Rereading Jane Eyre

This week at the Carrot Ranch, Charli Mills is talking about sound, and has challenged writers to In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes the sense of sound. It can be an onomatopoeia, a swearing session with sound alike substitutes, lyrical prose or a description of a sound. Go where you hear the prompt calling.

I’m on holiday right now at a beach front flat I’ve rented, very near where my daughter lives. When I saw Chari’s prompt, I thought it was very apt.

The sound of the sea is fabulous, but when you’re hearing it all day long, well, it can get a little repetitive, shall we say!

I’m not planning on getting a divorce, but the prompt did take me there!

****

The Sound of the Sea

Freddy left. He couldn’t stand the sound of the sea.

The spray of the waves as they crashed on the rocks filled their sea-front flat.

Freddy closed the windows to block out the insistent waves, but it was too hot for Sheila.

Sheila opened the windows. It was cooler but too noisy for Freddy.

Their life savings. Their dream house. Their paradise.

They’d worked hard, counted their pennies, and cut down on life’s luxuries; no summer holidays abroad, concerts, dinner and dancing, because they’d both agreed it was their Nirvana.

But things aren’t always what we imagine, are they?

****

Be careful what you wish for!

• What am I GRATEFUL for?

This week as always, I’m grateful for my family, friends, and inspiration.

My youngest daughter has come home to spend the month of August with us in Spain. She’s been coming and going to Germany and the UK for the past three years, due to her studies and work, so it’s a real treat to have her with me every day! Here she is with my grandson.

I don’t see my grandchildren as much as I’d like to because we live about 200 kilometres away, but in summer, while I’m on my school holidays, we rent a beach flat and spend as much time as possible together. I love playing with them and watching them play!

I’ve also had lunch with one of my best friends, who’s a talented artist, Annabel Overbury. She paints beautiful pictures, mainly inspired by her life by the sea San Pedro, Málaga and her childhood holiday home in Cornwall, UK, which has inspired the print in this photograph.

We love discussing art and life and have often come to the conclusion that the creative process in literature and fine art are very similar, but more about that soon in another post!

I usually live inland, so I’m also immensely grateful for the sound, smell and beauty of the sea which I find inspirational and calming.

• What have I ACHIEVED? (Things I’ve done for myself)

Well, I’m progressing with my new novel. I’ve had o stop writing and start plotting, because it was getting too erratic and out of hand. I was experiencing too many ideas and scenes, which I was having difficulty connecting into one narrative. I’m almost there now, I think.

• What are am I PROUD of? Things I’ve done for others.

I’ve posted several reviews on #AugustReviews follow the link to read all about it.

I’m especially proud to have featured my review of Escape Plan by Elizabeth Hein. Which I read some time ago and had kept postponing to review. Elizabeth is a very talented author and supportive writer.

She’s also a cancer survivor and has written a fabulous book, How to Climb the Eiffel Tower, a celebration of life, courage, and second chances. Here’s my review: .

I’ve tweeted and retweeted other authors and checked out as many blog posts as possible.

• What are my PLANS for next week?

They’re much like last week’s. I’d like to keep meeting up with old and new friends, write some more of my novel, and catch up with my reading! Last, but not least, I hope to have lots of fun with my grandchildren.

Remember to open your eyes and see the wonderful things in store for us all this week!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

I’m joining in Rosie Amber ‘ s initiative, which has been widely supported by the book blogging community, authors and reviewers in general, to make August an Amazon Review Month #AugustReviews.

The following post is partly copied from Terry Tyler ‘ s Blog post on 28th July (I couldn’t find the reblog button).

August 2016 is Write An Amazon Review Month!  

On Monday 25th July, book blogger Rosie Amberwrote this post encouraging readers and writers alike to post a short review on Amazon for any book they’ve read and enjoyed ~ following this up, I’m starting this initiative along with other writer-bloggers includingRosie, Cathy from Between The Lines, Barb Taub, Shelley Wilson and Alison Williams. 

*Please note* #AugustReviews is not for own book promotion.  There are plenty of other opportunities all over the internet for you to market your books; this is not one of them.  Please respect this! 

The idea is that, during August 1st, everyone who reads this uses their Amazon account to post just one review on one book that they’ve read (but feel free to carry on if you get in the swing!).  You don’t even have to have read it recently, it can be any book you’ve read, any time.  The book does not have to have been purchased from Amazon, though if it is you get the ‘Verified Purchase‘ tag on it; however, if you download all your books via Kindle Unlimited, as many do these days, they don’t show the VP tag, anyway.

