Going Against Type

Welcome Sharon Black 

with her latest release

A romantic comedy published by Tirearr Publishing, 

Going Against Type

Sharon will be giving away an e-copy of Going Against Type.
Check out the rafflecopter draw below:

Going against Type is set against the backdrop of the Dublin newspapers.  It's the story of two rival newspaper columnists, who write anonymously, meet and fall in love.  They each have an important reason to guard their alter egos from each other.  So, their relationship develops, as they continue to attack each other, week after week, through their columns.

The story came about partly because I worked as a journalist myself, and even wrote a newspaper column for a short while.  So I knew the idea of the newspaper columnist would be fun.  But the real inspiration came from something else.

When I was growing up, I loved the old Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s.  They were always showing them on TV.  And two of my favourite stars were Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey.  They made a number of films together, and they had such a wonderful on-screen chemistry.

One of my favourite films was Woman of the Year.  In it, Tracey plays a stereotypical sports reporter, and Hepburn plays a high-brow pundit, who has no time for sport.  She publicly dismisses sport as a waste of time, and Tracey leaps to its defense and attacks her views.  When they meet, they spar, but then fall in love.  Later in the film, Tracey finds it hard to cope with the fact that Hepburn has won a prize and her career is flourishing, apparently to the detriment of their marriage!  It's of its time, but it's a great film!

What I did for Going Against Type, was to turn the stereotypes on their head.  Charlotte Regan is a sports reporter, and a girl who has always lived for her sport.  Derry Cullinane is a fashion writer and is quick to dismiss sport in his column.  Because the columns are written under pen names, I was able to build up suspense.  And keep it going longer!



Some would say Charlotte "Charlie" Regan has it all.  Beautiful, smart, athletic and a great job working as a journalist - in the almost exclusively male sports department.  But Charlotte is not quite as sure as she seems.  Recently split from her overbearing boyfriend, she escapes for weekends,surfing in the Atlantic, and spends her free nights watching sports, roaring at the TV.

Derry Cullinane is a fashion writer, gossip columnist and sophisticated man-about-town.  The go-to-guy for any woman seeking expert advice on what fabulous outfit to wear for any given occasion.  He's also tall, dark, good looking - and straight!  So what's the snag?  He has a track record of dating glamorous, vain and shallow women.

Charlie gets an opportunity to write a new column under the pen name Side Swipe, but is soon drawn into a war of words and wit with a rival paper's columnist The Squire - and their verbal fireworks get readers and editors talking.  Yet neither Charlie nor Derry knows just whom the opponent is.

When Charlotte and Derry meet at the Races, the attraction is instant.  As their relationship develops, so much more proves at stake then protecting their alter egos.  But a blunder puts Charlotte's job in jeopardy just as Derry's past makes front page, and Charlotte begins to doubt her feelings.

When Side Swipe and The Squire are finally forced to reveal themselves, will they revert to type--or confound everyone's expectations?

 

 

Sharon's Bio:

Sharon Black grew up in Dublin.  She studied history and politics at University College Dublin and Then did post-graduate in
journalism at Dublin City University.  She has worked for national newspapers, including The Evening Herald and The Irish Examiner.  She had short stories published in U Magazine and the 2010 Drommineer Library Festival short story competition.

When she is not writing, she reads, walks and sees friends.  She co-founded a local book club 14 years ago.  She loves theatre, old Hollywood films, science fiction and good stand-up comedy.

She lives in Sandymount, Dublin, with her husband and their three children.

Visit Sharon at her author page.
Read more about Going Against Type at
most online bookstores.  Here's a link to Going Against Type on Amazon.com or visit her publisher's page:  Tirgearr Publishing


a Rafflecopter giveaway

And Without Further Ado - Very Inspiring Bloggers

Is there such a thing as Very Inspiring Bloggers?  Definitely.  Am I one of them?  Well, Lisa McManus Lang - The Sassy Scribbler thought I was and nominated me.  Now all of this happened a few weeks ago.  Now really I am an enthusiastic blogger and normally I would have blogged about this much sooner.  But, well - at the time I was a writer who was enslaved by my computer, buried beneath the story I'd created.  This is beginning to sound like a tale for...Frankenstein.  My creation turned on me... okay, really revisions people, that's all 24-7 revisions.

