HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR... I hope 2013 proves to be an amazing and inspirational year!

Personally,. I find it hard to imagine it could in any way compete with 2012... Let's face the facts...

2012 Olympics - AWESOME

I published 2 books, a short story & two short story collections under a newly formed collective group.

I have had fantastic support from many friends & family, who I have mentioned in my books and online already... Kay, Kathyrn, Katie, Adam, Lynn, Sarah, my in-laws (all of them), my sisters & parents, children & husband.  They have all helped in their own way...

I also joined Twitter, created blogs, and made lots of online friends... some of which I must mention now! 

@James_Sm1th James Smith: What a great person to meet!  A like minded teacher, father of 3, avid reader, and health conscience guy! Thank you for inspiring me take the plunge and investigate the world of "short stories" ... it has made me enjoy writing in a totally different way.

This friendship led to the creation of the Short Stories Group

@Gelakel Angela Kelman: A lovely lady that is down to earth and a fab editor!

 @neckache Sonia Wright: A great down to earth person that I will someday meet up with for a natter seeing as we only like a few miles aways from each other,...

@Ir0bark Steve Venables: You make me laugh a LOT

@GaryAlanHenson Gary Henson: An American with a sense of humour... great guy!

@MackBrownBooks Mackenzie Brown: A fantastic guy, who loves to RT and support fellow authors

@sammylou37 Sam Bachus: Sam is great to talk to online... really nice, friendly person

@samcroftauthor Sam Croft, @MJHolleywriter Michael Holley, @K_Einsel Karen Einsel, @DonaWatson Dona Watson, @JoanneGPhillips Joanne Phillips - All fantastic authors you should check out...

Other Twitter friends I must mention:

@strawberriesncr & @great_one04 Two fantastic ladies to chat to - I consider you my friends!

@Gallecian Another American with a great sense of humour and clever and quirky insights into life!

@CarolJHedges Carol is a funny, friendly and lovely person to chat to... we talk about cake a lot! And she featured me on her blog Carol Hedges: The Pink Sofa today!

@shellmeister84 Fantastic health & life blog posts! And a lovely person to boot...

@Strangewolf64 Recently got chatting to Joe... great person!

@KingTaffWrites Another fellow author, great guy to talk to and friend on The Word Cloud as is @Flickimp (the best of luck to him when he publishes his book in February this year) & @LeannexBray Another great person to talk to!

@RayChatie Thanks for the encouragement and kind words... it is nice chatting to you!

@LiteraryGary Gary is extremely supportive towards Indie Authors... thank you

@Susan_Buchanan A great friend, with a great year ahead of her - 2013 will be interesting... keep us posted!

@TerryTyler4 Terry is an active Tweeter and has a lot of interesting and and insightful comments into the world of self publishing

@OlgaNM & @MikeLamson Both featured me on their sites but also happen to be fantastic people to talk to... it is great knowing you. Mucho gusto de concerte, Olga...

@davepperlmutter We have a running joke - I describe beakfast for him! ha ha... Great guy to talk to!

@BalletMuzik Fantastic piano music... and I love his Tweets - they are pretty!

@MasqCrew @Kindle_Promo @Booksforpromoted @TweetTheBooks Fantastic support for Indie Authors

Now, I know there are many, many more of you out there to mention but then I do follow 2560 of you... so it is impossible to mention you all!

I hope you all have an amazing 2013... personally, if it is anything like 2012 I will be a happy lady.

Best wishes & huge gigantic hugs,
Vanessa :) xx

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL...

It's Christmas Eve and for once I have not had the family around... it is strange!

Usually, we open presents with my in laws today, but this year it is happening tomorrow. 

So, I have made minced pies with my daughter, we had leftovers (roast chicken dinner from yesterday), and I played board games with them.  My husband is at work...

But, then I have things to do (like blog...lol) so I have left the kids to their own devices... They are now arguing (I just had to go to lay down the law...or try to!) and I hope I survive the next few hours... I sympathise with any single parents out there - I feel like one!

Anyway, I don't know how peaceful your households are, but I find the day before slightly painful with kids... they are way too hyper!

We did go to a lovely Carol Service yesterday to remind them that Christmas is actually not just about eating and presents... I hope we all try to remember the real meaning of Christmas.  Religious or not, it is a great time to reflect...

