Revisiting Simon Van Der Velde

🥳To finish off my celebration of 18 months of Tweetables, I'm revisiting the talented Simon Van Der Velde. I last chatted to him in November 2022 but I know he's had an exciting time, so lets find out what's happened since our chat.

'Well Jane, it's been a slightly crazy few months since we last spoke - mostly, in a good way. My debut literary crime thriller, The Silent Brother was longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger in April. I was delighted, of course - but I didn't quite realise the significance of the Daggers - and the Gold Dagger in particular, which has since been described to me as the premier English language crime writing prize in the world. So - wow! Then in May, they announced the shortlist, and I was on it alongside some of the greats of modern crime writing.

Within  a few weeks I had signed with my dream agent, Sara O'Keeffe from the Aevitas Creative Agency, who amazingly, in only a couple of months, is on the cusp of securing me a two book deal with a truly great crime publisher. At the time of writing the deal is not quite done, so my lips are sealed, but you can be sure my heart is beating hard. Not only that, but I've even been approached by literary scouts touting my book to TV companies, so - watch this space...'

Like I said, it's been a pretty crazy summer.

Oh wow, he's not wrong there! I imagine that's every writer's dream! What's next for Simon?

I had a great day out at Waterstones Newcastle a few weeks ago, chatting to some lovely staff and customers, almost all of whom were kind enough to buy my book. Hope you all enjoyed it! 

Since then though, I've had to put signings on the back burner and focus on working up ideas for my next literary thriller. As Sara, my agent says, The Silent Brother has opened a lot of doors, but I need a great follow up book to carry me through them. No pressure there then! At least, with Sara's help, I've got some hot ideas bubbling away.

So it's head down for me, and I'll surface again next summer with something worthwhile to show for it. I hope.

Best wishes, and many, many thanks to you and all the fabulous bloggers who give their time in the honest promotion of good literature. Both writers and readers owe you a debt.'

Aww, what a sweetie, albeit a super-successful one! If you'd like to find out more about Simon, you can read our original interview here or follow his links below:

Website: www.simonvandervelde.com
Twitter: @SimonVdVwriter
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/simonvdvelde
Instagram: Simonvdvwriter

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18 months and counting!

🎉🥳🎉 It's party time again! 🎉🥳🎉

I am in the mood for celebrating because Tweetables has just had it's 18 month anniversary - woohoo!

It seems too great an opportunity to miss, so I contacted some of the authors who appeared during my first year, just to see what they've been up to. 

I'm delighted (and not surprised!) to learn they've all been busy, from bringing out new books to winning awards - such a super-talented bunch! The lucky victims 🤣 are listed below, along with when they originally appeared, and also the date I'm publishing our new interview:

1st October - Liz, who appeared in March 2022 (the first person ever to appear!)

3rd October - Amanda, who appeared in April 2022 (my first non-fiction book)

5th October - Toula, in June 2022

7th October - Maximilian, in August 2022

9th October - Jess, in October 2022

11th October - Simon, in November 2022

So remember to watch out and join in the fun! 

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful writers who have taken part over the past 18 months and I'll revisit more in March, when Tweetables turns 2 - wow!

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Wonderful authors part 2

I've now moved onto day 6 of my celebrations (I know, I know, but there's so much to celebrate 🎉🥳) and I wanted to highlight these wonderful authors who have all been kind enough to appear on the blog.

They're in alphabetical order and if you click on their name, you can read their interview!

 

 JOE CLARK

 

MARTIN FEATHERSTON

 

JESS FRANKEL

 

TOM FRANKS

 

JOHN RUSSO

MAXIMILIAN SAM

 

SHANE SCOTT 

 

 LAWRENCE W TAYLOR 

 

SIMON VAN DER VELDE

 

 An outstanding group of writers, I'm sure you'll agree! That concludes my celebrations for the year - here's to the next year and more amazing writers!

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Page turner awards 2023

Huge congratulations!

Today the celebrations continue with more medals for the authors featured on Tweetables!

 

The 'Page Turner Awards' are for the 5 authors who received the highest blog reader engagement but did not win one of the 5 'Most Popular Author' awards yesterday (see here) Feedback was received through comments/ messages/ emails/ DMs, etc. sent to Tweetables, and there were many, so thank you so much!

 

These medals will be attached to their interviews in recognition of their achievement - congratulations, you're all amazing! If you missed their interview, just click on their names below 😀

Maximilian Sam - you loved our interview, the dog photos and his book, and he just missed out on a medal yesterday. His book's synopsis (tweet here): ‘Have you ever wondered what dogs are thinking? Now you can find out as Princess, Buster and Snowy share their lives.’ 

