Tag: family

Fact Vs Fiction

WIP Wednesday Week 11, 2022

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I was busy writing a short story for another anthology when the call went out asking for people to write a story for a charity anthology to raise funds to donate to the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. How could I have ever said no?

It seems hard initially to think about love in a time of war, yet the reality is that love is often at it’s strongest. People fight to defend their, homes, their families, their loved ones. mothers grab children and flee not knowing if they will ever be reunited with the significant other. it is also a time where people an meet and fall in love with someone they might have never met in everyday life. Sounds far fetched? Let me tell you about how my grandparents met.

I never knew the story while my grandad was alive, there were just somethings he never talked about and I would never have dreamt of asking him, but if you were to ask my grandma she would tell everyone that she met my grandad in bed!

My grandma wanted to be a nurse and while she trained through WWII she was offered the chance to take an extra course in nursing TB patients, she was a firm believer of taking all options available and did the course and got on with her life. A couple of years later as the war came to an end my grandad was brought home from a prisoner of war camp suffering from TB… you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out what happened, my grandma was his nurse!

Now, to be fair it is a miracle he ever got to date her as there were also soldiers from her uncles regiment on the wards too who had all be warned she was off limits. I never completely understood the dynamics of my grandparents relationship until long after his death, when other family members filled me in on my grandads family history more. I do know that they met under incredible circumstances and that the bond between them was incredible.

I often think that they both saw the horrors of war in different ways, they didn’t need to talk about it, they understood each other and that while it might not be the type of romantic meeting so many people wish for, it was one that set them up for a lifetime together.

For many in this current conflict there will be no happy ending but if you can spare a couple of pounds then pre-order your copy today and help us help those who cannot help themselves right not. mybook.to/battleoftheHeart

Fact Vs Fiction

New Year’s Day = Resolutions!

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It is January the first and of course that means that it is time to make a load of resolutions in the hope that we will at least keep one or two. This year however I am doing things a little differently and breaking the year down into three month blocks, basically quarters.

The last few months of last year I switched from using my yearly planning ststem to using a three month Legend planner, this is the one I am using though I am sure others are available…

The link for this one is here. I did begin to find that slowly I was becoming more productive in the last few months so I am going to try this method again this year. So rather than a year of resolutions in one go you will get five at a time, some will continue through the year with smaller milestones.

Resolution One – Write every day!

This seems self explanatory, but previously I have set myself targets and then knowing that I cant hit it I have got disheartened, so this time around the target is only 500 words per day. I really do want to write a lot more than that each day, and to get everything out I want to this year I will need to average out 1500 to 2000 a day but by allowing myself those day where 500 words counts I won’t feel like a failure if I don’t manage more on a busy day.

Resolution Two – Publish Rosie

This book is a third written, it is planned, outlined and complete in my head I just need to get the words on paper and get it out. I have an anthology out next month that needs to be finished in the next week, then it is all systems blazing for this project. I am hoping this book will be out in time to take print copies to Telford in March and the exciting this is this will be my first full length romance.

Resolution Three – Publish Role Of The Dice

Like Rosie this book is planned, outlined and a third written, it even has chapters laid out for the rest of the book it just needs me to focus and get it done. While I would love to get this out for Telford I doubt I will get to a point where I have print copies available for both books. My only hope would be possibly to create a book plate so anyone who wants to buy it from Amazon when it comes out, the ones that can’t get to see my later in the year, can add it. The thing to remember is that you can always order print copies of my books, signed and personalised from Raven’s Rest Press which is the name I have given my print imprint.

Resolution Four – Keep up to date with all scheduled posts.

I pay for a service that allows me to schedule posts to FB, Twitter, Instagram etc and when I first got it I was really good at making sure I arranged for a few posts per day so that even on busy days I had a presence. Then after a while, I became disheartened with my writing, as a result I only posted sporadically. This year I am determined to keep on track. Just 30 minutes each day will enable me to keep up with it all and allow me to share more with my readers.

Resolution Five – Lose Weight

Instead of setting a goal for the year I am aiming to divide it up into more manageable sections. So first this first quarter I am aiming to lose 24lbs, this should be easier as you do tend to lose weight quite quickly at the start. I wasn’t sure if I should share my starting weight but I guess it will make me more accountable to myself if no one else. So my starting weight is 283lbs. I will check in on the first of each month as far as my resolutions go and let you know how it is going.

Getting started…

Now, you know my plans for the next three months I would also like to assure you that you will be seeing me more here more as well and I will be posting at least twice a week plus getting the podcast running again. 2022, watch this space.

Lazy Sunday

My Year So Far!

