Posted on 19 Comments

Natasha Lester is at the bar and she’s shouting – TWO BOOKS!

NatashaLester001 small size copy

“Drinks for everyone,” Natasha shouts out over the crowded bar. 

Okay, so maybe not exactly EVERYONE (and not exactly drinks). Even better… She’s giving away TWO BOOKS! 

(I’ll drink to that! See end of post.)

There is one copy each of: If I Should Lose You and What is Left Over After

(Are they not the most intriguing titles??)

For those new to Natasha, she is a very generous author (obviously) and her website is  ‘chockers’ with information for writers. For readers she has great stories, of course. But how will she cope having a bar yarn with me as I ask her the hard questions? See for yourself. 

First up, here is a beer coaster! Take a minute to jot down the blurb for one of your books.

If I Should Lose You

if i should lose you

Alix is a brilliant heart transplant surgeon. She sees hearts as purely functional – until she falls in love with Dan. Then a sudden tragedy forces Alix to rethink the way she views love and medicine and the consequences of this are felt many years later, by her daughter Camille.

Camille has two daughters of her own, and one is critically ill. Camille has no time to caretake her failing relationship with her husband, no time to face up to a niggling suspicion she holds about her mother. Because Camille is the one person who can save her daughter. Her daughter needs a new liver. Camille is an organ donor coordinator. How far will she go to keep her daughter alive and what might it cost another child waiting on the list?

 

(Did you know I have an organ in Simmering Season? Okay, so it’s only a church organ. Nothing too dramatic in that, until a teenage Maggie is forced to play another rendition of ‘I Honestly Love You’ for a gushing bride and groom. Then there’s some drama. ;))

C’mon, Tash… grab a pew. What can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)

A: Definitely a Gin, especially if it’s 5.30 and thus bath-time, dinner-time and general chaos-time for me and the 3 kids!

Hey, did you hear the one about … 

WILOA web sizeA: All of the jokes I now know are suitable for a 3 year old to understand as that’s how old my youngest is, so I can’t promise and great laughs, but here goes:

Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Barbara!

Barbara who?

Barbara black sheep, have you any wool…

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

A: A pretzel. Twisted into all kinds of weird shapes from trying to do 10 things at once, and from trying to be here, there and everywhere. Also from all the strange but relaxing yoga poses I try to practice a couple of times a week.

IMG_1275

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 neat nut case or “What desk? Where? Is there a desk here somewhere?”

A: I have to go with a 5 because my desk is either one extreme or the other, so both extremes cancel one another out and end up somewhere in the middle. If I’m very into the book I’m writing, my desk will be an absolute mess; if I’m in an admin phase or not right in the middle of a book, it will be relatively neat. (There is always a cup of tea and a baby monitor on my desk, as the photo shows).

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: I have to confess to knowing none of the moves to Gangnam Style and I hate washing dishes. I do still remember many of the words to Take Me Home, Country Roads after learning it in primary school in the old Singing and Listening Sessions we used to have piped into the classroom every Friday afternoon – anyone else remember those? So, the karaoke option it will have to be – better clear the pub out now!

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. I’ve been getting into a 1920s theme with the book I’m writing so Ain’t Misbehavin’
  2. Dancing Queen – Abba
  3. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

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

A: We have 5 chickens and none of them are clever enough to have crossed the road. The agent is probably a mirage, teleported in by the author’s wishful thinking that she might actually acquire one, one day. So it would have to be the author, who probably needs a drink while she’s waiting to hear if her latest book has been accepted or not.

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

A: Because I’m trying to keep my kids occupied with craft while I attempt to have a conversation that lasts for more than 3 minutes without an interruption of “Mum!”

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 laptop (self explanatory)
  2. My kids and hubby (also self explanatory)
  3. Sleep

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

#4. I have no idea why, it just is.

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.

Like most authors I have a website: www.natashalester.com.au and I’m also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NatashaLesterAuthor and Twitter https://twitter.com/Natasha_Lester

I also blog most weeks at: http://whilethekidsaresleeping.wordpress.com so I’m pretty easy to find on the net.

You can buy my books through Booktopia: http://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=natasha+lester&productType=917504

 

Leave a comment below to go into the giveaway draw. Maybe tells us… What is your favourite ABBA song?  CLOSED

 
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 hereSimmering Season: April 1, 2014

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

Posted on 9 Comments

Writers reveal their writing process

Larissa_EdwardsIt’s great to be taking part in this blog hop on The Writing Process in which different writers answer the same questions about their writing process.

