Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Thank You for Believing in Me

Many bloggers are contemplative during January, looking back and looking forward…I want to use this post to say THANK YOU.
Thank you to everyone who has supported my writing and my blog, and to all who’ve taken time to comment on my pages, or review my book!

This time last year I began getting to know some amazing writers and readers online: Blogs, Twitter and Facebook…and I’d like to share a post I wrote a year ago (before I knew many of you!). Thank you for believing in me!

The Future belongs to Those who Believe in the Beauty of their Dreams.

Eleanor Roosevelt had it exactly right…the future really does belong to those who believe in their dreams…

How many of us started out with huge dreams…the kind that stretched far, far beyond what we can see? How many of us played in the woods building forts and defending them from intruders and dragons, or by the ocean building sand castles and trenches? Were you so lost in books that you felt the Famous Five were your best friends? Did you skirt the local park with dark glasses searching for villains and opportunities to spy or use your magic super powers? Did you build Lego towns and fill them with adventure? Did you play ‘Pooh Sticks’ or race paper boats down the river? Did you draw fantastical pictures and wait at night for them to come alive? Were your stories so magical you slipped into them when you dreamed at night? Did you make mud pies and feed a family of dolls and teddy bears? Did you dream? Did you have dreams so strong you were sure you would achieve them?

I did…I knew exactly what I wanted as a child… I wanted to own horses, to spend my days galloping across mountains and valleys… I wanted to live by the ocean and swim in the sea every day… I wanted to write and see my stories published… I wanted to draw and paint and illustrate… Yes, I had dreams…

To be truthful, some were just childhood imaginings, fun, playtime. I was never going to live in the forest and defend my homestead from dragons…
I had ambition, as a child I wanted to write and draw, and I did, making books from A5 paper…I devoured Cicely Mary Barker’s ‘Flower Fairies’ and made up my own, stapling pages together and inventing rhymes to go with them. I bought tiny A6 notepads and wrote stories, lost in a world of my own. I drew, sitting on my bed with a sketch pad, my tongue protruding as I concentrated on my art, sketching for hours.

Images by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use)

My dreams grew with aspirations and ideas as I got older, just as my art did. From the crude pencil drawings of a ten-year-old, to more sophistication at thirteen and more mature at nineteen. My dreams grew up…but not always in a good way. I became cynical and reserved in my dreams, trying to think of things that could actually happen, things that weren’t too lofty for me to achieve…and perhaps that’s just where I began to lose them…

I began to doubt myself, my ability and question the reality of the things I once wanted. Was I good enough to illustrate, or to write something that people, real people, would actually want to read? That doubt, along with the realities of life, leaving school, getting a job, getting married and having children, stopped me from pursuing those things I’d dreamed of all my childhood.

I don’t blame anyone, I just let life take over and my dreams faded like an old masterpiece hung on a wall that no one does more than glance at, left to saturate in the glare of every day sun.
I could have been more than the sum of what I am right now…that does make me sad…there is so much more I could have achieved. It was when I was thirty that I decided I could become more, that those old buried dreams deserved a second look. And I began to write.

Self-belief has taken a lot longer…however, slowly over the years those shattered dreams have come alive, my writing has fed my aspirations and words that I thought would never interest anyone have become the tool for rebuilding those dreams.

So, yes, it’s true I have never found myself dwelling in the woods defending my little wooden fort from all things evil, but those dragons I used to chase off in my imagination, now live on paper. I believe in them, I believe in me…and that’s where it all starts…the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams…I intend to believe in mine.

Once again, thank you for believing in me!

Bekahcat: Ice

1 Reply

An ineligible entry to Bekahcat’s 99xs-store contest:
Categories: Design a t-shirt, a piece of art or 50 words on the theme of ICE

My entry won’t be counted as I’m related to Bekah, but this is my photo and my story:

Photograph by Lisa Shambrook using Streamzoo

(Please do not use without permission)

Jack had no idea how long this hot spell would last, but it was playing havoc with work…he could barely get the basics done in the short, cool early hours.

The ice caps melted, the temperature rose, and he brushed his hand across the glass for the very last time…

(50 Words)

Read the other entries at The Adventures of a Bekah Cat and enter yourself!

Instagram vs Streamzoo…Photo Apps

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Photograph by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

I have a thing for beautiful images and I enjoy manipulating photographs, so when I got my smartphone one of the first apps I picked up was Instagram, a popular basic photo editing app, and I was keen to experiment!

