Cephalopod Coffeehouse & Do You Have Goals? - a day late

I did miss this post yesterday, but for once I have a fair excuse, or I think I do. Yesterday was my birthday!! So I was busy doing other things, like going to work for the whole day, and then going out to dinner and drinking a lot of champagne. Anyway, it's Saturday now and I am here to post ... at last!

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse

I read multiple books that I enjoyed during July (so far), but the one book I want to talk about is Rachel Morgan's The Trouble With Flying. The review will possibly sound vague, to avoid spoilers. ;)

The characters in this book were great - I loved seeing Sarah's transformation from a bit of a doormat to a strong-minded individual determined to follow her own path. It was a slow journey for the reader, becoming privy to the reality of Sarah's relationship with her partner. But I think this slow revelation echoed Sarah's own slow awakening - because as we all know, sometimes in relationships it takes a long time to realise something that, after you've realised it, seems obvious.

I was glad when Sarah finally stood up for herself and asserted her own will. It had been a long time coming. I was very proud of her in that moment, for not backing down. I think any book that makes the reader go, "Yeah! You go girl!" has a lot going for it.

Since I have never visited South Africa, or any part of Africa before, I really enjoyed the descriptions of the landscape. It definitely made me want to visit the place and see it for myself. But the main thing that makes me hesitate is the weather ;) I really, really hate hot weather. But if, as the story suggests, South Africans usually get a magnificent storm after each revoltingly hot moment, I guess I could tolerate the gross hot moments ... for a while anyway.

All in all, I really enjoyed this read, and look forward to reading more of Rachel's work in future.

Do I Have Goals? Yes, I do!

July has probably been my best month this year for achieving goals. Sadly, the goals I achieved weren't anything to do with my writing, but they were still goals related to creative stuff. So I count that as a major win!

I guess I can thank my bandmate Billy for spurring me on this month, since I actually did have a deadline not set by me - heeyyy, maybe I do work well under someone else's pressure after all? Not that he actually pressured me - not at all. But knowing he was counting on me, after we both agreed to an end-of-July deadline, certainly did get me moving faster than I have all year.

Following on from my last goal update, I can say that I have now sent copies of all the songs that were due to Billy, and now I'm waiting on his word that the last song is good to go. Then I can send him the raw files. But obviously if it's not ready to go, I will do whatever vocal adjustments are necessary, and then send the new version to him in .mp3 format for assessment.

But July is nearly at an end, so now the pressure's on Billy to let me know what I need to do, if anything. ;)

P.S. I turned 34. ;)

Faerie Tale Princes & WIP It Good

In celebration of her book release for The Faerie Prince, book #2 in the Creepy Hollow (awesome) series, Rachel Morgan is hosting this cute little blogfest that I just had to get in on - it's all about faerie(fairy)tale princes, you see! I am a bit of a sucker for fairytales, at least the "Disney-fied" kind (I've found that the Grimm versions aren't quite so romantic for the most part). So I'm here to tell you that my two favourite princes are Aladdin and Henry. I won't say more, but please allow me to illustrate:

Dude!

Cute for a cartoon!

You're welcome. Right, now that that important business is taken care of, here's the even more important business: buy Rachel's awesome books, or if you're still waiting for payday, at least add them to your TBR on GoodReads!

Aaaand today is the WIP It Good Blogfest, hosted by DL Hammons and Elise Fallson. For WIP It Good, participants are sharing details of their current work in progress. Well, to be honest I haven't done much on any of my numerous WIPs in quite some time, but as of tomorrow I will be writing a new novel for BuNoWriMo. So I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the plans I've got for this June. Therefore, keep in mind that not only do I have no story yet, but the pitch and synopsis below are totally rough draft (and aren't really even a pitch or a proper synopsis).

WIP Title: ELLA (yeah, sorry, that's how I name my drafts)
Word Count (projected): 50,000+
Genre: YA Contemporary...yyyy?
How long have you been working on it?: Zero seconds.

Elevator Pitch:
(I'm not doing a real pitch or even a fake one... this is just meandering blather)
ELLA is (or rather, will be) a story of family drama, and I guess it has a dash of murder mystery in it as well. I also intend to ensure it has some sort of romance. And maybe some tears. But I dunno, maybe hold the tears. We'll see. Oh, and there will be friendship. And a wintery beach. Yeah, baby.

Brief Synopsis: 
Ella and her mother return home after a ten-year road-trip and take refuge with their long-lost family. But things at home are increasingly strained, and Ella is content to be left to her own devices. She ventures out to explore the town she lived in till she was six but hardly remembers.

As a near-friendless loser, Ella tries to uncover more of the town's history - and her own. With help from the only non-relative who doesn't mind being seen with her in public, she soon learns of the decade-old tragedy that still haunts the town. And she is shocked to realise that her own little family sits right at the epicentre.

