The date: 28 FEBRUARY 2012.

The time: 4-5pm Pacific time/7-8pm Eastern time (US). If you are based in the UK, it's going to be a late-night party – the partying starts at midnight.

The venue: http:www.facebook.com/marthabeckauthor

Martha will be answering questions, offering her insights and ideas as well as sharing some fun facts about her new book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World.

Invite all your friends.

If you haven't got hold of a copy yet of her fantastic new book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, here's an idea of what to expect:

Do you ever find yourself thinking, how did I get here? Where am I going? I want to help others but I'm stuck working nine to five. I want to make a difference. I want to count.

You are not alone! What's more, you don't need to feel stuck in a career or a relationship that just doesn't fit. Bestselling life coach Martha Beck offers a transformative guide to help you become a happier, more confident person, able to heal yourself, others and the planet.

Using her coaching expertise, Martha leads you through the four simple but powerful steps you need to take to awaken to a new way of living in the twenty-first century.

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is a heartfelt and inspirational road map to miraculous change.

Praise for Martha Beck

'Martha Beck writes like a wizard – her magic trick is turning people into their true selves' Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way

'She is a teacher in the truest sense of the word' Harriet Lerner, author of The Dance of Anger

'The best known life coach in America' USA Today

'Beck is funny and an excellent writer' Guardian

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is available to buy now from Piatkus priced at £12.99. It is also available to download as an ebook from all of the major ebook retailers, so you can add this title to your Kindle, iPad, Kobo or Sony Reader.

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The beauty of habits is that your mind is a 'habit-creation machine'. Only two things are required for you to form a habit:

The first ingredient of a habit is consistent mapping  between the world and a behaviour. If you sit down with a musical instrument, you will find lots of consistent mappings.  I took up the saxophone 11 years ago.  On the sax, you press down different combinations of keys to get different notes.  Every time you press a particular combination of keys, though, you get the same note.  That set-up allows you to learn to play particular notes without having to think about it.  It would be a real disaster if someone reset my sax every day so that I had to relearn the keys to press to get a particular note.

The second ingredient is repetition. You have to repeat the action frequently. After a while, you will be able to perform the behaviour mindlessly. You can create a habit intentionally by practising. In that case, you are going out of your way to repeat the action several times.  I try to carve out time from my evening each day to play my sax to reinforce my habits. However, the habit-learning system doesn't care whether you are being intentional or not. Repeat the action enough times and you will get a habit. You may not intend to create a habit for getting home from work but after a week or two at a new job you can get all the way home without paying too much attention to what you are doing.

So, how much repetition do you need? It depends on how distinctive the situations are that influence your behaviour.

When learning your way home from work, there may be a unique and beautiful old church on a street corner where you need to make a left turn. As that church is unique, you are quickly able to form a habit to turn left at that intersection.

Learning to play an instrument is much more difficult.  Each of your fingers is part of the movement you need for many different notes, and all of those movements are fairly similar.  So, learning to play each of the notes on an instrument by habit takes a much longer time.  And those habits build on each other.  After I learned to produce the individual notes on my saxophone, I had to learn patterns.  These habitual patterns come in handy now that I play in the horn section of a blues band on Sunday nights.

For things like learning to play a musical instrument or learning to type, where many repetitions are necessary to learn the habit, it is helpful to develop a rehearsal schedule to repeat the behaviour enough times to create the habit.

In the end, remember that habits can be very good. They can be the key to enjoying more interesting activities.

Smart Thinking by Art Markman is available to buy now from Piatkus priced at £8.99. It is also available to download as an ebook from all of the major ebook retailers, so you can add this title to your Kindle, iPad, Kobo or Sony Reader.

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Their recipe for blueberry pancakes uses ground oats instead of refined wheat flour. This makes the pancakes easier to digest, as oats do not contain gliadin, the type of gluten that’s found in wheat and that’s particularly hard to digest. The blueberries are, of course, a healthier and naturally sweet alternative to adding sugar or maple syrup.

Blueberry Pancakes

Serves 6–8 (around 25 small pancakes)

For the blueberry compote
300g (10½oz) blueberries
1 tbsp xylitol (or caster sugar)

For the pancakes
175g (6oz) whole oat flakes, finely blended to form a flour (using a food processor)
75g (3oz) xylitol (or caster sugar)
1 large free-range or organic egg, lightly beaten
250ml (just over 8 fl oz) milk or unsweetened non-dairy milk such as rice or soya milk
A little coconut oil or mild or medium (not extra virgin) olive oil for frying

1. Place the blueberries in a saucepan with a splash of water and leave to simmer gently for around 5–10 minutes until they soften. Sweeten them to taste with the tablespoon of xylitol and set them to one side while you make the pancakes.
2. Mix the oat flour and the 75g of xylitol in a bowl.
3. Whisk the milk into the egg to form a batter the consistency of whipping cream, then stir into the dried ingredients. If the mixture is not particularly smooth it may be that your blender isn’t powerful enough to grind the oats to a fine flour. If this is the case, blend the mixture using a hand-held blender to make it as smooth as possible.
4. Heat a couple of teaspoons of oil in the base of a large frying pan and place tablespoons of the pancake mixture in the pan (without touching each other). Fry for a minute or so on each side, or until firm and golden brown. Do this in batches so as not to crowd the pan. Place the cooked pancakes on a plate and cover with a clean towel to keep them warm while you finish the batch.
5. Serve the pancakes covered with the blueberry compote. If you wish, top with a little yoghurt.

Cook’s notes: Wheat-free, dairy-free if you use soya milk * Vegetarian * The blueberry compote can be made in advance and kept in the fridge or freezer

This recipe is taken from Food GLorious Food by Patrick Holford and Fiona McDonald Joyce – an invaluable cookbook for everyone who loves fresh, exciting a delicious food, but also wants to stick to a healthy diet. It is available to buy now from Piatkus, priced at £15.99.

 Thumbnail photograph © Ian Greig Garlick

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In 2011 Piatkus published Brave Girl Eating by Harriet Brown – the true story of how Harriet's family helped her daughter Kitty to recover from anorexia using a family-based treatment developed at the Maudsley Hospital in London. Since publication, the book has received praise across the board from healthcare professionals, writers, eating disorders campaigners and families going through the same struggle and won the prestigious Books for a Better Life award in the parenting category. 

In the extract below, Harriet remembers the moment that she and her husband Jamie realised their daughter had developed an eating disorder:

On Mother’s Day we planned a family bike ride. Emma had recently gotten good enough on a twowheeler to keep up with the rest of us. And so we set out after lunch on a warm Sunday afternoon. Our route was an easy eight-mile ride; even with lots of water breaks, it shouldn’t have taken more than two hours. But almost as soon as we hit the bike trail, half a mile from our house, Kitty began to cry. Not a few sniffles, either, but full-out hysterical sobbing.

We stopped right away. “What happened?” I asked. She’d been fine at home, ten minutes earlier. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know!” she wailed. She wouldn’t, or couldn’t, tell Jamie or me what was wrong.

After twenty minutes of sitting by the side of the trail, Jamie asked, “Should we go home?”

“I don’t want to ruin Mother’s Day!” sobbed Kitty, getting back on her bike. Off we pedaled. Five minutes later, the same thing happened again. On and on Kitty wept, and we watched helplessly.

After an hour, we’d made it to a small concrete gazebo in the middle of a playground in a subdivision of McMansions. The gazebo offered the only shade in sight, and we huddled under its small roof, rubbing Kitty’s back, trying to get her to drink (she insisted she wasn’t thirsty), trying to figure out what had gone so suddenly and bewilderingly wrong. “I don’t know,” she said, over and over, as tears literally squirted from her eyes and down her cheeks. “I don’t know! I’m sorry!”

She didn’t want to go home, but she couldn’t ride. And so we sat in the gazebo. And sat. The rest of us ate our snacks and drained our water bottles and still Kitty cried. Ten-year-old Emma lay on her back on the picnic table, shredding the season’s first dandelion, kicking the top of the table in frustration. I could feel my empathy begin to wane. By now all I wanted for Mother’s Day was to be sitting in air-conditioning with a book and a glass of ice water. Preferably alone.

Eventually we persuaded Kitty onto her bike and began to pedal home slowly. As soon as we got there Emma disappeared into the house, slamming her bedroom door behind her. I would have loved to do the same thing. Instead, I wheeled my bike into the garage. “Tell me what’s wrong,” I said to Kitty, propping the kickstand. “What’s going on?”

We sat down on the garage floor, surrounded by stacks of skis and bikes, garden tools, piles of the boards Jamie used to make furniture. Kitty laid her head in my lap the way she used to when she was a toddler. Lately she’d been both insecure and clingy. She reached for my hand constantly, wanting to link arms, walk in step. She hovered when I cooked dinner. Was this normal, I wondered? Weren’t fourteen-year-olds supposed to be pulling away? She did spend a lot of time alone in her room, where she’d created a rigorous gymnastics training regimen that involved doing hundreds of push-ups, V-ups, and chin-ups a day. And she was out of the house four or five nights a week at the gym, practicing with her team from six to nine, eating dinner by herself every night around fi ve. When she got home at 9:30, she did homework or fell into bed.

Kitty had always been wired for action. She hadn’t slept through the night until she was four. Maybe this was just more of who she was—wide awake, sensitive, tuned in. Sitting on the cool cement floor of the garage, I stroked her hair, noticing that her skin was chilled and dry, even in the heat.

“What is it?” I asked. “What’s wrong? You can tell me, you know. No matter what it is.”

Her eyes were squeezed tight, as if in pain. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m afraid, Mommy,” she whispered.

“Afraid of what?” I asked.

She raised one arm and laid it across her eyes. “Remember I told you that my Spanish teacher has OCD?” she asked. I nodded; the Spanish teacher was Kitty’s favourite this year, and we’d been hearing a lot about her idiosyncrasies.

“And remember I told you she has to rearrange the chairs and desks so they’re lined up exactly?” Kitty continued. “She says if things aren’t lined up, she gets really worried and she can’t stop thinking about it until she fixes it.”

“Yes,” I said, wondering where this was going.

“I think I have OCD, too,” she whispered.

This was . . . unexpected. “Why?” I asked.

“Because I can’t stop worrying!”

“Worrying about what?”

She shook her head, her eyes still hidden from me, and said no more.

I told her I’d noticed she seemed a little worried lately. And I had noticed, because Kitty had never seemed fearful or anxious before. Cautious, yes; she was the kind of toddler who watched and waited rather than throwing herself into a new activity, who studied the stairs for weeks and then one day walked down them carefully, perfectly, one step at a time. But she loved travel, meeting new people, going places. She wasn’t shy or nervous; she’d never been afraid of the dark, or burglars, or dogs. I would never have described Kitty as anxious, and anxiety is something I know a lot about, because I’ve had panic disorder my whole life. But Kitty was nothing like I’d been as a child. At age eight, she insisted on going to overnight camp for two weeks and wasn’t homesick at all.

“How about if we go talk to someone?” I asked her now. “About the OCD thing.”

Kitty was shaking her head before I finished. “I’m not crazy!” she insisted.

“Of course you’re not crazy,” I said. “It’s not about crazy. Everyone needs a little help at some point.”

She said she wouldn’t talk to anyone and she didn’t need any help. She just needed more Mommy time, that was all. I didn’t point out that we’d just spent four hours together and she’d done nothing but cry. Instead I handed her a tissue and said, “If you change your mind—”

She blinked. “I just want to talk to you about it,” she said. “Only you. Promise me.”

“Of course,” I said. I hardly knew what I was saying.

She scrambled out of my lap and ran into the house.

That night Jamie and I went over the conversation again and again. What was really going on with Kitty? He hadn’t noticed her counting or arranging things, or showing other symptoms of OCD, and neither had I. But something was making her worry.

Maybe we’d never know. After all, we told each other, she was fourteen, an age one friend described as “the lost year.” Her daughter spent most of her fifteenth year in her room, coming out only to snap at the rest of the family. Then one day she simply reappeared, her earlier personality restored, and resumed the civilities of family life.

I remembered fourteen. You couldn’t pay me enough to be that age again.

Was Kitty going through the kind of adolescent angst that’s triggered by hormones? Maybe. She barely had breasts; she hadn’t gotten her period yet. Late bloomers are the norm in both our families. Then, too, the kind of intense gymnastics training Kitty was involved in could delay development. But that could be a good thing, couldn’t it? I’d written an article years earlier for Health magazine on research showing that teenage girl athletes who delay menstruation have a lower than normal lifetime risk of breast cancer, which runs in our family.

In the end, Jamie and I decided, we weren’t that worried. Kitty was smart, savvy in ways I certainly hadn’t been at her age. She was growing up, that was all. We agreed we’d keep an eye on her, though we had no idea what we were looking for.

And yet. Most parents of an anorexic child can look back on a day when they should have done something but didn’t. A day when they first realized something was very wrong but still had no words for it, just a feeling—a prickle at the base of the neck, the hairs on their arms standing up, something in them recognizing danger. For me it was the next day, the Monday after Mother’s Day, when Kitty called me at work to ask what we were having for dinner on Friday night, five days later. She’d never done anything like that before, and I was, frankly, flabbergasted.

“I don’t even know what we’re having tonight,” I said, laughing. Maybe she was joking.

“I have to know,” she said. “Why can’t you just tell me?”

I wish, now, that I’d paid attention to the frantic tone in her voice, to the anxiety driving this odd and insistent questioning. What if I’d made an appointment that day to see “someone”? Would that “someone” have seen what we couldn’t, yet?

I’ll never know, because instead of making a call, I got annoyed. I’ve never been good at meal planning; I’m the kind of parent who rummages in the fridge and throws something together on the spot. When Kitty wouldn’t stop pressing me, when she didn’t back down, I said in exasperation, “Spaghetti, OK? We’ll have spaghetti on Friday night.” And when that calmed her down enough to get off the phone, I forgot about it.

Only I didn’t. A few days later I stopped at the library on my way home from work and checked out a video called Dying to Be Thin. I didn’t go looking for it, and I couldn’t have told you why I checked it out. I brought it home and put it on my desk in the living room, where it was quickly covered by a pile of papers. It sat there for weeks, long past its due date, but I never watched it.

Much later, Emma told me that when she saw that video on my desk, she knew Kitty had anorexia. “Why else would you have taken it out of the library?” she asked, with incontrovertible ten-year-old logic.

If only I’d paid attention to my own signals.

As May wore on, Kitty’s mood continued to deteriorate. She cried more; she was testy one moment, clingy the next. She kept up with her homework, as usual; she’d always been disciplined about school. Too disciplined; anything less than an A on the smallest assignment could send her into a spiral of anxiety about college and law school. In her chipper moments she couldn’t stop talking about her new passion for cooking. “I want to make a dinner party for your birthday, Mom!” she announced one day. My birthday is in October, but that didn’t stop her from making elaborate plans—dinner for thirty, place cards, fancy dress. She spent hours reading cookbooks, marking pages with yellow Post-its, making lists of ingredients—lobster, Cornish game hens, heavy cream, tarragon, butter. She called me at the office where I was editor in chief of a magazine to read me menus for the kind of four course meals you could cook only with a kitchen full of Williams-Sonoma equipment. She flopped down on my bed at night to debate the relative merits of scallops versus shrimp, sweet butter versus French butter. She begged for a subscription to Gourmet magazine.

I’d been trying to get Kitty to cook with me since she was three years old, to no avail. Was it possible for a child who had never shown the slightest interest in baking chocolate chip cookies to suddenly care about making a roux? Maybe I’d simply been boring her all these years with my pedestrian suggestions for brownies or spaghetti, and now her gourmet abilities were making themselves known. That didn’t exactly feel like the right explanation. But then what was going on?

I grew suspicious—of what, exactly, I couldn’t say—and then questioned my own suspicions. I’d always been a practical cook, more apt to produce a one-pot casserole than an elaborate menu.

Was I threatened by Kitty’s new expertise in the kitchen? What kind of mother was I, to be wary of my daughter’s new interest? Why couldn’t I just support it? Talking about food was the only thing that made her eyes light up. Even gymnastics, which she’d loved for years, seemed more of a chore than a pleasure these days.

The thing was, she didn’t actually eat what she cooked. A bite here, a nibble there, that’s all. She always had a reason: this dish upset her stomach, she wasn’t in the mood for that one. Jamie and Emma and I ate what she cooked, and it was delicious. But still Kitty’s behavior left a bitter aftertaste.

I started watching her. Watching what she ate, and didn’t eat. Watching the way goose bumps ran up her arms on a sunny afternoon. How her head suddenly looked too big for her body.

At her eighth-grade graduation in early June, Kitty wore a blazeorange halter dress she’d borrowed from a neighbour. From across the crowded gymnasium, I saw my daughter with different eyes, away from the usual context of our lives, and what I saw made my heart begin to pound. In an auditorium crowded with fourteen-year-olds, she was by far the thinnest girl in the room.

