Welcome Scribblers. This week I welcome back fellow author Barbara Russell to share her latest novel The Pact of the White Blade Knights. Barbara is an amazing friend and an incredible author from New Zealand. I couldn’t be more pleased to have her back.
Before we learn more about her new book I thought I would have her tell us about a day in the life of Barbara as a writer. And here is what her typical day looks like:
I wake up before 5 am. Yep, it’s not a typo. It’s really 5. I’m an early bird, and the earlier I wake up, the more time I have to write.
After a very quick breakfast, I take the dogs out for their morning walk which usually includes: chasing cats around the neighborhood, fighting against other dogs, and getting soaked in the rain if it’s winter.
Then I change and jump on my bike to go to work while trying to not get killed by morning drivers text-driving (I don’t understand those people), SUVs invading the cycle lane, or simply drivers showing how little they like bikers.
I do my hours at work *whispering* when I can I sneak a peek to my Facebook account to share or like a few posts.
When I get home, I have all the cooking and housework to do. Not fun. There’s a reason why it’s called housework and not house-fun. I take the dogs out for their afternoon walk and feed them before they attack me. If I’m lucky, I have 2-3 hours to dedicate to writing and do some promotion if the dogs don’t feel sick (too gross to talk about it) or something else doesn’t come up (exploding pipes, blocked drains, broken boiler etc…). Then I collapse on the bed to read before asleep.
Now what I didn’t mention is that while I’m doing all these things, I’m plotting, thinking about writing, and rehashing dialog in my head. It speeds things up. So when I sit down to write, I’m faster.
I might be in a meeting, nodding at the right places (hopefully) but I’m really thinking about why my villain is doing what he/she is doing.
It’s like having a double life, and to be honest I often wonder why I do all this. The answer is always the same though. I just like writing. Promoting? Not so much.
I had to learn (still learning) stuff about promoting my books, but it feels like someone told me to learn to do brain surgery in a matter of weeks. Not my thing.
And that’s pretty much it.
Sounds like a long day, but I’m glad to see that you get time to write each day, I’m jealous, of course I’m not willing to get up at 5am to make it happen. I need all the beauty sleep I can get. Now on to Barbara’s newest novel The Pact of the White Blade Knights. Remember, you can always leave questions below I always respond to your questions and comments and I invite my guest back to respond as well. As always, don’t forget to share and like this post. Until next time have a great week.
The Pact of the White Blade Knights Blurb:
London, 1884.
While other twenty-seven-year-old, middle-class women think about rearing children and attending dinner parties, Hazel finds herself unmarried and unemployed.
The stuffy barons of the Royal Archaeologic Society don’t believe a woman can be an archaeologist, so they gave her the sack. Having slapped the leader of the society when he groped her breasts might have something to do with losing her job.
With bills to pay and a stomach to fill, she accepts a position as dealer in ancient artefacts. It’d be her dream job except that her new employer, Tyon Sancerre, has more secrets than an Egyptian tomb and is probably involved with the Whitechapel’s mob.
When he says he needs her to find his long-lost fellow crusader knights, she thinks he’s mad, a rich, handsome, but mad man.
Tyon claims to be a sin-eater, a human turned into an immortal to clean people’s souls from their sins. After he and the other sin-eaters—the knights of the White Blade—were cursed, they were separated and scattered around the world. Alone the sin-eaters don’t hold much power, and with their enemies—the sin-breathers—multiplying and causing wars and famine, the only way Tyon has to find his brothers is through a relic Hazel worked with at the museum.
It’s all poppycock, that’s what she says. But when sin-breathers attack them, a ghost appears to her, and she witnesses wounds healing themselves in a moment, she wonders if her beliefs need to be reconsidered.
And the worst thing? She’s falling in love with an immortal, cranky, too-many-centuries-year-old white knight.
Find it on Amazon here.
About Barabara Russell:
I’m an entomologist and a soil biologist, which is a fancy way to say that I dig in the dirt, looking for bugs. I was a kid when I read The Lord Of The Rings and fell in love with fantasy novels.
When I discovered the cosy mystery, I fell in love with Hercules Poirotand Sherlock Holmes. Then I grew up and . . . Nah, I’m joking. Don’t grow up, folks! It’s a trap.
Where to Find Barbara:
Email her here: russell.barbara.84@gmail.com
Find her on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/barbara-russell
Check her out on Twitter: @brussell84Kiwi
She can be found in two locations on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RussellBarbara84
https://www.facebook.com/BRussell84/
Here is her author page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07HHJGBBX
Her Blog: https://barbararussell.blogspot.co.nz
All-author page is here: https://allauthor.com/profile/brussell/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14108003.Barbara_Russell
Landing page: https://mailchi.mp/f3c0a9bf3544/barbararussell