New Release: Lazy Days by Anita Dawes and Jaye Marie #Family #Adventure

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I have a first time guest on my blog today—or more precisely, guests. Anita Dawes and Jaye Marie, sister authors, are celebrating the release of their new book, Lazy Days. I’ve read two of Anita’s wonderful novels, Let it Go and Secrets already, and Jaye’s are on my list. I will be adding this co-authored work to my TBR as well. I hope you’ll make them feel welcome and check out Lazy Days. They also have a very active blog and welcome new followers. You can find connect with them here.

And now, here’s Anita with a guest post to tell us how their journey toward writing began:

Book tour promo ad for Lazy Days by Anita and Jaye Dawes

Two years ago, when I first started hearing about Indie publishing, I never thought it would be something I could actually do, as the thought of anything to do with a computer filled me with dread.

I had been writing for years, and submitted my work to most of the mainstream publishers. Very nearly made it too, but as they say, a miss is as good as a mile! Which was a shame, for many people liked what I wrote.

So it didn’t take long for the idea of doing it yourself to become something I was determined to do. I enlisted the help of my sister, Jaye, as she is far more computer literate than I. More stubborn too!

What Jaye had to learn was incredible, and unbelievably hard. I tried to keep up with her, but there were days when even she was pulling her hair out. Some of it was easy, which tended to lull us into a false sense of achievement, but we persevered.

Eventually, we learned how to upload one of my manuscripts to Amazon, and I was finally a published author. (Well, sort of).

We didn’t stop there. We wanted to upload my other books and create paperback copies too, proof positive that I was truly a writer. One little success meant there could very well be others, and that was the best incentive in the world.

Learning how to do all that was a nightmare, but soon, four of my books were on Amazon and we were like a couple of Cheshire cats. We were tempted to stop there; after all, I now had four paperback copies of my books on my shelf, as well as the Kindle editions.

But we soon discovered that this was only half of the battle. Apparently, you need a platform, a reader friendly website to promote my books or they would remain in limbo. Then there was all the socialising and networking. So many writers were publishing their own books; we were a very small pebble in a very large pond!

We managed to create a passable website and established a presence on the internet. Not that this is the end of the story, there is no way you can rest on your laurels (that is if you even have some!)

Even if nothing monumental comes from all our efforts, we know we have tried our hardest. But we won’t stop writing, for that’s the fun part!

Book cover for Lazy Days by Anita and Jaye Dawes shows trees over stream, idyllic settingLazy Days Book Blurb:
This novella is the true story of our family’s first proper holiday back in the Seventies. Looking back, I wonder what made us think it was a good idea, but despite all the things that could have gone wrong, we had a fantastic time. I was the Skipper most of the time, and for some reason decided to record our adventures in a small notebook. We were young and without husbands, Anita was a widow, and I was glad to be rid of mine. (and that is another story) Money was precious and scarce back then, but all the saving and sacrifice turned out to be worth every single memory we all cherish.

This notebook has been treasured and kept safe, despite numerous house moves and family disasters, as a symbol of our courage and determination. Renting a boat on the Norfolk Broads could so easily have been one of the stupidest things we had ever done, but even after 40 years, we have such good memories of that time.

Over the years, we often thought of making it into a proper book, but along with everything else in our often-complicated family life, it was something we never got around to. Until just recently, when we were looking for some old photographs, found the now fragile notebook and knew it was time.

It wasn’t as easy as we imagined it would be either, for our logbook writing skills leave a lot to be desired, but there was just enough information entered on those pages to get us started.

banner for Lazy Days Book tour Quiz with starry sky background

Click HERE to join the Lazy Book Tour event on Facebook and take the quiz!

Connect with Anita and Jaye at the following haunts:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Anita’s Amazon Page | Jaye’s Amazon Page 

Purchase Lazy Days from Amazon 

 

52 thoughts on “New Release: Lazy Days by Anita Dawes and Jaye Marie #Family #Adventure”

  1. What a great guest post, Mae. The writing is definitely the fun part but blogging is also awesome although the rest of the social media is not as much fun and is time consuming. I struggle to keep up with it all and a job and family. Best of luck to Anita and Jaye.

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Blogging is my favorite part of social media, Robbie. After that comes Twitter. The rest I could honestly do without, LOL. I struggle too. It’s rough balancing family, writing, job and social media, but somehow, I guess we manage to get it done. Thanks for dropping by to check out Anita and Jaye’s newest release!

      Liked by 2 people

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  5. A great post for Jaye and Anita, Mae. I love the sound of this book and the holiday sounds like it was a real adventure! Adding this book to my kindle. I’ll read it after i’ve finished Jan Sike’s book, which i’m half way through.

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. This sounds like a good read and I will add it to my reading list. I’m intrigued sisters working together on a book. Best of luck with your release. Enjoyed the post!

    Liked by 2 people

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  15. Anita and Jaye have a dream job! I love hearing about their collaboration. Congratulations on so much hard and laborious work paying off. You have accomplished a lot together, and I wish you best of luck on future endeavors! The story highlighted has to be a wonderful read.

    Liked by 1 person

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  16. Great post! It’s so interesting to look back, especially if it was a fun time. And finding the notebook–I’m amazed you kept a notebook at all (I probably would’ve stopped after Day 1 😀 ) And working with your sister–kudos! Not sure I could do it 🙂 Good luck with the release!

    Liked by 1 person

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