Friday, January 15, 2010

Week 10

Big hello to everyone! Feels so good to be back - kinda normal to be blogging, you know?

I wasn't gonna have pics up this week but changed my mind at the hottie section! Come on - girls gotta have some lightness in their world, innit? Especially when you know that I've been in over my head, with... Promo! Yup yup, the wonderful world that's the other side of writing!

Mind you, I'm a social butterfly and love meeting new people, forging acquaintances, letting some develop almost automatically into friendships.
It's just the sheer amount of being in all places at all times that's totally exhausting! Yahoo loops, blog interviews, chat rooms - surge of energy when it's taking place but there comes a time when all you wanna do is crash and burn!

So what have I been up to promo wise this week? Check out Promo Maven for the links.

So yes too - Storms in a Shot Glass is out, and it doesn't seem to be doing too bad out there! In between friends who have been pimping the book and only letting me know they intended to do so after their post was up (thanks and wink to Chicki Brown & Bella McFarland!!), I also came across two very nice reviews of the book.

"...Storms in a Shotglass was a story chocked full of sweetness, love, passion and interesting developments. Everyone one even the older generation could learn a little in this book. Nolwynn Ardennes is a wonder to discover for me as a reviewer and reader. I, for one, will be keeping my eye out for any further books by Ms. Ardennes."

This is the gist of what Deb @ Dark Diva Reviews had to say in her fabulous review!

And this comes from fellow author and friend Rae Lori who had a chance to read the book when it was still in its galley form:

"...'Storms' not only centers on Jane Smithers and Michael Rinaldi but also the people that surround their lives. It's as much a contemporary romance as it is a story about coming into responsibility, finding love and forgiving and learning to love our families (parents) despite their flaws and past..."

Click the links to read more!

There you have it - my promo week in a nutshell, but lol, that's just the author's shoes! Here's some more as to what happened!

- Kid on the Block
... went back to school after a 10 week summer break that nearly drove me over the edge and nearly sent him skyrocketing with frustration at being 'at home' for too long. Seriously, what do those schools think - 10 weeks of break? Come on, I know they need a reprieve? Oh wait - I know! Make the kids so bored at home that they'll wish for school to start! Not a bad strategy, except that its us poor moms who may become addicted too too many soap operas or reruns of our favourite hunk's movies just to be able to take the edge off of having a kid 24/7 with you! And no, we don't have summer camp in Mauritius... Sigh.
Anywayz, kiddo is now in Grade 2, and boy has he grown up! Mommy moment here - they grow way too fast... But, he's out of my hair for close to 7 hours a day! Label me a bad mom if you want but this is bliss! Also happens that when he comes home, he just gets inundated with kisses and hugs and lots of sweet-sounding stuff like pumpkin, sweetie, and other French nonsense that I just invented in our baby-cooing days. Okay, I'm off this part before you all die of TMI Mommy episodes!

- WIPed out
Didn't manage to put finger to keyboard this week but that didn't mean the brain wasn't working! Kid-free time meant I could focus on story twists instead of Mommy this and Mommy that every 5 seconds! I've thus mapped out the first 3 parts of my sci-fi and have gotten a better grasp on my fantahistorical. Not allowing myself to think of other stories right now because these two are the to-be-absolutely-written in 2010 projects! So far, so good. Next week I'm ramping up the actual writing though, with rewrites on the ms to Neha's story, Book 3 of the Hemant sister series.

- Perception Tunnel
2010 is supposed to be my last year at uni. Yup, been trudging that degree along for the past 7 years, even if I did have to take 1.5 years off due to health issues. Nevertheless, uni bureaucracy expects that since you registered in 2002, you have 8 years to complete said degree so 2010 is your make or break year. I have 5 more modules to go, on the 30 required to make this communications science degree. And man, they don't say uni final year for nothing! I just registered for semester 1 and got my books in, and the sheer amount of work to be done! Wowzers! I even have a portfolio that I'll have to work for a local school- an integrated comms campaign for them! Thank goodness that when I approached the people at kiddo's school, they were more than willing to help! Lol, in a way, why wouldn't they be happy? Hire a comms consultant to plan that campaign for you and shell out a hundred K at least! They'll be getting it for free from me! Oh well, never mind - what's good is that one thing's clear and I have the raw material to start this project.
So there I was yesterday looking at all the deadlines and then checking my diary to find which dates I'd booked promos, and when you know my mind that forgets everything unless a clear memo or alarm is set, guess what I turn to - the new phone that's got a spiffy calendar and PDA-like settings on it.
Start noting down dates and calculating how much time I'll need to allow this project over that one and adding in delays and stuff...
Result? I am booked solid for almost 3.5 months! Yups, you will be hard pressed to find a day on my phone calendar that doesn't have a markup for something before May 5, 2010!
If I didn't have a headache or I wasn't hyperventialting so far, I was when I looked at that!

- Reading Log
A bad thing's happened to me lately - I'm throwing books at the wall after like 25 pages in. Why? Because there just don't seem to be any good stories out there! They're all so cliche you feel you've read it all just by browsing page 1! Then when the blurb doesn't like give you the story till what happens at the next-to-last chapter, you find you've wasted your time reading a dry as dust voice! Or, the read is so all over the place you get mind-motion sickness just by trying to figure out which lead is what in chapters that change between 5-6 leads at every turn!
Where are the good books, people? In despair I turned to the 'old' names, and miracle of all found Julie Garwood. Slow Burn had me captivated, and I read it  over one single day! Yeah, that's how much I was starved for good books!
All this brings me to - traditional print books seem to be highly overrated today. There's nothing new or worthy there - finding a good book at the library is worse than trying to find a needle in a haystack! Which just gets me thinking - epublishing is the way to go! Just at my publisher Eirelander Publishing alone, I stumble upon books that are well-rounded and off the beaten tracks! I want them all actually!
Just as well my phone reads pdf files - I have a feeling you'll be seeing me lots more with the phone and not a physical book in my hands in the future!

