Book Launch of Jan Moran Neil’s novel ‘Shakespeare’s Clock’

Despite Covid striking down the actress playing my antagonist and having to
rehearse a new actress into the reading, and despite the fuel crisis and torrential rain,
50 people turned out for the book launch of Shakespeare’s Clock, my psychological thriller.
It went very smoothly; the only wrinkles being on my forehead.
My next reading and signing is at Chorleywood Bookshop WD3 5NJ on Wednesday 17th November at 6.00 pm for an hour. Come along and if you are able, let me know.
If you can’t come and would like a signed copy from me then just email me: info@janmoranneil.co.uk
Copies are also available from all major bookstores and online at Amazon and here:
‘Shakespeare’s Clock’ by Jan Moran Neil is published in paperback by Cranthorpe Millner and is available at all major retailers, instore and online (ISBN978-1-912964-63-5). RRP £8.99

https://www.waterstones.com/book/shakespeares-clock/jan-moran-neil/9781912964635

https://www.cranthorpemillner.com/product/jan-moran-neil-shakespeares-clock/

https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/fiction-poetry/shakespeares-clock,jan-moran-neil-9781912964635

I am also available for readings from the novel if you wish to book me in person or virtually!
Please suggest both books to your book group if you have one. If you enjoy please leave reviews on Goodreads and Amazon etc. Both ‘Shakespeare’s Clock’ and the anthology ‘When This Is All Over’ https://amzn.to/3xi8iay books are running at 5 stars.

‘Today: 11/9/21’ by Ms Paige Turner
On Tuesday 11th September 2001, I visited my good friend and writer Pat Dancer. She didn’t have a TV so we were oblivious to what was happening to our world. When I left the fish man told us the two towers had been targeted and were gone.
On Saturday 9th April 1977 I went to the top of the twin towers with my good friend Mike Gray, whom I call Mr Red Hat: he manages my website. He will probably know which tower we ascended.
On Wednesday 3rd September 2009 Mr Justin Case, Miss Trial and Master Mind and I visited a Ground Zero Building Work in Progress.
On Tuesday 11th September 2012, Mr Justin Case and I found ourselves on this day in New York and walked up from the subway station in silence with two fire fighters towards Ground Zero.

Building Work in Progress – 2012-9-11 by Jan Moran Neil
Swathes of footfalls
wave up the street.
Only the sun-drenched air can weep.
Only the written words which fall
like confetti to our feet
can speak:
‘Angels’ sidewalk.’
‘Play No Ball.’
‘Read the Writing on the Wall’.

Firearms cease.
Bulldozers doze
but towering above us
five fingers clasp
one cellophaned, solitary,
red mute rose.

Details of Friday morning Zoom classes (a few places available) and book launch of my novel ‘Shakespeare’s Clock’ on Saturday 2nd October at Barn Hall, Amersham – 4.00 pm – 6.00 pm are on these blogs below.

Creative Ink Zoom Classes beginning this Autumn …

The theme will be 7 and limited to seven guests for £15 a session. You can dip in and dip out or you can pay for any number of sessions ahead of time to secure a place. Just contact me for the bank details.

Friday 24th September – Introductions and Seven Basic Plots
Friday 1st October – Seven Basic Plots
Friday 8th October – Give me a child at the age of seven and I will give you the man …
Friday 15th October – Seven Days of the Week
Friday 22nd and Friday 29th October – Half-Term
Friday 5th November – Seven Deadly Sins
Friday 12th November – Lucky Number Seven
Friday 19th November – Seven for Completeness.

£10 for any piece you would like written assessment.
Reading out at all sessions and homework prompts and hand out sheets supplied.

Very excited by the coming term.

Book Launch of my new novel ‘Shakespeare’s Clock’ – Saturday 2nd October
Barn Hall, Amersham, Bucks HP6 5AH
4.00 pm to 6.00 pm
With Creative Ink for Actors
Licensed Bar and Parking

Zoom Sessions/Creative Writing
begin on Friday 24th September for 7 weeks with a two week half-term break Friday 22nd and Friday 29th October.
10.00 am until 11.30 am. We will finish on Friday 19th November.
The theme will be 7 and limited to 7 guests for 7 sessions – £15 per session or you can pay ahead for any number of sessions. Email me for the bank details.

Marketing with Cranthorpe Millner – My Novel ‘Shakespeare’s Clock’ by Jan Moran Neil

My novel ‘Shakespeare’s Clock’ is due out in late September published by Cranthorpe Millner. If you have any blogging, social media like Goodreads or magazine outlets maybe you would have a free copy sent to you in advance for review. If so please contact Shannon Bourne at Shannon.Bourne@cranthorpemillner.com and let her know where you might place the review, give your address and cc me into the email. Here is some blurb.

