*Book Tour & Giveaway* Building the Best-GUEST POST

 

The true story of how one married couple made an impulse purchase blind off the internet: a 24.5-tonne vintage army truck. Their plan: to convert into a unique off-grid tiny home on wheels ready for an expedition to Mongolia. 

Bulding the Beast:

How (Not) To Build An Overland Camper

The Wayward Truck Book 1

by Jacqueline Lambert

Genre: Comedic Travel Memoir, Nonfiction

Featuring ‘The Beast’, an expedition truck, as seen on TV*

A Vintage Truck: An Amateur Team: An Immovable Deadline
The Comic Memoir of a Crazy Idea

In this captivating true story, join an intrepid married couple as they take another wild leap into the world of nomadic living.
Four years previously, Jackie and Mark gave up work to embark on a permanent road trip with four dogs. However, one Friday the 13th, forces beyond their control cause them to throw caution to the wind and buy a 30-year-old army truck sight unseen from the internet.
Their goal: to create an expedition truck fit to drive overland to Mongolia.
Follow them as they dive headfirst into the daunting but thrilling task of converting this rugged vehicle into a perfect off-grid tiny house on wheels.
Yet their first ever DIY van conversion proves to be a rollercoaster ride, when they sell their house to fund the build, and Friday the 13th comes back to haunt them.
Is their confidence that, ‘there’s always a solution,’ misplaced?
With their relationship, sanity, and finances on the line, can they navigate the pitfalls of their first-ever build and avoid becoming homeless?
Filled with quirky van life friends and unexpected twists, this is an inspiring tale of perseverance, friendship, and finding the courage to conquer the challenges that face those who dare to chase their dreams.

* The Beast made a guest appearance on Ben Fogle’s New Lives In The Wild

ARC Reviews:

“An honest and often funny account of the realities of when people actually begin to live their dream.” Anna Rashbrook, Author

“A page-turner!...You never know what will happen next!” Carrie Riseley, Author

“The trials and tribulations of building a home on six wheels, told with laughter and insight... a must read – even if it’s just to stop you making the same mistakes!” Maximilian Sam, Award-Winning Author

“This book is a fantastic look at designing a unique project and going for it with humor and perseverance. If one is tired of another ‘chucking it all and renovating an old house’ story, this is a quixotic twist that will keep you entertained.” Kari Iverson Lane

“Hugely inspirational, because I think many would have just given up trying, with all the things they had to put in place to get their dream of owning and converting The Beast off the ground. What a story – and a fabulously entertaining book/read.” Julie Haigh, Goodreads Librarian and Top 1,000 Amazon reviewer.

**Get it for Only .99 cents!**

Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads

 Jacqueline (Jackie) Lambert is an award-winning travel writer, adventure traveller, and dogmother, who loves history and curious facts.

BC (Before Canines) she rafted, rock-climbed, and backpacked around six of the seven continents. A passionate windsurfer and skier, she can fly a plane, has been bitten by a lion, and appeared on Japanese TV as a fire-eater.

AD (After Dog), she quit work in 2016 to hit the road permanently with her husband and four pooches. Initially, they were Adventure Caravanners, who aimed To Boldly Go Where No Van Has Gone Before.

Now, they’re at large in a self-converted six-wheel army lorry, with Mongolia in their sights.

All her books and the anthologies that include her travel stories are available on Amazon:

https://author.to/JLambert

Photo: Mark, Jackie & The Fab Four with The Beast. Photo courtesy of @Liveration, who made a short film about the crew and their lifestyle on YouTube.

Website * Blog * Facebook * X * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

GUEST POST

A common question for authors is, “Why should anyone read your books?”

The most fundamental writing advice that anyone will give you is ‘write what you

know’, or ‘write what you want to read’.

There are authors who ‘write to market’ or write in popular genres. However, the

best authors always stick to subjects they’re passionate about. Readers aren’t daft, and

they will soon spot writing that is lacklustre because the passion – and authenticity – is

missing.