Brave Girl Eating is essential reading for families and professionals alike. It is available to buy now from Piatkus priced at £12.99. It is also available to download as an ebook from all of the major ebook retailers, so you can add this title to your Kindle, iPad, Kobo or Sony Reader.

To find out more about Harriet Brown, visit www.harrietbrown.com.

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Still, tough decisions had to be made, and in the end they came up with a winner and two runners up, who will receive a package containing Piatkus' ultimate Valentine's Day reading matter:
   
 
Winner: Claudia of the Bones by Cate Castania
(inspired by The Goosegirl at the Well from Grimm's Fairy Tales)

Sir Kimberbrooke Smythe was a rich widower who doted upon his three daughters, especially the youngest, Claudia. The day she turned eighteen, he held a banquet in her honour, inviting the 'Who’s Who' of the London business world, but neglecting to invite the rather annoying young man Claudia had taken up with lately. What was his name again? Alex?  A penniless archaeology student, of all unsuitable things.
The highlight of the banquet was a surprise announcement by the host that he would be dividing his empire between his daughters and retiring to his country estate. All he required in return was that each girl should say what she found most endearing about him. His eldest sprang up and declared: “I adore everything about you, from your power to your patrician looks. How can I choose?” The middle daughter said: “With you as a father, I have nothing to fear in the world.”
Sir Kim turned expectantly to Claudia. She looked past the arrogant set of his jaw and into his heart. “I love your sadness,” she said softly. Enraged at having been humiliated by his own daughter in front of everyone who matters, Sir Kim threw her out in the street, commanding her never to darken his door again.
Pawning her birthday Rolex, Claudia bought a plane ticket to Ankara and took a bus ride to Potbelly Hill, where a Stone Age temple was slowly revealing its contours under the patient brushstrokes of a team of volunteers. Thus began three years of wandering from one dig to another. She worked in return for bed and board and no questions asked. She came to find a sort of peace: ancient bones can’t make one weep.
Alex, believing himself jilted for some rich boy, threw himself into his studies and took his doctorate summa cum laude. A strange restlessness then seized him and he set about wandering the planet from dig to dig himself, searching for he-knew-not-what.
When he stepped out of the jeep into the blazing Australian sunshine at Dinosaur Cove, a young woman handed him a cold beer. Her face was hidden below a floppy hat and she said nothing, merely gestured him towards the administration hut. The liquid grace of her limbs as she walked away sparked a flash of recognition that made his heart leap, but before he could make up his mind to pursue her, she had disappeared. He signed up as a volunteer, and the thought that he might see her again slowly expanded in his mind until there was room for little else.
Empty weeks then passed, but his hope endured. One day, as he was escaping the midday sun beneath a eucalyptus tree, she came walking out of the shimmering heat towards him. Her dress was the colour of spring grass. She folded herself down beside him and took his hand in hers. With this simple gesture, grief took its leave of them, graciously ceding its place to happiness. 

 Runner up: Fields Of Gold By Vivienne Dacosta
(inspired by The Angel by Hans Christian Anderson)

Ivy stepped wearily down from the bus, she caught her breath at the view she had waited so long to see again, now spread before her.    
The golden fields of daffodils.
Just as she remembered.
Nothing had changed.
She was finally home.
Raising her hand to shield her eyes from the glistening sun, she could just make out a familiar figure laden with a basket, half-full of daffodils.
Hearing her footsteps, the figure turned, smiling, dropping her basket on the dusty pathway. She embraced her granddaughter as if the years of absence were only moments in time.
'Nanna, it has been too long. You look so well now.'
Her grandmother chuckled, a glint of knowing in her eye. ‘I feel more alive now than I ever did.'
Gently she touched her granddaughter's cheek. ‘It seems that you need a good rest here to improve your pasty complexion. A few weeks here and you will be as right as rain.'
Ivy smiled weakly. The past few months had taken their toll on her body, but now the pain had stopped; she knew her grandmother would be able to make her feel better again, like when she was a child. Coming back had been the right decision.
Her grandmother bent down with ease. ‘Will you help me pick some daffodils? For old times’ sake.' Ivy smiled. There was nothing she would rather do and she had all the time in the world now. Kneeling down next to her grandmother she began to pick them. With each one she picked, a memory burst and bloomed into her mind; each flower opening its petals to her past.
She found a lonely daffodil lying beside her, still attached to its bulb. 'Should we take this one back and replant it in a pot?'
Her grandmother grinned. 'Just like you did when I was so poorly, do you remember? You would come in and water it every day hoping it would help me get better.'
Ivy beamed at the memory. ‘Just before you went on that long holiday that Mum said would make you well again.'
The basket now overflowing, they both stood up, each catching a glimpse of the procession of black cars passing at the end of the pathway.
Neither spoke.
Noticing the tears, her grandmother wiped them as they fell on to Ivy's cheek.
'Now don't fret child, everything will be fine. Let's head to the house, your grandfather can't wait to see you. And old Patch has been running round in circles, I am sure he knew you were coming.'
'Patch is still around! Nothing has changed. It really is just how I remembered it.'
Hand in hand, they strolled beside the glistening fields of golden daffodils.
'Will heaven be just like this?'
Her grandmother squeezed her hand, ‘Ivy, sweetie, this is heaven. I just walked up to meet you and bring you home.'
They hugged as old Patch came scampering up the pathway, his own death a long and distant memory.
 

 Runner Up: A Valuable Proposition by Jenny Bateman-Irish (inspired by Rumplestiltskin) 

Donna, known to her mates as ‘Sparra’, ran down the stairwell of the grotty, East London council estate where she lived with her Dad, a taxi driver. She was meeting Chris, one of his stock broker clients, in a West End bar.
‘She’s a right corker my Sparra, you’ll love her. She’s looking for a job in the City. Perhaps you can give her a trial?’ her Dad suggested, when Chris mentioned he was looking for a PA. ‘Maybe’ Chris replied. 'She’d have to be pretty on the ball. Has she got any experience?’ ‘Naturally’, her Dad boasted. ‘She even does a bit of trading on the side’. ‘You’re joking?!’ Chris replied. ‘Well, if she can make me money too, I‘d love to take her on’.
‘I can’t lose this account, just make Chris happy’ said her Dad later, as he shoved her out the door. Donna had no idea about trading, let alone with America. She was petrified when Chris introduced her to his empty office, placed her in front of a computer, and said ‘You’ve got three nights. Show me what you’ve got’. Donna, barely able to manage Powerpoint, put her head on the desk and sobbed.
She looked up later to find an ugly, little man, holding a mop and a pail, leering at her. ‘You really want this job, huh? I can help you. I follow all the traders. Give me your watch and I’ll show you how it’s done.’ He started to work the markets. She slid off her fake Rolex, placing it on the desk. The second night, the caretaker wanted her iPhone. The third, he asked for ‘one night of passion when your new boss goes to New York’. Donna was shocked, but agreed. Having made impressive earnings, Chris quickly offered her a job.
Three weeks later, Donna had learned the basics from the other PAs and Chris flew to Manhattan. ‘I want my night of passion, Sparra’, whispered the caretaker.
‘You can’t be serious’ she exclaimed.
‘Give me my night of passion, or I’ll tell your boss how crap you really are. You owe me.’
‘No way’ said a desperate Donna. ‘I need this job. You can have my first pay cheque, but I’m not sleeping with you.’
‘Then, you’ve got three days to find the password to Chris’s computer and delete the e-mail I sent him. I knew you’d go back on our deal’.
‘Oh God’ thought Donna. ‘How am I going to guess that?’ She spent the weekend entering passwords in vain.
Monday morning, Donna spilled the beans to the other PAs. Miraculously, when Carole, the work-experience girl, went out to get coffees, she overheard the caretaker telling the postman ‘She’s far too thick. Probably never even heard of Rumplestiltskin’. Donna was saved.
Rushing to delete the e-mail, she greeted Chris with a smile. The furious caretaker, heading for the exit, tripped over his bucket, tumbled down a flight of stairs and broke his leg. Never to return again.
 
Many congratulations to all three!

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Books for a Better Life was born sixteen years ago with the intention of recognising self-improvement authors, a genre impacting the second half of the 20th century more than any other. The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony in New York City on the 12th March 2012.

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is the new book from bestselling life coach Martha Beck. It is a transformative guide to help you become a happier, more confident person, able to heal yourself, others and the planet.

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is a heartfelt and inspirational road map to miraculous change. If you've ever found yourself thinking, I want to do more than work nine to five, I want to make a difference, I want to count, Martha's advice in Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is for you.

'Marth Beck writes like a wizard – her magic trick is turning people into their true selves' Julia Cameron, author of  The Artist's Way

Driven by Goldie Hawn’s lifelong interest in the practice of mindfulness and her commitment to the welfare of children everywhere, the Hawn Foundation has developed the MindUP programme to help children reach their full potential.

10 Mindful Minutes shares the secrets of this groundbreaking programme. Though simple techniques such as mindful breathing, sensing and thinking, it will help parents and children alike to focus on feelings of gratitude, kindness and optimism that will improve relationships, increase performance through better concentration and lead to emotionally healthy and happy lives.

‘This is a remarkable book . . .  Read it and use it: you may find you are doing nothing less than given back to your children their childhood, while they still have the chance to live it’ Mark Williams, Director, University of Oxford Mindfulness Centre and author of Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is available to buy now from Piatkus priced at £12.99. It is also available to download as an ebook from all of the major ebook retailers, so you can add this title to your Kindle, iPad, Kobo or Sony Reader. 10 Mindful Minutes will be published on the 1st March.

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Following a band of warrior brothers, the Mark of the Vampire series is as exciting and as fast paced as it is hot and steamy. We've had some fantastic reviews. . .

‘Gentle emotions are not for the Roman brothers, as their destined mates are fated to learn. Complex and riveting!’ Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine (4 stars)

Action, passion and dark suspense launch a riveting new series. Laura Wright knows how to lure you in and hold you captive until the last page!’ Larissa Ione

‘Just when it seems every possible vampire twist has been turned, Wright launches a powerful series with a rich mythology, page-turning tension, and blistering sensuality’ Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

. . .but don't take their words for it, all the books in the series are out now! Click here for more information.

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2. Larissa Ione's Demonica Series now in the UK
3. Ever wondered what would happen if Carrie Bradshaw met a vampire?

To celebrate the publication of Carolyn Jess-Cooke’s novel The Boy Who Could See Demons we are asking you to create a 60 to 120 second film trailer which we can use to promote this exciting new book in the run-up to its publication in May 2012. It should have a certain punch and energy that will capture the tone of the story which is about a little boy who claims he can see demons. The winner will see his or her trailer used right across the internet to help build awareness and anticipation around the new novel. They will also win £100’s worth of books too!

BACKGROUND TO THE STORY

Set in present-day Belfast, The Boy Who Could See Demons is told from the viewpoints of Alex, a 10- year-old boy whose suicidal mother is being treated for depression, and Alex's psychiatrist, Anya. Still bearing the scars of her own daughter's battle with schizophrenia, Anya fears for Alex's mental health and attempts to convince him that Ruen doesn't exist. But as she runs out of medical proof for many of Alex's claims, she is faced with a question: does Alex suffer from schizophrenia, or can he really see demons?

THE CHARACTERS

Alex is the main character. He is 10 years old, white, with brown hair and blue eyes and is usually dressed in an oversized brown suit. Anya is a 43-year-old female, dark-haired and usually dressed in a suit. Ruen has various appearances: as an old man in a brown tweed suit, as a shadowy monster, and as a boy like Alex but with dark holes for eyes.

Remember you don't necessarily need actors – it can be an animation, or you can rely on visuals other than acted-out scenes. If you do have acted-out scenes, however, it's worth noting that much of the action of the book takes place in a hospital, in interview rooms with child's toys in the background, in Alex’s down-trodden home, on city streets, and on-stage as Alex performs in Hamlet.

ESSENTIALS

The trailer should open and close with the book jacket and the following text must be included:

The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke

My name is Alex.
I'm 10 years old, I like onions on toast, and I can balance on the back legs of my chair for 14 minutes.
I can also see demons.
My best friend is one.
He's called Ruen.
He likes Mozart, table tennis, and bread and butter pudding.
My mum is sick. Ruen says he can help her.
Only, Ruen wants me to do something really bad.
He wants me to kill someone.

We are also including the music that Carolyn composed for the book and is playing (she is very talented you know!) so you can download it.  Because of copyright laws we ask that you either use this or something you yourself have composed.  Of course you don’t have to include any background music at all if you don’t want to.

SOME TIPS

You might find the following links useful when considering how to go about it:

How To Make a Book Trailer – What's Your Story
How to Create a Book Trailer – Darcy Pattison
'When God Was A Rabbit' Amazon book trailer
'My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece' Amazon book trailer

The trick with a book trailer is to remember that the most important thing is to create a sense of what the book is like, which is captured more by tone and atmosphere than relaying the story. Notice that the book trailers for When God was a Rabbit and 'I diari dell'angelo custode' (the Italian version of Carolyn's first novel, The Guardian Angel's Journal) have no dialogue, but rather rely on music, visuals and text excerpts to generate a certain buzz about the books and express their essence. The important thing in this book is the question of whether Ruen is real: shadows and darkness might evoke his presence (as far as Alex in concerned).

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!

We really hope that you are feeling inspired.  The book jacket, the music and the first chapter (to give you more of a feel for the story) can be downloaded here. And when you have completed your trailer simply upload it on to Carolyn's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Carolyn-Jess-Cooke-Author/158347617540515

GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY FILMING!

(Don't forget to read our all-important terms and conditions before entering.)

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2. Meet Carolyn Jess-Cooke!
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Saving money is hard. Even if you have extra money after paying the bills for all of your necessities, it can slip through your fingers. There are three aspects of money that make it hard to save, but as I discuss in my new book Smart Thinking, the more you understand about habits, the more effective you can be at changing them.

The first difficulty with saving money is that it requires a trade-off between your short-term self and your long-term self. Your short-term self wants a new outfit, some new music, or that great new iPad. Your long-term self wants to save money for a house or perhaps buy a new car. Unfortunately, you are wired to want to satisfy your short-term self rather than your long-term self. In the moment, that new outfit, CD, or iPad just seems more attractive than anything your long-term self could want.

The second difficulty is that you have lots of habits for spending small amounts of money that add up over time. The espresso you buy in the morning doesn’t cost that much but over a week the money you spend on your caffeine fix really adds up. Lunch bought at work everyday can soon help put a dent in your account. Buying an extra pint at the pub for your friends won’t break the bank but it adds up too. The thing about these habits is that you don’t think about them. You are a habit creation machine. Your mind wants to help you do as many things as possible without thinking. After a while, that daily espresso is just a mindless part of your day.

The third difficulty is that you probably spend most of your money using credit or debit cards. That means that you aren’t even reaching into your wallet to pull out notes or coins. Instead, the money you spend becomes an abstract number. It is hard to think of those abstract numbers as real money and even when you are aware that each purchase is taking money away from your bank account, it is hard to keep track of how much you have spent on a card.

So, what can you do to be more effective at saving money? First, you need to become more mindful of your actions. Carry a little card with you and keep it with your cash and credit cards. For a week or two, just observe your actions. Make a quick note on the card of when and where you are spending money. You can’t change your behaviour without knowing more about what you are doing. In Smart Thinking, I call this keeping a habit diary.

Second, you need to make your spending more concrete. Use your credit and debit cards less often. For small purchases like an espresso, a magazine or even a new pair of trousers, pay in cash rather than using a card. You may find that some purchases are just less attractive to make when you have to pull out real cash to make them.

Third, after you have helped yourself to become aware of your spending habits, you need to start making changes in your behaviour. One thing you need to do is to create structures to protect your short-term self from your long-term self. When you get paid, take a reasonable amount of money and put it into a savings account that you are going to use for your long-term needs. Once the money is in that account, just let it sit there. Make sure that money is not available for making quick purchases. Soon, you’ll have formed a new habit of setting aside this money and you’ll get to see it grow.

Finally, ask your friends to help you. Chances are, if you are having trouble saving money, you have friends that are having the same problem. When you are tempted to buy something that leaps out at you in the store, call your friend and ask to be talked out of it. If you are going to go out in the evening, get together with those friends at your house rather than going out to see a film, hitting the pub or eating at a restaurant. In the end, the time you spend with friends is rewarding, even if you don’t spend a lot of money doing it.

Smart Thinking: How to Think Big, Innovate and Outperform Your Rivals is out now. To find out more visit www.smartthinkingbook.com

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1. Change Anything gets off to a flying start!
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3. Are you a smart thinker?