Ella begins to regret her hunt for the truth. But whether she had sought it or not, the truth would have found her. Because Ella's mother didn't just come home for some R&R, or to have a mental breakdown. She's here on a mission - to dig the past right out of the grave...

(Yeah, that's a bit awkward. But I am loving the IDEA of the story! And that's all that matters at this stage.)

Are you looking for a Critique Partner? 
Ummm, not really. I wish I was. I mean, I have SO many finished novels that need help. But I really am a perfectionist and could never pass a work over to a new CP until I really, truly felt it was "polished". Most of my works are not polished. Not yet. Thanks, though. ;)

Are you looking for a Beta Reader?
Probably same as above, right?

Anyway, I'm excited about BuNo! :)

Rachel Morgan on "Writing A Series"

As part of Rachel Morgan's blog tour for her recently-released novella GUARDIAN, I am thrilled to be hosting Rachel today as a guest speaker/writer/poster person on my blog - my first ever guest blogger!! But that's enough from me. I'm stepping aside so that Rachel can get a word (well, more than just one word!) in edgewise.

---

Writing A Series

I still remember the first book I read that very clearly ended in a cliffhanger and implied there was more to come: Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. My twelve-year-old jaw just about hit the floor as I read the last few lines. What? How can you leave it like that? YOU CAN’T DO THAT! And so I discovered the glorious torture of The Series.

Yes. Glorious. Because despite the fact that it’s torture, I love book series. I love, love, love a story that is too complex, detailed, and just plain epic to fit into a single book. And while it super sucks to have to wait for The Next One, it is always worth it . . .

Some favorite book series:
His Dark Materials
Harry Potter
The Mortal Instruments
The Hunger Games

I always knew I would write series. I loved reading them too much not to end up writing them. But the Creepy Hollow series isn’t quite what I envisioned any of my series to be when I first started writing. I was planning to write novels. So how did a series of novelettes (which, of course, are far shorter than novels) come about? Well, that’s where my other series love comes in:

Some favorite TV series:
The Vampire Diaries
Modern Family
Flash Forward
Dawson’s Creek
Dark Angel
Glee
Brothers and Sisters

Yup, I’ve always loved the TV series idea (who hasn’t?). Watching characters and relationships develop over multiple interlinked stories is fun, not to mention, uh, kind of addictive! So I decided to try combining these two ideas: a series of episode-length stories in book form. And that’s what Creepy Hollow is :-) A number of people have asked how many books there will be in total. Honestly, I don't know. I know what the overall story is and how it will end, but I’m not entirely sure how many novelettes it will take to get there. It’s unlikely it’ll be as many as a 20-something-episode TV series, though!

What are your favorite book and TV series?

~  ~  ~

Rachel Morgan is the author of Guardian, the first novelette in the Creepy Hollow series. She was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. These days, in between teaching mathematics to high school children, she writes fiction for young adults.

Buy Guardian from

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

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Thank you so much for stopping by today, Rachel! I have to say that I love that you mentioned the Dark Angel TV series. That was (and still is) one of my all-time favourite shows, perhaps not least because it got cut off too soon and never went to crap! As for writing series, well I've written at least one of those myself, and have another endlessly in the works, so I can relate to the joy of it! I must say though that I really love your idea of writing a novelette series! That's a new concept to me!

Rachel Morgan's GUARDIAN (Creepy Hollow #1) - review

I'm not much of a book reviewer, though I do occasionally throw together a bunch of words to try and describe what a book means to me. This time I'm writing a review as part of a book tour - the very first I've ever participated in! It's exciting, especially because I got to review an awesome book (well, novelette) that I absolutely adored and would give 50 million stars to if I could. ;) That novelette is by Rachel Morgan and is the first in her Creepy Hollow series. To learn what the story's about, check out the Creepy Hollow website.

When I agreed to be part of Rachel's book tour, I didn't really know what I could expect. I'm not too familiar with Rachel's writing, except through her blog, so I was going in blindly (though the blurb had got my attention and interest!). Starting to read GUARDIAN, I was drawn in and delighted pretty much from the first word. First off, I'm a huge fan of first person present tense, which is how this story is told. I love Rachel's beautiful descriptions of the fae world (Can I please visit? Maybe stay a while?), and as I was reading I could already imagine the story as a gorgeously lush movie. Or maybe even a captivating TV show episode!

