I invited around 70 writers/bloggers to write a piece about how typical they are of their sign, and how its traits affect their writing life ~ if at all...
Has your favourite writer been featured yet? Links to all previous posts at the end of this one :)
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A special three-in-one today! Three romance writers, Lizzie, June and Adrienne, who, collectively, (with their friend Mags Cullingford) are known as The New Romantics. You can find them all together at home, HERE and on Twitter HERE.
Now, let us meet them individually ~
First, the Pisces lady with her heart in the Highlands, Lizzie Lamb. She's the author of lighthearted romcoms, the latest of which is Scotch on the Rocks. You can read more of what she gets up to on her blog, and follow her on Twitter.
Now, please swim out of that loch and tell us about your Pisces self, Lizzie!
"When I'm a #good fish I am artistic, idealistic, imaginative, a dreamer, romantic (definitely!), and at times visionary. As an indie author and self-publisher, I have learned to be adapatable and multi-talented - proofreading, editing, promoting of my novels on social media and always thinking of the next novel. I hope I am popular; but when I want to pursue a course of action to its conclusion I can be as my grandmother described - a 'persistent little bugger', chipping away at peoples' resistance until I get what I want. Or, as I see it, charming them into submission. The heroine most like me in these circumstances is Charlee Montague in Boot Camp Bride.
When I'm a #bad fish I can appear remote, spaced out, living in my characters' world and holding imaginary conversations with them. This leaves me feeling vague, other worldly, as if I've just woken up from a beautiful dream. I hate being dragged out of my writing to complete mundane tasks like cooking and cleaning. However, conversely, I can't work if I'm surrounded by chaos and disorder - those two fish swimming in opposite directions, remember? Although I am pretty goal orientated, I find it hard to make decisions. In this mode, the heroine most like me is Ishabel Stuart in Scotch on the Rocks."
Luckily for me, the perfect match for a Pisces woman is a Virgo man - rooted, practical and loyal. Pisces is Virgo's opposite sign and, like moth to flame, Virgo men can't help but feel fascinated by the seemingly elusive fish. My Virgo husband and I have been married for forty-four years, so it must be true that opposites do attract."
A more typical fish you couldn't find! Who else could I choose for Lizzie's Piscean writing partner than wonderful Jilly Cooper, to whose work Lizzie's is sometimes likened? For me, Jilly was the person who started the whole modern light romance/chick lit genre, in the 1970s. My favourite was 'Prudence', and I know Lizzie's was 'Emily' ~ set in the Highlands!
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Family orientated? Well, I married into a big Irish family and now have quite a sizeable one myself. My Pisces husband (Terry's note: both water signs, great match!) calls the above picture of me, taken last month staring out over East bay, 'I left my heart in San Francisco'. When our eldest son when there to work 10 years ago, that Tony Bennett record kept me boohooing for weeks. I've a bit of a penchant for aunts and odd family eccentrics (fraught-in-plus-fours) in my stories, too.
Teacher: I taught for a while BC (before children) and did supply AD (after subsequent financial dip). Telling other people what to do, though, was knocked out of me a long time ago!"
"Self-obsessed? Oh dear. P'raps a bit. It can be a nasty trait in an only child. All those years spent contemplating your navel and thinking how to fulfil yourself in life. Thankfully, marrying into a large family knocked that out of me. It's pointless going away somewhere to sulk, if it takes hours before people realise you're missing and can be bothered to try and find you.
Need too much reassurance? Yes, yes, yes. But this is not good! Smacks of self-obsession again. I've been using horoscopes in my current WIP, and other bits of my own profile have seemed eerily accurate.
Ruled by an emotional, ever changing moon. Yes!
My issues: cliquishness, cheapness, cattiness. Oh, I say!
Female friends are my life blood: Ooh, they certainly are! Adrienne and Lizzie for starters."
A famous writing partner for June? I've chosen one of my all time favourites, Cancerian historical and theological novelist, Susan Howatch.
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And finally....
....bringing up the New Romantic rear with oodles of fire sign glamour, here's Adrienne Vaughan, who welcomes you to her world of romance and adventure HERE, and on Twitter HERE. She's the author of contemporary romances The Heartfelt Series, and is an adventurous Sagittarius! But that's not all....
Sagittarians are - allegedly - frank, courageous and generous, enjoy intellectual pursuits, and love travel. I can identify with these traits; I love to travel and totally infazed if a plane I'm to catch is delayed, thoroughly enjoying the experience of sitting in an airport writing for hours on end.
I once had to write the Horoscople column for a magazine I worked on, or the space would have been empty with many disgruntled readers. I quickly invested in Linda Goodman's Sun Signs and linked traits to family and friends. Some still say they were the most accurate horoscopes they ever read! Resourceful? Another trait, methinks!"
I saved a lady from the Top Table of light romance authors for Adrienne - super Sagittarius, Sophie Kinsella!
Many thanks to Lizzie, June and Adrienne!
Coming next?
Coming next?
Must be something about the sign ~ another bestselling Aries!
Previous posts (click on the name for the article)
Leo and Aries: Terry Tyler and Julia Proofreader
Leo: Rose Edmunds, Alex Johnson, Anne Goodwin
Aries: Trisha Ashley, Cynthia Harrison
Gemini: Norah Colvin, Haydn Lee, John Privilege, Jerome Dumont,
Shelley Wilson,
Aquarius: Cathy Ryan, Lynda Renham
Capricorn: Annie Lyons, Wendy Janes, Steffany R
Aquarius and Capricorn: Nicky Black
Sagittarius: Rachel Amphlett, Wendy Lennox, Katrina Mountfort
Cancer: Sarah Boucher, Katie Oliver, Mark Barry,
Virgo: Elizabeth Ducie, Louise Marley, Barb Taub
Pisces: Julie Haiselden, Maria Savva, Sacha Black
Taurus: Valerie-Anne Baglietto Val Poore
Scorpio: Stacey Garrity, Catherine Hokin, Robert Leigh, Gemma Lawrence, Jenny Twist,
Libra: Joanne B, Jen Ammoscato
Thank you Terry, for featuring us here. It's a bit scary realising how closely aligned we all are to our star signs!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, virtually everyone is... now, I won't say anything else in case it makes you over-sensitive and you crawl back into that nice, safe, warm carapace... :)
DeleteYep, already there!
