Anita Dawes's Blog: http://jenanita01.wordpress.com

STREAMLINING…

  
 Or out with the old?
This blog is three years old now, and it has helped us to cut our teeth on the wonderful complexities of blogging.
We didn’t have a clue in the beginning. Everything was so strange (and difficult) and we never thought we would ever be any good at it.
Not a lot has changed really; we still have so much more to learn.We have enjoyed the last three years on Blogger, meeting so many interesting, friendly and helpful people.
Then we began another website on Wordpress.com, where we were astounded at the sheer amount of interaction going on. There is always such a lot going on, making it a very exciting place to be.
So it is with a heavy heart, and mainly due to the lack of activity, this blog will close on 15th January.
We have thought long and hard about this decision, but most of our writing friends will know where we are coming from.
Ever since we began our journey into Indie publishing and blogging, we have been running around like frantic puppies, chasing our tails and not getting very far. It is time to consolidate our efforts and stop spreading ourselves so thin.2017 is the year to streamline, to unclutter and remove all the lightweight, ineffective parts. Hopefully, to reveal a stronger core.
And it is just this site that will cease to be. Our writing partnership will continue on http://jenanita01.wordpress.com.
We hope you will make the leap and join us on WordPress, where so many interesting things are happening and the pulse rate is high. Come and join in the fun, do something new…

So many empty promises!

I have posted about e-mails before here . About how rewarding, interesting and useful they are. However, just lately, something has been happening to them.
Something bad.
Something that is ruining not only my enjoyment, but also possibly the future of communication as we know it too. Most days I find informative articles and valuable information, all shared by fellow bloggers. Sometimes we meet new people who have just begun to blog, wanting to join our list of subscribers. Then there are all the people we discover who we want to follow. It is a huge worldwide social club, one that has taught me almost everything I know about blogging and social networking. Some of the best hours in my day are spent reading e-mails.
That is, until this new menace started appearing. Every single one of them promising a gift, a prize or some other amazing offer. All the ones from the companies you don’t have dealings with are bad enough, but at least you know for sure you haven’t qualified for any of their offers. But what about the ones from the companies you do use?
It can be quite disconcerting to read that your favourite store has singled you out (as a valued customer) for this huge discount. Hard not to click on that one!
They are all bogus claims, trying to get you to click to register your claim, and once you do, you open the door for any malware they have at their disposal. I can no longer tell the real from the bogus, so I ignore them all. And every day there seems to be more and more.
I often wonder how many people are fooled and taken in by these claims, only to have their systems corrupted or worse.
Hopefully this menace will die a natural death, but I know what will happen. These people will come up with yet more ways to wreak havoc, as it’s what they do. I just wish they would leave my e-mails alone!

We hope that all our friends enjoyed the Christmas break,...

We hope that all our friends enjoyed the Christmas break, almost time to make those New Year plans!

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas...

This was not the End!

The editing was going well and almost finished. All that was left to do, basically, was the final formatting for the e-book version.
Then I had a thought.  This happens to me sometimes, and I have learned to go with the flow and see where it takes me. And this one did seem like a good idea.
You see, I have this thing about endings. My writing tends to speed up as the end approaches, and this can play havoc with the tension, not to mention the dramatic conclusion of my story. It’s as if I cannot wait to get it over with. I did it with book two and my beta reader had to bring it to my attention. It was becoming apparent that I was doing the same thing with book three.
Endings should never be simple, especially in a mystery thriller anyway. The readers will be left feeling cheated if everything turns out all hunky dory, tidied away like a children’s story.
Quite apart from the fact that a tame ending will completely ruin all the other good stuff your book is full of. 
The best endings are the ones you never see coming, or at least you thought you did, but are mistaken. My favourites are the ones where you think you’ve reached the end, only to find the story goes on and bites you on the backside!
So I have a lot more work to do before this book is ready to fly. This last one has been hard, probably because it is the last in the trilogy. So much harder to write than a stand-alone novel and so much more to think about and consider. Keeping the continuity going had me pulling my hair out on more than one occasion.
I haven’t written a trilogy before but it was an interesting undertaking, and challenging too…
Has anyone else encountered this, or is it just me? 

