Tag: Bar Yarns & Beer Nuts

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Zena Shapter shares a beer and a bar yarn

 

ZenaShapter300dpiJust last week I asked Zena to talk seriously about her writing process; she regularly chats about all sorts of serious ‘writerly stuff’. Check out her blog’s About and Becoming A Writer pages.

This week, as I invite her to visit Calingarry Crossing pub and share a beer nut and a chat, we meet the OTHER Zena, the whacky Zena, the party Zena who enjoys a little Gangnam style!!

 

Come on in, Zena. Grab a pew. What can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)

A: Thanks, Jenn! I’ve already had a few champagnes while I was editing by the pool earlier (I wish!), so I’ll have a Malibu and pineapple, please – no ice, well, as long as the pineapple juice has been chilled, which I’m sure it has!

Hey, did you hear the one about … 

A: How do penguins drink their whisky?

On the rocks.

Cute! I’m a beer nut nut, Zena. What bar snack would you be and why?

A: Flamin’ Hot Monster Munch, because they’re from England, they go well with beer, are very moreish, and really wake up your tastebuds.

Ahh, my beer hit the spot. Let me slip a drink coaster under your glass while you tell us—on a scale of 1 to 10—as a writer are you a messy desker or tidy desker?

A: 1 = people wonder how I can possibly work somewhere so tidy.

 The publican offers you free drinks all night if you will:

  • Dance to Gangnam Style
  • Sing John Denver’s ‘Take me Home Country Roads’ on the Karaoke machine
  • Spend an hour washing dishes

Which do you choose?

A: Dance to Gangnam Style – willingly and with gusto!

That’s the spirit. Time to liven the place up. Got a buck? We can crank up the old jukebox in the corner. You get to pick three songs.

  1. Rizzle Kicks – “Down With The Trumpets”
  2. Justice Crew – “Everybody”
  3. Ylvis – “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)”

Okay, an author, an agent and a chicken walk into the bar… how do you know which one crossed the road?

A: They all arrived together but the agent crossed the road because a publisher walked by on the other side. The author stayed with the chicken so the agent could use them as a talking point and generate interest in the author’s new book, because every author needs a chicken to look interesting.

(Too true!)

Now, there’s a stapler on the bar. Tell me what it’s doing there.

A: It’s a decoration – because who uses so much paper they need a stapler these days?

The pub is the heart of a small town and most locals would be lost without one. What are three things you’d be lost without?

  1. Time to write.
  2. Hugs from my family.
  3. A good night’s sleep.

There are a few good prizes up for grabs in the bar jackpot. Do you have a lucky number?

I wish I had a lucky number! I’m not really a lucky person. But that’s okay, because I reckon I’m lucky in life these days, and I’m happy with that!

Last drinks, my friend! It’s been great. But before we go, tell us how we can find out more about you and your writing/books.

I’m part-cyber so lurk in most online social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Goodreads, and I blog on my website too. Come and find me if you like wild rides through the gulches of adventure that spit you out breathless; or close-to-reality books of the unexplained, ones that take you away from the everyday yet stay so close it’s only when you shut the book you realise you’ve been away at all. Everywhere I’ve travelled in the world – and I’ve been to almost fifty countries – I’ve sought out unusual stories and uncommon sights, then taken copious notes on them. Now I use those notes to conjure thought-experiments and journeys into the ‘what ifs’ of fiction, the beyond and the magical… Life is magical. Life is about searching for improved existences and converting the unfamiliar into something more recognisable. Life is an adventure at once unseen and unlikely yet there and very real, sometimes thrilling and dangerous, yet ultimately ours to relish. If I can, with my stories I’ll show you just how thrilling and magical that adventure can be…

Hi! I’m a British-Australian author who loves putting characters inside the most perfect storm of their lives, then watching how they get out. I like wild rides through the gulches of adventure that spit you out breathless, and close-to-reality books of the unexplained. I’ve won seven national fiction writing competitions (all blind judging) and am represented by literary agent Alex Adsett. Watch this space for news on when my novels will be published! I also run the widely attended Northern Beaches Writers’ Group, and give regular talks/tutorials on creative writing and social media (because, after all, I am part-cyber!).

Fantastic. Please leave a comment for Zena and if you can, share the love online. Every author need good lovin! 

