R.K. Summers's Blog, page 7

Short & Sweet

I have a cold today, so I’ll spend it lying in bed and feeling sorry for myself. I’ve been sitting at my laptop for approximately an hour, and I’ve accomplished 15 words. PERSONAL BEST! -_-

So, this is a prelude to a bigger blog post in a few days time, when I get myself back to normal. I’m part of a cool gang on Facebook called the Bandit Book Bloggers. Look at our photo. We’re so sexy. Dig it.

So, in a few days time, I’ll be doing a promotion for The Binding, a fantastic fantasy novel by Sam Dogra. Keep your eyes peeled, there’ll be links and excerpts and pretty things!

I’m going to go steam my head to try and clear it. Also, since I’m such a hippy, if you’re ever in my situation, try these herbs to get rid of your cold:

Astragalus: helps get rid of the virus and boost the immune system (in which I am lacking)

Golden Seal: to get rid of all that icky mucus

Thyme: clears infection and speed up recovery

Elderberry: a lovely antioxidant

St. John’s Wort: good for colds, flu and herpes, of all things

Lemon balm: this is good for stopping the cold or flu from spreading any further through your body. And it smells nice.

Or you could be sensible and use Beechams or Day Nurse. Each to their own, I guess.

Blessed be, my little pixies

RK )O(

Only four days left!

And then it’s Christmas! *big grin*

Today’s word of the day is Solstice. Try to use it in a sentence today. Although, that won’t be very hard. Y’know why? BECAUSE IT’S NEARLY CHRISTMAS!

*deep breath*

Oh… wait… that means it’s almost time for Matt Smith to regenerate… suddenly sober. Merry Christmas from the BBC, we’re killing off a beloved Doctor. AGAIN. Although I’ll admit, I’m excited to see what Peter Capaldi can bring to the Whovian community, and I can’t wait to see how he’ll play the Doctor. Will he be sensible? Barmy? Menacing? Shell-shocked? Fatherly? Childish? Bookish? A Cloudcuckoolander? I’d prefer the latter. It’d be nice to see “one of us” out there.

Wow, that sounded pretty sinister. What I meant was it would be nice to see a fellow Cloudcuckoolander on TV.

Ah, but enough about Doctor Who. (*snort* there can never be enough about Doctor Who )

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is… good. I won’t say brilliant, because I’ll be honest, I preferred the first one. It has some amazing bits, and some bad bits. All of it averages out to about… good. I think, and this is the first time I’ve ever said this about a Peter Jackson film, it goes on a just a shade too long. It’s unnecessarily long. The Hobbit is shorter than the first Lord of the Rings novel, so why was it deemed necessary to make it into 3 movies?

Although, Benedict Cumberbatch’s dragonified voice makes up for a lot. Hoo, boy, does it, ever… but still, the menacing shots of the Ring seem a bit too “obvious” and “over the top”. In the novel, the Ring was just a quirky trick found in Gollum’s cave. It’s significance wasn’t realised until much later. Here, it’s made disgustingly obvious that this little trinket is a demonic soul jar, harbouring the remnants of an ancient evil.

*sigh* Hollywood…

But enough of my ranting. I hope everyone has a merry, jolly Yuletide, or whichever holiday you celebrate this winter!

Grian-ghamh-stad seunail!

RK )O(

‘Tis the season to be *hic* jolly!

Well, it’s December! That means it’s nearly Christmas! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Yes, as soon as December rolls around, I turn into an overgrown child. The tree is up, the advent calendar is open, the lights are twinkling, the tinsel is… all over the floor. And there’s no sign of snow anywhere… well, I can’t have everything, I guess.

And because I’m so ridiculously organised, I’m all sorted and ready for Christmas, all presents are wrapped, bagged and tagged, and the cupboards are stocked with food and drink, and we have chestnuts. Because what is winter without chestnuts?

Oh, and I also have a playlist of Celtic Christmas songs to listen to. Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Celtic Woman… *sigh* life is good.

