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. :)

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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.

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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?:

• Blog 
• Twitter
• Facebook (at the moment I only have a FB page for my band)
• Goodreads (personal)
• Google+
• LinkedIn

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. :)

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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:

publish something by the end of 2013

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. :)

A Flock of Ill Omens ~ release / The World Ends How!? blogfest

Today Hart Johnson releases the first part in her A Shot in the Light serial. Part 1 is titled "A Flock of Ill Omens", and here is some more info about it:

Deadliest virus in a century, or a social experiment gone awry?

Every year they warned about the flu and more often than not, it amounted to nothing. Sidney Knight, a young freelance reporter had certainly never written on it. But a trip to Lincoln City, Oregon cut short by a beach full of dead seagulls and a panicked warning from her brother the scientist catch her attention. This batch is different. Deadlier. And the vaccine doesn't seem to be helping. It almost looks like it's making it worse...

A Flock of Ill Omens: Part I is the first episode of A Shot in the Light, an Apocalypse Conspiracy Tale about what happens when people play God for fun and profit. There will be approximately ten episodes, each the equivalent of about 100 pages. 

Good Reads has a sneak peak posted. You can find the purchase link and more information about the book here. And if you want it FOR FREE, I will be offering it free on the release dates of at least the next two in the serial: September 19 and October 10. 

Hart Johnson writes books from here bathtub and can be found at Confessions of a Watery Tart, though be warned. She is likely to lead you into shenanigans.

Buy part 1:  A Flock of Ill Omens
Like Hart on Facebook: Hart Johnson
Mark part 1 as 'to read' on Goodreads: A Flock of Ill Omens

The release of part 1 goes hand in hand with a blogfest Hart decided to host in celebration. Here are the details of this little 'fest:

What/How: 
1)  Sign up through the linky 

2)  I will send a bit of info to you a few days before (blurb, cover, links) 

3) You add 50-250 words about how YOU think the world will end (all in fun): is it nuclear war? Aliens? Zombies? Asteroid? [Is it clear yet I think way too much about this?] Giant Spaghetti Monster? Attack of the Interrobang!? Or are you on board with my flu scenario? 

PRIZE!!! To sweeten the pot, I will randomly choose one entry for: 

A SUBSCRIPTION (the full serial, as it comes out) and a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate

So, I guess it's my turn to answer the question on everybody's lips today -

The World Ends How!?

I think the world is going to end when global warming turns the planet into a veritable sizzling pizza. The pizza will evolve over many centuries until eventually it's basically one great big Pizza the Hutt. Now, if you've seen Spaceballs, you'll know how Pizza's story ended. For my part, I think that's how Earth's story will end as well.

Thanks Hart for hosting this super-fun blogfest,

and many congrats on your release!!

I wish you all the giddy-making success

that can be had in this soon-to-be-pizzafied world. ;)

A-Z '13 - Beds Are Burning {+ THE BEGONIA BRIBE}

It's April, and the A-to-Z blogging challenge of 2013 has started! At almost the last minute I decided to run through a list of classic Aussie tunes for this year's challenge. Well, they're either classic or just plain songs I like. Today it's time for B, so here you go:

Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil

B was a tough choice (I have a fair few honourable mentions listed below as you can see, and that's after trimming!), but I've gone with the good old Oil. They are true Australian legends, even if Peter Garrett has kind of fallen from grace a little by becoming a politician (he did have great intentions, but...no). Midnight Oil were renowned for their political activism, particularly in relation to environmental and indigenous issues. The music was a great vehicle for left-wing politics, and this song is a classic example.

Honourable mentions:

• Better by Screaming Jets
• Burn and Fade by the Black Ryder
• Back in Black by AC/DC
• Beat the Twilight by Decoder Ring
• Bittersweet by Hoodoo Gurus (featured in a past Sunday Session post)
• Bedroom Eyes by Kate Ceberano
• Blood by the Middle East
• Berlin Chair by You Am I (a must-watch for the dancin' old dude in the sparkly suit)
• Boys in Town by the Divinyls
• Breakfast at Sweethearts by Cold Chisel

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In other news, today I am doing a shout-out for Alyse Carlson (a.k.a. Hart Johnson!!)'s new book, THE BEGONIA BRIBE. Check it out:

The Begonia Bribe

The Begonia Bribe: 2nd in the Garden Society Cozy Mystery series by Alyse Carlson (aka: Hart Johnson)

Roanoke, Virginia, is home to some of the country’s most exquisite gardens, and it’s Camellia Harris’s job to promote them. But when a pint-sized beauty contest comes to town, someone decides to deliver a final judgment …

A beauty pageant for little girls—the Little Miss Begonia Pageant—has decided to hold their event in a Roanoke park. Camellia is called in to help deal with the botanical details, the cute contestants, and their catty mothers. She soon realizes that the drama onstage is nothing compared to the judges row. There’s jealousy, betrayal, and a love triangle involving local newsman—and known lothario—Telly Stevens. And a mysterious saboteur is trying to stop the pageant from happening at all.

But the drama turns deadly when Stevens is found dead, poisoned by some sort of plant. With a full flowerbed of potential suspects, Cam needs to dig through the evidence to uproot a killer with a deadly green thumb.

Pre-order on: Amazon Barnes and Noble

Find Hart/Alyse at: Confessions of a Watery Tart, Facebook Author Page or Profile Twitter

BuNoWriMo is almost on! Oh, and I've been revising

Hart Johnson is one of those people who hosts the annual BuNoWriMo writing thingo. It's a bit like NaNo, but with less "a"s and an extra "b" and "u". And there is even a logo (actually, there are a few...see the rest of this post for more!):

Oh, fancy!

Anyway, to learn more about BuNo, check out that "Hart Johnson" link above. She tells you all you need to know. :)

I'm pretty excited about the project I've settled on for this year's BuNo challenge. I don't really want to say too much, but let's just say that I'm already imagining it as a slightly noir Disney movie with a serious twist. I'm not sure I can pull off serious twists. You've got to be a certain type of clever for that! But I'll give it my best and see what happens. All that matters, I suppose, is that I have fun with it.

Meanwhile, I've been chipping away at this year's goals that I set for myself. I've got the word count down from its original 146k to 114,668, but of course I have a fair way to go. My ultimate goal is to get to 95k and then put this novel away on the shelf until further notice. I've got other projects that I want to work on, but at the same time I'm excited about getting this one done and dusted. I doubt it'll happen before BuNo begins, but you never can tell I suppose!

Speaking of BuNo, I've been wondering if I can get away with using my BuNo project to kill two 2012 Goal birds with one stone. One goal is to, well, win BuNo. The other is to write at least 1k of new prose each week. Should I write my BuNo novel and try to write 1k a week on some other project? Gosh knows I have a lot of projects I could be working on!

Anyway, I haven't quite decided what to do with that yet, but I guess I'm not all that fussed. I'm more excited than anything! Bring on June!!