"Summertime and the livin is easy."  

Who said that - yeah, I know quite a few people in more than a few songs.  Let me dispute that and give you a Momism.  My mother often says, "Winter is a much easier time than summer, you just close your door and forget the weather.  In the winter you don't have to worry about the yard work because the snow just covers it up."

She has a point, at least up here in the frozen north - except maybe the excessive snow that requires mucho shoveling.  But this month summer time wasn't so easy as I spent much of the time in my basement office with revisions - not enjoying the cool as I love, love - the summer time heat.  But as a consolation I was getting a lot of heat in a suspense set in Cambodia but that's another story.  So, the thing I don't love besides cool weather?  Weeds.  And the weeds - well they were enjoying my absence, snuggling in amidst the flowers getting fat and happy and...

The weeds - well they won't be looking so happy tomorrow!

So back to the "Very Inspiring Blogger" award.  I'm thrilled to be picked.  And to claim my award I must list seven things about myself and pass the award on to two other bloggers.  So here goes.

1. I love traveling.  There's nothing better than hitting the road and discovering something new that isn't located in a ten mile radius of home.   

 2.  I play the piano well and the violin badly.

3.  And on that note, don't ever ask me to sing - unless you're trying to clear the area.

4. I go barefoot often - short jaunts through the snow to take out the trash, across landscaping rocks (ouch, ouch, ouch) to take out the recyling, in the house - wherever I can.  When I was a teenager I remember an aunt telling me that with rough feet from walking barefoot I would never get a husband - smooth, silky feet were the way to go.  The question mark on that bit of advise, remains.

5.  I love dogs and figured out the other day that I've spent thirty years of my life with a dog.  Not the same one, of course, or I suspect one of us would be famous or at least have attained some notariety.

6.  I love ice cream and when in any foreign country the almost the first thing I learn is the word for ice cream.  Okay, maybe the second, the first might be the name of the hotel I'm staying at as I'm notorious for having a bad sense of direction.

7.  I make a fantastic dog biscuit, dog food, dog whatever but don't ask me to cook supper.  I have a live in chef who also mows the lawn - right, I believe I married him.  The end result is if you want any kind of hamburger casserole mixed with say carrots, rice, a few lentils and garlic - the dog's licking his lips, then I'm your girl.  However, if you were thinking of a finely marinated steak with a gourmet salad and some other enticing surprise on the side - you guessed it, don't call me. 


Now I must pass this forward and nominate two other inspiring bloggers.  Both bloggers are ones I quietly follow, rarely if ever making a comment.  And for that I apologize  - I'll try to rectify that it in future.

So here they are in no particular order:

Adam Heine  - the writer of sci/fantasy and the author behind the blog Author's Echo.  first thing that caught my eye about this blogger was the fact that he was in Northern Thailand.  Now, having been to Northern Thailand, I immediately wanted to read what he had to say.  Of course, then the fact that he's a writer and that his blog is always entertaining or inspiring and, often both - kept me hanging around.  He keeps visitors to his blog on the hook with entertaining posts and notes on works in progress that may be soon be published such as Air Pirates.

Tawna Fenske - the writer of humorous romance and the author behind Don't Pet Me I'm Writing.  This blogger has been fresh from the beginning.  It's a blog aimed at the funny side of a writer's life while still throwing in a good hunk of plain old life.  If you want a laugh and a bit of motivation to boot - this is the blogger for you.  She's the author of the romantic comedies, Believe It Or Not, Making Waves and Getting Dumped.  And if her blog is any indication of what's in her books - well, let's just say she's on my TBR. 



Ryshia
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