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One question people always ask authors is how much of yourself is in your characters? The truth, for me at least, is that there is a little bit of me and the people I know in all my characters.
This is one of the reasons why I love writing so much. You can take a little hidden bit of your character, amplify it, and go on an adventure you would never have had. One of the most glaring cases in point is my character Annie Brannigan from Courting The Countess. Now I’ve mentioned before how much I love cooking, creating and trying new recipes, and I enjoy sharing them on Instagram so much. So I took that part of me that loves cookery and tries her best to take care of her family, and create Annie—the perfect housewife, whom I could only aspire to be like. Unfortunately, our respective love of our kitchens, cookery, and love of our family, is where our similarity ends. Unlike the wonderful Annie, I am the messiest, and clumsiest person you could meet. My family and I enjoy the food I cook and recipes I create, but the mess and carnage I leave behind would make Annie faint. I manage to skilfully use every pot and bowl we have to produce a meal. Cleanup is some big task, but I always argue that is because I have to make two separate meals every night, one normal meal for my darlin’ Lou, and one vegan plant based meal for me. To be honest, even on nights when Lou is working late, and I’m cooking for one, strangely the mess is the same. Weird, I know. Then my built-in clumsiness doesn’t help. I mean I just have to walk past the kitchen counters, and things just fly off. I’m swear I don’t even touch them! Lou is quite used to hearing random sequels of pain, or items crashing on the floor coming from my general vicinity, wherever I am in the house. (I can’t tell you how many iPhone and iPad screens I’ve smashed.) :-o I may never be the perfect domestic goddess like Annie, but for the length of writing the book, I can live in a world where cooking and baking are effortless, and things don’t randomly crash while the character walks past them—and I continue to aspire to do my best. ;-) You can follow my stumbling cooking exploits, book readings and new book news on— Instagram jennyframe91 YouTube - The Romantic Plant Based Vegan Twitter @jennyframe91 Email [email protected] Also I have some exciting book news. I’ve just signed a new contract with Bold Strokes Books, for the third in the Royal Romance series. Royal Court will be out late December 2018. You can listen to a short reading from my upcoming book, Charming The Vicar on YouTube- Vicar Snippet You can also subscribe to my blog, and receive book news every month, by pressing the button on the side. See you next month! :-)
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A few weeks ago, I finished work on my seventh novel, and first full foray into vampire fiction, Hunger For you. It wasn’t until I was finishing the book that it occurred to me how ironic it was that during the writing of the book, I was transitioning to a whole foods, plant based-vegan diet, while writing about vampires, literally hungry and starving for blood. But when I thought about it some more, I realised there were more parallels than I first thought. My main character, Byron Debrek, is an aristocrat vampire with a strong sense of morality and nobility. Unlike other vampire clans the Debreks do not see humans as food, and only take blood by consent. Although that is her goal, many temptations cross her path, and when love is thrown into the mix, that hunger for blood becomes overwhelming, and her life becomes a constant battle for control. What does a hunger for blood have to do with becoming a plant based vegan? Only that whether it’s blood, alcohol, drugs, or certain kinds of foods, as humans we all understand that fight we have with ourselves everyday, between choosing what isn’t good for us, destructive behaviours, and the sure and steady path to our goal of health and wellbeing. To that end, I thought I’d a share a little of the journey I’ve been on for the past year, from junk food vegetarian to committed dairy free, herbivore. Early last summer I decided I wanted to get healthy, and since I can’t exercise due to some physical and mobility problems, diet was going to have to be key. I have been a vegetarian for years, but a junk, convenience food vegetarian. That’s all I knew, so I started out with what I knew, restricting foods and counting calories. Believe me, at that point I understood a vampire’s hunger for blood, it was not dissimilar to the craving for chocolate, biscuits, and sweets…oh and cheese and white bread and crisps and…well I could go on and on. It was only after I got past this initial phase that I understood how addicted you can get to these foods on a standard western diet. I naturally started adding more and more veggies, and enjoying reading about nutrition, and watching video after video about people on similar journeys on You Tube. It was there I learned about plant based eating. I had never heard of a plant based diet before, but realised that I had been quite naturally moving to that way of eating over the past year. So, the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn, and I stopped