DeleteA lovely post ladies, this is fun linking character traits to everyday lives, and I've never heard of the 13th sign until today, thank you Adrienne.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to doing yours, Rosie, and nice to have another roaring lion!!
DeleteGreat fun, Rosie. I'm so glad that we met Terry (and lots of other lovely writers) through your blog and the twittersphere.
DeleteHi Terry and thank you for doing such a fabulous blog with our star signs. How did you know that Green was my favourite colour? I read this to my husband as he was getting Sunday lunch ready and he was nodding wisely. When I got to the bit about being too dreamy he just rolled his eyes and said nothing. It's a good thing that new romantics press rub along so well together.
ReplyDeleteIt is the Pisces colour, Lizzie! Well, you and June are both water signs, after all - not sure what element Ophiucus is!!! xx
DeleteAnother great post. I love reading the Z Files and did chuckle with the 'good fish', 'bad fish' sections ;)
ReplyDeleteShelley, I thought of Good Cop/Bad Cop and it just WORKED.
DeleteHa ha. This made me laugh. How typical of Adrienne to have two signs!!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this three-in-one post. Fun and educational - a thirteenth sign. Fancy that! It's the sort of info that crops up on QI. "How many star signs are there?" A hapless Alan says there are twelve and then Mr Fry's elves give us a blast on the klaxon and he informs us there are thirteen.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha!!! You witty Capricorn, you! xx
DeletevERY USEFUL IN A PUB QUIZ, wENDY.
DeleteThanks, Terry. :)
DeleteYou're right, Lizzie. I've already stored the info away in my head in case it comes up in a quiz.
I love these ladies! Another great Z files post. Fab to see all those different character traits. :) X
ReplyDeleteAnd we look forward to yours in January, Jan!
DeleteYes, Jan - really looking forward to your post. (Your's must be a sign with lots of very positive traits!) X
DeleteThanks Jan. Jan in January; love it. Rest assured we'll be popping by.
DeleteFabulous blog Terry, and proof if proof were ever needed that there is truth in the stars! Back in the day when I interviewed for temporary work I always checked signs ...if explosive energy was required I just put two fire signs together!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I've always used it, too! My sister Julia said she once got a job purely because she was an Aries. We fire signs must stick together - and yes, she and I do make a lot of noise! One very enjoyable part of this has been finding out what everyone is, without having to ask them :)
DeleteWe met Julia, Terry. She kindly came along to one of our book launches with your Dad.
DeleteLooking forward to meeting you too, one day!
I know, June, cos they are my dad and sister, so they told me all about it and about how very charming you were!!!! I have the photos :)
DeleteOne day... if you're doing one of your signing things when I go to stay with Dad some time, perhaps!
Funnily enough, I've just had my former headteacher and his wife for lunch today. When I first met him he called me his 'twin' because we shared the same birthday - March 11th. I got the job and we've been friends every since (1990). We're very similar in temperament although there is four years between us.
DeleteHow about this, then - you know Alex Johnson, @oxfordnovelist? We were born on EXACTLY THE SAME DAY!!! I mean the same year, too. I was also born on exactly the same day as actor Reece Dinsdale, who you may remember from some thing about something coming home to roost, with John Thaw - yes, I know, that's a big vague!!!! Now, all you have to do is look up Reece Dinsdale on Wikipedia, and you can steal my identity. Except that you don't know my real name. Ha!!!!
DeleteTerry my sister Reta is Aries too! We always sound like a crowd ...and fire certainly feeds fire, great stamina, really positive, hard working and resourceful at problem solving. Oh,and we love to party ...perhaps when we four are on the same continent we should get together. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat fun would that be! Yes, you're so right about the hard working and resourceful bit too, I have to say. Julia had the idea about doing the proofreading thing for herself shortly after I started publishing, and I used all my knowledge about Twitter to help her get started. As for hardworking... well it's Sunday afternoon, and this is just my mid afternoon break whilst writing. I haven't had a day off everything since early September!
DeleteMost of my husband's family have birthdays in May. Exactly nine months after the harvest has been brought it. Not him. He was a 'honeymoon baby'.
ReplyDeleteAha! A nicely solid Taurean family, then... however tedious my husband and brother can be about their interests, I know I can always rely on them 100%!!! My inlaw family are mostly Scorpio and Sag. An expensive time right now, and lots of loud opinions!!
DeleteI love the idea of the 13th sign appearing on QI, Wendy. I have a close friend who is the day after my birthday, we call each other Orph ...might explain my weird software Terry, comes via another planet ...say nothing Lizzie Lamb! X
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Indeed - Microsoft for Aliens!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteMy lips are sealed, Adrienne. (for now)
ReplyDeleteI almost missed this!! Goodness! I love the fact you have all three of them together. Now I read so much more about these characteristic traits, I see them in my loved ones all the time. Fabulous! And isn't it interesting how they influence writing styles too! I haven't read Lizzie's or Adrienne's books yet, but I really enjoyed June's 20s Girl. My reading list is getting longer and longer and I've barely started!
ReplyDeleteThoroughly enjoyed finding out so much more about these lovely ladies - great post guys :-)
ReplyDelete