JO B CREATIVE @howdykittyleroy-blog - Tumblr Blog

OUR DEVON BOAT HOUSE, SALCOMBE & KINGSBRIDGE

I'M KIT MACKENZIE AKA JO BALLANTYNE -

AUTHOR & ARTIST

For the past few years, I've been thoroughly entrenched in the editing, publishing, and marketing of my epic western quartet, Alias Jeannie Delaney — Book 1 - Go West, Girl! and Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return.

Book 3 is currently in the trusted hands of my beta reader. She's a staunch fan, so I know she'll enjoy this one.

I used Canva and GIMP to create my book cover, working from an illustration of Jeannie I made years ago, referencing a vintage photograph. She's the Jeannie I've always envisaged.

Doing the whole thing ourselves — me and my PA husband — has been a challenge of enormity. My mentality has bounced up and down like the proverbial yoyo, but we're finally there. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears (mostly his, working with me 😉). I would never have been able to do it without him. Thank you, hubby!

Here's a flavour of the storyline from Book 2.

ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY

Book 2 — The Outlaw's Return

A visit to an unknown frontier town...

Maverick pants-wearing cowgirl Jeannie Morgan rides into town, a cheroot between her teeth, and the townsfolk stop, go silent as a graveyard on a Sunday, and watch her go by. Murmurs follow her. The local sheriff approaches nervously, taken aback by her sheer magnetism and Adonis tomboy beauty. He puts on a brave face.

"Ma'am — Miss Morgan — we're all perfectly aware that your speed with a gun is unmatched. So, Ma'am, if there's the remotest issue prompted by your presence, I want you out before these here townsfolk decide to lynch you. Understood?"

Jeannie grins crookedly down at him, her piercing translucent pale blue eyes crinkling at the corners, and removes her cheroot.

"Jees, sheriff... Ah do believe you're tremblin' worse than a prairie dog on red-eye whiskey. Mebbe ya oughta sit down before ya fall down, huh?"

The sound of her voice — its husky timbre, the sensuality of it — throws him off balance again. Jeannie chuckles and winks down at the lawman, replaces her cheroot between her lips, nudges her horse, Flicker, down the street, and continues her journey. It's a fact that towns do want her out or dead — preferably dead. She'll try not to upset this one.

Behind Jeannie, a young lady whispers to her friend.

"She's a magnificent lover, you understand — not just with men. And I should know...

#cowgirl #western #oldwest #quartet #booktok

https://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Girl-Alias-Jeannie-Delaney-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

Available as e-novel, paperback & on Kindle Unlimited

Book 3 launches this year.

All this signals the hopeful return to my other umpteen zillion interests — I'm a renaissance soul, a multi-thingy person. Visual art, boating, exploring, travel, the paranormal... you name it.

Join me in my explorations of Life, The Universe & Everything, & tell me your story - whether it be your life or anything else!

What, you may think, has the following story got to do with the graphic? At the bottom right is a yellow box giving a hint.

I do so many different things I can't keep up! I'm a renaissance soul/multi-thingy person. Nonetheless I'm proud of what I do, particularly this western quartet, which has taken the last three years to get the first two novels published.

*'Maverick pants wearing cowgirl Jeannie Morgan rides into town. The place goes silent as the grave on a Sunday. Her Colt speaks for itself—she’s the fastest gun west of the Mississippi. A young lady smiles at her friend. 'She’s just as deadly in love - she's a magnificent lover to both men & women & towns want her out or dead, preferably dead. Our town will follow suit.'

#cowgirl #western #oldwest #quartet

https://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Girl-Alias-Jeannie-Delaney-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

Available as e-novel, paperback & on Kindle Unlimited

Book 3 will be launched this year & Book 4 will follow.

A ZONKING RIDICULOUS GRAPHIC

I created this bonkers graphic over a couple of days & really enjoyed it! You probably can't read half of it - but what the heck eh? The important bit is the long, curly red arrow that leads from the bottom right hand yellow box with black outlined lettering promoting my epic western quartet Alias Jeannie Delaney. The writing of that was in sharp contrast to this graphic. Long & agonising! 😭 Anyway, below is the promotion of the story.

Half the issue with this selling novels biz is the echoing silence that follows. No-one likes you and no-one cares. Wahh! You have to sit & twiddle thumbs till the next sale. Boooring! Dispiriting & soul destroying & why am I bothering with all this anyway? Reviews are rare. Few readers review. They're too busy with their next novels.

It's done me & my PA's head in. In reality people like you & they do care. I've actually reached over 1480 readers, which is brilliant, but I've got an image of readers perusing the first page or chapter, screwing up noses & shoving the book among stuff headed for charity. Or, worse still, landfill.

We needed a quick injection of facts.