counting calories and cut out the final parts of my vegetarian junk food, and simply filled up on loads of beans, pulses and veggies of all sorts. I felt great and was losing so much weight, and my body was feeling great, but I was still eating my dairy products. After reading and watching a lot of information, I decided to take the final step and become a vegan. Now this was not without its difficulties. My darlin’ Lou has always been a big meat eater, and the more processed the meat, the better. Yuck! Anyway mealtimes in my kitchen are now quite chaotic, with pots and pans everywhere. And my darlin' Lou has been so supportive, she would think it was awesome, no matter what I decided to do, and I’m so lucky. One important vegetable which I’ve tried to like and just can’t, is kale. This was a problem, as kale is the superfood of a vegan, plant based diet. So I decided to hide it in amongst my favourite thing-fruit. I start every morning with my Super Duper Smoothie. From the same range as the Courting The Countess, Super Duper Cookies, but healthier. ;-) The ingredients are: Almond milk Kiwi fruit Porridge oats (Oatmeal) Flaxseed Mixed frozen berries Spinach The dreaded kale! ¼ teaspoon of turmeric (Good for inflammation) A grind of pepper (Helps the turmeric work better in some sort of science type way) Teaspoon of date syrup It’s surprisingly delicious!  As I go along through my journey, I’ll no doubt have vampire like hunger and cravings for all the delicious naughty things we all enjoy, but as long as I’m feeling the benefits, hopefully I’ll keep to my path to good health.
Till next time! :-) I have been hugely remiss in my blog posts of late, but I have an excuse. I've been deeply into writing what will be my fifth novel, Charming The Vicar. It's now finished, and submitted to my publisher, Bold Strokes Books, so I can come up for air again. I can catch up with everything I've let slide over the last few weeks. Washing, ironing, cleaning, all that good housewifey stuff. ;-) Plus, my darlin’ Lou can get a rest from my endless worry, and general obsessing over my manuscript.
I had such a blast writing Bridge and Finnian’s love story. When I wrote Courting The Countess, I knew the Reverend Bridget Claremont had to have her own story. She is a larger than life character that seems so real in my imagination. She knows what she wants, and gets it, which was a lot of fun to write. Here’s the blurb... Finnian Kane, famous master of illusion, mentalist, and renowned atheist, has a crisis of faith after her sister’s death. She rents a cottage in the village of Axedale in Kent, desperately trying to find a safe haven from the intrusive media to grieve and work out how to move on. The Reverend Bridget Claremont makes it her mission to help the enigmatic Finnian find her faith in life again. Bridge has long yearned for a life partner, and her best friend’s wedding has intensified that desire. But when you’re a lesbian vicar in a small English village, it’s not easy to find your perfect match. Their chemistry is clear from the start, despite their different beliefs and Bridge insisting Finn isn’t her type. But will the mentalist find the magic that can charm the vicar? To give you a sneak peek, and a flavour of the story, this is my favourite line from the book, from Finnian’s perspective. “Bridget had a different energy, an exciting energy. She was the kind of woman who, with just a look, could make you drop to your knees and crawl, just to be given the privilege of kissing her heels.” As I've often said in my blog and social media, music is a huge part of the writing process, and it was especially true with Charming The Vicar. There’s always that one song that perfectly describes the couple, and for Bridget and Finn, the song below was a perfect fit. This could have been written for them. I played this one so many times during the day, as I wrote, it became like their theme tune. If you have a listen, I think you'll get an idea of how the Vicar and the famous illusionist relate to each other. Bad Things - machine gun kelly camila cabello Charming The Vicar will be out January 1st 2018. So what's next? Royal Rebel, the second book in the Royal Romance series is out May 1st 2017 Royal Rebel - A Royal Romance Story Then on August 1st 2017, Unexpected will be out. Unexpected is a standalone contemporary romance. You can read the blurb here... Unexpected There will be lots more book news coming soon, but in the meantime, I will be doing a Facebook chat with Sheena and Tara on, The Lesbian Review Book Club. It's taking place on Saturday April 29th. Get all the times and details at the link below. Lesbian Review book Club Chat They also recorded a great podcast, for Les do books, discussing Courting The Countess. Check it out... Les do books - Courting The Countess All for now, Jenny :-) As a vegetarian living with a committed meat eater, who despises onions, and hates vegetables of all sorts, cooking in the Frame household is not easy. Luckily I love cooking, and it's one of the best parts of my daily routine. My routine tends to be... Morning – Writing Mid-morning - Make a pot of soup for lunch Afternoon - housewifey stuff, and more writing Then my darlin' arrives home from work and it's time for dinner, (or