Reading Lists

Feeling a little better today! It's a rainy day here, so I'm planning on spending the day curled up on the couch with Polly, a large mug of coffee and my kindle. I'm currently reading Richelle Mead's Dark Swan books, if you like urban fantasy they're well worth a look.

Of course, I read lots of different types of books and another big draw for me is chick-lit, which is why I'm over with Talli Roland today talking about why I love the genre.

Hope you're all enjoying the holidays!

Some Belated Scroogery

Well, the good news is that I'm actually selling copies of Storms. I was really nervous about putting it out, but now that it's published it's not actually that scary. Well, until I start getting reviews in which will be very scary indeed.

The bad news is that my cough has progressed into a full-grade body-wracking rumble that makes me sound like I'm auditioning for the role of over-enthusiastic-consumptive patient #3 in a Victorian era drama. Not only is the cough itself painful, but I've coughed so hard that I've inflamed the muscles between my ribs, and it hurts to breath, move, hold things or, you guessed it, cough.


I also haven't had a full night's sleep in over a week, which has taken my already 'pale Irish' complexion down to 'living undead'.

The fact that this has happened over Christmas just adds to my general feeling of joie de vivre. I have friends home from the UK, I have family occasions that I want to go to, and I've missed them all.

The worst thing is the guilt. I feel like I'm letting everyone down. I'm not sure that everyone understands my illness at the best of times, but when I get another infection on top of it it makes everything more intense.

Sometimes, I'd just like to be able to plan my life without factoring in fibromyalgia. I'm really fed up today.

This has been an awful self-pitying post. Luckily, I'm over at Caitlin Lane's blog today, being a bit more upbeat and talking about writing for a living.

Promise I'll be in a better mood tomorrow!

Feeling Festive

Wrapping presents may have chipped my 'indestructible' purple Shellac manicure, but I'm still in the festive mood. So much so that I'm over with the wonderful Kimberly Montgomery talking about why I love Christmas.

I have a family party this afternoon, so I must run and get myself, husband and Polly suitably dressed and out the door. Once again, my book is now available on sale at Amazon in e-book format. Paperback will be available in February.

I promise, once I get past the 'official launch day' on my birthday on Friday, I'll ease up on the shameless promotion. Promises.

 

Happy St. Stephen's Day!

I know in some parts of the world Christmas is just one day, but in Ireland St. Stephen's Day on December 26th is as much a part of Christmas as the day before. It's like the big day itself, but mellower. Really, Christmas here stretches into New Year, right up to old Christmas Day on January 6th.After the 6th, kids go back to school and the trees finally come down. Nowadays lots of people go back to work before Old Christmas Day, but festivities in Ireland stretch into the entire fortnight.

Did everyone have a good Christmas? I had a lovely one. Mostly because it's my favourite time of year, but also because my husband bought me a Kindle! I've waxed lyrical before on this blog about how paperbacks hurt my wrists (because of illness, I'm not the whiniest twenty-something year old in the world) and it was a really thoughtful present. I love it so much I'm posting a picture - as if you didn't know what one looks like.

My novel Storms in Teacups is out now, and is available in all Amazon Kindle stores.Today I'm over at my ABNA buddy Dwight Okita's blog, talking about being afraid of failure.

To those who've liked my Facebook page thank you so much. The link is here if anyone wants to spread some festive goodwill. Karma people, karma.

Off to cook the St. Stephen's Day ham! :)

Blog Awards

Despite being missing and grouchy for most of the past fortnight I've managed to get not one but two awards! Yay! I got the Liebster award from the lovely Scott Stillwell, which is lovely to get. I won't pass it on though, because I've done that a few weeks ago when I received it before.

The second award was from the fantastic Alicia Gregoire. It's the 7x7 Link Award, where you pick 7 blog posts to fit the superlative given. So here are mine!

Most Beautiful: I don't really do beauty, even in blog posts. If my blog posts were a cartoon character they'd be Velma Dinkley. (Note to self: if I got my hair cut in a bob/pudding bowl I could totally carry this look off, btw)

Most Helpful: Five Top Twitter Tips for Writers In my pre-campaign days, this was also my most popular post. The internet loves advice posts, people.