Anyway, if you do have the time tomorrow and on Boxing Day to get your Kindles out I have a few freebies & promotions...

Please download and spread the word!

A FESTIVE FEAST (FREE ON CHRISTMAS DAY & BOXING DAY)

Amazon UK

Amazon US

FIRST DATE (FREE ON CHRISTMAS DAY & BOXING DAY)

Amazon UK

Amazon US

OUT OF DARKNESS ((FREE ON BOXING DAY)

Amazon UK

Amazon US

HYBRID is also reduced for Christmas...

Amazon UK Only 95p

Amazon US Only $1.54

Smashwords

And Complications is now available...

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Smashwords


MERRY CHRISTMAS

Lots of Love & best wishes
Vanessa :) xx

Gurnard Pre-School Christmas Market

Last week Gurnard Pre-school held its second Christmas Market.  I organised it, with some amazing help... What an incredible team!

From the parents - Nicki, Jenny, Claire, Kirsty, Suzanne, Jane. From Cowes Baptist Church - a particualr mention to John , Graham & Sarah. From the Gurnard Pre-School Staff - Val, Christy, Bev, Jane, Clare, Pat, Kelly.  And to anyone else who helped - THANK YOU...

We raised just over £800 on the day, and then we managed to flog (thanks Clare & Pat) the rest at the main school Fair... so raised over £850! RESULT!

Anyway, all money raised will help the Pre-school complete the building program imposed by the change of location. It's all coming together...

Enjoy the photos of the event

Vanessa :) xx

Books for sale! Exciting!

Yesterday I decided to put myself out there and took my paperback to the School Fair to sell... I made up flyers and attempted to spread the word... I did manage a few sales! Exciting...

It felt brave to do this, especially amongst many friends, and I tried not to be pushy.  I did love when people admired the covers... I will do it again!

Pictures for you to enjoy
Vanessa :) xx

Vanessa :) xx

My Journey into Self Publishing

I was lucky enough to be featured in Olga’s Blog yesterday http://olganm.wordpress.com/olga-the-author/.  I have done a few interviews already over the months on different author’s pages and enjoy doing them.  In Olga’s case she gave me free reign.  No questions, just talk… well, talk I did.

I decided to explain how I came to become a writer and to give a bit of insight into my love of books.  My Dad has to be the reason for the fascination.  His nose is permanently in a book, although, my sister, Catherine, always had her nose in a book too.  In fact, she used to be great fun to play tricks on.  Sorry, Catherine.  And it was like talking to a wall 9 out of 10 times, since she would nod and grunt when I talked to her and then lift her head and ask, “whhhhaaaat?” in a sleepy voice.  Yeah, you guessed it – she hadn’t heard a word I said.  Please bear in mind that I am 5 years younger than her so I can blame my “youngest child” issues on the fact that (if I’m honest) I was a bit of a pest!  

Oh well…I have grown up now (I think).

Anyway, I digress (again) I hope you enjoy my latest “feature.”  I would like to thank Olga for being so nice to me.  I think she has done a great job, and I love the fact it is also in Spanish.  I did translate most of it, but luckily Olga fixed my grammar and corrected some of my failings! Lol…it’s been a while since I wrote Spanish (don’t speak enough of it either!).

SPANISH

http://olganm.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/autora-invitada-vanessa-wester/

ENGLISH

http://olganm.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/guest-author-vanessa-wester/

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy

Vanessa J xx

THE LEIBSTER AWARD

I've been nominated for the Liebster Award by Susan Buchanan. Thankyou!

When one receives the award, one posts 11 random facts about oneself and answers the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you.

Pass the award onto 11 other blogs (while making sure one notifies the blogger that one nominated them!)

One writes up 11 NEW questions directed towards YOUR nominees.

One is not allowed to nominate the blog who nominated one’s own blog!

One pastes the award picture into ones blog.

Okay, so 11 random facts first... this is going to be sooo much fun!

I like to drink Martini & lemonade (with a slice of lemon)
I don't like wine or beer
I love chocolate
I don't like orange chocolate (sorry Terry's)
I like dancing (disco diva...)
I can't ballroom dance
I love going for long walks with my iPod
I don't like rain & mud
I love the sight & sound of the sea
I don't like hot sun (I get burnt!)
I love talking...

