I am so pleased to be able to host the talented Annie Lyons on my blog today. Annie's book, Not Quite Perfect, published by Carina, is now available as both paperback and ebook. As well as bringing you some information about the book I am thrilled that Annie has written a guest post called Keep Calm and Channel. I hope you have a great Sunday and enjoy reading this guest post from Annie.
Not Quite Perfect
The Blurb:
Sometimes having it all isn’t enough…
Emma
has everything she’s ever wanted. Her boyfriend’s just proposed and her career
has finally taken off. And so what if her latest client just happens to be
downright gorgeous? She’s getting married. Isn’t she?
Rachel’s
married with 2.4 children (well, actually, 3) and life is all about trying to
leave the house in a non-stained top. Once it was about skinny cappuccinos,
cocktails and dynamic ad agency meetings. She wants her old life back, but can
it ever be the same?
A
sparkling, funny tale of two sisters and how often you don’t know what you’ve
got until it’s gone.
To purchase via Amazon please click here
Keep Calm and Channel Anne Tyler
Picture the scene. A slightly dishevelled woman sits at a laptop,
her brain infused with a mixture of caffeine and fatigue. The washing machine
hums comfortingly in the corner. The reassuring sound of Peppa Pig distracting
her four year old daughter enables her to relax a little. She stares at the computer
screen and desperately tries to channel her inner Anne Tyler. Always good to
aim as high as possible, she tells herself. She blinks at the word count figure.
Twenty thousand words. How is she ever going to get past twenty thousand words?
A squeak from upstairs causes her to flick her eyes from the screen to the
clock. Twenty minutes. It’s only been twenty minutes for Pete’s sake. She pretends
she didn’t hear it. Only persistent wailing will distract her from her task.
She holds her fingers over the keyboard and types. The words come quickly and
then she stops. She reads them back to herself and sighs. Another squeak. This
is definitely the squeak of wakefulness. She deletes everything she has written
and sighs again. The squeak has become a,’Mamamamamamamam,’ very clear and very
definite. She glances again at the twenty thousand word count figure and closes
the document.
‘Mum!’ cries her daughter from
the other room. She gets up from her computer and pauses in the doorway to the
living room.
‘Yes darling,’ she asks wearily.
‘What is it?’
The baby is getting a little
impatient now, his shouts constant and insistent. ‘Mam! Mam! Mam!’
The
little girl’s eyes do not leave the television screen. ‘Baby’s crying,’ she
says.
Picture the scene five years later. A slightly dishevelled
woman sits at a laptop, her brain infused with a mixture of caffeine and
fatigue. The washing machine hums comfortingly in the corner. The reassuring stillness
of a quiet house, because the children are at school, enables her to relax a
little. She stares at the computer screen and desperately tries to channel her
inner Anne Tyler. Some things never change, she tells herself. She glances at
the pictures surrounding her desk showing the covers for her three published
titles and at the framed picture with the Not
Quite Perfect cover at the centre and ‘Forty Fantastic Reviews for a
Fabulous Forty Year Old’ that her best friend gave her for her birthday. She
smiles. Everything has changed. You just have to get past the twenty thousand
word mark. And drink a lot of coffee.
About the Author
Annie Lyons is the best-selling author
of Not Quite Perfect (now available
in paperback) and Not Quite Perfect
Christmas (A Short Story). Her new novel Dear Lizzie is published by Carina and is available as an
eBook.
Twitter @1AnnieLyons
Thank you Jill xx ..and Well done Annie! I look forward to reading your books. I have heard all good about them :-) xx
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