Er,  blogging, that is. Pft!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys and mysterious, nosey little imps prepared a 2011 annual report for my blog. How efficient is that? Since this is the first I’ve heard of it,  I thought I’d share the evidence. My goal this year is to increase some of these stats by blogging more often. *Wink* You know the drill… I’ve got the t-shirt. It’s looking rather holey.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,000 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Don’t laugh too much!

Hugs,

Image via Wikipedia

Gosh! My Christmas break wasn’t this long, honest! But oh, my! How time does fly. I must do better. After all, it is a new year, right? New Year. New Start.  And all that jazz. Yeah, yeah. I know. You’ve heard it all before. But this time, I mean it. LOL

Rightio! First things first. I’d like to announce the winners of my book following the not-so-recent Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road  book tour. Congratulations goes to…

- Larken, over at Micheal and Season’s blog, Blossom and Thorn, where  I guested – and Na.S for leaving a lovely comment here.

Thank you for taking part. I’ll be in touch with both of you and will send my book to you right away!

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your comments and to also thank Susan and Michael for having me as their naughty little guest. The tea and cucumber sandwiches were delicious and my dressing room absolutely divine! THANK YOU!

OKAY, next time I update my blog, I will not leave it quite so long. Cross my heart and hope (not) to die!

BIG HUGS ALL ROUND XX

Go here to start the treasure hunt for a chance to win a KINDLE!

Welcome to my writing dungeon! LOL Grab yourself a chain and steady that whip as we take another hunt around my website to look for the next ‘Holiday Hat’ logo #12 out of 19 available to find. No it’s not on this page or in the main sidebar of my blog.  *Evil laugh*

You have to dig a little deeper to find mine!

That also means, those of you subscribing via email (thank you by the way!) need to pop along to my blog to find it.
Hint: LOOK for the word Media – and  you’ll find logo #12!

Just in case you didn’t know the tour link in the Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road logo, in the sidebar on the right, is where the tour actually starts. (Also seen above!)

I’m featured twice – once over at Micheal and Season’s blog, Blossom and Thorn,  on the 5th December, and today we are partying here. Still time to comment over there – so do pay me a visit please :)

The idea is that you hunt for as many ‘Holiday Hat’ book covers as you can find and then list them all as you go along. Then, at the end of the book tour send them in to Sassy Brit to enter into the draw for a chance to WIN the KINDLE!

Alongside the Kindle competition, there are also daily prizes to win. Everyone hosting a tour will put up a different prize each day of the tour. So there are lots of prizes up for grabs. And you have until 22nd Dec 2011 to leave a comment for a chance to win any of the individual prizes.

I’m giving away a copy of my ebook, Black Ice to one lucky commenter!  :) Closing date to leave a comment is 22nd Dec 2011.

Did you know, 13  is my lucky number?  Today’s the 13th. I wonder what’s in store for me today.

I do hope you will join in!  Happy hunting!

BIG HUGS ALL ROUND XX

Go here to start the treasure hunt for a chance to win a KINDLE!

Hi again!

Today I am being featured over at Michael and Season’s blog, Blossom and Thorn for my first day in the Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road tour.
Please pop along if  you dare and leave a comment for a chance to win my book Black Ice!

While you are there, don’t forget to hunt for the ‘Holiday Hat’ book cover logo #6 on Michael and Season’s blog, if you want to be in for a chance of winning the KINDLE.

The idea is that you hunt for as many ‘Holiday Hat’ book covers as you can find and then list them all at the end of the book tour and send them in to Sassy Brit @gmail.com – to be entered into the draw for a chance to WIN the KINDLE! Really easy and not much effort at all.

Alongside the Kindle competition, there are also daily prizes to win. Everyone hosting a tour will put up a different prize each day of the tour. So there are lots of prizes up for grabs, as well as the main Kindle.

I’m giving away a copy of my ebook, Black Ice to one lucky commenter today and on the 13th December! :) Closing date to leave a comment on both days is 22nd Dec 2011.

Do come and say hello and check out what Michael and Season have in store for me today! Happy hunting and BIG HUGS ALL ROUND!

Go here to start the treasure hunt for a chance to win a KINDLE!

Howdi!

Okay, as now I am in the middle of a book blog tour, raising awareness of my latest writing ‘plum’ (success) a story I have in the anthology, Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road I had little time to write for Nano… I now know never to jump into Nano when I have a book launch to prepare for and participate in! LOL

Just in case you didn’t know the tour link in the Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road logo, in the sidebar on the right, is where the tour actually starts. (Also seen above!)

I’m going to be featured twice – once over at Micheal and Season’s blog, Blossom and Thorn,  on the 5th December, and then everyone is coming here to party on 13th December, to hunt for the ‘Holiday Hat #12 out of 19 to  be found.

