As well as publication day for The Coal Miner’s Son, this week I am ‘Chindi Author of the Week.’ Pop over to the Chindi author Website and check out the questions and answers about me and my writing.
Publication day has arrived
Publication day has finally arrived for The Coal Miner’s Son, but you know what, I’m feeling a little flat. What was I expecting this morning? Fireworks or what? I’m not sure. All I know is that the run up to this day has been hectic with book signing, packing them up and posting, and lots of marketing.
However, the sun is shining and life looks good. Five years ago today at this time I was alone in a Bucharest hospital waiting for my husband to arrive and waiting for an operation on my broken hip. A lot has changed in those five years and that includes me, I am no longer the same person.
Although today feels flat I’m proud of what I’ve achieved in publishing two books that readers seem to love and wish that my late mum and sister were both here to share this moment with me.
So away with the gloom and let’s embrace The Coal Miner’s Son starting with fizz this evening and an online launch party on Facebook. Hope as many of you as possible can be here.
Here’s a candle for Mum and Heather
and a glass of sparkly to toast The Coal Miner’s Son‘s arrival.
Cheers!!
Watch out throughout the day for links to blogs where I talk about my writing.
The day is almost here…
So exciting. Tomorrow is publication day for The Coal Miner’s Son. It’s finally arrived after all the months, years in fact, of waiting. Watch this space over the next week as I shall be placing lots of links to blogs with interviews and articles on my writing, in particular, The Coal Miner’s Son.
Thank you for being great followers and supporting me through all this.
Don’t forget if you’re on Facebook, I’m having an online launch tomorrow evening at 7pm – 9:15pm. Click the link HERE or if you have any problems send me your Facebook details and I’ll send you over an invite. Great fun will be had all round with lots of prize draw questions, some about the sixties which seems appropriate as we’re stepping back to the sixties with The Coal Miner’s Son.
In case you need them, please find links below for both books – NOTE: House of Grace is on special offer with a Kindle countdown at 99p/99c – to celebrate the third anniversary of publication as well as the launch of The Coal Miner’s Son.
See you tomorrow!!!
Haiku Challenge
Today’s Haiku Challenger is Poet, Patricia Claxton. Enjoy.
Well as you all know, I just love trees and can see exactly where Patricia is coming from with this lovely haiku. What do you think?
News
Hi Everyone
Well what an exciting week this has been. What with the overwhelming response for pre-orders on Amazon, signed paperbacks, Facebook shares and Retweets on Twitter, you’d think that was enough excitement for anyone. However, not in my case…
On Tuesday it was my husband’s 60th birthday so we celebrated with family at a lovely Indian Restaurant and that next Wednesday is our Silver Wedding and a week Sunday my birthday. Exciting celebrations.
Yesterday I discovered that I was a winner with Hedgehog Press Prickly Shorts Competition which means that my fictional Victorian story about the Montefoires will be published later this year, and I also discovered that an internal challenge through Hedgehog also brought results for me with a winning poem, again to be published later this year.
And that it seems was still not enough excitement. I decided to reduce the price of House of Grace on Kindle to 99p/99c for a few days to celebrate both the launch of The Coal Miner’s Son and the third anniversary of House of Grace.
Next week is going to be equally busy and exciting with the launch of The Coal Miner’s Son on Monday 9th March 2020. I am having an online launch on Facebook so if you’re on Facebook why not come and join in the fun? There will be guest authors and lots of prizes.
Click here for the link. If you can’t get in on the link and you’d like to attend, contact me here with your Facebook details and I’ll send you over an invite.
Do keep an eye out on the blog next week as I shall be doing lots of interviews and be featured on lots of blogs with articles about my writing and in particular, The Coal Miner’s Son. I shall add all the links on here so you don’t miss out.
What an exciting week it’s going to be.
The downside was hearing a couple of days ago that the London Book Fair had been cancelled, and of course I quite understand the reasoning behind it, and then I heard earlier today that the Writers’ Summit I was to attend has also been cancelled. This was to be my first time at the London Book Fair but obviously not meant to be. Hopefully I will get there in 2021.
