Thank you!

Random picture - Looe, Cornwall - March 2012

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. And it got me thinking...

When I first started this blog, that was the direction I assumed I'd take. I'd have an opinion about something, and then lots of people would have their opinions too - agreeing and disagreeing, and generally having a solid debate.

But I got a bit distracted by blogfests and tags and hops.

These blogfests and tags go in waves, so that there are weeks when that's all I seem to be posting. Although I love taking part in them, it feels as though I'm losing the roots of the blog. They are a great way of keeping in touch with those bloggers I follow, but don't necessarily visit regularly. The more blogs I follow, the less I can keep up with them... which is such a lame excuse when I look at the numbers of people some of you follow!

The A-Z Challenge in April was a great experience, but I found I could barely string two written words together for about a month afterwards. It was my first time, though, so perhaps I just didn't plan it properly.

I don't think too many things will change, but just be prepared for some more opinions!

Has your blog morphed since it began?

Have you embraced the change?

Thoughts about Twitter

I resisted Twitter for a long time, I didn't think anything could usurp Facebook for me, but if you're my friend on Facebook, you'll know I'm not there as much as I used to be. I love Twitter for the fact I can interact with famous people, whether they want me to or not... (That makes me sound like some kind of crazed stalker, but I'm not, I'm completely normal... honest!)

After watching other people raving about it, I joined. And it is great - especially during big events like the Olympics when there was so much information coming from the athletes and commentators.

But... (ah, you knew there was a but didn't you??) whilst I think I'm playing the game well, others are starting to annoy me.

Yes, I am an author.

Yes, I have a book available.

Yes, I would like everyone who reads about my book to buy it (Cat and The Dreamer, links on the left-hand bar...)

BUT... on Twitter I talk about other things. Yes, funnily enough, I have a 'real' life - I have housework to do, a job to go to, I love going to the gym and watching Homes Under the Hammer. All of this you'll have probably read about on Twitter and Facebook. Every so often, when I've garnered enough new followers, I'll mention my novella - a brief link, a did you know this about me kind of tweet.

Those others I mentioned above, some of them talk their book in every tweet... that seems to be the sole purpose for them having a Twitter account. They aren't real people, they are quotes from their book. Or perhaps they are the book. Perhaps these (mostly) self-published books are rising up, locking their authors in a cupboard, and creating their own accounts. This I could forgive. I mean, how many books do you know that enjoy an evening jog or coffee with a friend?

I am on the verge of culling people solely for this reason. I did unfollow someone who during the Olympic opening ceremony who, while everyone else seemed to be talking about what they were watching, tweeted THREE times about his book. Nope, wrong, gone.

What do you think? Does this annoy you as much as it annoys me?

Am I being unreasonable? Have you culled people for the same reason?
Are you going to cull me because of this post??

Kyra's Cover Reveal

By now, you've probably seen Kyra's novella cover everywhere - she's so good at infiltrating blogs... but just in case you've been under a rock here it is...


Title: If I Let You Go (Novella)

Category: New Adult (NA)
Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Release Date: October 22^nd 2012

Synopsis:

Madison Connor is about to lose it. Her job, that is. For three years, she’s taken care of Dominic Hartley’s five year old daughter, Tilly, but her world is flipped on its head when Dominic tells her his latest promotion is taking him to New York. With Tilly having a meltdown over the move, Madison and Dominic get into a fight that changes the entire nature of their relationship, causing Madison to ask herself a big question. Can she let him go?

Bio:

Kyra Lennon was born on the South coast of England, and to this day, still lives by the sea. Fiction writing has always been her passion, but she also has numerous articles on a variety of topics published on prolific websites.

Kyra’s debut novel, Game On, was released in July 2012 and the second book in the series, Blindsided, is due for release in November 2012. 

Where to find Kyra:

Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads

Genre Favourites?

It's just occurred to me that I haven't posted all week - I've just moved from one blogfest to another - and I really hadn't noticed! I'll try hard to rectify this over the next few weeks, and hopefully visit a lot more of your blogs than I've managed recently. I've been using my marketing head on Cat and The Dreamer, and getting a couple more short stories ready for submission, and (still) decorating. 

From the curious mind of Alex J Cavanaugh comes:

One blogfest, four favourites!