Remember, this isn’t the Times Literary Supplement, it’s Amazon, where ordinary people go to choose their next £1.99 Kindle book.  No one expects you to write a thousand word, in-depth critique; I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to read one short paragraph or a couple of lines saying what an average reader thought of a book, than a long-winded essay about the pros and cons of the various literary techniques used.  Yes, those are welcome too (!), but no more so than a few words saying “I loved this book, I was up reading it until 3am”, or “I loved Jim and Vivien and the dialogue was so realistic”, or whatever!

Why should you write a review?

• They help book buyers make decisions.  Don’t you read the reviews on Trip Advisor before deciding on a hotel, or any site from which you might buy an item for practical use?  Book reviews are no different.
• If the book is by a self-published author, or published by an independent press, the writers have to do all their promotion and marketing themselves ~ reviews from the reading public is their one free helping hand.
• The amount of reviews on Amazon helps a book’s visibility (allegedly).  If you love a writer’s work and want others to do so, too, this is the best possible way of making this happen.
• It’s your good deed for the day, and will only take five minutes!

Off we go, then!  A few more pointers:

• If you need any help with writing your review, do click on Rosie’s post, above.
• A review can be as short as one word.  The shortest one I have is just two 🙂
• You don’t have to put your name to the review, as your Amazon ‘handle’ can be anything you like.
• No writer expects all their reviews to be 5* and say the book is the best thing ever written; there is a star rating guide on Rosie’s post.
• Would you like to tell the Twittersphere about your review?  If so, tweet theAmazon link to it with the hashtag#AugustReviews ~ and thank you!  I will do one blog post a week featuring these links: The #AugustReviews Hall of Fame(thank you, Barb!).    Please note, Amazon links only ~ not your blog, or any other site on which the review is posted ~ this initiative is all about encouraging people to write views onAmazon.  Thanks!

 

If you have a blog and would like to spread the word about #AugustReviews, please feel free to copy and paste this blog post, provide the link to it, re-blog it, or whatever ~ many thanks.

Here is a summary of the reviews posted on the first five days on #AugustReviews by Terry Tyler:

http://terrytyler59.blogspot.com.es/2016/08/augustreviews-first-five-days.html?spref=tw&m=1

Happy Reading and Happy Reviewing!

AUGUST 3RD QUESTION: What was your very first piece of writing as an aspiring writer? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published?

I’ve been writing since I can remember. But my first piece if serious writing was a contemporary romantic suspense novel which is currently gathering dust in a drawer in my study.

I wrote it about twenty years ago and I sent samples and query letters to a few agents and publishers, one even asked me for the whole manuscript, but finally it wasn’t something they felt they could represent.

Actually, it had never been read by anyone else, such as beta readers, or corrected by an expert, such as an editor or proof reader. It probably wasn’t ready to be shown, but I didn’t know enough about the publishing business at the time. I was also a busy young working mother, now I’m a less busy working grandmother!

It wasn’t a bad novel but it wasn’t polished enough. I may undust and revise it, but I have so many new projects underway that it’s not a priority at the moment. I feel I need to move forward and ‘A View From the South Bank ‘ is in my past.

Nowadays there’s a very supportive group of self published authors and blogs like the Insecure Writers Support Group, with plenty of information as well as new opportunities for independent publishing, and I feel I know what I need to do to be a professional author which I didn’t know 20 years ago.

Thanks to all this support, more time and my renewed efforts I’m a professional author who has produced and published three novels, which have over a hundred reviews and have been bestsellers on Amazon several times.

I’m now writing my fourth novel, so at this moment I’m not feeling insecure about my career as a writer, but I’m still insecure regarding my first attempt.

Who knows if it may eventually become a published novel? What do you recommend?

Want to join in: http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

An interview which appeared yesterday in Shelley Wilson ‘ s fabulous literary blog. Find out more about Luccia Gray…

I’m delighted to have author, Luccia Gray, on my blog today. I ‘met’ Luccia through Twitter and instantly fell in love with her supportive nature and delicious book covers! So, I was thrilled when …

Source: #TuesdayBookBlog Interview with author, @LucciaGray #HistoricalRomance