Books in My Handbag is delighted to introduce Elaine Jeremiah
Elaine asked me to put her ‘fun and flirty romance’ in my handbag 
Elaine is the author of ‘Teaching Mr Leavis
Besides writing, Elaine works in the HR department of a charity organisation. 
She lives in Bristol with her husband and their dog, Dug. Dug also likes to read Elaine’s books.
Why should people buy your book?
Teaching Mr Leavis
What have the reviewers said about your most recent book?
Why should I put your book in my handbag?
I think my book should be kept in your handbag because it’s: a fun, flirty romance with a real heart. There are many memorable characters who will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading it.
Why did you start writing?
I’ve always enjoyed writing, and obviously with writing it’s primarily about the enjoyment of it. Everything else should come second.
Do you have a special writing place?
Nowadays, I tend to do all my writing and planning on my laptop, so I usually work from home. A couple of times I’ve taken my laptop with me to a café and worked in there, which is fun. Sometimes I’ve even taken it with me on holiday, but not outside the UK. It’s great to write somewhere new.
What are the challenges facing an independent author?
There are many and varied challenges! I think the main one is probably the promotion of novels, as it’s so time consuming, and you must do everything yourself. You get support from other indie authors, family and friends, but that’s about it. Promotion does tend to distract you from your writing, which is ironic really, isn’t it?
How often do you draft the novel and do you have an editor?
I don’t have an editor. I write the first draft, give it an initial edit, then send it out to beta readers for their feedback. I find this so helpful – if you have a lot of different people scrutinising your work, they can often spot things that you’ve missed completely. I do find it completely nerve-wracking when people look at my work for the first time, but it’s definitely worth it. My fourth novel is currently out with beta readers, and I’m looking forward to hearing their responses.
How do you find beta readers and reviewers?
With beta readers, I ask family and friends if they’d like to do it for me. I also use Facebook and in the past my blog. I find reviewers via the internet; usually it’s people I’m in contact with already, such as book blogger. Twitter is very helpful.
How do you use social media to support you and are you a member of any forums?
As mentioned, I use Facebook and Twitter. I have a Facebook author page, and every time I post on that, I link it to my personal page. So that’s really helpful. I also try to tweet regularly and retweet other people. I currently have just over 2000 followers on Twitter, and they’re nearly all writers. I tend to forget just how big Twitter is, because nearly all my focus is on writing, so it feels like quite an intimate world.
I am a member of three Jane Austen fan fiction forums, which I’ve found helpful and interesting as well.
What is the best advice that anyone has ever given you in relation to writing?
Good advice is to write what you know, but I think you can adapt that if you do the research into something you don’t know about: it’s important to make it authentic. My mum has pointed out to me various writers who’ve shown real attention to detail in their narrative. I’m trying to do this by making my writing more descriptive, without overdoing it and making it boring, which doesn’t come easily to me! I prefer writing dialogue.
Where did you get the idea for the new novel and did you plan the entire narrative before commencing?
With ‘Teaching Mr Leavis
Do the characters ever surprise you and take over the story?
I find that the characters evolve as I’m writing, and therefore the overall plot. New aspects of their character pop into my head and they become more real as my stories progress. Going back to beta readers, having people make suggestions about characters really helped. I had some quite strong words from some of my beta readers about my heroine Rebecca, so I tried to change her character a little, make her a bit more mellow!
You have written an impressive number of books. Tell me more about what you have written.
I’ve written four novels now, the fourth is yet to be published. The first is best described as a family saga, the second two are romances and the fourth is also a romance, but with a difference, as it’s a Jane Austen-inspired time travel romance!
A few words about Elaine:
When not working or writing, I enjoy reading, catching up on my favourite TV programmes, going for walks with my husband and the dog and socialising with friends. I’m also very active with my church not far from where we live.
The best of luck to Elaine with her writing journey. I will follower her progress on Twitter and Facebook with great interest.
On the whole people are very accommodating and let me take photographs of their shops, museums, pubs, gardens, houses etc. For instance, the porters on The Grand Hotel, in Brighton, were happy to let me capture the glamorous setting with my camera. I needed the photographs for 
During my adventures, I have learned to smile at the museum curators and carry on. Unfortunately, I was chastised for photographing Churchill’s writing desk. Though, I was delighted to be informed that Churchills would ‘fight me on the beaches’ if I dared to take photos. Another curator pretended not to see me taking a view of the garden from the window. One antique shop owner looked at me suspiciously when I declared, ‘I need pictures of old spades etc to display as murder weapons.’ I intended to use these in a murder story lark developed, on Facebook, with 
Walking through the Beacons, I decided to write a blog about the inspiring environment. I spied an opportunity to throw a stone in the water to represent a big splash. The splash would represent a thought or an idea. Unfortunately, I was chased away from the lake by the people who were fishing for trout. I did ask if they would like me to ‘sling my hook’ but they weren’t amused.
The most frightening experience occurred when I was taking a photo of a street sign for Muddles Green. That day, I was in a muddle with editing so the sign was perfect. I stood in the middle of the quiet country lane to snap the image. A motorbike almost ploughed into me as it raced around the corner. It was worth it when lots of authors connected with the message.