teatime as we say in the west of Scotland.) For me, food is about love. It’s worries me if my darlin' hasn't eaten enough during the day, and I love to make her the best meal I possibly can. Cooking one veggie meal and one meat meal with no vegetables is complicated enough, but since I started a health kick last summer, it has become even more challenging. (Not to mention our fussy poodle, Barney Boy, who insists on fresh chicken a few times a week.) My meals couldn't be more different than Lou's. My favourite meal of the week is always salad, and Lou's is curry with all the unhealthy trimmings, so there's always very diverse things cooking in my kitchen most of the time. Before I met Lou, I had never cooked with meat, the very thought was just yuck! Now I think myself very brave, handling and cooking red meat and chicken like a boss, and that to me is true love. I wouldn't do that that for anyone else in the world, well Barney too. :-) If my darlin' and Barney have enjoyed what I've made, nothing makes me happier. Now it does go both ways, even though Lou doesn't cook, (we have long established through experience that it's best if she keeps out of my kitchen), she still gets the food and love thing. Since becoming super healthy, she has been really supportive. In the past she would often stop at the shop on the way home from work and bring me chocolates, sweet treats or dessert for after dinner, and now she brings me home fruit, bell peppers, and jalapeños. I've become addicted to jars of jalapeños in my healthy eating campaign. I put them on and in everything, and I use bell peppers in nearly every meal, I can never have enough. So bringing those things means the world to me, and no one in the world would understand how much it means, but Lou. Food and love often come up in my writing. In Royal Romance, there’s a most romantic moment with a picnic, some strawberries and a ring. ;-) In Heart Of The Pack, food is very prevalent. The pack mentality of sharing the food between the community, and between individual families is very important and shows love between the mated pairs, but perhaps the heart of the book is about the heroine, Lena Miller, and her dysfunctional relationship with food and bad body image. This was important to me, and I think something that we can all relate to. In the idyllic haven of Wolfgang County, Lena comes close to nature, understands the importance of eating good, well cared for food, not seeing some foods as bad and letting go of the outside world’s body image demands, and just enjoying the life that nature has provided for us. If only more places in the world were like Wolfgang County. Courting The Countess also used food in a big way. Annie courted Harry with cakes, biscuits, and delicious home cooked meals, until the countess was putty in her hands. One of my favourite lines in Countess is Harry saying to Annie, “What? Are you some sort of witch in that kitchen? Making up potions and feeding them to me…I mean us to make us feel things?” I love that because it’s exactly what Annie was doing. Giving Harry love, and warmth and home through caring for her. My next book is the sequel to A Royal Romance, Royal Rebel, has it’s own particular use of food. It comes out in May, and I won’t say too much, but there is chocolate, lots of it…and love. Yum! Chocolate and love, two of the best things in the world. On that sweet note, I'll see you next month! Jenny :-) After promising myself to blog more regularly, I haven't been keeping to my word in the last month or so, and my postings on social media have been equally as sparse. Life has been turned completely upside down of late, but now with a new year ahead, it's time to get back in the saddle. I may sound odd, well slightly odder ther usual, but I generally hate new year. I find it depressing to be saying goodbye to the autumn months. Usually it's the other way around, a normal person is depressed during the winter months and desperate for the spring and summer days ahead, but instead I love the cold days outside, while cosily wrapped up warm inside. This year is different however. 2016 has been the weirdest and most challenging year I can remember, both in the outside world and personally, so when the bells chimed on New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay as we call it in Scotland, I couldn't have been happier. Hope in a new year is back and I'm looking forward to a nice, calm, happy, hopefully humdrum, 2017. Book wise, I have some great things to look forward to in 2017, First up is the sequel to A Royal Romance, Royal Rebel. I had a brilliant time writing this book. It features Queen Georgina and Queen Consort Beatrice, taking George's rebellious cousin Roza under their wing, after she causes a huge scandal in her own country. They send Roza to work at Bea's former employer, Timmy's. There she meets the new charity director, Lennox King, who swiftly puts Roza in her place. Suffice to say, sparks fly. Royal Rebel will be out May 2017, and you can preorder the book here now. Next up after that I have a book called Unexpected out in the summertime. Unexpected is a standalone romance that takes a modern look at the traditional story of a child finding their long lost biological parent, and the