Absent Haiku

Jenn at www.youknowthatblog.com has set this week's theme as Absence

Freedigitalpgotos.net

  

What does the word Absence conjure up for you?

Feminist Flash Haiku Competition #3 2011

http://www.womankind.org.uk/                                     

Womankind worldwide

Charity fights for women’s rights

Who’s the fairer sex?

Check out Mookychick 

See my other entries in separate posts below.

Feminist Flash Haiku Competition #2 2011

Head over to mookychick to enter this competition.

Feminist rages
Her bank account in his name
It's a modern age!






See my other entry below:

BTW: This actually happened to me. I put my bank account that I'd had for years into a joint account with hubster, bearing in mind my initials came before hubby's in the alphabet and he still got all the letters addressed to him about our interest in the account. I was livid!

Feminist Flash Haiku 2011

Defining women
So much more than burning bras
Girl power at its best





Head over to mookychick.co.uk  Their winners shortlist will be compiled by 5 December 2011, and the panel of judges will determine the final winners by 15 December. Winners and shortlisters will be informed via email by 15 Dec.

And The Winners Are

WELCOME TO ALL MY NEW FOLLOWERS

Thank you  to all those who entered the competition

AND to all those who left a comment without entering the competition.

And Wowee I have reached the 500 mark!

The Winners of my Talli Guest-Fest are:

Please send me your address Luanne.

Sadly I have discovered I can't give Kindle ebooks as gifts as yet via Amazon, which was a blow, but hoping to rectify this in the New Year if all goes well.
So humble apologies to Sarah and Rachna.

Talli said: I can offer Sarah and Rachna both a free copy of Build A Man in Kindle format.

Yes Please and Thank you so much x

Thanks to all those who enjoyed the presentation of my guest interview. I wonder what do people look for most when they read
author interviews?

Did you know you can now download Kindle for PC software Free from Amazon, so you can read Kindle versions on your computer?

Pondering on Haiku

Jenn at www.youknowthatblog.com has set this week's challenge word as Ponder

Blank, virgin pages

Pondering how to begin

Novel ideas, pause.

Life's cycle through words
Absorbing concentration
Pen poised on paper

Inspiration sought
Freeing the mind to create
Nature's stimulant

I've had a guest staying over the weekend, which was lovely but I was poorly, which was crap and I've been struggling with faulty technology and fighting bureaucracy. So that is why I've been pretty quiet in blogland earlier this week.

My fancy Smartphone is in for repair, my ADSL filter has been replaced, Hoorah!
BUT the bureauocrats are winning on the battles front so far! Poo!

Hope you've all had satisfying weeks.

I haven't forgotten to award the Talli fest prizes. Will announce those on Friday.

Oh and don't forget to check out my BLOGFEST

For those of you reading this on Thursday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

Thank you to all my new followers and my existing followers

Hating Game Giveaway and Interview

Meet Talli Roland, Author and Blogger
I asked her about her writing journey before she became successful, here's what she said:

If you are a follower of this blog and would like to be in with a chance to win either a paperback of Talli's debut novel, The Hating Game,
or a Kindle copy of any of her novels,
then leave a COMMENT below with your email address and let me know which one you'd like to read.

Revised Blogfest Rules

Turn the cliché on its head, using irony and satire. Make it the subject of a  Flash Fiction piece, a Poem or a Limerick.

Liberally sprinkle your entries with well placed clichés or make them the twist to your tale.

Make it the twist on the punch line to your story. Or make it a witty observation: e.g. Rachel's Holiday by Marion Keyes (1997) He kept touching his hair, which, as well as being dyed to within an inch of its life, was blow dried flicked and rigid with spray.

You may choose whichever idiom you like, such as 'The cat that got the cream'; 'As cool as a cucumber'; 'As good as gold', 'Kick the bucket'. Max 400 words for Flash Fiction.

PLEASE PUT THE LOGO ON YOUR SIDEBARS AND LET OTHERS KNOW ABOUT THE FEST.
WHO WILL BE VOTED THE BEST?

SIGN UP TO THE LINKY BELOW AND POST ON 5th December 2011

1.	Donna Hole	5.	Elaine AM Smith	9.	The Golden Eagle
2.	Old Kitty	6.	Patsy
3.	L' Aussie	7.	Madeleine Begun Kane
4.	Karla	8.	Madeleine

Meditate Haiku

Jenn has set us Meditate as the challenge word this week.

A lovely novel

Meditative practices
Nature's antedote

Great words of wisdom

Combined with meditation
An answer to prayers


Shame about the film
Little time to meditate
The message was lost

Just empty your mind
Being at one with nature
Energies restored.

Okay everyone, it seems I have no takers, as yet, for my Blogfest
Tell me, is it a challenge too far?






I shall be posting an interview with the lovely Talli Roland on Friday about her early journey into writing with a Giveaway prize. 

Here's my Limerick for this week
Ms. Kane sets the first line and the rest is up to you:

A fellow who went through a phase
Enjoyed Star Trek in so many ways
With his stun gun and suit
One and all thought him cute
As he basked in celestial rays

The Road to Hell

One of my mother's favourite sayings if I ever said: I was going to do something, was:

'The road to hell is paved with good intentions!'

Another I've heard is: 'Life's what happens when you've made other plans'

or 'There are many a plan in man's heart, but the Lord's will prevails'

So all this is to explain why I've been so quiet on the blogging scene, again. Or more specifically why I haven't hopped over and commented on your blogs yet.

