Blog Tour: Day 15, finishing with Christine

It's been three weeks, ladies and gents, fifteen blog posts and countless comments, (plus three hot chocolate dates with friends and family - including one today!- and a completed round of edits for my WIP) and I've finally reached the end of my tour. Thank you all so much for sticking with me. I've enjoyed every second.

Huge thanks go out to the fifteen bloggers who made the tour a success with their fascinating and thought-provoking questions.

I'm heading to Christine Rain's blog today to discuss the most important element of a short story.

I'll leave you with one final picture of Artoo, and my leg - this is the view I had for most of the England v Wales game (the game we won during our Euro campaign) when he couldn't understand why I was watching telly instead of taking him for a walk.

Blog Tour: Day 14, shipwrecked with Stacey Bryan

It's been a busy day for me today - not only has Stacey Bryan shipwrecked me on a deserted island with a villain, I've been signing books at my local library.

In fact, as you read this, I'm still there, probably packing up. There will be photos to follow, probably next week when I've had a chance to breathe.

I couldn't find a picture of the library or a deserted island -funnily enough, I've never taken a photo of either! Here's a picture of St Michael's Mount just off the Cornish coast. Quite an easy place to escape from, due to being able to walk there and back during low tide.

Blog Tour: Day 13, being arty with Nicola

It's raining today. I had plans to go to the gym and be really busy, but I've woken up with really sore wrists and a headache. So I think I might take a relaxed day and read a book that I want to review for one of my author buddies.

While I hide from our weather, my blog tour is heading to Germany to visit Nicola Burgraff's Blog to talk about art.

This is a sunny photo to combat the rain. I'm not sure why I took this photo - it's just the end of my road - but apparently all photos can be useful eventually.

Here's another shout out for My Facebook Page and You. I. Us. Goodreads Page.

Blog Tour: Day 12, marketing with Sandra

Good effort, Iceland...


And moving on, today I'm with Sandra Cox, talking marketing, or lack thereof. This is a topic that always makes me shudder, because I never know the best way to do it... Like revising for exams - I used to spend more time on the revision timetable than the actual revising!

Today's photo is of me, dazed and confused, after the Costa Award ceremony. Coincidentally, dazed and confused is how I approach marketing...

Blog Tour: Day 11, sharing wine with Suzanne

Hi guys, are you still with me? It's the final week of my tour!

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was spent mostly reading lots of newspapers trying to get to the truth about what's going to happen to my country next. As far as I can tell, not much for the moment. But that hasn't stopped a lot of people calling a lot of other people some nasty names, and all the political parties seem to be in turmoil. I think we've broken the political system...

In need of a cut?

(Yes, there's a reason why I'm not a political blogger!)

Today I'm telling Suzanne Furness all about my dream place to write, and simultaneously having my hair cut.

Tonight, England play Iceland in the first of their knockout rounds. On past experience, they only really need one!

Blog Tour: Day 10, with queen Elizabeth Seckman

Yesterday, Britain voted in the EU referendum.

(I'm actually writing this last night, just as the polls are closing, so I have no idea of the result - all I know is we've been left with a deeply divided country which will take a long time to heal.)

Anyway, that's as political as I'm ever going to get on this blog. There's no football talk today, either, because no one played last night - it was weird not to have a match to watch mid-afternoon.

Elizabeth Seckman's blog is today's stop, talking about my favourite monarch... any guesses?

No, it's not this guy, although a long time ago - when I worked in a library and had a desk in an office, Alastair Mackenzie was definitely one of my pin-ups!


I've given up (um, did I start?) replying to the comments on this blog for the time being. Keeping up with the tour posts, drinking hot chocolate with all my friends and relations, working, and editing my WIP (two chapters to go!) has been challenging. My plan is to go back over all the comments at the end, and go visiting.

Have you liked My Facebook Page and You. I. Us. Goodreads Page yet?

