Lanlivery Steam Rally

Meeting the Author Jane Pollard.

A rather muddy scene greeted us at the Lanlivery Steam Fair on Saturday morning. The thoroughfares were well and truly churned up which suited my Super Ten just nice but were a little harsher on the BMW RT no. 4. Steve and I set up the bikes in between the Air Ambulance and Fleet with the smell of breakfast thick in the air.

We had only just finished unravelling the CBB banner when we were approached by a couple who started to ask about the Charity.

Turns out, the lady was none other than the Cornish author Jane Pollard (aka Jane Jackson). We discussed at length, the Charities work and the impact this work has on our community.

As well as putting some money in our collection pot, she has kindly donated 2 of her novels, signed while we were there, to be auctioned at our next event. Already read by my formidable mother in law, (ex-History teacher) i believe she is now a fan.

This is what she wrote to us soon after the event. This includes a précis of what Jane does and some of her career.

Hello,

I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Ian and Steve from cornwallbloodbikes.org at Lanlivery Vintage Rally on Saturday 12th Sept. My husband is known as ‘The Rotavator Man’ and when I accompany him to rallies I usually take along a few hard-back copies of my books to offer as raffle prizes. Seeing Ian and Steve and their magnificent machines we went over to ask if they’d be interested. They were, and I learned about the fantastic work they and the rest of their team do – on call at night in all weathers providing a vital service.

I mentioned I write books: The longer ones, written as Jane Jackson, are historical romantic fiction based on Cornish backgrounds such as the Packet Service, (Dangerous Waters; Tide of Fortune) building a railway line (The Iron Road) trials of the first marine steam engine (Crosscurrents)

I’m also writing a contemporary series, Polvellan Cornish Mysteries, as Rachel Ennis. These are set in a coastal village not a million miles from my home. The third of these, ‘The Loner,’ my 30th published book, came out as an e-book on 1st October and is doing well in the Amazon charts.

I used to teach the craft of novel writing at Ad.Ed, on writing courses, and as part of the MA in Professional Writing at Falmouth University. Because I’m constantly asked ‘how do you write a book’, I put together a couple of humorous talks. These are interactive – I talk for ten minutes and explain the ‘ingredients’ then divide people into groups of four, give them pictures to work with, and they have twenty minutes to come up with two main characters and the outline of a plot. It’s a wonderful ice-breaker and people realise they are capable of far more than they ever imagined. It also gives them a much deeper understanding of what goes into writing a book.

If you think this might appeal as a fund-raiser, do let me know.

It was a pleasure to meet you and a privilege to learn about your work.

Kind regards,

Jane

For more info

https://www.facebook.com/JaneJacksonAuthor https://www.facebook.com/PolvellanCornishMysteries www.janejackson.net Blog

The Loner Polvellan Cornish Mysteries Series No. 3 e-book pub. Accent Press 99p 1st October.