Guest Visit from Talli Roland! Also IWSG, ROW80, NaNo, and Montreal Photos

osting a day early because I've a special treat and I couldn't wait!

Talli Roland is visiting today!

Thank you, Deniz, for hosting me on your blog today!

One of my all-time favourite places in London is the South Bank, where the London Eye, the National Theatre, and the Royal Festival Hall are all located. It's where Mr TR and I met, where we had our first kiss, and where we got married. But apart from those wonderful memories, it's a beautiful spot -- like the London you see in movies. Standing on a walkway by the Thames, you can gaze out across the city, taking in the dome of St Paul's, the Millennium Bridge, and the Tate Modern.

Simply magical.

Mr TR and I re-enacting the proposal. 

Every Christmas we spend in London, a walk along the South Bank is part of the holiday ritual. London is quiet and peaceful; the air crisp and cool. When I decided to write a Christmas novella this year, I knew straightaway where I wanted to set it. Lucy, my main character, takes to the South Bank to mend a broken heart. Where else?

I love these lights - so romantic. 

St Paul's on Christmas Day, complete with Christmas tree. 

If this part of London can't heal your hurt, I don't know what will.

For Lucy, the best Christmas present is forgetting the past. Eager to banish the ghost of Christmas past – when her boyfriend dumped her on the streets of Paris – Lucy is determined to make this the best Christmas ever. She rallies friends and family for an epic celebration that just happens to fall on the same day as her ex’s festive wedding. Furious at how she’s been treated, Lucy can’t help relishing the party v wedding smackdown.  But when the wedding is threatened and only Lucy can help, can she find the spirit inside to save the day, or will this Christmas be even more disastrous than the last?

Available on Amazon UK; Amazon US.

Thanks again Talli! It's always thrilling to have images to go with a book -- I can just picture Lucy standing where you are!

I read Last Christmas a week ago, and couldn't put it down once I'd started. I feel like I know Lucy so well, having followed just a few weeks of her life over her shoulder -- I know romance stories don't work that way, but I really hope there'll be a sequel featuring her and a certain other character. Or maybe they could make a cameo in another book?

The story weaves through Lucy's emotional changes so well that you feel like you're growing along with her, and there are lots of laugh-out-loud moments too. At one point I thought I'd correctly guessed at a reversal that was coming, but boy was I excited by what actually happened!

Just for fun, in honour of the band in the story, The Dirty Mondays, here's my Happy Mondays playlist (last two songs are missing):

Meanwhile, it's November! Which means many things, including Knitting Month, and NaNoWriMo!

Denise figured out how to get a neat word count comparison widget; there it is on the right -->;

And J A Bennett hosted a NaNo blog hop this past weekend, featuring the Spirit of Christmas anthology.

So pretty!

If you're not NaNoing but in the midst of editing or querying, Spencer Hill Press is hosting another Query Contest!

My main goal for this month is to finish my NaNo story, of course, but in honour of ROW80, and the fact that our goals should be manageable and measurable, I came up with a more detailed list for our Forum November Goals check in:

"I'll make a long list too. I like doing this because by the end of the month I've at gotten at least one item done, so I don't feel too badly:
1. angle for more overtime editing at work
2. knit one Christmas blanket and items for at least five upcoming babies
3. do NaNoWriMo!
4. post at least once for the November X
5. keep up with the blogging and book reviews
6. complete beta reads!
7. make some headway on Christmas gifts
8. find a costume for a masquerade party I just got invited to
9. organise something in the house (clothes to donate? toppling TBR pile? all those saved bits of paper?)
10. edit the vignette I wrote last month and submit it somewhere
11. read!
12. organise photos from the last couple of months for blogging and to share with family/friends
13. promote the Whisky Trench Riders concert on 23 November and their SongQuest entry!
14. transfer the newly typed Captive of the Sea to Scrivener and divide it into chapters and print it
15. write another article for Bizim Anadolu"

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group day today!

If my long list above doesn't make you feel better about completing your own projects, then I've got something sweeter: A rainbow!

I submitted the rainbow to the local news site and it appeared on their page!

A few other autumn Montreal images:

View from the first car of my commuter train

Our building lobby on the first day of the Assembly

Sunset!

Early morning...

If you haven't already participated in the blog hop, what's your NaNo wish?

Have you already started reading Christmas or other holiday-themed books? (I'd definitely recommend Talli's!)