And if you need a little inspiration and escapism from these dismal winter days, why not curl up with Christina Jones’s latest charming, funny and romantic novel – Never Can Say Goodbye. Available to buy now!

Francesca Meredith has always had a penchant for vintage dresses. So when she inherits a retro dress shop in the quaint Berkshire village of Kingston Dapple, it's better than winning the lottery. Life is just perfect for Frankie, but it's about to get complicated when she sees a masculine vision setting up shop outside her door – heart-throb florist Dexter Valentine.

As Frankie tries her best to make 'Francesca's Fabulous Frocks' into a success, Dexter's philandering proves the ultimate distraction. That is, until the village medium insists that Frankie's shop is haunted and Frankie starts witnessing some very strange shenanigans.

Will Dexter think she's crazy? Will Frankie's terribly ordinary life return to normal ever again? Does she even want it to. . .?

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 In a recent article on the Daily Mail's website, renowned clinician and scientist Dr Pamela Peeke explains that 'once we turn 40, our metabolic rate — in other words our ability to burn calories — drops. We lose muscle tone. We get stressed and eat more calories than we need, when what we should be doing is exercising more and controlling portion sizes.

Her point is you can stay or become thin, but it will take more effort.' But there is still hope!

In Fight Fat After Forty  Dr Peeke explains her revolutionary plan for fighting stress-eating and shedding 'toxic weight' forever.   She offers a revolutionary three-pronged approach of stress-resilient nutrition, stress-resilient physical activity and stress-resilient 'regrouping' (keeping motivated)  that helps you to identify your stress profile and eating pattern and offering healthy eating programme to suit your body. The book contains a weekly exercise and stress-reducing programme helping you to boost midlife metabolism and lose weight fast.

 

Fight Fat After Forty is published by Piatkus and is out now. Click here for more information.

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For the past twenty years, Professor Stephen Joseph has worked with survivors of trauma and sufferers of posttraumatic stress and, in What Doesn't Kill Us, he boldly challenges current notions about trauma and its aftermath. His studies have shown that a wide range of traumatic events from illness, divorce, separation, assault and bereavement to accidents, natural disasters and terrorism, can act as catalysts for positive change, strengthening relationships, changing one's perspective and revealing inner strengths.

What Doesn't Kill Us has already received fantastic endorsements from both the academic community and survivors of trauma:

‘We live in a world in which suffering is endemic. In this book Stephen Joseph sounds a hopefully note. Suffering need not destroy’ Terry Waite CBE

‘What Doesn’t Kill Us indeed does and can make us stronger as brilliantly presented by Professor Stephen Joseph and lived throughout my every day’ Dr Gill Hicks MBE, survivor of the London Bombings, July 7, 2005

‘To say that [What Doesn't Kill Us] is essential reading would be an understatement. It is essential as a survival guide to life’ Stephen Regel, Honorary Associate Professor/Co-Director Centre for Trauma, Resilience and Growth School of Sociology and Social Policy University of Nottingham

‘What Doesn’t Kill Us is a book of wisdom – both for those who have undergone great stress as well as for those who love and treat them. It is psychology at its best: honest, hopeful, helpful, and based on sound serious research. Reading it makes me proud to be a psychologist’ Robert J. Wicks, Professor, Loloya University of Maryland and author of Bounce: Living the Resilient Life

‘In area beset by wishful thinking, Stephen Joseph makes the scientific case for how difficult times can lead to personal growth. What Doesn’t Kill Us is a well-argued and well-evidenced challenge to the idea that trauma is necessarily a curse’ Vaughan Bell, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London

‘In this fascinating book, Stephen Joseph maps out the rarely explored positive consequences of trauma, reminding us that growth is possible even in the most adverse circumstances. Although essen­tial reading for clinicians working with traumatised patients, What Doesn’t Kill Us is so accessibly written that it should appeal to anyone interested in the human condition’ Richard Bentall, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool

‘This is the book we have been waiting for Stephen Joseph to write. With decades of experience and knowledge, Joseph presents the wonderfully complex world of posttraumatic growth in an acces­sible and personable way’ Dr Kate Hefferon, Senior Lecturer, University of East London and author of Positive Psychology: Theory, research and applications

Stephen Joseph is professor of psychology, health and social care at the University of Nottingham, where he is co-director of the Centre for Trauma, Resilience and Growth and an honorary consultant psychologist in psychotherapy. You can read his blog for Psychology Today here.

What Doesn't Kill Us will be published on the 2nd February.

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Which of these is NOT the title of a Sherrilyn Kenyon novel?

1)      Bad Moon Rising

2)      No Mercy

3)      One Starry Night

Blood Trinity

 Atlanta has become the battlefield between humans and demons. All her life, Evalle Kincaid has walked the line between the two. Her origins unknown, she's on a quest to learn more about her past – and her future.

When a demon claims the life of a young woman in a terrifying attack and there's no one else to blame, Evalle comes under suspicion. Now she's on a deadly quest for her own survival. Through the sordid underground of an alternate Atlanta where nothing is as it seems, to the front lines of the city where her former allies have joined forces to hunt her, Evalle must prove her innocence or pay the ultimate price.

But saving herself is the least of her problems if she doesn't stop the coming apocalypse. The clock is ticking and Atlanta is about to catch fire . . .

Blood Trinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love is published by Piatkus as a trade paperback, £7.99

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Presents, flowers and breakfast in bed? Or an evening alone with a giant box of chocolates, licking your wounds after a morning spent waiting for cards that never came?

Whether you're lucky in love or still waiting for The One, we've got something guaranteed to inject a little romance into your Valentine's Day this year.

14th February sees the launch of Piatkus Entice, an irresistible new eBook-first romance imprint.

With brand new titles every month from authors including Eloisa James, Laura Wright, Sarah MacLean, Mariah Stewart and many more, we hope that Piatkus Entice will be your one-stop-shop for romance reads, whether you're looking for fairytale endings, sexy vampires or ravishing rakes. And with all titles available in eBook-only format and from as little as 99p, the gratification is pretty much instant – one click and they're all yours!

Temptation at your fingertips is the motto of our list, and we really hope to offer something for every romance reader over the coming months.

To keep up to date with all the latest from Piatkus Entice, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or sign up to our exclusive Piatkus romance enewsletter here.

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1. How would you sum up smart thinking?

Most of us have grown up believing that being smart was a talent.  We’re either smart or we’re not.  But being smart is a skill.  You can work to improve your thinking skills.  My formula for smart thinking involves developing smart habits inorder to acquire high quality knowledge that you can use when you need it.  Being smart is about what you know.  So, you have to develop habits to learn more effectively and then find ways to describe new situations so that you can pull out the knowledge you need at the right time.

2. Tell us about the research for the book. Did you notice anything peculiar during the course of your research?

I spent a lot of time distilling research from cognitive science to focus on the core of smart thinking.  One of the really fascinating studies that had a big impact on my recommendations came from work by Leonid Rozenblit and Frank Keil.  They found that people suffer from an illusion of explanatory depth.  That is, there are a lot of things that we think we understand well, but we really don’t.  To test this for yourself, walk around the house and find something (like your toilet) that you think you understand.  Then, try to explain to yourself how it works.  You’ll be surprised at the number of gaps in your knowledge.  The problem with having these gaps is that real smart thinking requires a true understanding of the way the world works.  If you have gaps in your knowledge that you are not aware of, then you are not going to be able to be as smart as you’d like to be.

3. Do you have any success stories you can share with us?

One great story that I talk about in the book is Fiona Fairhurst and her team at Speedo.  They wanted to develop a swimsuit that would help swimmers go faster.  The idea was to develop a fabric that would reduce the forces of drag that water exerts on a swimmer’s body.  They had the smart idea to study sharks to understand why they are able to swim so fast.  Looking at samples of shark skin in the Natural History Museum, they found that sharks have structures on their skin called denticles that help keep water from sticking to their skin.  They created a fabric with artificial denticles.  Once swimmers started to wear these suits, world records began to tumble.

4. Who do you think are the top smart thinkers of the age and why?

We are living in an era of smart thinking.  We tend to focus on celebrities and luminaries from the business world who have had successful careers but so much about success depends on factors that are outside of any single person’s control.  There are lots of great thinkers behind the scenes.  In cognitive science, for example, Danny Kahneman won a Nobel Prize in economics for decades of work that he did with Amos Tversky that really tried to understand the ways that people make decisions. In the business world, Craig B. Wynett from Procter & Gamble has spent several years immersing himself in an understanding of the way the mind works in order to transform the way that one of the world’s largest consumer products companies approaches the development and marketing of new products.

5. What is the most common mistake that people often make that prevents them from achieving their potential?

Without a doubt, the biggest mistake people make is multitasking.  The modern world makes it easy for people to multitask.  We have smart phones, email, instant messaging and other technologies that are constantly drawing us away from our focus on the here and now.  Really learning about the way the world works requires effort.  That effort is sapped when we try to do many things at once.  The problem is that the human mind doesn’t really multitask.  Instead, it switches among tasks.  Instead of multitasking, it is important to create time and space for good learning and smart thinking.

6. Is there one little change we can all make today that will help us to think smarter?

The beauty of learning about the way the mind works is that there a lot of simple things you can change that will help to make you smarter right away.  One simple thing you can do is to keep in mind that you often remember about three things related to any experience, book, article, lecture or meeting.  At the end of any experience like this, don’t leave your memory up to chance.  Instead, take a minute before you move on to the next thing to list the three key points that you want to remember later.

7. What are your five tips for creating a ‘culture of smart’ at work and at home?

Another great thing about learning how the mind works is that you can help to make the people around you smarter, too.  Here are a few tips you can use to create a 'culture of smart':

(1) When people present information to you, make sure you ask them to explain their reasoning.  Not only does this help you to learn about the way the world works, it forces them to find the gaps in their knowledge. 

(2) Discourage people around you from multitasking. 

(3) When you give a presentation, end it with a summary of the three key points that you want people to remember.

(4) While you’re at it, keep your presentations focused on roughly three things.  If you present too much information, nobody will remember it later. 

And (5) be open to new ideas.  Any really new idea is going to feel uncomfortable at first.  If you show openness to ideas, the people around you will be open as well.

 

To find our more about Art's work or read one of his thought-provoking blogs, visit www.smartthinkingbook.com.

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Premier cognitive scientist Art Markman demonstrates how you can become a smart thinker in his new book Smart Thinking. By drawing on the cases of some of the most brilliant minds and his own research into how the brain works, he provides the keys to getting the edge, innovating your way through problems and, ultimately, outperforming your rivals.

Art has provided a short quiz to get us all thinking about just how smart we are when it comes to using our time, deciding what's important and getting our work done. See how you do.

Answer the following questions by circling a number on the scale.  Answer these questions only about your behaviour during the work day.  Low numbers mean you rarely engage in this activity.  High numbers mean you often engage in this activity.

	Almost      Almost
	Never       Always
1.  I answer emails within 10 minutes of their arrival.	1    2    3    4    5
2.  I let the phone ring without answering it.	1    2    3    4    5
3.  I create time blocks in my schedule to work on big projects.	1    2    3    4    5
4.  Co-workers drop by unannounced to discuss issues.	1    2    3    4    5
5.  I use an instant messenger to contact people.	1    2    3    4    5
6.  I get anxious if I know someone is trying to reach me.	1    2    3    4    5
7.  I have regular meeting times with co-workers.	1    2    3    4    5
8.  I keep an agenda with a list of tasks to complete.	1    2    3    4    5

Add up your scores for Questions 1, 4, 5 and 6. These are the Short-term Draws on your time. Now, add up Questions 2, 3, 7 and 8. These are your Long-term Time Savers. If your score for your Short-term Draws is high, and your score for the Long-term Time Savers is low, then you probably do a lot of multitasking.  You are probably not being as efficient as you can at work and at home. Read Smart Thinking to discover the tips that make a big difference.

Praise for Smart Thinking

'If you want to be more creative, if you want to be an innovator, this is the book for you'  Hara Estroff Marano, Psychology Today

 

'As one of the world's most respected voices in the field of cognitive science, Art Markman has isolated a formula for thinking more effectively. The book is filled with specific suggestions and tips that you can use to create new habits to think better, starting literally from Chapter 1'  Craig B. Wynett, Chief Learning Officer at Procter & Gamble and Dr Mehmet Oz, Professor of Surgery

 

'Smart Thinking teaches people how their minds work so they can be more  effective performers at work and at life. An essential read for anyone who wants to operate at their best, think outside the box, and accomplish whatever goals they set out to achieve'  Sian Beilock, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, and author of Choke: What The Secrets Of The Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To

 

'Smart Thinking not only enriches the literature on human thought – and its foibles – it takes it to the next level, offering clear prescriptions for how to sharpen memory, analysis and creativity in our daily lives'  Wray Herbert, author of On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits

 

'Why does thinking quickly create a positive mood?  Are goals contagious? How do you create a culture of smart thinking? Building on decades of research in cognitive psychology and replete with stories and practical tools, Markman answers these questions and in doing so teaches you how to learn.  Once finished, you'll feel smarter.  Consider Smart Thinking an owner's manual to the mind' Jennifer Aaker, Professor of Marketing at Stanford University and author of The Dragonfly Effect:  Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change

'This should be required reading for any student coming to college, new employee starting a career, or anyone who wants to be more thoughtful in life'  James Pennebaker, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and author of The Secret Life of Pronouns 

'Art Markman has written a brilliant, engaging book on a subject of paramount importance in every person's life – how to think effectively…Markman points out that mental habits are the key to smart thinking, and teaches us how to form the habits we need to make the most of our potential. Smart Thinking is that rarest of books – a pleasure to read, and truly useful to boot'  Heidi Grant Halvorson, author of Succeed: How we can reach our goals

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Well, suppose the real key to changing your life has nothing to do with willpower?

Based on the latest social science research, Change Anything, a groundbreaking book from a bestselling team of authors, identifies the Six Sources of Influence that affect your daily decisions.

In the book, you will discover how you can make them work in your favour, helping you to achieve your goals. Using a variety of real-life examples, this new approach will empower you to re-examine the way you go about your business and your personal life. Whatever it is you want to change – whether you want to get out of a rut at work, boost your financial fitness, lose weight, or improve your relationships – this book will provide you with the tools to Change Anything.

 'Master the skills taught in this book and you'll reach a new level of personal influence' Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

'This book – Change Anything – shows how adapting one's life life or career for the better can be done in a new and powerful way' Tony Hieh, bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com Inc 

Related posts:

1. Change Anything: What will your change story be?
2. Making Change Happen. . .
3. Joseph Glenny and his co-authors invite you to explore their latest book, Change Anything, the New Science of Personal Success

Boost Your Confidence with NLP (by Ian McDermott) demonstrates how using NLP techniques can help you to be confident in yourself and with others, and deal with whatever comes your way.

 

 

Your Inner Coach (by Ian McDermott and Wendy Jago) teaches you how to access and harness the hidden power of your unconscious mind so that you can make the most of yourself. Use simple NLP techniques to resolve problems, enhance creativity, improve decision making and your communication skills.

 

The NLP Coach (by Ian McDermott and Wendy Jago) is a comprehensive, practical and user-friendly guide to self-coaching using NLP. Discover how to develop your capacity to learn, generate health and happiness and improve your ability to manage yourself and others so that you can reach your potential.

 

Manage Yourself, Manage Your Life (by Ian McDermott and Ian Shircore) demonstrates how you can use NLP to help create the new life that you deserve. You will learn how to identify what you really want in your personal and professional life, how to set clear goals, handle change effectively and gain more control of your life.

 

The perfect complement . . .

The Coaching Bible (by Ian McDermott and Wendy Jago) is the perfect guide to the key principles and techniques that make coaching one of the most powerful and exciting tools for furthering personal and professional effectiveness. It explains what works and why and includes a new coaching model to benefit everyone. Now available as an ebook too.

 

About the authors

Ian McDermott has a global perspective from working with international companies such as Shell, BP, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM and Ernst&Young.  His company, International Teaching Seminars, has acted as consultant for over 100 of the top companies in the UK. He has taught NLP for many years and is a certified NLP trainer.

Wendy Jago is an NLP Master practitioner and qualified NLP coach, with a background in university teaching, teacher education and psychotherapy. She provides coaching for a leading firm of international bankers and is part of a fast-track management development programme for the NHS.

Ian Shircore is a certified NLP practitioner and business journalist.

 

Piatkus ebooks are available from all of the major ebook retailers, so you can add these titles to your Kindle, iPad, Kobo or Sony Reader.

 

 

 

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2. Discover the Secrets of the Arcane Society. . .
3. Martha Beck talks to Piatkus about her inspirations and what the future may bring

If you've ever found yourself thinking, I want to do more than work nine to five, I want to make a difference, I want to count, Martha's advice in Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is for you. Martha uses her extensive coaching experience to lead you through the four powerful steps towards becoming a happier, more confident person, able to heal yourself, others and the planet.

