Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 123

My #Author #Interview At Coffee With Architects Of Worlds Afar

I participated in another author interview recently. This time it was with Jessica over at Coffee With Architects Of Worlds Afar.

The interview went live yesterday. So, if you want to learn a little more about me and my writing habits, and see how I answered the questions in the "would you rather" part of the interview, simply click here to read my latest interview.

February 2017 Check-In: #AmReading, #AmWriting, #MondayBlogs

I thought I'd do one of those check-in posts some people are doing. So...

I'm Reading -- Less than is normal for me. I'm a little behind on my reading goal for the year, though not so much that I think I'll have trouble making up the books before the year is over. I'm only a couple of books behind schedule. It's possible not increasing my reading goal much this year was a smart move on my part though. It's certainly looking that way at the moment, anyway. There's plenty of time for that to change between now and the end of the year though, so we'll see what happens. In the meantime, if you want to see what I read during January, check out my January book reviews post. My February one will be posted in early March.

I'm Feeling -- A little sad. My Auntie Sylvie died in January (Great Aunt, really... She was my Mother's aunt) and her little Yorkshire Terrier x West Highland White Terrier, Teddy, was laid to rest with her. Plus, my friend Rita lost her kitty, Karma, last month too. I wasn't exactly close with Auntie Sylvie, and hadn't seen her in a good few years, and I'd never met Teddy or Karma. But I'm still sad that they're gone. Not to mention, I miss our ratty girl, Skye, who we lost at the very end of January, and her sister, Star, who we lost a couple of days later. It's been a rough few months for losses of famous people again too, from what I've seen on social media. *sigh*

I'm Creating -- Nothing, I guess. Well, I'm writing, so I suppose that counts for creating something. But I haven't been doing any crafty type projects in a while. Actually, even the writing is going more slowly than is normal for me at the moment. There's just been so much going on. But I've not done any crafty projects in absolutely ages, so if writing doesn't count, I guess I've not been creating anything.

I'm Anticipating -- My trip to Drusillas Park in March. I'm getting a keeper for the day experience on March 22nd 2017, which was arranged for me by a very good friend. I'm very excited about it! Not only is it an awesome gift for someone who loves animals as much as I do, but having it to look forward to has really helped with all the recent losses; it's good to have something so awesome to be eagerly anticipating!

#Frozen #Music - Let It Go

I don't know what it is about this song that makes me love it so much, but I've been absolutely obsessed with it since I saw the "Frozen" movie for the first time a little over a year ago. I've since seen the movie half a dozen more times (and will likely watch it several more times, especially now I have my own copy) and listened to the song enough times that I lost count of how many. I swear I'm addicted to it or something...

Anyway, enjoy!

#Character #Interview: Saarik On Lisa Burton Radio

Saarik the pixie, from my four book "Zeena Dragon Fae" series, was interviewed by Lisa the robot girl, host of Lisa Burton Radio.

Despite the name of the feature, the interview is a text one, done in a manner that suggests it's the text version of a radio interview. Anyway, it was posted last Thursday (February 16th 2017) over on this site.

If you missed seeing the post, and want to check out Saarik's interview, you can click here to read it.

Then, when you're done, why not grab the books, and learn what really happened.

#Furkid Friday: 5 Facts About My Home Squeak Home #Book

Throughout February, in place of my usual "Furkid Friday" posts, I'll be sharing some facts about certain animal stories my furry family members have inspired. You may already know these facts, but I thought I'd share them, just in case you don't and are interested. I hope you enjoy these posts.

This week it's the turn of one of my stand-alone stories, Home Squeak Home.

1. The story is a semi-fictionalized account of us bringing home our own gerbils, Bilbo and Baggins, and them settling in to our home. Both gerbils survived to see the book published, though we lost Bilbo in April 2016. At the time of this post going live, however, we still have Baggins.

2. As I mentioned above, the real gerbils names are Bilbo and Baggins, but I changed the names for the story, since I didn't want to risk being in trouble for using names so obviously from JRR Tolkien's books in my own books. So Bilbo is named Sooty for the story, and Baggins is named Scamp.

