Books and Reading Wednesday: Tales of the Disappearing Bookmark

So, this is related to reading, but not any specific book.

I have come to the conclusion that I have a bookmark goblin. A little creature that comes along and gobbles up not only my proper bookmarks, but also the stuff I use as temporary bookmarks as well!

I swear, I take whatever I’m using as a bookmark out of my book, place it down carefully, go to get it back after reading and POOF! It’s gone.

This has led to me using a good variety of things to mark my place in my books:

– Scraps of paper
– Tissues
– Greeting cards
– Money
– Gift vouchers
– Pens (I don’t recommend this one!)
– Sweet wrappers
– Food bags

The list could go on and on!

My current bookmark is a thank you note card, a pretty one 🙂

This is one of the things I do love about the Kindle and eBook readers, that I don’t have to worry about scrabbling round for a bookmark in the middle night when I’m done reading.

Still, I do read quite a few paperbacks, so it’s probably about time I try to find and reprimand my bookmark goblin, or invest in some GIANT-sized bookmarks that I will never be able to lose 😀

Do you have trouble finding bookmarks? Have you ever used anything unusual as a bookmark?

Yay for Friday!

Hey everyone, this week has felt like it has dragged really badly, so I’m thankful we finally reached Friday! 😀

Just a quick post today.

I had an awesome interview over Lit World Interviews, by RonovanWrites, why not go check it out? 🙂

http://litworldinterviews.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/mishka-jenkins-interview-prophecy-of-stones/

Hope everyone has a great weekend and I will try to be around more next week! 😀

Romance Weekly Blog Hop #lovewritechat

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s Romance Weekly Blog Hop time!

If you’ve joined me from Veronica Forand, then welcome! 🙂

This week the questions focus on characters.

1. How much free reign do you give your characters during a story?

I give them pretty much completely free reign. Although I love to have a plan, some of the best things can come from the unexpected moments when your character’s take the story out of your hands!

2. Have your characters ever done something so out of the blue that not only changed your story, but changed the tone and maybe even the genre you were originally going for? (Like your contemporary romance turned into a spicy paranormal)

I’ve had some characters do some things that were completely out of the blue, but I don’t think it’s ever changed the tone or genre. Though, it could still happen 😀

3. Do you have one character in your head that is sort of boss over all the rest? Or do you decide who to work on and when?

On my current WIP, I have a group of characters and I do have to say I’m pretty good at managing to spend time on each. Out of the group, there are three who are the strongest and the main focus, so obviously they get more time, but I do have a character with a smaller role who just loves to push his way into focus every time there’s a scene! 😀

Now why not go check out what Victoria Barbour has to say in response to these!

How would you answer these questions? Do you give your characters free reign to do as they wish when you write, or do you like to stick to a plan?

October 2014 Round-Up and November 2014 Plan

October was certainly an interesting month. I spent most of it trying to figure out my new schedule of less social media and more writing.

I did OK to start with, but then I found my hours creeping up again on social media. I am certainly going to have to be stricter with myself.

October:

– Didn’t exactly keep to schedule. Got most things done on time, but not others.
– Started my new Books on my Bookshelf series.
– Got my first reviews for The Magic Spark.
– Didn’t meet my reading target. Though I was only off by about half a book 😀 Forbidden Quest by Alaina Stanford, Reunion of the Heart by Elaine Jeremiah, and Hands of Evil by Melissa Barker-Simpson.
– Attempted to cut my social media right down and concentrate on the writing. Started well, but hasn’t been so successful towards the end of the month.
– I did some marketing using photosets, but still not enough.
– Managed to connect with bloggers regularly, and share their posts and news on Twitter and FB more consistently.
– I didn’t manage to sort out my Pinterest boards.

November:

It’s all change for November yet again to what I intended last time.

Unfortunately, there will be no Christmas novella. As much as I want to write it, I am just not in a place to do so at the moment. There is a lot of upheaval at home and things moving around, which will eventually result in a writing space of my own. But until then, I don’t really have anywhere that I can go to focus on writing.

I am one of those writers who needs quiet and peace to write 😀 And I just can’t get that at the moment, and my writing is suffering for it. I don’t want to put out a book that is less than my best, so I’ve decided to wait (though I will probably do the Christmas novella for next year because the characters and plots are just too awesome to forget!).

Instead this months goal is: To write 500 words a day.