consequences, and unexpected love that blossoms between the biological mother and the birth mother. Later in the year the next in the Courting The Countess series, Charming The Vicar. This book features the story of the village vicar, Bridget Claremont. Bridget was such a wonderful character in the first book, I just had to write her love story. I hope that those who enjoyed the first book will enjoy Bridget's story. Also I'm very happy to say that, Courting The Countess is now out on audiobook. The narrator is fantastic, and really brings the Axedale characters to life. You can buy it at this link on Audible. Finally, I want to say thank you to all those readers who have supported my books so far. Every message and email I get, and every book that someone purchases, means the world to me, so thank you so much! :-)  Hi, everyone, I'm a bit late with my blog this month, and it'll just be a quickie. ;-) I'm in the midst of furious writing and edits as we speak, but I do have two great bits of news. First is that Heart Of The Pack is now available on audiobook. Check out a sample and buy the book here... Second bit of good news is that I've signed a contract with Bold Strokes Books, for my third book in 2017. It will be the second in the Courting The Countess series. It's called Charming The Vicar, and I'm really excited about that. I'll post more info on that when I get the details finalised. I'll see you again next month. :-) I’m going to try and blog once a month and keep everyone up to date on my latest book news, and also share a little about my writing process. Being painfully shy, and as an extreme introvert, it’s not easy to talk about yourself, but I find it easier to type than talk, and I really enjoy responding to all the lovely emails I get from my readers, so a blog seems a great way to keep in touch. If anyone has any questions about my books or anything else, please don't hesitate to drop me a line at [email protected] So onto my first blog, and I thought I might as well jump in at the deep end and talk about my life as a hopeless romantic and let out one of my secrets about my writing process… A Hopeless Romantic’s Problems Hopeless romantic. This phrase is often used by romance writers. I use it myself all the time, and in fact, I describe myself as such on my twitter bio, but when you think about it, it's a phrase with a slightly negative tinge. People often use it, as do I, as a self-deprecating explanation or excuse as to why they like romance books or romance films, as if you need an excuse. I think it's time to stop making excuses and reclaim the title of hopeless romantic as a badge of honour. If you are a hopeless romantic, you are in touch with your feelings, you wear your heart on your sleeve, and have faith and hope that no matter how bad things can seem, there's always a fairytale around the corner. So wearing my badge proudly, how does this hopeless romanticism present itself? Well, if you were to ask my family or my partner Lou, they would tell you I'm extremely over emotional and cry at the drop of a hat. I've lost count of the number of songs I can't listen to, TV adverts I can't watch, and films that are no go areas, unless I want puffy red eyes and a headache. I couldn't listen to James Blunt’s song, Goodbye My Lover for years. (I'm totally serious!) I would end up with tears running down my face and saying, ‘Don't leave him!’ James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover It's not only James Blunt, who is on the no-no list. The film, Cloud Atlas is one. I read the book and was so looking forward to the film, but I can't even get through the trailer without buckets of tears falling. Next is the Katy Perry song, The One That Got Away. My nieces always make fun of me for crying to that one. Seriously, have you seen the video? Katy Perry - The One That Got Away Rivers of tears, not to mention a certain scene in Harry Potter, but we won't go any further into that. ;-) Amongst the things that set off my water works, one is... writing. I've never told anyone before, except my partner Lou, but nothing surprises her when it comes to my roller coaster of emotions. I've never told anyone because I thought myself rather odd. How can an author cry while they're writing a scene, when they know how it ends and know that everything will end in a happily ever after? Chalking that up as just one of my many odd character traits, of which there are countless, I thought no more about it until I started reading a book called, The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler. In it the author talks about the wisdom of the body, and how our whole body is involved with the writing process, not just the mind. There was one quote when I read it that made me realise I wasn't alone or odd in my visceral, over emotional response to writing scenes. It goes... [1] “I realized that the good stories were affecting the organs of my body in various ways, and the really good ones were stimulating more than one organ. An effective story grabs your gut, tightens your throat, makes your heart race and your lungs pump, brings tears to your eyes or an explosion of laughter to your lips. If two or more organs of the body are not squirting fluids, the story's no good!” This made total