I like taking photos, from snapshots to more arty work, so when Bekah blogged about several editing apps here on bekahcat.blogspot.co.uk I thought I’d get in on the act…

After using Instagram for a while, she found a new app called Streamzoo and I quickly tried it out myself. My problems with Instagram are that it’s very basic, and I found myself wanting a greater variety of effects as I used it. I didn’t want all my photos necessarily square either! Now don’t get me wrong, I love Instagram; particularly ‘Amaro’ and ‘Earlybird’ for washed out effects, ‘X-Pro’ and ‘Lo-Fi’ for vibrancy and colour, ‘Brannon’ for a darker look and ‘Nashville’ who wouldn’t like the movie border effect?
But, sometimes I wish the borders could be interchangeable with the photo effects.
I’ve also had a problem with Instagram not fully uploading the edited picture at times. Resulting in only half a picture ready to be posted with the rest blacked out. I cannot find a resolution to this problem, and it appears to be associated with Samsung phones. Grrr. And you may quickly realise that Instagram is not a company easily contacted. Its online presence is extremely minimal, with only a homepage and basics, everything is done on your phone or tablet.

So, to Streamzoo, it’s easy to find and download, via your application store, and sign up to. You choose a photo in the same way as Instagram and then you see the differences. Its first page allows you to choose the crop you desire: none, custom, square etc then you move to the next page and choose your filter, using the tab at the base of the screen, these are like the Instagram filters but with a more arty feel, I loved the ‘Masterpiece’ filter. There are several B/W, sepia options, including a favourite of mine ‘Classical’ an ‘old’ texture.
After that comes your choice of border, again by clicking the tab at the base of the screen. There are fifteen borders, again much more artistic and varied. Then there is a Tilt-Shift option, which was new to me, but can change the whole definition of your photograph, picking out areas to highlight. Lastly you get the option to play with the colours, hue, saturation etc of your image before naming and uploading your finished picture.
Streamzoo is a little harder to figure out on the social aspect, Instagram is easy, upload and it’s published to your stream and all those following you can see it. From there you can share it online. Streamzoo is not set up well for social networking. You need followers, but it is less well-known and harder to find followers, though once you have five followers you can actually use the app at home on your computer/laptop as well on your phone or pad!

So here are my experiments:

Photograph taken by myself with a standard digital camera on macro setting and no photoshopping.

Instagram, cropped with ‘Hudson’ filter and border.

Streamzoo, no cropping, ‘Masterpiece’ filter and ‘Fancy’ border.

Three images with different looks. And just for good measure I thought I’d show you one of Streamzoo’s B/W options:

Streamzoo ‘Classical’ with ‘Curl’ border.

I tried using this photo with Instagram too but it wouldn’t fully upload, perhaps a problem that Instagram may fix in the future…

So…have a go, download, upload and have fun…and follow me on either app as: lastkrystallos

Note: All photographs (except logos) by Lisa Shambrook

(Please do not use any without permission)

Being a Flash Fictioneer (like a writing Musketeer…or something similar…)

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Photograph by Lisa Shambrook (please do not use without permission)

Scribbling notes onto scrap paper, improvising stories in the playground, acting ‘spies’ in the park with my brother and creating long detailed character lists for future epics was how I spent half my childhood…drawing and reading occupied the other half!

Then I grew up and life got busy!

I continued to imagine and write, but barely more than a diary entry or shopping list…
It took years before my confidence recovered enough to allow my creative side freedom once more. When my youngest was born I began to write again creating a world of fantasy and dragons for my children, and I knew I had to let my writing develop wings of its own.

After discovering Twitter, some random follows lead me to Five Sentence Fiction with Lillie McFerrin. Over Christmas last year I read lots of entries, but wasn’t sure of blogging etiquette and whether I could just join in…I could! I threw myself in feet first with Clandestine and there it was my first ever Flash Fiction!

I got some encouraging comments, another first for my humble little blog, and I couldn’t wait for the following week’s word, hoping my ability to string together a little paragraph with a twist wasn’t just a ‘flash in the pan’ (pun intended!)
The following week gave my writing purpose and creativity.
Til then everything I’d written over ten years had been lengthy works in progress and one finished book. I hadn’t written anything short, bar occasional poetry. Five sentences had fired my brain, making me think hard and forcing me to create a whole story in nothing more than a few lines.
It made me confront structure, characters, language, nuances, metaphors and twists; I even had to brush up on grammar, though I’m no way an expert, so forgive a few semi-colons lurking where they shouldn’t!
Five sentences had me trying prose, a snapshot of a moment, a whole story and many other variations in creative writing in response to a single prompt word.

