Hello! How are you all? Hope you’re having a good week. I’ve been working away on my next novel in the Sisters of Sin series. This one is about an assassin whose codename is Envy. Her real name is Izzy, she’s Scottish and a bit of a hard-nut. She’s got a small farm on a mountain overlooking Loch Lomond where she provides a home for various waifs and strays. Anyway, I think I’ve given you enough for now, you’ll have to wait for the book to come out to learn any more.

So, what have I been up to apart from telling Izzy’s story? I’ve been having fun putting up videos on my Tik Tok account (@danelson70). There was one where I duetted with Beaubull, it was hilarious, but you’ll have to go over to my Tik Tok account to see it.

Myself and the boy did a fair bit of walking this week with the two younger dogs. We walked around a local beauty spot called Ardmore Point. When I say we walked around, I actually mean we got more than halfway there when stopped to have a snack and a drink.  Then I realised I had lost my car keys so we were retracing our steps when I found they had slipped through a hole in my jacket pocket and were inside the jacket. Phew. It was good though as we met a friend of mine I hadn’t seen for a while. She was walking with her dog and her daughter, so we had a fab catch-up.

Yesterday, we took the dogs up Ben Bouie, which is a local mountain. We got most of the way there, but it was really hot and we were all suffering so we stopped for lunch and to give the dogs some water. We stopped at a point overlooking Loch Lomond and it was just lovely. We were both exhausted last night. My son normally goes to his bed after midnight, but he was fast asleep by 9pm.  😉

A week tomorrow, this beauty launches. This is the third book in the Sisters of Sin series and is by the fantastic Sofia Aves. I just love Sofia’s writing and this book is amazing. Get it here:  https://books2read.com/sos3/https://books2read.com/sos3/

Right that’s me for just now. I’m just about to go and make tonight’s dinner. So, until next time,

Dawn xx

 

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Hi there! How are you? Hope you’re all well. Today I am not going to bombard you with stuff about Greed. Nope, today, I’m having a rest from all the madness of a book launch and doing a proper blog post. Today’s blog theme is wild flowers near me. The pictures are those I took last week during a dog walk and they are of lovely wild flowers I found and thought were pretty enough to be shown.

 

So, as you can imagine, I’ve been deep in getting my book out, so not much else has happened. My son stopped school for the school holidays. They get just over six weeks’ holidays here in Scotland and he’s bored already. Sigh. We’re not going on holiday this year as we don’t have the cash, but hopefully next year. Fingers crossed.  It doesn’t matter because where we live is so beautiful that it feels like a holiday most days anyway.

When I haven’t been making social media posts and other stuff to promote my writing business and others, I’ve been reading and watching tv. I am so pleased to see Miss Scarlet and the Duke is back on.  I love that series. It’s my little pleasure in a world that’s gone crazy recently. I try not to be affected by all the price rises in the UK and the fact our government are so incompetent (and crashing and burning as we speak – surely Boris will do the honourable thing and finally leave!), and I do this by watching nice safe programmes that take my mind off it.  I’ve also caved and paid for Starz so I can watch the sixth series of Outlander. I am not happy about this. I pay a lot already for Prime, so why can’t I see my programme on it instead of having to pay extra. Anyway, loving the new series.

Books I have been reading. Well, I have been reading and absolutely LOVING Vanity, which is the first book in our romantic suspense series and is by my pal Terry Wells Brown. It is brilliant. Her writing reminds me of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books: it’s got that strong female lead, lots of leg quivering sex and some great humour. And her hero, Juan Carlos…phew! fans face  I’m not just saying this to encourage you guys to buy the book, I’m saying it because I genuinely love this book, but Buy Vanity. It’s fab.  I’m nearly finished it. Haven’t had the time or energy to read it over the last few days, but tonight I will (with a saddened heart because I’ll have completed it) finish it.

I will then have the absolute pleasure of choosing which book to read next. It often can take a while – I have so many in my tbr pile!

Other things I have been doing. I recently got back into baking. I don’t know what tripped the baking mania off, but I made three loaves of bread. The brown loaves did not turn out at all…I think the packs must have been out of date or something. The white loaf was amazing. I made the equivalent of four small loaves into one mega loaf and after kneading it with my mixer, I hand kneaded it and then let it rise twice before bunging it in the oven. The house smelled heavenly. I wish I could have taken a picture of this loaf, it was huge. Once baked and cooled, I cut it up and put three-quarters of the slices in the freezer (because, as you know, fresh baked bread does not last) and myself and the boy chomped into the rest. Delicious.

