November 2019 - Lynn Bryant’s Writing with Labradors

29th November 201926th December 2019

Jolabokaflod 2019: Free books for Christmas

Jolabokaflod 2019 is intended as a gift to my readers, old and new and is a regular Christmas feature at Writing with Labradors

What is the Jolabokaflod?

In Iceland there is a tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the evening reading which is known as the Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood,” as the majority of books in Iceland are sold between September and December in preparation for Christmas giving. At this time of year, most households in Iceland receive an annual free book catalog of new publications called the Bokatidindi. Icelanders pore over the new releases and choose which ones they want to buy.

The small Nordic island, with a population of only 329,000 people, is extraordinarily literary. They love to read and write. According to a BBC article, “The country has more writers, more books published and more books read, per head, than anywhere else in the world. One in ten Icelanders will publish a book.”

There is more value placed on hardback and paperback books than in other parts of the world where e-books have grown in popularity. In Iceland most people read, and the book industry is based on many people buying several books each year rather than a few people buying a lot of books. The vast majority of books are bought at Christmas time, and that is when most books are published.

Jolabokaflod at Writing with Labradors

The idea of families and friends gathering together to read before the fire on Christmas Eve is a winter tradition which appeals to me. For the past few years I have celebrated my own version of the Jolabokaflod with my readers, by giving away the e-book versions of some of my books on kindle on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It’s my way of saying thank you to all my readers and hello to any new readers out there.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all from Blogging with Labradors.

For more history, humour, fiction and Labradors why not follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Medium.

For excellent blog posts and stories throughout December, why not check out the Historical Writers Forum Blog Hop on Facebook and like their page.

The Books

An Unconventional Officer - love and war in Wellington’s army

Free on Amazon Kindle from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day

An Unconventional Officer (Book 1 of the Peninsular War Saga)

A Regrettable Reputation (Book 1, Regency Romances)

The Reluctant Debutante (Book 2, Regency Romances)

A Respectable Woman (A novel of Victorian England)

A Marcher Lord (A novel of the sixteenth century Anglo-Scottish borders)

24th November 201924th November 2019

Blogging with Oscar

“Blogging with Oscar! OMG, OMG I’m so excited! Finally, after all this time, she’s letting me have my very own guest post on Writing with Labradors! What do I do, what do I say? I’ve got so much to talk about, I have so many thoughts, and it’s making me run round and round and round and round….. JOEEEEEY!!!!”

“Calm down, Oscar. It’s just a blog post, no need to explode. Come and sit down and I’ll talk you through it. What have you got there?”

“It’s a book-thing. I found it on the sofa, it was just lying there, and I thought that’s going to taste great, so I…”

“Oh no, you need to put that down, lad, she’ll go mental. You know what she’s like about her books, and that one looks like it’s got a picture of Wellington on the front.”

“Wellington? You mean like a boot? I love Wellington boots, I’ve chewed three of them now.”

“I know you have, Oscar. Still finding bits of them in my bed. No, Wellington is a name.”

“A name? Like my name? A dog name? Is Wellington a dog?”

“Not yet, Oscar, but don’t be surprised if it is one day. She wanted to call you Wellington, but the rest of the family put a stop to it. But she’s probably going to get her way eventually. Now put the book down, come and sit down. You need to introduce yourself.”

“Right. Right, yes, I do. Okay. What now?”

“Tell the readers of Blogging with Labradors about yourself.”

“Right. Well, my name is Oscar, I’m a black Labrador, I’m nineteen months old and I live on the Isle of Man. Which is a GREAT place to be a Labrador. We’ve got beaches and glens and rivers and parks and hills and SO many places to go for a walk.”

“Where were you born, Oscar?”

“I came from Nottingham which is a long way away. I lived with my Mum and Dad and all my brothers and sisters. We used to talk a lot about our new homes and where we would go and then one day my new Mum turned up and off I popped. It was a very long car journey, but I sat in a little cage next to her and we stopped for toilet breaks and cuddles and she talked to me all the time. And THEN we went on a big boat called a ferry, and she took me into this little room called a Dog Cabin and we went to sleep.”

“Did you realise straight away that she was crazy?”

Baby Oscar with my old fella, Toby, much missed

“No, that took a bit longer. Anyway, we arrived and met all the family. And of course you and Toby. And here I am. I still miss old Toby.”

“So do I, lad. He was a great dog. Not that bright, mind. Nothing between the ears. I was glad when you came and it turned out you’d got a brain. Thought all black Labs were as daft as him until I met you.”

“Anyway, here I am. Having a marvellous time on the Isle of Man. She’s been telling me that we’re going to start doing some blog posts about all the places we visit on the island, to tell people how great it is here. Blogging with Oscar. I thought you could help with that, Joey?”

“Me? I’m a bit old to be traipsing all over the island these days, lad, that’s your job, but I don’t mind helping with the posts a bit. I don’t go far these days, but I’ve got a good memory. What’s the first post going to be about, do you know?”

“No. The beach? Or the glen? Or the Prom? Or Nobles Park? Or Castletown? Or…”

“You’re running in circles again, Oscar. Might need to go out into the garden and play for a bit, to get you calmed down.”

“Great idea, Joey. Let’s take Snake! Or Gorilla! Or Theon Greybear! Or Brown Bear! Or….”

“Come on then, lad, before you fall over your own feet again.”

