Sunday 7 December 2008

Hi. I'm Mel

Anyone who knows me will say that I'll tell my life story to someone at a bus stop. But when someone asks you to introduce yourself....

So here goes.

I'm ten years younger than the rest of the Gang and met them at the ante natal group. I was only fifteen when I fell pregnant and the rest of the girls were so kind to me - they sort of adopted me and have been mother hens ever since. I love all three of them like sisters.

So, whilst everyone was taking their GCSEs I was a new mum and getting ready to marry Lester Harper, my baby's father. Lester was only 21 himself at the time with little or no prospects. Sad to say, he fulfilled this early lack of promise! He's now a jobbing builder and our eldest, Tony, works with him (or, in Lester's case, avoids work wherever possible).

My daughter is 16 and a very clever girl - I can't believe I was pregnant at her age - she seems so young. I also have another son, John, who's 20 and has a lovely kind heart. There was no money for college so he's taking an environmental sciences degree with the Open University. All this studying has set me thinking that I ought to return to school to get some sort of education - I don't want to spend the rest of my life slicing bacon!!

My share of the story in The Accidental Guru is a particularly difficult one and I couldn't have got through it without my sister friends, Judi, Paula and Aurora. Why not download the first chapter for free and see how it all started.

I hear Aurora's introducing herself next. Hold on to your hats!

Love Mel xxx

Friday 21 November 2008

Hello from Paula

Hello. I'm Paula Lawrence and a friend of Judi's. I have two children, Avril and Sebastian, and am married to Dennis. I met Mel and Judi at ante-natal class when we had our boys. Avril's in finance (like her father) whilst Sebastian and his partner own an interior design emporium.

Until recently I was a housewife and love cooking, gardening and golf. In my younger days, I studied art but haven't painted since Avril was born. There just hasn't been the time. My charity work takes a lot out of my week and Dennis has a very demanding career in which he needs my constant support. He's also running as captain of the golf club - but that's another story.

As is what happened to me after my mother died and Charles Waddington reappeared. I still can't believe how much my life has altered since March.

You can read all of our stories once The Accidental Guru appears in the New Year or take a sneak preview right now by downloading the first chapter for free. Follow the email link in the download and you can even chat to the author, Laura Essendine.

Speak to you soon

Paula

Monday 17 November 2008

Thanks for downloading

A big thanks to those of you who have already downloaded to the first chapter of The Accidental Guru for free from LULU.

If you're reading it already, don't forget to email me with your thoughts, both good and bad. There's an email link back to me in the pdf download.

If you've not downloaded yet, follow the above link to the book's page to read it today and start the story of Aurora, Mel, Judi and Paula.

The final draft is going well and should be up on LULU to buy as a paperback early in the New Year. In the meantime, I'll continue posting updates and messages from the girls to keep you going.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Laura xxxx
The Accidental Guru

Thursday 6 November 2008

Read the first chapter for free

Rather than make you wait for the whole book I've now posted the first chapter of The Accidental Guru on Lulu.

To download the first chapter ABSOLUTELY FREE, go to www.lulu.com/content/4787924

Join Judi, Aurora, Paula and Mel on a night out when Aurora is sharing her secrets of attractiveness for the over-forties. This can be summed up by the book's opening line of "Allure is a state of mind and not a state of undress...."

And that's only the start of it!

Why not download the chapter, share it with your friends and then email me with you comments - both good and bad? There's a email link in the download.

Looking forward to hearing from you all.

Laura xx

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Just saying Hello

Hi.

I'm Judi Meppershall, and I thought I'd take the time to introduce myself in advance of the release of The Accidental Guru some time soon. I'm one of The Gang and also, in truth, the Accidental Guru herself. I didn't mean it to happen but, as usual with my friend, Aurora, little things soon get out of hand and, from giving one lecture as a bet, I suddenly found myself motivating the Menopause Generation.

Aurora and I first met at university almost thirty years ago. Believe it or not, I fell pregnant at my graduation party so, whilst Aurora hit the London audition circuit, I got married and had four children.

I'm still married to Neil, my knight in shining bifocals, and we live in Nottingham with our two daughters, Grace and Hannah, the boys having flown the nest.

At antenatal class I met my two other best friends, Paula and Mel. Paula's the sensible one and a bit of a Domestic Goddess whilst Mel's funny, talkative and the kindest person I know.

After a few years in London, Aurora reappeared in Nottingham with the News of the World and a disgraced junior minister in tow (don't ask). She quickly became the fourth member of The Gang and we meet up at least once a month to drink too much wine and generally laugh and bitch our way through too many calories.

The Accidental Guru is our story - what happened to us all over six tumultuous months and they way life took us in different directions whilst bringing us even closer together.

Bye for now, Judi

Thursday 25 September 2008

We're getting there

After a long lay off over the summer, The Accidental Guru is once more back up and running towards its conclusion. Hopefully, you shouldn't need to wait much longer to read the happy, funny, sad stories of Judi, Aurora, Paula and Mel.

Sorry to keep you waiting but it'll be worth it, I promise

xx

Monday 11 August 2008

Coming slightly later than soon.....

As I'm anxious to get The Gang's story absolutely perfect, I'm afraid The Accidental Guru has been delayed for a few more weeks yet. Thanks for your patience and, hopefully, you'll find it worth the wait.

In the meantime, I've launched a new e-book, Casanova's Condoms, which is a less than serious history of contraception from ancient times. What did the Greeks keep in their medicine cabinets, what did Roman condoms look like and how did the Egyptians stop themselves becoming mummies?

If you'd like a preview, go to the Casanova's Condoms page at LULU by following this link http://www.lulu.com/content/3340705

It only costs £2.50 to download and is full of fascinating facts with some bad jokes on the side. Well worth a read - even if I do say so myself.

To keep you up to date on my non-fiction writing, I've opened another blog at http://www.booksltd.blogspot.com which will give you something to read whilst you wait for The Accidental Guru to make an appearance in the Autumn.

Hoping to chat to you again soon

Laura Essendine x

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Coming soon...........

THE ACCIDENTAL GURU

A brand new novel from Laura Essendine available soon on http://www.lulu.com/. Funny, heart-breaking, romantic and restoring your faith in friendship. A book to snuggle up with and wallow in.

Judi, Aurora, Mel and Paula, friends for over twenty years, supporting each other from ante-natal classes to university applications. Until their lives change irrevocably over six months.

Paula – perfect housekeeper and pillar of the community who's thrown into emotional and domestic chaos by the death of her mother and the reappearance of Charles Waddington.

Mel – whose three children need to undergo tests for a fatal, genetic condition but only she appreciates the devastation the test results will bring.

Aurora – failed actress, radio presenter and self-proclaimed sex-goddess who refuses to relinquish her youth or her hold on a succession of toy-boys until a young American forces her to expose a past that she’d buried long ago.

Judi – who'd abandoned her dreams to travel and write when she fell pregnant at university. Twenty-five years and four children later, she unwittingly becomes a motivational guru for The Menopause Generation. The media attention and book advance turn her dreams to reality but success is marred by Aurora’s jealousy and increasing alienation.

Is it possible to turn your past into your future and, if you do, will it be everything you’d hoped for, or the one thing you were always afraid of?


Over the coming weeks, The Gang will be introducing themselves here on this blog so why not subscribe on the right to receive regular updates in your inbox. Make friends with Judi, Aurora, Mel and Paula before the novel's release in July and then join them during the six months that will change their lives for ever.