Hubby peered under the bonnet of our ad & performance numbers, & we are mind-blown! (although I didn't understand half of what the numbers mean!). The average conversion rate for book ads is usually 7–10%. Ours? A WHOPPING 33%! When readers see our cover and read our description for Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 1- Go West, Girl!, ONE IN THREE PEOPLE BUY IT! 😭❤️ (Ah - that's what it means). We have a 50% read-through rate from Book 1 Go West, Girl! to Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return. Half who finish Book 1 jump into Book 2, & BOOKS 3 & 4 ARE ON THE WAY! 🚀 Book 3 is with our reader. Book 4 story is finished. Both have titles & cover art.

Our secret weapon: our incredible partnership-in-

crime 👩‍❤️‍👨, our cozy Wild West garden cabin studio 🏜️, and hubby's 1,200+ model railway followers on Tiktok!

Thank you all for reading, supporting, and following along on this wild journey! If you haven't grabbed Book 1 yet, jump in now! 👇

*'Maverick pants wearing cowgirl Jeannie Morgan rides into town. The place goes silent as the grave on a Sunday. Her Colt speaks for itself—she’s the fastest gun west of the Mississippi. She’s just as deadly in love - she's a magnificent lover to both men & women & towns want her out or dead, preferably dead.'

#cowgirl #western #oldwest #quartet

https://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Girl-Alias-Jeannie-Delaney-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

Available as e-novel, paperback & on Kindle Unlimited

#cowgirl #western #old west

ON YER BIKE!

Just come back from my first cycle ride in over a year. From Alton to Chawton village in Hampshire and back again. Four miles. Very attractive countryside once you're beyond the two major roads - the main lorry route and Alton bypass. Husband needs to keep cycling both for pleasure and for his health. 'I'm going for a bike ride to Chawton - you coming?'.

I've cycled all my life and don't intend to give up. Unfortunately I spent an intense year working on Book 3 of my epic western quartet, *Alias Jeannie Delaney, and other activities didn't really get a look in - canoeing, walking, artwork (although I have learnt computer graphics via Canva to promote the quartet. Very pleased about that).

Getting back on the bike took some effort. Hubby is an enthusiastic cyclist, but we both enjoy casual cycling. I like overtaking other cyclists and going like a bat out of hell. I'm perfectly capable, but because I hadn't cycled for a year, I had to relearn how to cycle again. They say it's like riding a bike. If you fall off, get back on it again. Alton ain't the easiest of towns to cycle because so much is hilly, and I was brought up in flat as a proverbial pancake Surrey village of Sunbury on Thames, outside London and beside the river. Very nice. Hubby was brought up in High Wycombe, and lived at the top of a very steep hill. Wycombe consists of hills.

My bike is electric. 'I don't need an electric bike!' I'd wailed in the past. Snort. Like hell I don't in Alton! My bike also has gears, which most bikes have, only my gears are a law unto themselves and I couldn't tell which gear I was in at any one time. I also wobble. Never had a decent sense of balance. So I was very disappointed and frustrated that I seem to have lost the art of cycling. Hubby got cross with me (quite rightly). 'Youv'e cycled all your life - you can't give up now.' After a tantrum or two, on my part, I might add, I got going again, and by the time we got home I indulged in a can of cider under the canvas awning in our back garden. Hubby has fixed my handlebar gears so that I can actually read which gear I'm in. Here's to next time - fingers crossed!

Photo taken beside our narrowboat, Dotterel.

Alias Jeannie Delaney - an epic western quartet

*'Maverick cowgirl Jeannie Morgan rides into town. The place goes silent as the grave on a Sunday. Her Colt speaks for itself—she’s the fastest gun west of the Mississippi. She’s just as deadly in love - she's a magnificent lover to both men & women. Will this town survive her? Probably not.'

https://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Girl-Alias-Jeannie-Delaney-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

#cowgirl #western #old west

A completely contrasting and utter change to what I'm doing the majority of my time for around three years is something quite magical.

Okay - to begin at the beginning. PA husband and I were going through the chapters on Book 3 of what was to be my epic western trilogy *Alias Jeannie Delaney, when we discovered that the series was actually going to be a quartet. Not a trilogy. Big shift in thinking that did my head in. ##@! I therefore needed to find the appropriate storyline upon which to end Book 3, insert a beginning chapter into my new Book 4, and design a new book cover for Book 3. Progress is being made. Also I've gained new readers for Book 1 - Go West, Girl! and Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return , so that's very encouraging.

But, to take me away from all this, a complete change from editing a gritty western, I decided to create a fairy door. Yes, you read right! A fairy door. Although I love and am fascinated by the wild west, I love artistic creativity that includes such things as wild gardens and fairy doors, and I created one on Sunday. A gorgeous day - not too hot in the shade - and the spot I chose was at the top of our garden, above our mini waterfall.