Apart from the fact that my Internet connection is frustratingly temperamental. Either all the lights on the router come on, yet (as the saying goes) nobody's home, or the lights fail to light up at all and yet the screen pop-up box announces that the connection has been made.
(Insert teeth grinding and angry growl here and you get the picture)

• I have been trying to get back into a better writing routine.
• We have had a visitor which was lovely, so that kept me away from the computer.
• I am getting to grips with Freehand 8 software for my RNIB transcription work, as I'm going to be doing diagrams and maps as well as large print and braille projects

• I visited the dentist at the end of last week and amazingly after years of problems with my teeth and after he'd rummaged around my mouth and prodded my teeth with all manner of metal instruments he said Perfect!  Yay!!!!

As I left the dentist's room I saw 2 ladies in the waiting room who looked extremely pale, anxious and miserable, so I gave them a double thumbs up with a little grin, which made them laugh and remark: "I wish my visits to the dentist were that good."

• At the weekend I sold raffle tickets to raise funds for another of the charities I support.

So there you have it, my busy, busy last few days.

Do you support any charities by volunteering?

I have another lot of things scheduled for this week and so I will hope to catch up with you all in between them. I hope you had a great weekend, too.

TAB!

I wonder how many of you logged into this post puzzled by the title?

It was inspired by a comment by L.G.Smith http://bardsandprophets.blogspot.com/ that she has 'a Current Projects page that shows what she's working on, but not many people notice it' and I thought Of course, most of us pop over, read the current post and hop to the next blog. So this post is about my tabs.

Home obviously takes you to the regular posts.

Writer's CV tells you lots about me and my writing Journey/ goals

Published Stuff shows you what I've had accepted for publication to-date.

Romance follows my journey into the genre.

Bookshelf shares with you my favourite authors and recommends some great how to books.

Blog Awards showcases all the lovely awards I have received, who by with links to posts.

Blogfest gives links to the blogfest challenges I have entered /hosted

Soap Box tells the tale of my poor father's decline into Alzheimer's.

I hope you enjoy browsing through them.

Do you have lots of tabs on your blog?

Do you find you don't always have the time to check out all the pages on others' blogs?

Oh and as my blog following creeps ever closer to the 500 mark I have scheduled an author interview with Book Giveaway for next week.

Fleeting Haiku

Jenn has set us a Fleeting haiku challenge this week!

Traditional 5,7,5 syllable structure applied

 

Precious memories

Blotted out by Alzheimer’s

Now lost forever



Branding your Blog

I read a very useful post about author marketing, which made the stonkingly good point that when people visit your site they should be able to see immediately what it is about. Thankfully mine does.

It also pointed out that as an author site it should clearly show which genre(s) that author is writing, which mine didn't really do until now...
I have updated my banner, Writer's CV and Published Stuff pages and added a new page entitled Romance.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How about you? Does your blog clearly show the genre(s) you write?

Do you like to visit sites that have a clear brand/ theme?

Oh and here are my Limericks for this week's Limerick Off

Ms. Kane sets the first line of the limerick each week and the rest is up to you:

A woman was famous worldwide For being the oldest girl guide Though her uniform altered Her faith never faltered And she wore all her badges with pride

A woman was famous worldwide For being a runaway bride When tying the knot She said “I do NOT!” And then ran at full pelt to her hide.

A fellow was famous worldwide For allowing the economy to slide He was slothful and reckless Unutterably feckless ‘Cause he used his PM as his guide.

A fellow was famous worldwide For being incredibly snide His sarcastic encounters Reduced big burly bouncers To a state that was quite sissified

And my honorary mentioned limerick:
A fellow was famous worldwide

For being incredibly wide

When his doctor said “No!

All this blubber must go.”

He considered his options were fried.

Confessions of an Insecure Writer #2

Thanks to Alex J Cavanagh for this opportunity to share our writerly woes.

Okay here it is my confession:

If I tell you all what I am working on at the moment then something will prevent me from completing the MS and I'll look like a complete fibber or someone who is full of ideas that don't come to fruition.

There I have admitted now... I have several projects that I am researching, writing in different genres.

Life all too often gets in the way and needing an income often colours my writerly flow/ambitions.

How about you?

Oh and check out Liz Fichera's fabulous post the Life Cycle of the Book

Poetry Corner

So what comes to mind when you read these words?

Announcing As Cool as a Cucumber Flashfest

The idea for this Blogfest came to me when I was reading a great post by Rachna Chhabria on Avoiding the Dreaded Clichés in which she refers to the overuse of clichéd phrases (expressions, ideas, or elements of an artistic work that have been overused rendering them stereotypical) and well worn/ obvious similes and metaphors in amateur writing.

She believes that 'Clichés should be given a royal burial. There is no place for them in a good piece of writing'.   

So, a little sprite whispered in my ear and suggested a fun challenge to turn the cliché on its head, using irony and satire and making it the subject of a flash fiction piece. Make it the twist on the punch line to your story. Or make it a witty observation: e.g. Rachel's Holiday by Marion Keyes (1997) He kept touching his hair, which, as well as being dyed to within an inch of its life, was blow dryed flicked and rigid with spray.
Or it can even be poetry, limericks, short excerpts from our stories with clichés added liberally.

You may choose whichever idiom you like, such as 'The cat that got the cream'; 'As cool as a cucumber'; 'As good as gold', 'Kick the bucket' Max word count 400 words

If you're game then sign up to the linky and post your entry on Monday 5th December. Let us know what you think.

1.	Donna Hole	5.	Elaine AM Smith	9.	The Golden Eagle
2.	Old Kitty	6.	Patsy
3.	L' Aussie	7.	Madeleine Begun Kane
4.	Karla	8.	Madeleine

Margo Kelly also has a great post on cliches