The idea is that you hunt for as many ‘Holiday Hat’ book covers as you can find and then list them all at the end of the book tour and send them in to Sassy Brit @gmail.com – to be entered into the draw for a chance to WIN the KINDLE!

Alongside the Kindle competition, there are also daily prizes to win. Everyone hosting a tour will put up a different prize each day of the tour. So there are lots of prizes up for grabs, as well as the main Kindle.

I’m giving away a copy of my ebook, Black Ice to one lucky commenter on 13th! :) Closing date to leave a comment is 22nd Dec 2011.

I do hope you will join in! Happy hunting!

Straight up. I’m sharing this because I am an affiliate, but also because this is WORTH IT and a VERY GOOD deal. I would never recommend anything I hadn’t tried myself and I only wish I had discovered her courses sooner!

Novelist Holly Lisle has not only made a career writing books, but has a passion for teaching other writers all the tips and tricks she knows. To celebrate her 50th birthday, as well as the beginning of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), she has sweetened the deal on her popular writing course, How to Revise Your Novel.

You might not be finished yet, but this course is closing down. Read on!

You’ve finished your novel, but now what? In How to Revise Your Novel, Holly shows you how to make a one-pass revision of your novel, streamlining the process and saving endless hours of rewrite after rewrite.

Most writers, including most professional writers, do revisions like a cosmetic surgeon trapped in an ER.

They’re doing their thing on a patient who isn’t breathing, who has bled from everywhere, and whose heart has stopped… and they can’t figure out why that nose job isn’t bringing him back to life.

- Almost every writer does revision wrong, by starting on page one, line one, and “fixing” the story one sentence at a time.

- Almost every revision kills most of what’s good in a novel without fixing what’s bad.

- Almost every first draft never makes it to second draft.

- And almost every first novelist abandons that first novel forever, tucking it (and the opportunity to learn the most amazing part of writing fiction—how to turn first draft-dross into final-draft gold) in a box under the bed.

How to Revise Your Novel will show you how to do it right. To find out more here!

Until November 2nd at 10:00 AM (EST), Holly is giving everyone that enrolls in How to Revise Your Novel a bonus. Just for signing up, Holly is giving away two of her popular video courses – THE WRITING CRAFT: Dialogue and Subtext ($50 value) and THE WRITING CRAFT: How To Motivate Yourself (another $50 value) .

In THE WRITING CRAFT: Dialogue and Subtext, you will learn:

- What subtext is, and what it isn’t—and how this simple definition opens the doors for you to create rich, multilayered characters in stories that interweave suspense, hidden action, deception, triumph, hopes and dreams with depth you’ve never achieved before.

- How to break apart subtext into its three elements—thoughts, words, and actions—and how, once you have the whole thing in pieces, you can easily adapt each piece to do different things for you. Talking about the weather will no longer just be talking about the weather.

- How to put the pieces back together again in four ways that will allow you to use subtexts in any situation where you need it: from a character sitting alone in a room to a group of characters enmeshed in a heated argument. Get EXACTLY the effect you want from every dialogue—internal or external, solo or group—your characters have.

- Finally, you’ll put everything you’ve learned into practice. Using the provided worksheet, you will begin writing dialogue with subtext today.

In THE WRITING CRAFT: How To Motivate Yourself, you will learn:

- Exercises that will allow you to discover what’s been keeping you from achieving your goals—because, believe me, you have reasons, and if you’re willing to look, you’ll discover that they’re good ones.

- You’ll discover how to give yourself better reasons for doing the things you want.

- You’ll discover your right to be motivated—and if that sounds weird, realize that many people never accomplish what they want in life because they don’t think they HAVE the right to be motivated.

- You’ll learn how to separate what you really want from things you think you should want (things that leave you feeling guilty when you don’t pursue them, but never win your heart).

- You’ll take a torch to your excuses—AFTER you learn what you get out of hanging on to them.

These bonuses will only be available until November 2nd at 10:00 (EST). To find out more about How to Revise Your Novel.

Seriously, Holly Lisle is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Writing wise, that is! LOL And you only have tomorrow to let her help you too! Trust me. I’m not a doctor, but I sure know a good deal when I see one.

Happy writing! I’ve done 1,749 words today out of my target 1,666. Yeah, I’m smokin’. I just hope I can keep it up!  Add me as a buddy if you are playing too, and I’ll add you. http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/angelikadevlyn

So long, buddies,

HUGS

I’m mad to do this, but it needs to be done. As for my ‘get up earlier’ new routine – Friday was the last day of the week and today is a Monday -  even harder to get up after a night out on the town. So MASSIVE fail there!