Divergent… the movie

In a futuristic Chicago, society is divided into five factions based on personality type, created to bring everlasting peace.
  On a given day each year, all sixteen year olds must take a test and choose where they belong. For Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) the choice is not an easy one. In a divided existence where everyone must conform, Tris is DIVERGENT – a danger and threat to this seemingly perfect world.
  Forced to hide this deadly secret, she has to make a difficult choice and is drawn to her enigmatic mentor, Four (Theo James), who appears to both threaten and protect her. 
As a dangerous conflict develops amongst the factions, she must rely on her strength and courage not only to survive, but to save the people she loves.

( Dictionary definition:  Divergent: the inability to fit into a box…)
The film Divergent is about a future society, who, having almost destroyed their planet, have decided the only way to control the peace is to segregate people according to their types. Something many politicians today would love to do!
Seeing all these different factions in the film, the peaceful, the thinkers, and the ones who think they are superior to all the others, it was hard to visualise how they thought this system would work.
The leaders of this imaginary world were becoming concerned about the increasing number of people who didn’t conform to the segregation, not fitting into any particular faction. They called them divergent, their word for troublemakers, and decided they would all have to be eliminated to maintain the peace.
This was when the plot started to crumble for me, for it simply wasn’t logical to kill all the divergents just because of their differences. For surely, these special people are the very ones who would come up with brilliant discoveries?
This made me think of our own society and how we are all so different or divergent if you like. It is true that some people will fall into specific groups and are happy to remain there. But what of all the leaders and innovators, all those fascinating people whose minds will change the world?
We need more people like this to invent new medicines, solve world problems and make the world a better place for the rest of us. It might not be as peaceful as we would like, but think of the advantages…

Is This The End of the Road?

I have been having an increasingly difficult time coming up with writing ideas for blog posts and current works in progress, and I’m not happy about it.This has never been a problem before, and could be due to an assortment of things, but I am becoming more and more concerned, for it seems to be reflected in other areas of my life. I think I can feel the enthusiasm waning, at least that’s what it feels like.
We have been blogging for nearly four years now, and clocked up an amazing list of posts, quite apart from the posts about our books. I have never been at a loss for things to write about and life has been kind enough to supply bags of interest too.
It is possible that the fault lies in my head, something I have strenuously denied up to now. But seeing as how I have just tried to remember what I was in the middle of doing just a few minutes ago, I have to admit I may have a problem.Despite leaving copious amounts of post-it notes everywhere, creating a virtual forest of pastel leaves all over my desk, my brain seems to be on strike or something, not exactly sure what.When all this first started happening, it was amusing, but the novelty has worn off.  What makes it worse is that I can remember things from last year with no trouble at all, and my long-term memory seems fine.
In the beginning, I blamed everything. The stress of all the marketing and promotion; problems with the current WIP, and family and health problems. (and there have been far too many of those!)It is becoming increasingly obvious that my dwindling collection of grey cells are just not functioning properly anymore. Maybe this is normal at my age?I don’t want to believe this, for I love my life and everything I do, and don’t want the wheels in my head to grind to a halt. I never thought my brain would ever let me down.
But before I shuffle off this mortal coil, there are still some things I haven’t quite pulled off yet, and it occurs to me that maybe I can’t do it all.  Shock Horror! Maybe it is time to get professional help, even if I have to part with some money. It is the only option I can think of, for I’m not quite ready to return to return to my knitting!
This will be a new experience for me, as being stubborn; I have fervently resisted any suggestion that I can’t cut the mustard. In the past, I have eventually managed most things and there is not a lot in my failure pile. Perseverance usually gets me where I want to go.  Whether I am any good at asking for help, remains to be seen, but it’s worth a try.Better than the alternative, anyway…

The Maker of Skulls by Amanda Markham

FIVE STAR REVIEW: “A REAL PAGE TURNER…”

