Happy New Year and Things to look forward to in 2018

I know I am not alone is saying 2017 has not been an easy year and as I sit here on a cold bleak 2nd of January I cannot help but wonder if 2018 will be any better.  But I am a great believer in optimism - I hold a strange mystic conviction that come midnight on the 31st December a magic wand wipes away the mistakes and sorrows of the old year and the new day dawns bright and shiny and unspoiled. Every January I say 'This is the year I shall lose weight, write a record breaking best-seller, find the perfect work/life balance.' 

Sadly, although I have many things to be thankful for, once again none of this quite came to be so I have decided to make 2018 my year instead. Happily, there are already a few things in the works that should help it along.

I am glad to say that the final book of The Beaufort Chronicles, The King's Mother is doing well, the reviews that have come in are good, encouraging me to begin another set much later during the reign of Henry VIII ... but more on that later. All my books are available for your kindle or in paperback. You can purchase The Beaufort Chronicles here.

As I type this the final edits are being completed on an audio version of The Beaufort Bride, with Books two and three soon to follow. I am delighted to be working with Tessa Petersen who is doing a great job of the narration and will soon be moving on to the next books in the trilogy. Also in the pipeline is an audio production of The Kiss of the Concubine; a story of Anne Boleyn. This new enterprise will open up my work to a wider audience so if you have friends or family who prefer audio, do let them know.

My other big news is that I shall shortly be joining fellow authors Annie Whitehead, Hunter S. Jones, Jessica Cale, Maryanne Coleman, Gayle Hulme, Emma Haddon Wright and Dr Beth Lynne in launching our anthology Sexuality and its Impact on History - a collection of scholarly essays examining the truth behind romantic and sexual relationships which have shaped British history. You can read more about it on Hunter S Jones' webpage by clicking here. The book is to be published in March by Pen&Sword Books and is available to pre-order here.

My contribution to the anthology concerns the persistant rumours of a romantic attachment between Anne Boleyn and the poet, Thomas Wyatt. I shall be examining some of his wonderful poetry that holds so many teasing possibilities.

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,

But as for me, helas, I may no more.

The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame. 

I shall be blogging about this further during the coming months. in the meantime, have a wonderful New Year full of laughter and company and, of course, good books to read.

www.judithmarnopp.com
author.to/juditharnoppbooks

Belated New Year Greetings

After a difficult end to 2014 I had some hope that 2015 would be kinder. So far, not much has changed. I have been battling with health issues for some time now and it is wearing. I bury myself in  work and try to ignore the niggling little issues but sometimes it overwhelms me. Not that I am suffering with anything dreadful, just a troublesome thyroid condition but I have never dealt with illness very well. My new year's resolution is to beat this thing, keep it holed up in the corner and get on with my life.

Progress on A Song of Sixpence is going well. Second draft complete, it has been through the hands of several beta readers and I am now tidying it up before sending it off for a proper edit. All being well it should be on the shelves by the end of March.

When I write I am always aware that most of the characters in my books were real people. I owe them some respect. That is why I study each person in turn and, although it is fiction I am producing, I try never to demonise or belittle, or trivialise their thoughts and actions. 

I am about to embark on a series of blogs about the characters you will meet within the pages. Elizabeth of York, her husband King Henry VII, the character we know as Perkin Warbeck. I may even get to grips with the king's mother, Margaret Beaufort. Henry VIII turns up too, as a small boy. I wrote a blog about him for Layered Pages last year that concentrates on the young Henry as opposed to the man he became. You can read it here, if you haven't all ready. http://layeredpages.com/2014/07/17/my-guest-author-judith-arnopp/

If there is anyone in Elizabeth of York's story that you'd like me to cover, just mention it in the comments and I will do my best.

So, again I apologise for not being around too much lately. Be assured I am still working hard, I am just finding things a bit difficult just now. I am so very grateful for all your support; you allow me to earn a living doing the thing I love. Thank you and may you all have a fabulous New Year in which all your dreams come true.

Watch this space.

Below are links to the kindle versions of my novels but all are available in paperback. For more information and historical articles visit my webpage: www.juditharnopp.com

Buy The Winchester Goose

Buy Intractable Heart

Buy The Kiss of the Concubine

Buy The Forest Dwellers

Buy The Song of Heledd

Buy Peaceweaver

A return to normality

Well, all that fuss and its over in a trice! Our festivities were pleasantly dull, it was nice to see my grown up children all at on table, nice to eat so much chocolate without feeling guilty, nice to have a new shiny laptop to fill with fabulous novels but so very, very nice that things can now go back to normal!

Most of all I am looking forward to the resumption of my writing group and long for enough peace to get on with writing The Forest Dwellers. I have done little to it in the past two months but there are ideas popping into my head all the time.
The story so far: Aelf's family have been evicted from their forest home to make way for the King's hunting ground. The strangely beautiful Alys has made a home with them and her presence unintentionally brings discord between the brothers. Aelf and Alys run foul of Prince Richard and during a flight across the forest the king's son meets an early death. Knowing they cannot return home, the family seek refuge with other outlaws in the depths of the New Forest and prepare their fighting skills to drive the Normans from their lands. A battle and a raid on the camp see an end to many of Aelf and Alys' friends and Alys makes a shocking discovery. They are taken prisoner, set to work as slaves in the nearby Norman castle until Alys' beauty catches the attention of a Norman baron. More excitement to follow!

It promises be a busy year. I hope to promote Peaceweaver and sell as many copies as possible, seek out some book fairs etc. and continue with on-line promotions. The feed back on Peaceweaver has been very gratifying; the biggest complaint being that it is keeping people awake long into the night.

Happy New Year to all and may it be a healthy one, prosperous and full of book sales!