Many thanks to Oscar and Joey for their help with today’s post. You’ll be hearing more from Oscar on Writing with Labradors as we’re starting a regular Tuesday post entitled Visits with Labradors describing Oscar’s adventures. Probably with a lot of help from Joey…

You can follow their adventures, as well as my writing, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Medium

5th November 2019

Day 5 – NaNoWriMo with Labradors

Although this post is entitled Day 5 – NaNoWriMo with Labradors, my more observant readers will notice that this is in fact the first day of posting. That probably tells you how I’ve been getting on.

For the uninitiated, National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, is an annual Internet-based writing project that takes place during November. Participants try to write a 50,000 word manuscript between November 1 and November 30 with online encouragement from well-known authors and from fellow participants.

I’ve been tempted to do this before, but the time has never been right. Once, I did actually do a chapter of a possible historical romance before realising that a) I didn’t have time and b) I hated what I was writing. This year, however, it seemed that the timing was perfect.

My latest book, This Blighted Expedition, was published on 31st October. It took me a long time to write this one; generally I manage two books a year but there was a lot of research and it was a challenging storyline which I rewrote several times before I was happy with it. I really wanted to get on with my next project, which will be book six of the Peninsular War Saga, as soon as possible, knowing that a lot of readers are really waiting for that one.

For the past couple of books, I’ve given myself a month off before starting the next one. That month inevitably drifts into two and possibly even three, and I was determined not to do that this time. I already knew the basic storyline of An Unrelenting Enmity and I know my characters and background very well. Why not use NaNoWriMo to kickstart me into getting on with book six? It sounded very simple.

Needless to say it was not. What made me think that I could leap straight into a new book on the day after the last one was published, I have no idea. There were things to do, publicity, blog posts, a mini blog tour and a last minute scramble over the paperback formatting. The first of November came and went and I hadn’t even logged in to the site.

I was determined to do it this year though, and so yesterday I finally sat down, logged in, and updated my pitifully small word count so far. To my amazement, it really worked. Seeing the chart cheerfully predicting that at this rate I wouldn’t reach my 50000 word goal until the eighteenth of December was surprisingly motivating, and I sat down and got on with it. I really like using the timer, to see how long I’ve worked, and the word count is already back on target, after only two days.

I’m generally a very fast writer, and having good touch typing skills helps with that. It’s research, planning and displacement activities like social media and housework that slow down my writing process. Or writing blog posts, maybe…

It’s early days yet, but I’m hoping that by the end of the month I’ll have achieved my goal, which will be about half a book for me. That won’t give me anything like a finished product, and there will still be days when I have to take time out to research and plan and to simply live my life. Oscar isn’t going to walk himself, after all…

Still, I’m excited about this month and will continue to post updates and perhaps an occasional snippet as I go along. I thoroughly enjoyed writing the second book of the Manxman series, but it is so lovely to be back in the Peninsula with Paul, Anne, Johnny and of course Lord Wellington. I cannot describe how much I’ve missed Lord Wellington. I’ll leave you with this short excerpt from today, bearing in mind that this is a first draft and not everything that I post will make it into the final book. This one might, though…

“I have no time to celebrate Christmas, Colonel, as you well know. I am setting out for Cadiz tomorrow. Really, I should be back at my desk now, there are some final orders…”

“Stop it,” Paul said. He saw the blue eyes widen in surprise, he was seldom so abrupt with his chief, but he was suddenly exasperated. “I know you need to go to Cadiz, sir, and I know why. I think you’re bloody mad to travel in this weather, you’ll be forever on the road and my sympathy lies with every single one of the men travelling with you, you will be horrible. And I am grateful that you didn’t insist on me going with you. But my wife has organised this very early Christmas dinner so that you at least have one day to eat a decent meal, have a drink with some of your officers and mend some bridges after that appalling memorandum you sent out last month. She’s put a lot of work into this, and I am not having you grumbling over the roast mutton because there is one more rude letter to some hapless Portuguese administrator that you forgot to write. Are we clear?”

There was a long and pointed silence and Paul tried not to look as though he was holding his breath. Eventually, Lord Wellington took a long drink of wine.

“There is still time for me to insist that you come with me,” he said, and Paul laughed.

“Having me with you while you insert one of Congreve’s rockets up the arse of the Spanish government sounds like a really bad idea, sir, they do not need two of us.”

Wellington snorted. “That is why I am leaving you behind to do the same to every senior officer in my army who fails to follow my instructions on the drills and training to be conducted during winter quarters this year,” he said. “By the time we are ready to march, which I hope will be no later than April, I want every man of my army to know what he is doing. That is your job, Colonel.”

“And a lovely Christmas gift it was too, sir. I’m already having to take a bodyguard out with me when I visit the other divisions, I have been doing this for two weeks, and they hate me.”

“Not in the light division.”

“No. They’ve no need of me there, General Alten is doing a very fine job. And here he is.” Paul shot his chief a sideways glance. “Come and be social, sir. Just for today.”

Wellington studied him for a moment, then gave one of his rare genuine smiles. “This is very good wine,” he said, as though the preceding conversation had not taken place. “Where is it from, Colonel?”

For anybody new to the Peninsular War Saga, they’re available on Amazon kindle here and will be available in paperback before Christmas.

I’ll be posting daily updates on my NaNoWriMo journey over on Facebook and Twitter from now on.