The picture to the left kind of sums up my writing process. Firstly, there would be no writing process without Larissa Edwards, the wonderful Head of Publishing at Simon & Schuster, Aust, who once uttered those words “I love your story”. But look behind her: integrity, confidence, difference, passion and belief. They are all part of my writing process.

Thanks to Pamela Cook, rural fiction author of Blackwattle Lake and Essie’s Way (Hachette), for tagging me. Here is Pamela’s post from last week in case you missed it. Or why not connect with this teacher, mother of three gorgeous daughters, manager of dogs, rabbits, birds, fish and horses, on her website: www.pamelacook.com.au, Twitter: @PamelaCookAU and on Facebook. Pamela lives in the southern suburbs of Sydney and spends as much time as possible at her “other” home in Milton on the south coast of NSW. Her favourite pastime (after writing) is riding her handsome quarter horse, Morocco.

So, it’s my turn now…

1) What am I working on? 

PhotoFunia-930aa9_s user

It’s unbelievable and mind blowing to think I am still being asked to talk about House for all Seasons after 12 months, while about to launch and talk up Simmering Season (April 1), just typed THE END on book 3 in my Seasons Collection – contracted for April 2015, and now plotting book 4 ready for 2016! Yes, this is the glamour life of a published author – NOT! I’ve also fit in a short story for an anthology, a couple of articles for the Queensland Writers’ Mag, and designed some workshops. No one warns you about the crazy hours and deadlines. But I LOVE it.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? 
While House for all Seasons reviews have made (humbling) comparisons to Monica McInerney and Maeve Binchy, the thing people comment on the most about my ‘Come home to the country’ stories (friendship, family relationships, and small towns keeping big secrets) is the way I balance humour with high emotion, making readers smile and cry and laugh and cry and laugh … but always with a contented sigh at the end.
3) Why do I write what I do?
It just happened. I tried writing romances, but I think my novel’s wry-humoured inhabitants (thx Rowena Holloway for that delightful description) got in the way. (I was giggling in all the wrong places!) Romantic comedy, maybe – which is where I was headed back in 2009 when my characters – filled with guilt and regrets and facing life’s challenges – had other ideas. So now it’s more “Laugh, Cry – Cry, Laugh  Kleenex” genre.
4) How does my writing process work? 
I usually start with an opening sentence and a title and wonder how I can make a story from them. I play around characters, a tag line and a blurb and away I go.
Unfortunately, my opening sentence in Simmering Season is NOT going to go down too well with some House for all Seasons readers. I can only say this…. Give it a chance. I promise you, I will not disappoint.
Well, that’s it from me. Coming up next week, answering the same writing processquestions, is three fabulous authors. I high recommend you look up and follow: Helene Young, Natasha Lester and Zena Shapter. They all love connecting with readers, as you can see, so check them out.

SafeHarbour_cover-1-low-res-676x1024Helene Young – multi-award winning romantic suspense author of Wings of Fear, Shattered Sky, Burning LiesHalf Moon Bay and her next release: Safe Harbour.

Ever wondered what a plane crash feels like? It’s all in a day’s work for multi-award-winning author and airline pilot, Helene Young.  A check captain with Australia’s largest

regional airline, her job is to ensure aircrew can handle all inflight emergencies. It comes in handy for writing fast-paced suspense novels starring feisty women and sexy men. When she’s not writing or flying Helene’s sailing the seas with Capt G and Zeus, aboard their catamaran Roo Bin Esque.

Helene’s twice been awarded the RWA RuBY and was voted Most Popular Romantic Suspense Author by ARRA in 2010 and 2011.

Website: http://www.heleneyoung.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeleneYoungAustralianAuthor?fref=ts

WILOA web sizeNatasha Lester – award winning author of two novels, If I Should Lose You and What 
is Left Over, After. She also teaches creative writing through the Australian Writers Centre, and when she’s not teaching and writing, she spends her time playing dress-ups with her three children.

ZenaShapter300dpiZena Shapter – a British-Australian author who loves putting characters inside the most perfect storm of their lives, then watching how they get out. She likes wild rides through the gulches of adventure that spit you out breathless, and close-to-reality books of the unexplained. She’s won seven national fiction writing competitions (all blind judging), has been published in magazines such as “Midnight Echo” and anthologies like “Award-Winning Australian Writing” (Melbourne Books, 2012). She is represented by literary agent Alex Adsett.

Website: http://zenashapter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZenaShapter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZenaShapter
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+ZenaShapter/posts
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ZenaShapter/

writers 2