Insecure Writers Support Group #IWSG ‘Favourite Genres and Novels’ #amreading

This post was written in response to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group monthly (first Wednesday of every month) blog hop to where writers express thoughts, doubts and concerns about our profession. By the way, all writers are invited to join in!

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG

The awesome co-hosts for the March 3 posting of the IWSG are Sarah – The Faux Fountain Pen Jacqui Murray, Chemist Ken, Victoria Marie Lees, Natalie Aguirre, and JQ Rose!

Insecure Writers Support Group Badge

March 3 question – Everyone has a favorite genre or genres to write. But what about your reading preferences? Do you read widely or only within the genre(s) you create stories for? What motivates your reading choice?

I love reading, and although I make sure to widen my scope by reading outside my comfort zone, I have a favourite genre: romance.

I’m an incurable romantic, so novels that include an exciting, breathtaking, convoluted or epic love story with a reasonably happy or optimistic ending will give me great joy.

Some examples of classic romances I reread regularly for pleasure and inspiration are: Persuasion, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Gone with the Wind, and the Thorn Birds.

Gone With The Wind

Now for more contemporary examples of novels which include romance and have moved and inspired me recently and I’ve reviewed on my blog:

Recursion a techno thriller by Blake Crouch including a recurring love story which defies time.

The Kiss quotient a fun and moving romance including a heroine with Asperger’s and a complex hero.

Kissing my Killer by Helena Newbury an enemies to lovers mafia romance.

The Last Necromancer by C J Archer a steam punk fantasy romance (this one is part of a series)

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris a historical romance set in a concentration camp

The Book of Two Ways a contemporary romance by Jodi Picoult involving a woman who loved two men at different times and is faced with heart wrenching choices when they come together.

Cold Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas a Victorian Romance set in London

Sustained, A contemporary romance between the guardian of six nephews and nieces and a high-powered lawyer who prefers one-night stands.

Captured a vampire romance by Erica Stevens (this is part of a series)

Captured (The Captive Series Book 1) by [Erica Stevens, Leslie Mitchell G2 Freelance Editing]

The Baron by Joanna Schupe, about a fake medium and a railway baron, set in New York’s Gilded Age.

Missing You a crime thriller by Harlan Coben about a man who will never forget the woman he loved, even when she died, but is she really dead?

Holy Island by LJ Ross is the first novel is a series featuring DCI Ryan, who is the lead detective in the series. He meets his love interest in book one and she will appear in 17 of the 18 novels in the series. Crime fiction.

Holy Island: A DCI Ryan Mystery (The DCI Ryan Mysteries Book 1) by [LJ Ross]

I don’t care about the genre as long as there’s a moving love story in the narrative. I’m not referring to a typical romance of boy meets girl and they fall in love, I want novels to include other themes and plots, too. A love story which focusses on two characters obsessively is not enough to keep me reading.

What kind of romance novels do you enjoy reading?

 

#Tuesdaybookblog ‘Green Lights’ by Matthew #BookReview #Memoir @Audible

From the Academy Award®-winning actor, written and narrated by Matthew McConaughey, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

Greenlights Audiobook By Matthew McConaughey cover art

From the blurb

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It’s a love letter. To life.

The Gentlemen | Official Trailer [HD] | Own it NOW on Digital HD, Blu-ray & DVD - YouTube

My Review

Green Lights is a (half)-Life Story, brilliantly written and read by Matthew McConaughey. From his childhood to his existential 50th year, he tells us about the moments which made him the man and the actor he is and will be.

A one-way ticket to the desert is a great place to write a book or a memoir with no interruptions, except your own memories.

Green Lights was poignant, hilarious, enthralling, thought provoking, optimistic, and overall compellingly written and engagingly narrated. 

No name dropping or hard feelings from this real southern gentleman. By the way, The Gentlemen, is my favourite film, so far, but I expect there will be even better ones in store.

What more can I say? Well done Mr McConaughey! Keep acting and writing. There are plenty more green lights ahead!

Carrot Ranch #FlashFiction Challenge #99Words ‘Return to Alaska’

This 99-word flash fiction piece was written in response to Charli Mills’ weekly challenge at Carrot Ranch. Thanks Charli for the prompt!

February 25, 2021, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story using the word frozen. It can be descriptive, character focused, action driven. Go out onto the ice and find a frozen story. Go where the prompt leads! Respond by March 2, 2021. Rules & Guidelines.

