Category: Book Launch

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 10. The Book Launch Goodies

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 10. The Book Launch Goodies.

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On Saturday, 6th September 2014, at the Chesil Beach Centre, Portland, I’ll be hosting my first-ever book launch. There will be copies of Follow Me, Follow You available for purchase and signing (indulge me – I’ve been practising my signature), and I’ve had the James household working hard on making a few small giveaways.

The week will be supported by a virtual book tour and guest posts and interviews with wonderful book bloggers on social media, organised by Choc Lit, and Brook Cottage Books.

The beautiful book tour banner from Brook Cottage Books
The beautiful book tour banner from Brook Cottage Books

On the 17th September, my publisher Choc Lit will be releasing a special Choc Lit Treat – an original short story so fresh, I’ve still 700 words to write … Please see the Choc Lit site for details as to how to sign up for the Treat.

So, as you can imagine, it’s all go here, with just three more sleeps.

To be honest, with the adrenalin and excitement whooshing through my bloodstream, that will probably turn out to equate to one sleep, but you get my drift.

More tomorrow …

Laura x

 

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 9. The Book Launch and Littoralis.

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 9. The Book Launch and Littoralis.

Follow Me, Follow You is my first paperback, so I thought I would celebrate with a book launch and an author afternoon.

Meet Littoralis, four local authors inspired by or writing about the Jurassic coastline, in particular, Weymouth and Portland.

Littoralis Invitation

I first met Kathy Sharp at my local writing group, Off The Cuff, a mutual friend introduced me to Kate Kelly, who then introduced Kathy and me to Carol Hunt. We all write within different genres. Between us we cover fantasy, young adult, contemporary romance and children’s books, and we will all be at the book launch and author afternoon, for chat, readings and signings.

FMFY Seth Invitation

And we would love to see you there.

Laura x

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 8. The Pebbles of Chesil Beach.

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 8. The Pebbles of Chesil Beach.

Portland. No Stones
‘The unauthorised removal of pebbles from this beach is prohibited.’

The pebbles must remain on Chesil Beach. It is prohibited to remove them.

As a child, I obeyed the rule, although I found it difficult, as the stones fascinated me. They still do. The beach consists of greys, whites, browns, reds, blacks … all merging together to somehow magically form a beautiful sandy hue.

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My children have the same fascination, and between us, we can idle away many happy hours searching for special stones, ultimately leaving them on Chesil for someone else to discover.

Talking of rocks, Victoria has a very interesting first meeting with Chris Frampton’s friend and manager, Tommy … Another fascinating Stone to add to the collection.

Laura x

 

 

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 7. Tout Quarry.

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 7. Tout Quarry.

Another wonderful place to visit on Portland is Tout Quarry.

In Follow Me, Follow You, a quarry is situated not far from Victoria’s cottage. It provides neutral ground – somewhere Victoria and Chris can go to talk, having never been there together.

In the real Tout Quarry, there are incredible sculptures, carved from the pale grey Portland stone.

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There are plenty of British landmark properties built from Portland stone, notably Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral.

And Chris Frampton’s castle.

Laura x

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 6. The Best View in Portland

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 6. The Best View in Portland.

Both Victoria Noble and Chris Frampton return home after years of living away. And why wouldn’t they, when just up the road from them is this incredible view of Chesil?

This recent photo is taken from a glorious viewing point on Portland. I’ve been here many times, even before I lived in Dorset as an adult.

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Like the hero and heroine, I came back.

Laura x

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 5. Introducing the Great Oak.

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 5. Introducing the Great Oak.

The Great Oak
The Great Oak

All heroes need to find solutions to their problems, and Chris Frampton, however exceptional he is in other areas, is no different. He likes to talk through a problem, which is what I do when I have a plot issue. We like to put the words ‘out there’, and watch them take shape.

So we need a confidant. One who, or in this case, that listens and lets us work things out for ourselves.

Meet the Great Oak, Follow Me, Follow You problem solver extraordinaire.

Laura x

 

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 4. Chris Frampton’s Playground

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 4. Chris Frampton’s Playground.

Chris Frampton is a Hollywood action hero. He’s a good-looking, leather-clad, instinctive all-rounder – that’s why he’s been so successful – but his speciality is bikes.

He spent many hours in his youth thrashing his BMX around the undulating grounds of Hope Cove Castle, honing his skills, before trying his hand at IMG_6723infinitely more dangerous surfaces.


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I struggle to grip the handlebars of a cycle these days, so sitting on the saddle is enough danger for me.

Laura x

 

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 3. The Real Images Behind the Trailer

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 3. The Real Images Behind the Trailer.

In yesterday’s teaser, I showed you a photograph of my son standing on Chesil Beach. He was aged four at the time of the photograph.

When I was searching for images to use in the book trailer, Gajitman remembered he had this photo, and when he showed me, I knew it was a perfect representation of Seth Noble, Victoria’s four-year-old lad in Follow Me, Follow You.

Perfect apart from the lack of curly hair.

After a little technical ‘hair’ wizardry, and use of the wonderful Waterlogue app, I converted the photo into what Gajitman and I think is a beautiful image. But then, we are programmed to be biased.

Seth, aged 4, on Chesil Beach
Seth, aged 4, on Chesil Beach
My son, at the age of four, on Chesil - the same age as Seth in Follow Me, Follow You.
Our son, at the age of four, on Chesil.

 

Laura x

 

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 2. Chesil Beach.

Follow Me, Follow You Teasers: Day 2. Chesil Beach.

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s teaser – the Follow Me, Follow You trailer – kick-starting my run up to the launch of the paperback.

The book is set mainly in Weymouth and Portland, Dorset, with Chesil Beach a character within its own right.

I’ve always wondered if the Martha and the Muffins song, Echo Beach was about Chesil.

In the days when I was the singer in a band called Strangely B’Zar, Echo Beach was the first song we performed live. It was at the Herts Arms, Watford.

My son, at the age of four, on Chesil - the same age as Seth in 'Follow Me, Follow You'.
My son, when he was four, on Chesil – the same age as Seth in Follow Me, Follow You.
Me at nineteen, on Chesil Beach, the same age Chris Frampton is when he first gets together with Victoria.
Me at nineteen, on Chesil Beach, the same age Chris Frampton is when he first gets together with Victoria.

It seems

Chesil is in my blood.

Laura x

 

 

Follow Me, Follow You: Trailers and Teasers Day 1

Follow Me, Follow You: Trailers and Teasers. Day 1

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It’s all go in the James household as we gear up for the paperback release of my second Choc Lit novel, Follow Me, Follow You.

I’ve been writing guest posts to accompany the upcoming book tour, putting together a short about Chris and Victoria’s early love affair, sorting out bookmarks, and preparing for the actual book launch itself, to be held in Dorset on the 6th September.

From now until that day, I shall be posting images connected to Follow Me, Follow You – photos used for the trailer, images of inspiration, research pictures – anything that’s contributed to the creating, writing and promotion of the novel.

Today, I’m introducing the trailer to you, as a teaser for the next couple of weeks.

This is the first time I’ve filmed a trailer. Over the last few months, I’ve taken several trips to Chesil Beach and captured many images of the area on my camera. Thanks to a wonderful app called Waterlogue, I was able to turn those photos into water colour paintings.

This trailer is the result of many hours of me having fun with nature and technology. You won’t need 3D glasses to view, and it’s probably too short a film for you to make and enjoy a bucket of popcorn, but if you have your cup of tea and a Hobnob to hand, settle back and find out a little more about Victoria Noble and Chris Frampton.

 Laura x