Blog Tour: Day 9, being literary with Mac

Euro 2016 update (coz I know you're all really interested now... I'm making you love European football, aren't I... aren't I??): England weren't playing yesterday because they played on Monday night, but the results of two games were important because one of those teams will be our opponents next Monday. For a long time it looked like Iceland, then it switched to Portugal (argh! no!), then in the very last seconds it switched back to Iceland when they won their game. Who-hoo!

Ahem... a now for some book stuff. Today, I'm on R Mac Wheeler's blog discussing the importance of a variety of literary elements.

I love Mac's blog because he posts some fantastic pictures of wildlife, his dogs and all nice things. As a picture-a-day has become an established part of this blog tour, I felt the pressure. So, here's a photo I took the other day.

It was on purpose, even though it looks like an accident. I was struck by the number of different tiles on the floor, and because my current WIP is set in the area, I thought I'd take the photo to remind me.

Blog Tour: Day 8, talking films with Libby

Ah, the half-way stage of the tour, but no slacking from me! Apart from the fact that I'm out for hot chocolate again, this time with my sister (yes, the shadow from Monday's post). And yes, there may be a little more shopping.

Today, I'm on Libby Heily's blog, talking about turning stories into films. As you'll know from Joanne Faries question the other day, my eldest is a budding film-maker, so perhaps I can ask persuade him to help me out...

I searched through my photo albums to find a good picture for this post, and stumbled across this one. This is the very notebook where all of the stories in You. I. Us. were conceived. In that beer garden, while listening to Hubby's lazy afternoon gig, I wrote two of the stories, one of which is In The Beer Garden...

The cider was nice too!

Blog Tour: Day 7, chatting with M.J. Fifield

(The link is live now, sorry if you tried and failed earlier.)

I'm very happy , because England scrapped into the last 16 of Euro 2016. I wasn't so happy last night, when they played a very average 0-0 game. But, at least they've got a week to get better! Can they? I don't know...

I'm having a few computer/internet issues at the moment, which is making commenting on my guest posts quite difficult. Randomly, my computer will just freeze, the internet will vanish, my cursor will disappear or my words will take several seconds to register on the screen - all of which is making this blogging lark mighty difficult. Please bear with me.

Anyway, today, I'm chatting with M.J. Fifield about my writing process. I hope you'll pop over and witness my oddity for yourself!

Here are some dog-walking photos - when I'm struggling with my WIP, the dog always gets extra walks.

Blog Tour: Day 6, crying on Yolanda's shoulder

'Tis the start of the second week of my tour. Has anyone read You. I. Us. yet?

I've had a couple of people from my home town tell me that one of the stories especially is making them quite emotional - both of them were men! Is it just me who likes to provoke that kind of reaction in my readers?

Coincidentally, I'm talking about stories that have made me cry over on Yolanda Renee's Defending the Pen blog today.

To counterbalance all this crying, here's a photo that makes me very happy - my sister and me on a weekend away a couple of years ago. I'm on the right!

Blog Tour: Day 5, magicking with Chrys Fey

We've reached the end of the first week of the tour, and already I feel like I'm slipping behind slightly. I've got Saturday and Sunday off, to catch up with commenting, though - I'm happy I was clever enough not to schedule every single day for three weeks!

Thanks for reading this week, and I hope you'll join me again next week for Part 2 of my tour.

Today, I'm with Chrys Fey, answering a Harry Potter question.

The photo is from a couple of months ago, outside my back door. I thought it had a particularly magical feel to it.

I'm just going to leave these links here again today, Goodreads and my Facebook page, because I love it when I get a new liker!

Blog Tour: Day 4, splashing with Joanne

Today I get to be a proud mum, because Joanne Faries is asking me about my kids.

I'm going to be a but slow replying today, however, because I'm meeting a friend for a hot chocolate - which always turns into at least two, and then some shopping as well.

When I get home, England will playing in Euro2016, against Wales, which will probably end up being a very nervy and nail-biting game.

