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

Sneak peek - Storms in a Shot Glass

Doing something a little different today. Why? Because I have this book that is releasing tomorrow.

Yup, the day is finally here - Storms in a Shot Glass is about to come out! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this! I started this story in January itself, two years ago! I spun through loops and twists and holes with the first 3 chapters and then the first chapter, to give up on it 6 months later, focusing my attention on another work. Then at the end of that year, I decided to dust off this WIP and see what I could do about it.

Surprisingly, it all flowed! Sat down in December with a new draft of Chapter 1 and before I knew it, it was January again and I had written all the chapters of this book. The End was there, in bold type, in front of my eyes!

How did I get there? Well, I found the right 'path' this story had to take. Its name? Tabloids! Coming across all the nonsense that tabloids were filling up everywhere in newspaper and magazine stands, on the web, on television - I kept thinking, those poor people being stalked. Lightbulb moment! Why didn't stalk my characters?

That's how I got the direction I needed for Storms in a Shot Glass, and to make it live true to its name, I cooked up even more madness and mayhem in the plot, created a wacky and totally out-of-this-world secondary characters' cast, and then unleashed my main protagonists in this chaos!

The result? This book! Here's some more about it:

Book blurb:

A little bump is about to cause a lot of ripples.

Personal Assistant Jane Smithers needs a baby as much as she needs the immature boss, bitchy mother and lunatic Russian models cohabiting peacelessly around her. What she also doesn’t need is a man who pops out of nowhere, intent on taking over her accidental pregnancy.

Cold logic and hard facts rule the world of millionaire corporate lawyer Michael Rinaldi. Until he meets Jane, and the insignificant-looking woman plunges him head first into the churning waters of tempestuous emotion and hot-blooded impulse.

Unlikely feelings crop up at the same time relentless gossip escalates. Both realize their respective world has irredeemably changed. The question is - will they be able to live with this reality?

Want a little more? Check out this little excerpt:

***

Connie Burton knew a good thing when she saw one. She had a flair for sniffling scoops, and right now, she had the feeling she had stumbled upon something major.
Huddled in the seat of her beat-up little car on the outskirts of Tabitha’s Cove, she hadn’t missed the sight of Michael Rinaldi with an unknown woman going into the eatery.
So Nitro Mike, as his nickname went, had someone in his life. The man was known to be as explosive and as unpredictable as nitro-glycerine in the world of corporate law. And in his private life, it was rumored he didn’t have blood but liquid nitrogen flowing in his veins. Now, after a drought of many, many months, one of the most eligible bachelors in London appeared to be on the road to being soon a very taken man.
Connie knew scoops didn’t come much bigger than that. Of course, she had also had a feeling about the football player and that Page 3 model even before anyone had a hint of what was going on. She had, however, made the rookie mistake of telling her suspicions to a reporter friend. The bitch had stolen the rumor and reaped the rewards when she had splashed the story on the front page of Viewstand, the tabloid they worked for.
This time around though, Connie wouldn’t make the same mistake. She’d keep this story under wraps until she had all the details and then she would reap the spotlight for her front-page article.
Being the first one to know who the mystery woman in the life of Nitro Mike was would surely be ‘the’ scoop of the year.
From her first glance, Connie knew the woman was rich. Her leather tote screamed French designer label, and her green knit dress was on display at a high-end shop in Knightsbridge just last month. She appeared classy, aloof even, but then again, she probably had to be when dealing with a cold-hearted magnate like Michael Rinaldi.
Right now, Connie was sure this woman, if the world came to know about her, would be the most envied woman in England after those who would land a royal prince.
The question was - who was she?

***

Visual-inclined? View the trailer!



There you go! Join me as I countdown the hours towards the release of my debut release as Nolwynn Ardennes!

Till then, don't forget:

Live. Laugh. Love. XOXO

Weeks 5,6,7,8 and a half

Hi everyone!

I cannot believe it's been exactly a month since I last posted on the blog! Ashamed of myself...

We're in a new year too, a new decade actually. So many changes, innit? Where did the time fly?

