provide and care for her younger siblings, a task she has no experience or knowledge of how to do. From a life of privilege she is faced with all kinds of adversities to overcome.
How will she manage to cope with these new challenges when the only decisions she used to make was what dress she needed to wear and what book to read after dinner?
How was she to create a home for them all, and an income?
She never realised that buried deep inside her was an inner strength that would come to the fore and allow her to manage, even prosper, in an alien world of the working class.

Could Mary or Edith from Downton Abbey have coped so well? I'd like to think they would.

Priced £1.25 as an ebook at Amazon.uk

Priced .99 cents in the USA at Smashwords and Amazon USA

Introducing Julie Anne Geddes

Hello Julie Anne!
Welcome to Aussie Authors at Work.
Congratulations on the release of your book Acts of Love - A Thousand Ways to Sustain Love. We look forward to hearing about you and your book.

A Morning's Moment of Serenity.

From Ridgetop Hideaway's Photo Gallery

After attending the inaugural Grass Roots Writers' Gathering I was inspired to write this short poem. The weekend was terrific. Spending time with other writers, sharing their ideas, enthusiasm and support proved a resounding success.
Coffs Harbour Writers Group is going to carry the baton and try to emulate Dorrigo Writers' Group's wonderful weekend next year.

It was wonderful to spend time with Wendy Laharnar, who I have been friends with for so many years 'online'. She travelled vast distances to be there and give of her time, experience and knowledge. Her first face to face workshop proved hugely successful and popular.

Overall... the weekend was inspiring.

A morning’s moment of serenity

Sitting in the centre of a cloud.

Rain falling

Slowly, softly, serenely soaking the scene

Greens fade to grey.

Visibility closes in.

A fox stops. Looks toward the sound of my intrusion.

I am in his domain.

He pauses, ears pricked, tail still. 

Sniffs, meanders across the rain soaked paddock

Sedate steps.

Scents rise from my coffee and toast overpowering the subtle offerings of sodden foliage.

Wind whispers a chorus behind the lilting lines of Phill’s laconic lyrics.

Languid smoke lingering from last night’s fire merges with cloud. 

A brief snatch of scent curls through the air.

Coffee cools. Time passes.

Packed ready to leave these few minutes allow a moment to reflect the whirlwind weekend.

Experiences etched into memory.

Words written, absorbed, shared and kept secret.

Relationships created, nurtured, renewed.

Knowledge imparted, gained, diffused.

Generous spirits. Like minded, passionate, positive, purposeful.

Support offered, received. 

Acceptance.

The rain sets in, insistent.

It is time to return to life, normalcy.

Home beckons. 

Empty pages wait.

For Laurel from Carole

 I'm posting the following from Laurel's fellow West Australian  author and good friend, Carole Sutton.


Laurel and I were good buddies for many many years. We met up back in the early days of YouWriteOn, when they first came out. We would critique each other's work and we got on fine.  She had one of my 'Gus, Sore Feet - No Collar' books, and in exchange I had her books of shorts and poems called 'The Ink Drinkers'.

 I also read the first two books of Walara, it would be good if the final book can get published. I also read her 'Crossroads at Isca' book. I have never been particularly poetic but I enjoyed her work. It encouraged me to try one myself. I thought about putting it here. Perhaps Laurel can have a little laugh out of that.

Song of the Night

Carole Sutton

 

Dark nights

Stars above with the satellites

The moon’s loom

Turns the gloom

Into beautiful silvery lights

 

Lonely tree

Shimmering leaves and standing free

In the sand

Of arid land

With no one there to see

 

Flying feathers

Grasping claws in all weathers

With hooked beak

And eyes that seek

The Tawny Owl his supper gathers

 

***

 Such a shame. It is so sad. It's too early for Laurel to go, don't you think? Or, is there never a good time?

Carole.

Goodbye Laurel Lamperd

Our dear friend and talented Western Australian author, Laurel Lamperd lost her life to lung cancer on 9th June. Few people knew of her struggle as she bravely continued with her writing right to the end.

Our deepest sympathy goes to Max, her husband, and to her children Gaye, Lindsay and Dawn and to her nine grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren.

Laurel was a gifted writer, a warm, caring hostess and a wonderfully generous friend who grabbed every opportunity to support and promote her fellow authors. She was openly proud of all of us. Her lovely nature shone through in the warmth of her published books.

Laurel published eight books:

two of short stories and poems:
The Rainbow Children
The Japanese Grandmother

And six novels:
Murder Among the Roses –contemporary mystery
Substitute Bride -- Regency
Crossroads at Isca – Roman Britain
Battle of Boodicuttup Creek – Australian Children’s Book
Wind from Danyari Book 1  –   Historical saga
Journey from Walara Book 2 – during WWII

Laurel was working on Book 3 Return to Walara in her historical series about a Western Australian dynasty, and was still adding poems and short stories to her blog and to her Author’s Den page right up until the last.

Commenting on my blog Laurel once wrote,

“[Writing] does become a type of drug, which does away with any sense of boredom, of wondering how to fill your days. Through writing you meet wonderful friends with whom you always have something to discuss. Writing makes life exciting as you pen what you hope is the next bestseller…”

In July 2012 Laurel sent me this photo of the plaques featuring her poem “Cry to my Country” and one of her friend, Helen’s, poems at Barrens Beach in WA. Laurel said, “They have spent a lot of money on the complex. They say it's part of the Royalty for Regions scheme which the WA National Party insisted on when they went into government with the WA Liberals.”

What a magnificent legacy to a much loved Australian poet and novelist.

We are proud of you Laurel.

I’ll always cherish your friendship and your novels.

You are a lasting blessing. Sweet dreams, dear friend.

A Noble Place

A Noble Place.
Blurb: Australia 1850. Phillippa Noble, strong minded, spirited, and adventurous, urges and encourages her parents and twin to emigrate to the distant land of Australia to begin again. In a new country they can put their tainted past behind them and Pippa can forget the unrequited love she felt for a distant cousin.
Pippa blossoms in the new country and is determined that their horse stud will be the finest in the land. 
However, circumstances ensure that not all is golden. For every success, she has to bear up under the challenges of bushfire, death, the return of an old love, and danger on the goldfields. Her strength is tested as she tries to find the right path to happiness, but it is the near loss of her dearest friend that makes her realise true contentment rests within her grasp and she must not let it go.

Available in ebook from Amazon USA and Amazon UK

Creepy Spooky Investigations

Joe Blough not only sees dead people, he occasionally dates them, but only the cute ones who haven't been banged up too much. As the last living liason between the recently (and not-so) deceased and the mortal plane, it's Joe's job to keep the balance between the living and the dead steady and clean, because if the breathing couple in Number 22 found out that the guy in 26 had stopped respiration 13 years ago but still grew onions in his front yard, well it could get a little awkward.
But there's a problem. Someone has started killing the dead, and it's making a mess. Not just when the dead depart. That sudden release of pent up energy has to go somewhere. But the regular people are starting to see thing they really don;t want to see, and experience things they really can't handle. It's up to Joe and the team from C.S.I (Creepy Spooky Investigations) to find out who is shuffling the dead off this mortal coil and prevent a calamity that could destroy two worlds.
Coming soonish from Nitewriter Media.