Poets Cottage

Airport Grooviness

josephinetalepeddler 2 Comments

Today was one of those teacher’s days off. I played Lego with my daughter all day. I am not a Lego lover in any way shape or form. I’ve just reached the final chapter of the first draft of my Currawong mystery and so intensely frustrating to have to stop AGAIN. But my lovely writing mate, Nathan Burrage cheered me up when he sent through this picture of Poet’s Cottage at the airport. How divine to see it presented and looking so grand whilst I sit at home constructing Lego cars. Thank you, Nathan! xx

Sparkles and Jungle Drums

josephinetalepeddler 4 Comments
 

The last week is a sparkle-blasted blur as after all these years Poet’s Cottage finally made it way into bookstores around Australia. It’s been overwhelming (to say the least) to see the reaction already from folk who have not only bought it but are kind enough to post photos of their animals reading it. This lovely photo of charming
Sambhu Canine with his copy is via one of my Facebook friends, Lynn Priestley.
I’ve had quite a few queries from people on where to buy – hopefully this post will cover the selling side. I’m having flashbacks now to my years as a sales assistant on cosmetic floors where I had to stop people cold and try to convince them that ‘Yes, sir, your wife would love this fragrance’ moisturiser, toner, etc). Not the best job for a natural introvert but it provided me with ample people study.
Hopefully if you’re reading this you’re already interested in my book and so I’m not doing the hard sell.
It is most helpful for a writer if their book is bought as quickly as possible. This helps create a buzz around the book and helps ensure that stores re-order rather than return unsold copies to the publishers. It also means that sales are counted on Book Scan. (I’m not very up to date on this thing, but I know it’s crucial.)
And so if you have been even half-way thinking of picking up a copy – it would be appreciated if you get it now and not wait a few years in the hope it will be marked down.

Poet's Cottage next to Kate Forsyth's Bitter Greens

All good bookshops should have copies in stock. I know my local Better Read Than Dead (inner Sydney) should still have signed copies, but after my friends have rushed them they could be running low. Better Read Than Dead do online ordering and if you would like a signed copy, if you request one when you order I’m happy to head into their store and sign it for you. Their link is HERE. Just state at the time who you would like it made out to.

Josephine Pennicott signing at Better Read than Dead

The award-winning and innovative Booktopia also does online ordering and so if you live in an area where there’s no bookshop then they can also send you one. The lovely people at Booktopia put me through my paces this week with Ten Terrifying Questions. If you want to discover why I originally wanted to stake vampires and be a man, then head to this very revealing and fun quiz.HERE
Other outlets like Big W and Target should also have copies in stock. 
If you are broke (don’t worry I’ve been there many times so I understand) but you would still love to support me – please head to your library and request they order you a copy. Library sales are also very welcome to writers in Australia as once a year we receive a cheque for every book loaned out. It’s not huge money for me ( it would be for some authors) but it’s good lipstick money.
And most importantly – please spread the vibes and good word. It is word of mouth that really helps to move books. If you know anyone who enjoys Midsummer Murders, mystery novels, Agatha Christies, the 1930s, Australian Fiction, Daphne du Maurier, Enid Blyton – then please tell them about Poet’s Cottage. If you are in a book-club then suggest it as a possible read if you think it suits their reading agenda. The more the jungle drums beat out there – the more the energy is passed along.
Whether it’s been my daughter’s school principal putting my Sydney Herald newspaper up in the school with WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT and requesting parents to buy the book from their local bookstore, or
mothers doing the school run who have ran up to me clutching copies for me to sign; countless emails from friends on the internet who have rushed the stores and shown such genuine enthusiasm for the story.
I’m gobsmacked by your vibes and love this week. Thank you also to LOVETHATBOOK on the Gold Coast for making Poet’s Cottage their book of the month. And to the Tasmanian Mercury for doing their lovely spread and for giving me the cover page of the books section.
The early reviews have been wonderful. I’m so happy that people love the fact it’s set in Tasmania and are enjoying the characters so much and becoming creeped out. I take my hat off to the wonderful
Karen Brooks who wrote the most beautiful review I could have imagined on her Good Reads. I shall post this with her permission in my reviews section as it was so insightful and thrilled me so much.
This week I start my radio interviews. I’ve never spoken on the radio in my life so looking forward to a new adventure.
My beautiful Magic Hat Bookglams organised a little party for me at Better Read than Dead. The Great Gatsby was slightly ignored that night as we celebrated Poet ’s Cottage and my friend, Manisha Jolie Amin’s book, Dancing to the Flute which also hit the bookshelves this week. More on that later. And there may possibly – thanks to my Hatters – be an event/launch book for Poet’s Cottage so watch this space if you are in Sydney and would like to attend. Being the no-fuss, no-frills person I am I wasn’t planning on having a launch but the Hatters are insistent. There’s no arguing with my Bookglams.
If I could thank you all with as much beauty and style as Elizabeth Taylor does in this clip following then I would.
Thank you for making a week so sparkly, joy-filled and celebratory.
And thank you also, if you managed to make it through this post. One last thing – Mother’s Day is approaching and Poet’s Cottage would make a beautiful gift for the important woman in your life. Receiving a book wrapped in brown paper and tied with string is a magical thing. Here’s one of the important early complimentary copies I sent out to an important woman to Poet’s Cottage.
If you don’t want to buy my book then I urge you to buy ANY book and wrap it to give at Mother’s Day. As my agent Selwa Anthony loves to say, ‘Let us never forget the joy of turning the printed page.’
x x