Most Popular: My entry for the first campaign challenge, The Door Swung Open. I think it's going to be the prologue for Ravensborough II.

Most Controversial:  Any post where I attempt to point out that Ireland is not all Riverdance, Guinness, thatched cottages and shamrocks does not do well. Oh, and that Jameson is pronounced 'Jem-eh-son' not 'James son'. Maybe I'll pretend that I do indeed operate my blog from a tiny cottage surrounded by sheep, potato fields, and a group of peasants singing Danny Boy. Which just happens to have a fast broadband connection.


Most Surprisingly Successful: My post on How First Aid Ruined My Life

Most Underrated: I have low self-esteem. I think all of my posts are over-rated.

Most Prideworthy:  Any post where I attempt to point out that Ireland is not all Riverdance, Guinness, thatched cottages and shamrocks. Oh, and that Jameson is pronounced 'Jem-eh-son' not 'James son'.


The seven people I'm passing this award on to are:


Scott Stillwell

Laura Toeniskoetter

Alleged Author

Krista M

Charissa Weaks

Caitlin Vincent

Alexis Bass

If I could be anyone...

The amazing and talented Talli Roland is having a launch today for her amazing new book, Watching Willow Watts. If you haven't heard of her, you should really check her out. Apart from being a talented writer, she's also a lovely person.

I've read this book, and it's fantastic. I'll write a proper review when my pain levels are back to manageable, but today Talli is having a blog splash and wants to know: if you could be anyone else, who would it be?

Now, I wouldn't want to be anyone else. You never know what's really going on in other people's lives.You do, however, know what goes on with fictional characters. So, I'd like to be...James Bond - the female version.

I always wanted to be a spy when I was younger. I don't know why, because I'd make a pretty bad one. I'm not fearless, I'm fearful. I need a good night's sleep. I like travel, but I'm a home bird. One threat of torture and I'd give up all secrets immediately. I do like a good Martini, though. Shaken, not stirred.

I'd like to be someone like that, just to know what it feels like. That's what I love about writing fiction, you get the chance to experience what it's like to be another person. So, Jemima Bond. That's who I'd be.

What about you?

I'm back!

So, you may have noticed that I haven't blogged in over a week. This isn't like me, I usually blog most weekdays and visit as many blogs as I can. Unfortunately, I had a flare last week.

Flares are where most of my fibromyalgia symptoms kick-in together. I get pain in my limbs, cognitive function is slower and I can get visual disturbances and migraine. Energy levels are usually low. When this happens, I can usually get on with life but at a slower pace than normal. Unfortunately, I'm in Super-Flare! I had two migraines last week, and the pain was so bad last night, that even with heavy duty painkillers it looked like I needed to go to hospital.

My number one priority was minding my foster daughter, and that's what I did. She didn't even know I was sick, and I'm proud of that. (She left yesterday) But it did mean a lack of posts, and that I haven't checked up on my online friends. I'm really sorry. But as you can tell from the repeated phrases in one short blog post (unfortunately, last week, etc) I'm not myself.

Normal service will be resumed shortly :)

Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

I love this award! It gives me an insane craving for meringue, but hey what else is new?

It was given to me by the fantastic Miss Cole. Her blog is great, by the way. Definitely one to check out.

The rules say that I need to share ten random facts about myself. I'm not sure if I've mentioned some of them before, if I have I apologise.

1: I didn't drink much coffee until March of this year. Now, myself and my husband spend so much on ground coffee that it doesn't bear thinking about. I actually avoid thinking about it.

2: I was an only child until I was fourteen. Ten years later I'm the eldest of seven. I got the benefits of being an only child when I was growing up, and now I have the benefits of being part of a large, close family.

3:  My husband is a journalist and editor. He edits my fiction to catch my grammatical errors. We have geeky conversations about the many roles of commas.

4: When I was a teenager I went on a school trip to Belarus. The hostel we stayed in was in the middle of a forest with Chechen rebel soldiers surrounding it. Luckily, they didn't bother us.

5: I prefer the world in my imagination to reality.