List your favorite genre of:

Movie

Music

Books

And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories!

So here goes:

Movie Genre: So hard,because I tend to watch films by who's in them. Favourite actors include Johnny Depp, Brad Bitt, Morgan Freeman, Adam Sandler, Tim Roth, Samuel L Jackson (apart from Snakes on a Plane). These are actors that span different genres, and I'm pretty happy to follow them anywhere they want to go.
Special Mention: British films. I know it's not a genre, but I love the variety of films that we produce, and I try hard to see them preferably in the cinema - although that hasn't been possible recently.

Music Genre: Rock/heavy rock/stadium rock... I'm not going to name them, because my choices are pretty old now, and it would date me and seem very lame!
Special Mention: Glam Rock... I know, I know... but think how many incredible acts were spawned from the glam period.... T Rex, David Bowie, Queen... they were all on the cusp of that genre and they should be proud.

Book Genre: Literary fiction. Stories that don't follow a formula, that surprise, that make you think. I'm not keen on literary fiction that's trying to be literary (and those books and authors are so obvious), but I like the ones that simply don't conform to other genres, and whose prose takes the story to another level.

Guilty Pleasure: Rom Coms, including 10 Things I Hate About You, 50 First Dates, The Wedding Singer - all those films you can curl up with on a lonely Saturday night (and as the wife of a gigging musician, I have plenty of those) and guarantee a tear or two by the end.

Click here for the list of participants. Are you taking part? If so, I'll be popping along later!

What's Your Chocolate? blogfest

When someone asks me a question about chocolate, I can't help but reply!

M Pax, Laura, Brinda and Ciara obviously have chocolate on the brain even more than me, because I'd never have considered a chocolate-based blogfest, but these lovely ladies did.


This is the story of my first taste of chocolate.

I was born on a pretty unique day: the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. This is unique because although my birthday has and will continue to fall on Saturdays, I will be 73 the next time my birthday falls on an Easter Saturday (Western calendar).

Pretty cool, I think!

So, the day after I was born it was Easter Sunday, and at the age of about 12 hours, my dad put a tiny speck of Cadbury's Creme Egg on the tip of his finger and let me have my first taste of chocolate. I couldn't tell you what it tasted like, I was far too busy being cuddled and drifting off to sleep, but I'm sure there was a brief insight of all the wonderful things I could look forward to when I got bigger and was able to do things like roll over and sit up all by myself!

I've been slightly obsessive about chocolate ever since - and especially about Easter Eggs. There's something so lovely about the shape and the size, and the smaller eggs or bars hidden inside. As a grown-up, I've learnt to live with having just one egg (sigh), but I make sure it's a good one!

I really, really love those eggs which have full-sized chocolate box chocolates inside them!

Actually it's been a very long time since I've had a Creme Egg - and I'm fairly sure we Brits stick to having them as Easter treats (by which I mean, they go on sale on Boxing Day). But just in case, I think I'll pop to the shop...

The question has to be, was I the youngest chocolate-eater?

I'm sure something special happened on the 5th September one year... a sort of IWSG post

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for another insecure post. You know the drill by now, and if you don't click the logo in the right-hand side-bar to find out all about the wonderful Alex J Cavanaugh and his fantastic blogfest.

Except, once again, I'm not feeling overly insecure. This has happened about three times since the very first post almost a year ago (we're two days short of a full year). That's not bad, is it, three secure moments in a year! (Well, I hope there have been more than that, or else I'm in BIG TROUBLE!)

The reason this time is because I'm writing a new novella, rewriting some old stories to keep my submission levels up (I've been very bad at submitting this last year or so), I have a short story online at Alfie Dog Fiction and... it's my wedding anniversary today!

14 years!

I know, I'm not old enough to have been married for 14 years, right?? LOL!

I would post pictures, but this was before digital photography so the photos are actually in a big box stored in a big inaccessible cupboard. Just so you know: I look fifteen and very scared, and Hubby is wearing big round 1990s glasses which makes it look as though I'm marrying Harry Potter. There, that's enough description to help you imagine the scene.

Anyway, I'm probably not going to be around much today, but I'll try my best to visit insecure writers tomorrow.

Is anyone else celebrating today?