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A Year On….

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It’s just over a year since A Last Journey was published and it’s been quite a year. I’ve been busy giving talks and readings all over Scotland to dementia groups, carers, Meeting Centres, the University of the Third Age, and Probus. I’ve been on the radio and taken part in an online seminar at Dundee University.

Setting up ready for a talk

My most recent talk was at Probus in Longniddry with a very receptive audience.

I’m also a member of Edinburgh Festival Theatre’s Focus group for their dementia programme and discuss and suggest ideas with them. I also write the Hidden Lives column for their DementiArts magazine.

And to add even more, I’m part of the Haddington singing group who entertain at care homes and other social groups throughout East Lothian.

No wonder it’s been a busy and very satisfying year!

Getting the Old Brain into Gear again!

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I’ve been writing again! The incentive was the Scottish Association of Writers conference programme setting out all the competitions to enter if you attended. So step 1, I booked my place for the 2023 conference in March and step 2, began writing. I won’t say what I wrote and in what categories I submitted (ok some are old efforts freshened up and edited) as it’s all anonymous and we won’t hear the results until the actual conference.

Not only has it got me back writing, but I’m looking forward to meeting up with friends I haven’t seen in ages and wondering if the room parties are still part of the weekend. How many folk can you squeeze into a bedroom? And how many bottles and packets of crisps can be consumed? And that’s on top of packing away glorious meals three times a day along with elevenses and afternoon tea.

And then there’s the talks and the discussions and the workshops! A stupendous few days which set you up for the rest of the year.

I’ve also got myself a wee job as a researcher for the Dementia Friendly podcast project at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh. I interview various people who work in the theatre or who are associated with the DementiArts programme. I summarise it and hand it to Willy, the podcast presenter who uses it to conduct a recorded interview with them for the podcast. You can listen to the first one using the above link.

I also write a column for the DementiArts magazine that the theatre brings out. It’s called Hidden Lives and I tell the stories of people living with dementia and what surprising and wonderful stories they are.

I’ve also booked a place with a conference on How to Get Published run by the Writers and Artists along with the Open University in Edinburgh in March. Another chance to pick up tips and ideas as well as doing a bit of networking.

And if all that doesn’t get me started, then I’ll give up!

Publication Days

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Publication days come like buses – nothing for ages then two come at once.

Not only is this publication day of  Festival Fireworks in ebook format – paperback following soon!annburnett 1

 

– but, as I discovered when the post arrived this morning, my article on the Traprain Law silver is also published in the latest edition of the Highlander magazine.

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The hoard of Roman silver was found locally and can now be seen in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

A double whammy for the city as my novel is also set in Edinburgh!

 

Festival Fireworks – New Edition

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Those of you who follow my author page on Facebook will have read that I am re-issuing my contemporary Scottish romance, Festival Fireworks, under my own imprint, Ladybug Publications.      Ladybug_clip_art_smallLadybug_clip_art_smallLadybug_clip_art_small

It will not only be published as an ebook but also a paperback with a new cover. The story is mainly set in Edinburgh with a trip to Australia as well, as Jill and Andrew try to keep their romantic fireworks from blowing up in their faces, helped or hindered by agony auntie Linda. annburnett 1

So save your Christmas Book tokens for the New Year and watch this space for when it becomes available.

In the meantime, enjoy the festive season however you choose to spend it and may your stocking be filled with lots of books to read!

Moving On … Again!

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We’ve been on the move again, this time to Edinburgh. Our new house isn’t ready yet so we had to leave our previous rental (golfers had it booked for the Open at Gullane) and find a new home.

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A snowy Edinburgh Castle

Not as easy as it sounds in the middle of the holiday season and with the Edinburgh Festival next month. However friends of our family were planning to rent out a flat with Airbnb and were pleased to let us have a long let (hopefully just a couple of months) instead.

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The Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood

So it was stuff everything thing into our suitcases and plastic bags and head up to the capital. My ‘office’ has expanded to half of a dining table which is positively luxurious compared to the quarter of the breakfast bar I had before.

But my writing is sluggish. The next novel has ground to a halt as there are too many other things on my mind like where did I pack x, y, or z, where are the nearest shops and how does the washing machine work?

I did however, write an article about the street we were living on in Haddington as it was full of history – a battle was fought there in the sixteenth century, John Knox, the Protestant reformer went to school there and the whole area has been flooded several times, the first recorded one in 1348 and the last in 1948.

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John Knox’s School

Being in Edinburgh has its advantages of course. We’ve already found our way to Princes Street and the National Gallery of Scotland, Chambers Street where we visited the National Museum of Scotland and naturally, the shops! Next month is Festival month with the official Festival outnumbered by events at the Fringe, and my favourite, the Book Festival where I hope to catch up with many of my writer friends.

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Getting ready for the Festival Tattoo on the Castle Esplanade

And a last plug – my new book, Love Begins at 40, will be published on July 18th. It’s set in Largs on the Scottish west coast, while Festival Fireworks is set in Edinburgh during the festival itself.

Something to Tempt You into Reading…

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A little bit from my latest novel, Festival Fireworks…..

‘And you are interested in the ballet?’ His blue eyes were large and staring right into hers.