Now for Susan's questions...

If you could turn back time, what, if anything would you change?

I would not stress about meeting the right guy as much as I did... lol.  In the end I met my husband when I was only 19.  Sometimes, I wish I had enjoyed the freedom of a single life a little bit longer.  But, at the time it was the right thing to do and I did fall head over heals in love with my husband. Only thing is once you have children you can't go back to being alone and single that easily... ha ha ha...

What 3 things did/do you definitely want to do before you turned 30/turn 30?

This is very sad... when I was that age all I could think of was career, marriage and children.

Favourite takeway food

Chinese... Crab & sweetcorn soup,  Sesame prawn toast, Peking Duck... yum, yum

If you could date a famous actor/actress for one night only (don't read anything into this!) who would it be?

Definitely has to be Brad Pitt, no actually David Boreanaz, no actually Rob Lowe, or.... ahhhhhh... HARD QUESTION! 

Okay... David Boreanaz (I loved Angel)

Wildlife programmes or home makeover shows?

Wildlife programs...

Favourite city in the whole world

Bath

City, countryside or by the sea?

By the sea... always

Do you have any particular talents (keep it at a PG level pls!)

Swimming, singing, acting, painting, cooking & baking, writing...is that enough? Lol...

Which sport do you wish (if any) that you were really good at (or are you already really good at?)

Swimming!

If today was the last day of Mankind (cheery thought...) what would you like to be doing?

It's not a PG answer... ha ha ha ha... I'll let you use your imagination!

My nominations:

Carmen DeSousa
Michelle Wilkinson
Miranda Stork
Terry Tyler
Mackenzie Brown
Karen Einsel
Joanne Phillips
Carolyn Arnold
Carl Purdon
David P Permutter
WH Cann

TIME FOR MY QUESTIONS:

At what age did you have your first kiss?
Do you remember who it was with ?
When did you first get hurt by love and how?
What is your favourite book?
What is the best film you have ever seen, and why?
What is your favourite treat?
What languages can you speak?
When on holiday, what do you love to do?
How many shoes do you own?
What makes you smile the most?
Name your favourite animal.

Thanks for reading,
Vanessa :) xx

FREE BOOKS...WEDNESDAY 5TH DEC

I have been so incredibly busy this past week. On Saturday, I performed in a Panto with my gorgeous and lovely daughter... amazingly it went very well and we had lots of fun.  We even treated ourselves to a takeaway on the way home...rarely ever do that these days! Lol 

Then I attended a Swimming Teachers Meeting (which I organised & run) and agin it was excellent.  I found out things about the other teachers I did not know and I believe it was a very helpfull, informative and well run evening - it was also held at the back room of a pub! It helps...

We had another panto show on Sunday... attended by a room full of Beaver Scouts! Cracking audience! They laughed at every joke and joined in for everything, we even threw in an extra Mexican wave.  It was brilliant.

Today I have spent the day organising a Christmas Market in aid of Gurnard Pre-School, which my 3 year old attends.  I have been preparing for this for a while (since I am the organiser), although I have an amazing team of helpers. It has been great fun and the event was fantastic (pictures to come soon...).  All of my meatballs were devoured - they SOLD OUT! Result :) - cheesy grin alert!  I am in the process of counting up the money, it's looking good!

AND tomorrow - WEDNESDAY 5TH DECEMBER - we are running ONE FREE DAY ONLY to promote A FESTIVE FEAST, and I am also promoting FIRST DATE (based on my true story). 

So, please...spread the word and download both... THANK YOU

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Festive-Feast-Seasonal-Stories-ebook/dp/B00ADADH02/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1353918424&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Festive-Feast-Seasonal-Stories-ebook/dp/B00ADADH02/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1353918988&sr=1-5&keywords=vanessa+wester

http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Date-ebook/dp/B00AC1YI0A/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1353924884&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/First-Date-ebook/dp/B00AC1YI0A/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1353925039&sr=1-6&keywords=vanessa+wester

From Thurs - Sun I have 4 more panto shows! No rest for me...lol

Thanks for reading, let me know what you are all up to in the run up to the Festive Season...

All the best
Vanessa :) xx