Michelle Gordon's Blog, page 35
June 24, 2013
Book Reviews
Book reviews. Most people see them as necessary for book sales, the more (good) reviews a book has, the more it is likely to sell. They’re also very useful to readers, they can check out the opinions of other readers before they try the book themselves. Sometimes, they are simply used as a way for people to vent, rant or abuse the author or even other readers.
But for me? They provide me with the motivation I need to write. When I get stuck with my writing, when I wonder if I should continue, all I need to do is read some of my book reviews, and it reminds me that there are people out there waiting to read my next book. Waiting to see what the characters do next. Who are cheering me on and who have supported me in my career so far.
To make the most of this, the other day I printed out some of my reviews, and stuck them on my wall.
I want to thank every one of them for inspiring me every day, and to let readers know that your review is more than just a way to give your opinion. It may mean more to the author than you think.
Which led me to realise that I have read hundreds of books in my life, but I have been very lax in writing reviews for them. So I have decided to write a review every time I read a new book, and also to begin leaving reviews for books I have read in the last few years.
After all, what if my words are the very thing the author needs to read to continue with their work?
New Reading for today from Aria
Here is Aria’s advice for today:
June 20, 2013
Oracle Card Readings on Youtube
Starting today, I will be posting Oracle Card Readings from Velvet’s, Aria’s and Amethyst’s Oracles. I will be choosing just one card for the day, advice from everyone’s favourite Earth Angel Training Academy characters. You can view today’s reading from Velvet below.
Please show your support for Velvet by commenting and liking it on youtube 
June 18, 2013
The Very Inspiring Blogger Award
A big thank you to my dear Angel friend, Liz of Lizitivity for nominating me for this award!
The rules for accepting the Very Inspiring Blogger Award:
Display the Award Certificate on your website.
Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented you with the award.
Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.
Drop them a comment to tip them off after you have linked them in the post.
Post 7 interesting things about yourself.
My nominated bloggers (in no particular order) –
3. Chris Guillebeau - The Art of Non-conformity
4.Orly Wahba – Life Vest Inside
5. Rob Lang – The Modern Day Poet
7. Marcia Bench
8. Sarah Jane
9. Magu Bee – Bee the Adventure
11. Claire Brummell – Feminine 1st
13. Arielle Ford – Wabi Sabi Love
14. Rori Raye
15. 7Words
Seven interesting things about me –
1. I only wear fluffy bed socks, and they have to be inside-out, I hate the seam against my toes.
2. I wrote my first poem at the age of 8, in the middle of the night, and it was just four lines long.
3. I had a pet slow-worm as a child. In fact, several, as the cats used to catch them, I’d nurse them back to health then release them.
4. I used to travel astrally while asleep as a very young child. My favourite thing to do was to fly down the stairs and around the house. It was always interesting when I tried to re-create that when awake…
5. I have a very weird accent. I am originally from Wales, but have never had a Welsh accent, even as a child in Welsh school. Over the years I have been asked if I am from America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, England or even South Africa. I like to think of it as being a Universal accent
6. I have a happy memory pot on my window sill, with a pen and paper next to it. Every time something good happens, I write it down on a piece of the paper, fold it up, and put it in the pot. My Christmas present to myself will be to open all these little notes to myself and read about all the wonderful things that have happened this year.
7. My lucky number is 7. It is also my life path number
June 17, 2013
Mind Body & Soul Weekend
Spent last weekend at the Kempton Park Mind Body & Soul Weekend. Many brave souls came out to see us in the wild weather, and I met some beautiful Earth Angels! As well as customers, I saw some old friends and made some new with the exhibitors there. I actually remembered to take photos this time, so here they are
My stand:
My next door neighbour and purveyor of beautiful crystals; Richard Scull of Crystal Planet.
My other next door neighbour, and very talented artist, John Wakefield:
My opposite neighbours, Carol Carbine,
and Erika, of the Lamenting Wolf.
And here are a few of my favourites: Samjhana Moon of Goddess Portraiture;
Harpinder Bilkhu of Lyran Arts:
and Katalin Swann, Empowerment Coach, The Aroma Tree Company and Cheryl Mcavoy, Angel Artist.
Please check out there websites and see their beautiful merchandise! They are all lovely Earth Angels and I feel blessed to have spent the weekend with them.
June 4, 2013
Wordle fun!
A few years ago I came across Wordle.net, which is a website that very quickly and easily enables you to create word clouds. Sounds a bit geeky and boring, I know, but I love it! I created several yesterday, and here they are:
This wordle was created by entering the URL of this very blog! The bigger the words, the more they have been used in the text that you enter.