To shy, book loving Professor Fineas Steele, his beloved office, overflowing library and pipe are his world… until the morning his life is turned upside down by a secret he’s guarded for almost thirty years.
For decades, Fineas has been protecting a dead man’s secret - an elaborate hoax perpetrated by a much loved, dashing national hero. A secret on which Fineas has built his life, career and professor’s tenure.
When news of a carved granite skull and a sea captain's lucky escape from a cannibal tribe turn up on the front page of the city's newspaper, Fineas must make a decision.
Does he risk everything and expose the lies of the man who made him what he is? Or does he undertake a perilous journey to solve the mystery behind the skull's makers and a tribe of cannibals who never really existed? ~~~~~~

It was the cover of this book that first attracted my attention. The kindly old face of the professor and the old world setting really appealed to me.
The professor is blissfully happy in his own world, until the day something happens. Something that just wasn’t possible.
Should he investigate, or leave well enough alone?
Although he is far too old for an adventure, he decides to find out if what he always thought was a myth, could in fact be true.
I loved the touches of humour from the professor and the complex twist at the end of this mystery story.  I can recommend The Maker of Skulls wholeheartedly.
Amazon Link: https://amazon.co.uk/Maker-Skulls-Steampunk-cosy-mystery-ebook/dp/B01L39ZEJI/

 

Mind Blowing…

There are times when I want to run screaming away from my office and everything in it.
Yes, it was another one of those days when I had come up against the proverbial last straw and just knew I couldn’t take any more setbacks.
This post is hard for me to write, because I am one of the most stubborn persons on the planet. I rarely give up or give in, but I have come really close this week.
Even though, when I think of all the things I use every day, I am undeniably proud of my progress. For a dyed in the wool technophobe, I amaze myself sometimes.
With one exception.
I seem to be developing a phobia about book covers. Quite apart from the trouble of choosing the right one in the beginning, I keep changing my mind. And if you have ever had to change one of your book covers on Amazon or Goodreads, you will know what it entails. Unless the trouble I encounter is down to me again, of course.
Last week, after finally deciding which covers I wanted to use, I uploaded them on Amazon. I have done this before and usually after a day or two, the new cover will show up. But not this time though.  So a swift email was sent to ask why, and quickly sorted. But why didn’t it happen the way it is supposed to?
Changing your covers on Goodreads is another kettle of fish all together. I know how you are supposed to do it, but their site is so complicated, I find it quicker to ask one of their regulators to do it.
I was almost getting a handle on all of it, only to discover both of the book links were broken.  Same books, but…
All of this has gone a long way to convince me never to change my mind again, a necessary step to salvage what’s left of my sanity. And, quite apart from anything else, I have better uses of my time…
What drives you mad, and what do you usually do about it?  

Done scraping the barrel?

 


Just when I thought this world couldn’t get any worse, that we had already seen enough disasters, suffered enough injustice and fought our way through disappointment after disappointment to be immunised against any more pain, there was so much more.
I heard it coming, we all did.
More of the same, we thought, expecting to shrug it off and get on with our lives. We have long lived with the knowledge that we are at the mercy of those in charge, and that tilting at windmills isn’t really an option.
So why does it feel different this time?
Why do we feel so completely abandoned and betrayed?
We have joked about going to hell in a handcart, but it was still a shock to see it trundling down the road towards us.
I have been waking up in the morning feeling ill, trying to convince myself it is yet another symptom of old age. I am normally an enthusiastic person. Glass half full and all that, but these last few days have seemed empty and hollow. I can usually summon up the energy to fake it until it comes back, but for the first time in my life, I don’t really want to.
But supposing the enthusiasm never come back, what then?
In a way, I am rather glad to be old. Life doesn’t mean the same to me as it once did. I have passed the point of worrying and making plans, content to potter along in my relatively peaceful retirement.
But my little boat seems to have lost its moorings for the moment, been cut adrift and left to sink into deep water, with no visible means of reaching the shore…
(Something will rescue me, I just hope it doesn’t take too long, whatever it is!)


 On a lighter note, Anita and I have decided to publish some of our best short stories for your enjoyment. Do you think an ebook can be a stocking filler? 
Amazon Link:  myBook.to/Shstories