Blog Tour Stop : The Art of Letting Go by Anna Bloom

 The Art of Letting Go Blog Tour was organized by Candace's Book Blog.

 Hi guys!

Welcome to my tour stop for The Art of Letting Go by Anna Bloom. As part of my tour stop, I'm excited to be sharing with you guys a heartfelt guest post written by Anna for my blog. I hope you guys enjoy it and don't forget to check out the other tour stops here.

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Art of Letting Go (The Uni Files #1)
Author : Anna Bloom
Publication Date : September 25th 2013
Publisher : Soul Mate Publishing
Goodreads - Amazon US - Amazon UK

One year. One woman. One Diary. One question: can you ever stop history from repeating itself and if you could what would you do to stop it?

When Lilah McCannon realises at the age of twenty-five that history is going to repeat itself and she is going to become her mother—bored, drunk and wearing a twinset—there is only one thing to do: take drastic action.

Turning her back on her old life, Lilah’s plan is to enrol at university, get a degree and prove she is a grown-up.

As plans go, it is a good one. There are rules to follow: no alcohol, no cigarettes, no boys and no going home. But when Lilah meets the lead singer of a local band and finds herself unexpectedly falling in love, she realises her rules are not going to be the only things hard to keep.

With the academic year slipping by too quickly, Lilah faces a barrage of new challenges: will she ever make it up the Library stairs without having a heart attack? Can she handle a day on campus without drinking vodka? Will she ever manage to read a history book without falling asleep? And most importantly, can she become the grown-up that she desperately wants to be.
With her head and her heart pulling her in different directions can Lilah learn the hardest lesson that her first year of university has to teach her: The Art of Letting Go?

Guest Post

Settings – and writing from the heart

It’s a fact. I Anna Bloom always set my books somewhere that I know, somewhere that I have definitely been and more than likely somewhere that I truly love.

It’s inevitable that this will be the case and as a result I always end up putting a lot of myself on the page – probably more than a lot of Authors would ever own up to.

The Uni Files series is based at Roehampton University and guess what? Yep you guessed it I studied there. It was a long time ago but once upon a time I did walk around Digby Stuart campus clutching a big pile of history books and on more than one occasion I could probably be found participating in some truly dreadful dancing at the Student Bar.

I don’t know why I feel a need to base my books somewhere I have a physical connection, I just do. I have to be able to put myself into my characters and be able to visualise all around me. I have to be able to imagine familiar scents filling the air around me and lastly I truly have to believe that what I am writing could actually happen in that place. If I can’t do these things than I simply cannot write the scene.

So for instance in The Art of Letting Go Lilah McCannon my main character goes into Putney and gets her hair chopped off. It’s a nightmare haircut that results in her hiding in her bedroom for days. Now when writing this scene I visualised a hairdressers that I myself used to go to on Putney high-street – and whist I only ever had great cuts done there I needed to be able to place Lilah in the setting to be able to get the story to flow onto the page.

All good so far, I have a novel which is realistically set within in an environment and hopefully this is replicated on the page…however there is one small draw-back to my style of writing…everyone thinks it is real. The amount of people who ask me if The Uni Files is real or autobiographical is rather surprising.

So to set the record straight…no The Uni Files is not about me. I just happened to base it somewhere that I love and felt I could write passionately and realistically about. There are probably elements of me in Lilah McCannon’s personality – name me an author who does not rely on personal experiences when writing and I will give you a prize. But for me The Uni Files are fiction but based in a real place, an amazing place that lots of very lucky students get to go to everyday.

I wonder if when I release my Cornish novel next year people will ask if the novel is based on events that happened to me there too. My answer will still sadly be the same. Yes I have been to St Agnes (it’s beautiful you must go if you get the chance) yes I have drunk lots of cider in the tiny pub up the path from the beach and yes I have more than likely been sunburnt there at one time or another. But no, I have never rolled in the sand with a hot guy in boardshorts the way my main character does – I just had to use my imagination for that bit!

I hope that you all enjoy Lilah McCannon’s first year at University and I truly hope that the campus sings to your imagination. That you can feel the lung burn of climbing the library stairs, you can imagine snow falling on the walk back to the dorm. I hope you can imagine strolling down Putney High Street and popping into the pub that smells of old farts for a quick glass of wine or pint of beer but above all of this  hope that The Uni File speaks to your soul and warms you with the passion it has been written with.

Anna.

Author Biography

Anna Bloom is a contemporary romance writer who writes about life as it happens. Combining a busy schedule of looking after two small children whilst working in a local school and completing The Uni Files series she also spends a lot of time imagining kissing hot guys – all in the name of her art.

Find the author: Website/Blog | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Giveaway

Prizes :
- Sapphire Solitaire Necklace (open worldwide)
-One prize package for US and one for the UK:
candy, ebook, signed post card and a $20 gift card (£10 UK)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What do you guys think of this book?
Does this sound like something you would enjoy?

Be sure to let me know in the comments below!

Thank you to Candace's Book Blog for letting me take part in this blog tour.