I very much stick to writing what I know. I have no choice, because I have no

imagination! So, I stick to facts.

My books are all true stories about the realities of life since I gave up work to

travel full time with my husband and four dogs.

Romance is a popular genre, but personally, I could no sooner write a steamy

romance novel than transport myself to the moon by rocket.

My aim is to entertain and inform, which is what I like to read.

So, while my books are about how my husband and fur family set out to Live the

Dream, my stories are not all filled with sunsets and rainbows. I do address the gritty

realities of life on the road, where we DID have to sort out a broken wheel at night in a

remote Romanian village, support the front of our caravan on a large tin of apricot halves,

and navigate our 12-metre rig so tentatively alongside sheer drops on a winding mountain

pass that we were overtaken by a bicycle.

Humour gets us through these tribulations, and I hope that comes through in my

writing. That’s the ‘entertaining’ part – a sideswipe at the comic side of adventure when

things inevitably don’t go entirely to plan.

The ‘informing’ side of things is that I LOVE life and am interested in

EVERYTHING! Part of the joy of travel, particularly slow travel, where you spend months

at a time in a single country, is that it isn’t just a succession of unique landscapes. It is an

immersion into different cultures and perspectives. As Mark Twain once said, “Travel is

fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness…” which is why more of us should do

it, or at least read about it.

So, I like to understand a bit about the history, tradition, and colour of the places I

visit, and I put all of that into my books. Mostly, because that is what I find interesting –

and is what I would like to read if I picked up a travel book – which I do, frequently, by the

way.

But before I get on too much of a roll, it’s important to say I grew up in the north of

England, a place whose population is renowned for being down to earth and plain

speaking. My mum had no tolerance for airs and graces. If I ever showed any signs of

immodesty or tried to blow my own trumpet, I’d get a swift,

“Ooooooh, get you! Don’t be so vain…”

As a travel writer, the greatest praise you can receive is when someone says you

inspired them to live their dream, or made them feel they were travelling by your side.

Since I wouldn’t want to be accused of vanity, I thought I would leave it to some of

my readers to judge whether I had hit the spot in the entertaining and informing stakes.

Here are some reader reviews of my Adventure Caravanning With Dogs series, all

of which you can find on Amazon:

 “Laugh out loud funny and a great travel guide.”  Boris42Bronte about

Fur Babies in France on Amazon.co.uk

 “An Inspirational Travelogue. I think it’s inspired me to do something

similar. Lively and galvanic, with excellent reference material for armchair

travelers wishing to convert to reality.”  Windyoneuk about Dog on the

Rhine on Amazon.co.uk

 “Armchair Travel Delight. I love the writing style Ms Lambert has. It is

almost as if you are sitting, enjoying coffee, while you listen to her vacation

stories.  Frances Hampton about Dogs ‘n’ Dracula on Amazon.com

 “Her nimble writing rivals Bill Bryson and Paul Theroux, painting

exquisite travel descriptions on a background of well-researched historical

context.” Liisa W. about It Never Rains But It Paws on Amazon.com

 “Jackie’s narrative is both a personal memoir, with the good, the bad,

and the ugly of caravanning and an excellent travel guide to France,

Germany and Czech Republic and Poland.” Sabina Ostrowska, Author,

about To Hel In A Hound Cart on Amazon.com

 “Excellent reference book! Jackie’s story telling and informative

approach has not only relieved me of some of my anxieties (about

a planned trip) but really inspired me… A thoroughly good read by a very

eloquent writer.”  Hannah James of Winterised.com motorhome skiing on

Amazon.co.uk

And after I wrote this, I was thrilled to discover my new release, Building The

Beast: How (Not) To Build An Overland Camper, had been awarded a 5* Readers’

Favorite review.

You can read it here. https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/building-the-beast

I hope it’s not too vain to mention that, or my Mum will have a hissy fit…

Find Jackie’s books on Amazon: https:// author.to/JLambert

Follow her travel blog: www.WorldWideWalkies.com

Visit her author website: www.JacquelineLambert.co.uk

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