And here's a picture of hot chocolate, and Artoo, who seems to enjoy hanging out with my blogging buddies now!

Blog Tour: Day 3, causing havoc at Julie's place

I'm having a great time on my tour so far, I hope you are too. Today, I'm on Julie Flanders's blog with my pup Artoo. I'm going to try to convince you that this little bundle of cuteness is actually a terror!

Have you added You. I. Us. to your Goodreads list yet?

Have you liked my Facebook page?

Blog tour: Day 2, Murees's turn

Thanks to everyone who visited Misha's blog yesterday, and got my tour off to a great start. Today I'm over with Murees Dupe answering possibly the most flattering question on the tour.

Here's a photo from a book signing at the weekend, in which I was completely unsure what to do with my legs, and my arms... In retrospect, the chair might have been a mistake.

Blog tour: Day 1, off to see Misha

My book and I are on tour.

Over the next three weeks, I will be visiting fifteen blogs and answering the single question that the blogger asked me.

Today, I am on Misha Gerrick's blog, answering a question on listening to music while I write.

See you there!



Note: I normally post between 6 and 8am BST, but during the tour, I'll be posting the links around 12pm BST, because some of my US tour hosts won't have the post up if I direct you there too early. Please be aware that, for some, even 12pm might be a little too early.

You. I. Us. is finally here!

Happy birthday You. I. Us., you gorgeous thing!

It feels like I've been anticipating this day for a long time - in fact, I signed the contract in April 2015!

Writing these stories was a lot of fun, and completely different from the way I usually write. Because of the short length of each one, I curled up for a week - wrapped in a thick cardigan, because it was winter - and just wrote whatever came into my head. Several stories remain unchanged from those initial sessions, others merged together, a couple were thrown away for being rubbish. A few more - for example, Ode to River and Growing Apart - are autobiographical, which was an interesting experiment.

I want to say a huge thank you to Jessica Bell and Dawn Ius from Vine Leaves Press for all their hard work on this book, for the cover art (still so beautiful!) and for rapping my knuckles every time they saw a semi-colon. I have not completely overcome my semi-colon addiction, but I do consider their usage a little more.

Thank you too, to Kyra Lennon, for reading the first draft of the stories and throwing out the weakest links.

Next week, my blog tour starts. I'll be answering a question a day, provided by some awesome bloggers. I hope you can join me!

Publication date: June 10, 2016 Genre: Short Stories (Single Author)

Amazon // Barnes & Noble // Book Depository // Kobo // iBooks // Nook

In You. I. Us., Annalisa Crawford captures everyday people during  poignant defining moments in their lives: An artist puts his heart into his latest sketch, an elderly couple endures scrutiny by a fellow diner, an ex-student attempts to make amends with a girl she bullied at school, a teenager holds vigil at his friend’s hospital bedside, long distance lovers promise complete devotion, a broken-hearted widow stares into the sea from the edge of a cliff where her husband died, a grieving son contacts the only person he can rely on in a moment of crisis, a group of middle-aged friends inspire each other to live remarkable lives.

Day after day, we make the same choices. But after reading You. I. Us., you’ll ask yourself, “What if we didn’t?”

My to-do list keeps getting bigger

I would like to say a huge thank you to my guest bloggers/interviewees over the past couple of weeks. Sometimes, when I'm in the middle of writing, everything else goes pear-shaped - I'm lucky I remember to go to work, some days!

I've been deep into some serious rewriting for a resubmission - so serious that my 39,000 word novella is looking like it's going to be a 50,000 novel. Possibly longer. I'm not sure how I feel about this at the moment - the story I wanted to tell is getting lost. I'm going to keep going, but during my re-read it might scale right the way back to 39,000 words again. But, obviously, different ones!

As well as writing, I'm trying to keep on top of marketing my new book. You know the one. It's over there, on the left, keep going... That's it, the one with the amazing cover.

