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Release date: December 11, 2016

Publisher: Madeglobal Publishing

Genre: Fiction 

Blurb: 

Two women, two countries. Serendipity, life, friendship

Diane, a young Australian mother meets Maggie, a sophisticated American poet, in a chance encounter. Everything – age, class and even nationality – separates them. Yet all is not quite as it seems. Maggie is grieving for her eldest daughter and trapped in a marriage involving infidelity and rape. Diane yearns for the same opportunities given to her brother. Their lives draw them to connect. This is the story of two unfulfilled women finding each other when they needed it most. Their pen-friendship will change them forever.

Welcome to my stop on the Something Missing blog tour! Though I haven’t had the pleasure of reading this yet, I’ll be making time for it soon.  I have a guest post from the author about the inspiration behind the book. I also have a giveaway where one person will win a copy of the book! This is an international giveaway as well so everyone can participate. 

Guest Post: 

Q: How did you come up with the idea for this book?

Purely by chance! I’m definitely a late bloomer. During my early years I never dreamt I’d become a writer. However, fate intervened and eventually I leant to write about people and events important in my life. I wrote from the heart and was true to myself. Something Missing, is based on my thirty-five year pen-friendship with an older American poet. It was a chance to explore our unique relationship and eventually to understand my journey as a mature aged student. Something Missing, published by MadeGlobal Publishing, is the result.

The journey began when I left Malvern Girls Domestic Arts School at fourteen to become an apprentice hairdresser, and later, wife and mother. When I turned fifty, goaded by my American pen-friend’s well educated letters I went back to school to sit for my VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education). My results meant I was offered a place at Monash University to study for my Bachelor of Arts where my majors were English Literature and Sociology. At the end of my course, thinking I’d eventually work as a sociologist, I needed one more class to complete my literature major. The only course available to fit in with my day job was a night class in fiction writing. I wrote a short story based on my father’s life about a boy, a great-hearted German Grossmutter and a man caught between two worlds. That story was highly commended in the Judah Waten International Short Story Competition. It didn’t win but I was hooked. However, the story haunted me day and night and I decided to continue writing, but needed guidance. To study for a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing at TAFE (Technical and Further Education) was perfect and under the guidance of Australian author, Liam Davison, my story grew into a novel.

A play written in Ray Mooney’s class at TAFE, based on my hairdressing experiences, was performed during the Fertile Ground New Plays Festival. The result was acceptance into the Masters of Creative Writing at Melbourne University. During that time the manuscript of the novel was short listed for the Victorian Premiers Literary Awards and later won the Ilura Press International Fiction Quest. Pickle to Pie was launched by Ilura Press during the Melbourne Writers Festival.

Publishing the first novel meant I could apply to Swinburne University for a PhD by artefact and exegesis and to my delight I was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship. Here was my opportunity to learn the rules of the craft of writing and know why I was breaking them. I grabbed the chance. But what would I write? What would my next novel be about? Would I follow on with another German Australian story and use all those files and folders containing years of research?

Instead, I did what most writers do and wrote from the heart about something I felt familiar with. I decided to explore and record my thirty-five year pen-friendship with an older American poet. It would be the story of two countries, two women and the lies they told each other that led to truth. I titled the story, Hens Lay, People Lie and my PhD focus would be autoethnography, (using my own experiences as research) and epistolarity (interweaving extracts from letters, journals, newspaper articles etc). In my journal I wrote:

‘I am writing an epistolary, autoethnographic novel grounded in both feminism and post modernist paradigms with the aim of revealing women’s hidden stories in the hope of instigating social change.’

What lofty aims, but here was a chance to use our letters, interspersed with text, to explore the influence this elderly poet had on a young woman who unconsciously yearned for the education given to her brother and denied to her. And what did my elderly pen-friend gain from our correspondence? My journey had begun.

I began by introducing an older American woman’s voice in first-person narration; an elderly Australian woman in second person; and the young Australian mum in third person. The story had embedded dialogue, following author, Debra Adelaide’s example, where only the formatting and actions of the characters, rather than dialogue marks, reveal to the reader who is speaking at that time. The elderly Australian woman would reveal the pitfalls and joys of writing a novel in a humorous, tongue in cheek, style.

For four years I was caught up in a world where my mind kept bouncing backwards and forwards between my creative writing of this novel and the formal academic exegesis. After completing the PhD I took a long hard look at what I’d written, and following the suggestions of American author/editor, Cindy Vallar, I inserted quotation marks to all the dialogue. It then took a huge leap of faith and much rewriting to take the story from literary faction into popular fiction.

It was an invaluable lesson. To be a writer I had to be myself and write the way I really wanted to write, down to earth, uncomplicated and honest. I made both Maggie and Diane third person narration, threw in a handful of suspense and Voilà… Something Missing was born. I was so excited the day I received the email saying that Tim Ridgway of MadeGlobal Publishing loved the story and would I sign the contract etc.

It is every writer’s dream to hold their book in their hand. It gives them a chance to thank all the people who have helped along the way. There have been so many people I could list who have patiently and painstakingly worked with me through all the versions. However, there is an indescribable joy in being able to finally thank them formally, via the acknowledgment page, in the published reincarnation of the manuscript now titled Something Missing.