sense to me. Now I embrace the emotion and if I haven't cried at least twice while writing, then the story isn't working. In my latest book, Courting The Countess, there were at least four times the tears started falling, and I hope that is a good sign. You could probably guess which scenes if you’ve read it, but one of the most emotional scenes for me was perhaps surprisingly a sex scene. Here’s an excerpt… Chapter 21, Page 533—539 Annie groaned and traced her fingers teasingly along the belt. “I’ll give you anything you need. Just tell me.” Harry grasped Annie’s hair and pulled her closer. “Why do you keep doing this?” “Doing what?” “Giving everything to me, your body, your heart, when I don’t give you what you demand?” “Because you need me,” Annie said simply. It’s a highly emotional scene and those words, Because you need me, get me every time. If you haven’t read it, check it out here- Bold Strokes Books Amazon The moral of this story is don't be embarrassed by whatever your writing process is, and listen to your body. It never lies. [1] Christopher Vogler, The Writers Journey, Micheal Wiese Productions, 3rd edition This is the new cover for my second release of 2016, Courting The Countess. Professor of archaeology Henrietta "Harry" Knight becomes Countess of Axedale upon her father’s death and takes a sabbatical from Cambridge University to begin refurbishing the long-neglected and run down Axedale Hall. The child of a loveless marriage, witness to her father’s infidelities and her mother’s pain, Harry has no intention of ever falling in love. Annie Brannigan is a survivor, remaining positive through hardships. As an agency housekeeper, she moves from post to post with her daughter Riley, taking care of people who have everything she will never have. Annie’s greatest wish is to find her happy ever after. Can love restore the countess’s heart and the crumbling Axedale Hall, or will the first foundations of love turn to dust?  The end of the year looms large and I thought it was about time I posted a writing update. 2015 has been an amazing and sometimes challenging year. The month of May saw the release of my first published book, A Royal Romance, from Bold Strokes Books. It was such a thrill to hold my own book in my hands, and I couldn't wait to have that feeling again and again. Huge thanks to all who took the time to read the book, and those readers who emailed me with their kind words. My two online stories, The Dylan Morgan Show and The Dalton family Saga, were long overdue for both their conclusions, and so I wrote and posted Family forever – A Dylan Morgan show story, the last adventure for Dylan and Emily. It was sad to say goodbye, but I thought it was time to let them live their lives quietly, happy and settled. :-) I know a lot of readers are waiting on the next Dalton Saga, and I did intend to have it released by now, but ill health has really held my writing back in the latter part of this year. All being well, I will aim to get it finished in the New Year. So looking forward, 2016 will be a busy year. As well the new instalment of the Dalton Saga, May 2016 will see the release of my second published book, Heart Of The Pack – A Wolfgang County story. Here is the blurb -
Selena Miller accepts a job in Wolfgang County, jumping at the chance to get away from her overbearing family. Crippled by anxiety, she's determined to start a new, independent life.
As Second of the Wolfgang pack, Caden Wolfgang is used to having her orders followed without question. When the Alpha allows a human to work in the heart of their business, Caden is horrified. Haunted by a childhood tragedy at the hands of a human, Caden makes it her mission to keep Selena from threatening everything they've built. When contempt turns into attraction and passion flares, can their love survive Selena learning the truth of what the Wolfgangs really are?
A paranormal romance is a departure from the world of, A Royal romance, but I return to the theme of aristocracy in my second release of 2016, Courting the Countess, due later in the year. Take a look at the blurb –
Professor of archaeology Henrietta "Harry" Knight becomes Countess of Axedale upon her father’s death and takes a sabbatical from Cambridge University to begin refurbishing the long-neglected and run down Axedale Hall. The child of a loveless marriage, witness to her father’s infidelities and her mother’s pain, Harry has no intention of ever falling in love.
Annie Brannigan is a survivor, remaining positive through hardships. As an agency housekeeper, she moves from post to post with her daughter Riley, taking care of people who have everything she will never have. Annie’s greatest wish is to find her happy ever after.
Can love restore the countess’s heart and the crumbling Axedale Hall, or will the first foundations of love turn to dust?
I really do appreciate the support of anyone who has taken the trouble to read my books and stories. Here's to a great 2016!
 I'm delighted to share the cover of my second book, Heart Of The Pack - A Wolfgang County Novel. It will be out in May 2016 and published by Bold Strokes Books. |
Jenny Frame
“Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale.” Archives
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