Tweet me: http://twitter.com/zenashapter
Connect me: http://facebook.com/ZenaShapter
Read me: http://zenashapter.com/blog

[Tweet “.@zenashapter is at the bar chatting to Jenn J McLeod http://wp.me/p1zse7-1oq”]

simmering-season_jacket

In the meantime, watch out …

It’s on the way …

This storm season, in Calingarry Crossing, a perfect storm is heading Maggie Lindeman’s way.  Find out more, right here. Simmering Season: April 1, 2014

For emergency alerts and warnings for Simmering Season, subscribe to Jenn J McLeod’s blog before you go, or LIKE her Facebook Page.

 

 

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A Bar Yarn with Author – Victoria Purman

VictoriaPurman-190

I’m so excited to have someone like Victoria Purman, Harlequin’s big hit with a winning formula (and the prettiest covers) join me in the Calingarry Crossing pub for a beer and a bar yarn.

Here you go, Vic, take this beer coaster and jot down the blurb for your newest book –

Someone Like You.

Love! Summer! The beach! Lizzie Blake and Dan McSwaine think hiding out in the beachside town of Middle Point means they can also hide from love. But fate has another thing coming!

When Lizzie Blake knocks on the door of Dan McSwaine’s beach house at Middle Point, she barely recognises the man who answers. What ever happened to the guy who swaggered into her home town with a grin and left wither heart in his back pocket? Lizzie wonders if he’ll ever be that man again – and if she should risk everything she’s built her life on to help him.

Dan can’t normally bear to be more than ten minutes from a hip bar, an imported beer and a group of hot women. So what is he doing holed up in a falling down beach shack at Middle Point? All he knows is that he’s made some crazy decisions since the night a truck slammed into his care and almost killed him. The first one was to think that buying a crumbling piece of coastal real estate was a good idea. The second crazy decision was to try to hide away from the world when a woman like Lizzie Blake is determined to drag him right back into it.Screen Shot 2013-11-29 at 10.01.44 AM

Someone Like You – officially releases February 1st 2014 through Harlequin Australia, but you may  just find it on shelves and you can certainly preorder online. Check out links below.

Now, Victoria, what can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)

A glass of South Australian white wine thanks. I couldn’t drink anything else!

Pub joke time. Hey, did you hear the one about … ?

A horse walks into a bar. The barman turns to him and asks, “Why the long face?”

An oldie but one you’ll hear in every pub in the country I reckon!

I’m a beer nut nut! What bar snack would you be and why?

Who needs snacks? Another wine please!

Oh, a girl after my own heart, Vic. That hit the spot. Let me slip a drink coaster under your glass while you tell us—on a scale of 1 to 10—as a writer are you a messy desker or tidy desker?

I have the smallest desk in the world tucked away in the corner of the bedroom. Three kids means we have no spare room, so I have to be tidy in my little space. Except for the basket to my left which seems to have a whole of crap in it.

The publican offers you free drinks all night if you will:

  • Dance to Gangnam Style
  • Sing John Denver’s ‘Take me Home Country Roads’ on the Karaoke machine
  • Spend an hour washing dishes

Which do you choose?

Oh this one’s easy! I love country music, always have. Maybe it stems from my mother’s love of John Denver back in the ‘70s. Give me that mic! “Almost Heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River…”

Time to liven the place up. Got a buck? We can crank up the old jukebox in the corner. You get to pick three songs.

  1. “Dancing Queen” by ABBA
  2. “Times Like These” by Foo Fighters
  3. “Baggage Claim,” Miranda Lambert

An author, an agent and a chicken walk into the bar… how do you know which one crossed the road?

It will probably be the author – because she’ll be taking mental notes as she’s doing it to write the scene into her next book.

There’s a stapler on the bar. Tell me what it’s doing there.

Waiting to carry out a mob hit.

The pub is the heart of a small town and most locals would be lost without one. What are three things you’d be lost without?

  1. In no particular order, my lovely Apple Mac. I write my books on it and stay connected to the world through it
  2. My family and friends – goes without saying.
  3. Did I mentioned that lovely South Australian white wine?

There are a few good prizes up for grabs in the bar jackpot. Do you have a lucky number?

My lucky number is 22. The 22nd of December 2012 was the day I signed my current three-book deal with Harlequin Australia. That’s pretty lucky to me!

Last drinks, my friend! It’s been great. But before we go, tell us how we can find out more about you and your writing/books.Screen Shot 2013-12-18 at 3.02.48 PM

I love social media because I can connect to readers and other writers, so you’ll frequently find me on facebook at Victoria Purman Author
On twitter @VictoriaPurman
At www.victoriapurman.com  and on pinterest as VictoriaPurman

Here is where you can get your hands on this brand new release:
Harlequin
Amazon Australia – on sale for $2.29
Amazon  – on sale for $2.01
iTunes Books – Picked as one of the Best Books of February

Three books? I am already eager to see the next gorgeous cover and clever title. You are on a roll, girl!

