June Gadsby, Artist, Writer: E-book news

Robert Hale Publisher, FANYS, World War II, France, thriller, romantic suspense, The Glory Girls

June Gadsby, Artist, Writer: E-book news

June Gadsby, Artist, Writer: E-book news

Robert Hale

E-book news

The good news is that my first e-book is coming out in May 2012, thanks to my publishers Robert Hale, who did all the hard work. The Glory Girls was written to commemorate the centenary of the FANYS, who played a large part in the Second World War and are still ongoing. My agent at the time asked me for a saga, then told me that I had actually produced a wartime thriller, which pleased both of us. In fact, I was ecstatic because I have always wanted to be a thriller writer and from my first reluctant 'love story' I have been gradually working towards this dream - and succeeding. My three 'glory girls' in the book were inspired by real characters in my life - three cousins twice removed and a great friend - all now sadly dead. The story embraces the war in France. There's danger, there's violence and, of course, a goodly dash of humour and romance. These are elements that I could not be without in my writing. Like my home-made recipes in the kitchen, my stories contain a bit of everything and I hope my passion as a writer shines through.

It's been a while since I entered this cyber room, but time goes whizzing past faster and faster the older you get - and if you don't believe that you are either very young or very bored.  November saw my husband Brian on a wildlife tour of Ethiopia and a visit to his family and friends in the UK. He came back to France at the beginning of December with a bad cold that he couldn't shake off.  This turned out to be a particularly nasty virus, which he generously passed on to me.  Then the surprising news to us and our doctor was the sudden production of a very irregular heartbeat.  This, apparently, was caused by the virus and Brian, who never ails anything, was having to go back and forth between cardiology visits and blood tests.  He has only just got the all clear and, happily, my heart is still beating normally - though my blood pressure is up for no reason at all.  Makes one wonder doesn't it?
Then on Wednesday I took my darling little Candy [miniature Yorkie] to the vet because of what I suspected was a urinary infection.  Turns out she is starting to have kidney malfunction and has spent the last two days in the veterinary hospital on a drip, having Xrays and blood tests.  The vet tells me that all is now well and I can't wait to collect her in about 45 minutes from now.  Toby will be ecstatic to see her again.  He has cried his way through two nights without her and searched the house looking for her.
On the writing side, I've actually done quite a bit of serious work on my first mystery book for children - prompted by my two step-grandchildren who keep asking their mother if they can read one of my books!  Once this book is finished I shall devote all my writing time to my big and most difficult novel to date - The Last Monsoon. I can't wait to get on with it now that I've got my writing mojo back.  In the meantime I have a friend working on what might be my first e-book submission and, of course, my publishers, Robert Hale, are planning to turn my wartime thriller, The Glory Girls, into an e-book - so looking forward to that one.  And more will follow, so watch that e-book space.

E-books

My publishers, Robert Hale, have just contacted me to say that they are now going into e-publishing and have chosen one of my books [The Glory Girls] out of the thousands they have published in hardback to be included in their first e-list.  Am I a happy bunny?  You bet I am!
The Glory Girls started out to be a saga about the 'Fannys' to commemorate their centenary, but it turned out to be a wartime thriller [according to my agent at the time] which pleased me enormously as I've always dreamed of writing thrillers.  I certainly put as much suspense into my writing as I can, along with the ubiquitous romance and, for me, some touches of humour, without which life would be pretty drab.

Indian Summer

Is it our usual Indian Summer coming a month early, or are we just having an exceptionally glorious September with temperatures here in Gascony still rising towards the late thirties C max?  Only the cool, crisp mornings with the hedgerows glistening with diamanté dew remind us that it is officially Autumn.  Having finished my painting commissions for birthdays and weddings my French neighbour has floored me by suggesting that I do two portraits of her so she can give one each to her grown-up children!  Fortunately, I'm not so good at human portraits [animals being my speciality] so her poor suspecting offspring may yet be spared.

What am I doing now?  Well, I'm giving thought to organising my art group's Christmas party and the painting programme for 2012, which will be much more challenging and comprehensive.  And today I've printed out the first three and a half chapters of my new novel for editing.  This will get it flowing again after a short break from writing and, hopefully, I will get it finished by Christmas - well, that's my aim, anyway.  

Stormy weather

Well, we've just had one of the biggest storms ever in our twenty years living in south-west France.  Only the hurricane of 2008 bettered it [is that a word?].  Hopefully, it has brought an end to the big August heat, which traditionally ends in a big storm after a series of smaller ones.  This year our traditional storm just about washed us away.  A near disaster was the fact that I had left the big sliding door of my studio wide open.  Fortunately, not a drop of the deluge entered.  My new canopy on the terrace came close to being demolished.  I bought that especially for my stepson and his wife coming over to visit from Shanghai, but it was never used because the weather was atrocious during their stay.  The canopy I bought for outside my studio wasn't put up because we were waiting for roof drains to be installed.  When we got that out of its box it had been turned into lace by resident mice in the barn.  Husband not a happy bunny at this time as he considers all this not only an unnecessary expense but a waste of 'his' money.  Sheesh! He obviously wants to take his money with him, while I want to enjoy mine while I can.  We agree to disagree.

Having finished the goldfish painting, my customer then wanted a painting for her friend's 50th birthday, like in a week's time!  Nothing ventured, I sat down and spent some hours doing a small painting of a bouquet of flowers in a size she could afford, then she chose a more expensive one that was already on the wall in my studio.  No accounting for folks, eh.  I also spent the weekend doing a painting as a present for a little boy who may soon have to part with his pet dog.  Thank goodness I'm also an animal artist and have been for many years - animals being my favourite subject and the creatures I love most of all.