This wordle was created by pasting The Earth Angel Training Academy into the wordle-making machine
This wordle was made using the text of The Earth Angel Awakening.
This wordle is from the Doorway to PAM.
And this final one was created from The Elphite.
You can do anything you want with your wordles, you can print them on t-shirts, mugs, use them as the background on your website or even as a book cover! I manufactured the wordle below back before I published The Earth Angel Training Academy, and considered using it as my cover It took a few tries to get the title in the right order!
What are you waiting for? Get over to wordle.net and start having fun!
May 29, 2013
A wonderful weekend at the Mind Body Spirit Festival in London
***Warning! This blog post is longer than my usual posts, you may need a cup of tea and some cake before reading! ***
Last weekend I went to London with my good friend, Sarah Jane, and her daughter Mia, to attend the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Earl’s Court. We stayed at her mum’s house on the outskirts of South East London, and travelled in to the centre by train and tube each day.
My first port of call when we arrived was to visit Flavia Kate, on the Spirit Visions stand, to have Spirit Strands put in my hair. I had them put in last year when I visited the Mind Body Spirit Festival, and I loved them. They had lasted a few months, and I was sad when the last one finally came out. This time I went for 25 strands in three different shades or purple, and received many compliments on them throughout the rest of the weekend. Mia also decided to have a few put in, she went for the green and silver option!
One of my favourite experiences from last year was what I call ‘the flashy light thing’, which is where you sit in a booth, close your eyes and a very bright light flashes in certain sequences, which causes your brain to create shapes, colours and patterns. It’s pretty much like an acid trip without the side effects. (I assume it is anyway, I’ve never done drugs myself!) Mia tried it out and found it to be quite interesting! It’s called the Lucia No.03. if you want the more technical details!
I went to the Conscious Ink stand, to visit my Spiritual Sister, Buckso, whom I haven’t seen in a few years. When I lived in Derby I used to hold meetings at my house for my Spiritual Sisters, but it’s been a long time since I have managed to return there to visit. I love the Conscious Ink tattoos, and was more than happy to show mine off to passers-by (though I’m not so sure they were as impressed with me flashing my belly!) I love my Believe tattoo, and many people thought it was real. If I were to be brave and get a real tattoo, it would definitely be along the lines of something like this
We visited the pop-up temple, and did some mantra chanting with a lovely lady of the Radha Krishna Temple. We did some singing as well, and Sarah harmonised with her, I did my best to sing quietly and not scare anyone!
Last year I met Samjana Moon, the beautiful lady of Goddess Portraiture. When Sarah and I came across her stand, it was at the end of the day, but we ignored the insistent security guards trying to throw us out and had a good long chat! Samjana’s business has grown and developed since last year, and she now offers mentoring sessions as well as the Goddess photoshoot experience. Over the weekend I wrote a list of things I wanted to do before I reach 30, and doing a photoshoot with Samjana is on the list! So I will blog about it when I make that a reality
On the Saturday, I chatted to a lovely faerie for quite some time, called Atalanta, of Atlantis Fae. She had beautiful iridescent faerie wings, and was selling her lovely wares. We realised that we had been at the same fair last year in Glastonbury, but had not managed to meet there.
A lovely angel friend of mine, Angela, text me while I was at the show to say that if I saw Kyle Gray, (The Angel Whisperer) to ask him if they were distantly related, as she had an ancestor of the same name from the same area he is from. So when I saw him on the Hay House stand, I asked him! He didn’t think they were related, but he was very sweet and said to take a photo to send to Angela to say hi. I missed his talk on the Sunday, titled ‘Are you an Earth Angel?’ which would have been very interesting to attend! Will have to try and get to one of his other events soon.
One of the things that came up a few times was how I don’t dress the part of a Spiritual Fiction author. On two of the days I wore my Earth Angel t-shirts, to promote my books, but in general, my clothing is as normal and as mundane as it gets. So Sarah and I had great fun on The Goddess Within stand, trying on some fun clothing. I particularly liked this jacket, but it was a little too small, and would have to order a custom-made one. It’s very tempting, though I would go for a purple one instead of a pink one!
What I love about the festival is the areas set aside for meditation and contemplation, here is Sarah Jane in the centre of the activity, looking quite serene!
I enjoyed catching up with my friend Taidgh of Caol Ait, (even if I still cannot spell or pronounce his name!) and a few others that I met last year at the festival. I also met up with some fellow firewalkers from the UPW event a couple of weeks ago.
