I'm thrilled to be handing over to the very lovely Joanne Nicholson today and I'd like to say Happy Publication Day!!! Joanne's book Only The Lonely hits the shelves today it's a book that I'm really looking forward to reading once my busy schedule allows.
Let's kick things off by introducing you all to the lady behind the words and then I'll tell you about the book.
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| Photo courtesy of Joanne Nicholson |
Joanne Nicholson is an Australian author who enjoys boating, exercising, reading, writing and spending quality time with family and friends.
Joanne enjoys writing a variety of genres including contemporary women's fiction, young adult fiction, children's books and short stories. Her books are available to purchase on Amazon.
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After Tiffany is orphaned on the night of her 18th birthday, she discovers, as the sole heir to her parents' estate, she has inherited a frozen embryo from when they did IVF to have her.
Feeling, lost, alone and longing for a sense of family, Tiffany can't bring herself to destroy or donate the embryo. Instead she decides to be impregnated with her biological twin. A legal battle ensues over whether the embryo is a person or property and the ethics of whether it is acceptable to give birth to your own sibling.
Set in Australia, this contemporary fiction novel is full of emotion, dilemmas and unexpected friendships as Tiffany forges a new life without her parents.
I love the sound of this and I think that the cover is absolutely stunning!
Now that you know a bit more about the author and the book I'll hand you over to the lady herself.
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Thank
you to Neats for handing The Hippo over to me today. I’m Joanne Nicholson, an
Australian contemporary women’s fiction author. This month marks the release of
my fourth commercial fiction novel ‘Only the Lonely’. While I usually tell
everyone about my novels and their characters, here’s ten things about me that
maybe you don’t know:
I’m a
twin
I
have a fraternal twin sister Jacqui, who looks nothing like me. We have
different builds, different colouring (she has brown hair and brown eyes, and
I’m blonde with green eyes) and we even have different blood types. When we
were at school Jacqui was very athletic, while I was more bookish. We used to
joke that if we had been one person we would have been perfect.
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| Image found on Adorable Wallpapers |
I was
born in South Africa
The
company my father was working for sent him to South Africa to set up a new
office. My dad only wanted two kids, my mum wanted four kids, so they decided
to compromise and have three children. Lucky for Mum she had twins and got her
wish. My twin and I were naturalized as Australian citizens within a few days
of our birth. My family moved back to Australia when I was two so I have no
clear recollections of my time in South Africa.
I've visited South Africa a few times now Joanne and I think it's a stunning place.
I got
hit by a car when I was five
Walking
across a zebra crossing to go to school when I was in first class, a parent,
who was distracted by waving to her child, hit me with her car. The impact sent
me flying into the gutter. Thankfully I had no serious injuries because I was
holding my very fashionable brown Stanley school case (think Paddington Bear’s
suitcase) on the side of the impact. I was distraught that my favourite book
was inside and I couldn’t open the case after it was crushed. All was put right
in the world when my dad levered open the case and rescued my book.
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| Image found on Google |
I
married my high-school sweetheart
My
husband and I started dating when we were sixteen. We got engaged at eighteen,
but I insisted on a long engagement so people wouldn’t think it was a shotgun
wedding. We got married when I was twenty and last year celebrated our
twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a cruise of the Greek Isles. We have four
children who are growing into such lovely people, even though none of them
seemed to inherit my bookworm gene. My husband and I have one of those
nauseating love stories where we are living our happily ever after.
My
kids all recently changed their names
For a
few generations on my husband’s side of the family, they have included a middle
name of ‘Onslow’ as a family name, as a way to track their branch of the
Nicholson family tree. We didn’t adopt this name for our kids when they were
born, as neither did any of my husband’s brothers. My father in law has always
been disappointed by this, so last year for his birthday, our children, of
their own accord, all had their names legally altered to include Onslow.
I
have a much loved fur baby
Wherever
I go, my adoring cavoodle dog Tilly shadows me. She resembles a living teddy
bear and she has the sweetest nature. I know many authors have pets that keep
them company when writing. It is nice when undertaking such a solitary pursuit
to have the calming presence of my little fluff ball. She also gives me the
excuse to walk away from the computer and get some fresh air when I walk her,
which often gives me time to process ideas of how a plot can develop.
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| Photo courtesy of Joanne Nicholson |
I love this photograph Joanne and Tilly looks adorable!
I
began my career in advertising
When
I left school I worked my way up through several advertising agencies. I worked
as an Account Manager getting briefs from the clients and then getting the
appropriate creative people to weave their magic. The last agency I worked in
was a small, integrated advertising and marketing agency where I did everything
from client liaison to copywriting, proofreading, booking media space and new
business recruitment. It was a high pressure industry, dealing with many people
with inflated egos. I decided after having my kids that I wouldn’t return to
that career.
I
once owned an indoor play centre
Just
after the birth of my third child, my sister in law and I opened an indoor play
centre. It was a way for us to have a business where we could have our kids
with us. We spent so much time entertaining our kids at these types of places
that we had very definitive ideas on how it should be run. The first item on
our list was a ball cleaning unit, so the ball pit wasn’t a cesspool of grime.
We set it up so the kids would feed the balls into a clown’s mouth and watch
the ball get washed and whizz overhead in clear tubing before going into a
container that would periodically tip over, raining clean balls down over the
kids in the ball pit. The only problem with this business was that the landlord
(a large multi-national shopping centre goliath), decided to put a communal
playground out the front of our shop, effectively giving away our product for
free. We sold the business after three years and it is still running today in a
different location.
I had
a bucket list of things to do when I turned forty
Reaching
the milestone of turning forty a few years ago, I had a list of things that I
wanted to achieve. One of these was to write a novel, as I had all these story
ideas swirling around in my head. Knowing how much I enjoyed reading, I thought
I could share my stories with people and hope they got the same amount of
enjoyment out of reading them as I had in creating them.
Another
thing I decided to do was learn how to play the saxophone. Ever since high
school (when Kenny G was cool) I have wanted to play saxophone. I played the
flute at school so I could already read music. At forty I started tuition to
learn how to play the sax. I have no intention of ever playing in public, but I
can now play songs for my own enjoyment (usually when there is no-one home to
whine about having to listen).
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| Image found on Google |
The saxophone is a favourite instrument of mine but I doubt that I could ever learn to play one. I'm sure you'd make Kenny G proud! 😉
I
started a book club a few years ago
Just
over two years ago, a friend of mine, who is an avid reader, contacted me to
see if I would be interested in setting up a book club with her. I loved the
idea of a group of friends meeting monthly to discuss books. Together we
rounded up ten ladies to meet, with the person hosting at their place the
following month choosing the next novel. Book Club has made me read books I may
not personally have chosen to read and has given me insight into how other
people perceive books differently to me. As an author it makes me second guess
how readers might dissect portions of my novels. The main thing it has
highlighted is how books, like any form of art, are so subjective and not
everyone is going to like the same thing.
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Thank you so much for stopping by on what must be a very busy day for you Joanne, it's been great to find out more about you. Have a great publication day and wishing you lots of success with Only the Lonely. 🍾
You can find out more about Joanne, her books and connect with her using the links below:
Website
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