Martha took some time out with the Piatkus team to tell us about herself, her inspirations and what she thinks the future holds for us all.

1. What led you to be a life coach?

My clients did.  I was teaching at Harvard Business School and had no idea there was such a thing as a 'life coach'.  But I loved talking to my students about their lives and giving them assignments that were atypical for academia, for example, 'Instead of a term paper I insist that you spend some time in the woods without speaking, and tell me what you learn about yourself'.  The students began asking me if they could pay me just to talk about their lives.  I expected this to be a brief phase but people just kept hiring me.  One day I read in the newspaper that I was a 'life coach.'  Who knew?

 2. Who inspires you?

In a way, every single person I meet inspires me.  Some do it by negative example. For instance, inspiring me not to get lost in mind-traps that are making them miserable.  Others inspire me by being geniuses in a certain area.  Everyone has a genius.  My son, who has Down's Syndrome, is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. He sees the world without a filter of damaging, egoistic horse manure and is one of my most humbling teachers.

3. Do you think we are moving into a more altruistic age? 

 I do. Otherwise we’ll continue to slaughter one another and destroy the ecological basis for our survival, then die in either a bang or a whimper. And what fun would that be?  I have no idea whether we can actually avoid this fate but I choose to think so.

4. How do you see the world changing in the future?

First, I think our society and economy will be transformed by the dissolution of Industrial-Revolution style education and work.  I’m not sure what that will look like, but I expect it to be a revolution of the order of Gutenberg’s development of movable type.  I also believe we’ll become much more comfortable with a version of reality closer to quantum physics than Newtonian physics.  I think we’ll come to take it for granted that our nervous systems are wireless communication devices and that everything is connected.  My hope is that this leads to a more empathic way of being, in which care of things like rivers, mountains, and animals is simply a normal extension of care for our own well-being.  I also think hemlines will be alternately much shorter, then much longer, then much shorter again.  Call me psychic.

5. What are the four essential points you’d like the reader to take away from the book?

First, that our real, true nature – as individuals and as a species – is designed to fit in with nature, not with the artificial, factory-based education and work systems we’ve come to think of as 'normal'. (Actually, living in boxes and staring at words and numbers all day is a bizarre aberration that’s only existed in certain cultures during a tiny span of history, since the Industrial Revolution.) We’ve been socialised in a system that was literally created to produce factory workers and now that system is breaking down – which is a good thing.

Second, you instinctively know how to do things that presently you think of as 'magic'.  Some people call these things impossible, others call them divine or miraculous.  But they’re simply natural.  These things include connection and communication with other beings, even over vast distances; the ability to change your mental and physical condition deliberately; and to bring the things you imagine into reality with astonishingly little effort.  You’ve probably never been taught to do these things, certainly not to their full extent, but they are natural to you.  I realise this leads to many questions, which I discuss in Finding Your Way in a Wild New World.

Third, you can not only survive in the chaotic times ahead, you can live prosperously and joyfully in them.  Once you let go of the artificial constraints placed on your mind by social institutions, you’ll find that surfing the waves of change is much more fun.  I can’t tell you exactly what you’ll do, but to the extent that you follow your true nature, you’ll do it brilliantly.

Fourth, if you really serve yourself, your life will serve the world and everything in it.  Selfishness, greed and exploitation of people and resources have all been pushed to their maximum by modern societies during the past few centuries of extreme materialism.  People who have more than they need find that they still need something more.  Fulfilling our true nature means realising that we are all essentially one being, so connecting and cooperating with other beings is more than a pious wish.  It is enormously challenging and enormously enjoyable.  

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World is out now. To find out more about Martha and her work, visit www.marthabeck.com.

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2. Reading the Future. . .
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Where did you come up with the idea of a book about the grim reaper?  What were your inspirations?

 I came up with the idea of Charley while lying in bed with the sniffles one wintry morning, waiting for my turn in the shower. I’d been pondering what I wanted to write next for some time. I knew three things: I wanted it to be paranormal; I wanted it to have a strong heroine who couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble; and I wanted it to have a hero confident and capable enough to keep up with her.  And right there next to a medicated vaporizer, Charlotte Davidson and Reyes Farrow were born.  Reyes was easy. Tall. Dark. Brooding. My favorite kind of hero. But Charley took some thought. It took me about two minutes to visualize her completely, to mix the perfect characteristics that would become all that is Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire. She is a little bit Buffy, a little bit Stephanie Plum, and a lot Lorelei Gilmore of the Gilmore Girls. Which makes her more fun to write than I ever imagined possible.

 What key ingredients do you look for in a good book? 

I love it when a writer can mix humor with tragedy, the ridiculous with sensuality, and when she can make you laugh and cry at the same time. That is my personal goal in life with pretty much everything that I write. I don’t always attain it, but it’s fun to try.  

Do you tend to read within the same genre as the one in which you write? Who are your greatest influences?  

I actually read all over the place. I love everything from Julia Quinn to Terry Pratchett. My first influence was Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, GRHS. I read A Rose in Winter and have never been the same. While I’ve always wanted to write, her novels gave me the direction I knew I had to go. I am a romance lover at heart, and everything I write has a strong romantic element in there somewhere. Since then, I have been influenced by more authors than I can name here, including Laura Ingles Wilder, Judith McNaught, Johanna Lindsey, Stephen King (told you I read all over the place), and on and on.  

Which other authors, writing now, do you like to read? 

I still love Julia and Terry like there’s no tomorrow. And I cannot get enough of JR Ward, Suzanne Collins, Jeaniene Frost, Stephen Hunter, Jim Butcher… Really, I could go on for days. I am also a huge fan of Stephenie Meyer. Any writer who can single-handedly convince thousands of teenaged girls to read deserves a Nobel Prize, IMHO. Speaking of which… JK Rowling anyone? LOVE!  

This is your debut novel.  Tell us about the excitement of getting a book deal, and how you went about it. 

Talk about a dream come true! While I have been writing forever, I started writing seriously (as in toward publication) in 2002. It took me seven years and three manuscripts to sell. And it was every bit as amazing as I’d imagined.  The whole thing is all still very surreal. I finaled in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart, which is a very prestigious contest for unpublished manuscripts, in 2009. I knew I had to take advantage of such an incredible opportunity. Just finaling in the GH gets you tons of recognition. So I polished my manuscript and sent it out to some of the most sought-after agents in the business. About a week later, I had my first offer. After another week, I had eight.  Believe it or not, that was one of the most stressful weeks of my life. I had agents offering representation whom I never thought would give me the time of day. I was quite taken aback. After much research and lots and lots of phone conversations, I accepted the offer from my spectacular agent, Alexandra Machinist of Janklow and Nesbit. She is a force, let me tell you, and an inspiration.  I was able to meet Alexandra in Washington, DC, during the RWA National Conference. We came up with a game plan, but after winning the Golden Heart in the paranormal category, we decided to accelerate the plan a little. Alexandra submitted First Grave to several houses and a week later we had our first offer. We eventually accepted an offer from the incomparable Jennifer Enderlin from St. Martin’s Press, and the rest is history.  This has been like a rollercoaster ride without the nausea. It’s been so exciting and life changing and I have loved every minute of it!  

Tell us about your heroine Charley Davidson; she’s a tough cookie and a sympathetic protagonist simultaneously.  Are strong female characters central to your writing? 

They absolutely are. I don’t believe many readers today will put up with a heroine they cannot root for. She has to earn the reader’s respect and admiration. No wilting flowers, unless that wilting flower grows and strengthens and does it fast.  And yet, what is strength without vulnerability? My heroines are always strong, yes, but also sympathetic and empathetic. They care for others as much as they do for themselves. Their strength lies not in their unwillingness to bend, but in their integrity and stellar morals. I always ask my heroines, “What are you willing to die for?” And then I go from there.  

You must be feeling pretty attached to Charley after doing three books. Have you got any plans for a new series, or new characters? 

That’s so funny, because I was just thinking how very attached to Charley I am. Books 4 and 5 in the Charley Davidson series just sold to St. Martin’s Press, so I am thrilled to say I get to write more of her. Honestly, I’ve never had so much fun.  A young adult series I wrote several years back also sold to St. Martin’s Press. The first one in the trilogy, Death and the Girl Next Door, comes out in the US in April. I would love for it to hit the shelves of the UK too! It’s about a girl whose life is irrevocably changed when the Angel of Death starts high school in her small town.  Paranormal romance just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. 

What do you think is the secret of its success?

 I think fantasy of any kind has always been a hit with readers because of the limitless possibilities. We are taken to a world we’ve never seen, to experiences we can only imagine. And with paranormal romance, we get a taste of the purest, most sensual fantasy there is. We get heroes with impossible abilities and heroines with strengths we can only dream of. And for a little while, we are those characters. That hero is in love with us. That heroine is you, the reader, and you are all kinds of powerful. And you might even, given the right circumstances, save the world.

First Grave on the Right and Second Grave on the Left are both out now! Click here for more information and don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the third in the series, Third Grave Dead Ahead.

Click here to visit Darynda Jones website.

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To get you started, the first two books in the series Eternal Hunger and Eternal Kiss are out now, with the third novel Eternal Captive coming in February.

Here’s the blurb for Eternal Hunger to whet your appetite:

Lucian Roman knows he must stay away from Bronwyn Kettler for sanity's sake. Since feeding her his blood, he can think of nothing else but possessing her – fighting an uncontrollable desire to kill her, if need be, and the vampire she has sworn to wed.

Bronwyn, a brilliant vampire genealogist, can never escape her connection to Lucian. He sustained her when she was starving. He still rules her dreams. And when the nights get dark enough, she still craves him, but although his essence still courses through her body, she has found a true mate in someone else.

But when a dangerous enemy threatens Bronwyn, only Lucian – bound to her for ever by blood – can save her life. Even if it means sacrificing his own . . .

So what are you waiting for? Happy reading! And do let us know what you think.

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3. Christmas Day 1665 – read on for a festive extract of THE APOTHECARY'S DAUGHTER by Charlotte Betts

What can you do to break out of the winter blues?  As I discuss in Smart Thinking, to help you solve any new problem, there are a few important things you need to do.  In this case, you need to start by learning about why you get the winter blues.  That is, you need to pick up some High Quality Knowledge.  Then, you need to develop some Smart Habits to do things differently.

There are a few chemicals in your brain that can improve your mood.  Two important ones are dopamine (which influences the way your brain processes rewards) and the hormone oxytocin (which affects your feeling of closeness to others).  To kick-start the release of dopamine, make sure you exercise regularly during the winter.  At a minimum, you should take a few long walks.  To improve the release of oxytocin, snuggle up to your partner.  The physical contact will help a lot.  If that isn’t an option for you, try a massage.  And don't forget to spend time with friends.

Getting involved in your community can also help.  Winter is a tough time for people who have been hit hard by the difficult economy.  If you spend a few hours a week working at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter, you will be amazed at how much you get back in good feeling.

Finally, if these suggestions aren’t working for you, go out and get a sunlamp.  Sunlight influences your brain chemistry, and when you don’t get enough, your brain suffers.  There are a variety of inexpensive full-spectrum lamps you can get to help replace the sunlight you’re not getting during the short winter days.  A little time in front of the lamp can also help to brighten your mood.

 And hang on in there. Spring is on the way.

Smart Thinking: How to Think Big, Innovate and Outperform Your Rivals by premier cognitive scientist Art Markman Ph.D. is published on the 26th of January.

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With a list as heaving with Regency romance and paranormal passion as ours, who better to inspire readers to try their hand at writing their own stories in the run-up to Valentine’s Day?

Eloisa James's light and hilarious quartet of romances are each based on a well-loved fairy tale, reimagined through Eloisa’s unique eyes and set in Regency England – a place of dashing men and daring damsels, constricting clothes and loose morals.  Her first, A Kiss at Midnight, gave us Cinderella with a steamy twist, while When Beauty Tamed the Beast reworked Beauty and the Beast.  Her latest, The Duke is Mine, which was published on the 5th January, sees Eloisa work her magic on The Princess and the Pea.  The final book in the series is The Ugly Duchess, due to be published on the 4th October.  Scroll to the bottom of this post for a brief extract from The Duke is Mine.  And there’s a treat for ebook-owners when we publish the e-novella, Winning the Wallflower, on Valentine’s Day on our brand-new digital-first romance list, Piatkus Entice! Sign up for the newsletter and watch out for updates here: http://www.piatkusentice.co.uk/ | https://twitter.com/piatkusentice.

Piatkus invites all readers and aspiring writers to put pen to paper and come up with a short reimagining of their favourite fairy story or folk tale.  The story can be set in any era or place, and can be any length up to 500 words.  Please submit your story to PiatkusCompetition@littlebrown.co.uk by midnight on 14th February 2012.  Please also include your full name, email address and telephone number, as well as a note of which fairy tale inspired your story.

The judges will be Piatkus Fiction commissioning editors Donna Condon and Lucy Icke.  We will be in touch regarding your entry within two weeks of the closing date.

Winners will receive a set of Piatkus’ ultimate Valentine’s reads which will include six of our newest romance releases from 2012.  The winning entry will be posted on the Piatkus website.

Competition opens 14th January and closes 14th February.  Click here for terms and conditions

Prologue

Once upon a time, not so very long ago . . .                                                                                                                                                                                (or, to be exact, March 1812)

. . . there was a girl who was destined to be a princess.

Though to be absolutely precise, there was no prince in the offing. But she was betrothed to a duke’s heir, and from the point of view of minor gentry, a coronet was as good as a crown.

This story begins with that girl, and continues through a stormy night, and a series of tests, and if there’s no pea in the tale, all I can say is that if you read on, you will encounter a surprise in that bed: a key, a flea—or perhaps a marquess, for that matter.

In fairy tales, the ability to perceive an obtrusion as tiny as a pea under the mattress is enough to prove that a strange girl who arrives on a stormy night is indeed a princess. In the real world, of course, it’s a bit more complicated. In order to prepare for the rank of duch-ess, Miss Olivia Mayfield Lytton had learned something from virtually every branch of human knowledge. She was prepared to dine with a king, or a fool, or Socrates himself, conversing on subjects as far-flung as Italian comic opera and the new spinning machines.

But, just as a single dried pea was all that was needed to determine the authenticity of the princess, one crucial fact determined Olivia’s eligibility for the rank of duchess: she was betrothed to the heir to the Canterwick dukedom. Less important were the facts that when this tale begins Olivia was twenty-three and still unmarried, that her father had no title, and that she had never been given a compliment such as a diamond of the first water. Quite the opposite, in fact.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          None of that mattered.

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The trouble with resolutions is that while making them is quite exciting – the prospect of imminent perfection is lovely – keeping them is rather boring. Which is why crash diets are popular, and reality TV programmes that showcase extreme make-overs have a horrible fascination. We live in a culture which is obsessed with the quick fix. Far more fun to watch someone having a whole set of shiny new dental implants than to see them having a brace fitted and waiting a year or so to see if it makes a difference.

And the truth about writing a novel is that there are no short cuts. Writing takes time, and rewriting takes even more time. In a typical biopic, the Great Novelist will bang out their masterpiece on a typewriter – usually an old-school Remington – in a frenzy of artistic intensity. This usually takes three or four minutes of screen time. In the next scene, they will either have won the Pulitzer prize or succumbed to alcoholism.

The good news is that writing a novel is an achievable goal, and it really isn’t all that difficult. (This is not to say you will produce The Great Gatsby first time round, but that you can write a workmanlike first draft, and then either revise and improve this, or start on a new magnum opus.)  As with dieting, regular effort and dogged persistence will pay off. As with dieting, you will have off days and sometimes fail to meet your self-imposed targets – and if that happens you just have to grit your teeth and get back on track.     

