Friday 27 September 2013

Cephalopod Coffeehouse, Follow Fest & Goal Update

Woah, dudes and dudettes, I have three things on today, and they are:



Cephalopod Coffeehouse bookclub (a monthly blog hoppin' book club where participants talk about the best book they read in the last month, and hosted by the wondrous Armchair Squid)


Follow Fest (a 5-day blogfest designed to let participants meet other writers and build their own platforms. It's hosted by Melissa Maygrove)



Do You Have A Goal? (a monthly blog hop in which participants update each other on where they're at on the journey to achieving some seriously crazy-big goals. This one's hosted by Misha Gericke)


So, with so many things to do in just one post, I guess I better get on with it! And I'll try to keep it all fairly brief. :)





I've only finished two books in September so far, if you don't count my friend's book that took me quite a bit of the month to finish (she's Icelandic, living in Sweden, and while the bizarre story was intriguing enough, I was fascinated more by descriptions of Iceland where I now want to visit even more than I already did). Anyway, for this month's Cephalopod post I thought I'd mention Hart Johnson's A FLOCK OF ILL OMENS, and slightly expand on the tiny (mildly spoilerific) GoodReads review I put up:

Hart Johnson's A FLOCK OF ILL OMENS was a quick, easy read that I basically devoured, and immediately wanted to move onto part 2. The story contains multiple POVs, but the characters though spread throughout the US are all connected somehow. Things get off to a pretty dramatic (and deadly) start, and I'm very curious to see how things unfold in future instalments. 
Am I the only one who feels sorry for the seagulls? :P 
Bring on part ii! :)

So, that's my Cephalopod entry for September.





I think this is a great idea, and I look forward to visiting all the other participants. For now, here's my "stuff":

Name: Trisha F.
Fiction or nonfiction?: Fiction, but I have considered writing travel memoir
What genres do you write?: Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Paranormal, Dystopian, Women's Fiction, Chick Lit
Are you published?: I have a poem published with Vine Leaves, and that's it so far. :)
Do you do anything in addition to writing?: I'm a fine artist and singer-songwriter.

Where can people connect with you?:
Is there anything else you’d like us to know?: 
I love cats, Bailey's, reading, travelling to far-away (or even really near) places, and finding writer friends I can really connect with for our mutual benefit. :)






Last month I reported that I had basically sucked at working towards my goal at the time, which was getting a novella ready for query-writing by August's end. I failed at that, and have since chosen a new goal:


So far I must say that I am sucking at achieving this goal, too. But I can say I at least have notes from my lovely CP that I can move forward with. And I do have some ideas for how to rewrite. But rewriting isn't really where I wanted to be by now. I wanted to be polishing and verging on self-publishing. Still, at least I have something to work with, and some plan for how to move forward. :)

30 comments:

  1. Busy day! Flock of Ill Omens sounds like a winner.

    Iceland's cropping up all over the place for me these days. I have a colleague who went there on a fellowship over the summer - beautiful!

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  2. Hello there :) Popping over from Follow Fest to say you have a shiny new follower :) Nice to learn a little about you!

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  3. I enjoyed meeting you, Trisha. Thanks for participating in Follow Fest. :)

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  4. That's one thing about goals, they need to be flexible, since writing and editing aren't really predictable.

    All the best with the rewrite!

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  5. Hey Trisha,

    It was nice meeting you and I'm following you on all venues we share. Stop by and see me sometime! I was on day 1 of the fest, but you can link to me via my sign off.

    M.L. Swift, Writer

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  6. Hi Trisha! Stopping in from Follow Fest. I write romance too, and have not been keeping up on my writing goals, either. I guess that's two things we have in common right now. Good luck on your publishing goal!

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  7. Hey! I had to google cephalopod and then promptly close the window when I remembered that I'm terrified of sea creatures...
    I love cats and traveling too! Alas, I've never had both at the same time :(
    Even if you suck at your goals, at least you're working towards something. That's better than being idle!

    Thanks for visiting! It was nice getting to know you :)

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  8. I keep hearing great things about Hart Johnson's novel(s).

    Best of luck with your writing goals...if it helps at all, I have really sucked at my 2013 writing goals.

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  9. Nice to meet you - especially if you love Baileys too (important things in life *nod*). Travel books sounds like a great idea to me! Good luck on querying and reaching that goal.

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  10. Oh, is Hart's story a serial? That idea intrigues me - like the way lots of classics were first published in installments.

    Even if the exact goal doesn't work out, I bet you're further toward it than you would be if you hadn't made the goal. ;)

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  11. Good to 'meet' you! I like the sound of A Flock of Ill Omens - will check it out! Have a good weekend :-)

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  12. Ooo, I wish you'd added more about A Flock of Ill Omens, because I love that title! Really makes me wonder what happens in the story...and with birds of all things! Guess I'll have to check out your link to Hart Johnson.

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  13. Glad to meet you, Trisha. That's the name of the little girl in my short story, Miracle Bell, A Horse with a Secret. It's a spin-off of my trilogy, Where the Horses Run. If you think you'd like Sci-fi, try Miracle Belle. It's free today through October 1 on Amazon.

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  14. Hello Trisha -- long time no see! Following you on Twitter and Goodreads.

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  15. That's so cool that you're a singer/songwriter! I write songs. But you definitely don't want to hear me sing! ;) I'll go check out your links.

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  16. Good luck with your writing goals! Hope you get published by the end of the year :)

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  17. Hi Trisha, good to meet you through Follow Fest and good luck with your writing!

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  18. Hello, Trisha, I believe I've joined your blog a while ago, but I just followed you on twitter. Nice to reconnect.

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  19. Oh yes, I understand the concept of sucking at meeting writing goals. I hoped to have my story finished by the end of the year, but I know that's not going to happen. I didn't get nearly as much done over the summer as I wanted. Nice to meet you, Trisha.

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  20. Great to meet you through Follow Fest! I like your idea of writing a Travel Memoir. The great part about traveling to new places is that it might inspire fiction too!

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  21. That last one you can't control, so don't feel bad.
    Cool you're reading Hart's book!

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  22. Well, hello from Follow Fest! I love your blog backdrop! And what a lot you do - all of it fascinating! Fine art escapes me (that is, I enjoy it: I simply can't produce it). A travel memoir always fascinates me, it's rather like journeying with a friend and seeing things through his (her) eyes. I'm glad I surfed in!

    Diana at About Myself By Myself

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  23. Nice to meet you! Have you done a lot of traveling? I ask because of the memoir idea you mention. I think traveling is a wonderful writerly thing.

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  24. Everything on your "I love" list sounds pretty great to me :)

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  25. Good luck with your goal, and I hope you get to go to Iceland.

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  26. Hi Trisha! It's great to meet you through Follow Fest. It must be so fun to have talent in a variety of the arts. I would love the ability to create visuals or compose music for the stories in my head. :)

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  27. Cool Bloghops! Bookmarking this spot!

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  28. Oh. my. gosh. I followed the 'A Flock of Ill Omens' link to the author's website, to his first post, to the Amazon page, where it is available free! Such instant gratification, I must go download now, thanks! :)
    Oh, and I'm now following you on Twitter. :)
    -Michelle

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  29. I love the title Flock of Ill Omens (it would make a great name for a rock band). I will have to look into that one.

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  30. Hi Trisha, great meeting you! I write paranormal and chick lit as well, so I'm glad we connected.

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!