It’s 1984. Patricia Vickers returns like a phantom to deliver an unwelcome revelation. Jayne Thornhill is reminded of those spiteful 1960s’ schooldays: bullying, Charlie the skeleton, seances, strip poker and sexual encounters with the school’s handymen. Jayne’s confessions have now been whitewashed from lavatory walls, only to be unearthed in a third school friend’s 1969 diary. A cloud of sadness is now cast over the three women’s lives and only by revealing their own stories in later life can they move the stubborn hand of the undertaker’s clock forward. In doing so, something shockingly out of line is revealed …

• If, with one blow, you could destroy all the people you hate, would you?

• If you could keep silent and have glory reigned upon you, would you?

• If you could exact revenge on your tormentor, would you?

Three women did.

The anthology ‘When This Is All Over …’ for the Rennie Grove Hospice is selling well. Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/3xi8iay And please leave a review on Amazon – it all helps.

You can hear me being interviewed by Malcolm Parr on Marlow Radio about the anthology. There are readings from the book. The link is here: www.marlowfm.co.uk/listen-again/
Marlow FM 97.5 Radio – Catch Up – THEN GO TO: Good Morning Marlow – Friday 16th July at AROUND 10.45 am onwards.

I plugged buying it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3xi8iay

But clean forgot to ask readers to leave a review on Amazon. Please do if you haven’t done so and thank you if you have.

Over 400 sold to date. Keep going. Some contributors who don’t have access to an Amazon account have contacted me and if you pay me by cheque or online I can order for you and get sent directly to your address. The Amazon proceeds then go directly to RGHH. It’s £8.59 now but they do change the price.

Any donations please head with CHARITY ANTHOLOGY and we will know how much we are raising!

Best wishes – Jan www.janmoranneil.co.uk

Adrian www.adrianspalding.co.uk

‘When This Is All Over …’ We Are Published!

Two weeks since publication and we have sold 328 copies! If you have enjoyed – please leave a review on Amazon. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/3xi8iay Or just punch in on Amazon – Jan Moran Neil/When This Is All Over …’

These are just a few of the scores and scores of emails Adrian, Jane and I have received. As well as the glowing comments on Facebook about Linda Ralph’s cover. Suzie Cullen is now busy on social media promoting and so many of you are helping her. Thank you. And don’t miss Lesley Christofi’s poem at the end!

The anthology is a thing of beauty and wonder born out of one of bleakest periods in living memory for many people in the world. Many congratulations and I will do my bit to spread the word to all my contacts. Pat from Beaconsfield

This is wonderful news! Also, I looked up Rennie Grove Hospice Care and it is less than 10 miles from my friend Smokey in Watford, so I will order him a copy! Thanks so much for your work on this project and for making my day!! Avra from California.
That’s the best thing someone has said to me in a long time. Cristina from High Wycombe.
Thanks so much for this, I’m so pleased you enjoyed my piece and I’m delighted that it’s made it into the anthology! I’m really looking forward to reading everyone else’s contributions. I hope you sell loads – I’ll certainly promote it as much as I can. Andrea W from Scotland
Many thanks for accepting my contribution. All fingers, toes and eyes crossed for huge sales, and thank you and everyone else involved for putting this book together and funding it. Geraldine
That is great and made my day – will put in a few orders!
Thanks for organising it all. Vicky from Cambridge

Thank you for the great news. This is Tinaya’s first ever publication. She is delighted.
I can’t thank you enough for helping and shaping her writing skills. Tinaya’s mum from Ickenham, London

I can’t stop crying! What an honour to be included and what a wonderful thing to have to show my son some day. Pregnant Esther from Oxfordshire

I was absolutely delighted to receive your email and the thrilling news that my piece will be part of the anthology. Jude from Northumberland

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be selected to be a part of it. I have been beaming all day, and have ordered a copy, as has my sister…and I suspect my mum. Sarah from Nottingham

This is very exciting, and more so being part of the anthology which focuses on such a momentous year. I am looking forward to reading everyone else’s work, and I think it is a great touch to have added blank pages for people to record their own thoughts in the book. Maureen from Northumberland

How exciting ! You have cheered me up no end on a wet and miserable day. I am a published poet ❤️ Lesley from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

O wow, this is amazing news; so exciting! Thank you so so much! I am so grateful! Dialina from Cape Town, South Africa

Thank you for being the inspiration for something I will now finally get down to doing with purpose. Charlotte from Cape Town

I hope it doesn’t sound silly but thank you for all your time and effort on this. Chloe from Cornwall

It’s so lovely to feel a part of my family is represented in the book. Marion from Dorset