I have a hard time recalling the past few weeks. Most of them were spent being sick as a dog. Ever happened to you that you do something to make you better but it ends up making you worse? Well, that's what happened to me. On the Friday of Week 4, I took a medical test that is supposed to confirm that I am in good health. What no one tells you is that the test has some, let's say, slight side effects - I was knackered senseless and could hardly lift any limb for the two weeks that followed!

So that crosses out Weeks 5 and 6 off the sked. The rest of the weeks? Well, new year hoopla + kids at home + hubby at home because of the holidays = madness! You know my blokes are beach babes, so guess where I was dragged to most of the time? You got that right - the beach! Not to mention that the family got involved and there we were gallivanting around the south of the island like tourists! Gave me a good morsel for an upcoming WIP, more about this down!

So what else has happened? Check out the down sections:

- Kid on the Block...
... became a real smartmouth. Never underestimate the importance of the father figure - little boys will do what the big guy is doing. Case in point - when you watch a romantic movie or any movie with some bits of romance in there, do not have such blokes close. Hubby aka the role model here, will usually make an obnoxious comment that is meant to totally ruin the moment for me (I'm his favourite teasing project, sigh...), and guess what the little blokes do? Right, no need for me to spell it out. The past weeks made for some heavy temper bursts from me. And yes, the blokes all got the just desserts!

- Weepy Willow Woes
In the words of Willow:
She is writing! What more can I want???

- WIPed out
You may be sick as a dog but work goes on, innit? I have an amazing editor who told me to take it easy, but I also knew I couldn't abuse upon her patience with me.
That's how I found myself doing that Angelina Jolie/Bourne meets Wanted meets Casablanca rewrite on Walking on the Edge. Outcome? 2 brand new start chapters that hit the ground running, a stronger and tighter arc for both the heroine and the hero, and a whopping 14.7K added to the ms!
Now, bitten by the writing bug, and seeing 2009 turn into 2010, what else happens to a writer? She wants to write, especially when her muse decided not to go haunt any new years' eve party and hang with her.
That's how I crossed into 2010 writing a new wip that will be kind of my magnum opus for this year. It's a sci-fi (yes, I decoded enough science stuff to get the basics right on this one!) and one that features a somewhat impossible love story that is however written in the stars by a greater power.
Doing research for this story, which I expect will clock in well past the 100K mark, I needed a music theme to take me along. Did some digging, and I came up with this amazing tune by Finnish band Apocalyptica. Check it out - I hope it blows you away just like it did me!
And yeah, I'm 6.7K into that wip already, prologue and chapter 1 written!

- Perception Tunnel
This brings me to my above mention of gallivanting in the south of the island. A place of rugged and wild beauty that seems untouched by civilization. I can almost imagine this is how it was in the 1800s, when Mauritius was just starting to wake under British rule.
In the past 2 weeks, I've been to places I never thought I'd see. Raw and primal looking coastlines with crashing waves. Roads that border a mountain and that sea water laps on the other side. Indigenous forest where I spotted bats and monkeys just the same way I would expect someone in a carriage in 1840 would've seen them. A nature trail that has like 5 waterfalls one more beautiful than the next that would make a dramatic estate for a landowner in 1840.
Which led to - a story idea, which will be my other big project for 2010. A fantahistorical, that takes place circa the year 1842 in Victorian British ruled Mauritius.

So there you have it, what I've been up to in the past few weeks. I'm getting all revved up for the new year, and I hope you'll continue to join me as I trail down the weeks of this new decade!

- Promo Maven
Speaking of which, do you know this week is when Storms in a Shot Glass comes out? Yup, that's for Friday! I'm so excited I cannot stand still!
In light of this release, I've been at some locations in December and presented my 'case' in a somewhat different manner. Check them out:
At Romance Alley, I made Diya of Light My World meet Jane of Storms in a Shot Glass. Girly gossip? Not that much - come find out what these two very unique women spoke about!
And at Sandra Sookoo's blog, during her 12 Days of Christmas event, all the characters of my previous and upcoming releases came together under my roof for dinner. The result? Uh, chaos... Check it out, and find out how very much of a non-hostess I am!

So that's it for my first post of 2010!

Happy New Year to all, and don't forget:

Live. Laugh. Love. XOXO

Week 4

Hey everyone!