And along the way I made friends who, without knowing, built up not only my self-confidence and writing skills, but my self-worth at the same time.

When, in April, I saw many friends entering Anna Meade and Susi Holliday‘s Once Upon A Time Contest I read the entries eagerly, but didn’t think I could enter, then several bloggers asked if I was, and I suddenly realised I’d become part of a wonderfully supportive writing community, and if I believed in my writing it was time to diversify! So I entered and this adventure ended with my story being included in the Once Upon A Time: A Collection of Unexpected Fairytales book amongst authors I really admire!

Since then my Flash Fictioneering has grown, my blog has become a writer’s blog and my skills have expanded.

I’ve taken part in the Forbidden Love Bloghop hosted by Lillie, Ruth and Janelle; yearningforwonderland’s Faerytaleish Pinterest Contest with The Coat, for which I got an Honourable Mention, and Waiting; I wrote an Unzombie Tale for zombiemechanics flash fiction contest and completed Terri Long’s Blogflash2012.
I’ve written actual stories, learning how to craft and structure, I’ve learned how to cut what doesn’t matter. I’ve learned how every word counts, especially in anonymouslegacy’s Visual Dare and jezri’s Nightmare’s 55 Word Challenge, both Angela and Lisa’s challenges show that every word makes a difference and you quickly discover what you don’t need!
These visual prompts allowed me to explore different genres and ideas and put me on the spot, 55 Words only allows 24 hours…think fast!

Becoming a Flash Fictioneer has helped me no end, there are still new prompts I want to try sweetbananaink’s Friday Night Write‘s musical prompt chief among them, though I’ve learned that right now my weekend’s are usually too busy to write! And try oneword my latest find, hit the button, see the word and you have sixty seconds to write!

So if you want to flex those creative muscles, get over to one of these sites, I shouldn’t need to prompt you now, should I?

*Note: There are other Flash Fiction sites available: glitterword’s Tuesdaytales, caramichaels Menagemonday and Donna B. McNichol’s Write4ten to name a few. If I’m missing any you love, feel free to comment below!

Sunshine Award…

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The lovely Afsaneh at Dreaming of Stories nominated me for this one…maybe it’ll help bring the sun back after months of rain this Summer…here goes:

You need to include the Logo and a link to who nominated you…

Give 10 things about yourself, nominate and link a further 10 for the award…

So here are 10 slightly obscure (or not) facts about myself:

1. I’m possibly happiest with my feet in the water – paddling along the shoreline, kicking the surf makes me happy. Sand tickling my toes, though I hated sand in my shoes as a kid, absolutely loathed it!

2. West Wales has a realm of glorious sandy beaches to traverse, rain or shine, wellies or barefoot, but I still miss the pebble beaches of Brighton (SE England) where I grew up. I miss the sound of the sea churning the pebbles, throwing stones at cans and hearing that ‘plomp’ when pebbles hit the water!

3. My favourite chocolate is Lindt Creamy Milk, closely followed by Galaxy.

4. I once spent a couple of weeks as a ten-year-old dragging a piece of string around as my invisible dog after watching Murdock do the same on ‘The A-Team’, yes, he was mad…

5. I have a split personality when it comes to making decisions, resulting in me being the most infuriatingly indecisive person I know!

6. When I was about eight-years-old I got my right index finger crushed in the hinges of an old, red telephone box. I hid in it whilst playing ’44 Save All’ not the best place…two boys obscured my exit and held the heavy door closed on my finger; my almost glass-shattering scream made them let go and I emerged with a much squashed finger!

7. My favourite childhood books were ‘The Silver Brumby’ books by Elyne Mitchell, I devoured the whole series about Thowra and his offspring, and desperately wanted to be a horse or have one! It was my little sister who ended up owning five horses!

8. I got married at nineteen and we celebrated twenty years together last year, it’s our twenty-first in a few months time!

9. Back to indecisiveness…my best mate Mark took me to a jewellers on my eighteenth and asked them to pierce my ears, I kept putting it off! I love unusual earrings and jewellery!

10. One day when I’m a little old lady living on my own…I want to be a mad, bad, eccentric cat lady!

And ten lovely Bloggers…who bring me sunshine!

Jo-Anne Teal @jtvancouver

Bekah Shambrook @bekahcat

Stacy Bennett-Hoyt @Rowanwolf66

Ruth Long @bullishink

Christina Krieger @cvkrieger

Rakel’ Sampson @SampsonWriter

Sophie Moss @SMossWrites

Angela Goff @Angela_Goff

Angela @ang_writes

McKenzie Barham @Love_Kenzie_

Sink or Swim…

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I feel invigorated, full of energy, ready for anything! For the first time in over a year I’ve been swimming…doesn’t sound like much, but I used to swim every week and I loved it as much as writing.

Photo: Aberieddy By Lisa Shambrook

Then I allowed depression to pull me under and the lack of motivation kicked in. I’ve blogged about my depression before here and my love of swimming here, but didn’t really realise what an antidote to depression swimming is…
As I feel myself sinking in real life it takes effort to stay afloat…but this time I’ve had an influx of love and support from amazing friends.
Last time I slipped under I relied heavily on antidepressants and dealt with the excessive lethargy they left me with, this time I want to take a different approach.
I don’t want to sleep, I want to feel alive!
The answer is exercise…and I’m very grateful to have children who want me to live and not drown like a zombie!
So here I am, ready to dive in and power on through life no matter what whirlpool tries to drag me down into its murky depths. To start with I’ll swim; there’s nothing better than feeling the water envelope and lift me…then diving beneath and swimming…just myself and the water…

Nothing more relaxing to me than launching into a pool and surging underwater, those few mere moments of being alone and at one with the elements. Then the rhythmic movements of swimming, kicking, breathing…living and feeling the power of life within…

If money was no object I’d have a pool…it’s the one luxury I would take and enjoy.

How do you cope when life’s pressures become too much?

And if money was not an issue what would you do/have to help?

Be Inspired

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I’ve been tagged by the wonderful Rowanwolf (check out her novel answers on her blog) in a new Blog Hop, which originated on Vicki Orians blog. The idea is to share our inspiration and hopefully inspire others! A great opportunity for us writer people to blog about our writing inspiration!

1. Answer the ten questions
2. Tag five other writers, link to them in your post so we can hop over and see their answers too.

The Questions:

1. What is the name of your book:
My current work in progress will be a fair time in edits…so I’m choosing to write about my last finished work called ‘Beneath the Rainbow’.

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?
I was walking past the children’s swings in our local park, thinking how much I loved the swings when I was a little girl and the first line came to me: ‘Freya was seven years old when she got hit by the car, it was a 4×4 with a bull bar.’ I couldn’t shake the line and a heartbreaking premise was born…

3. In what genre would you classify your book?
When I wrote it I had no thought of genre, age range or how to pitch it…only after it was finished did these questions come about. That caused problems…I would class it as an older children’s book, but many adults have enjoyed it too. The main protagonist is seven as mentioned in the first sentence and you can’t get away from that! I discovered that publishers would want a main character as close to the age of the children reading it…so seven was young and would older children relate? You’ll have to read it to decide what range it fits!

4. If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?
This is the hardest question…most of my characters (in all my writing) are gleaned from a mixture of my imagination and from characteristics attributed to my eclectic children, relatives and aquaintences. I find it hard to relate them to actors…though I will risk sounding really pretentious and admit my dream actor for frail Old Thomas would be Sir Ian McKellan. Freya would be an unknown, but have the presence of a young Dakota Fanning.
My own inspiration for Freya was my daughter who was just over seven when I wrote the book:

5. Give us a one sentence synopsis of your book:

‘In death, Freya knows she needs to move on, but is caught within her mother’s grief and the discovery of terminally ill Old Thomas…on earth her family discover a list of her wishes and determine to fulfil both hers and Thomas’s dreams.’

6. Is your book already published/represented?
I decided to self-publish and the book is available on Kindle at Amazon. I love this book, but I know my writing grows stronger and with advice have decided this is my practise book…with the issues surrounding genre and age range, I decided to leave it as it is and concentrate on other writing for more traditional publishing.

7. How long did it take to write your book?
I began in March 2009 and finished the first draft in October 2009, I then suffered a serious bout of depression and shelved the book, going back to it in 2011. About a year all in all.

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or, readers of which books would enjoy yours?
If you like emotional, lyrical stories and don’t mind weeping a bit…you should like this!

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
That’s easy…I read ‘Loser’ by Jerry Spinelli and adored it, and I love beautiful stories with a lot of heart and emotion. Aside from this book, I am inspired by the fantasy writing of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and Garth Nix…

10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book.

My blurb reads:

“It’s those silly dreams that keep us alive.”

Dreams define us, shape us and realise our potential…they make us who we are.

Freya won’t let death stand in her way.

When she dies Freya knows she needs to move on, but is caught within her mother’s grief and the discovery of a terminally ill old man. Finding she can affect the lives of those beyond her heaven she fights to reach her mother and wants to help old Thomas realise his final dream.

Meanwhile, her family finds her own list of goals and soon discovers that Old Thomas has a burning desire to ride a motorbike.

Freya intends to create a rainbow, the last item on her list, to reach her mother, but her pale arcs won’t achieve closure. She perseveres for scarlet like remembrance poppies then searches for sunset orange and sunflower yellow. She recreates green like her willow and blue like daddy’s t-shirt. Finally conjuring indigo, the shade of deepening night and lastly violet to match Purple Ted…

Beneath these colours will Freya reach her mother, wait for Old Thomas and be ready to move on?

Discover the importance of dreams and fulfilment in Freya’s heart-breaking and uplifting tale of grief, hope, triumph and joy.

These are my tags: (I know there are only supposed to be five, but I couldn’t help myself, so six it is…)
Jo-Anne @jtvancouver
Angela @Angela_Goff
Daniel @surlymuse
Angela @ang_writes
McKenzie @Love_Kenzie_
Cameron @CameronLawton

Kreativ Blogger Award…

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Oooh, just been tagged in the ‘Kreativ Blogger Award…by Donna B. McNicol (check out her blog…) so here goes…

The Rules:
1. Thank & link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the ten questions.
3. Share ten random facts/thoughts about yourself.
4. Nominate seven worthy blogs for the Kreative Blogger Award.

The Questions:
1. What’s your favorite song?
Can’t decide between two:
I love ‘Iris’ by the Goo Goo Dolls and ‘Run’ by Snow Patrol.

2. What’s your favorite dessert?
Right now that has to be trifle, though I am partial to profiteroles…who isn’t?

3. What ticks you off?
Hypocrites make me angry…those who don’t do as they preach. If you have beliefs, stand up for them!

4. What do you do when you’re upset?
I disappear into myself…I write, and write and write…it’s cathartic…

5. Which is your favorite pet?
I always thought of myself as a cat person, until I got a dog! My German Shepherd, Roxy is my heart and soul, those huge golden brown eyes just make me melt, even when she’s naughty!

6. Which do you prefer: black or white?
If it’s dark or light you’re after, it’s dark, I’m a night-time girl (not a party girl, but a staring at stars night-time girl!). Colourwise, I prefer neutrals, greens and browns…

7. What is your biggest fear?
To lose myself…My memories are so hugely a part of me that to lose that part of my mind would be my biggest fear. (I’m watching someone close to me do just that and it’s painful…)

8. What is your attitude mostly?
I worry…but I try to be positive. I suffer clinical depression so have learned over the years that my attitude is paramount to combating my condition!

9. What is perfection?
Perfection is losing myself (wasn’t that my biggest fear just now?), to lose myself in something I love, whether it be writing, reading, chocolate…or some other pleasure!

10. What is your guilty pleasure?
My guilty pleasure…chocolate, every day.

The Random Facts:

1. If I could be an animal, realistically I’d be a cat, sleep, eat and play, but imaginatively I’d be a unicorn: wild and free…

2. When I met Vince, another girl asked him to dance and I put my hand on his knee, I would have growled at her if I wasn’t such a nice girl! Lucky for him he refused her…

3. I’m impatient…no really!

4. I’d love to go to Iceland, the country that is, the shop does nothing for me!

5. I was painfully shy as a child, I’m still not comfortable with people I don’t know, but now have a confidence I never used to have.

6. I don’t fit in…and sometimes I want to…

7. I had a nervous breakdown at eighteen, and another at thirty-one…but came back from them…I still struggle not to hurt myself….

8. I wrote off my first car two days after I bought it, a week after passing my test, I drive better now! I love driving and love riding our motorbike even more! I passed my bike test in my mid-thirties.

9. I hate hurting people, I once, needlessly, gave up a dream in order not to hurt someone else. Don’t give up your dreams for anyone.

10. I would rather die than go back to the insecurities of being a teenager, but often I’d love to go back and relive the intensities of those emotions!

The Nominations:
No idea if these bloggers already have this award or not…but I’ll leave participation up to them!

http://www.angwrites.com/ @ang_writes
http://theothersideofsorrow.blogspot.co.uk/ @Love_Kenzie_
http://www.bullishink.com/ @bullishink
http://lilliemcferrin.blogspot.co.uk/ @LillieMcFerrin
http://cameron-writes.blogspot.co.uk/ @cameronlawton
http://www.raveninthewritingdesk.co.uk/ @falcon_feathers
http://bekahcat.blogspot.co.uk/ @bekahcat

Follow your Instincts…

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So where has the ‘Follow’ option disappeared to on Blogger? That was my question… For several weeks now ‘Follow’ has been gone from our tool bar above our blogspot.com blogs…

It was the quickest and easiest way to follow other blogs, one click and you’re there, a new page to read, a new writer to get to know and maybe even a new friend to appreciate!

Yes, I know followers can be fickle, some click once and are gone never to be seen again, some use other media: Facebook or Twitter for example to connect to your posts, some subscribe to emails for your latest words of wisdom, and some are faithful followers who read everything you write!

I know we can copy and paste URLs in our dashboard to follow and keep track, I do that with my favourite bloggers, and some we just click ‘follow’, show our appreciation and dip into once in a while. We can go to our Blog List and see all the available posts from everyone we’ve followed, and have a major catch up session, or we can have a visible Blog List on our blog page for all to see, to use as a shortcut and to advertise our favourites. There are so many ways to keep tabs on our blogging friends!

So when I got this reply:

I was a little disappointed with Blogger…

I don’t know about you, but even if people only visit my site once and never show up again, I still like to see their faces and know that they’ve appreciated my blog (at least at some point in their reading!). It’s even nicer when they show up regularly and actually leave comments ( nice ones, lol). Isn’t it lovely to put a face to a person?

Now I couldn’t tell you if all my ‘followers’ are regular or if they’ve just had a pit stop on their way somewhere else, but when I follow someone I do it publicly and am quite happy for them to know that I enjoyed their page so much I wanted to bookmark it so I can come back again…and again…

I want to be able to follow and put my face on their blog, so to speak. When I copy and paste a URL and even place their blog on my Blog List it seems that our pictures are not automatically brought to the party, and I’m still using ‘Google Friend Connect’ on blogs to link and become a visible follower.

I’m wondering if this is a back door way for Google to big up Google+ and perhaps in the future we will have to sign up to follow through Google+? I joined Google+, but have no desire to use it, Facebook works for me, and why change or fix something that isn’t broken?

What I don’t like is subterfuge…I like things to be out in the open, debated and decided in full view of the public! I hate things that ‘just disappear’…

So, while I still can I will join your blog and follow with ‘Google Friend Connect’ and show you that I’ve enjoyed your writing…and I want to come back…but in the future, lets hope we can still be as open and able to expand our community as we wish!

*Disclaimers*

I know some other blogging sites connect friends and followers in different ways and we have followers who can’t follow on blogspot.com easily and use other social media to connect. I realise not everyone wants to be ultra visible on social media and I respect that too, and I also understand someone techie out there might have all the answers I’ve been missing…if so let me know!

Otherwise, feel free to follow, comment and show your lovely faces!

‘A life lived with integrity –

even if it lacks the trappings of fame and fortune

is a shining star in whose light

others may follow in the years to come.’

Denis Waitley

Lucky Seven Tag…

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I feel privileged! I’ve been tagged in Lucky 7. Here’s how it works…

1. Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next seven lines/sentences as they are – no cheating.
4. Tag seven other authors.

My current WIP in is several states of editing, and I’ve used a couple of excerpts lately in Five Sentence Fiction, so I grabbed the last manuscript I’ve written from my book ‘Beneath the Rainbow’, this is Page 7 on my Word document…though, obviously you’ll get a different paragraph from the Kindle version!

‘Her friends sat by their parents, not all had come, some parents thought services like this were too much for ones so young to bear, but Freya smiled at those who had come. Her friends sat there, stiff and quiet, in awe of the occasion. One or two of the boys had let their minds wander and one was studying a spider crawling up the side of the pulpit.

Her best friend, Meg, stared at the coffin, and swung her legs to and fro. Meg liked the flowers and nodded to herself in approval at the bluebells. She leaned close to her mother and whispered. “Is she in there?”

Meg’s mother glanced down mortified at her daughter’s question, but relieved that it had been whispered, a child not so well brought up might have said it out loud…that was too much to consider.’

So now to tag…you may have been tagged before (sorry), but I like your writing…so if you haven’t already…we’d love to see your work!

Ruth Long – @bullishink

Angie Richmond – @write_me_happy

Mandy James – @akjames61

Jo-Anne Teal – @jtvancouver

Nayuleska – @nayuleska

Abi Burlingham – @AbiBurlingham

Emma Pass – @EmmaPass