I had every intention of completing Ravenstoke this week, the sequel to Winterborne. The kids were away and I had four whole days to make it happen. On Monday night, I awoke in the night with a lovely bout of food poisoning. Thank you, guacamole. On Tuesday, I puttered around nibbling on toast and tried to stay hydrated. By Wednesday, I was ready to make the magic happen and I did bang out a healthy number of pages. I worked into the evening and my husband didn't even whine when he came home from work to find no dinner ready and nothing viable in the fridge. Thursday came and I woke up ready to roll up my sleeves for another successful day. Around 9:30am, I began to feel dizzy. I thought perhaps it was residual dehydration from the food poisoning. I drank water. The dizziness stayed with me all day, like persistent motion sickness. Even in my sleep, I felt dizzy whenever I tried to flip to my right side. This morning I went to the doctor. I am the lucky recipient of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. It lasts for a few weeks and the treatment basically consists of making yourself feel dizzy until your brain gets used to it. Yippee! Believe me, I fully recognize that this is not serious. I mean, 'benign' is right there in the title. It's just Murphy's Law. I have four days to rally and get my book in order and I manage to snag food poisoning and vertigo in one week. And as I find reading and writing very difficult to do without a queasy stomach and a swooning head, my efforts (such as this post) will be rather limited.
So the upshot of all this boohoo-ing is that my book is going past my self-imposed deadline. I just hope this condition doesn't last too long because I am still hoping to release Ravenstoke before Christmas. I'm enjoying the characters (old and new) and can't wait to share the latest installment of Loie and Mia's journey!
Quote of My Week: "I never thought I was smart enough to get depressed." - the abdominally blessed Jason Stackhouse
Friday, 28 October 2011
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Back in Black
I'm in somewhat of a dark mood these days. Maybe because it's rained every single day since we returned to England and the temperature feels more like November than August. Brrr. I'm over it already. May also be that I'm in the homestretch of The Hunger Games trilogy. Two books down and one to go. I find myself itching to learn archery, but I'm sure to pull a tightly wound shoulder muscle with the first tug of the bow.
Summer has turned into a longer break than intended for me, mainly because we've been on holiday and now that we're home, I'm still in the constant presence of my prison guards, er, my children, until school starts next week. One of them has decided that the cat that bit her thumb in America has hidden in our suitcase and is waiting for the right moment to pounce again. When she's alone and her resistance is low. My son helpfully pointed out that the suitcase theory is ludicrous, then continued to describe a scenario where the evil cat with a chip on its shoulder swam the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean, dragged its damp Calico body from the water, and found its way, a determined glint in its green eye, to our quiet, unsuspecting cul-de-sac. No more Scooby Doo for that kid. The younger one refuses to be alone in any room in our house and now requires a guardian (who can only be named Mommy) by her bedside in the evening. This too shall pass...I hope. Darn cat. I intend to be back in the swing of things soon.
For now, I am trapped in the arena called my home, cursing the Capitol for sending its cat muttation our way and constantly checking my dwindling supplies (i.e., things to keep my kids occupied). Where, oh where, is my mockingjay??
Summer has turned into a longer break than intended for me, mainly because we've been on holiday and now that we're home, I'm still in the constant presence of my prison guards, er, my children, until school starts next week. One of them has decided that the cat that bit her thumb in America has hidden in our suitcase and is waiting for the right moment to pounce again. When she's alone and her resistance is low. My son helpfully pointed out that the suitcase theory is ludicrous, then continued to describe a scenario where the evil cat with a chip on its shoulder swam the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean, dragged its damp Calico body from the water, and found its way, a determined glint in its green eye, to our quiet, unsuspecting cul-de-sac. No more Scooby Doo for that kid. The younger one refuses to be alone in any room in our house and now requires a guardian (who can only be named Mommy) by her bedside in the evening. This too shall pass...I hope. Darn cat. I intend to be back in the swing of things soon.
For now, I am trapped in the arena called my home, cursing the Capitol for sending its cat muttation our way and constantly checking my dwindling supplies (i.e., things to keep my kids occupied). Where, oh where, is my mockingjay??