Return to Alaska

“Hi, my name’s Suzie. I’ll be looking after you this morning.” I smiled at the pretty hostess.  

She showed me some images on her screen. “Where would you like to go today, Maggie?”

I needed to return to the cabin where I had left my unfinished manuscript.

“A beach, the mountains, a lake, or…”

“I want to go back to Alaska.”

Suzie pushed my wheelchair into the viewing room. “Why are you always so keen on Alaska’s frozen landscape?”

“I have to finish my novel.”

Suzie squeezed my limp hand and slid on the 3D glasses. “Alaska it is.”

  *****

I wrote a stream of consciousness post inspired by the word ‘Frosty’ on Saturday, The post included a short story, improvised in two parts, on Friday night before going to bed I wrote the beginning and on Saturday morning I wrote the end of the story. No editing, no thinking, just improvised writing. Here is the post.

I usually take hours to write my posts, but stream-of-consciousness frees me from the constraints of a ‘well-crafted’ text. I literally wrote it in less than half an hour and amazingly, it is the post with the most likes in all February!

What does that tell me? Perhaps I spend too much time on my other posts and make them worse with so much preparation and editing?

Anyway, as this week’s Carrot Ranch prompt was ‘frozen’, which is pretty similar to ‘frosty’, I decided to use the same basic story idea and rewrite it with more careful editing and reducing it to 99 words.

Here’s the original stream-of-consciousness story with no editing: (Except ProWritingAid, which does the spelling and punctuation automatically as I write, which is a lifesaver!)

Frosty

I would love to stay at a log cabin, like the ones you see in films, in distant places like Canada and Alaska, sit by the window and write whatever comes to mind, drinking cups of tea and hot chocolate, by the fireplace, and eating hot soup with crusty bread (maybe I am hungry?).

I’d write a story about a writer who was in search of inspiration. She rented a cabin in the snowy countryside in the Alaskan wild, where she found a diary in the bedside table drawer, left behind by a previous occupant who had also come to write a book.

She opened the first page and read:

Once upon a time a writer needed solitude to write her novel, so she rented a cabin and found a diary written by a previous occupant. It started with Once upon a time…

She wrote the first chapter, and then she left.

She returned every year to find her diary in the same place. She wrote a new chapter each year.

(And now I’m going to bed, because it’s one o’clock in the morning. Tomorrow morning I’ll reread my post and write the end of the story.

Hi! I’m Back. Here’s Part II).

“Good morning, Maggie.”

Maggie turned to the pretty young girl and smiled.

“Where would you like to go today?” the nice girl said, showing her images on a screen. “There’s a beach, the mountains, a thick wood, or…”

“I want to go back to Alaska.”

“If you’re sure?” Maggie nodded enthusiastically.

The girl pushed Maggie’s wheelchair into the viewing room. “Why are you always so keen on frosty Alaska?”

Maggie’s eyes shone. “I have to finish my novel.”

The young girl caressed Maggie’s wrinkled hand, put on her 3D glasses and said, “Alaska it is.”

****

Well, what do you think?

Have I improved the story with tighter editing, or not?

 

February Full Moon #Blogging Goals Update 2021 #Blogger #amblogging #MondayBlogs #MondayMotivation

The second full moon of 2021 was two days ago, the 27th of February, it’s called snow moon, and it still looked full last night when I wrote this post.

On the last full moon, in January, I told you about my blogging goals for the next six months, so here’s my monthly update.

I did a great deal of planning in January, regarding all my goals, which I divided into five categories: mind, body, soul, career and hobbies, for the first half of the year.

I’ve never been so disciplined before, but I had the feeling that since I retired in September 2019, although I had a lot more time, I wasn’t using it as productively as I’d like.

Unfortunately, 2020 was a tough year until September, so all my plans went literally down the drain. Covid-19 was only partly to blame. There were family and health issues with my mother, my daughters and my husband that had to be addressed, and are now fortunately, if not completely resolved, at least much improved.

So, although I started plotting and planning my goals in September 2020 in a desperate bid to take control of my life, the process culminated in January 2021 when I chose my three words for the year which are: Believe, Routine and Gratitude. 

Because I agree with Hal Elrod’s equation in The Morning Miracle for Writers that Unwavering Faith, or belief in myself and my projects, and Extraordinary Effort, by means of a strict routine, will lead to Miracles, or in earthly terms, reaching my goals.