Thank you, Amy for hosting me at your site. It is greatly appreciated.

About the Author: 

       Glenice Whitting is an Australian author and playwright and has published two novels. She was a hairdresser for many years before she became a mature age student. It was during an English Literature Fiction Writing course that her great midlife adventure began. Rummaging through an old cardboard shoebox in the family home she found a pile of postcards dating back to the 19th century, many of them written in Old High German. The translated greetings from abroad introduced the hairdresser to her long hidden German heritage and started her on a life changing journey. She fell in love with the craft of writing and decided to pursue a writing career. Her Australian/German novel, Pickle to Pie, was short -listed for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. It co-won the Ilura Press International Fiction Quest and was launched during The Age Melbourne Writers’ Festival.

Three years as an on-line editor and columnist at suite101.com introduced her to web writing and resulted in an ebook Inspiring Women. Glenice’s play Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow was produced during the Fertile Ground New Play Festival. Her published works include biographies, reviews, numerous short stories and two novels. Her latest novel, Something Missing, published by MadeGlobal Publishing is about two countries, two women and lies that lead to truth. She completed the journey from VCE to PhD when she gained her Doctorate of Philosophy (Writing) from Swinburne University in 2013. Along the way she was awarded entry into the Golden Key International Honour Society for academic excellence. She currently enjoys teaching Memoir Writing and encouraging other women to write their stories. Glenice’s blog Writers and Their Journey can be found at her website. 

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Welcome to my stop on the Combating Fear blog tour and a happy publication day to Sandy! I have a fabulous guest post from the author AND a giveaway for your chance to win a copy of the book.

Blurb: 

How far would you go to save a child that wasn’t yours?

Mild-mannered kindergarten teacher, Neve Botticelli, leads a double life. At home with her paranoid father, she is a combat trained survivalist who lives off-the-grid.

When self-made billionaire, Micah Kincaid, storms into town in search of his four-year-old son, Rowan, he’s pushy, entitled, and stands for everything Neve despises.

But something far more sinister than a cheating estranged wife, is lurking in rural Turners Gully, and it has its sights set on little Rowan’s inheritance. It turns out there is one thing Micah and Neve can agree on, and that’s keeping Rowan safe.

As they work together to free Rowan, they glimpse beneath one another’s guises, and realise that falling in love could be even more dangerous than hunting deadly criminals.

Goodreads|Amazon

Guest Post 

Hi, I’m Sandy Vaile, a motorbike-riding daredevil who isn’t content with a story unless there’s a courageous heroine and a dead body. When I’m not devising horrible things to do to fictional characters, I write procedures for high-risk industrial activities, mentor new writers through the Novelist’s Circle critiquing group, judge romance writing competitions, present literary craft workshops, and write the odd articles and blog.

I’ve been looking forward to dropping by for a chat with Amy, and to give you some insight into how I came to be here.

I imagine you can all relate to being side-tracked from your dreams by everyday life. Well, that’s exactly what happened to me. All through high school the plan was to become a journalist, but I moved out of home when I was 16 y.o., and then work, marriage and children all happened to divert me from writing. For more than a decade child-rearing magazines were the extent of my reading, and correspondence with pen pals the extent of my writing.

I was middle-aged when a friend insisted I read the Harry Potter series. I so loved the complex plot and diverse characters, that my inner creative being was awakened. The smouldering tinder only ignited further with each book I read, until I was desperate to write again.

Now, you many have guessed I’m not one to do things by half, so I didn’t bother starting with short stories or diary entries. No, I decided I was going to write a whole novel! Nothing to it, right?

So, I drew on my life experiences to come up with a few characters that stirred my curiosity, and formed the idea of a conflict. I wrote 60,000 words in the first six weeks. Now that’s enthusiasm! Unfortunately, the family eventually wanted to be fed and have clean clothes to wear, so I had to slow up a teeny bit.

It didn’t deter my focus though, because I’d already figured out one vital thing. The most important difference between a published and unpublished author is that one actually finished the book. So that was my first goal.

That first book represented a huge learning curve for me, because I’d left pesky little things like grammar and literary devices behind in high school, and had to learn them all over again. But learn them I did, and finish that book in nine months I did. It took another year before I felt it was polished enough to submit to publishers. Unfortunately, that manuscript remains in the figurative bottom drawer.

Now, this is the part of my journey where I learnt to embrace rejection, because there was a lot of it, but thankfully I was also tossed a few scraps of positive feedback along the way, and that’s all it took to keep me motivated.

When I saw an advertisement by Crimson Romance (a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster) for stories with gritty heroines who break stereotypes, I knew I had what they were looking for. And that’s how my first book, “Inheriting Fear” got picked up and sent into the wide world.

Now you are helping me celebrate the release of my second romantic suspense book, “Combatting Fear”, and I have to pinch myself now and again, just to make sure this high is real. (Ouch! Okay, it is.)

I’d love to hear about your literary challenges and loves.

Leave a comment on this blog and get 1 entry to win the “Combatting Fear” eBook. Subscribe to my newsletter and get 3 more entries.