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I should have started recording episodes for the podcast by now but I am still trying to get my microphone set up again so I thought I would share a few photos from the last week and a half since the start of 2021.

This is the cover to this years journal, the last year I had a rose gold glittery one and given how the year went I decided on this one this year that is a little plainer with a classic feel to the floral enhancement. Let’s hope this year I get to write about a couple of signings.

This has been my life for most of this year so far, either mud or the ground is frozen and every hoof print filled with ice.

Sunday the 3rd we brought Preeya out of the field for the first time, she handled it really well, she is almost as big as mummy now can’t believe she is only nine months old.

Monday I headed to my daughters, I thought I would share these with you so you understand why I usually take photos with my head to one side, if you look at the first photo you can see I have a fat and thin side to my face. Other people can tell you it doesn’t look as bad as you think it looks but one you have it in your head no one will tell you otherwise.

Tuesday saw me back at work, we have these t-shirts, we play messages over the tannoy but guess what people are still not staying back, I get not everyone believes there is a virus, I am not getting into that but even if you don’t believe does it really hurt you to keep your distance from people, I want my life back, I want to see my family and friends, that can only happen if people apply common sense.

Wednesday morning just who ended up sat in the mud while dragging straw down the field to where the horses stand to have their hay. Maybe I should buy waders rather than wellies!!

Thursday morning I was debating what I could share and I thought I would show you the odd random item from my house that I love, this is my dream catcher that hangs above my bed. I normally remember my dream and it is very rare I have a bad one, I have had this for years but lately it is beginning to lose the odd feather.

Coming home from work Friday night it started snowing but it is hard to catch the snow on your mobile camera lol,

I was thankful to have my hat with me though as it was cold.

Saturday we had snow but not enough to really slow the pace of life, helped my friend take two of her horses out for their feet trimming and for a quick walk round the block as the roads were clear.

Saturday night lockdown style and the only affection I was getting was a nose rub from the cat. 

Hope you all are staying safe and making the most of each day in any way you can. 

1. Monday · Book Reviews · Monday Musings

Book Review – Living a lie, Part One By M.L. Kacy

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Because I have so many book reviews to get done I am going to do a second one on a Tuesday until I catch up…

 

In your early adult years, you think that you know it all. Well that’s how I was looking back on my life. Nearly nineteen-years later, it’s true what they say, you always learn by your mistakes, mistakes make you into a stronger person. Boy, did I make a hell of a lot of mistakes. I never thought that my life would turn out the way that it did. There are only four things that I would never regret, my four beautiful children. They were, and still are, my saving grace, my redemption of sorts. When the darkness became too much, thoughts of them would pull me into the light.

This is my story, it’s not a story that is all sweetness and light. It’s a story of love, regret, devastation, darkness and maybe a little redemption.

So here we are, I shall start from the beginning.
Part One

***Disclaimer- Some of the content in this book can cause triggers for some. Also, contains profanity, erotic scenes and only suitable for readers 18+***

This book is biographical of an extraordinary woman who has overcome so much in her life. Reading this as just a reader you cannot help but fell so much empathy for the main ‘character’ Rhea, I don’t want to say too much but she goes through events which are so traumatic and it is so well written that you do feel her pain and empathise with her.

For me reading this as someone who actually knows the author it adds another level of heartbreak and you want to run over to her and give her a big hug. The only issue I have is that I only bought part one, I strongly recommend buying the newer versions with part one and two together.

I give this a heart wrenching five out of 5 stars.

3d rendering of 5 gold stars

1. Monday · Book Reviews

Book Review – Behind Closed Doors By Karen J. Mossman

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For transparency I received this book as a prize for being selected as the best story in the Dandelion Anthology’s Love Ever After which I am part of, it in no way has affected my review or influenced the final rating I give it…

We begin as always with the blurb taken from Goodreads.

Kerry tries to protect her sister but she can’t protect her mum or herself from Bill, her stepfather. He’s mean and volatile and likes to drink.

When she meets Tommy, they fall in love and she finds out his last girlfriend brought trouble to his nice normal family. Not wanting to jeopardise their relationship and do the same, Kerry tries to keep her secrets behind closed doors.

Eventually, the bruises and the lies tell their own story. She can’t hide the fact Bill is wrecking their family and deeper family issues threaten to destroy the best thing that ever happened to her – Tommy.

A coming of age story set to a backdrop of seventies music and fashion.