Today I was told that all the pre-order links are live - print and ebook. If you'd like to check it out, click here now, to find the pre-order links, add it to your Goodreads TBR list, or to look around the site and find other great titles.

I've got three events coming up - two book signings and a book fair in my hometown, all within a couple of weeks of each other. I just hope I've got enough books to sell - and that the locals don't get bored of me. Because of those events, I'm designing a large banner to take around with me. Well, okay, I'm not, but my wonderful husband is - right now, in fact.

On top of that, I thought that maybe my web site needed an overhaul, so I'm currently trying to tie it in with the new banner and some business cards. I even thought about having some new author photos taken, but given the fact I'm procrastinating over my passport photos, it's probably not a wise idea.

Oh, and I've got the posts for my blog tour to write and send out. If you've signed up as a tour stop, rest assured I haven't forgotten you.

You know, I thought by writing it all down, it wouldn't seem such a mammoth list. But it is, isn't it? I'm not complaining - before my first book was published, I used to look enviously at all those writers who were juggling their tasks. Plus, the wine I'm drinking is helping. How many other jobs are there where drinking wine is practically a prerequisite?

What's keeping you busy at the moment?

Welcoming Elizabeth Seckman

Another guest post, this time the wonderful Elizabeth Seckman. Hey Liz, take it away...


Hi Annalisa! Thanks for having me over. Book promotion can be such a drag, but Swept Away is set on an island with so much history and fascinating tales, I could never get bored talking about the place.

Ocracoke Island is a small spot off the coast of North Carolina that is only reachable by ferry.  It’s a quiet hamlet where old seaside homes line sand-packed streets. Nestled among these quaint homes is a very special place.

The British Cemetery. Back when I was much younger, a local tour guide explained the story of this white picket-fenced spot, and it will forever by my favourite version of a very special tale.

The waters off the coast of the Outer Banks are known as the Diamond Shoals. But during World War II, this area it was quickly renamed Torpedo Alley thanks to German U Boat activity. No one knew if the Germans were there simply to upset cargo and passenger transports, or if they were planning an attack on the US mainland.

No matter what the German’s intentions were, they were thwarted with much help from the English Navy. It’s quite possible their dedicated assistance prevented the war from ever hitting US soil.

On May 12, 1942, the HMS Bedfordshire was patrolling the troubled waters and encountered a German submarine. The Bedfordshire was struck by a torpedo and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Island residents saw the explosion and diligently patrolled the beaches hoping to find survivors. Sadly, all they managed to recover was a few of the thirty-four bodies of the fallen heroes.

The people of Ocracoke buried the men together in a small plot, and the village of Ocracoke deeded the land to the British government. They couldn’t send these sailors home, so they did their best to bring a piece of home to them.  

Every May, the village of Ocracoke, the US Coast Guard, and the British Navy honour these fallen heroes with a wreath laying ceremony, a 21-gun salute, and the playing of Taps.

Did you know there was still a piece of the British Empire in the United States?

He came looking for a ghost. Instead, he found a girl. 

Tucker Boone is a war-hardened Marine on a ghost hunt. Fresh out of the corps, Tucker learns he has a missing half-sister, Maddy. The only clue to her whereabouts is a cryptic note…I’ve gone Mad, Mags. Tucker agrees to search for her and heads to Ocracoke, North Carolina where a ghost named Mad Mags is said to haunt the ancient graveyards dotting the island. 

The note doesn’t bring him any closer to finding Maddy, but it does offer him a diversion to the doldrums of civilian life— his new island neighbor, Josie McCoy. Tucker is drawn to her quiet spirit. There’s something special about Josie…a connection he can’t quite explain. 

By summer’s end, he’s mixed up in deception, murder, and the love of a lifetime. Logic tells him to head home and forget the truths he found on the island. But can he walk away? Josie offers him more than love; she offers him hope. When the clues pile up and it looks like she can never be the girl for him, he has to make a choice- play it safe and break her heart, or risk everything for a chance at being swept away.