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About the Author:

I’m Sandy and my motto in life is…
I’ll try anything once

To that end, I take every opportunity that presents and have a wealth of life experiences to draw on when writing.
These include riding a motorbike, skydiving, hot air ballooning, getting tattoos, swimming with sharks and turtles, and having the privilege to carry the Olympic flame.
The common denominator in my stories is courageous, gritty heroines who don’t especially need the strong heroes who sweep them off their feet, but when they do find Mr. Right, they’re not afraid to hold on tight.
My love of adventure and action sports started early, with 3-day eventing horses and cross-country running. Living in Papua New Guinea as a child meant lots of water sports, outdoor living and learning the local Pigeon English.

Connect with Sandy: 

Facebook|Twitter|Website

Check out the other stops on the tour

I’m the last stop on the blog tour for Uncoiled Lies and I have a fabulous guest post from Liz Mistry to share. 

About the book: 

Murder. Love. Corruption. DI Angus McGuire and the team are back and have their work cut out. 
Murdered prostitutes and a turf war between local gangsters takes the investigation into Bradford’s Immigrant communities where tensions run high.

To make matters worse McGuire is juggling an illicit relationship with his boss’s daughter and has fraught family relations.

Who is The Old Man?

What is the link between three dead prostitutes and a long forgotten murder?

Will McGuire and his team get the answers they want or is the uncomfortable truth much closer to home?

Uncoiled Lies is the sequel to the best-selling, critically acclaimed, Unquiet Souls. It can be read as part of a series or as a stand-alone. It will appeal to fans of authors like; Angela Marsons, Helen H. Durrant, Mel Sherratt and Ian Rankin. 

Goodreads|Amazon
About the Author: 

As well as writing crime fiction, Liz is co-founder of and main contributor to The Crime Warp blog, which reviews all areas of crime fiction, interviews crime authors and participates in blog tours. She is the main publicist for the blog, using social media to promote our presence. 

Liz is an ex teacher who has taught in inner city Bradford schools for over twenty years. Her husband of 27 years is Indian and they have three children. They live in inner city Bradford and Liz likes to use the rich tapestry of her life in Bradford, combined with her Scottish heritage, in her writing.

She is currently completing her dissertation for an MA in creative writing at Leeds Trinity University and hopes to graduate in December with a distinction.

Guest Post: 

To Plot or Not to Plot… that is the question!

When the germ of an idea takes hold we writers jump up and down with sheer unadulterated glee. Great! – another yarn to explore, a tale to tell, a story to discover… but how does that germ of an idea blossom from a tadpole to a frog then into a handsome Prince in a (fairy) tale, to grip the reader by the throat with a ferocity that leaves them spellbound?

Well, for most of us writers, that’s the hard bit and I believe that the development of an idea into a full blown novel is a very personal thing for each writer. I’m one of those writers that likes to let the creativity flow as I write. I don’t do very much plotting ahead once I’ve got my idea. I tend to have a rough idea of the beginning and the ending, but like to work out the route from A to B as I write.

For me, in both my novels (Unquiet Souls, which was my debut and Uncoiled Lies, my sequel) a lot of my plotting was done in my subconscious – in those hours (I’m an insomniac) when I was trying to drift off to sleep, I was thinking creepy thoughts about ‘dump sites’, or how to kill off a character or how to slot in that final quirky little twist at the end that, hopefully, would confound the reader till the very last minute. These scenes were practically written in my mind before I even put pen to paper (or in my case fingertips to keyboard). Round and round they’d spin till I knew I just had to write the scene so I could move on to some other scene. Soon as I’d got it on paper (laptop) my mind was freed up to work on another aspect of my story. For Uncoiled Lies a lot of this plot cogitating was done whilst editing Unquiet Souls.

When I’m doing something mundane like shopping or driving I often have a brainwave. Maybe it’s the fluted music or sheer ennui, but there’s something about a quiet supermarket that provokes my sub conscious mind into full blown flights of fancy about my characters and the things they get up to. I’m also an obsessive eavesdropper and get a lot of ideas from overhearing other peoples’ conversations and then asking myself the ‘what if?’ question… ‘what if it was her brother who was cheating on her best friend?” What if, instead of shouting, she picked up a knife?” “What if he came home early and saw…?” The list is endless and with so many variables.

Currently I have loads of ideas gestating (or festering if you prefer) in the back of my mind and I know that some of them will become fully fledged DI Gus McGuire stories. I’ve already started on number three and have a rough idea of what numbers four and five will be… my subconscious throws up the ideas, I take a note of them and then let them do their thing.

That doesn’t mean everyone has to plot like I do. There is no hard and fast rule. I think the secret is to find what works for you and then go for it. My creative writing tutor, Martyn Bedford, from Leeds Trinity University gave me the best advice. He said ‘Just start writing. Get it all down and then edit.” Once I gave myself the freedom to do that I progressed quickly. But, if you’re a planner then that mightn’t work for you. I have friends who swear by writing a step by step breakdown of their plot and if that works for you, then do it. Only you know how you work best and only you can write your stories.

Make sure to go back and check out the other stops on the tour!