The ugly truth... I swear I could've titled my week in this way. Through the never-ending madness, I've had time to ponder upon some aspects of my life that are well, quizzical at best and downright terrible at worst. I've tackled stuff like revisions (the worst kind a writer wants to tackle, more in WIPed Out), and I've had to face some issues every woman dreads to face. Nothing awful, thank goodness, but I consider them milestones nevertheless.

What happened the other day - hubby reached out for my ponytail and said, look at this. Okay, totally tact-less on his part (he's a bloke, you know, cannot really expect tact there. He also subscribes to The Ugly Truth's memo that the truth is ugly - more on this reference down too, promise). So there we are, in the kitchen, side by side, drinking our coffee like for all intent it's a date and we're at the terrace of a cafe in Grand Bay or some other trendy spot and without kids around (blessing of all blessings!) when the mood warps and shifts to a real horror show. Why? Well, hubby was pointing at my... first grey hair! Yikes! Creeps! Crikey! Gah!!! I'm like, for God's sake, I'm not thirty yet, why this?
Now, don't get me wrong. I think grey hair looks great, totally admire those women who go grey and hold their heads as regal as queens (come to think of it, Queen Elizabeth is grey too, innit?). But my point is - a whole head of grey hair is cool. One grey hair in a raven-black mass stands out like, well, one grey hair in a raven-black mass! Totally cut the wind out of my sails. Somewhere, I must've thought myself in the warp of my teenage years, which wasn't so long ago btw (a decade), but your first grey hair is the sign you're growing up, growing old, and definitely moving forward... That's scary, innit...?

In the wake and surrounding of this life-changing moment, some other stuff has happened, and for once my kid was an absolute angel, so much that I don't have any observation to put up in Kid on the block. But I know it's just a temporary reprieve, to allow me to dwell on my greying hair, and body shape/size issues... (Go to Perception Tunnel for more)

- WIPed out
Imagine having contracted a story. You think you're done with it, right? Well, sorry to burst your bubble - you most definitely aren't. Especially if you land an editor like mine (she knows I love her, but she also knows I need to b*tch here, so she won't mind, as long as I get my apparently non-existent butt in gear and do her revisions). So yeah, revisions. The word we all dread.
Story in question is Walking on the Edge, a mystery/suspense thriller with threads of espionage and romance in for good measure. Try thinking Bourne Trilogy meets Wanted meets Casablanca. The pace is rapid, never stops, and hits the ground running.
But here's where it hurt - it didn't hit the ground running enough according to my editor.
What hurt ME most there - she was utterly, terribly, and terrifyingly right! I was into one of my get-it-over-and-done-with funks. I didn't want to work furtehr on that ms, didn't want to go delve into my brain with that neurotic Willow gal to try and make this story better.
But the problem when you're a writer and when you're also a completely anal perfectionist is that you can never let well enough alone when something you've done is not perfect.
So there I was in the past week, trying very hard to make my brain a cloned reproduction of Ludlum or Clancy to hit the ground running in an espionage story. How did you do that, expecially when all you've written so far has been contemporary romances with culture-base issues or with a romantic comedy slant?
That, my fellow writers, is called coming out of your comfort zone and spreading the wings you didn't know you had. And it's absolutely totally bloody scary (pardon my language, it needed the emphasis).
I did then what I always tell everyone to do when they write - get in your character's shoes. If this story is Bourne meets Wanted meets Casablanca somewhere along the way, and when you know Angelina Jolie plays this kind of character and she also starred as an assassin in Wanted - this got me thinking. If Angelina Jolie were acting the part of Amelia Jamison out, how would she go about it?
For once, I was glad to be a movie junkie, because it gave me the un-block nudge I needed to get the ball rolling on this baby.
And the outcome? You'll have to wait till June 4, 2010 to see it (Walking on the Edge's release date), but I can tell you - Amelia Jamison is kicking butt now and she's having a blast at it!