Doesn’t matter what it is- short fiction, long fiction, fanfiction, poetry, as long as it’s something. I may not have the space to concentrate on a full book, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop writing altogether, I love it too much to do that 😀

November will be about writing practice, which is just as important as anything else! But it will also give me more time to help at home and eventually get this writing space up together, which I am VERY excited about 🙂

As for reading this month, I plan to read three books: The Masked Empire by Patrick Weekes, Asunder by David Gaider (re-read that one, as I’ve read it before!), and Not Wonder More – Mad Maggie and the Mystery of the Ancients by Rod Raglin (for review group). Those are the only ones that I will definitely be reading, and any extra will be a bonus 😀

That means no reviews except my review group one this month, and none in December either. My normal reading and reviews will resume in January 2015 (a scary thought to think that’s not so far away!).

So, there you have it. This post was a lot longer than intended, sorry!

**TL;DR – No Christmas novella due to a lot of stuff going on. Tons of writing practice instead this month! Back to book writing in the New Year.**

Other things that happened around the writing/blogging community this month:

Callum McLaughlin released his new book, False Awakening!

Topaz Winters has a beautiful new look to her site.

EclecticAlli has been hosting a brilliant set of posts for her Masquerade Ball Blog Party.

Natacha Guyot announced an exciting new project she’s working on!

Island of Glass by Ruth Nestvold is at a lowered price until Mid-November!

My Creative Flows blog had a great post on tips for those participating in NaNo and how to get through it! 😀

Oh, also, to all those actually participating in NaNoWriMo this month- Good Luck! 😀

How did your October go? Do you have many plans for November?

It’s Worth The Struggle…

I have a couple of links this week that really inspired me.

I think all writers, especially new ones, go through that down time of not progressing fast enough or not being where they want to be. It’s inevitable and can sometimes stop a person writing, but these posts really gave me a boost in confidence and motivation; to remember my dream and, even though it’s hard, it’s worth all the struggle to fight for!

They reminded me to write for the love of it, to work towards where I want to be, and not focus on the negative!

http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/build-your-writing-career/#more-4734

http://callummclaughlin.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/never-give-up/

Hope you enjoy them too!

Have a great Sunday everyone 🙂

Do you have any advice or tips? Have you ever felt a bit negative about where your headed in your writing? How did you deal with it?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone 😀

Our homegrown pumpkin all carved up. The scar was a mistake, but I think it makes him look pretty bad-ass!

This isn’t even remotely writing related, but I’m a bit stuck on time today, so I thought why not post something fun for today? So here’s a quiz I found-

Which iconic horror film character should you be this Halloween?

I got Chucky
Just like Chucky, who seems to be a Good Guy doll but is far from benign, you’re not always who you seem to be. You’re nostalgic about your childhood so don your dungarees and start scaring people as the supremely creepy Chucky…

So why not try it out? Maybe post your result in the comments so we can all have a but of fun? 😀

Have a great weekend everyone, I’ll be back on Moday! I hope your Halloween is spooky enough (but not too spooky because I freak out waaaay too easily!).

Books and Reading Wednesday: End of October Indie Review

Hands of Evil by Melissa Barker-Simpson

Goodreads synopsis:
Jonathan Jukes is accustomed to working alongside the police within his role as close protection officer at Morgan and Fairchild. But when Detective Sergeant Charles Macavoy requests the team’s help, JJ finds it’s his toughest case yet.

A serial killer, whose calling card is to remove the hands of his victims, is targeting interpreters. When lines begin to blur and JJ’s past comes back to haunt him, he soon discovers the biggest threat comes from a woman who stands at the centre of it all

Review:

This is the second book I’ve read by Melissa Barker-Simpson and it most certainly will not be the last!

The author’s ability to draw the reader into the story and characters is incredible. Each time I sat down to read I planned on only doing it for an hour, but every time it ended up much longer. I would glance up at the clock and not even realise two hours had flown by.

The characters throughout were brilliantly written, and I loved how Melissa wrote the character of Grace. The interactions between the characters flowed really well and the dialogue was engaging and realistic.

Throughout the book the romance and action is balanced perfectly. The plot is well paced and I never once found myself skipping through sections, in fact, it was almost the opposite as there were some scenes I read over twice because they were so good!