Speaking of roll…. Watch out! The clouds are rolling in.

This storm season, in Calingarry Crossing, a perfect storm is heading Maggie Lindeman’s way.  For emergency alerts and warnings for SIMMERING SEASON, subscribe to Jenn J McLeod’s blog or newsletter before you go, or LIKE her Facebook Page.

Simmering Season: April 1, 2014  Find out more, right here.

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Phillipa Fioretti – For One Night Only – joins Jenn’s Bar Yarns

Cover. For One Night Only

Oh, look who’s just arrived at the Calingarry Crossing pub. And she’s taking a room, too, but for one night only in honour of her latest novel – FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY.

Okay, what can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)

A bottle of Little Creatures beer, please, and a cold glass.

Here, you go. Now, Phillipa, take a minute to jot down the blurb for your book on the beer coast and I’ll pin it on the book board.

When Ornella vacations in Sicily, she meets Hugh, an archaeologist working on a dig in the beautiful town of Taormina.  Hugh convinces Ornella to join him on a trip to 

the island of Stromboli, where they hike up a live volcano at dusk. 

After a passionate night together Ornella, an actress usually focused on her career, suspects she’s in love. But after breakfast the next morning, Hugh vanishes. 

Ornella is left with Hugh’s phone, sunglasses and a sudden end to the love affair she thought she didn’t want. Desperate 

to know if Hugh ran out on her or if he’s met with disaster, she wants to search for him. But with an important screen test in Rome and her agent impatiently waiting for her, Ornella faces a dilemma.

Hey, did you hear the one about … Got a joke? (preferably one that comes with a punch line you actually remember!)

Asking me to tell a joke with a punch line is like asking me to tweet something off the cuff and witty.

Well, I’m a beer nut nut! What bar snack would you be and why?

I’d be a potato chip, a smooth chip that tasted of potato and salt – but not too salty or greasy. I have no idea why I would be this chip, but I know I wouldn’t be a chip with synthetic flavouring.

Fioretti.study

Ahh, that beer hit the spot. Let me slip a drink coaster under your glass while you tell us—on a scale of 1 to 10—as a writer are you a messy desker or tidy desker? 

(Hmm, how shall we rate this, folks? – 1 = “Neat nut case” and 10 = “What desk? Where? Is there a desk here somewhere?”)

The publican offers you free drinks all night if you will:

  • Dance to Gangnam Style
  • Sing John Denver’s ‘Take me Home Country Roads’ on the Karaoke machine
  • Spend an hour washing dishes

Which do you choose?

I’ll do the dishes and a have quiet yarn with the cook

Time to liven the place up. Got a buck? We can crank up the old jukebox in the corner. You get to pick three songs.

  1. Zap Bebes by Zap Mama
  2. Spanish Harlem by Aretha Franklin
  3. Route 66 by Nat King Cole

An author, an agent and a chicken walk into the bar… how do you know which one crossed the road?

As a long standing keeper of chickens I can tell you a chicken is more likely to wander about in a pleasant daze looking for tasty morsels than cross a road. Anything requiring sustained concentration is not part of their skill set.

So the bar is more likely to be on this side of the road and the author had to rush in to retrieve a straying chicken.

Therefore the agent crossed the road, most likely to say hello to the author and invite them to share some cold beer and what the hell, let’s send the tab to the publishers.

There’s a stapler on the bar. Tell me what it’s doing there.

It’s there to staple all the receipts together so all authors drinking at the bar can keep track of their spending and claim drinks as an essential work expense

The pub is the heart of a small town and most locals would be lost without one. What are three things you’d be lost without?

  1. My family and friends
  2. A good book
  3. Leafy, quiet spaces

There are a few good prizes up for grabs in the bar jackpot. Do you have a lucky number?

Your lucky number is: 10

Last drinks, my friend! It’s been great. But before we go, tell us how we can find out more about you and your writing/books.

Blog – www.phillipafioretti.com.au
Twitter – @PipFioretti
Facebook – www.facebook.com/PhillipaFioretti.Books

In the meantime, watch out … It’s on the way …

This storm season, in Calingarry Crossing, a perfect storm is heading Maggie Lindeman’s way.  For emergency alerts and warnings for SIMMERING SEASON, subscribe to Jenn J McLeod’s blog or newsletter before you go, or LIKE her Facebook Page.

Simmering Season: April 1, 2014  Find out more, right here.