May 27, 2013
Climb every mountain…
Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that I am not a very athletic or fit person. But I decided that this year would be my transformation year, and that I would do things that were completely out of my comfort zone, rather than remain where I was. So when a good friend of mine, Rob (The Modern Day Poet) asked me if I wanted to climb a mountain with him, I of course said yes!
So on the 4th of May, we set off to North Wales, to climb Cader Idris, which according to Rob would be easy to climb…
Here I am, at the bottom of the mountain, having just realised that I had forgotten my waterproof jacket… not good seeing as the very top of Cader was shrouded in a misty cloud!
The journey began well enough, though my thigh muscles were burning pretty quickly! Despite the training in the gym, the first quarter of the climb was the toughest. And then, when I saw how far there was to go, my resolve did waver…
But we kept going, taking water and breathing breaks regularly, and soon we were halfway.
The views were spectacular all the way up, and I took hundreds of pictures! By seeing the whole thing as a photography exercise, it made it a lot easier!
At one point, I had a stabbing pain in the top of my thigh, and began to seriously consider turning around, but I just kept telling myself to put one foot in front of the other and keep going.
I wrote this sign before we began the climb, but despite the aching limbs, the freezing wind and the numb fingers, I really did enjoy it! Rob was very good company, and despite probably being able to get up the mountain a lot quicker without me, he was very patient!
And bless him, he even lent me his waterproof jacket, without which, I would have surely have frozen!
To realise that I am capable of climbing a mountain, was incredible. And quite a spiritual experience too. And thanks to Rob, I realised that even when I am in pain, have a long way yet to go, and really feel like giving up, to just keep going, one step at a time, and I will reach my destination!
May 22, 2013
Unleash the Power Within!
From the 10th to the 13th May, I attended the Tony Robbins event – Unleash the Power Within, in London. What can I say? It was incredible!
It began at 1pm on the Friday, and for 8-9 hours, Tony built us up to the firewalk that we would be doing that evening. The idea of it terrified me, but I was determined to do it. I quickly made contact with my friend Dutch, who I met at the Millionaire Mind Seminar in March. And we had a spare seat next to us, which a woman called Jill took up, and as it turned out, she had also been to the same seminar in March! It’s a small world… In fact, despite there being 5000 people there, I recognised and reconnected with quite a few people I knew!
It’s hard to fully explain what the weekend was really like to those who weren’t there. Tony has an incredible energy that just gets to your very core, he believes in you so much, that it’s very hard not to trust him and believe in yourself. Overall, the weekend was about changing your beliefs, and achieving a peak state. To achieve that peak state, a lot of dancing, cheering and jumping up and down was involved! It wasn’t one of my goals, but over the course of the four day event, I lost 4lbs!
Here’s some pictures:
This is me and my firewalking buddy Jill. We celebrated like crazy after doing the walk, as we had both been quite scared to do it! Neither of us felt a thing, it was incredible!
Making some noise with Dave!!
To continue the transformation, Jill, Dave and I made a pact to hold each other accountable to following our dreams and achieving our goals. Having a supportive peer group is very important, as you become the average of the five people you spend most of your time with!
Another amazing person I met at UPW was Magda, a beautiful soul with bumblebee wings! She is travelling the world and having incredible adventures, you can read about them on her blog.
So if you have ever thought about attending one of Tony Robbins’ event, DO IT. My life has changed in so many ways since that weekend, and I would recommend the experience to anyone who wants to transform their life for the better.
May 3, 2013
Local Author Events at the Malvern Book Co-operative
I am happy to say that I was contacted by the Malvern Book Co-operative to be a part of their local author week from the 13th to the 18th May. There will be several local novelists taking part, and I am looking forward to it!
On Tuesday the 14th, at 7.30pm, there will be a ‘Speed Pitching’ evening, where the authors will be pitching their novels in a few minutes. (Apparently like speed dating only without the embarrassing chat up lines!) Then afterwards there will be time to chat to the authors about the good bits and bad bits of writing and publishing.
Then on Thursday the 16th, between 1pm and 4pm, I will be in the shop in Malvern, doing some writing and having a cuppa, and would love it if any other writers or budding writers wanted to join me for some informal writing/chatting about writing and publishing. I would be happy to answer any questions or make any suggestions
Then on Saturday the 18th, there will be two sessions of the local novelists coming in to sign their books and chat with readers. We would love to see you there!
Please pass this on to anyone you know in the area. You can find the Malvern Book Co-operative on Facebook too.