I highly recommend this book. Melissa Barker-Simpson creates a engaging story filled with great moments, along with high quality writing and enjoyable characters.

Links:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes and Noble

Goodreads

Romance Weekly with a Spooky Twist #lovewritechat

If you’ve just joined from the brilliant Sarah Hegger, author of Sweet Bea, then welcome!

This week’s hop has taken a bit of a spooky turn with Halloween fast approaching!

We were challenged to tell a scary story in 300 words or less.

Horror is not my forte, but it was a great challenge to try out a new genre 😀 I hope you enjoy it!

—

Photo by Twisted Pixel on Flicker (Click photo for Photostream).

Alone in the middle of the stark forest, Susie stared out between the bones of the trees, the bare trunks grey from the cold.
Her abandoned and very dead car sat a few paces away, the fading sunlight gleaming on its red bonnet.
“Now what?” she muttered, her phone beeping the fact it had no signal.

A heavy breath plumed to an icy fog before her and Susie shuddered.

The breath had not been hers.

—

So there we go, a (mildly) spooky story to get everyone in the Halloween mood! Now go see what scary treats Xio Axelrod has in store next 😀

Have you written any spooky tales? Do you enjoy Halloween stories?

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Progress Report:

Status of sixth manuscript: Writing first draft and soon to go on hold.
Total word count so far: 38,306.
(Plus 1,416 on my Christmas novella that I couldn’t stop myself from starting 😀 )

Books read: 3/4.

End of October Indie Review: Writing.

Romance Writers Weekly #lovechatwrite

It’s Romance Weekly time! Hello to all joining from Jo Richardson’s blog.

Something a little different this week.

We are to write a love letter, less than 400 words, including the words- sweet (cheated a bit and used, bittersweet), brush, and pumpkin!

I actually wrote this on my lunch break today, so it’s not brilliant, but it was great fun to try out something new! 😀 I think the love letter should definitely come back into fashion!

—

To my dearest,

I can no longer brush these feelings aside. It has been too long to ignore what we once had, what we could have again.

How can you not see what I offer? Why will you not accept what I give?

You tell me it would be too much to bear, but I will bear it for the both of us. Bittersweet it may be, short it may be, but forgettable it would not.

The pumpkins are glowing orange outside of my window as I write this, like beacons of memories of what we once shared in those fields.

Take what you will from me, I would sacrifice it all to have you once more.

Just once.

Forever yours…

—

Not brilliant, and a bit old-fashioned, but great fun to write 😀

Now, go check out what Elizabeth Janette has written for this challenge!

–

Progress Report:

Status of sixth manuscript: Writing first draft.
Word count: 5519 (Total word count: 33,887).

Books read: 2/4.

End of October Indie Review: Reading.

Switch Up!

I just want to say a BIG thank you to all the lovely encouraging and supportive comments on my last post (I may not have replied to all, but I read them all and was so touched!). It was so nice to hear from other writers who feel the same. This community really is so incredibly supportive! 🙂

Today is the first day of just giving myself over to writing, I am doing this blog post on my lunch break! 😀 It has been nice though, it was lovely to start writing this morning and have no pressure to finish at a certain time so as I could begin social media, I actually think the quality of my writing improved for it!

Anyway, I had a nice plan of action in place for the book I’m working on at the moment.

It was my usual plan- Write the first draft, edit the next month, and then release. So release day would have been the end of November.

But, this book is different then normal as it’s the first book in a series; a series I have been thinking about writing for a good 2 years now.

As I began writing my first draft I knew I was going to need more time with it. More time with these characters I’ve been cultivating for years and more time to delve into the start of this series I’ve loved planning for so long!

So, I’ve had a change of plan. My plan now is to work on the first draft (still finish by the end of this month!) and then give myself two months for editing.

In November I am going to work on a short Christmas novella to release in December, then January and February I am giving over completely to re-writing and doing drafts of the current first book in my series.

I hope that makes sense 😀

I do have to say, this is part of the reason I love self-publishing. I have no set time or specific book I need to work on. If I want or need to change up the order I release books or write books, I can! That is really a huge plus for writing and publishing books on my own!

Have you guys ever changed your writing plans? Have you started one book and then begun another at the same time?

—

Progress Report:

Status of first manuscript: Writing first draft.
Word count: 2232 (Total word count: 28,368).

Books read: 2/4.

End of October Indie Review: Reading.