Saturday, 16 July 2011
We Interrupt This Blog...
Please check out my guest post, 'Nothing Personal,' up today on Tina's Book Reviews. She's also hosting a giveaway of Winterborne so if you don't have a copy yet, here's your chance to win one and avoid plonking down that hefty sum of $2.99. In other book news, Winterborne is now available on All Romance Ebooks/OmniLit and discounted for the next 2 weeks.
I aspire to have a new post on my own blog this week. After that, I'll be enjoying some time in the US which means Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the big screen, and loads of fodder for this blog. Can't wait!
I aspire to have a new post on my own blog this week. After that, I'll be enjoying some time in the US which means Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the big screen, and loads of fodder for this blog. Can't wait!
Thursday, 7 July 2011
New Zoo Reviews
I'm a little behind on sharing the latest reviews of Winterborne so here's a few to keep you busy --
The Caffeinated Diva has blessed me with 5 mugs of coffee. Thanks, Kim! Another fab review recently posted on It's All About Me with a shout out to Buffy fans which I love. From my side of the pond, The Cait Files has weighed in with a great 4-star review. Please check out their blogs for all your YA book needs.
I am busy here trying to write and also win Euromillions so that I can afford to keep writing. If I win the gazillion pound jackpot, I will only be like the 500th richest person in England. What I want to know is -- who are the 499 people ahead of me??
The Caffeinated Diva has blessed me with 5 mugs of coffee. Thanks, Kim! Another fab review recently posted on It's All About Me with a shout out to Buffy fans which I love. From my side of the pond, The Cait Files has weighed in with a great 4-star review. Please check out their blogs for all your YA book needs.
I am busy here trying to write and also win Euromillions so that I can afford to keep writing. If I win the gazillion pound jackpot, I will only be like the 500th richest person in England. What I want to know is -- who are the 499 people ahead of me??
Thursday, 23 June 2011
$0.99 Summer Promotion for Nook Owners
Special news for all you Nook owners -- Winterborne is available on Barnes & Noble for the low price of $0.99 for a limited time only. Tell your Nook-loving friends and stock up on your summer reading today!
Monday, 13 June 2011
Top 10 Things I've Learned About Teen Romance
10. When a 25-year-old guy is lusting after a 16-year-old, it’s creepy. If he’s a 100-year-old vampire, bring it.
9. That ginger guy with the blank stare in my gym class may not be the gangly geek I think he is.
8. The more aloof and friendless I am, the more likely I am to attract the hot, mysterious guy from school.
7. If the guys I like have names like Peeta and Gale, I am trapped in a crappy future. Time to get my game face on.
6. If he sparkles in sunlight, do not assume it is an art project gone awry. Run.
5. If I am destined for/matched with/in an arranged marriage to a guy, I will not love him. I will fall in love with the other guy.
4. If I never see my mysterious boyfriend eat yet he sucks down vials of red liquid, don’t despair. He may not be a vampire. He may just be immortal.
3. If the fact that two hot brothers are into me seems too good to be true, it is. They are vampires.
2. When the guy I like has yellow eyes and prefers milkbones to milk, get a clue. He’s a werewolf.
1. Get thee to a love triangle. No adolescence is apparently complete without two males competing for my love. If I can’t rustle up an Edward and Jacob, improvise with my best friend’s pasty grandfather and my neighbor’s dog.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Today's YA Too Dark?
B'niz first. I've had some awesome reviews the last week or so and want to thank all of the reviewers for spending a little time with my book and caring enough to spread the word. I urge you to check out these blogs -- Mollie's YAttitude Problem, Anna in Athens, Greece, La Petite Fille Rousse (interview bonus!), and My Keeper Shelf. I also have a guest post on top 10 things I've learned about teen romance up today on Missy Reads & Reviews. So you don't OD on blog names here, please feel free to peruse the rest of my reviews on GoodReads and Amazon at your leisure because I'm sure you have nothing better to do on a Friday.