We have three trees there, and we're creating a themed area - Japanese mostly - but within the area of tree trunks I decided was the ideal place to create a fairy door. I've been wanting to create one forever, but I've been so engrossed in working on Alias Jeannie Delaney I've never got round to it. Finally I have! My mind needed the break. Something so unlike a gritty western you can't believe it! But I love such disparate subjects, and the act of creating the door was very meditative, soothing and satisfying. Here's the result, and I shall be adding to it, bit by bit.

(For those of you who might be intrigued by a western with a twist, *Alias Jeannie Delaney - an epic western quartet - might be a read to get your teeth into.

Maverick pants-wearing and tomboy beautiful cowgirl Jeannie Morgan rides into town & the whole place goes quiet as a graveyard on a Sunday night. Heads turn to watch her passage & you can hear the murmurs that follow her. The snake-strike Colt at her hip bears silent witness to her notorious & terrifying speed - she's the fastest gun west of the Mississippi. A young lady on the street smiles at her friend. "You do know, don't you, that she's a magnificent lover to both men & women, so towns want her out or dead. This town will probably follow suit.")

https://www.amazon.co.uk/West-Girl-Alias-Jeannie-Delaney-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

Available as e-novel, paperback & on Kindle Unlimited. Book 1 is currently 99c.

#creativity #art #oldwest #cowgirl #western

This is my bonkers mini museum & display area in the conservatory! I've collected antique curios since I was a teenager, probably started when my dear mum gave me family heirlooms. I was fascinated and have been ever since. Then I began buying small, inexpensive quirky objects that didn't take up too much space. Then they got bigger and more expensive! I've lost track of what I've got. I uncover stuff and think: "What on earth is that?" I've told the offspring that when the time comes (never - I'm going to live forever, wahaha!) they can do whatever they like with it all. Sell them. Worth a fortune. Doubt it..

#collectables #antiques #museum

ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY - AN EPIC WESTERN QUARTET

Maverick pants-wearing cowgirl Jeannie Morgan rides into town & the whole place goes quiet as a graveyard on a Sunday night. Heads turn to watch her passage & you can hear the murmurs that follow her. The snake-strike Colt at her hip bears silent witness to her notorious & terrifying speed - after all, she is the fastest gun west of the Mississippi.

A young lady on the street smiles at her friend. "You do know, don't you, that she's a magnificent lover to both men & women, so towns want her out or dead. Preferably dead. Our town will probably follow suit."

What they don't know is that Jeannie Morgan will become the boss of the whole kit and caboodle back in her hometown of Coyote Creek, Wyoming. How and why? The question is a right puzzler.

#cowgirl #western #oldwest

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-West-Girl.../dp/B0C9YT6DVR

I'm absolutely 'knackered' - I was going to say 'delighted' but 'knackered' turned up instead - because I've finished editing Book 3 of my epic western trilogy Alias Jeannie Delaney! I am allowed an exclamation mark there! It's only taken three years with the fabulous help of my PA hubby. We're currently on route to finishing the book cover as well, courtesy of Yours Truly.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-West-Girl-gripping-cowgirls-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

#cowgirl #western #old west #trilogy

Go West, Girl!: A rebellious cowgirl grows up on the western frontier. This is where the legend begins — Jeannie Morgan, gunslinger. (Alias

#cowgirl #western #old west #trilogy

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-West-Girl-gripping-cowgirls-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

#cowgirl #western #old west #trilogy

A cat, Lulu, and a butterfly...

I know it's probably fake but what the heck - I want one!

Hubby and I are on the cusp of the final chapters of Book 3 of my epic western trilogy Alias Jeannie Delaney together. I'd finished editing myself a couple of times (writing a novel or three is all about editing!) but we've reached the ending and, according to the timeline and my PA editor's plan, I've had to shift the end date of the storyline. I've had the summer of 1910 in my head for so long it's hard to shift. The ending is earlier now. He's got it worked out.

So today we're working through it (and possibly tomorrow). After that, he's reading through the whole thing (he's a speed reader and prolific!), then passing the whole thing onto our designated reader.

I've got the book cover almost sorted and I'm delighted with that and husband has been dealing with advertising, marketing and promotion. (subtle differences between those).

We said we were going to do this thing ourselves - oh boy...!

Badass pants-wearing cowgirl Jeannie Morgan is the fastest gun in the west and her sexuality is as fluid as a miner's whiskey.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-West-Girl-gripping-cowgirls-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

I decided to share this photo - it's actually the pic of hubby at the end of his Birmingham Navigation Challenge, but I decided that it was appropriate to share it because it's hubby, his sister and our reader, celebrating!