6: Winter is my favourite season, and I like the rain.

7: My grandad worked in the Guinness brewery.

8: My favourite musician is Bjork. I saw her play in Belfast three years ago, and she was amazing.

9: My dream house would be beside the sea. Still in Dublin, but beside the sea.

10: I started writing seriously a few days after my fibromyalgia diagnosis in 2009.

I said last week that I'd hold a contest to celebrate reaching the 150 follower mark. I'm now at 174, thanks to the campaign. I'll pick some books this week and hopefully announce it on Friday.

My blog is on fire! (Now I have that Kings of Leon song stuck in my head)

The lovely Hart Johnson Gave me the Blog on Fire Award. I'm super happy, because Hart's blog inspired me to start my own after I met her on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award forum. I got this award a few months ago, but this time it comes with a new meme, which is pretty cool. So here we go!

1)  Are you a rutabaga? I had to Google this to find out what it was. To be honest, if I'm going to be a root vegetable I'd rather be a carrot. Doesn't sound very fancy, but makes great soup.

2) Who is your current crush? I'm holding on to James McAvoy, even though he kind of reminded me of a bumbling David Cameron in the X-Men prequel. Hopefully that was a one time blip, because David Cameron does not a leading man make.

3) Upload a heartwarming picture that makes you smile.

These pictures are of my Labrador Roxie when she was just twelve weeks old. When she was this size I carried her to other peoples houses in my handbag because she wasn't completely vaccinated, and couldn't touch ground that other non-vaccinated dogs could have walked on. She's now seventeen months old, sixty pounds, and carrying her anywhere would involve a wheelie suitcase and a back injury. I love her to bits, and these pictures makes me smile in that goofy way that parents do when they're looking at pictures of their newborn. Yes, I'm one of those dog owners. 

4) When was the last time you ate a vine-ripened tomato?

Probably the last time I ate in my mother in law's house. She buys vine ripened cherry tomatoes because they're the only kind her tortoise will eat. True story.

5) Name one habit that causes other people to plot your demise?

Probably my absent-mindedness. I can tell you the names of prominent nineteenth century physicians, but will forget where I put vital things and to do things you specifically asked me to do. Despite frequent reminders. I have a planner, post it notes, flash cards, Google reminders, and to-do lists but I still manage to forget almost everything important.

6) What is the weirdest, most-disgusting job you've ever had to do?  

I haven't had any weird, disgusting jobs (yet), but the worst job I've had was as a telephone market researcher. I had to ring people and ask them lots of questions on behalf of big companies. My worst day was when I was ringing on behalf of an Irish bank, I rang a woman and asked to speak to her husband. She told me that he had passed away a few weeks ago. I apologised, and said it was nothing important, just a customer satisfaction survey about his account with said bank. She said that he hadn't had an account with that bank, and got quite upset. I felt awful after the call. I'd just informed a grieving woman that her husband had a secret bank account. She didn't need to hear that, especially not then. Other bad days involved ringing people at 10am on Saturday mornings, and a woman who was convinced that I wasn't ringing from a call-centre, but was in fact her husband's mistress. Fun times.

8) What author introduced you to your genre?

Young adult urban fantasy: Richelle Mead. I love all her books. Women's contemporary fiction: Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella.

9) Describe yourself using obscure Latin words.

Sorry, I'm not going to even attempt this. My father and husband both learned Latin, and will pull me up if my declensions are wrong. 

That's it! Hope everyone is having a more productive writing day than me, I have a cold that is making my life (and that of my husband) miserable. Hope it passes quickly.

Liebster Love

I was the lucky recipient of the Liebster Blog award a few days ago, and now I find out that I've been given it by three more people! How great is that?

What makes it even better is that the three people who gave it to me have brilliant blogs, so the fact that they even pop on by here occasionally is amazing in itself. You should definitely check them out.

Julie Fedderson is a physician, blogger and romance writer. Her blog is laugh out loud funny, and definitely one of my favourites. When I grow up I want to be Julie.

Caitlin Vincent is a nanny and novelist. Her blog deals with the technical aspect of writing, and she explores language and new words regularly.

