Teresa x
ps Free Postage on all orders over £25 before 30 November at East is East.
My perfect Saturday morning is spent waking slowly; cup of tea in bed while O. H. goes and gets the paper then a breakfast of good coffee, yogurt, fruit and toast while reading said papers. I did say perfect because that’s the one I fantasised about while I was getting up at 7 last Saturday. By 9 I was laid out (not literally of course) and ready to sell. Here’s my stall at the Multiple Sclerosis Christmas Fair. A worthy cause and one that kept me busy both days. Here were two of my best sellers. And these galloped out of the door:- They raised £2400, which is enough to keep the centre open for a week. Many thanks to all our customers and those who supported the event.
Teresa x ps Free Postage on all orders over £25 before 30 November at East is East.
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If I told you that I spent part of my Wednesday evenings lying on tarmac in the car park of an industrial estate looking at the stars you would probably ask me two questions. 1) – Am I a lady of the night or 2) could I also get you a supply of smack? The answer to both these is no. I am attempting to get fit. Mainly for one of the passions in my life – skiing, which I’m hoping to do this season as we didn’t go last year. But also because I’m now on the dark side of 50 - I feel I must.
Along with 24 other much younger women (nay, in fact, mere babes in all senses of the word) we are the FIT chicks. Females in Training. Now a few months down of turning out in all weathers ( I’m assured wind, rain and snow won’t stop us) I’m still not sure if it's working. My arms are still wobbling a bit when I wave, it still hurts every time I come home and my clothes are just as tight as at the beginning, but I go anyway. At least now my thighs don’t scream in protest every time I sit on the toilet from all the lunges I’ve done and if you say 'mountain climbers' I will no longer look for my walking boots. Am I getting fit? I don’t know. We are shouted at by our leader as we change from each station with only seconds to rest but it is inspiring watching her demonstrate the exercises with casual expertise. Perhaps I just need to go longer for something to work? Maybe I need to step up my game, stop the tennis and join her running group and I will get a butt like hers; pert with not one dimple in sight? I don't know, I'm just hanging in there with blind faith that it must be better for me than slobbing on the sofa. I said better, not more pleasurable. Meanwhile, think of me on a Wednesday evening. Pray that the weather is kind to us and I will continue to lie on my back, on the tarmac, in the dodgy car park perfecting my cycle sit-ups and wishing on the stars. Teresa x I’m having trouble getting going this morning. I know why. It’s not just because it’s Monday morning...
So in an effort to motivate myself to get going I have put on music. Oh, the power of music. It can lift you, reduce you to tears by way of the first bar and also transport you immediately back to any bitter/sweet time in your life. So I’m going to tell you about three pieces. The sad one first. I only have to hear the opening of ‘A Lark Ascending’ Vaughan Williams and I’m back sitting on my mother’s bed. She was lying in my sunny yellow living room and it was the last piece of music we listened to together before she died. ( The anniversary is coming up, that’s why it’s on my mind.) Being a Motown Girl I think Stevie Wonder is a genius. He’s been with me growing up and I can sing along at the top of my voice in the car to most of his tracks. ‘As’ takes me back to my wedding day, conjures up images of eating brunch, sitting outside on a summer’s day, the scent of bunches of sweetpeas filling the air or standing at the top of a mountain, blue sky, clear air in my lungs with the twinkling, snowy slope stretched out in front of me. And my third? After watching The Intouchables, starring François Cluzet and Omar Sy, again last night (and if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you really must) ‘September’ is just the pick-me-up I need today. So if you are driving on the A27 in Sussex today and you pass a woman, music blasting out, singing at the top of her voice to Earth Wind and Fire, wave and smile - it’ll be me. Teresa x PS Today is the 10th anniversary of the day my sister passed away. Told you it was sad. What are your three? Thrilled to announce that LOVE,SUZI x is now available to buy in paperback from Amazon.
