Hi all I will be moving my blogging over to my Joanne Hill author website.. While I am keeping both names for now in my writing, Maddie Summers and Joanne Hill, I am winding down this blog and also the Maddie Facebook, so I only need to look after one.  Here's the Joanne blog: https://joannehillblog.blogspot.com/

 Just to let you all know, I'm taking a break from posting here and on Facebook for a bit. I'll still send out my newsletter every few months, and of course I'll be plodding along on my new book.

Almost the end of NO NEWS SEPTEMBER There was a bit of news that was noticed. It was not as Pure as in previous years, but  what I did notice doing different this time was just not going on the socials as much, or even on the internet as much. Bad for the writing, of course, although nothing stopping me using a pen and a pad! I remember when I first came up with the idea for the Bluebell Road series, it was post Covid and I felt like some old school comfort reading which was where I came up with the idea for the series. At first, I considered setting it in the 1980s before the internet when looking at fashion meant magazines. But I didn't really want to do that, so I set it in these times but there is quite a bit of old fashioned-ness about the stories, and the girls, but I like that about them. Point being that although I am not addicted to any device at all, unlike several friends, omgosh, I still think I can back off a bit more. EG keep my phone to the essential apps. Resist the...

I have been reading Now and Forever , Lydia and William's story, the third Bluebell Road novel. Why am I reading one of my own books?  It's just to get some of the facts straight as Lydia's romance leads on to Clarissa's story and I wanted to make sure I knew what everyone was doing. Where they were and how far away Christmas was. Details! I am really enjoying the story and have decided I need to get my butt into gear and get them in print. But I still have a long road ahead with Clarissa's story, am not even half way through, but I do remain on deadline.

A bit of a fail this past week due to some big big news that hid the headlines for us New Zealanders. As in, when I saw the news, accidentally on one of those pages that pops up like Yahoo or MSN, I was immediately running to a news website for the latest. I guess it defeats the purpose of giving up the news if I do that, but this was huge news about a situation that had gripped a lot of New Zealanders as to the craziness of it. A father had taken off to the bush with his kids and had been there, evading police, for four years, and no-one knew where he was. So that this situation had resolved, was huge news. But now its back to No News September...     

  A week of little progress. Maybe a lowly one thousand words. Distractions, work, and a day off work feeling utterly blah. Headaches. In other words... life. I blame hormones. But I have taken some leave from the day job to try and crack into it so that at the end of the week I hope to have a very tidy, say, 15 thousand added to the story. However, I still remain within the time frame I wanted if I can really do some blitz writing this week. In the meantime, I post below a very raw (ie unedited, possibly error-riddled)  bit of the first draft.   CLARISSA BARTLEY McCall studied the children and their families as they laughed and smiled and stood in awe at the huge, world famous in London, display. The Bartley’s Christmas display. Their display. She was tired, so tired, but she was happy. This made her happy. Next to her, Nick said, “It still amazes me how something like this, something our grandfather came up with all those years ago can make everyone look so ha...

Feeling pretty good on the news fast. Pretty good indeed. I went out with friends and they discussed something in the news briefly but it was very brief, I think it was to do with Putin and Korea and China, I don't really know.  I glimpsed a newspaper but cannot tell you what the headline was. I can't say that in the absence of reading news (which is really in my case more about headlines and websites, and just looking at utter crap on the internet pretending to be news) that I have achieved greatness. Its more personal satisfaction in not knowing stuff and not exposing myself to images and stories that I'd rather not see or read. Which is very satisfying indeed!

I'm up to 15,000 words on the story. In other words, it is going well.    I had no plot but as I've progressed I've got an idea for a plot. As it is a Christmas story, I have to remember that there is Christmas stuff to include, too. That's the fun bit. The book is set in London and I've never been to London, let alone at Christmas, so fun-times in the research.   I was on the Harrods department store website and as I was looking through their Christmas items, I happened across their Christmas bear and I thought...of course. The Bartley's Department store needs a Christmas Bear. I have no idea how I will incorporate it but there will be bear, that you can buy from the store, and he will be called Bart (Bartley) Bear.    My aim for this story is to finish it around the 50,000 word mark on this first draft, then I send it to my reader for an initial appraisal. Once they have yayed or nayed it, I go over it, flesh it out, delete, generally I add more because I tend...