Elizabeth is a multi-published author and family laundry wench.  She is the mother of four boys, who are quickly all becoming men! Her life is filled with stinky size-twelve shoes and beard clippings in the sink. Is it any wonder she enjoys days spent writing women's fiction of stories of romance and happily ever after? 

Amazon/ Facebook / Blog / Website 

How Endless became the start of a trilogy - Misha Gerrick

I'm in the middle of some very in-depth edits at the moment, so it's with pleasure that I welcome Misha Gerrick to my blog to take over for a while... Take it away, Misha...


I have a confession to make.

My mind is naturally geared to longer stories. If you want to see me stress about my writing, tell me to limit my word count to 5000 words or less.

I’m serious. At school, I was that kid in English class that haggled my creative writing word-counts up. (Yes, I was really popular in my class.) I don’t like being limited in my writing. I want to write a story until it’s done.

If it takes ten books, so be it. Don’t worry, my longest series following on each other—as supposed to a series of standalone books—will probably consist of six books. Endless has a bit more of an interesting story behind it, though.

See, I had just finished rewriting a 120k word monster that would go on to be books one and two in the above-mentioned series. Then I wrote an emotionally wrought start to a romantic series.

So when the idea finally solidified into “One immortal suffers from amnesia and falls in love with another, not knowing they used to be enemies,” I was actually excited to finally have an idea that could actually be contained in a single book.

It would be like a break. A nice holiday from constantly worrying about how what I’ve written would impact the rest of the books in the series.

I finished the rough draft with a sense that I had actually succeeded in writing an actual stand-alone.

About a year later, I re-read the book and realized I was woefully incorrect. I had in fact written the foundation for two books. After banging my head on my desk a hundred times or so, I took another long look at my rough draft and realized that even if I wrote two books, the overall story probably still wouldn’t be done.

And like a house of cards, my goal of writing a stand-alone collapsed. The rest, as they say, is history.

Kidding.

It’s actually just an idea for the next two books.

How do you decide if you’re going to write a series? If you don’t write series, how do you stick to only writing stand-alones?

About the Book

“First, do no harm.” Blake Ryan swore that oath to become a doctor. Ironic, given that he spent most of his thousand year life sucking souls out of other immortals.

Things are different now. Using regular shots of morphine to keep his inner monster at bay, Ryan has led a quiet life since the Second World War. His thrills now come from saving lives, not taking them.

Until a plane crash brings Aleria into his hospital. Her life is vibrant. Crack to predators like him. She’s the exact sort of person they would hunt, and thanks to a severe case of amnesia, she’s all but defenseless.

Leaving Aleria vulnerable isn’t an option, but protecting her means unleashing his own inner monster. Which is a problem, because his inner monster wants her dead most of all.

Amazon US | Amazon Universal | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

About the Author

Misha Gerrick lives near Cape Town, South Africa, and can usually be found staring at her surroundings while figuring out her next book. 

If you’d like to see what Misha’s up to at the moment, you can find her on these social networks: 

Tumblr | Twitter | Google Plus | Writing Blog

Promo, request and question

Promo... and request

I'm six weeks away from the launch of my new book, You. I. Us. I'm sorting out the book launch and signing at my local bookshop this week. I veer from being excited and busy, to twiddling my thumbs wondering why it isn't June yet.

I'm also organising a blog tour, and I've still got a couple of days left to fill. If you're interested, please email, message or leave a comment below. The tour is starting on 13 June, and will last until I run out of tour stops.

In the meantime, you can check out the book on Goodreads to find out more about it.

Question...

I'm writing an adult book, but the main character starts the story at 17 and ends it at 20. It's not an NA book, but it seems that these days younger characters automatically get slotted into the NA category. Even my first book, Cat and The Dreamer, about a 30 year old, finds it's way into the YA listings on Amazon!

If you were reading about a 20 year old, would you expect a NA story?