• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Now
  • Jo’s Journal
  • My Writer Within
  • Sign Up Page
  • Contact Me
  • Books
You are here: Home / Jo’s Journal

Jo’s Journal

Hello April

April 1, 2020 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

jo lamb author

Well, since we’ve been on lockdown here in Italy since March 10 – three weeks now – I’ve not been anywhere. Only to the shops, where I dash in and out again donned in gloves, mask and misted glasses grab what I need and dash out again. But then, you all know what this feels like now, right? We’re all in this together and I’m not sure that we’ll ever go back to the world as we knew it. Maybe that’s not a bad thing… so

Where I’ve been @

@The Desk there’s been a lot in the news about now is the time to get all those things done that you haven’t had time to do before… well for me, working at home has been the norm since 2007. But not since the earthquakes have I found it so difficult to concentrate. The constant need to check the news has been stifling. So I’ve done a ‘List Of Everything’ and am trying to tick off one each day. Other than that my muse seems to be in isolation.

@The Reading Table Same kind of news with my reading, which is always affected when I’m distracted and anxious. It’s not helped by the fact that I hate reading on the Kindle but we have very little option for print books here. I’ve just finished The Strawberry Thief by Joanna Harris. I’ve loved all her stuff and this one didn’t disappoint, though it seemed a little familiar as it’s a run on from Chocolat. Must watch the film again 😛

@The Goggle Box There has been a lot of opportunities to watch stuff we might never have had the access to. Opera was streaming from New York and watched two of my favourites, La Boheme and La Traviata. This week, the National Theatre start streaming some shows which we’re going to have a look at. We watched Bird Box, of all films… about some alien virus which made people suicidal, perhaps not the best choice and started to watch Game of Thrones again from the start. I’ve read all the books but not managed to get through the TV series. So I have done a lot of sofa surfing, but in my defence the weather has been cold, grey, wet and we even had our first snow, just as Spring arrived!

@Home Well, that’s where we are for the foreseeable. A family get together over here in May has been cancelled and so I won’t get to see my son and grandchildren until this is all over… I’m finding that most  difficult to accept. At least with the earthquakes we could run away if needed! The animals continue to keep us well occupied and life would be so much more difficult without them. The best news we received this month is that Simon is to welcome his fifth grandchild into the clan in October. That will make seven between us and something positive to look forward to!

Here is Freya, our small donkey sized Italian sheepdog. This was taken one Spring some years ago, just after the daff’s I’d planted had started to poke their little way through!

freya

 

Filed Under: Writing

Writing Tool Box March 2020

March 25, 2020 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

I wish I had found a vaccine for my toolbox this month. On day 16… or is it 17 of lockdown here in Italy and I’ve found it very difficult to concentrate. In fact, I’ve fallen off my writing stool completely. And this morning we woke to snow. I know it’s Spring but it seems that Mother Nature has a plan.

  • Learn a Language – Easy Italian News: I’m always trying to improve my Italian, which is difficult when we’re on lockdown. Listening is one of the elements I struggle with. This does what it says on the tin, is broadcast four times a week and is relatively short and topical.

  • Writing Competitions – Patsy Collins regularly posts about competitions, usually related to words – which is the theme of her blog. A very useful site. Remember to comment and let her know that you are there!

  • Feedback on Writing – Critique Circle – is a large community of writers of all genres. Amongst other resources and forums you can give and receive feedback on writing – it’s credit based so a very fair system.

Ciao for now…

JoAnna Lamb

Filed Under: Writing, Writing Toolbox

My Favourite: Recipe

March 18, 2020 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

JoAnna Lamb

Just because I’m a writer doesn’t mean I don’t love to cook. And food treats can be a big motivation when you’re trying to get things done. Since moving to Italy in 2007, I discovered some of the things I missed about my home country, often involved food. Don’t get me wrong, Italy has some of the greatest cuisine, it’s just those comfort type foods or more international dishes, that I took for granted before.

I’ve also been more adventurous with cooking Italian style and now often make my own pasta rather than buy it pre cooked or dried. The Italians like to take their time with their food. There is no ‘fast’… though pizza is often thought of in that way.

Today I give you… the good old English Crumpet! I love it hot from the grill and slathered with butter. Sometimes with a lick of Marmite or a poached egg… but mainly butter. As I’m not a make it up myself kind of cook, I use the internet a lot to find good recipes and keep them in an app called, The Recipe Keeper funnily enough!

The link to the best recipe I’ve found for crumpets which are light and fluffy is at The Spruce Eats. You have to be brave with adding the liquid and add as much as you can without it getting too thin. It’s a matter of practice. I’ve just about perfected mine as you can see in the picture. And they are so much better than shop bought! Give them a go… you’ll be surprised.