#cowgirl #western #old west #trilogy

CALAMITY JANE V JEANNIE DELANEY

I first came up with the idea of a cowgirl who was the fastest gun in the west after watching westerns during the sixties and growing increasingly irritated by the lack of decent roles for women. Jeannie Morgan came into existence in my night time daydreams - and she was terrifically exciting, so much so that she's remained in my head ever since. I started writing it on a manual typewriter (!) while bottle feeding my newborn daughter way back in '85, and Jeannie's narrative turned into a trilogy many, many years later.

When asked what my story was about, l said that Alias Jeannie Delaney - the title came to me pretty much as it is - was the life story of a Calamity Jane character. People understood that. Unless you've been living under a rock all your life, you'll know who Calamity Jane was, even if the wild west ain't yer thanig. Jeannie Morgan, my cowgirl protagonist, is the fastest gun west of the Mississippi, her affections are as fluid as a miner's whiskey and she's a magnificent lover. To top that, she's an Adonis tomboy beauty, and her charismatic magnetism is super powerful.

Without giving anything away, she starts with nothing but stubbornness, and ends up with everything - and a name that commands respect. She has her sights set on more than just survival, and she gets her hands dirty to make it happen. Her story is about finding power in places no one expected — whether that's on the back of a horse or eventually holding the winning hand.

Jeannie Morgan Alias Delaney is the polar opposite of Martha Jane Cannary (spellings differ), Calamity's true name, and that's how she grew. Jane, to put it kindly, was no beauty. Unsurprising, considering her lifestyle on the wild frontier. But Jeannie is a devastating tomboy beauty in face and figure. Maybe more Hollywood than the genuine wild frontier, but you can't control a story with a mind of its own. After all, there were many genuinely beautiful women out west.

Jeannie has style, she loves beauty. As she matures, she wears men's ‘dandy’ clothes with panache and bravado, and looks stunning in them, attracting both men and women. In Book 3 she makes friends with a Shoshone tribe and adopts a bandana, Indian style, adding to her singular look. So mostly, as a cowgirl/rancher, she wears cowboy gear, and looks amazing in them. Extraordinarily sexy.

When PA hubby first saw my illustrations of Jeannie (I'm an artist), much to my embarrassment, (I dearly wanted him to see them because no-one knew about Jeannie way back in the eighties), he declared ‘She’s sexy!’. I could have kissed him, so I did! Jeannie is a charismatic, magnetic draw and she has an inbuilt, irreverent sense of humour. She's hugely popular among kids, cowboys, mountain men and older people.

Now - Calamity Jane, the 1953 musical (the year of my birth, coincidentally) starring Doris Day as Calamity - is so disappointing. It's great fun at the start, with a buckskin clad Calamity having a ball on the roof of the Deadwood stagecoach and singing the opening number, followed by fun and frolics in the saloon. She's attractive, funny, cheeky and in a class of her own. I identify far more with Calamity in this instance than I ever did with my Jeannie, who's tough n' rough (although I am her, apparently, according to fans). But the end of the film, when Calamity is dressed in white and driven away by Wild Bill after their wedding... #**#!! WHAT?! Nooooo way!

So no - I can't watch the film and see Calamity's character cleaned up and tamed into submission. That final scene ruins the whole thing for me. But I guess that's the 1950s for you. So disappointing. I wasn't going to have any 'taming' done in Alias - no siree. Jeannie remains true to herself throughout.

Husband took over as my (unpaid) PA and I've achieved over 1460 readers and a bunch of 5* reviews and ratings. The story turned into a trilogy, much to my surprise, and the whole business feels totally surreal. I've grown to accept Jeannie, and my embarrassment has worn away. I can even say her name out loud! About time!

Alias Jeannie Delaney is available on Amazon as paperbacks, e-novels, & on Kindle Unlimited. Book 1 - Go West, Girl! is currently 99c, and Book 3 will be launched this year.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-West-Girl-gripping-cowgirls-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

#cowgirl #western #old west #trilogy

ALIAS JEANNIE DELANEY - AN EPIC WESTERN TRILOGY WITH A TWIST

Half the territory wants her in bed,

the other half wants her dead.

Her loving is as fluid as a miner's whiskey,

she's the deadliest shot west of the Mississippi.

(Book 1 - Go West, Girl! is 99c - less than a cup of coffee. Book 3 will be launched this year).

Available on Amazon as e-novel, paperback & Kindle Unlimited.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Go-West-Girl-gripping-cowgirls-ebook/dp/B0C9YT6DVR

#cowgirl #western #old west #trilogy

ME - CLAMBERING ONTO THE ROOF OF OUR NARROW BOAT, DOTTEREL. I'LL BE DOING THIS 'TILL I'M 100!

#joballantyne #aka #kitmackenzie

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

JO B CREATIVE