It is here. No News September.  The month that is peculiar only to me and would have sounded better if it had been No News November for the alliteration. But it just happened to be around this time, a few years back, that I felt I needed to clear my head and not read news, so September it is. Plus I have a graphic so I am primed. And kind of excited to see how it goes. It went very, very well last year. So much so I thought I might do it forever but I slipped. No News September! Where I attempt to avoid the news and if I do find myself slipping, ie doom-scrolling, I hope to realise what I am doing, stop it at once! and do something else.  What is even better about No New September is it will give me more time to think about my new book, since I am not... Watching the news Reading the news Scrolling the news Listening to the news. Getting distraught by the news. Getting outraged by the news. When I'm waiting for the bus, instead of scrolling, I can ponder my book. If I have to ...

 Last September I did No News September. For the month, I avoided the temptation to look at the news.  I managed it quite well. Didn't read the newspaper at work, or listen to the radio, or if the news was on the TV at home,  I walked away. Yep, I managed it quite well.  I was inspired by re-reading a particular book I'd found in the library, "Stop Reading The News."  Written by a journalist, he gave up the news and felt so much better for it.  Here is the post in 2024 where I talk about giving up the news. https://maddiesummersauthor.blogspot.com/2024/08/ive-decided-to-give-up-news.html  And here is a post I wrote after "No News" was over. https://maddiesummersauthor.blogspot.com/2024/10/no-news-september-is-maybe-no-news.html  So this September I will do it again. I need to re-read the book for inspo, but I'm excited to be doing No News September for 2025!.  

 A chapter has been written! In fact, more than a chapter, I'm 8000 words in to this story, over the past two days. I'd planned on more but ended up going out with a friend yesterday. I'd actually suggested we go out in the morning so I could get home around mid-day, knuckle down in the afternoon and write heaps, and I did get a bit done. I then went back and read over what I'd written and liked it. I hope to finish this first draft on around 50,000 words, and when that 50k is done, and all the story is down, then I go back over it, and flesh it out and make it better. I'm thinking I might even drag out one of the Christmas cups to get even more in to the Christmas mood as I write A Bluebell Road Christmas.   

I've started my newest book and I thought I would blog here about the writing process and how its going. Besides, that would be a good motivator as well to keep on track, inbetween my day job and everything else that might crop up in this thing we are in known as LIFE!! The book is... A BLUEBELL ROAD CHRISTMAS It is the fourth in the Bluebell Road series, which has been centered around the flatmates on Bluebell Road, in London. By the end of book three, Julia, Katie and Lydia have all been partnered up, and they still live at the flat. To have another book in the series, how does that work because I want the protagonist to live in the flat too. Enter Ethan Black. When I wrote the first book, I had an idea for two side characters, Clarissa Bartley and Ethan. Ethan works on the Bartley's department store Christmas display and it is inferred he's had a bit of a thing for Clarissa Bartley who along with her brother Nick run the posh store in central London. Clarissa is also mar...

I created a page in my Junk Journal on account of my recent birthday.  I do like this hobby. I find this so therapeutic and just as therapeutic are watching the videos of my two favourite Junk Journal people, Rebecca Hoot and Leah of Thrifty Day. Sometimes a video from these two ladies just hits the spot. Recently, one of my beloved cats died, and the next day, I was just so blah blah blah, out of sorts, sad, blah blah blah. So I watched one of Rebecca's videos, and it helped to switch my mind away from poor Bobbie. Anyhoo, below is a bit of the pages I did with some of my birthday treats. Notice the Licorice Allsorts. My favourite treat. And if you're wondering why there are some My Little Pony pictures in there, its because I bought a My Little Pony magazine, for colour and fun for my journal. Not just for the kids, people. Not just for the kids!!  

