Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 75
July 17, 2012
Romantic Novelists’ Association conference 2012 (Penrith)
I spent last weekend at the Romantic Novelists’ Association annual conference in Penrith. It was the first time I’d been to a full conference (I’d been before for the day only). I had a wonderful time being a writing geek and discussing all sorts of random things relating to writing and romance. I feel like I’ve been talking and laughing for 72 hours straight.
We discussed heroines, heroes, Joss Whedon, Terry Pratchett, the perfect dinner date, the man with universal appeal (doesn’t exist), th...
July 11, 2012
Film review: Snow White and the Huntsman
Snow White and the Huntsman
I haven’t written a movie review since I was at student and wrote reviews for @DailyInfoOxford. In a rare trip to the cinema, I went to see Snow White and the Huntsman last week. It bothered me so much that I thought I’d write something up. So, anyway, my take on the film was… basically… Huh?
Visually, the film in stunning. The special effects are wonderful. Kristen Stewart (the pallid girl from Twilight) does a good job of being a pallid princess. Charlize Theron is...
July 10, 2012
Goodreads Book Review: Ten Years On by Alice Peterson
Ten Years On by Alice Peterson
I picked this book up because of a Twitter conversation I had with@Alicepeterson1. (Does Twitter sell books? Yes, but not in any direct way). I read the sample chapter and it looked interesting, so I downloaded it.
This book is more about bereavement and grief than romance. Becca’s husband Olly dies suddenly, leaving her alone and pregnant with their first child. Becca must learn to cope with her loss while adjusting to the fact that she’s going to be a mother. Fo...
June 25, 2012
Goodreads book review: Star Struck by Jane Lovering
Having read (and loved) Please Don’t Stop the Music, I decided to read some more of Jane Lovering’s work and downloaded Star Struck.
Skye Threppel is an actress disfigured by a car accident. Not only did the accident take away her career, but it also took her best friend, her fiancé and huge chunks of her memory. Since then, the two main stays of her life are her best friend (and brother of her late friend) Felix and the TV series Fallen Skies. When Skye goes to a Fallen Skies convention hopin...
June 14, 2012
Goodreads book review: Turning The Tide
Turning The Tide by Christine Stovell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a very atmospheric book. It describes the sea and the bleak, beautiful watery landscape near Little Spitmarsh with so much affection that you can’t help falling a little in love with the setting yourself.
Harry Watling runs an ailing boat yard and loves Little Spitmarsh exactly the way it is. Matthew Corrigan is a property developer who has started renovating the old boat house next door and has big ideas on how to turn the to...
May 27, 2012
Finding ‘free’ images for a blog
These are series of notes I wrote for my writing buddy Jen (writer of fast and funny YA fiction – still unpublished, but it’s only a matter of time!). She was not totally sure how to go about this social media mullarkey, so I wrote her a set of ‘how to’ notes, based on my own experience of setting up an online presence.I’veposted the notes here in case they’re of use to people. The first of these is a step by step on how to set up a website using WordPress.
Last year, I wrote a blog post about...
May 20, 2012
These are series of notes I wrote for my writing buddy Jen (writer of fast and funny YA fiction – still unpublished, but it’s only a matter of time!). She was not totally sure how to go about this social media mullarkey, so I wrote her a set of ‘how to’ notes, based on my own experience of setting up an online presence.I’veposted the notes here in case they’re of use to people. Last week I posted a step by step on how to set up a website using WordPress.
Seven-Little-Birds by Fat Face & Me
Next...
May 14, 2012
Setting up a WordPress based website
These are series of notes I wrote for my writing buddy Jen (writer of fast and funny YA fiction – still unpublished, but it’s only a matter of time!). She wasn’t sure how to go about this social media mullarkey, so I wrote her a set of ‘step by step’ notes, based on my own experience of getting and online presence. I’ve posted the notes here in case they’re of use to people.
Building your own web platform.A couple of things to know – the ‘brand’ is you. The products are your books. The web plat...
May 13, 2012
Lucky Seven meme: Warning! Work in Progress.
A few weeks ago Jen Black sent me the Lucky Seven meme. The rules are:
*go to page 77 of your current WIP
*go to line 7
*copy down the next 7 lines/sentences as written and post them on your blog or website
*tag 7 other authors
*let them know they’ve been tagged.
My WIP doesn’t have 77 pages yet, so here’s a bit from page 7. By way of context – The novel is set in a Biochemistry lab. Beth is getting over being dumped and Hibs is helping her by getting them both very drunk.
“I know. I know. You’re ri...
May 11, 2012
Goodreads Book Review: Never Coming Home
Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Never Coming Home by Evonne Wareham
I picked this book up because 1) I trust Choc Lit as a publisher – I’m yet to read one of their books that I didn’t enjoy and 2) Evonne and I are both short listed for the Joan Hessayon Award and I felt I should check out the competition 
.
Kaz Elmore’s daughter dies in a car crash in America (whilst visiting Kaz’s ex husband). Devlin is the man who saw the crash, called the police, and held the little...