 

OH! But I have been writing in the meantime too, of course Since starting on the sequel, I’ve discovered things about certain characters that I never thought to discover. And, without giving away too much, there are terrible things about to happen. Terrible, terrible things, that will make me weep to write them…

MERRY CHRISTMAS! ^-^

RK )O(

NaNoWriMo

I had every intention of tackling NaNoWriMo, I swear I did. I had an idea planned out and everything. But then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Wait, I mean… no, I’ll start again.

I had every intention of tackling NaNoWriMo, I swear I did. I had an idea planned out and everything. But the Dark Lord Sauron forged, in secret, a Master Ring–

Dammit!

Okay, so these painkillers are wreaking havoc with my brain. Let me explain; I went to the cinema last Sunday to see the epic Thor: The Dark World. I’ll not gush about it (Loki is the STAR! *swoon*), but it’s amazing. However, I slipped and sprained my ankle. So I’ve lost a few days at the hospital and having to lie down and keep my purple ankle higher than my heart, and having to fill out compensation forms and what not. (They had no wet floor signs up).

So, NaNoWriMo has been put on hold for a little while. This is the first time in a week I’ve managed to migrate from my bed to my writing desk, and I think it’s because I would have turned into an encyclopaedia if I watched one more episode of QI. Not that it isn’t a great show, mind.

Onward, Gaelic soldiers, fuelled by caffeine and painkillers.

RK )O(

Winter is coming… no, wait, it’s already here. Never mind.

But it does mean I probably won’t be seen for a while.

Before you start celebrating, I’ll still be around. I’ll just either be at the cinema or glued to the TV. Y’see, EVERYTHING good comes out this winter.  So, I’ll either be fangirling wildly or hibernating from the cold, despite my enormous floor-length fur-collared purple coat and matching beret and gloves. Because winter is purple season. And purple is my colour. I love purple. Purple, yay ^-^

So, this winter, we’ve got Thor: The Dark World, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the Doctor Who 50th anniversary, and some other things which I’ve forgotten. I’m pretty sure I heard someone say Sherlock series 3 was starting soon too.

My not-so-inner geek is squee-ing at the potential awesome that Winter 2013 will bring.

 

In other news, I finished off the final first draft, the cover design specifications and the first draft of the blurb, which I sent zooming to my publisher the other day. The blurb eventually had me tearing my hair out by the handfuls, so I decided that I’ve chewed and chewed at it enough, it’s time for someone else to point out the crappy bits bits that need to be worked on.

I’m quite proud of the things I’ve added to the final first draft, mostly the fantastic-racist insults I’ve slipped in (mostly leaf-ear and mothblood), and the amount of Irish I’m trying to slip past the radar. Oh, don’t worry, there aren’t any naughty swearwords.

I’m saving those for the sequel.

 

RK )O(

Giving WordPress a go

I’m moving here from Blogspot at the recommendation of my publisher, and I have to say I’m already as confused as a bumblebee in January.

I’m not much of a blogger, I get distracted by the shiny things on my desk, and usually end up entangled in the tassel on my desk key.

Well, let me introduce myself. I’m an upcoming author from Oop North (that’s up north for you southern folk). Facebook and Twitter announces me as a “British author, poet, and Cloudcuckoolander.” I’d say it’s an apt description. If you see me wandering around outside, kindly inform the nearest faery ambassador to take me home.

Having recently signed a contract with Inspired Quill, we’re expecting my debut novel, The Old Ways, to be released mid-September 2014, since I’ll be in a treehouse for the first week of September. At the moment, the excitement is overwhelming the terror, so the feelings of “oh gods how will it ever be done in time?” haven’t quite kicked in yet.

I’m looking forward to the moment when the coffee wears off and I’m sitting at the desk at the day job and suddenly the whole world around me evaporates and my brain clicks and whispers, “You realise you’re an author, don’t you?”

That shall be a fun day.

RK )O(