‘I don’t know very much about it.’ She wasn’t going to admit that the only ballet she’d ever seen was on TV, and that as a child, she’d eschewed ballet lessons in favour of tennis coaching. ‘Are you one of the dancers?’

‘Yes, I am Grigor Lutsenko. I am principal male dancer.’

Crikes! That blew her cover. Now Jill realised that he would know she knew nothing about ballet, and worse, hadn’t even seen one of the troupe’s performances. ‘I’ve only just arrived over here. I haven’t had a chance to see much of the Festival.’

‘I am sorry that you not see me dance. I think that you would like me.’

‘I like you very much already,’ Jill said, raising her glass of whisky to him. ‘What a pity you’re leaving tomorrow.’

They shared a smile. ‘A great pity,’ he purred. ‘What is it that you do? For work, I mean?’

‘I work for Andrew MacCallum-Blair, you know, the guy who’s organised this bash.’

‘This what you say?’ 

‘Bash. Get-together. Reception.’

‘Ah yes.’ The puzzled look on Grigor’s face was replaced by that enchanting grin. ‘This Andrew, he is your boss?’

‘Yes, there he is over there.’ She raised her hand to point to him through the crowd just in time to see Andrew glare back at her. Oh dear, what was she doing that he didn’t like?

Grigor caught the look, too. ‘He is not pleased that you talk to me,’ he said. ‘He is your lover?’

‘Certainly not!’ The words exploded from Jill. She would have said more but bit her tongue just in time.

‘That is good,’ said Grigor. ‘Then perhaps you like to be my lover? We have tonight, you know. I don’t leave till eleven hundred hours tomorrow. We have good evening together, and I show you the Ukrainian way of make love.’

‘Thank you, Grigor,’ Jill answered, trying not to blush or giggle. He certainly didn’t believe in wasting time. ‘Another time perhaps. When I come to the Ukraine.’ Not that she had any intention of so doing, but she was trying to let him down as gracefully as she could.

 ‘Everything going ok?’ Suddenly, Andrew was standing beside her. She hadn’t noticed his approach. A shiver tingled its way down her spine and settled in her stomach, where it transformed itself into butterflies playing leapfrog.

‘Yes, fine.’ She gripped her whisky glass more tightly to stop her hand from trembling. At that moment, one of Edinburgh’s finest dowager ladies hooked her hand through Grigor’s arm and led him off to another group. Grigor turned as she dragged him away and shrugged his shoulders at Jill. Another time, another place was the message she took from the gesture. 

To read what happens next, why not buy Festival Fireworks here?

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Festival Fireworks is Here!

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Just a quick message to let you all know that my novel, Festival Fireworks, is  published today and is available here:

 

It’s on at its special price of 99p but only till Monday, when you’ll have to pay full price for it. So don’t miss out!

I hope you all enjoy it and please review it for me.

Thank you.

Festival Fireworks

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My latest book, Festival Fireworks, published by Tirgearr, is now available to pre-order for Kindle at a special price of only $1.39c/99p. I hope you enjoy reading it!

FestivalFireworksbyAnnBurnett200Twenty-seven year old Aussie, Jill Kennedy, has arrived in Edinburgh during the festival and is staying in her aunt’s empty flat. Immediately, she crosses swords with her new neighbour, Andrew MacCallum-Blair. To make things worse, she discovers he’s her boss in the temporary job she’s taken so she can afford to see Scotland.

For his part, Andrew has decided to harden his heart against falling in love again but Jill’s fresh and frank approach to life threaten to break down the barricades he’s erected around his heart.

Jill can’t understand Andrew’s changing moods, and even more, her own confused feelings for ‘Mr Bossy’, as she has nicknamed him.

As fireworks burst over Edinburgh Castle, Jill and Andrew must decide whether the fireworks sparking between them will lead to love or a parting of the ways.

And here’s the link to my Tirgearr author page.

 

 

Susan Ferrier, the Scottish Jane Austen

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I am thoroughly enjoying reading Marriage by Susan Ferrier. I had never heard of this author, yet she was a very successful writer in the nineteenth century and her books were much admired by Sir Walter Scott. In fact, she earned far more from her writing than Jane Austen herself. But her name has disappeared from readers’ minds.

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Thanks to the Scottish writer, Val McDermid, that, hopefully, will change soon. She is publicising Ferrier’s work by having it illuminated across buildings in Edinburgh, Susan’s home town. Follow the link to read all about it.

Marriage is set in Edinburgh, the Highlands and London and follows two generations of women, mother and daughter, with very different views of life and love. Lady Juliana elopes with her lover, whom she marries and almost instantly regrets it when she meets up with his family in the Highlands. One of her daughters, Mary, is brought up by her aunt there while Lady Juliana returns to London and life, as she sees it. Mary eventually joins her there but is not enamoured of her mother and her behaviour.

Throughout, Ferrier’s wit and humour enliven the story and her telling little details of Scottish life in the capital and in the north, as well as her knowledge of London society, combine to produce a story to rival that of Austen at her best.

I can’t tell you the ending as I’m not there yet, but I wouldn’t spoil it for any of you potential readers even if I did.