The Lovely Blog Hop!

The Lovely Blog Hop

I’ve been invited by the wonderful Rachel Brimble to join in the Lovely Blog Hop. This blog hop is intended to let you in on a few of the lesser-known things about my life that have helped make me who I am.

First Memory

At the risk of starting on a negative note- my earliest memory is of being hit by a car when I was 3 years old!! It was my own fault- I should not have been playing in the road. I vividly remember the smell of smoke and petrol as I was hit, and then waking up in Bristol Royal Infirmary with a broken collar bone, and a giant poster of Noddy and Big Ears on the wall opposite my hospital bed.

Books

It won’t surprise you to know that I adore reading, and my home is packed with books. With the exception of Horror and Dark Fantasy (I scare too easy!), I read all genres. I like the variety of reading one of Terry Pratchett’s Dicworld novels one week, and then a Carol Hedges Victorian mystery the next.

Although I occasionally read romance, I usually avoid reading the genres I write myself very often- too much like a busman’s holiday!

At the moment I’m reading The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel

Libraries/Bookshops

My very first holiday job as a student was at Melksham Library in Wiltshire. I loved that job so much, that I went on to work for a large number of public libraries and a university library once I’d left education.Bookshops are dangerous places for me- I just want to buy everything! The very smell of them – the feel- the atmosphere. It’s so special. I love bookshops- it’s as simple as that!

What’s Your Passion?

Writing- no question. I’m not truly me unless I have got at least a few words written on a page first thing in the morning. I’m dreadful at taking holidays- I get so grumpy without my daily wordage!

Beyond the world of writing, I adore history- especially anything medieval. I have a lifelong obsession with Robin Hood!

Learning

I was very lucky to have the opportunity to do GCSE Archaeology while I was at school. This led to me taking Archaeology as one of my A’levels, and then for my degree at University.

My degree was the most amazing fun! I got to travel widely, and help excavate a range of sites. My moment of Indiana Jones style glory came when I was helping dig a Roman town in Wales. I was the first person to see, and then stand on, a pavement from a Roman forum for over 1000 years!

After my degree I was lucky enough to be able to indulge one of my main passions in life- Robin Hood- by doing a PhD on the subject!! (You can read some of my research in my novel Romancing Robin Hood!)

Writing

My first short story was published in 2005, in a book of erotic short stories (under the name Kay Jaybee). That tale was the first story I’d written since childhood, and I had no expectations of it being taken. If it hadn’t been accepted for publication, then perhaps I wouldn’t have tried to write another one- but here I am, ten years later, with 2 identities (Kay Jaybee and Jenny Kane), over 100 publications, both long and short, and 2 new novels on the way!!- Abi’s House (out June 2015) and Another Glass of Champagne (out Jan 2016)

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Thanks for stopping by today! If you’d like to read some more on the lovely blog hop circuit, check out:

Laura Wilkinson- https://lauracwilkinson.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/my-lovely-blog-hop/

Happy reading,

Jenny xxx