In other news, some lady ignited a firestorm with her Elisabeth Hasselbeck-style view on YA lit. The Wall Street Journal article discussed the bleak landscape of today's YA novels compared with the Judy Blume unicorns and rainbows of yesteryear. Remember when it was all menstruation and peeping toms? Ah, the good old days. By pointing to all the horrors contained in the pages of modern books for kids as though it's some new phenom, the writer displays a shocking level of ignorance. She asserts that SE Hinton kicked off dark YA with The Outsiders and publishers have ridden the misery money train ever since. Has she read any mythology (my books of choice throughout adolescence)? Myths are full of murder, adultery, rape, sexism, bestiality, and incest (in no order of favoritism). Did reading about Zeus raping Europa in the form of a bull "normalize" rape for me? Not so much. Made me think he was a lightning-chucking asshole, though. Plenty of YA authors and librarians have weighed in on this topic in the last week so I don't want to repeat too much of what's been said (great points about the Matthew Shepard murder, teen cutting, etc). I'd simply like to give me two cents on the dystopian angle. The puppet cites The Hunger Games as "hyper-violent" and rallies parents not to allow publishers "to bulldoze coarseness or misery into their children's lives." YA dystopian books are uniquely positioned to make teens think about social and ethical issues. In reading those types of books, they immerse themselves in a possible future. A bleak future that, if they don't want to find themselves living in it in thirty plus years, may make them think or behave differently as they grow into adulthood. I wish YA dystopian was more prevalent when I was a teen. My critical thinking skills didn't kick in until much later, probably because I wasn't confronted by issues that required much critical thought. Also, science and technology have moved on by leaps and bounds in the past forty years. The ethical issues arising from these advancements will continue to multiply and I would rather have teens debating these types of issues now and deciding what kind of people they want to be and what kind of world they want to inhabit, rather than having them scratching their heads as adults and wondering how the world ended up in such a sorry state. At least I can rest assured that my own kids will be emotionally ready to face an uncertain future because I didn't bathe them in sunshine and put their brains on ice for future use. Hey, that last bit gives me an idea for another dark dystopian YA novel...
My Quote of the Week: "You're my favorite friend." - my 4-year-old daughter to me.
In other news, some lady ignited a firestorm with her Elisabeth Hasselbeck-style view on YA lit. The Wall Street Journal article discussed the bleak landscape of today's YA novels compared with the Judy Blume unicorns and rainbows of yesteryear. Remember when it was all menstruation and peeping toms? Ah, the good old days. By pointing to all the horrors contained in the pages of modern books for kids as though it's some new phenom, the writer displays a shocking level of ignorance. She asserts that SE Hinton kicked off dark YA with The Outsiders and publishers have ridden the misery money train ever since. Has she read any mythology (my books of choice throughout adolescence)? Myths are full of murder, adultery, rape, sexism, bestiality, and incest (in no order of favoritism). Did reading about Zeus raping Europa in the form of a bull "normalize" rape for me? Not so much. Made me think he was a lightning-chucking asshole, though. Plenty of YA authors and librarians have weighed in on this topic in the last week so I don't want to repeat too much of what's been said (great points about the Matthew Shepard murder, teen cutting, etc). I'd simply like to give me two cents on the dystopian angle. The puppet cites The Hunger Games as "hyper-violent" and rallies parents not to allow publishers "to bulldoze coarseness or misery into their children's lives." YA dystopian books are uniquely positioned to make teens think about social and ethical issues. In reading those types of books, they immerse themselves in a possible future. A bleak future that, if they don't want to find themselves living in it in thirty plus years, may make them think or behave differently as they grow into adulthood. I wish YA dystopian was more prevalent when I was a teen. My critical thinking skills didn't kick in until much later, probably because I wasn't confronted by issues that required much critical thought. Also, science and technology have moved on by leaps and bounds in the past forty years. The ethical issues arising from these advancements will continue to multiply and I would rather have teens debating these types of issues now and deciding what kind of people they want to be and what kind of world they want to inhabit, rather than having them scratching their heads as adults and wondering how the world ended up in such a sorry state. At least I can rest assured that my own kids will be emotionally ready to face an uncertain future because I didn't bathe them in sunshine and put their brains on ice for future use. Hey, that last bit gives me an idea for another dark dystopian YA novel...
My Quote of the Week: "You're my favorite friend." - my 4-year-old daughter to me.
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