English Crumpets

 

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: english crumpets, joanna lamb, recipes

Snippets From. . .My Work In Progress

March 11, 2020 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

I’m spending a lot of my social media time over at Instagram. It’s been my favourite platform for more than a year now and I’ve built up some friendships there. I take part in regular monthly author challenges and this week one of the prompts was #manuscript monday where you share snippets from  your WiP. So though I might share it here and make a regular ‘snippets slot’…

I’ve used a very small section from my NaNo 2019 project which I’ve loosely entitled, The Rainbow Chronicles. I’m planning a series of stories, probably seven in total and the reasons for that I can’t share at the moment! Mostly because I’m still not sure of my approach. I’m very excited about this project. The main character has been haunting my dreams for a long time now and it’s getting time to weave her story. Her name, at the moment, is Rainbow. As you can see, this is all a work in progress.

So enough of my babblings, here is the excerpt…

 

 

Filed Under: Excerpt, Writing

Wolf Moon: Out Now!

March 8, 2020 by JoAnna Leave a Comment

Wolf Moon

My first fantasy novella, Wolf Moon is released today in e-book format. It’s also the birthday of my most beautiful granddaughter, Caitlin, to whom I’ve dedicated this book.

I’ve been working for the past year on making a space for my new writing persona, and this will be the first of many fantasy based stories. I have so many ideas, it’s wonderful to escape into a world of my own making and create characters that I both love and hate at the same time! I’m already working on the second ‘Moon’ based book which I plan to publish towards the end of the year.

Three Moons
Two Worlds
One Legacy

Xanthe has no idea what a Moon Princess is never mind The Book of Words.
All Xanthe has ever wanted is to meet the mother who abandoned her at the Wishing Well Centre. On the fifteenth anniversary of that date she finds herself up a tree talking to a white peacock and receives her first ever present. A map of portals.
Aided by her best and only friend, Kit, she arrives on the Kingdom of Selene. The Season of the Three Moons is nigh and as the Moon Princess, Ayla she must free the Moon People from the evil grasps of the dryad, Toovah.
Will Xanthe be able to complete the challenges set for her and defeat the evil Toovah? Does she want to? And will she finally meet the mother she dreams of?

Wolf Moon

 

Filed Under: Publications Tagged With: fantasy ebook, fantasy fiction, fantasy novella, fantasy writing, joanna lamb, wolf moon

Hello March

March 4, 2020 by JoAnna 2 Comments

JoAnna Lamb

If you read my last post you know I’ve been re-thinking my blog. I’ve kind of missed it to be honest and I had a great response to the post so it’s renewed my confidence. I’ve had a bit of a website spring clean and updated things a little and am planning more posts.

In the mean time, here is a potted history of last month @JoAnna Lamb…

Where I’ve Been @…

@ The Desk as I said I’ve been busy editing and proofing Wolf Moon and it’s finally finished. Publication date is the 8th March (yes, Mimosa day but also the birthday of my granddaughter to whom the book I’ve dedicated the book). Check out my Library for more information and a link to buy. I’ll be concentrating my marketing efforts on Amazon ads.

@The Reading Table For a large part of last year, I struggled with reading books. I’m not sure why, but I’m back on form now. I’ve signed up for the Goodreads Reading Challenge (you can follow me here and I’ll return the favour). Just finished Book 1 of The Witcher series, I know it’s on TV but I wanted to read the book first before seeing it. I’ve just begun Blackbirch, by K.M.Allen an author I met on Instagram.

@The Goggle Box We always watch more TV in the winter months, but this year  has been different, with the Spring-like temperatures and sunny days. I’m still in hibernation! However, Sundays we dedicate to a film (when the Rugby Six Nations or F1 isn’t on). Last month we watched The Rocket Man. Loved it and I was singing along to all the songs. In fact it’s the second time I’ve watched it!

@Home Our menagerie continues to keep us entertained. Our latest arrivals Bubble and Squeak are very cheeky with their feline elders but tend to get away with it! We have seven cats, three dogs and three chickens at the last count. Wouldn’t be without them…

@Other Places I continue to frequent Instagram, my favourite platform and have met some wonderful writers and readers. If you have an account, do let me know so I can follow you. I post weekly quotes and writing prompts, amongst other images, mainly cats and dogs! Here is a favourite, featuring, Pootie our earthquake kittie, who could just be the one snoozing in the chair in this posts graphic above!

JoAnna Lamb

 

Filed Under: dear diary

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 11
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Follow Me!

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

THANKS FOR VISITING MY SITE!

I hope you have found it interesting. Your privacy is important to me. You can find the privacy policy here and the cookie policy here.

Thanks JoAnna

Copyright © 2021 · Author Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.