I am going to be signing and chatting at the Pop-Up Bookshop, Swan Walk, Horsham 27th Sept.1.30-2.30. Not only me but there will be plenty of authors to enable you to find a book you like. Would love you to pop in and say hello. Teresa x Summer madness is the only way to describe it. The school holidays seem to cast us all into a time warp. Routine disappears and everything is back to front. While I love not having the daily pressure of getting everyone up, breakfasted and out the door by a certain time I do look forward to getting the household back into some sort of order. Mainly so I can write again without interruption to chauffeur someone to somewhere, cook up vast quantities of pasta for teenage gatherings and tidy the house yet again afterwards.
But now I have my wish. The house is quiet, everyone where they should be (namely out of my hair) and I can write. There just seems to be so much to do I don’t know where to start. So to procrastinate further here’s a picture of the pigeons I spotted outside my window earlier. I have written a post for my other blog site, http://teresahamiltonwriter.wordpress.com/ put on 3 loads of washing, done some social marketing for my latest book Love, Suzi x, made some phone calls and browsed the web looking at Uni courses with my daughter. Maybe not such a waste of a morning. Now I’m going to enter the Bath Novel Award Competition before I do the ironing, walk the dogs, put the vacuum cleaner round and write a press release! TGIF. Teresa x So here it is! What do you think? I didn't realise how many decisions have to be made before you get something that looks like a real book jacket. I've now got the proof copy of the paperback to check so it will be available to buy from Amazon in a couple of weeks. Pop back as I'll announce it here.
Teresa x I am being interviewed on the Charlie Plunkett radio show on Coastway Saturday 17th August evening @ 19.00. Click here:-http://www.coastway.org.uk/listen/ I’m talking about writing, books, why I chose the three songs being played and reading excerpts from LOVE, SUZI x. It can’t be archived so you must listen at 19.00 or you will miss it. 57 mins of fun! 57 not 58! Would love you to join us… Teresa x I am thrilled to announce that LOVE, SUZI x is officially launched and available to download from Amazon. The paperback should be available in a few weeks. Thank you to all my followers for your continued support. It is much appreciated. I’m in the process of writing a sequel of Suzi’s adventures . Any ideas or feedback would be most welcome. Teresa x PS. I also had a trailer made. What do you think of this? 20th March - 35,000ft, Heathrow (LHR) – Barbados (BGI) Hi Eve ‘Quick, go and have a look at the woman in 35A. Her dress is up round her waist, you can see her knickers,’ my colleague urged me on the flight to Barbados. I grabbed a plastic bag and sashayed down the aisle pretending I was checking for rubbish. I could clearly see the couple in seats 35A & B getting stuck in. I hurried back to the galley. ‘What should we do?’ I asked naively. ‘I can hardly go up to them and say excuse me sir/madam, do you think you could stop all that sexual activity. Or for God’s sake, get a room?’ ‘Well, no one else has complained yet, so offer them a blanket,’ Karen replied. ‘You know the guy sitting behind them is her husband,’ I dropped casually into the conversation. ‘No!’ Karen said clasping her hand over mouth as she nearly dropped the milk jug she was holding. ‘Yes, they told me when I was serving their meal. Apparently the one she’s groping is his employee. Hubby’s even paid for the trip.’ We both stifled our giggles. ‘How much have they had to drink?’ Karen asked. ‘I served them a couple of doubles earlier.’ ‘Tons.’ ‘Go and have another look at what the husband is doing,’ Karen ordered pouring hot water into a teapot. ‘Cup of tea?’ I grabbed a pile of blankets and wandered casually down the aisle. ‘He’s asleep,’ I reported on my return.’ But I managed to pass the two lovebirds a blanket although I don’t know if they noticed, he was too busy with his tongue down her throat and his hand up what's left of her skirt. I can’t believe some people.’ ‘Well they’d better hurry up and finish off,’ Karen said matter-of-factly. ‘Mike’s just been down to say it's time to get ready for the next meal round.’ Love, Suzi x This is just a snippet of the book about Suzi's adventures. 