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

Week 3

Hello everyone!

I wonder where the past week went. I was all set to stop being the beach bunny under her canvas tent and try to stick to home and get some work done. Managed on most fronts there, except on the work done part. In the blink of an eye, the days were gone and I hardly accomplished anything. Okay, you don't count edits as nothing - the galley for Storms in a Shot Glass came back and I also hit the first general issues edits on Walking on the Edge. Left to my previous work, I had to dredge up the mud of these stories' that had already settled into quietness. But the writer's mind is a remarkable thing - one or two prompts and you're right back to that world that you'd created a while ago, breathing in the scents, sights, and sounds of that universe, reuniting with those characters you thought you'd left to rest. And yeah too, getting back into the drama of it all! I don't think I've written a story with more drama than Storms in a Shot Glass! To think that there's just a little more than a month to go before these wacky characters are unleashed onto the world... Promo's slowly starting for this - catch the links in the Promo Maven section.

- Kid on the Block
...was left to his own devices this week. Found his creative spark - drew some really good stuff and even crafted a backstory to each drawing! Yeah, that's Mommy's boy all right! We may have hit on something there - I'll have more for you soon.

- Weepy Willow Woes
In the words of Willow:
Nolwynn took my memory out for a spin this week. Talk of nostalgia hitting hard - I was made to revisit haunts I had come up with seems like ages ago... Met people I became acquainted with so long ago and with whom I had virtually lost touch. What can you say - there is no Facebook for characters, is there?
Memories, memories... Now if only that girl would agree to look forward instead of back!

- WIPed out
If you count a contracted but as yet unreleased work still a WIP, then I'm totally wiped out! Worked on two sets of edits, and galley proofs have got to be the hardest thing ever! Talk of going over something for the hundredth time with a really fine-toothed comb, as it's the last chance for you to catch any issue before the copy goes to 'print'!
Add to it that you get first notes on another story - you haven't exactly gone wrong but there are avenues to make the ms better - sheer brain scramble. Still, I'm complaining but I'm glad I have it all (it was after all, Thanksgiving this week!). It means I've got work coming out and tell me if there is anything to beat that feeling!

- Back to the domestic goddess
The domestic non-goddess is making burgers tonight. That's one thing I never make wrong, and after the kids' being left to their own devices pretty much all week, can you say major Mommy guilt trip in under 2 seconds? I can, and trying to rectify it by getting to the blokes through the easiest route - that of their stomach!

- Hottie Alert
I may have been WIPed out this week, butt hat doesn't mean Willow isn't getting her case in and trying to make that chauvinist hero less of a chauvinist hero. I have a feeling she has a major crush on said hero, and when you know that he is supposed to look like the hottie featured down here, hmm, maybe you can understand where she's coming from!

Sam Worthington - latest Aussie hottie to hit the hottie radar! What is it with Australia? is it something in the water? Some magnetic field down under that gives totally gorgeous, yummy blokes on a regular basis? I first saw this guy on the Terminator Salvation poster. Who was he? Caught the movie, and as a recently-converted Terminator junkie, I was like, John Connor who? That's the impact of this guy, and now I'm really looking forward to Avatar. Yeah, he's young, in his early thirties, but man, do I (and many women too, lol) see the potential in that man! Already a great looking parcel, you can imagine him adding on a few years and some more experience on that face. And then, boom! Watch out!
Sam Worthington is the physical template of the hero of my current WIP - a hardened, street-savvy former boxing champion who's 'reformed' into a media station boss. And lol, I am definitely looking forward to writing that one!

- Promo Maven
Nolwynn Ardennes first interview as up this week at Love Romances and More blog. Check it out and read the very first excerpt of Storms in a Shot Glass!
Yesterday, I penned my monthly post at the Pop Culture Divas - Cop shows of old. Drop by and see which ones I watched when growing up.

That's it for me this week, folk!

Don't forget:

Live. Laugh. Love. XOXO