So how do you start? Here are some top tips for the first time novelist:

• Do the ground work. Think about your passions and obsessions. What are your most vivid memories? What is your greatest fear? When were you happiest? What makes you cry? Do you hate someone close to you – or love someone you shouldn’t?  
• Don’t assume that your subject has to be extraordinary. Other people will relate to your hopes and fears – the key is to find your own voice, and your own way of communicating with readers. Your subject matter might be the detail and intensity of everyday life.
• Remember that the best writers are also compulsive readers. I teach creative writing, and without exception, the best writers I come across are always those who have an intuition about what works on the page because they read widely and avidly.
• Learn from the experts. Whatever genre you want to write in – and literary fiction is a genre of its own – there are writers out there who are masters and mistresses of the form. Take your favourite novel apart and analyse it, chapter by chapter, to see how the story works.  
• Keep a journal for at least a month. Write down your dreams, get up early in the morning and write anything that comes into your head for ten minutes, scribble down any random thoughts that you have. Collect stories from the external world – local newspaper stories, tabloid tales, anything that catches your eye. Write about your family – and friends and enemies. Carry your notebook with you, and jot down what you see and hear.  
• Sift your material. After a month, read your notes back. Look for themes and patterns, and for observations or descriptions that you like. See what emerges. Make a list of ideas that emerge from your scrawl. Then start to sketch out your story.
• Get writing. Preparation is essential, but once you have brain-stormed your ideas, it’s time to get down to the hard graft. Set yourself a set of realistic targets and work towards them. If you want to write a plot outline before you start (which is optional) decide how long you want to spend on this. Once you are happy to start on the actual draft, decide how long each chapter draft will take. I find a chapter a month works well for me. Some take less time than this, which means I have a warm glow of achievement.
• Be ruthless. You might not want to go as far as James Joyce, who dragged his family round Europe and lived in rented digs while he penned his masterworks, but you will have to prove to your nearest and dearest that this is serious. Rather than watching The Killing you are writing something of your own. And be tough with yourself as well. If you normally crack open a bottle of wine when you get home from work, the wine will have to go.
• Find your rhythm. Articles like this can often be too prescriptive: there is no right or wrong way to write a book. But you need to find the best way to produce a novel that suits your life and energy levels. If you can write before work, or the children wake up, then fine. If you are a night owl and like to write in the small hours, that’s just as good. The key to success is to find the most productive period in your day, and write at that time. Every day. Five hundred words at least.
• Find your space. As with time, so with location. Where are you at your happiest and most focussed? I like libraries, cafes and trains. Like many other writers I know, I have an office, but prefer to get away from my own desk and write somewhere else, some of the time at least. But if the kitchen table works for you, then use the kitchen table. If you feel stressed and distracted, don’t assume that this means you have to give up – try a new writing location.
• Lose yourself. One of the unsung joys of writing a book is that you can create your own world and go there every day. There’s nothing like it. Forget about the bestseller list, this year’s Booker winner and all the rest of it. Invent your world, and follow the logic of your own imagination, and you will have one of the most rewarding experiences that life can offer. And don’t worry about finding a publisher – yet. That will come later.

Sally O'Reilly is the author of How to Be a Writer: The definitive guide to getting published and making a living from writing. She is also the author of two novels and winner of the Cosmopolitan prize for new journalists. A former Associate Lecturer with the Open University, Sally is currently an Isambard scholar at Brunel Univerity, studying for a doctorate in English and creative writing.

'An invaluable companion for anyone setting out as a writer. We all need all the help we can get and there's a good deal of help right here' A.L. Kennedy, author of Day

'How to Be a Writer is witty, wise and superbly well informed . . . No new writer should be without it' Dr Alison Macleod, Professor of Contemporary Fiction, University of Chichester

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Here are a few of the highlights that have made 2011 so fantastic for us and a sneak preview of the great books coming up in 2012!

Media, reviews and events:

This is Not the Story You Think It Is, the brilliant memoir by Laura Munson about how she refused to believe her husband no longer loved her, was a instant hit with appearances on This Morning, and a number of weeks in the New York Times bestseller list.

The Empty Nest by Celia Dodd received astounding reviews and articles across the broadsheets as parents looked ahead to their children heading off for university and gap years. Claudia Dyer, our non-fiction commissioning editor went along to celebrate the book's publication in leafy Holland park. Click here to see the pics!

This summer our senior editor, Donna Condon went to Australia for her holiday and couldn't resist meeting up with Judy Nunn AND Keri Arthur. We were so jealous when she sent in the photos of them in the sun. Click here to read all about it!

In October author of All of Me Kim Noble opened up a stunning exhibition of her collection of artwork to the public at Bethlem Gallery.  

Kim Noble has already garnered acclaim in the art world for her originality and remarkable personal story. Kim has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) – her body plays host to over twenty different personalities, including a little boy who speaks only Latin, a gay man and an anorexic teenager. Some personalities age with her body but others are frozen in time. Without any formal training, thirteen of Kim's personalities create art.

 

The exhibition, entitled 'One of Many', showcased the variation in styles, colour schemes and themes used by her different personalities. Kim's reputation as an exciting artist has grown over the years and she has been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions. Click here to see her artworks and to find out more about her fascinating memoir, All of Me.

Some of our titles were also shortlisted for a number of prizes – here are a few that won this year:

In March Brave Girl Eating, by Harriet Brown, won the the Books for a Better Life Award in the Childcare and Parenting category. The Books for a Better Life Award was founded fifteen years ago by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in New York with the intention of recognising self-improvement authors. Previous winners include Thomas Moore, Daniel Goleman and Caroline Myss.

On the 18th May,  Charlotte Betts won the RNA's Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers for her debut novel, The Apothecary's Daughter. We were so delighted for Charlotte and are look forward to her new novel, The Painter's Apprentice – watch this space!

 

Piatkus bestsellers!

After a wonderful year for Rosamund Lupton's debut novel Sister - with over half-a-million copies sold to date – expectations were high for her second novel, Afterwards and it certainly didn't disappoint! Amazon has voted it as one of their top 10 books of 2011 – congratulations Rosamund!

We were delighted when Patrick Holford's  The Feel Good Factor spent eight weeks in a row at the No.1 bestseller spot in Ireland – you can watch Patrick on The Late, Late Show here.

Mindfulness: Finding peace in a frantic world by Professor Mark Williams and Dr Danny Penman has enjoyed fantastic success this year. Described by John Kabat-Zinn as 'an inspiring programme for anyone who cares about his or her own health and sanity', it has also been supported by Ruby Wax, Goldie Hawn and bestselling author Daniel Goleman, amongst others. It has been reprinted eight times since publication in May!

2011 has been a great year at Piatkus and we are looking forward to an even better 2012. Here are some of the fantastic books we have coming up next year:

 

Related posts:

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3. AFTERWARDS by Rosamund Lupton is top ten in Amazon's best books of 2011!

Click here to read an extract from The Apothecary's Daughter by Charlotte Betts.

If this extact has whet your appetite, look out for The Apothecary's Daughter, out in paperback in February 2012 and you're in for a real treat! It's Charlotte's debut novel and won the YouWriteOn Book of the Year 2010 and the RNA Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers 2011.

1665. Susannah Leyton has grown up behind the counter of her father’s apothecary shop in bustling Fleet Street. A skilled student – the resinous scents of lavender, rosemary, liquorice and turpentine run in her blood – her father has granted her the freedom to pursue her considerable talents. But Susannah is dealt a shocking blow when her widowed father marries again, and her new step-mother seems determined to remove her from the apothecary shop for good.

A proposal of marriage from the charming Henry Savage seems to offer Susannah an escape. But as the plague sweeps through London, tragedy strikes, and dark secrets in her husband’s past begin to unfold. It will take all of Susannah’s courage and passion to save herself from tragedy . . .

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, from everyone at Piatkus!

Related posts:

1. Charlotte Betts wins RNA Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers
2. Discover the unforgettable CHANTAL by Claire Lorrimer – click here to read an extract
3. Danger, desire and dark passions in SCANDALOUS DESIRES by Elizabeth Hoyt

Day 12: Appreciate the here and now

At Christmas it's so easy to be swept away by successive waves of longings, cravings and desires. We are bombarded by messages urging us to spend more and more money on presents for ourselves and for others − even if we don't have the money and the presents are neither needed nor wanted.

Why not spend a little time taking stock of the 'here and now'? Become still and take a look around. How does 'now' look to you? You don't have to wait for the future to be an improvement on the present. You can find it here, in this moment.

Which activities, things or people in your life make you feel good? Can you give additional appreciative attention and time to these people and activities? Consciously write them down and gently resolve to pay them more attention.

Can you pause for a moment when pleasant moments occur? Help yourself pause by noticing:

• What body sensations you feel at these moments?
• What thoughts occur to you?
• What feelings do you have?

If you found the twelve-day guide to a stress-free Christmas helpful, why not share it with a friend and spread a little peace this Christmas?

Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Professor Mark Williams and Dr Danny Penman is published by Piatkus.

Related posts:

1. HOW TO DEFUSE BAD STRESS. . .
2. Grab some chocolate and meditate!
3. What's on the Piatkus Christmas wish list?

Madeleine Feeny, our Junior Press Officer is wishing for a Kindle to read all her favourite books on, a sewing machine to create wonderful dresses on and The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. As we are doing a charity run in January to support our Sphere author, Ruth Field and her book Run Fat B!tch Run, Madeleine also wished for really good post-Christmas weather – fingers crossed!

When we asked Zoe Goodkin what she liked for Christmas she told us that she would love some cosy slipper socks to pad around in and a copy of The Little Book of Diet Help by Kimberly Willis to help her out once the holiday period is over!

Hannah Hargrave is hoping for a Christmas jumper just like this one to get her into the festive mood, all we need now is some mulled wine! Do you have a favourite Christmas jumper that you snuggle up in? Send in your pictures reading your fav book and we will put up on the website!

 When we asked Jillian what she'd like for Christmas she said that,

'I’d like a first edition of Lord of the Rings (OK bit hopeful!), lots of chocolate and a weekend away at a nice seaside gastro pub'

Alice Davis is thinking of next year and is hoping to find 2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy under her tree. 2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy is a literary and metaphysical epic that binds together the cosmological phenomena of our time, ranging from crop circles to quantum theory to the worldwide resurgence of shamanism, supporting the Mayan prophecy that the year 2012 will bring an unprecedented global shift. A really interesting and absorbing read!  

Our Commissioning Editor Donna Condon was quick to respond with her list:

  Being able to spend Christmas in two countries so I could spend it with both my family in Ireland and my fiancé in England

  Snow, but not so much as to disrupt travel! 

  The tasting menu at The Fat Duck

  Winning the lotto (hey, a girl’s got to dream!)

What would you like to find under the Christmas tree this year?

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2. How to survive a blended family Christmas
3. Twelve days to a stress-free Christmas

Day 11: Visit the movies and see a Christmas blockbuster

Ask a friend or family member to go with you to the cinema, but this time, do it with a difference. Go at a set time (say 7 p.m.) and choose whatever film takes your fancy only when you get there. Often, what makes us happiest in life is the unexpected −the chance encounter or the unpredicted event. Movies are great for this.

Most of us only go to the cinema when there's something specific we want to watch. If you turn up at a set time and then choose what to see, you may discover that the experience will be totally different. You might end up watching (and loving) a film you would never normally have considered. This act alone opens your eyes and enhances awareness and choice.

Before you go, notice any thoughts that may arise such as, 'I haven't got time for pleasure', or 'What if there is nothing on that I'll enjoy?' These thoughts undermine your enthusiasm for taking action and discourage your intention to do something that might nourish your life in important ways. Once you are inside the cinema, just forget about all this and be consumed by the film!

 

Day 10: Reclaim your life

Think back to a time in your life when things seemed less frantic. Before the time when some crisis or increase in workload took over your daily existence. It might even be more recent that that: before the run-up to Christmas say, or perhaps a relaxing break in the summer. Recall in as much detail as you can some of the activities that you used to do at that time. These may be things you did by yourself, for example reading your favourite magazines or taking time to listen to a track from a favourite piece of music, going out for a walk or bike ride. Alternatively, they may be activities you do with friends or family such as playing board games and going to the theatre.

Choose one of these activities and plan to do it today or over this weekend. It may take five minutes or five hours, it might be important or trivial, it might involve others or it could be by yourself. It is only important that it should be something that puts you back in touch with a part of your life that you had forgotten. A part of you that you may have been telling yourself was lost somehow, that you could not get back to. Don't wait until you feel like doing it. Do it anyway and see what happens. It's time to reclaim your life!

 

Day 9: Do the sounds and thoughts meditation

Sounds are as compelling as thoughts and just as immaterial and open to interpretation. The sound of Jingle Bells or Sinatra’s White Christmas might cheer you up – or send you into an emotional tailspin. Sensing the power of sound – and its relationship to thoughts and emotion – is central to Mindfulness and to becoming a happier, more relaxed and centred person.

Today, why not try our sounds and thoughts meditation? This elegantly reveals how the mind conjures up thoughts that can so easily lead us astray. Once you realise this – deep in your heart – then a great many of your stresses and troubles will simply evaporate before your eyes.

The Sounds and Thoughts meditation gradually reveals the similarities between sound and thought. Both appear as if from nowhere. Both can seem random and we have no control over their arising. Both are enormously potent and carry immense momentum. They trigger powerful emotions that can easily run away with us.

The Sounds and Thoughts meditation helps you to discover – at the deepest of levels – that you can relate to unsettling thoughts in the same way that you relate to sounds. Your thoughts can be likened to a radio that’s been left on in the background. You can listen – or rather observe – but you need not elaborate on what you receive or act on what you feel.

 You are not your thoughts.

 You can download or stream the Sounds and Thoughts Meditation from here:

 http://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/

 

Day 8: The Ten-Finger Gratitude

To come to a positive appreciation for the small things in your life, you can try the gratitude exercise. It simply means that once a day you should bring to mind ten things that you are grateful for, counting them on your fingers. It is important to get to ten things, even when it becomes increasingly harder after three or four! This is exactly what the exercise is for – intentionally bringing into awareness the tiny, previously unnoticed elements of the day.

 

Day 7: Set up a mindfulness bell

Pick a few ordinary activities from your daily life that you can turn into ‘mindfulness bells’, that is, reminders to stop and pay attention to things in great detail. There’s a list below of things you might like to turn into bells. You don’t have to turn them all into ‘mindfulness bells’ – they are just suggestions. Why not print out this page and stick it on your fridge as a gentle reminder?

 • Preparing food for Christmas: Food offers a host of opportunities to become more mindful. If you’re preparing food – particularly Christmas ones that are rich in flavours, smells and textures -  then try and pay full mindful attention to all that you are doing.

• Wrap the presents: Focus on the sound and feel of the scissors as they slice through the wrapping paper. How does the paper feel? Soft and slippery or stiff and sharp-edged? How do the presents look, feel and smell?

• Listening to friends: At Christmas parties it’s easy to lapse into the same tired-old conversations, so why not turn a friend’s voice into a ‘bell’ that’s a signal to pay full attention to what they are saying? Notice when you are not listening – when you start to think of something else, what you are going to say in response, etc. Come back to actually listening.

 

Day 6: The Intensely Frustrating Queue Meditation

Christmas often seems like one big, long queue….. You have to queue to buy presents, to pay for the food in the supermarket, and all of the bars, pubs and restaurants are crammed with people waiting to order.

Next time you feel like screaming ‘why don’t they just get on with it!’ try carrying out our Intensely Frustrating Queue Meditation instead.

When you are in a queue, see if you can become aware of your reactions when something holds up your progress. Perhaps you joined the ‘wrong’ queue, and are obsessing about whether to make a dash for another one that seems shorter? At such times, it is helpful to ‘check in’ with what’s going on in your mind. Taking a moment to ask yourself:

- What is going through my mind?

- What sensations are there in my body?

- What emotional reactions and impulses am I aware of?

Mindfulness accepts that some experiences are unpleasant. Mindfulness will, however, help by allowing you to tease apart the two major flavors of suffering—primary and secondary. Primary suffering is the initial stressor, such as the frustration of being in a long queue. You can acknowledge that it is not pleasant; it’s OK not to like it. Secondary suffering is all of the emotional turbulence that follows in its wake, such as anger and frustration, as well as any ensuing thoughts and feelings that often arise in tandem. See if you can see these clearly as well. See if it’s possible to allow the frustration to be here without trying to make it go away.

You may still feel pulses of frustration and impatience while you are in the queue, but these feelings will be less likely to spiral out of control. You may even become, for yourself and for others around you, an oasis of stillness…

 

Day 5: Valuing the TV

At this time of the year, when the weather can be a bit grim, watching TV can end up becoming a particularly potent habit. It can consume vast amounts of time. It's all too easy to sit down, turn on the TV and watch it. And watch it … You may feel that there are more interesting things to do than watch the Christmas adverts, or hear Slade's 'Merry Christmas', but somehow you just can't bring yourself to do them.

Can you make the TV more valuable and respect it more than you do?

Today, get a TV schedule and see what programmes you would really like to watch: ones that are interesting and enjoyable. Only watch the programmes that you have actually chosen to watch and consciously switch off the TV for the times in between. You could read a book or newspaper, phone a friend or relative you haven't spoken to for awhile, or perhaps wrap some presents. You could even try one of the meditations on the Mindfulness website: www.franticworld.com.

At the end of the evening, record in a notebook how it went: not only whether it felt good or bad, but what you noticed. What thoughts, feelings, body sensations and impulses were around?

 

Day 4: Do Something Pleasurable

At this time of year, exhaustion, stress and unhappiness can easily dominate our lives. It’s almost as if we are subconsciously reacting against the ‘enforced merriment’ of Christmas. You can start to experience ‘anhedonia’ – that is, you can’t find pleasure in life. The things you used to enjoy now leave you ‘cold’ – you feel as if a thick fog has put a barrier between you and simple pleasures, and few things seem rewarding any more.