'Love Suzi x' will soon be available to buy on Amazon. Check back here as I'll be letting you know the moment it's ready to go. Teresa x What is the working title of your book? Love, Suzi x Where did the idea come from for the book? When I was younger I flew the skies as a long haul air stewardess for British Airways. At the time I kept diaries about my trips which logged all the exciting places I’d been to, what amazing things I’d done and how manic my lifestyle was. When I came across these a while ago I realised they had the potential for a hilarious book. Everyone thinks the life of a stewardess is so glamorous and undoubtedly there are parts that are, but there are also many times where you think OMG! I was once handed a bag of full of vomit just before landing and had the choice of sitting with it on my lap with the risk of it leaking onto my uniform or risk my life by undoing my safety harness just as the wheels touched down. You’ll have to wait for the book to find out which option I went for. What genre does your book fall under? Contemporary Women's Fiction -although a bit different from my usual kind. My current book, CHOICES is ‘hen-lit.’ My heroine is forty-five, has found her man and that’s when her troubles began. But when I started writing LOVE, SUZI x, Suzi immediately felt 24 years old. She is young, bursting with life and keen to discover the world - it naturally flowed from there. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? I'm having trouble here. Suzi must be in her twenties and ready to let her hair down but ooze a little sexiness. As for the men, although I can picture them in my mind I haven’t come up with actors that fit the bill. Ed McEwan, the first officer and fitty that Suzi meets has to be rugged and gorgeous- someone like a younger Gerard Butler. As for her current boyfriend Matt, who wants her to settle down and get married, he would have to be attractive but with a quirkiness that would have drawn Suzi to him in the first place but he can’t be more sexy than Ed. Any suggestions would be gratefully received. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? What do you do if life seems all mapped out for you; if you’re Suzi Frazier, you fly away, drink rum punch on a pirate ship, bring a dead man back to life and try desperately hard not fall for the charms of a first officer - all with a smile. Okay, I’ve cheated a bit and run two sentences into one – but some rules are meant to be broken, aren’t they? Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I will look for an agent to represent me, but if I don’t get a bite, I will self-publish. Who knows, I may find I like it? How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? About 8 months of writing part-time – I also own an online store selling home accessories so can’t devote all my time to writing – yet. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I love Catherine Alliott’s sense of humour in her writing. That is what I try and aim for. Something to make my reader laugh as they empathise with the hilarious situations and love tangles Suzi gets herself into. I’ve looked, but there doesn’t seem to be many other books that deal with the life of cabin crew. I think of Suzi as Bridget Jones's younger sister at 35,000ft. Who or What inspired you to write this book? I have a few close friends who were cabin crew and when we recall our mad experiences it always makes me laugh. I always thought of the aeroplane as the 'time machine'. I'd drive to work battling through the British winter weather only to step off the plane a few hours later in somewhere like the carribean and feel the hot sunshine on my skin. The crew always stayed in fantastic hotels and definitely knew how to party. I started writing about life in the air on my blog and got positive feedback from my readers who wanted to hear more exploits so I decided to make it more in-depth and wrap it all up in a romance. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? I have plenty of material for a sequel but first I must get Suzi out there and into the readers’ hearts. Here's a bit more about Suzi's dilemmas:- -However hard she tries, Suzi can’t settle for the life which boyfriend Matt has mapped out for her. Becoming a long-haul flight attendant Suzi shares her secrets in her letters with her childhood friend Eve, revealing that being single and the life of a stewardess is far more exciting than anything Matt could ever dream up. Or it was until Suzi met First Officer, Ed Mc Ewan. If only Ed’s crazy girlfriend wasn’t a problem and Matt would move on with his life. Suzi’s caught between two men and this time Eve can’t help her best friend. There's an unexpected twist at the end that will give you goose bumps. Teresa x |
Author 'There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.' - Maya Angelou Archives
May 2018
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