Friday 28 June 2013

Friday Celebrations


Welcome to the last Friday in June - can you believe it? 

Thanks to Vikki it's time for our weekly post on those small celebrations in life. It is great to have the opportunity to review our week and find something to feel good about however small that may be. This week daughter number one received her results for her first year at uni. She passed with a 1st! So pleased for her, she has worked really hard. Some of you guys even helped by filling in her online questionnaires and following her on Facebook/Twitter. *Round of applause for you too.* As I have no doubt mentioned before it will be very useful having a qualified advertising and marketing professional in the family in a couple of years time!  Congratulations Alice - can I get those new graphics done now you have some time on your hands for a few weeks?!

Hope everyone has a happy and peaceful weekend whatever you may be doing.




Friday 21 June 2013

Strictly speaking!


It's been a funny sort of week, full of ups and downs and I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster, I'm exhausted! However, I'm determined to finish on a high note so I'm celebrating the fact I am off to see a show tomorrow night. Some of you may know I love dancing , watching it and doing it! For my birthday, way back in January, my husband bought two tickets to see, Vincent and Flavia in their own show 'Midnight Tango'. For any none fans they are two of the professional dancers in the UK TV show, Strictly Come Dancing. I've been looking forward to it for ages, so happy late birthday to me!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Monday 17 June 2013

Taking Time Cover Reveal with Ellie Garratt

Today I am pleased to be part of the cover reveal for Ellie Garratt's new short story collection, Taking Time.

Congratulations Ellie!


Taking Time and Other Science Fiction Stories

 Book Blurb

Science fiction stories of time and space...

The future of humanity must be decided in Next Phase. Winning the Planetary Lottery is not as lucky as it first seems in Schrodinger's Gamble. An apocalypse and its aftermath threaten to tear one couple apart in Daiker's Children. In Life As I Know It a reclusive man finds both his heart and home invaded during an alien harvest. In Taking Time a demon seeking shelter on a distant planet finds himself facing a very different kind of demon, after answering a frontier settlement's plea for help.

Stories range from flash fiction to novelette in length.


Publication date: 15th July 2013


About The Author


A life-long addiction to reading science fiction and horror, meant writing was the logical outlet for Ellie Garratt’s passions. She is a reader, writer, blogger, Trekkie, and would happily die to be an extra in The Walking Dead. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and online. Passing Time: Nine Short Tales of the Strange and Macabre was published in March 2013 and contains nine previously published stories. Her first nine-part science fiction serial will start in September 2013.
  

Author Links


Friday 14 June 2013

Celebrate the small things and weekly round up!


Huge thanks to Viklit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for hosting our weekly celebrations hop!
This week I'm feeling good about the blogging community and all the great stuff that goes on. Thanks to all you wonderfully supportive folks who keep dropping by my blog. 



The talented Louise Walters recently nominated me for a Liebster Award and back in May the lovely Deanie Humphrys-Dunne also nominated me for this award. Thank you both ladies.
I accepted this award earlier in the year so I am just going to post the link HERE.




I'm sure many of you have already heard the low down from DL Hammons on his excellent competition, WRiTE CLUB. If  you haven't then you should certainly check it out, it is sure to be lots of fun!

Happy weekend everyone





Friday 7 June 2013

Birthstone Unicorns - Pearl

Time to introduce you to the lovely Pearl, the traditional birthstone for the month of June. It also represents 30 years of marriage. A special gem because it is the only one of organic nature and not made by Mother Earth herself! The pearl is created from the secreted resin of the oyster or other shelled mollusc.

Pearls are the oldest known gem and for centuries the most valuable.

There are a number of legends surrounding this gem, for example, they have been called Aphrodite's tears of joy, Cleopatra's love potion and Krishna's wedding gift for his daughter. 

The verse from the Gregorian birthstone poem reads;

By her who in June was born
No gem save pearls shall be worn
They will ensure her constancy
True friendship and fidelity

Happy Birthday to all of you born this month. I have posted an extract from Pearl, The Birthstone Unicorn, click on the page tab above if you are interested.





And, as it's Friday, it is also time to thank Vikki for hosting this weekly meme where we can reflect on our small celebrations. This week I was pleased to be one of the co-hosts for IWSG. I read some great posts and have found some lovely new bloggers to follow. A massive thank you to all who visited my blog and left some amazingly kind and supportive words. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Happy Weekend to you all :)

Wednesday 5 June 2013

IWSG June - When insecurities lead to regrets


Alex J. Cavanaugh assisted this month by Sheena-Kay GrahamLaura Eno and yours truly!

This month I'm not insecure about my writing, but I am regretful of some of my past insecurities that may have prevented me from sharing some happy experiences.

Loss, and adjustment to loss, is hard but it is something we all have to deal with at some stage in our lives.  In some respects life can never be the same again and you grieve, not only for the person who is no longer with you, but for all the things they will never be able to share with you. So I want to dedicate my post today to my dear mum, who died in January this year. Mum had a serious stroke 9 years earlier which left her unable to walk or use her right arm but, even worse, unable to speak more than an odd word. As I only began writing seriously 5 years ago it wasn't something I ever got the chance to share with her. She never got the opportunity to read anything I'd written and, even though I told her about some of the things I was doing, I'm not sure she understood. It would have been her 74th birthday tomorrow, maybe somehow, somewhere she will know I am thinking about her and that I am, dare I admit it, a writer!

I know this isn't a usual topic for IWSG and I hope you don't mind me sharing this with you. Writer's can be a secretive bunch of folks, often keeping their passion to write from others. Writing has always been something I loved and even as a young child I remember thinking 'I'm going to write a book one day,' but I NEVER told anyone about it, I had too many insecurities and fears! One regret I have is that Mum never knew about something that is such a huge part of my life.