Not only is the writing beautiful, it's cute and quirky and funny too. Tora, Violet's boss (or mentor, maybe?), has an office lit by a squirming glow-worm on her ceiling! I want to go and pat the little wormy. After Vi leaves Tora's office (post lecture for breaking the two big rules), she finds Nate hanging out with a little tree sprite who giggles and pokes him in the face before fluttering away (CUTE!). People receive "fae text messages" (as I like to think of them) on little amber tablets instead of mobile phones. There are just endless moments of cuteness - the story is littered with them. But they're mentioned in passing, as a matter of course, so they don't draw you out of the story, they just kind of make it sparkle. The writing flows effortlessly, making for a quick and captivating read.

The dialogue is entertaining and realistic, two things I value highly in any story. For example, on page 6, Nate is surprised to learn that Violet's a faerie:

Nate: Aren't faeries supposed to be, like, really tiny? With wings and a wand and faerie dust?

Violet: I'm not Tinkerbell!

And as for plot, well, that part's just cool. It moves fast, drawing us swiftly into the action (and the romance. Which was another very very cute aspect of this story. I basically squeed when...ohh, well, why don't you read it and find out?), and we don't have any moments when we're rolling our eyes going, “Come on, get on with it already!” In short, this was a delightful read and I want to read more. NOW.

~  ~  ~



Rachel Morgan is the author of Guardian, the first novelette in the Creepy Hollow series. She was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. These days, in between teaching mathematics to high school children, she writes fiction for young adults.


Buy Guardian from
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords


The Creepy Hollow Series
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer


Author Info
Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

Creepy Hollow - GUARDIAN - book launch tour!

I am very excited. Why? Because I get to be part of a book launch tour for the first time evarrrr, and it just so happens to be for a book I really, really adore!

Today, Rachel Morgan's Creepy Hollow series kicks off with the release of the first story, GUARDIAN!!
GUARDIAN introduces readers to the magical world of Creepy Hollow, a realm where fae creatures — both safe and definitely-not-so-safe — dwell. Things are cool as long the fae stick to their own realm. It's when they find their way into the human world that things start going wrong...


1. Receive assignment.

2. Save a life.

3. Sleep.

4. Repeat.

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until one of her assignments—a human boy who shouldn’t even be able to see her—follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? But Nate and Vi are about to land themselves in even bigger trouble—and it’ll take all Vi’s training to get them out alive.

Buy from Amazon US
Buy from Amazon UK
Buy from Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

To find out more about the series, the author, and the characters, check out the blog tour that’s happening over the next two weeks.

Click here for the blog tour schedule

Just so you know, I'll be posting a review of GUARDIAN later in March, and I can't wait to share with all of you (and with Rachel, who hasn't see the review yet) what I thought of this story.

I won things, I won stuff, got awarded, s'all about meeee!

Ahem. Yeah.

So anyway, I like, won!!!

"Won what?!" you ask.

Well, let me tell you! Firstly, I won the Power of Tension Blogfest Contest. And this is pretty special to me, largely 'cause of the competition I was up against! Everyone did such a great job in the Blogfest and I am really honoured to have won! Thank you so much to Cally Jackson and Rachel Morgan for hosting this great event, and for everyone who voted for me! :)

Secondly, I won a prize in Rosie @ East for Green Eyes's What's the Score? Blogfest! So thank you so much Rosie!!

In other news, I also want to thank (in a big way!!) E.J. Wesley for the love he brought me and many others in this entry.



And finally, I want to say THANKS to Carolyn Arnold for the Irresistibly Sweet Award she gave me - which, incidentally, always reminds me of a pepperoni pizza and not a pavlova. :P


Don't you think?!?! Okay, so I guess it's just me... Still, that's why I keep thinking it should be called the Irresistibly Savoury Blog Award! ;) Either way, thank you Carolyn for thinking of me! :) *puts on her horribly sweet smile for all to see*

Basically, THANKS everyone!!! I lurve you! :D

Power of Tension Blogfest - I'm a finalist!

Hey all. I'm excited, because I'm one of six finalists in the Power of Tension Blogfest!! There are a bunch of amazing other excerpts in the finals, and I encourage you to read all of them and vote for the one you like best! You can find links to all the finalists' excerpts HERE.

Voting ends by the end of June 7th AEST time (yay, Aussie time!! :D).

I also want to thank Cally Jackson and Rachel Morgan for hosting this blogfest, which was a lot of fun! I read so many great excerpts as a result of it!

I want to mention that my laptop is really not happy with me and won't let me do a lot of things with Blogger at home. Meaning I have to wait till I'm at work to comment on people's blogs. I'm not sure I should blame my laptop, but if Blogger functions okay at work it can't be Blogger's fault, right??

Now, a BuNoWriMo report for Day #1 (yesterday). I wrote about 1,900 words, bringing my total wordcount for this particular work to about 3,400. I have yet to get started on Day #2's writing session, but I'm almost there! Just wanted to post this first.