Krista M is a prolific writer who blogs about writing, life, and her pending move to New Zealand. Well worth stopping by.

Have a happy Thursday everyone! :)

In Review: When Does Being a Writer Trump Being a Reader?

Reading is something I've always done. I always have a book on the go, I panic if I don't have books lined up for after I finish, and I would truly hate to see the figure for the amount I spend on books in an average year. It might be so high that I get truly upset. And then I may have to console myself...by reading yet another book.

Now, I've just finished a book that I thought was truly awful. I'm not going to name the book or the author, because this isn't the place to do that. But it was bad. The characters were unbelievable, the dialogue unrealistic and the same 'jokes' were repeated a number of times so that, despite being from a respectable publisher, I suspect the book wasn't properly edited.

I went to the Amazon page for the author (this seems very involved for a book I don't like, right? But in my defence I was desperately trying to avoid doing some actual work) and noticed that there were only a handful of reviews for the book. Even worse, they were all five star reviews, which I suspect means that these people were friends of the writer. Not that this is generally a bad thing, but good friend reviews are usually diluted somewhat by those from regular readers.

I was going to give a review giving my opinion on the book. Not a 'This book sux!!!!!' review, but a constructive layout of why I didn't like the book, phrased as nicely as possible. Why? So readers wouldn't see an unqualified high review, a different opinion. The idea of having a customer review function is, after all, to find out what customers think.

But, I stopped. While there was a part of me that was saying that I had a duty to my fellow readers to help them by giving an honest opinion, I also felt I had a duty to the writer. My desire to give a negative review was not motivated by spite or jealousy. I am not so self-important as to think that my opinion is the definitive opinion on anything, there may be something about this book that I didn't get. I'm not saying this author doesn't deserve her publishing deal, because she does. She isn't a debut author, so I'm sure my review would not be the first negative review that she received. I just wanted to give my opinion to other readers, because I like to read customer reviews myself, and because I thought it might be good to give something back to the reading community.

But as a writer (albeit an unpublished one) I couldn't do it. I know how hard it is to write a book, even a bad one. I wouldn't lie and give the book a positive review, but I couldn't give it a bad review. I don't know this woman. When I read The Hating Game by Talli Roland, I decided that if I liked it I would review it, if I didn't I wouldn't. Because I know her online, I'd feel awful saying something bad about her book. But I would feel awful lying with a fake review. Luckily, it was a great book, so there was no conflict there. But with a writer I didn't know, what was the problem?

What about all of you? Do you review books, and do you find that being a writer affects your reviews? Which is more important, solidarity to the reading community or the writing community? And is it possible for writers to be full members of both?

Review: The Hating Game by Talli Roland

Do you remember the book that I was saving for my holiday in July? I didn't manage to get there. Or even close. I started reading this book on Saturday and I finished it this morning. I have no willpower when it comes to books, which is why when I was younger my Mum used to put my books for my holiday on top of my wardrobe where I couldn't reach them.

Anyway, lack of holiday reading material aside, The Hating Game by Talli Roland is a great book. It follows Mattie Johns, a woman with a reputation for going through men faster than some women eat chocolate, as she goes on a dating show in order to save her ailing business. Little does she know that the show will require her to go on dates with four of her exes. When she discovers this, she's unhappy but consoles herself with the thoughts of the prize money. After all, having her personal life splashed all over the national media is worth it for the money, right?

What's really interesting from the get-go, is that Mattie is not instantly likeable. If anything, she's the opposite. I didn't like her at the start of the book, and I couldn't warm to her. The plot was interesting though, and that carried me along until I gradually found myself softening towards the character as we discover exactly what's gone on in her life to bring her to this point. Just at the point where you start to root for her though, it turns out that not only is Mattie using the show for her own agenda, but she's just a pawn in the production team's plan to further their own careers. This may be her life, and the lives of the other contestants, but nothing is too personal to spin for publicity. But who will prevail?