Max is a huge supporter of other writers and even won a writing community award in 2022. He has highlighted Tweetables several times on his blog (site here) so it's not only stray dogs that he befriends! 😘🤗 By the way, his second book is equally adorable!

Jess Frankel - another amazing author and you love his HAE endings and the magical worlds he creates (me too!). He's thanked Tweetables countless times publicly too (another lovely guy 😘🤗) and has written several books since our chat (he's so prolific!) Here's an extract from Thread Weaver: (tweet here): ‘As I plummeted through the wormhole, I remembered a saying. In space, no one can hear you scream. But this was New York, and I was sure that everyone could hear me scream.’

 

Toula Mavridou-Messer - you loved our interview and found Toula's outlook inspiring and her help invaluable (me too, on both counts!). Another great author who has published more work since. The synopsis of this book is (press here) ‘The key to having a great life is gratitude. If you want to be happy and motivated, transform your life in just 30 days from now with my bestselling motivational selfhelp book ‘Attitude of Gratitude.’  

Amanda Sterczyk - another outstanding non-fiction writer whom you loved, and I don't blame you! You liked how well-researched her work is and how her expertise shines through. Another talented lady and she's now expanded into audible books too! The synopsis of her book is (tweet here)  “Chair Exercises for Fall Prevention” is a #book geared for #seniors or adults who want to work on their #balance but need a break from standing #exercises

Simon Van Der Velde - like me, you loved the brilliant concept behind this book and the level of indepth research Simon weaved throughout his short stories. His next Backstories book should be out soon! Can you guess who this person is? (tweet here) The Guitar - No doubt about it, he was a bright kid, talented even. He was quick on his feet and with his mouth too, and he could smack a baseball out of the park. But he was a Jew, and he was short…

Please do click on their names and read their interviews/ book reviews, and see for yourself what all the buzz has been about! And thank you so much for reading.

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All these wonderful books!

 

I'm still in party mood, celebrating Tweetables' one-year anniversary.  

Going back a year, my aim was to start a blog to help highlight amazing authors and their work. 

So far I've been privileged in meeting 22 wonderful authors (with many more booked for 2023!) and the photo above shows all the books featured - wow, what an amazing array!

I've covered fiction and non-fiction authors, some books are parts of series, others are short stories, but the range is huge and the genres numerous - hopefully ensuring there's something here for everyone. 

The only thing all these books have in common is the hard-working author writing their socks off for us - thank goodness for them! So below are the links to all their wonderful interviews and book reviews. Please do take a look and support these wonderful writers. 

If you click on their name below (in alphabetical order), their article will appear...

JOE CLARK   VIRGINIA CROW     MARTIN FEATHERSTON  JESS FRANKEL  TOM FRANKS

GERRI R GRAY  NAOMI E KENNEDY   JACKIE LAMBERT  TOULA MAVRIDOU-MESSER

GENNA ROWBOTHAM   JOHN RUSSO    MAXIMILIAN SAM  SHANE SCOTT  HELEN SEDGWICK

DUANE SIMOLKE   AMANDA STERCZYK   LAWRENCE W TAYLOR  LISA THOMAS   LIZ TREACHER

ALEKSANDRA TRYNIECKA    SIMON VAN DER VELDE    ZEL WINTER

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Seasons Greetings!

🎄🎅 HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS!🎄🎅

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped make this year so special at Tweetables. 

First there are the authors who have given me such wonderful interviews, and then there's you, the wonderful readers who have supported these authors (and also to everyone who voted for me in the awards - still reeling from that one!). 

So thank you and please buy a book (or two) for Christmas and support our wonderful authors! Here are links to everyone whose taken part this year, and I'm looking forward to more of the same in 2023! Have a great one 🥳🎉🍾

(Please press on the author's name to go to their interview.)

 

JOE CLARK 

 

VIRGINIA CROW

 

MARTIN FEATHERSTON

 

 

 JESS FRANKEL

 TOM FRANKS

 

GERRI R GRAY 

 

TOULA MAVRIDOU-MESSER

GENNA ROWBOTHAM

 JOHN RUSSO 

 

 MAXIMILIAN SAM

 

SHANE SCOTT

HELEN SEDGWICK

 

 

 AMANDA STERCZYK

LAWRENCE W TAYLOR

LISA THOMAS 

LIZ TREACHER

 

SIMON VAN DER VELDE 

 

 

 

 

ZEL WINTER

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