, rose to #1 in the Amazon 
chart and her latest, 
, has just been released. She likes reading, Formula 1, dancing and sunshine.
and/or 
Jessie: I know what happens in the novel and thoroughly enjoyed the exciting sequence of events and the sparkling humour. Can you capture the narrative in fifty words?
S: I work hard. I don’t have the time for airs and graces and my family and friends would probably point them out if I did.
Initially, I complained that it was another rainy day in Wales and it wasn’t worth braving a potential storm. I was happy to admire the colours of the garden, from my writing room, but the writing wasn’t flowing. Finally, I left my handbag at home, retrieved my walking gear and went to the Brecon Beacons. The beep, beep, beep of my phone was left behind as we drove into the heart of the impressive mountain range.
Always one to admire the cloudless blue sky, I was surprised by depth of the grey sky. I had been adamant that I needed the blue sky for some ‘blue sky thinking’, but I was wrong. I needed the reality of a dramatic landscape to chase away the writer’s block.
We stood in the landscape as the colours were dissolved by silver, grey and bronze tones. We discussed how the scene was changing before us, and how the moving clouds were like the curtains opening and closing on the stage. This very real experience made me aware that the weather re-writes the landscape in the same way that a writer changes the shades of meaning in a story.
Holiday adventures…
The plaque was attached to the indistinct Royal Albion Hotel. The sooty coloured plaque indicated that Dickens had lived there and written part of ‘
Dickens teased those ‘
Hungry for more inspiration from Dickens. I searched for the places he had stayed in I found out that Dickens had also stayed in Folkestone. Dickens stayed at Albion Villas, Folkestone and wrote part of ‘
It was like opening a book jacket into a giant book, when I opened the door into ‘
Passing through magical corridor from the main bookshop, I heard a little boy saying, “Wow!” to his mother, as they followed a staircase down into the children’s section.
A gentleman, wearing a white shirt and waistcoat, looked up from his book. “Oh dear!” he declared. “I think there’s more seating upstairs.” he muttered, into his book.
Clearly, this bookshop has been set up by a true book lover who values time to read, chat and eat. The ‘Book-ish’ cake menu has been designed to tempt the reader to stay. I chose The Queen of Hearts’ Bakewell Tarts. ‘
Indeed, I was delighted that Sara Gethin’s book, ‘
My Twitter and Facebook friends will understand my delight when I was handed my treasure in a brown bag that read, ‘BOOKS ARE MY BAG.’ I also discovered that the bookshop opened in the same month I launched my Books in my Handbag Blog.
Feeling relaxed, in our jeans and T shirts, we discussed the merits of the food; each dish looked elegant like a work of art. Much to my husband’s dismay, I started to make notes about the food. The guests on the neighbouring table were intrigued by the notebook. Clearly, I wasn’t a restaurant critic as I was wearing jeans. 
We sipped more of the wine that was so beautifully flavoured with summer fruits that it could have been a soft drink.
More delicious wine was poured into a glass that could happily home several goldfish.
I circled ‘black pudding’ purée several times because I didn’t have my highlighter pen. I do remember that I was offended by the puréed texture but I am a northerner.
Mysteriously, the notebook has splashes of wine and food inside of it but I will keep it as a tribute to the Picasso chef.
Leah, from 
were knocking on my door. Sophie and Jack have arrived in a camper van and they have said that I can borrow it for the journey to France. 
We agreed that the spirit of the woman seems to beckon you. From a distance, the sculpture looks like a projected image – prompting: is she real or imaginary? As you approach, the sculpture is flat – like the silhouette on a stamp. It is a beautiful form that seemed to appeal to women rather than men, on that day. Despite the grey sky, the light was adding a mystical quality that gave the sculpture an air of confidence. What this suggesting something about the modern woman?
I decided that the steps were a sculpture but my husband was sceptical at this point; he had been influenced by our fellow Yorkshire folk. A plaque marked the spot as if to reassure me. It felt as if someone was presenting a hopeful message about the climb. Pardon the pun, but I went a step further and commented that to me they represented the struggle for independent authors. But that was my interpretation at that point in time: I was influenced by my emotions, experience, the weather and, of course, ‘arty farty nonsense’.
I wonder if you would be able to spot the sculptures that instigated our discussions? Would you agree with the interpretations? Did someone deliberately construct a place when art can be read according to mood, weather and other factors? I don’t know the answer to this but invite you to have a look. Perhaps some of the questions should be placed next to the sculptures? Maybe, there will be a sculpture of a handbag in the future, or possibly a sculpture constructed of books.
is an ‘intriguing historical fiction’ based on historical facts that have remained hidden in Holland. My interest was piqued when she told me that she ‘needed to tell this WW2 story for the people of the hidden village.’ Obviously, the novel is on my Reading List but I wanted to find out more about the author and the book.
The Dutch have a word “gezellig” that is an emotion we don’t have a word for. So you can make your house “gezellig” by having lots of table lamps and tealights (strictly no overhead lights). A sociable meal with friends and family is also “gezellig”. My mother also used to say it was “gezellig” whenever I used to pop over for coffee. The Danes have stolen a march on this idea with “hygge”, but I can assure you that I’ve been using “gezellig” long before “hygge” became fashionable!