Research suggests that much of this is because the ‘reward centres’ of the brain have become insensitive to the things that used to activate them. You can counteract this effect by taking baby-steps towards the things that you used to like doing but have since forgotten about. To begin the process of ‘waking-up’ these neglected parts of your brain, choose one or two of the following things to do (or perhaps come up with your own idea):

• Be kind to your body. Have a nice hot bath; have a nap for thirty minutes (or perhaps a little less); treat yourself to your favourite food without feeling guilty; have your favourite hot drink.

• Engage in an enjoyable activity. Visit or phone a friend (particularly if you’ve been out of contact for a while); get together what you need so you can do your favourite hobby; take some exercise; bake a cake; read something that gives you pleasure (not ‘serious’ reading); listen to some music that you have not listened to in a long while.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, why not share it with a friend and spread a little peace this Christmas?

 Mindfulness is out now. Click here for more information.

 

Day 3: Take a three-minute breathing space

One of the greatest ironies of mindful awareness is that it often seems to evaporate just when you need it the most. When you are becoming increasingly burned out, you tend to forget just how useful it can be for dealing with the feelings of being overwhelmed and the world's seemingly relentless demands. And then Christmas comes along and piles on even more pressure…

When you are becoming angry, exhausted, anxious or stressed, it's difficult to remember why you should remain calm. And at times, it can feel as if Christmas was created just to bait you.

The three-minute breathing space was designed to deal with such feelings. Its impact is twofold. Firstly, it's a meditation that's used to punctuate the day so that it dissolves negative thought patterns before they gain control over your life. Secondly, it's an emergency meditation that helps to 'ground' you when your thoughts threaten to spiral out of control.

When you are carrying out the meditation you may find that your mind repeatedly runs away with itself. This is entirely natural. It's what minds do. They leap around and offer up thoughts to your conscious self, much as a child holds up toys to an approving adult. When you find that your mind has wandered, gently escort it back to full awareness and continue following the instructions on the track as best you can.

You can listen to the meditation by clicking here.

 

Day 2: Go for a short walk

Walking is one of the finest exercises and a brilliant stress reliever and mood booster. A good walk can put the world in perspective and soothe your frayed nerves. It’s the ideal way of taking a break from all of those projects that need be completed by Christmas.

Today we suggest that you arrange to go for a 15-30 minute walk (or longer, if you wish). You don’t have to go anywhere special. A walk to the shops to do a bit of Christmas shopping, taken in an open frame of mind, can be just as interesting as a hike through the mountains.

There’s no need to feel that you have to rush anywhere; the aim is to walk as mindfully as you can, focusing your awareness on your feet as they land on the ground, and feeling the fluid movements of all the muscles and tendons in your feet and legs. You might even notice that your whole body moves as you walk, not just your legs.

Pay attention to all of the sights, sounds and smells. You might see the deep red colour of the berries on the holly bushes or the pearlescent white of mistletoe – or perhaps the inky greyness of slushy ice and snow. See if it is possible to be open to all your senses: smell the mustiness of the winter leaves; feel the rain on your head; the breeze on your face; watch how the patterns of light and shade shift unexpectedly. Every moment of every season has a host of sensory delights – regardless of where you live.

 

Day 1: Eat some chocolate (mindfully)

At this time of year it's all too easy to eat too much chocolate and scoff down too many mince pies. All that lovely rich food is packed with flavour and totally irresistible to begin with. After awhile you hardly notice the lovely flavours at all. And if you are in a rush, you tend to wolf down such treats by the handful.

When you eat without thinking you miss out on so many wonderful flavours, textures and aromas. A single bar of chocolate, for example, has over 300 different flavours. How many of them do you normally taste?

Reconnecting with your senses is the heart of mindfulness so why not try our chocolate meditation to help you begin to enjoy your food again? You could even use the first piece of chocolate from an advent calendar.

You can listen to our chocolate meditation below:

If you have enjoyed listening to this post, why not share it with a friend and spread a little peace this Christmas?

 Mindfulness is out now. Click here for more information.

Related posts:

1. Grab some chocolate and meditate!
2. Beat those January Blues
3. How to survive a blended family Christmas

The book group includes a range of people who work on Piatkus titles from across the company and we are aiming to meet  every three months. Each time, the group will read one upcoming fiction and one non-fiction title from the Piatkus list. We think that this will be a really enjoyable way to engage with the books we are publishing and come up with new and creative ways to bring our books to life. After each book group meeting, we will feed back to you so that you can join the discussion too, as well as see what books you have to look forward to.

We would love to know which books you have been discussing in your book groups and anything you would like to hear more about from ours, so do get in touch!

What Doesn't Kill Us

What Doesn’t Kill Us by Professor Stephen Joseph is a brilliant new book that combines research and case studies on the new psychology of posttraumatic growth.

For the past twenty years, Joseph has worked with survivors of trauma and sufferers of posttraumatic stress. In this ground-breaking new book, he boldly challenges the notion that trauma scars us for life, wreaking psychological havoc that affects everything from our sleep cycles to our relationships to our very will to live. His studies have shown that a wide range of traumatic events – from illness, divorce, separation, assault and bereavement to accidents, natural disasters and terrorism – can act as catalysts for positive change strengthening relationships, changing one’s perspective and revealing inner strengths.

Post-traumatic growth is a fascinating topic and What Doesn’t Kill Us has already started to accumulate some fantastic advance reviews:

-          ‘We live in a world in which suffering is endemic.  In this book Stephen Joseph sounds a hopeful note.  Suffering need not destroy’ Terry Waite CBE

-          ‘In this fascinating book, Stephen Joseph maps out the rarely explored positive consequences of trauma, reminding us that growth is possible even in the most adverse circumstances’ Richard Bentall, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool

-          What Doesn't Kill Us – indeed does and can make us stronger as brilliantly presented by Professor Stephen Joseph and lived throughout my every day’ Dr Gill Hicks MBE, survivor of the London Bombings, July 7, 2005

Senior Commissioning Editor Anne Lawrance acquired the book for the list and was really keen that this should be a book suitable for both the academic community as well as the general reader. When introducing the book to the group, she explained that:  

‘Stephen Joseph’s work reminds me in some ways of Irvin Yalom. He has the same ability to draw the reader in and share his experience engagingly and warmly. He is definitely an author to watch!’

Anne also felt that her reasons for buying this book could be summed up in the following quote from Professor Robert J. Wicks:

‘Psychology at its best: honest, hopeful, helpful, and based on sound serious research.  Reading it makes me proud to be a psychologist’

What the Group Thought . . .

At first we thought that this would be the type of book that would appeal exclusively to counsellors, psychologists and those who had suffered post-traumatic stress, but we quickly realised that the way Stephen Joseph describes each step is accessible and interesting for anyone interested in the way the human mind works.

Everybody agreed that the way Stephen Joseph explains the process of post-traumatic growth is incredibly fascinating. One of his most powerful analogies of the process is his comparison of the traumatised mind to a shattered vase. That, when rearranged and adapted, can be transformed into a beautiful mosaic, rather than a more fragile, slightly different version of its original form. When we go through a traumatic experience the mind is forced to change and adapt and it is this process that can bring growth to the human mind and create something even stronger than what was there before that traumatic event.

We were all really inspired by this idea that positive things can come from traumatic events and several members of the group felt that this was a book they would have really benefitted from after their own traumatic experiences. We loved the way unique and sound research was interwoven with case studies of individuals who had been involved in traumatic events whether divorce, death or an event on a large scale such as the bombings in Northern Ireland.

There is a reassuring element to What Doesn’t Kill Us. We may all be involved in a traumatic event at some point in our lives but this can be used as a positive force – to reaffirm our relationships, better understand ourselves and so on. We might be fragile but the strength of the mind is a powerful element.

The Boy Who Could See Demons

I first met my demon the morning that Mum said Dad had gone.

 'My name is Alex. I'm ten years old. I like onions on toast and I can balance on the back legs of my chair for fourteen minutes. I can also see demons. My best friend is one. He likes Mozart, table tennis and bread and butter pudding. My mum is sick. Ruen says he can help her. Only Ruen wants me to do something really bad. He wants me to kill someone.'

‘Beautiful and captivating’ Ulster Tatler

‘Incredible. Fabulous’ Sun

‘High-octane, funny and cinematic’ Sydney Morning Herald

Editorial Director for Piatkus Fiction Emma Beswetherick was really excited when this book first landed on her desk and she quickly received amazing feedback from everyone in the office – especially because of the strength in Alex’s wonderful narrative voice.

Emma explained that the wonderful thing about working with Carolyn Jess-Cooke is how open she is to the editorial process.Together they were able to discuss different aspects of the story and develop on the key themes that Carolyn had created. Both Emma and Carolyn discovered that it was just as much about following their heart as being careful about a structured plot!

What the Group Thought . . .

We started off our discussion by talking about the cover. The design had been through so many changes to ensure we got it just right so it was really great to see the final image. We all agreed (and hope you do too!) that it perfectly positions the book in-between commercial and literary fiction, with a nod to its unique, quirky story through the intriguing illustration around the edge – the onions, musical notes, spotlights and cars will make perfect sense when you read it!

The narrative alternates between Alex’s voice and his counsellor Anya’s. It can be tricky to keep the momentum of the story going when using more than one voice, but everybody thought that the pace of the narrative was perfect – it kept everybody hooked throughout – so much so that one member of the group was so engrossed that she almost missed her train!

The twist at the end leaves the reader in suspense and we all agreed – without giving anything away – that the ambiguous nature of the ending works really well as each reader could take what they wanted from the final scene.

We all really appreciated the subtle and evocative manner in which Carolyn depicts the way the Irish Troubles reverberated through subsequent generations. One of our team remembered watching the scenes of violence on the TV as she was growing up and explained how those memories have stayed with her. Reading of Alex’s experiences through his own voice brings these events into a new and startling light.

Carolyn Jess-Cooke has been a fantastic author throughout the editorial process and we are all so excited about The Boy Who Could See Demons hitting the shelves!

Final Thoughts on Both Books:

Although these books were chosen separately we discovered through our discussion that there were many themes that overlapped between the two:

-          Both books had roots in the conflict that took place in Northern Ireland during the 1980s. Throughout The Boy Who Could See Demons Alex is dealing with the repercussions of trauma he experienced as a child growing up in Northern Ireland throughout the and in What Doesn’t Kill Us, Stephen Joseph frequently refers to his own upbringing in a Northern Irish community that was ravaged by fear.

-          Both books also lead us on a journey of transformation. In The Boy Who Could See Demons the reader watches as Alex battles with his memories and his demons and transforms his life through this struggle, and Stephen Joseph guides the reader through their own transformation from post-traumatic stress to post-traumatic growth in What Doesn’t Kill Us.

Keep an eye out for our next book group and do feel free to get in touch with us about your book groups and any ideas or tips that you have!

Click on the links for more information for The Boy Who Could See Demons and What Doesn’t Kill Us and come and visit our website soon for the chance to win free books!

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2. The Little Book of Diet Help in action!
3. Shamini Flint's Book Launch!

It's Freebie Friday Giveaway time!

This week we are giving away three copies of Elizabeth Hoyt's Notorious Pleasures and Susan Johnson's fascintating Dare to Connect. All you have to do is post a comment below declaring which of the two books you would like to win!

Here is a little about each book in case you are unsure of which one to go for. Three winners (for each book) will be announced on Tuesday. Good luck!

Notorious Pleasures

Their lives were perfect . . . until they met each other.

Lady Hero Batten is perfect; well-mannered and beautiful with an impeccable pedigree. After years of waiting for a gentleman to sweep her off her feet, she has decided to do her duty and settle for a proper society marriage to Thomas Reading, the Marquis of Mandeville. True, the marquis is a trifle dull and lacks a sense of humour, but he is handsome and rich.

Griffin Reading, Lord Greyson, the Marquis' younger brother, is not at all perfect. In fact, some have called him the most notorious rake in London. When Griffin meets Hero he thinks that she is much too intelligent for society, let alone his brother. Their duel of words soon sparks a fire in them both, despite the fact that Hero's marriage to Thomas is drawing ever nearer. . .

Reviews

Praise for Elizabeth Hoyt:

• 'A steamy, sexy treat!' Connie Brockway
• 'Hoyt is firmly in control of her craft with engaging characters, gripping plot and clever dialogue' Publishers Weekly
• 'The new master of the historical romance genre' HistoricalRomanceWriters.com

Dare to Connect

We all want to be loved by our partners, and to have good relationships with friends and colleagues. What we don't always know is how to make that special sense of connection happen. In Dare to Connect, Susan gives us the insights and tools we need to create a sense of belonging everywhere we go. We learn that this is a world where there are no strangers and we never need to feel alone. Dare to Connect is for everyone who has ever asked:

- Why do I feel so nervous when I walk into a room full of strangers?

- Why do I feel lonely, even though I'm surrounded by people?

- Why do I feel so alienated from my husband/wife/lover?

- Why is it so hard to approach the person I am most interested in meeting?

With wisdom and humour, Susan Jeffers shows you how to enjoy the wonderful relationships in all areas of your life.

Reviews

• 'Susan Jeffers writes with both love and no-nonsense common sense – a rare combination. She speak directly and points the way to magical relationships' Dr Wayne Dyer, author of Your Erroneous Zone
• 'Once again, Dr Susan Jeffers proves that she is a leading authority on the intricacies of relationships' Louise L. Hay, author of The Power is Within You 

Terms and conditions apply, please read them carefully

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1. Danger, desire and dark passions in SCANDALOUS DESIRES by Elizabeth Hoyt
2. Tell us your ultimate Friday Night with the Girls & win Champneys spa vouchers
3. What makes the ultimate Friday Night with the Girls?

Here are a few simple exercises you can try today:

Win the Temptation Battle!

If you find yourself tempted by snack food – like a bag of crisps, a bar of chocolate, or  a late-night bowl of ice cream – try this exercise:

• Touch the front part of your ear, that bit of cartilage that sticks out in front of your ear canal.
• Now, rub this between your thumb and first finger for a few minutes.

This is a strong acupressure point. It will help turn off cravings by redirecting your energy and lowering your appetite.

A Moment of Calm

This two-minute exercise will give your mind and body a quick boost, calming you and allowing you to put life into perspective. Letting your mind have this break will give it the strength it needs to consciously recognise and change your food rules.

• Place your right hand on your heart.
• Place your left hand on your stomach, just below your belly button.
• Close your eyes and breathe deeply through your nose.
• Gently drop your shoulders away from your ears.
• Send yourself a compliment.
• Bask in this compliment for a few moment before opening your eyes and going on with your day.

Afternoon Energy Boost

It’s 4 p.m. You are tired and you need an energy boost.

Try this exercise as an alternative to going to the vending machine:

• Stand up.
• Start marching, lifting your knees high and swinging the opposite arms.
• Now change to marching with the same arms and legs moving together.
• Repeat for a minute or two.

The Little Book of Diet Help is THE weight-loss book you’ve been waiting for.

Quick tips, simple strategies and straightforward advice for real people, with real lives, who want to make a change.

Available to buy from 5^th January 2012, this pocket-guide is all you need to lose weight and create a happier, healthier relationship with food.

Kimberly Willis is a successful weight-loss specialist who runs courses and works with individual clients to help them lose weight. To find out more, visit www.kimberlywillis.co.uk.

Related posts:

1. Are you having constant food cravings? Break the cycle with The Little Book of Diet Help
2. Joseph Glenny and his co-authors invite you to explore their latest book, Change Anything, the New Science of Personal Success
3. Change Anything: What will your change story be?

Many new stepmothers make the mistake of being too eager to make Christmas blissful, cosy, and as close to a traditional family one as possible, especially the first time around. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy Christmas, but if you have a blended family then no amount of Christmas spirit and brandy butter will make your celebration a traditional family one. It’s better to grasp that fact now than wake up in the New Year feeling deflated and sorry for yourself.

Why set yourself the impossible goal of having a traditional family Christmas when your family is not a ‘traditional’ one? Your family is unique – and your Christmases will be, too. Every family develops its own Christmas traditions over the years, and so will yours.