3. The picture on the cover of the book is an actual photo of our gerbils.

4. The pair of gerbils left behind at the petstore at the start of the story really exist. Our gerbils were part of a litter of four: two black, one brown, one white. We brought home the brown one (Baggins) and one of the black ones (Bilbo). I don't know what happened to the other two, though I assume they found nice homes to go to afterwards. I named them in the story just because I could.

5. The little boy who brings home the gerbils is loosely based on my hubby, though obviously with some imagination on my part to turn him in to a child. He even carries my hubby's middle name. I made sure my hubby read the story before anyone else saw it, just to be sure he had no problems with the character. Luckily, he was really pleased about being in the story with his gerbils.

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Want to buy your own copy of Home Squeak Home? Or, any of my other books, for that matter.

You can buy all of my books as eBooks from Smashwords, as well as from Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, and a few other eBook retailers. Alternatively, you can buy them as paperbacks from CreateSpace, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a couple of other online retailers. They're also available to order from libraries in any format, assuming your library supports this feature, and either already carries them, or is willing to get copies.

Guest post: #Infographics

The current trend is to post picture heavy posts and infographics on your blog, in place of the text filled posts blogs used to mainly consist of. As a blind blogger, who reads the blogs of several others, this is something I find frustrating.

Do you want to know exactly what my thoughts are on the matter? Or, perhaps, you'd like to know how to label your pictures so visually impaired readers of your blog don't feel so excluded when your post is full of them?

If you answered yes to either - or both - of those, go check out my guest post on Sue Vincent's blog.

#Writing Wednesday - February 15th 2017

Personally, I have no problem coming up with story ideas. The problem I have is finding time to write down all the stories in my head. I'm certainly trying to achieve that, but there are only so many hours in a day. Anyway, if you're the kind of person who does have trouble finding ideas, you may want to take a look at these tips on finding the stories around us.

Once you have your ideas, and are writing away, have you ever found yourself writing a story, only to find the story going in a direction you hadn't expected? It happens to me a lot (possibly due to the fact I don't outline). But I enjoy discovering what the story is really about as I'm writing it. How about you?

Always remember though: things don't just happen (in fiction, anyway). So, wherever your story goes, you need to have a reason for it to go in that direction.

So, you want to use flashbacks in your story? First, read these tips on using flashbacks in writing.

Is it fantasy you write? If so, make sure your story contains the three elements of a memorable fantasy story. Mind you, those three elements are good ones to try and include in any story as a rule, regardless of genre. Let's stick with talking about fantasy for a moment though, as we take a look at the technical aspects of writing dragons.

Regardless of your book's genre, you may want to try storytelling with the magic of threes.

Anyhow, if you're posting an Amazon link to your book, generate a universal Amazon link, and make things easier for your readers, by allowing them to go directly to the recommended Amazon site for their country.

Did you participate in NaNoWriMo back in November? Well, if you did, here's some advice on what to do while your NaNo novel rests. Of course, this advice can be used whether you participated in NaNoWriMo, or have just finished a writing project in general.

Last, but certainly not least, here's a great article on writing in difficult times.

Show The #Love Everyday, Not Just #Valentine's Day

Tomorrow, as you no doubt know, is Valentine's Day. A day to celebrate love.

Because apparently you can't do that the rest of the year.

Just like with Christmas, where the spirit of the season brings out the generous side of most humans, only for it to be locked away again when the holidays are over, and then taken out of storage once the holidays are drawing near again, as though it's packed away with the holiday decorations, Valentine's Day has become a trigger for grand gestures of love, which you won't see again until the following year, and which you'll be made to feel guilty if you don't perform.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Every day can be a day to show kindness to a fellow human being without expecting anything in return, to give to those in need, or to show someone you love just how much they mean to you (whether that be a partner, a family member, or a friend). You don't have to wait for a particular date or time of year to do so.

I'm not saying you shouldn't celebrate Valentine's Day. In fact, I encourage you to celebrate it. There's nothing wrong with doing something extra special on Valentine's Day, or when some other special date rolls around. Not to mention, a day to celebrate love is a beautiful concept.

Just remember that, while those grand holiday gestures are usually appreciated, the things you do "just because" rather than because the date requires it, or because you feel you should, mean so much more, and every day should be a day to celebrate love in all its forms, and show others how special they are.