I was born in 71 so although my teenage years were spent in the 80’s there are many things that were not that different, Although there was no abuse in my house, I can certainly relate to a time where dad held all the family finances and mum received an amount of cash each week to pay the bills and take care of the house. I remember the cheesecloth tops, and my dad telling me I was not leaving the house when he judged a skirt to be too short, the reality for my generation as well as the previous ones was that it was normal for a parent to give you a backhander or a clip round the ear, that parents demanded respect and the phrase ‘living under my roof’ was one every teenager heard at some point,

Luckily Kerry finds a knight in shining armour, not a trope I normally like but I fully appreciate in this time it was almost impossible for a female to escape an abuse patriarchal figure alone. I was fully immersed in this book and read it in one sitting, however there were two small niggles.

First, was Howard, he is introduced as Kerry’s boring boyfriend, a complete contrast to the sexy hero Tommy, but within  few days of their break up he is suddenly at a house party thrown by friends of Tommy, it just jarred slightly because if he had been the party type Kerry might never have looked at Tommy (well okay she might still have had a sneaky peek but she wouldn’t have dumped Howard and flirted). The second was the Irish Issue, it is brought up that they are on opposite sides of the religious divide, yet neither set of parent raises this issue, and as Catholics I would certainly have expected Tommy’s parents to at least talk about it even if the were not practising Catholics, especially when he moves to join her in Ireland and proposes, this is the 70’s after the Bloody Sunday Massacre, so even if neither parent cared about their different religions they would certainly have been scared for them.

All that being said, these were not niggles that I thought about until after I finished the book, and let me say, it should have a warning on the front, telling you to grab the tissues befoer you start reading, because you are going to need them.

So the final rating is a blubbering five out of 5 stars.

3d rendering of 5 gold stars

6. Saturday · Me And Mine · So it's Saturday

Saturday Weekly Round-Up -10th October 2020

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This week I have been able to start moving around a little more I have even managed to do a little writing, fingers crossed another week or two I will be good to go.

Podcasts

This week I have been catching up on saved episodes of Welcome To Night Vale, it is a weird podcast/play and it does require being able to keep track of a number of threads but once you get a grip on it then you will love it you can find our more here https://www.welcometonightvale.com/

Music

I still haven’t listened to any music this week but I have started listening to the audiobook Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza you can find it here some of you may remember Robert from the days he was an Indie Author blogging here on WordPress and publishing his romcoms about Coco Pinchard, it is so nice to know that someone you know made it big with patience and perseverance.

Reading

I just finished reading Love Ever After the anthology I have been part of, if you haven’t grabbed a copy go get one http://mybook.to/LoveEverAfterDandelion

Watching – TV

This week I have found myself watching a couple of shows but the main one has been Pit Bulls & Parolees’, now I confess that especially with the meds I cry at anything at the minute both through sadness and joy but watching the story about these two pups definitely had me sobbing.

The fact that the shelter owner gives both pups and people the chance for a fresh start is heart warming but I have to be honest I much prefer the four-legged cast members even though some of their stories are heartbreaking.

Watching – Film

I finally got round to watching a film that I was nervous about watching and I was right to avoid it.

I am sorry, for me David Suchet is Poirot but I also love the verison with Albert Finney

The cast of big stars overwhelms the story and they do not fit the original characters the way I have them in my head thanks in part to the pervious productions, but to remove the touch of ridiculousness which makes people underestimate Poirot is a step to far, there was a reason Agatha Christie wrote him the way she did and a reason she made the books about him so successful/

Watching – Netflix

I did watch this once before, I was about to start watching the second series when I realised I couldn’t remember who had won.

The thing I love about this show is they are all so over the top, I have to be honest as well there was one contestant in this first series I really could not stand and was willing to fail at every step which always makes things more interesting.

 

Well that’s it for this week see you back here next week for more TV and podcasts.

Me And Mine · So it's Saturday

Saturday Weekly Round-Up – 3rd October 2020

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I did really like this idea previously even though I didn’t! stick to it so I am going to give it another go!

If you follow me anywhere on social media you will have noticed I have been very quiet the last couple of weeks. The Truth is ,y back went last Tuesday night and y sciatic nerve has well and truly gone ping, over a week of lying down and drugged up to the eyeballs I am starting to adjust to the meds, so while I am forced to stay put I  might as well try to be productive, so here we go…

Podcasts

I have been listening to a few this week but the one I am point to shout out is UNobscured. I listened to this a while ago initially but enjoyed the first series on the Salam Witch trials so much I gave it another listen you can find it on Apple or here on their website, if you love history you will love this plus I really appreciated the posting of the full-length interviews after the series was finished.

Music

I put my hands up that I have not listened to any music for a while.