There are, however, a few measures you can take, with a little planning ahead, to avoid disaster:

1. Do not set any goals at all. Take each moment as it comes and value it for itself. Everybody will have a far more relaxed time, and you might even raise a few smiles!
2. Plan ahead. Exactly when and where to open the presents will be one of the bigger decisions to make and stick to, regardless of how old the children are. Set a time and a place, and, together with your partner, make sure you stick to it. It may feel rigid and unnatural to you at first, but try to cover that up with constant rounds of chocolates and mince pies, with some jolly Christmas music going on in the background.
3. Take some time out for yourself on Christmas day. One of the children is bound to give you bubble bath for Christmas; insist that you try it out immediately and take a glass of wine and a mince pie with you.
4. Stand up for yourself. If you have gone to the trouble of planning and organising Chirstmas on behalf of everybody, then you deserve some respect! You are bound to hear the words ‘This isn’t how we do Christmas at home’ at least once in the first three years of blending. Control the rising anger and frustration by busying yourself with something else and ask them how they ‘do Christmas’ at home. When they’ve finished telling you, exclaim in your best Mary Poppins voice how nice it is that you all have the opportunity to do new things this Christmas that could never be done at home.
5. Be sensitive to your partner’s feelings. He’s bound to be a bit heartsore if your stepchild cannot be with you for Christmas, so think ahead and mention calling your stepchild on the big day several times in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Better still, organise an online conference via webcam involving everyone, including his ex’s family; not only will this nurture good relations between you all, but it is by far the happiest scenario for your stepchild. This could even be the start of a little Christmas family tradition of your own!

Finally, remember that there is no right way to organise a blended family Christmas. From decorating the tree to handing out the presents, you need to be as pragmatic and as open-minded as possible in the early years, or you’ll go Christmas crackers!

From Mother to Stepmother by Joanna Collie is full of advice for blending stepmothers on how to deal with domestic and financial issues, with stepchildren and most importantly, with your own feelings. With the inclusion of testimonies from other blending stepmothers and the help of lively characters based on the author's young, adolescent family, this invaluable handbook gives encouragement, practical guidance and a strong sense of fellowship to blending stepmothers everywhere.

For more information about Joanna, visit www.joannacollie.com.

Related posts:

1. Find out why Joanna Collie decided to write the essential handbook for blending stepmothers
2. What's on the Piatkus Christmas wish list?
3. Are you a typical first, middle, last or single child?

See below for a sneak preview of a powerful and moving tale of lust, lies, deceit and intrigue that has gripped readers’ imaginations for more than 30 years – Chantal by bestselling author Claire Lorrimer – out now.

March 1821

On the 8th of March, 1821, the woman died. The four-month old child in her arms wailed fitfully as her mother’s body froze in the bitter night air, waking the exhausted man huddled beneath his cloak nearby.

Gideon Morris, known to all but a handful of people as Sir Peregrine Waite, was roused from sleep to the bitter discomforts of cold, hunger and a renewed awareness of the throbbing pain of the half-healed wound in his leg.

“Maria,” he called gently, “the child is hungry and needs feeding!”

He reached out a hand to the hunched figure of the young woman lying beside him in the bitter night air. The stiffness of her body brought him fully awake. As the baby’s crying intensified, a sudden fear that the mother was dead made him hesitate to touch her a second time lest that fear was proved justified.

“Maria!” he called again, this time urgently.

He was deeply shocked and distressed to realize she was dead although this tragedy was not altogether unexpected. He had never loved the young Neapolitan woman in the way he knew a man could love the woman of his dreams, but he had nevertheless felt a deep affection for Maria. For all she was but a simple peasant without breeding or education, her loving devotion to him these past twelve months had earned his gratitude and respect. Not only had she proved courageous and loyal, but her nature was essentially passionate and caring.

As the child’s wails became weaker, Perry’s stunned immobility gave way to action. With difficulty he prized the baby from her mother’s stiffened arms. The minute face was pinched and blue with cold. Hurriedly he unbuttoned his thick cape and the jacket beneath, and removing his pistol, pressed the small body close to his chest where his own body heat might impart some warmth to it. At once the tiny hands began to search instinctively for the mother’s breasts, the hunger in her little body of overriding concern.

With a renewed sense of shock Perry realized that the woman’s death would almost certainly result in the death of the child. It had not been weaned and the chances of his finding a wet nurse here in the mountains of Italy were highly improbable, even had he the money to pay for such services.

It was now over a week since they had left the comparative safety of the encampment in the hills above Potenza. They had lived there with other members of the resistant force called the Carbonari ever since he had led them into hiding after an uprising against the Government in Naples nearly a year ago.

The uprising had failed and they had been chased into the hills. Perry was so severely wounded that had it not been for the care of these poor peasants he would certainly have died.

The men, driven by poverty and a burning sense of injustice, were in war-like mood and anxious, as soon as he, their leader, showed signs of recovery, to renew their resistance. But most had lost their weapons and there was no money to buy more. From his sick bed, a straw palliasse on the floor of a shepherd’s hut, Perry dispatched a messenger to Pisa with a written request to his friend, the poet Percy Shelley, to send funds. He had given Pietro his last remaining valuable – his gold watch, with which to guarantee his authenticity to the Shelleys.

For several months the small band of Carbonari waited, living on the meagre rations supplied by the poor people in Potenza who were themselves close to starvation. Maria nursed Perry, attending to his dreadful wound as best she could. She was a dark-haired, comely young woman approaching thirty and already widowed, her farmer husband having been killed in an earlier uprising. The intimate bond between nurse and patient deepened as Maria’s passionate nature revealed itself. When in an unguarded moment, she shyly declared her love for the handsome English aristocrat, the essence of their relationship changed and they became lovers. She was never in doubt about the true nature of their association.

“I know we cannot be married – it would not be right for a titled Englishman to wed a Neapolitan peasant girl!” she had said in her simple, direct way. “But I love you – io t’amo – and I know that you need a woman. I want you to take me even if you cannot love me.”

Perry had not resisted her for long. He had come to Italy for the very purpose of forgetting the one woman in his life he could ever love or marry – Scarlett, now the wife of the Vicomte Gerard de Valle.

Not a night passed that he did not think of her, long for her, wonder whether she was happy now that she shared her life with the man she had loved for so long. He hoped that perhaps with Maria’s soft arms enfolding him, his dreams might at last be haunted less often by his memories of the passionate love he had once known with Scarlett.

When Maria told him she was with child he had received the news with deepest misgivings. The privations of their lives in hiding in the hills were extreme and in any event he had no wish for a child, far less an illegitimate offspring for whom he could not disclaim responsibility. But for the sake of the woman who

cared for him so selflessly, he tried to hide his reaction. Maria was clearly proud and delighted to be bearing his child. When the babe was born in the early hours of a chill November dawn, he had allowed her to believe that he, too, was delighted as she placed the tiny girl in his arms.

“We could call her Maria after me or Lucia since she was born at break of day,” the proud mother had whispered. But Perry was unable to share Maria’s pride or radiant joy and gave no thought to the baby’s naming.

One by one the men began to return to the farms which they had left to join the Carbonari, for it was becoming clear to them all that the messenger, Pietro, had never reached the Shelleys and no funds would be forthcoming. Word came from other members of the Carbonari that resistance was weakening and that their cause no longer justified the neglect of their farms and families. By the end of January all had left the encampment and Perry, too, would have departed but for the unhealed leg wound which forbade walking any but the shortest of distances.

For a while he contemplated sending Maria into Naples to see the British Consul, Sir Henry Lushington, to ask for aid since he was, after all, a British subject. But he feared for her safety should she be recognized as an associate of the Carbonari. Her former husband had been well known to the authorities and he dared not risk her recognition.

“We will remain here a while longer,” he told her. “You, too, need to regain your full strength. By March the weather will be better. Then we will make our way north where my friends are living. They will care for you and the baby.”

But he had underestimated the seriousness of his leg injury which, despite Maria’s care, had not healed properly, for splinters of bone were still buried deep within his thigh. With unwelcome frequency abscesses occurred and he was seldom without fever and pain.

The child thrived on her mother’s milk, but Maria tired quickly and was clearly losing weight as they began their travels northward. They survived on the rabbits Perry snared, a skill he had learned in his youth when he had first had to live on his wits.

Occasionally a farmer would give them milk, but often they were turned away because they had no money to pay for their requirements. The milder Spring weather was late in coming, and the bitterly cold nights with only the roughest of shelters to keep out the winds, added to their misery and ill health.

To Perry it was clear now that Maria had kept from him the true state of her weakness. Rather than be a burden, she had walked beside him uncomplainingly until he, himself, had given in to weariness and pain. With the child needing food every four hours or so, Maria’s strength ebbed and unrecognized by her, she had developed milk fever.

Perry’s self-condemnation was acute as he closed the lids over her eyes and covered her drawn, beautiful face with her cloak.

But for the child, he thought bitterly, she might have survived; and he felt a moment’s anger as the baby began to wail its frustration within the warm confines of his jacket. There seemed little doubt that it too must die for he had no means of feeding it. Perhaps, he thought wearily, it would be for the best. There was no great future for an illegitimate girl, motherless and with a father who cared not whether she lived or died. Death might be the best solution and the kindest for the baby, since to die slowly of starvation could only prolong its misery.

With a feeling born partly of exhaustion, partly of despair, Perry reached for the small moist bundle and withdrew it from his jacket. The shock of the cold air silenced its cries. With miraculous rapidity the crumpled red face paled, uncreased and became a tiny replica of its mother’s, the petal smooth, creamy-olive skin curving gently over delicate cheekbones. The long dark lashes, wet with tears, lifted suddenly and two beautiful almond-shaped eyes stared up at him in mute appeal. From beneath the rough-spun shawl in which Maria had wrapped the child, one small clenched fist appeared, and as the minute fingers uncurled, Perry noticed for the first time the dainty perfection of the pearl-pink nails.

For the rest of his life, Sir Peregrine Waite was never to forget the magic of that moment when fi rst he felt the full force of fierce paternal love for his daughter. The awareness of her perfection, of her dependence upon him, of the fact that she was part of him, overwhelmed him. Tears that he could never have shed for her mother, now filled his eyes as he realized the baby’s helplessness and frailty. In that same moment, he knew that he could never again contemplate her death; that somehow he would find a way to save her.

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Jacky Newcomb and Madeline Richardson appeared on the Gabby Logan Show on Friday to talk about their new book Call Me When You Get to Heaven. Here are some exclusive behind- the-scenes photos from their morning at the studio.

Call Me When You Get to Heaven is a fascinating and moving memoir about the communications Jacky and Madeline have received from their beloved father since he passed away in February 2008. It shows that this life is not the end, and that happiness can be found in the afterlife.

'I highly recommend this heart-warming book' Colin Fry

Call Me When You Get to Heaven is available to buy now, priced at £7.99.

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1. Jacky Newcomb and Madeline Richardson on The Moore Show
2. CALL ME WHEN YOU GET TO HEAVEN. . .
3. Jacky Newcomb nominated for a Prediction Award!

Huge congratulations to Rosamund on two mammoth achievements. We’re very proud and delighted that your book is getting the recognition it deserves!

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 Move over Jack Sparrow, there’s a new sexy pirate in town . . . but can he learn that the only true treasure lies in a woman’s heart?

Get stuck in to the latest thrilling historical romance novel in the Maiden Lane series from New York Times bestselling author, Elizabeth Hoyt – Scandalous Desires

Widowed Silence Hollingbrook is impoverished, lovely, and kind – and nine months ago she made a terrible mistake. She went to a river pirate for help in saving her husband and in the process made a bargain at the cost of her marriage. That night wounded her so terribly that Silence hides in the foundling home she runs with her brother. Except now that same river pirate is back . . . and he's asking for her help.

'Charming' Mickey O'Connor is the most ruthless river pirate in London. Devastatingly handsome and fearsomely intelligent, he clawed his way up through London's criminal underworld. Mickey has no use for tender emotions like compassion and love, and he sees people as pawns to be manipulated. And yet he's never been able to forget the naive captain's wife who came to him when she was most in need . . .

If you missed the previous novels in the Maiden Lane series, Wicked Intentions and Notorious Pleasures, they’re available now!

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The exhibition, entitled 'One of Many', showcases the variation in styles, colour schemes and themes used by her different personalities. Kim's reputation as an exciting artist has grown over the years and she has been exhibited nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions.

Kim with Beth Elliott, Gallery Coordinator

Kim Noble at 'One of Many'

You can read all about Kim's incredible story and what it's like to live with multiple personalities in her memoir All of Me, published by Piatkus. 'One of Many' will be at the Bethlem Gallery until the 2nd of December and you can hear Kim talk about her artwork during a special question-and-answer session at the gallery this Saturday at 2.30 p.m. To find out more about the exhibition and gallery, visit http://www.bethlemgallery.com/

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1. ALL OF ME. . .
2. Linda Gillard at the RNA Awards breakfast last week to receive her award
3. Afterwards receives the most stunning reviews!

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Here are some behind-the-scenes photographs of Jacky and Madeline filming The Moore Show as well as an exclusive photograph of their publication day celebrations!

Jacky Newcomb (left) is the Sunday Times bestselling author of twelve books on paranormal themes, including many relating specifically to afterlife contact. Known to many as the 'Angel Lady', Call Me When You Get to Heaven is her first personal memoir.

Writer and paranormal reseracher Madeline Richardson (right) has been studying paranormal phenomena for over twenty years. She had provided psychic research for many publiched features for magazines and e-zines. Call Me When You get to Heaven is her first book. 

For more information about Jacky and Madeline, visit www.JackyNewcomb.com and www.MadelineRichardson.co.uk.

Call Me When You Get to Heaven is available to buy now.

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3. CALL ME WHEN YOU GET TO HEAVEN. . .

The Guardian

As a Dream-Hunter, Lydia has been charged with the most sacred and dangerous of missions. She's to descend into the Nether Realm and find the missing god of dreams before he betrays secrets that could kill all of them. What she never expects is to be taken prisoner by the Realm's most vicious guardian.

Seth's time is running out. If he can't hand over the entrance to Olympus, then his own life and those of his people will be forfeit. No matter the torture, he hasn't been able to break the god in his custody. But when a rescuer appears, he decides to try a new tactic. If he can win her to their cause, then he can save all their lives.

‘A publishing phenomenon…[Sherrilyn Kenyon] is the reigning queen of the wildly successful paranormal scene’ Publishers Weekly

 ‘Kenyon’s writing is brisk, ironic and relentlessly imaginative. These are not your mother’s vampire novels' Boston Globe 

‘Whether writing as Sherrilyn Kenyon or Kinley MacGregor, this author delivers great romantic fantasy!’ New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Lowell 

Click here to check out this fab book trailer for The Guardian being shown on TV in the US

And if you’ve yet to be bitten by the Dark Hunter bug, find out where it all began with the first novel in the series, the phenomenal Fantasy Lover

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Here's our top pick of November titles for fiction and non-fiction. Happy Reading!

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Gossip Girl meets The Ghost Whisperer – if you love these TV shows, your next major reading addiction starts here! Piatkus are delighted to introduce to you Charley Davidson: part-time PI extraordinaire, full-time Grim Reaper . . .

Private investigator Charlotte Davidson was born with three things: looks; a healthy respect for the male anatomy; and the rather odd job title of grim reaper. Since the age of five, she has been helping the departed solve the mysteries of their deaths so they can cross. Thus, when three lawyers from the same law firm are murdered, they come to her to find their killer.

In the meantime, Charley's dealing with a being more powerful – and definitely sexier – than any spectre she's ever come across before. With the help of a pain-in-the-ass skip tracer, a dead pubescent gangbanger named Angel, and a lifetime supply of sarcasm, Charley sets out to solve the highest profile case of the year and discovers that dodging bullets isn't nearly as dangerous as falling in love.

‘The best debut novel I’ve read in years! Hilarious and heart-felt, sexy and surprising, this paranormal has it all: a heroine you want to be best friends with, a mysterious dark hero and a twist at the end that’ll knock your socks off. An absolute must read – I’m already begging for the next one!’ J.R. Ward, No.1 New York Times bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series

 ‘First Grave on the Right is smart, sharp and wickedly entertaining.  Grab this one’ Jayne Ann Krentz, New York Times bestselling author of Fired Up

 Watch out for the more books in the sensational Charley Davidson series, coming soon!

Second Grave on the Left                             Third Grave Dead Ahead

Call Me When You Get to Heaven by Jacky Newcomb and Madeline Richardson

Piatkus is delighted to be publishing the very first personal memoir by renowned ‘Angel Lady’ Jacky Newcomb and her sister Madeline Richardson.

Call Me When You Get to Heaven is the fascinating and moving story of the communications Jacky and Madeline have received from their beloved father, Ron, since he passed away in 2008. Ron visits family and friends in dreams and shows them the future in visions. He reaches out to them to prove that he is safe in the afterlife, and to offer reassurance and guidance from the world beyond.

This extraordinary book shows that this life is not the end, and that happiness can be found in the afterlife. It is a touching and emotional tribute by two daughters to their father that will offer comfort and hope to anyone who has lost someone they love.