If you need some ideas of ways to show your partner how much you love them any day of the year, you should check out this list of 52 ways to show love to your spouse that Dara posted on her blog at the start of the month.

Oh, and... It's also International Book Giving Day tomorrow. So, why not include the love of books in your attempts to spread the love? Again, you don't have to only do this kind of thing on February 14th... Any day will do!

Embrace #Hygge, And Create A Beautiful Life (FD)

Last month, I read this post from Jeanie about Hygge. Jeanie links to more information on it in her post, so I won't bother doing so, since you can just check out the links in her post. I wasn't aware of it until I saw Jeanie's post (despite the fact it's supposedly everywhere over here). But I think it's a wonderful concept. Kind of like Deanna's mission of creating a beautiful life.

The short version though, for those who want it, is that Hygge is comfort. It's creating a cozy atmosphere for yourself and your family, and turning the place you live in from a house in to a home. It's finding a few moments of peace, in an otherwise stress filled day. It's indulging in your favourite things, just because you can.

Though I hadn't heard of Hygge until I read Jeanie's post, I'd been embracing it for a while without knowing I was, because I was following Deanna's advice about creating a beautiful life, and that's what Hygge is. Hygge is doing the things that make you feel happy and content, like curling up with a mug of cocoa while reading or watching TV, taking a long bubble bath, sitting down with a mug of tea and taking the time to just enjoy it, cooking a fancy meal from scratch even though you're the only one who'll be eating it, or just relaxing in the company of those you care about (whether that be family, friends, pets, or whatever). But it's also creating a sanctuary where, for just a short while, you and your loved ones can enjoy some peace from the chaos of the world.

So, embrace Hygge for yourself, and create your own beautiful life.

#Furkid Friday: 7 Facts About My Kero's World #Books

Throughout February, in place of my usual "Furkid Friday" posts, I'll be sharing some facts about certain animal stories my furry family members have inspired. You may already know these facts, but I thought I'd share them, just in case you don't and are interested. I hope you enjoy these posts.

This week it's the turn of my Kero's World series.

1. The series is based on actual events that happened in the life of my own West Highland White Terrier, though they have been slightly fictionalized, as well as being mixed up to form actual stories, rather than just being seporate memories. I still had the dog in question at the time of the original publication of the first six books in the series, though we lost him in August 2014, so he never lived to see his books in physical form, since I was still only doing eBooks at that point.

2. Though his official name was Castellan Keroberous, and Kero was just what we called him a lot of the time, I decided to use only the shortened form of his name for the books, since I figured it would be easier for people to say.

3. The series was only supposed to contain the first six books, but I wrote and published a seventh book as a way of saying, "goodbye," after we had to put him to sleep. It's the book of mine that got from idea to finished product the fastest: the release date of the seventh book in my Kero's World series is a month to the day from the date we lost our beloved dog.

4. The pictures on the front of all seven books in the series are actual photos of Kero, which were taken at various points during his life. As with my "Degu Days Duo" books, the quality of most of them could have been better, but they were the best I had that would fit the story at the time, and I wouldn't change them afterwards.

5. My main motivation for writing the series was because I was taking a blogging break at the time, and I was missing the posts I used to do from Kero's point of view on this blog.

6. The title of the series was inspired by the title Iggy gave a video he made for me a couple of years before. The video was a slideshow of photos of Kero, along with Gwydion (the guinea pig we had at the time) with a short snippet of Kero barking and Gwydion squeaking playing on a loop as it cycled through the images. It seemed right for the series, since I was doing something similar with memories to what Iggy had done with photos and audio clips.

7. "Kero Crosses The Rainbow Bridge" - the seventh book - has sold more copies than any other book in the series to date. It's also the only book in the series my hubby has read.

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Want to buy your own copies of the books in the Kero's World series? Or, any of my other books, for that matter.

You can buy all of my books as eBooks from Smashwords, as well as from Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, and a few other eBook retailers. Alternatively, you can buy them as paperbacks from CreateSpace, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a couple of other online retailers. They're also available to order from libraries in any format, assuming your library supports this feature, and either already carries them, or is willing to get copies.