- Perception Tunnel
Along a few places on the Net this week, I've seen talk about full-figured women and the rabid attention of tabloids chasing ever-more anorexic-looking starlets. Oh, well, to each his own fascination really, but truthfully, I'm all a go for having a more realistic body image for women out there. The Dove campaign was a welcome change where that is concerned.
You may wonder why I'm all for this. Am I one of the 'real' women too? Yes, I am, but not in the way you'd think.
Hi, my name is Z and I'm thin. No, I don't starve myself to death. The last time I ate a lettuce salad was, I don't remember. I pig out on chocolate cake every week, and yes, I do exercise, if 10 minutes of trying to do a Pilates workout 3 times a week is considered exercise.
As if I gotta defend myself for being the way I am... Hate me if you want, but there's another side to being real. Thin women exist too. And no, we're not battling a losing war with anorexia.
What started the pressure building for me this week was an innocuous comment by the hubby. When bringing in the laundry (yeah, he does that, sweetie that he is), he pulled out a t-shirt and placed it in my pile of clothes. I went by and told him, that's the kiddo's tshirt actually. Yes - I wear the same size clothes as my 6 year old son. But then too, I'm also just a couple inches tops of 5 feet tall, and my son at 6 is just a foot short of reaching my height and looks like he'll be a strapping lad the likes of the men in my and his dad's family.
Nothing to worry about then, except that I go to my MIL's place and meet some relatives, and *gasp* - have you lost weight, they ask? When you know my MIL, that's the question she's always asking. And I swear the next thing she and the other women want to ask is - are you anorexic?
But the real deal-clincher was this one - I go to the shops and decide to try on some Indian bangles. They're too big, and I have to look at the kid's section. And would you believe it - the 'mom&pop'/'Auntie&Uncle' duo who own the shop go, you have to eat, beta (that's an Indian endearment that means daughter, btw).
What am I getting at? This is it - I'm short, I'm petite, I'm thin, and I'm, thank God, in good health. Why does everyone need to make a fuss out of this?
On this aspect I totally understand plus-sized women or people with a physical disability. Believe me, we may be totally okay with the way we are, if only the world didn't have an issue with it!
Off the rant now, promise!

- Back to the domestic goddess
Been a total non-goddess of the kitchen this week, as we mostly ate out! Connected with another part of me I'd forgotten about - the purse-money-emptying diva! Yes!
Oh, gotta tell you - I got the Ipanema sandals this weekend. The brown ones I had in my first post!

- Reading Log

Didn't have time to read much this week, but wanted to plug an amazing story I finished a little while ago (I had a chance of reading it as an advance copy). The book is coming out today actually - it's Love Beyond Time by Rebecca Royce, a fellow Eirelander author. I who usually dislike series with a vengeance had to bit my tongue where this one is concerned (LBT is Book 1 of the Outsider Series), and now I'm literally drooling to get to the other books of the series as and when they'll come out. Find more at the link I put in just above, and believe me, this is one book you've got to read if you enjoy paranormal/fantasy romance with a fast pace and a really evil villain!

- Hottie Alert
The topic of this week came about after watching the eponymous movie starring Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl. Allright, in The Ugly Truth, Scottish hunk Gerry is a total moron for much of the start and the middle, but somehow, he makes us fall in love with him because he is just a man with many facets! Watch this for a good laugh, and for some great eye candy too! And before you do, check the Gerard Butler preview here, well worth it after a hectic week!

Here's to making the world a little less ugly...But the real ugly truth? This man is single, and some lucky girl will get to nab him all for herself! If that ain't depressing... Oh well, we can always watch, innit?

- Promo Maven
Nolwynn Ardennes and Storms in a Shot Glass had their very first feature to kickstart the countdown to the release of this book (set to happen on January 8, 2010) as a Tuesday Teaser at the Dark Diva Reviews blog. Check it out - there's a contest going on till Sunday December 6 to win an advance copy of the book! And come catch the whole of Chapter 1 and get acquainted with Jane Smithers and Michael Rinaldi!

In the coming week, Aasiyah will be on the Net too, at the following destinations:
Monday December 7 - Wednesday December 9 - Interview at Books by Pickles blog. A lucky commenter will win a download copy of Light My World!
Monday December 7 - Come by Romance Alley, where in the getting to know your books section, Diya Hemant of Light My World will be having a little chat over coffee with Jane Smithers of Storms in a Shot Glass, about life, love, and Mr. Right!

Don't forget:

Live. Laugh. Love. XOXO