‘In this book, Jacky and Madeline demonstrate, through personal experience, everything I have ever told people.  I highly recommend this heart-warming book by two devoted daughters who sought the evidence that a loved one really was “always by their side”’ Colin Fry, psychic medium

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1. CALL ME WHEN YOU GET TO HEAVEN. . .
2. Spooky reads for Halloween!
3. Jacky Newcomb nominated for a Prediction Award!

• Are you frustrated by failed or stalled change initiatives?
• Do you struggle to change entrenched habits?
• Do you struggle to align individual behaviours to organisational goals?
• Do you encounter persistent and resistant personal, team or organisational problems?

As Stephen Covey argued 'Individuals who have the power to change their behaviour are individuals with power. Master these skills and you'll reach a new level of personal influence'

Join Grahame Robb Associates on 15th November and learn what you need to do to consistently deliver sustainable change.

You will develop a clear understanding of:

• The forces at play that drive behaviour, and are the root cause of individual and organisational underperformance
• How to develop robust influence strategies that motivate and allow people to change
• How to influence behaviour change across your organisation
• How to align individual behaviours to organisational goals and strategies

 

 

When: 15th November, 9.30am-1.00pm

Where: DeVere Holborn Bars, EC1N 2NQ

How much: Tickets costs £150 per person plus VAT. We are giving one lucky reader the chance to attend for free. Just enter your name below and a winner will be picked at random. Please read the terms and conditions carefully.

To book your place, please email richard@gra.uk.com (not the competition entry) and to enter the prize draw please enter your name below. Good luck!

 Change Anything is out now. Please click here for more information

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If your hectic, city lifestyle means you are having problems connecting to nature and the universe, this short exercise from The Endorphin Effect by Dr William Bloom can help:

Aware in the City

• Sit or lie quietly anywhere that you are comfortable.
• Acknowledge that you are disturbed by the intensity of the city vibrations.
• Allow your mind to recognise that below the concrete is the deep, rich, fertile body of the earth. Far below you is the core of the earth with its molten rock and great heat. All of this is still there even if you are in the city.
• Allow your mind to recognise that the city contains trees and flowers, yards and gardens and parks, ponds and lakes and rivers. Allow your mind to go way out beyond the city to the countryside. Go as far as you like to places in the mountains or by the oceans that you really love. All of this is still there even if you are in the city.
• Allow your mind to recognise that the sky above you is precisely the same sky that you would experience if you were lying in an alpine meadow or on some tranquil seashore. The sun above you is the same sun. The moon is the same. The stars are the same. All of this is still there even if you are in the city.
• Allow yourself to remember this with your mind and your heart.
• Recognise that the vibrations of this greater environment are always there.
• Allow yourself to think of them and feel them.

In The Endorphin Effect, Dr William Bloom reveals a revolutionary method that enables you to produce endorphins for vitality and a positive mood whenever you want, even when exhausted or in a crisis. It is available to buy now from Piatkus, priced at £9.99.

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The clocks have gone back and the scary costumes have come out! We love Halloween in the office and in particular delving into a great book. Here are a couple of our favourite spooky reads. . .

For those who want to delve into life past the grave we'd recommend Sylvia Browne's Afterlives of the Rich and Famous.

  This fantastic read explains about life after death and just what your favourite (deceased) celebs are getting up to on the other side!  Celebrities featured include: Elvis Presley, (Princess) Diana Spencer, Patrick Swayze, Anna Nicole Smith, Brittany Murphy, Heath Ledger, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, George Harrison, Michael Jackson and John Lennon.

Click here to find out more.

Our second choice is the paranormal romance Darkness Rising, the second book in Keri Arthur's new Dark Angel series.

Born from a lab-enhanced clone mother and an Aedh father, Risa Jones can not only talk to the souls of the dying and the dead, but she can see reapers and walk the grey fields that divide this world from the next.

 Someone – or something – is targeting the elders of the local council, cursing the immortal vampires to rapidly age, sink into madness and die. Risa must track down the vengeful being responsible. But Risa’s father, a rogue Aedh priest, also enlists her in a dangerous mission. And not even the great Madeline Hunter may be able to protect her from the shadowy forces that desire nothing less than Risa’s destruction. Click here to find out more.

 A massive thank you to our non-fiction commissioning editor, Claudia Dyer, who carefully constructed her own spooky pumpkins! Have you made any festive treats this Halloween or any favourite spooky reads? We'd love to hear from you!

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But what kind of writer are you? And do you have what it takes to establish a successful career as an author? Take Sally's quiz to find out! 

1. How many books have you read in the last month?
a. Four or more, of various genres and periods. You passionately love reading, books and words.
b. One improving tome. You have a list of ‘100 novels to read before I die’ stuck on your pin board.
c. None. You want to be a writer, so there’s no time to read as well.
d. You never read books.

2. How often do you write fiction/poetry/your journal?
a. Every day. It’s like brushing your teeth.
b. Every week. Sunday morning is sacrosanct.
c. Every month. Well, nearly every month, anyway.
d. When the muse strikes. This is about genius, not jogging.

3. Which of the descriptions below best sums up your attitude to the act of writing itself?
a. An enjoyable challenge: there is no better way to clarify your thoughts and capture your ideas.
b. Hard work, but it’s good to get it out of the way so you can focus on your marketing strategy.
c. Really boring, an exhausting chore.
d. Fantastic – when you have the time, every word you write is pure gold.

4. What is your ambition as a writer?
a. To publish a book that you are really proud of.
b. To be published at any cost.
c. To write a whole book, with chapter headings and everything.
d. To be J. K. Rowling.

5. If you are stuck or ‘blocked’ which of the following do you do?
a. Keep writing notes, but spend more time looking for inspiration at galleries, in the outside world or by listening to music. You have to feed your imagination sometimes.
b. Panic, bang your head on the computer keyboard, but keep going. Writing is not for wimps, and you will beat this.
c. Binge-drink. It worked for Hemingway, didn’t it? Booze and creativity go hand in hand, like, well, booze and a hangover.
d. Curl up on the sofa with the box set of Bridget Jones or The Godfather and daydream. Anyway, you’re not exactly stuck, because you haven’t started yet.

6. Which of these descriptions best fits your attitude to rejection?
a. It always hurts, but you can’t pursue any creative endeavour without hearing the word ‘no’ sometimes. So getting turned down is part of your professional life.
b. You scrutinise every rejection slip to see what the subtext is, and work out how to change your work accordingly.
c. Rejection stinks. They are bastards. There is a conspiracy out there. It’s all about who you know or where you went to school.
d. Rejection? Who said anything about rejection? When you finally send your manuscript out, it will change the face of British publishing.

7. How long do you expect it will take to establish your career as a writer?
a. Years. You try to keep the momentum going, but this is not about overnight success.
b. Eighteen months. You have plotted your trajectory on a wall chart in your office.
c. Who said anything about a career? Isn’t this about Art and stuff?
d. About three weeks. Or less. Starting from next Thursday.

8. What do you see as your greatest challenge?
a. Keeping your writing fresh, exciting and original, and taking the time to edit and polish every draft till it is as good as it can possibly be.
b. Staying abreast of what is going on in the publishing industry. So much going on, it’s hard to make time for any actual writing.
c. Filling up all those blank pages with words. How long do they say a novel is meant to be?
d. Deciding whether to live in Los Angeles or New York when the Hollywood money starts rolling in.

9. What is your attitude to your day job?
a. It’s useful not only for earning a regular income, but also for keeping in touch with the real world, and getting ideas.
b. You have worked out exactly how many hours you spend at work, and how many hours you spend asleep, factored in an equation covering mealtimes, commuting and watching Grand Designs and you still have 12.5 hours a week to write the novel.
c. The people you work with are lovely. Sometimes, you spend the whole day chatting round the biscuit barrel and putting the world to rights.
d. You are handing your notice in on Friday. No, Friday week.

10. What is ‘Plan B’?
a. That, no matter what happens, you will always be a writer. Writers are people who write, and you can never imagine doing anything else.
b. You are working on an alternative publishing model. You have a full-scale model of the alternative publishing model in your garage.
c. Whoa, steady on! You don’t even have a ‘Plan A’ yet.
d. ‘Plan B’ is for losers. And you have a feeling you are going to be a winner.

How did you score?

Mostly a’s
The Professional. You are idealistic enough to sustain yourself with the belief that writing is a worthwhile goal in itself, and realistic enough to know this is a challenging way to live your life. You approach writing in a balanced, mature way, knowing that you have to maintain your energy and motivation over years, not months.
Above all, you know that this is not a game, and that, if you are going to be taken seriously by professionals in the publishing industry, then you have to behave like a professional yourself. No tantrums. No unrealistic goals. No messing. This attitude will not necessarily lead to fame and fortune, but it will enable you to keep writing – and, one day, who knows? The Booker prize could be yours. In the meantime, you know how to live in the present, and enjoy your writing life as it happens, rather than postponing your enjoyment of your craft till the day that your ambitions are realised.

Mostly b’s
The Anorak. There is a chance that you are reading too many ‘how-to’ books. If so, make this the last one you buy. Writing well takes skill, application and attention to your craft, but you are overcomplicating everything, and making the whole thing into homework.
Instead of making yourself a world expert on publishing, agents, market trends and who’s who in the literary metropolis, try sitting down with your notebook for thirty minutes a day and letting the ideas flow. Remember that you cannot organise your literary career into existence. Some of it is down to chance. A lot will depend on the quality of what you write. Allow yourself to be open to new ideas, and let your right brain take over once in a while. Do this, and not only will you enjoy your writing life much more, but you might also write something that publishers will take seriously.

Mostly c’s
The Dilettante. Now, be honest: are you really, really determined to write? More determined than you are to lose that stubborn halfstone?
Or go to the Maldives for your next holiday? Or take part in a triathlon? Because, on current form, writing is just another of your many hobbies. Want to change this? Then write every day, first thing in the morning if you can – and keep at it. Read on the train instead of texting. Apply yourself to this as if your life depended on it – because your life as a writer really does. Either that, or give up now, and get in training for that triathlon. You may be cut out to be in a writing group, or to write a few short stories when you retire, but you don’t have what it takes to be a Writer.

Mostly d’s
The Fantasist. If you carry on like this, the greatest work of fiction that you ever create will be the fantasy that you carry round in your head. That’s right, the one where you win the Nobel prize and make a mountain of money, produce the greatest body of work since Shakespeare, are lionised, canonised and lauded across the planet – and probably on Mars and Jupiter as well. The brutal fact about being a writer is that it is really quite mundane. You need to take your craft seriously. You need to learn to do all the things that other writers learned to do before you. There are no shortcuts.
There are no secrets. It’s about the work. If you want to make your fantasy come true, then it’s time to step out of your cloud and get on with it.

The good news
If you didn’t score mostly a’s and you find yourself languishing in one of the other categories, then join the club. We can all aim to be Professionals, but, actually, we are all human beings. Every writer has an inner Anorak, or is a part-time Dilettante or a frustrated Fantasist. And if we were all Professional, all the time, what a boring world it would be! Seek balance, and don’t feel guilty if your writing personality, like your writing, is less than perfect.

In How to Be a Writer Sally O' Reilly draws on her own experience as a novelist and creative writing tutor, offering down-to-earth advice about everything from finding a flexible day job to negotiating the changing landscape of the publishing industry. Introduced by Fay Weldon and including comments and case studies from other established authors, agents and industry experts, this is the definitive reference book for any author.
 

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Nightwalkers dwell in the shadows; they live in a world where every night holds secrets. Hunted by magic, beset by evil, the Nightwalkers face their darkest hour yet.  When the unthinkable happens, only one legendary male has the power and the will to save them: Adam.

From their first tantalising touch, Jasmine knows Adam is different. What other lover could unlock her tight control, and flood vampire senses jaded by a lifetime of decadent self indulgence?

Centuries ago, when he disappeared without a trace, she had given up hope of ever fulfilling the promise of incomparable passion. But here he is, against the very laws of nature, ready to bring down their most vicious enemy, ready to bring her blood to the boiling point . . . if she will only let him.

Missed the earlier novels in this explosive series? Piatkus are publishing the entire series from January to April 2012:

These covers have been a HUGE hit in the office (we wonder why…) Let us know what you think!

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Jacky and Madeline share the communications they have received from their beloved father, Ron, since he passed away in February 2008. Ron reaches out to them from 'the other side' to show his family that there most certainly is life after death.

We held a competition for our readers to submit their questions to Jacky and Madeline. Here are the questions (and their answers) that were picked out.

Call Me When You Get to Heaven is published by Piatkus on 3rd November 2011. Click here for more information.

You can visit Jacky Newcomb's website at http://jackynewcomb.webeden.co.uk/ and Madeline Richardson's at http://www.madelinerichardson.co.uk/

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3. HOW MOTHERS LOVE by Naomi Stadlen

Nine years ago, single-mother Joanna Collie fell head over heels in love with single-father Paul. But when Joanna and her daughter moved in with Paul and his child she found herself unprepared for blended family life  and desperately in need of help and guidance. Unfortunately there was no advice out there that was applicable to her new role as a blending stepmother.

Here’s an insight into why she decided to take matters into her own hands and write the definitive guide for blending stepmothers herself.

Too few mothers who become stepmothers are as aware as they should be of the tough times ahead of them. Had someone prepared me for them I’d have been very grateful –although I confess that I would have come extremely close to changing my plans of becoming a blending stepmother.

Becoming a stepmother when you already have a child of your own – ‘blending’, in other words – is certainly noble, but a bit barmy. Within weeks, you’ll be asking yourself why you ever thought your child would accept these new people without feeling as though he’s slipped into second place in your books; you’ll wonder if your partner’s child will ever be respectful to you or resist resorting to sibling rivalry for her father’s affections. You’ll enjoy precious little romance, let alone hanky-panky, without having to book a hotel room.

No – blending is idiotic, but lots of us do it anyway. Love is blind, after all; the desire to make it official and tie the knot, to create one family out of two that have been crunched in their attempts at familial togetherness in the past can be a heady drug. You started a family before so, presumably, you once had dreams of family life. What could be better than to see those dreams come true after so much disappointment? It really can work out well – and that makes it all worth it.

When a blended family feels like it’s working properly, it can be as happy as any other family. When things go wrong, though, the misery for all concerned can seem too much to bear. I think that all stepmothers who are attempting to blend families should be sent on a course – at least a week away – which mixes loads of pampering with inspired, hands-on help, advice and books from those who have been there, done that and are now proudly wearing the T-shirt.

I failed to sniff out a single one.

You need a library for the amount of guidebooks rained on you when you become a mother: whether to use towelling nappies or disposables, when to wean, how to socialise your toddler, how to keep the lines of communication open with your teenager – the list is endless. In fact, the sheer volume of information available to you on becoming a mother, and being the best at it ever, can overwhelm you. Happily, there’s also a growing wealth of information and help for stepmothers, as half of today’s marriages involve them.

The blending stepmother, however, that doesn’t have access to ready supplies of expertise from those who’ve gone before her. Finding a guidebook for this brave lady has proven a frustrating exercise until now. Hers is not a new breed, though.

For as long as there have been mothers and stepmothers there have been blending stepmothers, only they’ve been so busy and muddled that none of them thought to write it all down. Either that, or they assumed that no single mother of the future would be idiotic enough to take on a new partner and his offspring in addition to her own, much less attempt to help raise them under the watchful eye of his ex.

I searched for such a book as I blundered into blending, and never found it. I needed it – badly. Surely I wasn’t alone? I reasoned that there must be thousands of blending stepmothers like me out there, all at a loss and feeling more than a bit gloomy. So here it is: the book I wrote as I groped my way through the ups and downs, stumbling over all the ideals that my original, nuclear family had left behind.

There is no such thing as an ideal blended world. Just as you once wondered why babies don’t come with handbooks, now you’ll be wondering why nobody’s written the definitive ‘how to’ guide on blending families. I think everyone was waiting for someone else to do it, as nobody had much of a clue where to start. From Mother to Stepmother isn’t the definitive guide – that would be like finding the Holy Grail – but it’ll help!

Here are some top tips to get you through this tricky time:

• Slow down – don’t agree to take on all the responsibility for everyone’s happiness in the family.
• Seek out other blending stepmothers’ company. They’re not so hard to find – there are more and more blending stepfamilies these days. If you’re feeling brave, start a conversation with a likely candidate in a supermarket – you’re more likely to find them there than in spas and gyms; let’s face it, who has the time?
• Remember that you are not alone. Really. You might feel that way now, but things are set to change.

Joanna Collie was born in the UK but moved to South Africa at the age of thirteen. For many years she divided her time between the two countries, working primarily as Head of Creative for Primedia’s 567 Cape Talk radio station and then as Senior Creative Writer for GWR Radio Group in the UK (now Global Media). She has also worked as a session vocalist for over fifteen years in South Africa and the UK. Joanna is now an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing and Advanced Creative Writing for the Open University. From Mother to Stepmother is available to buy now.

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