I had already started reading books on personal growth and time management, many of which I’ve shared on my blog. As a result of some much needed introspection about what I wanted the rest of my life to look like, I decided to take the following actions:

1- Design a unique morning and evening routine that works for me (I designed it in January and I’ve been doing it regularly during February).

2- Keep a record of everything I do in one notebook, including my ‘done list’ and my ‘to do list’ (I’ve been doing this for some time, but I’ve perfected the strategy in February).

3- Establish and keep to a blogging and writing routine (I started following it as strictly as possible, this month).

4- Write out my goals for 2021, including identifying my ‘whys’, ‘strategies’ and ‘timelines’. I wanted to make sure I was doing at least one little thing every day towards my goals (I did this in September, although there were some minor updates in January).

To keep track of my goals and hold myself accountable, I use:

A Vision Book, which is an A4 sized plastic folder including my routines, goals, affirmations, monthly calendars and other important or motivating pictures, quotes, poems, and pages.

A Daily Journal, which is a simple 9×6 inch, soft-bound, spiral, lined notebook, which is by my side all day. It has my done and to do list, and any notes I make during the day, poems, ideas, etc.

My Morning and Evening and Gratitude Journal. I have a larger, 12-inch notebook for this as I only use it twice a day and I don’t carry it around.

My Monthly Calendar pages for overall planning. These go in my vision book.

Here’s a video by Marisa Peer about vision boards and journaling which can give you some ideas on how to use them.

So, for my monthly update on my goals:

Career: So far I’ve kept to my planned Blogging Schedule.

I’m a week behind my writing schedule because I started using word365, which caused havoc with my previous word documents, but I think I’ve managed to get the hang of it!

Mind: I’ve read  8-10 books this month, including personal growth and fiction, and I’ve also watched experts on life and health on YouTube channels. I’ve been improving my German with audio courses, short stories and a great YouTube channel Easy German.

Body: I’ve kept to a healthy diet, walked an average of 5kms a day, plus my morning exercise routine and some indoor biking, and ping pong, too.

Soul: I’ve kept my gratitude diary, recited my affirmations, I’ve been meditating regularly, still for short periods, but I’m getting there.

Hobbies: I’ve taken plenty of photos, gone for walks in the countryside, cooked some new dishes, and I’ve kept in touch with friends online.

Overall, February has been a busy and productive month and I feel that following my planned routines, has increased my self-esteem and belief in myself, and daily gratitude journaling is helping me stay motivated and on track to reach my goals.

How are your goals coming along?

Do you plan them out months or weeks ahead? 

Let me know in the comments!

#SundayWalks Last Day of #February #Haiku ‘7 things that happened in February 2021’

Spring is in the air,

Last day of February,

Reasons to rejoice! 

Seven things that happened in February 

Lots of things happened in February, but here are seven I’d like to share with you!  

  1. My mother, 92, and my daughter, who is a teacher, were vaccinated to prevent covid-19. 
  2. My youngest daughter married in Munich. We couldn’t be there, so we’ll have to leave the celebrations for later.

3. I’ve followed the morning routine I designed in January and it’s worked well for me. 

4. I’ve followed the blogging schedule I planned and I’ve posted every day.  

5. I’ve completed my second edit for Blood Moon and the second edit of the edition of All Hallows at Eyre Hall. 

6. I’ve walked 125 kilometers in 30 hours which amounts to 8000 calories (I think that’s equivalent to almost a kilo!), which is an average of almost an hour, five kilometers a day.  

7. I had a much needed hair trim!

And one more for February, just because it’s been a very productive month!

8. I’ve signed a contract to self-publish my novel with a Spanish author platform/publisher who is endorsed by/affiliate to Penguin-Random House Spain. (I may not have told you, but I also write in Spanish with another pen name, but I’ll tell you about that in another post).

These photos were taken this morning in ‘Las Jaras’ a reservoir in the mountains a few kilometers from my house in Cordoba, Spain. 

How was your February?

 

 

#SoCS Stream of Consciousness Saturday ‘Frosty’ #SaturdayThoughts #FlashFiction

This post was written in response to Linda Hill’s weekly Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. 

This week’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “-sty.” Find a word that ends in “-sty” or use the word “sty.” Enjoy!

Frosty

A few words have crossed my mind, such as:

Nasty, but I refuse to let any type of unpleasantness into my life.