Patricia Feinberg Stoner is presenting an extract of her award winning book. ‘
I’m so pleased to be able to share 
It was clearly old, very old. It was clearly cobbled together out of what had been two houses. It rose slab-fronted from the street, acres of decaying, yellowish crépis (plaster) bisected by sundry phone and electricity cables. A ridiculous stone staircase flanked by a stunted tree rose ungracefully to a pocket-handkerchief front terrace littered with debris and encrusted with cat droppings.
Patricia and her husband Patrick are spending the summer in their holiday home in the Languedoc village of Morbignan la Crèbe. One hot Friday afternoon Patrick walks in with the little dog, thinking she is a stray. They have no intention of keeping her.
‘
Today, I attended the Bennet household. Alas, Elizabeth was not at home. I was rather shocked to be greeted by her father, Mr Bennet. I did not see a servant.
Finally, he asked the parlour maid to show me into the library. Strangely, every book on the shelves has been penned by a Jane Austen. I was most impressed with a book entitled, ‘
Lost in Austen’s books, I read until the clock struck four and my stomach rumbled. Venturing into the corridor, surprised that the house was silent, I decided to depart. A Miss Austen opened the door and insisted on my company. She informed me that Mr Bennet lives in her imagination, but he had been seen loitering on the doorstop on many occasions.
Amused by my breeches, Miss Austen invited me to take tea with her. She smiled when I explained they are cropped trousers. We sat in a very modest parlour. The maid served tea and a buttered apple tart. Delighted that her books had made me forget time, Miss Austen commented that. ‘…for my own part, if a book is written well, I always find it too short.’
As it is almost the weekend, I have asked Jan Brigden to present an extract from her romance novel, ‘
I am delighted to present ‘
As much as he hated how big-headed it sounded, even to himself, he was used to people staring at him. Fact. He also knew that what had happened back there was in no way premeditated on her part; the deep blush and dip of her head when he’d first spoken to her had told him that. How small she’d tried to make herself appear during the ensuing chaos in reception, standing there nervously pulling on the bottom of her ponytail, looking so desperately sorry.
When Rebecca’s friend Abi convinces her to get away from it all at the fabulous Hawksley Manor hotel in York, it seems too good to be true. Pampering and relaxation is just what Rebecca needs to distract herself from the creeping suspicion that her husband, Greg, is hiding something from her.
Jan is a South London-dwelling all-round book devotee, married to Dave, and one eighth of online-writing group The Romaniacs
’ and ‘
’. Currently, she is working on the frolics and escapes of ‘Mavis and Dot’- need I say more?
My father, Kenneth Sutor, who died twenty six years ago. He introduced his three young children to Italian culture in the 1960’s, when he relocated to Rome to work for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I still have his 1956 edition of Hachette’s World Guide to Italy that he carried in his pocket for our excursions. Every Sunday he would take us to Mass and afterwards treat the family to a slap-up meal in a simple trattoria. Then, out would come his little blue book and we would be guided round the Villa d’Este or the Via Appia Antica, Colosseum, Subiaco, Assisi…He refused to have us penned up in an apartment in the centre of Rome and found us a ramshackle villa on the outskirts of Rome. The garden was stuffed with Roman statues, orange trees and bordered by vineyards and peach groves. How could I, as an impressionable seven year old, fail to fall in love with Italy? He was self-educated. Today he would have enjoyed a university education but his family were not wealthy enough to support him. I remember him often engrossed in a history book, reading glasses perched on the end of his nose.
About the author
We were welcomed with a tray full of bottles to taste. No complaints were heard from me as I wasn’t driving. The only hint of Blighty was the cool breeze that threatened to bring a few drops of rain.
he wine was delicious! We enjoyed the fresh citrus flavours of the white and another had a slightly floral taste. The red wine tasted of berries. My tasting senses were working! According to the experts the Red Reserve 2013 had ‘redcurrants and sense of delicious spice’ while the Recheinsteiner was ‘complex with a great body’: I don’t remember him but I was right about the berries. We also bought some sparkling English wine for Christmas. I did feel a warm glow from the effects of the wine tasting. However, I could walk in a straight line to the car. Feel free to congratulate me on this because I concentrated with all my might! Apparently, I am lined up for an award.
Their first Christmas without Paula. The thought made his heart ache. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he’d made up his mind that, whatever happened, he would try and make it the same as it had always been. For the children’s sake… for all their sakes.
Silent Night is a collection of short stories with a Christmas theme. All thirteen stories have previously been published in national women’s magazines. If you like moving tales with a satisfying ending, then this collection is for you.
About Wendy
’. Diane had brought crusty bread, green and black olives and smoked salmon with cream cheese and horseradish. She was wearing a flowing, bright summery dress and carried a pink leather handbag with a gold clasp.
Diane smiled, took a sip of her cocktail and then searched for her phone. Ruby was sitting beside Diane and sitting on the phone. Diane took the phone and placed her book in front of the dog. Ruby settled down again as if she intended to read the book again. Diane looked at her phone and read some of the Amazon reviews.