 Happiness is a lasagne in the oven. I haven't made one in ages but it felt like lasagne weather. And happiness is the RELIEF of finishing off a work project I'd been dithering with for months, ie procrastinating and extending the deadline. Terrible me! But wonderful feeling, having finished it. Just wonderful.  And pottering along with life in general. Trying to stay well. Staying well is the best reason to be happy!  

First in series...! Free This Weekend!! Click the pic!

This year I've really been getting into the Formula One. It began about this time last year when I was staying with my brother and he's been big on motor racing since forever and so we watched Monaco together on the tv. So I followed the rest of the 2024 season and I'm following it this season. One of the things that impresses me are the women who now work in motor racing.  I tell you, if I had my time over again, I'd go hard on science and do engineering and work in F1. I find it just so fascinating. And the speed. Oh my gosh, the speed, it is manic. I can't even begin to imagine the life style of travelling the world like they do, being I am a home bod who looks forward to coming home from work every day and often having weekends when I don't even leave the house.  I also have not got my head around most of it but that doesn't matter. It is just so good to watch. Plus my favourites are doing well, and may they continue to do well for the rest of the season...

I was thinking about what drew me to writing the Bluebell Road series and it was, quite simply, getting some books online during the Covid lockdowns. Actual print books. I read an old Betty Neels, who for those who have never heard the name, was an author for Mills and Boon way back. She wrote very gentle romances with a heroine who often worked in a hospital or cared for people, such as elderly relatives, and who met the strong, heroic doctor (often from Holland, as her own husband I understand was Dutch.) The Betty Neels stories were very much the same in terms of plot and character, but there was something about them that was just the perfect read. The comfort read.  That's when I got the idea to write a series about three friends, sharing a flat in London, all not looking for romance in the slightest. Julia had broken up with her boyfriend who had led her along and had better things to do. Katie had been dumped by her fiance: he left her for her best friend, her bridesmaid, whi...

 I am so pleased to announce that THE GABARDI MEMOIR The third book in the Gabardi series is here!! It is exclusive to AMAZON and is enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited programme. Will helping old boyfriend Alberto Gabardi help Charlotte navigate the worst year of her life? Or will it only make it worse. When editor, Charlotte Appleton, agrees to help Alberto Gabardi with a family history memoir, she soon realises she has underestimated one thing: that after all these years, her feelings for him are still there. Her five-year marriage is over, she's still grieving the devastating loss of her mother. and her work life is under pressure. One of her authors is so late submitting her new manuscript that Charlotte fears for her job. Heading to London to help Alberto means she can track down her author for the manuscript, while helping an old friend out. Except for the disturbing shock of realising her feelings for Alberto are still there. Alberto Gabardi is intent on writing the ...

 Only a few sleeps to go until THE GABARDI MEMOIR They're former lovers, who come together to work on a project. He is troubled. She is grieving. But it seems that old feelings resurface - or did they ever really go away in the first place, in spite of all the years inbetween? To buy details coming soon...  

  The Gabardi Memoir is having its final proof rood and then it will be released THIS MONTH!   Yay, pop open the champagne and whip up a cake to celebrate! Book Three in the series. Wow. When I wrote the first one I had the idea of making sure that Alexi had brothers, in case I wanted it to be a series rather than just a standalone, and here they all are. Alexi, Angelo and Alberto. The Gabardi Brothers. In fact, I wrote the first one during a lockdown when I had already booked in annual leave from work and we were told, we still had to take it. Even though we couldn't go anywhere. Bloody brilliant, I thought. A week to do nothing except see if I can finish the first draft of this book that I wrote the first and only chapter for ages ago. This was truly amazing, thought I, and I would NEVER get this opportunity ever again. I couldn't go anywhere, see anyone, do anything.  And so for that week I wrote the book and finished it. So what is it about? When Alberto Gabardi decid...