Dusty, but I’m not in the mood to think about housework or dirt.

Crusty, I was tempted, but it’s way past my bedtime and I’m not hungry.

Hasty, I’m no longer in a hurry. I’ve been there, done all the rushing around, life is slower now.

Misty, this word brings sad memories. It’s the name of our cat who was run over, and I don’t need sad memories right now.

So, I finally settled on Frosty because I live an hour and a half’s drive from the Mediterranean Sea, where the climate is mild, so frost is a pretty, exotic thing I see very little of, and therefore it has no negative connotations for me. On the contrary, I looked through Pixabay and found some lovely pictures of frost, like this one:

I would love to stay at a log cabin, like the ones you see in films, in distant places like Canada and Alaska, sit by the window and write whatever comes to mind, drinking cups of tea and hot chocolate, by the fireplace, and eating hot soup with crusty bread (maybe I am hungry?).

I’d write a story about a writer who was in search of inspiration. She rented a cabin in the snowy countryside in the Alaskan wild where she found a diary in the bedside table drawer, left behind by a previous occupant who had also come to write a book.

She opened the first page and read:

Once upon a time a writer needed solitude to write her novel, so she rented a cabin and found a diary written by a previous occupant. It started with Once upon a time…

She wrote the first chapter, and then she left.

She returned every year to find her diary in the same place. She wrote a new chapter each year.

(And now I’m going to bed, because it’s one o’clock in the morning.

Tomorrow morning I’ll reread my post and write the end of the story.

Hi! I’m Back. Here’s Part II).

“Good morning, Maggie.”

Maggie turned to the pretty young girl and smiled.

“Where would you like to go today?” the nice girl said, showing her images on a screen. “There’s a beach, the mountains, a thick wood, or …”

“I want to go back to Alaska.”

“If you’re sure?” Maggie nodded enthusiastically.

The girl pushed Maggie’s wheelchair into the viewing room. “Why are you always so keen on frosty Alaska?”

Maggie’s eyes shone. “I have to finish my novel.”

The young girl caressed Maggie’s wrinkled hand, put on her 3D glasses and said, “Alaska it is.”

****

#JaneEyreFF Rereading Jane Eyre in #FlashFiction #Chapter3

Jane Eyre in Flash Fiction Chapter 3

How I recovered after fainting in the Red Room   

I woke up in my own bed after a frightful nightmare.

Bessie refused to sleep alone with me for fear that I might die during the night, so Sarah stayed with her. I heard them say a white apparition had passed over me and my uncle’s grave, and although I have forgiven my aunt, to this day I still suffer at the memory of that ghostly night.

The next day, Mr Lloyd, the apothecary visited and asked me why I was crying and I told him I had been locked in a dark room with a ghost and that I was very unhappy at Gateshead.

When he asked me if I’d like to go away to school, I agreed because I could learn French and how to paint, sing and play the piano. He said he would speak to Mrs Reed and as she says I’m a tiresome, ill- conditioned child, I hope she will be glad to be rid of me and let me go.

Later that night, I heard Miss Abbot tell Bessie my father had been a poor clergyman. My mother’s father had disagreed with the marriage and cut her off without a shilling. A year later my father caught the typhus fever while visiting the poor, and shortly after my mother had died, too, making me a penniless orphan.

The third chapter of Jane Eyre introduces a new character, Mr Lloyd, the apothecary. He is not a major character, but he is significant for two reasons. Firstly, he suggests Jane should be removed from Gateshead and taken to a boarding school, an event which initiates the next stage of jane’s journey. Secondly, he is the first adult who is actively involved in helping Jane, as we will see in chapter VIII.

Jane is aware at such a young age how learning can help her improve her future and in fact it is her knowledge of French which will be one of the reasons she is offered the job of governess at  Thornfield Hall nine years later, to teach Mr Rochester’s French ward English.

Jane also learns about her parents’ deaths. This chapter begins the transition from the fear and torture she is putting up with at Gateshead to the possibility of hope and a new life at a school, away from her aunt and cousins.

The summary is based on the free ebook by planet books which you can find here.

I’ll be posting a chapter of Jane Eyre in flash fiction every Friday. If you’re wondering why, read all about it here.

If you’d you’d like to Reread Jane Eyre with me, visit my blog every Friday for #JaneEyreFF posts.

See you next week for chapter 4!