Reading

I am currently reading an anthology am part of. I find it hard to blow my own trumpet but I am really proud of the two anthologies I am currently part of but I will tell your more about them during the week, for now, you can find it here…

Watching – TV

It is no secret I would rather curl up with a book or listen to podcasts rather than watch TV most of the time but this last week I have watched quite a lot, I have picked one that is linked to a podcast I also listen to The Forgotten West Memphis Three is directly linked to a season of the podcast but you don’t need to have heard it to find this fascinating, at the minute there have been two episodes, I don’t know if there are more but even if not still a good watch for true crime lovers.

Watching – Film

The film I watched this week could have also been classed as my Netflix pick, however, I am not going to cheat Enola Holmes was a great family adventure romp, but I will say the monster, aged 12 going on 40, got bored after ten minutes, he much prefers the style of the BBC Sherlock series so this, where suddenly, the sister is the youngest (though still arguably the smartest Holmes sibling) rather than an older sibling of Sherlock disconcerted him. I actually really enjoyed it, while remaining light-hearted it also touched on issues that were brought up in the BBC verion in The Abominable Bride, fun easy watch.

Watching – Netflix

 

For my netflix series I will go with Tattoo Fixers, it is just the ealier series on there but in my drugged up state stories like this one had my lauin in a pool of tears rather than my self-pitying ones. I only have the one tattoo, in theory I would love loads but am far too indecisive to commit to them, the artwork that goes into some of these those is amazing, especially with thing as personal as memorial portraits.

That’s it for this week fingers crossed I will keep it up and be back next week.

1. Monday · Book Reviews

Book Review – My Journey: Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer. By Lavinia Urban

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*Disclaimer I have met this author and do consider her a friend however as always the review will be 100% honest.

5

The Goodreads blurb reads…

2017 was one of the hardest times of my life. It was the year I was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer.
In this book I lay everything bare and tell you what it is really like living with cancer.

I met Lavinia last year at Darker, by that point she was already fighting cancer. She was talking about it a little on social media however the things she relates in this book are in many cases far more personal yet show the amazing sense of humour and courage which has endeared her to so many people. When you get any serious illness there are so many little things that only other people who have suffered it can tell you, sometimes you are scared to ask in case it is just you or people will look at you differently. This is not a book about the drugs, given the conversations with doctors, or a deep philospophical discussion on the meaning of life. this is so much more. This is a no frills look at the realities of living with this terrible disease and the way this affects not only the person receiving the diagnosis but also those nearest and dearest to them.

It is a story of hope, love and laughter but there is a glimpse of the darkness threatening this remarkable family lurking in the background. I am biased not because I have met this author but because I admire her spirit and strength and believe she is truly inspirational. Almost every person I know has been touched by Cancer one way or another and thiere are parts of this book that will make you laugh, and cry. If you know someone just starting a fight against this disease buy them this book, let them know that they can fight it but also that they should never be afraid to ask anything. I can only give this book one score and that is 5 out of 5 gold stars.

You can learn more about Lavinia and her fiction here https://www.facebook.com/LaviniaUrbanAuthor/

Resolutions 2018
Resolutions 2018

Resolutions 2018

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The start of a new year means one thing! Yes, it is time to make a load of resolutions that I will fail at during the year! To be fair last year we a strange year and though I failed to meet my goals for the year I did learn a lot about myself, I also learnt not to dwell on the failures so rather than rounding up last year I shall focus on the positives, things like I did my first book signing and I became a grandma, those two things meant more to me than anything else that happened last year so let’s get straight on with our new goals and look to the future.

1.  Release Queen Of Ages Book Two; Reawakening

I have already begun work on this book and am hoping to get it finished quickly, I did get distracted at the end of last year by the arrival of my grandson but now I need to focus on getting back into a set writing routine and meet my aim of three books per year, I am really excited to get this series out there especially after the reviews and feedback I have been getting from the first book.

2.  Lose four stone in weight

I know I said this last year and while I did not lose weight last year I didn’t put any more on. I need to start doing this not for how I look but for my health I am getting older and obviously the more weight you carry the greater the strain on your bones and organs, I am aiming to take it slowly and yes, I need to lose more than the four I have stated but I want to do it at a rate where not only does it have a better chance of staying off but it also reduces the risk of ending up with baggy skin after. Plus I bought some awesome suits   in the next couple of sizes down that I want to be able to get some wear out of 😀

3.  Blog at least four times a week consistantly

I tend to either blog every day or not blog at all so for this next year I am going to take the pressure off myself a little, Mondays will still be book/audiobook/dvd reviews, I hope to get back to throwing some author interviews in there as well once more. Tuesdays will be the posts about events and my experiences with the writing/publishing experiences, these will also include my personal feelings about my writing journey. Wednesdays will be WIP in progress and my book promotion days, I will share reviews on the books I have already published as well as discussing the books I am working on and my ideas for future works. Fridays will still be vlog day though I am looking to make changes there as will be discussed later. Sundays will be lazy sunday posts where I will just chat with you fill you in on my week and a little more or my personal life, of course if you want to know more of my day to day goings on my Faceook page or Instagram are probably the best places to keep up with me.