Thank you all for your amazing support and being fantastic followers.
In the event that you’ve missed the links to my books, I’ll add them below.
Characters – ‘The Coal Miner’s Son’
With the run up to publication on Monday, and again throughout next week, I shall be blogging about some of the characters in The Coal Miner’s Son. My first character is new to the ‘House of Grace’ series and she is in fact a beautiful red setter named Tassles.
What inspired me to include a red setter?
Well, as a child I was always very nervous about dogs. I’m sure this was due to dogs running loose along the streets without owners all the time, that’s what they did when I grew up in the fifties and sixties. My late sister and I used to be so frightened of the dogs running after us that we’d throw our sweets to them in the hope they’d go away. Of course, we didn’t realise at the time, this made them follow us all the more. My fear wasn’t helped when my late sister was bitten on the top of her thigh when minding her own business, just enjoying a rope swing over the brook. The fear of dogs stayed with me until my early twenties when I was married and had a family. So what changed?
I made a new friend who had a bouncy red setter named Tassie. At first I was scared of Tassie but in time, not only did I warm to her, but started to look forward to seeing her when I visited my friend.
My first husband loved dogs and desperately wanted to own one. His preference was a German Shepherd but I put my foot down and said if we’re going to have a dog then we’ll have a red setter. We both agreed that we should contact the red setter rescue society to see if we could get a dog that needed a home.
The procedure to adopt a rescue dog from the Red Setter Rescue Society wasn’t easy. It was like adopting a child. We had numerous visits to our house when we were asked questions as to where the dog would be allowed and the representative also wanted to meet the other family members. We were ecstatic when it was agreed that our home was perfect to give a dog a home. But then it was a waiting game.
After a few weeks we finally got a phone call to say they had a dog available, she was just under two-years-old and desperate for a new home because her owners were getting a divorce and neither of them wanted her. Would we like her? Of course we would. We set out on a hundred mile round trip and brought back this scatty red setter, named Ginny.
I don’t mind telling you I was nervous of Ginny when we first got her but after a couple of weeks we all adjusted and she soon became part of our family. Ginny was a bouncy red setter just like Tassles in The Coal Miner’s Son. No wonder George falls in love with Tassles.
I hope you enjoy the addition of Tassles in The Coal Miner’s Son.
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Don’t forget publication date is 9th March 2020 and the Pre-order button is now available on Amazon. Click here to order.
Publication of The Coal Miner’s Son
At last – the day has almost arrived. You’ve all been so patient with me taking so long to get The Coal Miner’s Son out to you. I really appreciate your support in Facebook shares, retweets on Twitter, Kindle pre-orders and the list for signed paperbacks is growing fast. If you haven’t seen the link – just click on The Coal Miner’s Son below.
One week today…
I’m having an online launch party on Facebook next Monday – Publication Day – 9th March 2020 at 7-9pm
If you’re on Facebook and would like an invite, please let me know. It’s going to be fun – guest authors – lots of prizes and virtual prosecco and cake.
Over the next week I thought I’d fill you in a bit about new characters that have been added to The Coal Miner’s Son so watch this space.
In the meantime, here’s my first attempt at a video trailer. Let me know what you think.
Sunday Writing Challenge – Write a story in under one hundred words
Today Swanwick writer, Jules Hartnett, returns to ‘Patricia’s Pen’ with ‘One Hundred Words’.
That’s all it took, one hundred words. Well, actually, there were ninety-eight – I counted. Ninety-eight. But it was the last five that did it.
We’d argued before, who doesn’t? But we always made up. Not like in the movies; no passionate sex, no post-coital cigarette, just the hours or days of silence and sulking and then ‘normal’ service would be resumed– until this time.
He yelled, ‘And I’m not coming back!’
His last five words.
So, this time I made sure he kept his promise.
The new lavender bush will hide the bump in the lawn.
96 words
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Thank you for sharing this with us, Jules. I for one think Jules’ story is fabulous. What do you think?