Thanks so much for this, it has lifted my writing slump. Claire from Scotland

Shared to my publisher on twitter, FB and the BBC!! Virginia from Suffolk

I can’t tell you how thrilled, excited and totally gobsmacked I am!!! Thank you so very much for including not one, but both of my submissions in ‘When This is All Over’ with the proceeds going to a very worthy cause close to my heart. I have just ordered 4 copies immediately to give to my family on Father’s Day. Linda from Beaconsfield

It must have been an incredible amount of work. What a wonderful accomplishment! Penny from London

Thank you for your email and great news! I’ve already purchased the anthology, due for delivery tomorrow. Congratulations to you and Adrian, and well done also, Jane. Reggie –a transplanted American

What great news to receive on a rainy morning! Olivia from Buckinghamshire

To be able to play a small role in giving something back is very special and it is wonderful to have my first poem published and in such great company. Chris from Leicestershire

I’ve been questioning the time and effort that I put into my writing lately. And your email means so much more than just an acceptance of a submission. It means I’ll push forward, keep creating and as my submission states, keep investing in myself. Julie from Cambridgeshire

Wow! Thank you so much! You have no idea how grateful I am to be included in the anthology and how much it means to me, as a new writer to be included in this book and for such a wonderful and worthwhile cause! Angela from Liverpool

So months ago I got asked to write a little something about my experiences looking after Mum during the lockdown. I am very pleased to announce that My Poem For Mum was published in this wonderful book. Thank you for letting me be a part of this. It’s so nice to have my thoughts and feelings written in a book and it will mean my mum will have something printed about her forever more in black and white. Eddie from Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire

One Tick off the Bucket List by kind permission of Lesley Christofi

Oh my gosh the books have arrived.
I wasn’t expecting them until Monday
It was definitely worth using Amazon Prime
as they dropped on the mat early today.

It looks so beautifully presented.
I just want to shout whoopee.
Especially as it begins to sink in
that one of the Rainbow Writers is me !

I savoured the feel of a new book in my hand
I read the cover as I held it and felt it
Then I have to confess right here
and admit that I actually smelt it !

I start to dive into my new acquisition,
flicking the pages and caressing the spine.
Do I read the entries from the very beginning
or scan through the index for mine?

Of course I skim through the table of contents -
there’s a familiar title and a name below it.
And soon the suspense is over
there’s my name – I’m a published poet !

On Track for Publication and Marketing …
Now that we can see the glimmer at the end of both our Publishing the Anthology and also Professor Van-Tam’s metaphorical pandemic tunnel, thoughts run to marketing WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER … anthology for the Rennie Grove Hospice Care. One always needs to be one step or station ahead.
First up, the Home Page of my website will begin to look different later this month when Mr Red Hat (as I call my website designer) gets going. Now Creative Ink Publishing is sending the charity anthology out into the world (hoping for Monday 21st June – don’t we all?) and my novel: ‘Shakespeare’s Clock’ is to be published in September, it seems sensible to display the books we have and are going to publish in further hope there will be buyers.
So apart from my usual Facebook pages, I have been introduced to Instagam by Suzie Cullen who will also be helping out on marketing the charity anthology. There’s also Goodreads. I’m pretty Amish about this up-to-date technology but I will try. As a matter of fact, when Mister Justin Case and I took a train trip across America in 2012, we noticed that the Amish were just about everywhere. On stations.
So maybe hope for me yet.

Update on the Anthology – ‘When This is all Over …’ for the Rennie Grove Hospice Care.
Jane MacKinnon: former Editor of ‘Good Housekeeping’, Australia has been helping me to tidy and polish the poems and stories which have been typeset into this historical document. This has taken the best part of the last two weeks. A number of writers who have submitted pieces have asked when those who have been successful will be notified. Along with Adrian Spalding, we shall be doing another round of proof reading in the next couple of weeks and hope to notify successful writers in June with all the details of how to purchase.
Thank you for your patience. Publishing and pandemics are such long drawn out processes.
Creative Ink Zoom classes will resume in September. Editing/assessment and one-to-one Zooms available now.

‘When This is All Over …’Anthology Update by Ms Paige Turner
We have made our choices from the 421 submissions.
We have the cover complete.
We have type set.
We have an Amazon Kindle account at the Rennie Grove Hospice Care Head Office ready to accept the profits from sales for the charity.
We are doing a final proof reading.
We will be in touch.
Now … when is this all going to be over?
Creative Ink for Writers’ Zoom sessions – we did a course of 12 – has now finished. If permitted we should all go out to play for the summer. Creative Ink Zoom sessions (12) to dip in and out of, will resume in September. Friday mornings 10.00 am until 11.30 am. Let me know if you are interested.