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Dial-a-Cab driver Nick Nicola (O99)
doesn’t always see too much of wife Joanne, even though
they are just a normal married couple living under the same
Essex roof. That’s because for 8 hours each day, Joanne locks
herself and her laptop in a room and continues writing the
follow-up to her book, Holly Blue, which is to be
published later this month. Nick joined DaC last year and had been driving a taxi for four years previous to that. Joanne on the other hand was a nail technician, but decided to take a year off because she had long wanted to put the novel that had been floating around her head for such a long time, onto paper. "I used to write poetry," Joanne told Call Sign, "but I just knew that this story was inside me waiting to come out. One day, around two years ago, I just sat down at my laptop and the words just flooded out of me! It was just incredible! I still had some doubts because I had no formal training and prior to being a nail technician, I was a fashion designer. The only writing involved invoices! But I just always felt that this book was inside me." Even then, it still took her the whole year – 7 days a week and 8 hours each day - to complete Holly Blue before hawking it around to find a publisher prepared to take a chance on a new author. Yianoulla Nicola – Joanne uses her Greek name for writing - wasn’t a name that had ever sold a book before and publishers weren’t queuing up for the book rights! Some time later, a friend of Joanne’s was at a seminar and mentioned Holly Blue. It turned out that the person she spoke to was with a publishing company and |
THE WIFE’S WRITING A BOOK – I’M OFF DOWN THE GYM! |
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 Holly Blue |
 Yianoulla Nicola |
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after Joanne phoned them, they agreed to take a look at the manuscript. Time passed, but then last February Joanne got the call she had been dreaming of, asking her to go to the publisher’s office to discuss her book and to sign a contract! "I was thrilled," said Joanne, "I had lived Holly Blue for so long and now it was no longer just in my head but with a publisher who wanted to print it! Even better, they wanted the first option on a sequel!" The sequel has turned into a trilogy and having completed the second book in around 11 months, Joanne is now into the third. So what is Holly Blue about? "Well, it’s a romantic novel," said Joanne "and recently a total stranger to me read the book and described it in a single sentence: It tells of the love we have, the love we never forget and the love we cherish. I thought that summed it up perfectly." The novel is set in the 1970s and involves a Greek girl, Sofia, |
who lives in England and is trying to mix her traditional Greek morals with her English life. The book follows her journey as she tries to sort out in which direction her life and love is going. So what did Nick say when Joanne said that she wanted to write a novel? There was laughter in her voice as she remembered the early days of Holly Blue… "Come on," he’d call, "let’s go out. Holly is only a hobby! Some hobby, I thought!" So does she have any real hobbies? "My hobby is now my work," she said, "I just love it so much and I don’t really have time for other hobbies – although I do enjoy cooking and reading when I have the time." And Nick? "Well he quite likes reading auto-biographies and going to the gym. I think that’s it!" Good luck to Joanne and of course, to Holly Blue… Holly Blue by Yianoulla Nicola HandE Publishers Ltd £6.99 Published 15 February |
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LTI JOIN IN THE FUN! |
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LTI Vehicles have long been one of the trade’s
prime supporters of charities and showed that side of themselves
once again at the 80th birthday party thrown at London’s
Grosvenor House Hotel by the London Taxi Drivers’ Fund for
Underprivileged Children and where the taxi manufacturers
donated £1,500 to the Fund. Presenting the cheque to LTFUC Hon Chairman David Lessman (D19), LTI Vehicles’ Government Affairs Manager, Richard Daniels, told Call Sign: "We are delighted to help this worthwhile charity as it kicks off its 80th anniversary. This party means so much to the children and their families and we would like to congratulate those who helped organise such a superb event." David Lessman added: "A big thank you to LTI |
 Richard Daniels presents David Lessman with a cheque for £1500 in front of some rather strange looking witnesses!
Vehicles for this generous donation. Without their |
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