So, *deep breath* I’m going all in and writing the 1666 words a day for Nano – without a care in the world or a second thought to just how I am going to do this. I think the main deal is to just be there – sitting at my desk writing something. So if anyone else reading this is going for it, too, let me know as I sure as hell could do with the support. Yeah, someone to hold my hand and perhaps write it for me? LOL

If it works you should  be able to see my Nano Profile.  Why not add me as a buddy, so you can keep tabs on me?

Catch you later, gotta get a good night’s kip so I can get up earlier to start. News is that some people are so keen they are going to bed really early in order get up at midnight to get a head start. As you can probably tell, I am not one of  THOSE people…but good luck everyone.

See you on the other side!

Hugs,

Welcome the Thursday, OCT 27th  #BlogHop4Writers post!
Thursday, 27th Oct:
QUESTION: Being a writer means that you are also an entrepreneur: have you set business/financial goals for this year and how are you going to achieve them?  Question provided by author: Clayton Bye

I nearly spurted my tea all over my computer when I read this one!

But then I thought about it long and hard. And came up with this.

Business and financial goals for a writer, published or not – should include SALES less expenses = Profit. And to get a sale we must have something to sell, right, and that means writing a book. Lots of books, in fact, mean more sales, because you have more to sell. So it makes sense, the more we write the more we publish the more we have to sell. For someone like me with not many books to promote – I think I need to concentrate on writing more, don’t you?

My Goal:
I set myself a goal for the last quarter of this year. More than anything I need to write more books as this gives more choice for readers. So an hour a day writing – no matter what – is going to have to happen.  A goal is not a goal if you cannot measure it. I am giving myself three months to get into this habit.

How I am going to achieve it:
By taking action! I am going to get up earlier to do it. I figured my brain is not as addled or burnt out by anything else I’ve seen or heard during the day as I will have just have woken from a good night’s sleep it will be – pure and fresh, just like me. :P Plus, I have to get moving and get into my usual non-writing morning routine (breakfast etc) at around 7.30am, so I have a cut off point. My morning time is limited. I can’t get trapped writing all day and accidentally forget all my other responsibilities – I must get up, write and be finished by 7.30am.

When:
Starting tomorrow. Weekdays will be easier to get up over weekends, so I will set a 5 day a week early start and if I can do extra at the weekends, which are usually extremely busy, then weekends will just be a bonus. And I won’t make my goal too hard. I know I can get up earlier in the mornings during the week, with effort mind you, but I can do it. I am not at all sure I can cope with it at the weekends, so there is no point, in my opinion, to add this as part of my goal – as I will automatically feel as though I have failed – even before I start. And goals should be achievable, right?

Have you set any business or financial goals? Admittedly this is more about the ‘producing of a product’  (a book in my case) than a financial goal.

What’s your take on this? I think it’s a great question. Find out what the others are saying, here!

Hugs

Welcome the Thursday, Oct 13th  #BlogHop4Writers post!
Thursday, Oct 13th: QUESTION: Character physical descriptions, do you like a lot or a little? How do you make sure your readers see your character they way you want them to? Question provided by author: Amy Romine This is a Blog Hop!

Well,  anyone who knows me, knows I love to keep people guessing LOL

So, I wouldn’t give all my secrets away, just hint at them. *Wink! Wink!* And it’s the same for characterisation and physical description.  It’s good to describe them to give a reader an idea of your character and what s/he looks like, but I do like to leave a little to the imagination. It’s like going COMMANDO as opposed to wearing a little extra something, to tease you with. Leaving a little bit to the imagination is good. Right? ;)

I also like to drop in hints throughout a story, not have a solid paragraph explaining every detail of their face and clothes like I was taught to at school.

I’m happy if a reader sees a character differently to how I describe them, after all – it’s going to happen. How often do you go to the pictures to see a film after you’ve read and book and thought  that a character looks totally different on the screen to how you imagined him or her?
Does it matter? I don’t think so! 

What do you think about today’s #BlogHop4Writers question?

Go here and DO THE HOP for this week.

Hugs

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Surprised?

You should be.

Well, what’s wrong? I hear you ask, as you place a hand on my forehead and eye up the thermometer laying innocently on the shelf.

Nothing. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. I’m on tip-top form and I’ve even been doing some “series” book planning and site updates.

You want proof? I whine, quickly hiding the thermometer behind my back when you are not looking.

Here you go. Check out the recently updated banner and twitter section to your right, in the sidebar. —> Also, check out the ‘My Books’ page. It’s updated with more information about the anthology my latest story is in. Writers on the Wrong Side of the Road.  (Apt  or what?) 

As for writing… it’s more planning at this stage, but I’ve pulled up my long white socks and grabbed a purple pen to jot down everything I want to add in the rest of the Dark Kingdom Chronicles series…  *Big Grin* 

This time next week, (ahem!) — roughly– I hope to have something more concrete down to show you. 

And no, that doesn’t mean concrete pants. Tsk! Tsk! 

So, that’s my story… what’s yours?