This is chick-lit at it's best, light and entertaining but with serious issues at it's centre. The book looks at how traumatic events can change you. It also shows how judgemental society can be. I didn't like Mattie at the start, but as I learned more about her I realised why she acts the way she does, I made a harsh judgement without knowing the facts.  It also looks at the darker side of reality television, and how the general public laps up the humiliation of others as entertainment. There are enough twists and turns to make the books ending a bit unpredictable, but the ending still feels natural. The language is sharp and witty, and Talli paces the plot perfectly.

The one criticism I have of this book, and to be honest I think the book should come with a disclaimer simply for this very reason, is that it is impossible to read this book without getting I Want You Back by the Jackson 5 stuck in your head on a loop. I'd thoroughly recommend it though, it's definitely a good summer read.

In other exciting news, remember how I said that I'd read some of my friend Krista's manuscript and loved her writing style? It seems that I'm not the only one. She's just gotten an offer of representation from an agent! How exciting is that? You should check out her blog here.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)

Looking for opinions on author platforms...

All us aspiring authors know that if we are to be successful we need to build a social platform. Every book or article on becoming a successful writer tells us this. Yet when we go out to create one there are almost too many options. I have a Blogger account and that's about it. I have personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, but I don't want to use those for networking because most people in my real life don't know that I write so seriously.

I'm starting to think I should set up writing accounts on Twitter and Facebook. But then there's Wordpress, Tumblr and personal websites. My question is, just how many of these things are necessary when you're still at the 'aspiring' stage? What tools do you all use?

Goals and Awards

Ok, so my goals for the month of May are:

1: Finish Storms in Teacups edit, write synopsis, write cover letter and query letter.
2: Finish application for PhD programme.
3: Get If Life Gives You Lemons to 70,000 words in time for BuNoWriMo (Check it out here)
4: Stay on top of journalism work.

Now, one of things about the award I got yesterday is that it gets passed forward. So, the five blogs I think deserve the award are:

1: Allison M Simon. Not only does her blog talk about interesting things about writing, there's also some good stuff about movies and abstract topics like the Peter Principle. This is a really intelligent blog.

2: Laura at Chick Lit Love. She really works hard at making her content interesting and different from a lot of chick lit blogs out there, it's a really cheery site.

3. Princess of Procrastination. I love this blog, it's hilarious. If you're looking for a laugh (and to learn more about Taffs) then it's worth heading over here.

4: Alison DeLuca. Alison is going down the self-publishing route, and her posts on writing in general and being an indy author in particular are really interesting.

5: Kate Larkindale. Kate is a YA writer who works in the film industry, and who is refreshingly down to earth about life and writing. She also has some great tips.

Today is bank holiday Monday in Ireland. And it's sunny! Life is good.

Magic Month of May

Ok, I wimped out of finishing the A-Z challenge, I didn't do Y and Z before the end of April. I was going to finish it on the last day of April, but I forgot until yesterday that there was only thirty days in that month. I can only ever remember by using the rhyme. Still, the challenge did what I wanted it to do, it got me writing in my blog regularly so I'm pretty thrilled with that.

May is promising to be a busy month with a lot of introspection. Do you remember my angst about whether or not to go further with my education? Well, my potential PhD supervisor got back to me and said she'd support my application. She agreed to do it last year, but I couldn't proceed because I was too ill. I always wanted to do a history doctorate, and doing it would be an achievement that I didn't let my fibromyalgia stop me from achieving my dreams. But I have another dream - to be a published writer - and I only have so many spoons. If I do a PhD then I will have less time to write, but if I don't do a PhD and I don't become a published writer then I've lost two dreams. It's hard to decide. You're probably thinking 'But Christine, you can't even remember how many days are in April, are you sure that going back to University is the right thing for you to do?' This is a valid point, but I'm actually quite a good student. It's real life that leaves me baffled.

I'm also editing Storms in Teacups for an early June submission to a number of agents. How scary is that? Oh, and hopefully by the end of this month I will be halfway through the first draft of If Life Gives You Lemons. So a busy month ahoy.

And in totally awesome news, the fabulous Caitlin Vincent gave me an award! How cool is that? I'm fairly new (yet addicted) to the blogosphere, and it made me tear up a little to think that someone would give me an award like this. It literally made my day, thank you so much Caitlin!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend :)