7 Random Things about Me

I'd like to offer a BIG thank you to Rabia Gale for nominating me for a Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks, Rabia! :)

According to the rules, I now have to share 7 things about myself. Here goes!

1. I'm from Ireland, I was born in Co. Limerick, grew up in Laois, and I've lived in Kildare, Dublin (briefly), and Cork. I also lived in France for three years.

2. Thanks to AC/DC, I now live in Western Australia! My husband is a big fan and we came out to WA in 2001 on a Working Holiday Visa (also our honeymoon. A year long honeymoon! Woo hoo!!) to visit Bon Scott's grave in Fremantle. We fell in love with the country and moved here 5 years ago.

And we have never regretted it, although leaving our families behind was one of the most difficult things we have ever done.

3. My word for this year is FREEDOM. Freedom to emerge from the year that was 2011 (VERY CHALLENGING!) and unfurl my wings and fly.

4. I keep a dream journal in which I record all the dreams I remember. I'm also a member of an ongoing dream circle where everyone shares dreams and ideas as to what the dreams' messages might be.

I believe dreams are powerful, and that paying attention to them can make life so much more interesting and fulfilling. It's all about living with awareness.

Robert Moss's books are a wonderful resource for anyone interested in working with their dreams.

5. I'm a member of Goddess Leonie's Goddess Circle and it's the most amazing, uplifting, creative, friendly, inspiring place on the web that I've ever been. I love her blog posts. I love her energy. I love how she walks her talk and does it with grace and humour and the belief that we can all do the same. (By the way, the link to her Circle is an affiliate link, and brings me to something else I admire about Goddess Leonie - she's incredibly generous!)

6. I love oracle cards. I have the Mythic Tarot deck and a number of oracle card decks by Doreen Virtue, the most recent of which are the Angel Therapy Oracle Cards. I also have a beautiful deck of cards containing prints of artwork created by Susan Seddon-Boulet, and the Animal Dreaming oracle cards by Scott Alexander King.

I rarely use the decks for readings any more. Now I'm just drawn to the beautiful images and what they might inspire in me.

7. I have to follow a wheat-free diet (diagnosed 10 years ago) and I'm being tested now to see whether I'm coeliac. I suspect I  have been all along but just didn't know it. It'll be good to get this sorted out 'cos it will more than likely clear up some health issues I have. (For instance, did you know that being gluten intolerant but not following a gluten free diet can play havoc with your thyroid gland???)

Right. That's it!

So, these are the rules for the Versatile Blogger Awards:

•  Thank the person who gave you this award and include a link to their blog
•  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
•  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award and contact them to let them know
•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself

OK, I don't have 15 of them, but here is a list of the blogs (in no particular order) that I follow regularly or discovered recently and that I would like to nominate for the Versatile Blogger Award:-

1. Goddess Leonie at Goddess Guidebook.com
- she's an incredibly beautiful person and her blog posts are written from the heart.
2.  Larry Brooks at Storyfix.com
- I have learned more about story structure here than anywhere else. Wonderful.
3. D. J. Mills's blog
- right now, Diane is exploring how to create effective ebook covers. A great series of posts.
4. Kait Nolan's blog
- always entertaining and informative. I've read her Mirus series, and loved her YA paranormal, Red.
5. Lynn Johnson's Kaizen blog
- as soon as I learned something about the Kaizen Plan I knew I had discovered a system for getting things done.
6. Andrea Sokoloff's blog
- I recently bought her Writing Love: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors. Some great tips in there. I'm currently working on my master list...
7. Natasha Reilly's creativenachos blog
- I met Natasha at 21 Secrets, the art journalling course, and I loved her workshop. Her posts are always thought-provoking. :)
8. Julie at Homeschooling-ideas.com
- some great tools and information on how to homeschool and where to find resources. I'm researching homeschooling for my little guy when he is old enough.
9. Jodi Henley's's blog - she has helped me so much to understand character arc and how it affects plot, and that pantsers CAN create valid plots based on the character arc. A very warm and supportive teacher. :)

January Digest

Here is a list of the interesting, helpful and useful blog posts and online articles I read this month:

How I went from writing 2,000 words a day to 10,000 words a day - a fascinating insight into how Rachel Aaron dramatically increased her daily wordcount. And her method can be used by any writer!

How I Plot A Novel in 5 Steps - another post by Rachel Aaron and there's a lot of useful ideas here for pantsers. :)

http://www.findyoursparkle.ca/ This site is geared more towards creativity in general than writing in particular. I haven't gone through the course, but I'm tempted. (This links to my previous post and Mary O'Gara's "What can you do in 5 minutes?". I came across findyoursparkle while art journalling)

What's the Best Way to Phrase your Goals?  - this is particularly useful for this time of year. Lynn Johnston has also written an ebook on The Kaizen Plan for Organized Authors to help them "take control of their writing career 10 minutes at a time". I bought the ebook and it's sitting in my new Sony ereader waiting for me to dive in. :)

http://jodyhedlund.com/for-writers/ - lots of links to posts she's written for writers. It's always interesting, I think, to see how other writers have developed their writing process.

3 Steps to Freedom–Grab Hold of Your Brilliant Future - a blog post from Kristen Lamb who is an author and freelance editor. This post shares a past experience and encourages readers to peel back the layers of any excuses they make to find the underlying issues.

Recently I wrote this comment on WABWM:

I haven’t checked in for a bit – life is whirling by at about 90kph and I’m holding tight to the reins with my eyes scrunched closed…..
BUT. I wanted to ask about ideas on how to find a writing buddy. I think if I actually had someone to brainstorm with on a regular basis I might be more productive.
Or I might be putting myself under more pressure… how do you write, keep your eyes scrunched closed and cling to reins at the same time???? :D

Peeling back the layers of the "I don't have time to write" excuse above, the truth is that my family is my first priority and I'm spending my time right now making efforts to sort a few things out.

The time freed up will eventually become my writing sessions, but in the meantime I blog (I'm aiming for once or twice a month while I'm busy with family matters) and I'm also attending a couple of online writing workshops. So, I've not completely deserted my writing habit. :)

The Transformational Character Arc workshop with Jodi Henley

An amazing workshop
I learned so much from Jodi in one week, I wouldn't have believed it. She explained things so well that it put all the bits of knowledge that I understood in vague terms and tied them all together clearly.

For instance, the opening of a novel doesn't just provide conflict and/or a hook, or start where the action happens; it's also the place where the reader gets to know the character so that they CARE about what happens to the character when the inciting incident takes place. Knowing what the opening scene has to achieve means a writer can plan that scene so that it meets all the criteria necessary to keep a reader reading.

My 2012 Writing Goals

Image courtesy of Nasirkhan at morguefile.com

Now that my first year of motherhood is behind me, I am beginning to think about how I can create a daily writing habit. My little guy and I seem to have nap times and bedtime flowing a lot easier, so finding at least 10 minutes to write each day should be within the realms of possibility. (But one of the things I've learned this past year is that baby and I can sometimes have Challenging Days. And when those Challenging Days crop up, it's best to ditch Plan A and flow gracefully into a Plan B. )

Researching plot and structure

Despite my earlier post on letting things go, I just cannot let go of my story idea or my three beloved characters.

My Top Reads of 2011

I read 54  fiction books in 2011 (and probably half as much again non-fiction, but I don't often add those to Goodreads so I don't have an exact number) and my top reads from the ones I gave 5 stars to are below.



Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an excellent trilogy and the final book is just as good as the other two.

The stakes are raised even higher and the Mayor and Mistress Coyle become even more unpredictable and dangerous.

Unputdownable. A fabulous, fabulous read!



The Help by Kathryn Stockett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazing, amazing, amazing!

An intensely satisfying read, and the adjective "unputdownable" is entirely accurate.

Each of the character's voices is unique and their stories are riveting. What's refreshing is that even the characters who are "villains" also have wonderfully endearing qualities.

This book is a keeper.



Hush Money by Susan Bischoff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved it, loved it, LOVED it!
I was gripped by the story right from the start, completely immersed in the story world, deeply interested in the characters, and the romance element is just perfect.
I can barely wait for the the second book in the series, and I've just seen there's a 0.5 in the series, Impulse Control, so I much check that out!



Impulse Control by Susan Bischoff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am really enjoying this series by Susan Bischoff. The ebooks are well written, the pacing is excellent, the characters are fabulous, and the plots are tense and edgy with high stakes involved.

I am so looking forward to Book 2 in the series!



Heroes 'Til Curfew by Susan Bischoff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! Talk about a roller coaster of a read!! I was turning e-pages long after I should have been in bed; I was breathless with anxiety; I was biting my nails in anticipation; and I was open-mouthed with horror at one particular scene that I nearly couldn't even read, THAT was how gut-wrenching and evocative and REAL the writing was.

I have no other way to describe the feelings I had while reading this. Book 1 was phenomenal; Book 2 reaches even higher on the scale of my recommended reads.

The stakes are even higher now for our protagonists so Book 3 is going to be even more tense, I imagine.



I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT.
I am in awe of how Pratchett takes every single story detail and weaves them into the story.
It's a GREAT story. Lots of laughs, some tears, and mostly awe (from me, anyway, at the amazing storytelling!!!!)
I highly recommend it and this is a KEEPER on my bookshelves, as are the rest of the Tiffany Aching stories.



Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.
This book was so good I would actually re-read it straight away (if I didn't have another book already waiting for me)!
The characters are just wonderful - I loved turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next - the conflict between Sydney and Adrian is huge and it will be very interesting to see how they deal with it in the next books in the series.
All in all a VERY satisfying read.
And I'm keeping it close by so I can dive back into it again when I run out of something new to read. :)



Airhead: Runaway by Meg Cabot
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent finish to the Airhead series. I thoroughly enjoyed it, all the strings got tied up nicely and there was a happily ever after too. :)







The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars








Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars








Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nine Keys to Creative flow - a link

This is a quick post today - I'm up to my eyes in Christmas to-dos.

I read a great post by Robert Moss on keys to creative flow and wanted to share it.

No. 3, in particular, had great resonance for me. All about structure.

Here's the link: http://blog.beliefnet.com/dreamgates/2011/12/nine-keys-to-creative-flow.html

Enjoy!