Images from Pixabay

#ThursdayPhotoThoughts ‘The People I Love’ #February2021 @Pixabay #Tanka

Al final del camino me dirán:

—¿Has vivido? ¿Has amado?

Y yo, sin decir nada, abriré el corazón lleno de nombres.

Pedro Casaldaliga 1928-2020

Paraphrased translation:

At the end of my journey they will ask if I have loved and I will show them my heart full of names.

****

We are all aware of our mortality, but the demands of our daily lives, work, family, shopping, household chores, etc. take up most of our thoughts and energy, and then, in the end, everything that’s important is relegated, which brings me to the real topic of this post: the people we love.

Many of us cannot see our loved ones face to face due to covid19 restrictions, and yet we must find time to keep in touch with those we love and appreciate; our family and friends.

Get in touch with them. Call them, send a message, a letter, a postcard, an email, say, ‘I love you’, ‘I miss you’, ‘How are you?’ Not only will it cheer them up, it will also raise your own spirits.

We need to feel the connection with the people we love and appreciate, even if we can’t touch them, hug them or kiss them.

They’re deep in my heart,

I see their faces and hear

their words and laughter

In my thoughts, dreams and soul,

Forever,

The people I love.

All pictures from pixabay and all thoughts my own, although I’m sure someone has already expressed some of them.

How do you keep in touch with the people you love?

****

Image by ejausburg on Pixabay

Pixabay is a wonderful site where many generous amateur and professional photographers offer their photos at no cost (there are also photos you have to pay for). And Thursday, which is in the exact middle of the week is an ideal day to stop and reflect, so I’m grabbing one or more pictures and reflecting on whatever comes to mind. I’m not planning on stream-of-consciousness, because although it’s an unplanned post based on a random picture, I’ll edit my thoughts and words, because you’re worth it! I want you to read a pretty and polished post:)

#Poetry ‘Dreams’ #Tanka Tuesday

This post was written in response to Colleen M. Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday Theme Prompt ‘Dreams’. Join in and read other entries here!

A child is born,

The Universe throbs with new life, 

A dream has come true

Tall trees and glass walls witness

Miracles; baby’s birthday.

Pictures of the Frauenklinik in the Englishen Garten in Munich, where my grandson, Marcos, was born last July.

#Tuesdaybookblog ‘Bedlam’ by LJ Ross #BookReview #Thriller #Audible

This is the third installment of the Alexander Gregory Thrillers and it can be read as a standalone, but I urge you to read book one and two first, because they are also just brilliant!

The Alexander Gregory Thrillers

From the blurb

Fresh from a high-profile case in the Paris fashion world, elite forensic psychologist and criminal profiler Dr Alexander Gregory receives a call from the FBI. The wife of a notorious criminal has been admitted to a private psychiatric hospital and can no longer testify in his upcoming trial. Without her, their case will collapse but, amidst reports that the staff are as unpredictable as their patients, who can the police trust?

In desperation, they turn to an outsider and now Gregory must find the courage to step inside the fortified walls of Buchanan Hospital to uncover the truth. The question is, will he ever be the same again?

Murder and mystery are peppered with dark humour in this fast-paced thriller set amidst the spectacular Catskill Forest.


Bedlam: An Alexander Gregory Thriller (The Alexander Gregory Thrillers Book 3) by [LJ Ross]

My Review

Dr Gregory is a well known English forensic psychologist and criminal profiler. He is also a complex character who is battling with his own demons.

On this occasion he is helping the FBI solve a case related to the mafia. He goes undercover in a private psychiatric hospital, pretending to be a patient, and things get very complicated while he’s hospitalised. 

I love Gregory’s complex, dark character and the way he battles with his own demons, which he is well on his way to recovering in this installment. In fact, I really enjoyed the psychological aspects of the novel and the discussions between doctors and patients at the hospital.

I’m glad Dr Gregory found a love interest in this novel, who is more of a possible long-term relationship than his previous female friends in the first two books (You know by now that I’m an incurable romantic!). Although Bedlam is in not a romance, there is a hint of things to come, and I hope it works out for both of them.

LJ Ross does a wonderful job of creating authentic characters and throwing them headlong into challenging situations, which they cope with and overcome because of their resourcefulness, moral strength and compassion. And of course, we have the villains, selfish people who have no moral scruples.  

I preordered the kindle version, but I added the audible version and ended up listening to Richard Armitage’s fabulous narration. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!