Guest Post & Giveaway - Swimming, Anyone? by Maggie Le Page - Booklympics

I’m in awe of the amazing things top athletes are able to do achieve with their bodies. Me? I knew quite early in life I wasn’t destined for sporting greatness. But sometimes you just can’t avoid sport, can you? Like when you’ve decided it’s time to get fit.

Sadly, fitness doesn’t come in pill form. You have to freaking work at it.

My girlfriend and I decided to get fit for summer, and we hit on swimming as the best option. 

Apparently it’s less stressful on the body—so they say, but I’m not so sure—and swimming is meant to produce noticeable results fast.

Fast sounded good to me, so I said let’s do it already. 

I should’ve considered the fact that my pal is a good swimmer, whereas I . . . am not.

Day One. Wait—what? Nobody said anything about a pre-dawn start. And it just went downhill from there. Swimming required scary-good coordination. As in, I had to somehow move my arms and legs—swimming action, not muppet flail—and somehow simultaneously turn my head to take breaths. Air, not water.
And I had to do this for fifty metres at a time? Without stopping? (I include drowning in the ‘stopping’ category.)

The upshot: I discovered that, when drowning was the alternative, I could actually manage a length. But then I had to turn around and do another length. And another. And somehow find a way past that whole dying feeling I kept getting halfway, where my chest tightened and my legs sunk and I swallowed water and started to choke . . 

. 

Conclusion: swimming is a stupid sport. It just plain freaks me out.

Day Two. I still hadn’t got over the trauma of Day One—which was probably a good thing because I was too shellshocked to realise I could just say no and flick the finger at my swimmer pal and her stupid fitness regime. So I swam again—aka threw myself in and tried to save myself—and survived. 

It wasn’t until a week or two later, when I’d worked out I was actually doing okay—hello, was I not still alive?—that I realised there might be a story in this. Surely I wasn’t the only woman in the world who hated swimming but did it anyway in the name of Body Beautiful? And surely I wasn’t the only woman who worried about their hair turning green and their swimsuit turning see-through and the band aid floating towards them passing on bugs? Surely I wasn’t the only woman who made it through lap after lap of swimming drudgery by imagining a knight in shining white swimsuit whisking me away to a life of non-swimming bliss?

And so the idea for my novel, A Heat Of The Moment Thing, was born. I wondered how someone might meet Mr Right at the swimming pool and how that might go if they were like me—ie a disaster in the water.

Confession: I actually did get fit, and toned, within an amazingly short time. Swimming was a great, if scary, option. And it got me started on this writing game :) #bigtickforthat

Thank you for sharing Maggie, I am delighted that you decided that swimming was the better alternative to drowning and I'm sure your fans will agree! 

About Maggie Le Page

Maggie Le Page lives in Christchurch, New Zealand (aka QuakeZone) with her partner, two children, and a snooty cat who thinks they’re all her slaves. Her days are spent running around after kids or doing one of her ‘real’ jobs, so her writing generally happens in the dead of night. (Morning? No. She’s a third-generation night owl. Enough said.)


Maggie loves chocolate, hates being cold, and is ever fascinated by the possibility of time travel. Obviously, her ideal experience would be to wake up on a tropical island eighty years into the future, with an endless supply of chocolate on hand.

Maggie’s Social Media Links

Maggie’s Website:	www.maggielepage.com
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Amazon UK

Becky Jordan has had it with relationships. From now on her time and dedication won’t be lavished on her latest Mr Wrong–or, worse, Mr Hell-No!–just the dream travel job which has unexpectedly leapt into her lap. Finally, life is looking great.

Unfortunately, not as great as her sizzling-hot, take-charge new boss. Matt Frobisher is everything she doesn’t want him to be, but if anyone thinks she’ll risk her career on a workplace fling they can think again. No amount of Superman behaviour from him will make her roll over and play Lois.

Her heart, however, doesn’t do logical. In desperation she finds herself a distraction, one with no strings and plenty of appeal. But Mr. Distraction also comes with unforeseen complications. Kryptonite complications, like Becky’s sister. And when she shows up there’s only one sure thing: not even Superman can prevent the Disaster Fest that’s about to blow Becky’s life apart.

Warning: contains one guy determined to win the girl, one girl determined not to be won, and plenty of heat in the middle.

(This book is intended for readers aged 18+.)

Giveaway - Win an e-copy of A Heat of the Moment Thing (Open Internationally)

Maggie Le Page has kindly offered an e-copy of A Heat of the Moment Thing to one lucky winner. 

Giveaway open Internationally, all options are voluntary, but please do what they ask, as I will be verifying the winner. Giveaway closes 23:59 25/8/2016. Winner will be announced on twitter and emailed, and they will need to reply within 7 days, or forfeit the prize, and I will re-draw for a new winner.  Good luck everyone.

Win an e-copy of A Heat of the Moment Thing (Open Internationally)