Aussie Book Review: Poet’s Cottage by Josephine Pennicott

josephinetalepeddler 2 Comments

Early reviews so far have all been wonderful for Poet’s Cottage. I’m so thrilled to see other readers enjoying my characters and my Tasmanian mystery! This weekend I’m definitely going to create a review section on my Blog! Thank you to Aussie Book Review for this review. I’m so chuffed to read the following :

 

Poet’s Cottage is a ghostly mystery which spans three generations and covers themes of mental illness, infidelity, childhood abuse and the dramas of a small town in the 1930’s.

 

In the author’s note, Josephine says she set out to create an English-style mystery but with an Australian setting and I think she captured this perfectly. When I read this, I felt as captivated as I did when I read Sara Foster’s ghostly mystery Beneath the Shadows- which I also loved.

 

Highly recommended!

Aussie Book Review: Poet’s Cottage by Josephine Pennicott.

A House with a Tale to Tell

josephinetalepeddler 11 Comments

One day I will organise myself to do a proper media section for my Blog. But at the moment I’m still doing publicity for Poet’s Cottage and finishing off the first draft of my Currawong book. For now, here is a peek at the article that appeared on my in Sydney’s Sunday Herald.  If you press on this link HERE, you can read it. Thank you to my writing friend, Richard Harland who owns a scanner and knows what to do with it. xx

A House with a Tale to Tell Josephine Pennicott in Herald

A long playing record for the weekend.

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Another busy week doing publicity for Poet’s Cottage and still trying to finish the first draft of the Currawong book.

This has to be my favourite graffiti in Newtown yet. My friend snapped this photo for me today and no – I didn’t do it.

I’ve so enjoyed meeting journalists like Blanche Clark (Herald Sun, Melbourne) and Steve Meacham (Herald, Sydney). One of the biggest surprises of the publicity part of writing was the pleasure of meeting people whose names I’ve seen in print for years. Not that I met Blanche in person – but I know what my tired brain is trying to say. I am still being woken nightly by my daughter who has developed a terror of her school-hat at night.

For my Tasmanian readers, the Sunday Tasmanian will be running a piece on Poet’s Cottage and the Tasmanian influences behind it this Sunday.

Tonight I am off to see the ever beautiful Jane Birkin sing. I’ve always been partial to this duet, Je Taime… Mon Non Plus she did with Serge Gainsbourg and have thought I would like it played at my funeral just for a change of pace. My god they both look so beautiful in this video. I read that it was rumoured by the media that Serge had sex with Jane (and his previous girlfriend Brigitte Bardot) when he recorded it. He apparently quipped to Birkin, ‘Thank goodness I didn’t or it would have been a long playing record.’

Enjoy your weekend. May it be filled with amorous creativity, passion, beauty, and adventures. xx

A Different Light

josephinetalepeddler 2 Comments

I’m not the world’s biggest Marilyn Monroe fan but for some reason I seem to own five rather large coffee-table MM books which I can never bring myself to cull because I love looking at her jewellery, gowns and make-up. I caught the movie My Week With Marilyn with Art School Annie last week and thought Michelle Williams did a very good job portraying such an iconic figure.

I admire Marilyn because she came from a humble background (like moi) but was always trying to improve herself. Unlike the stars today who often brag about being dumb, Marilyn desperately wanted to be taken seriously. She sought out the company of intellectuals and writers. I feel so dispirited at times with the ‘skank’ culture of today.

I love Marilyn for her book collection of over 400 books and because books were such a refuge and joy to her.

I admire her strength, her insecurity, her tenacity and her love of animals as well. There’s a blog HERE that covers Marilyn’s love of books better than I have time to do.

This weekend displayed to me how much can change in a year. Last year my daughter’s party was about tulle, tiaras and pink princesses. This year we had Goth-painted nails, monsters, black balloons, ghouls and creepy Monster High dolls.

I have a busy week of doing interviews for Poet’s Cottage and trying to nail the first draft of Currawong Manor. Here is a link to another early review HERE which I loved for Poet’s Cottage. It still seems so surreal that people are actually reading the book I spent so many years upon.  I shall have to organise myself to add a review section to my tatty, scatty website.

After the party. Daisy and I walk home in Sydney light.

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Enjoy your week and happy reading. xx