I’m dying to get back out into the garden. I have plans for it, but it has been so miserable here in the west coast over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been unable to do much in it. I have painted my bench a lovely blue – I’ll take pics on the first dry day we have – and I want to spray paint some plant pots to match in with my blue theme. I cleared a patch of the garden of brambles (wild blackberries) and got scratched to pieces. I bloody hate brambles, they are the bane of my life in this garden. They are so invasive. The side of the house is packed with them and that is on my to-do list. I also need to build my raised beds and clear the side patio area. There’s a lot to do and I will get back into it soon I hope.

Right, I’m going to finish up here. It’s nearly 1pm as I write this and my tummy is telling me it’s lunchtime! Till next time!

Dawn xxx

 

 

 

Yes, the day has finally arrived. My book, the second in the Sisters of Sin Femme Fatale series, has launched. Sound the trumpets, drum roll please! Let’s celebrate. Yeeehaaaa! Sorry, I am so excited, I’m getting carried away.

If you’d like your own copy, get it here: https://geni.us/cI4I

 

Hello! How’s things? Hope you’re all well. Thought I’d pop in to say hi today and tell you what I’ve been up to recently. By the way, today’s images are of hellebore. I love how pretty they are despite their devilishly sounding name!

Right, so what have I been up to. Well, I entered the world of Tik Tok and put up a couple of videos of me talking on them. Unfortunately, a couple of people have laughed at me doing this, which kinda put me off a bit. But I am determined not to let them get to me. These types of videos seem to be my most popular, so I have to get over my shyness, ignore the people taking the mick and do it again. My Tik Tok name is @danelson70 in case you want to follow me. I’d love you to do that.

This morning, after procrastinating for two weeks, I finally got around to doing the final edits on Greed. The book is due out on July 5, so I really need to just get on with it. I hate editing. I don’t know any author who does. But, I’ve already done three chapters and plan to do some more this afternoon, so it really won’t be as onerous as I think it will be. It’s just me. I can’t get my head around doing it. As far as I’m concerned, the book is done and I should have nothing else to do on it. That’s my wishful thinking head. I know that I do have a little bit more work to do on it. I’m just procrastinating. Sigh. I just have to get on with it, don’t I?

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks happily sorting through my bookshelves and my sewing stuff in the spare bedroom upstairs. I call it my sewing room and it’s full of my sewing and knitting and other craft books. It’s now laid out in such a way I have no excuse not to use it. In fact, I did make myself a necklace over the weekend, so that was good. I’ve cut out this pattern from Etsy to make myself some trousers. Watch this space for more info!

What I’ve been reading…I’ve been reading three books at once:

• Vanity by T Wells Brown – yes, the first book in our series. Although I know the rough storyline, I haven’t read the full book yet. Can I just say something? This is a superb book and I’m not just saying that because th author is a friend. I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
• Sara Roethle’s Clockwork Alchemist – it’s a steampunk book about an automaton and a thief in Victorian London. I think it’s a great story and I loved the characters. It’s pretty well written and a good story. However, the ending was disappointing. The two main characters were heading someplace  for a reason, but the story just ended just as they arrived at the building. That was it.  I wanted to know what happened when they met the people of the LN, but we weren’t give that.  Anyway, apart from the abrupt ending, it was a good read.
• Jose Silva’s Mind Control Method – it’s a book about meditation and being more in control of your emotions and thoughts. Very interesting read.

What I’ve been watching. I loved the fourth series of Stranger Things. That last episode was amazing. I was on the edge of my seat. I’ve also been re-watching Burn Notice. I do love a good spy series. This one is excellent and you learn a lot from it.

What else has been happening? Well, my new kettle made a funny fizzing noise. I looked at it and discovered smoke coming from the plug. I turned it off immediately. I don’t know what caused it, but I doubt it’s the plug…that is relatively brand new. Have contacted the people I bought the kettle from and am awaiting their reply. In the meantime, I’m going to get someone to check the plug socket and I’ve ordered a new kettle. I’m making tea by boiling water in a pot. It’s slower, but better than having no tea. 😉

Right, I’m off to do some work on Greed. Plus I want to add to my Tik Tok account. Speak soon.

Dawn