4.  Release Queen of Ages Book Three: Redemption

As with the first resolution I am determined to up my output this year and get into a pattern of two to three releases each year, this year I am aiming to get the remaining parts of this trilogy out and possibly look into a hard back ominbus edition for the festive period next year however that ties in with other resolutions so it remains to be seen what the options are.

5.  Walk 50k steps per week

Previously I had the target of 10k steps a day totalling 70k for a week however I am now being more realisitic, I struggle on work days to fit in all my steps at times so by giving myself more leeway I believe that this goal is more achievable I am also determined to use the apps on my phone, xbox and my cross trainer more to increase the amount of exercise I am doing and try to add in doing one of my dance/exercise videos once a week.

6.  Publish four Quarterly newsletters

I swapped from monthly to quarterly because I was struggling to get the content worth sending out, now I have changed to quarlerly I just need to iron out the timing for the newsletters in terms of tying in with live events which I may wish to utilise in terns of the giveaways be that either collecting things to put in the prizes or offering chances to win tickets.

7.  Release Dragon’s Mark, Book One of the Raven Seer Chronicles

This would be the third release of the year and to be fair it is a quarter done already. I had initially intended to do this as a stand alone book however as I worked on it I realied the potiential for this to be an on going fantasy series.

8.  Vlog once a week

Like the blogging I have been hit and miss with the vlogs so my goal is this year to not only produce one a week but to also include more footage from my week and make them more interesting, not just me sat talking at a screen for five minutes unprepared. I also want to increase the production quality of the vlogs and make them more exciting for those who supoprt me by watching them.

9.  Write 1k fiction every day

This year I attempted NanoWriMo and failed miserably, yes there were other things which affected my writing time but if I want to make this my living then I need to focus and make it happen. By writing just 1k per day I could easily write three books a year, the only person stopping me is me.

10.  Fix Office hours for my writing and stick to them

I tend to get distracted, I turn FB on or stop to get up and go do other things so the answer is simple I need to set up my office hours and stick to them, now to be fair they cannot be the same every day as I work different shifts and have other commitments, and once my daughter goes back to work I will also have extra childcare considerations but I have a timer I use which uses the Pomodoro method, work thirty minutes on and then a fifteen minute break so when I have blocks of time I can sit at the computer I will use the timer and only look at FB etc during the fifteen minute breaks, I will also use that time as well to get up from my desk and move around trying to fit in a few extra steps each hour.

11.  Work on reducing the minus balance in my accounts

Right now if I were trying to exist purely on my writing as a business I would be bancrupt, thankfully the day job is still there to pay the bills but I need now to step up my writing game. As I increase the number of signing events I wish to attended the greater the expense so it becomes all the more important to start making them pay, this means more books to sell, more swag for sale and working out better ways to do giveaways and swag etc. I am realistic enough to know this does not happen over night, I am just over a year into a five year plan, I might not be in as good a shape as I would like but I have learnt lessons and am working on it, I am still positive my long term goal is possible.

12.  Set up Ravens Rest Press

Using Createspace has many positive and negative points, one of the harder pills to swallow is the cost of shipping books from the US I have no idea why they cannot print them in the UK as they print the books bought via amazon here on demand, the main thing about using other outlets is the fact you buy your own ISBN numbers  which means you can set up your own print imprint and get your books into libraries and book shops easier. You can also get expanded distribution networks for the books you have with them, I believe there is also the possibility of hardback issues which I would love to be able to do for the trilogy and maybe special editions of other books.

13.  Update all published works edits and biograhies regularly

I have got into the habit of updating all my social media posts to match, what I have failed to do is go back and update the also by this other sections of my previous books, alter the odd typo that I find and update the images in the books, this is something that I need to get into the habit of doing more often so that when I have a new book come out I know that the others will only require the minimum of alteration.

14.  Meet someone special

So this one is one I cannot actually make come true, and at the minute I am not really in a position to actively seek someone but rather this is more about allowing myself to be open to the idea of meeting someone, to not send out negative vibes when approached and to be open to the idea that a relationship does not have to be negative. I finally feel like I have shed the emotional baggage from my previous relationship, and while it will still take someone very special to make me invest my emotions in them I am not totally averse to that idea any longer, for me that is already a huge step.