- Hottie Alert
In the past 2 weeks I've seen Avatar (yes, finally got to see it!!) and Episodes 1-4 of the Star Wars series. Got 5 and 6 on the DVD rack waiting to be viewed. I wanted to do a lineup of all the hotties in those episodes but since I haven't seen them all yet, I'll wait until I can add my two cents (that you don't probably don't want to hear, lol!) about the whole series.
In the meantime (I know I showcased this hottie last month but he's just too good to pass up on!), here's the total babe from Avatar that has me completely ogling at the moment! Enjoy!






- Promo Maven
Here's where I was in the past week taking Nolwynn and Storms in a Shot Glass out!

http://ddrreviews.blogspot.com/2010/01/feature-friday-nolwynn-ardennes.html on January 8 - Melissa and crew at DDR gave me this gorgeous showcase for the book - big thanks to them!

Interview at Books by Pickles on January 11-12 - where Jen (one half of J&J) interviewed me and showcased the book! Oh, the contest there is still going on till January 17 - leave me a comment and you could win a download copy of Storms in a Shot Glass!

There you are - my past week in a (big!) nutshell!

From now till later, cheers!

And don't forget:

Live. Laugh. Love. XOXO

12 comments:

Chicki Brown said...

What an unbelievable week you had. It's a good thing you're such a wonderful multi-tasker!

BTW, how come there's nothing under my link in your Blog List? I posted on Wednesday.

J Hali Steele said...

LOL! One of your weeks is like a couple months for me. You are an amazing lady!!

Haven't seen Avatar but caught Ethan Hawke in Daybreakers and I liked it...or him!

Author GE Stills said...

So what do you do in your spare time? lol
I'm still trying to catch my breath here after reading your blog. lol
Gary

Sandy said...

I feel your pain, Z. I don't know how you do it.

Hang in there. Congrats on the great review.

Rae Lori said...

Following you now, Z!

Oh man you had a busy week like me. I've been eyeing my writing which keeps giving me sad eyes. I hope we both get to get back to writing soon as things slow down!

I'm so with you on the reading! I keep having dnf after dnf. Ugh! I have two books I'm reading now that are drudge to get through. I keep picking them up and putting them down. There aren't many good stories out there indeed. :-( I hate it when the blurb sounds all kinds of awesome but when you read it, the story isn't as written as the one the back of the book gave you. Is it me or are there many books out there that just don't have any focus? I'm about to dive back into my indie/small press books for some spiffy voices. I'm enjoying one now that's pretty good!

And yay! I'm so glad you finally got to see Avatar. Wasn't that awesome?! Ah, Sam. Sam Sam Sam. There are no words. We need to clone him so we both can have a copy. That's just too much yumminess for one guy to have! Have you seen Terminator Salvation yet? If you haven't, go see it asap! I think you'll like Sam in there, the story itself and also a potential something in there. One of my ideas was inspired by him and Moon!

Z(Aasiyah/Nolwynn) said...

Hey Chicki

Lol, multi-tasking - yup! Really got to have a handle on that one!

About the blog list, I think it only pulls posts from Blogger and since yours is on Webs, it just displays the title.

Hugs!!

Z(Aasiyah/Nolwynn) said...

Hey Joann!

Lol, I wanna see Daybreakers too - long time I haven't seen Ethan Hawke in a movie. I think the last one I caught of his was Training Day, which was, well, ages ago! Bet he looked yum as a good vampire!

One week = 2 months for you... Lol. It's mad but sometimes you just get hooked on the madness, you know?

Hugs!!

Z(Aasiyah/Nolwynn) said...

Oh, and Joann:

You have to see Avatar!! I can just imagine a creature Navii-like in one your hot paranormals!

Z(Aasiyah/Nolwynn) said...

Hey Gary

In my spare time... Let me think... Uh, what spare time??

No seriously, my break is reading, though it's not been going as I want it to lately because of the lack of good books. I sincerely hope the pub industry is just in a slump and will pick up soon, even if through epublishing. We need more good books!

Hugs!

Z(Aasiyah/Nolwynn) said...

Hiya Sandy

Lol, I have no idea how I get along either. It's just life for me, one that I gotta live to the fullest and max out.

The review was good, lol! It made my week!

Many hugs!

Z(Aasiyah/Nolwynn) said...

Rae!!

You came!! Lol, that's great!

Awful innit, when you just look at your writing pile and go, wish I could tackle it or even just browse through it. No time at all indeed.

I know exactly what you mean about picking up the book and then putting it back down. Even hubby was asking me what was up since he saw me start a book and then put it back into the pile on the bookshelf after just one night (I keep my reading book on my bedtable usually for a week or so, time for me to get through it). Yeah too, blurbs are often very misleading, especially on print books. Like all hype but no delivery in the story.

Avatar was amazing! I simply cannot describe it any other way. I'm dying to get it on DVD now. I know I will be watching that one over and over again. And lol, too much yumminess in one single package. Not fair at all, innit? We both need an avatar, I think.
Yup on Terminator Salvation! By the end of that movie I was like 'John Connor who?' so much this guy took over the screen. He totally won me with the humanity he portrayed in that robot!

Lol, really good to have you on here!!

Huge hugs!!

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