Tuesday Guest Feature – Raine Geoghegan
My special guest today is, writer and poet, Raine Geoghegan. Raine has come along today to talk about her work and writing. Without further ado, it’s over to Raine.
Thank you Tricia for inviting me to write about my work and life.
My Work and Life
Raine Geoghegan
I have been re-reading my journals which I kept for a number of years and have come across an entry for Sunday 8 March, 2012. It reads:
‘A slow moving Sunday morning. I am sitting drinking white tea. Massenet’s Meditation from Thais is playing, a gentle flowing and deeply moving composition. My joints are sore and I am tired. My mind goes back to my Mother’s passing in 1996. This was a period in which I experienced many painful events, the onset of chronic illness and disability, as well as grief and divorce. “We did not come to remain whole; we come to lose our leaves like the trees. The trees that are broken and start again, drawing up from the great roots.” This beautiful quote by John Bly reminds me of our fragility and of our strength.
In 2012 I also wrote about both my excitement and my apprehension at the prospect of studying for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. Some of my poems had already been published, but I wanted to take the next step, even though my health was not great. I am pleased to say that I did complete the MA and my Dissertation was based on my experiences of illness and disability, however in 2017 I began writing about my Romany Heritage. I worked with a mentor who encouraged me to use the Romani language (jib) and to research the ways of the Romany people. I had the good fortune of living with my Romany grandparents as a child, along with my mother and sister, following the death of my father, so I began to write about my memories and the rich characters that came and went. My granny, Amy, sold flowers and was a strong woman. She used to travel to Covent Garden on the train, taking her barrow with her.
‘She walks swiftly over Waterloo Bridge then onto Nine Elms market where she buys the freshest, most colourful loolladi. This is where she uses cunning to get what she wants, never paying the full price.’ (Loolladi – flowers). Up Early, ‘they lit fires: lenti hatch o yog.’
My grandfather, Alfie, was gentle; he kept many animals and missed his old life, peg making and hop picking.
‘I used to love going into the woods, cuttin’ ‘azel rods to make the faida, wiv me little churi, the one me dad gave me when I was fifteen.’ (Faida – pegs; Churi – knife)
My first book ‘Apple Water: Povel Panni’ released in December 2018 was well received and chosen as a Poetry Book Society 2019 Spring Selection.
My second book ‘they lit fires: lenti hatch o yog’ was released in December 2019 and is selling well.
Both books are published by Hedgehog Poetry Press.
I am soon to begin a tour around England and Wales performing work from both of these books and am thrilled that my husband Simon will be accompanying me on some of these readings. I am grateful for the support of family, friends and my publisher Mark Davidson.
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Thank you, Raine for a fascinating read, and I’m sure my readers will agree. Good luck with the tour and do come back to ‘Patricia’s Pen’ and tell us all about it.
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If you’d like to know more about Raine and her writing, why not purchase one of her poetry pamphlets. (Links listed below.)
Before I list the links for Raine’s books and social media details, let’s find out a little more about her.
About Raine Geoghegan
Raine Geoghegan, M.A. is a poet and prose writer of Romany, Welsh and Irish descent. Nominated for the Forward Prize, Best of the Net & The Pushcart Prize, her publications include: Poetry Ireland Review; Travellers’ Times; Ofi Press; Under the Radar. Her pamphlet, ‘Apple Water: Povel Panni’, was launched in December 2018 and was listed in the Poetry Book Society Spring 2019 Selection. Her new pamphlet, ‘they lit fires: lenti hatch o yog’ also published by Hedgehog Poetry Press in December 2019 is out now. Her work was featured in the film, ‘Stories from the Hop Yards,’ made by Catcher Media.
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Social Media and Website links
Purchase Links
Haiku Challenge
This Sunday’s writing challenger comes from Sarah Howes with her response in the form of a Haiku. Enjoy.
Thank you for that, Sarah. I think this is a subject we all need to be more aware of. What does everyone else think?
Patricia M Osborne 