Constance Williams's Blog: Absolutely Me

The Protectors: now available for pre-order

We're really pleased to announce that we have a release date for The Protectors! The second book in The Witch Lake Chronicles will be released on 13 August 2015!

You can preorder your copy from Amazon now at getBook.at/prt (sorry, no preorder for non-Kindle formats at the moment).

We also have a limited number of pre-release review copies to GIVE AWAY. If you are interested in receiving a FREE copy of THE PROTECTORS, please comment on our facebook post. You'll have a better chance of being selected to receive a free copy if you also SHARE the post and LIKE our page.

(Please note, in order to receive a review copy of The Protectors, you must be willing to commit to posting a review of the book by 1 August 2015 on A

Inspiration

Sometimes what is really needed to get the inspiration flowing is nothing more than a change of scenery and a break from it all. Sometimes life gets a little too much and you need to take a step back.

I hit that recently. That need to get away, to regroup. To find myself and my inspiration once again. This year has been hard - juggling writing, a full-time job and other external stresses has very much felt like having too many balls in the air. I’ve been very lucky to have some wonderful people around me, but I know my online presence has suffered as a result. Blogging was one of the first things to go, something that I regret but which was necessary for my mental health.



Things turned around on a recent trip I took with my family. A walk down memory lane as my family met up with that of my brother in the town we used to holiday in as kids. I thank the inlaws various, plus kids, for their patience as my brother and I gleefully went from place to place talking about what had changed and what was still the same.

North Wales is a beautiful, often overlooked area. I had feared that my fond memories of it were nothing but the rosy memory of a small child.

I was right but in the wrong way. If anything, it was far, far more beautiful than I remembered. Early mornings, sitting outside our tent, taking in the mountains that surrounded us and accompanied by the sea behind us, I felt a contentment long lost.

My holiday is over now, but I’ve carried that with me, back to the daily grind.

My grandmother always used to say that a change was as good as a rest. Never have truer words been spoken.

Books and Things

My husband is addicted to second hand book shops. Don't get me wrong - I don't mean to say that I don't like trawling around musty, generally untidy, weirdly rambling old shops that have that wonderful old paper smell - I do. They're magical. But my general like of wandering round and investigating pales into insignificance when compared the the sheer joy my significant other has at the very idea.

Sometimes he comes up with some real gems. My favourite find of his is a book called A Dictionary of World Mythology by Arthur Cotterell. As someone who writes fantasy fiction and someone who has a life long love of mythology, this book is just an invaluable resource, giving the basics of all the major gods, goddesses, myths and stories from all over the world. It's my go to for inspiration and a starting point for a lot of my research. It's just great to have it right at my finger tips and I never would have even thought to look for something like this is my husband hadn't found it on the third shelf up in the fourth room back in a converted house-turned-book shop on a rainy day in Wales five years ago.

Nanowrimo

So, I've decided to do it. For years I've floated round the edge of nanowrimo, justifying to myself why I just don't have time to commit to such an endeavour, yet all the while bemoaning the fact that I have a terrible time with procrastination.

Well, not this year. Sure, I am away two weekends out of four for November, and I'm working full time plus some right now, but I'm going for it anyway. I know the reality is that I will more than likely fall short, but I have a project that I've been dabbling with and so I'm going to run with it.

Wish me luck guys! (I'm going to need it!)

The Protectors: Chapter 2 released!

We're excited to be able to give you an exclusive preview of the first two chapters of the second novel in The Witch Lake Chronicles. You can read exclusively chapters 1 and 2 of The Protectors here!

Let us know what you think at our facebook page - we love feedback!

"Girls are trained to say, ‘I wrote this, but it’s probably really stupid.’ Well, no, you wouldn’t..."

“Girls are trained to say, ‘I wrote this, but it’s probably really stupid.’ Well, no, you wouldn’t write a novel if you thought it was really stupid. Men are much more comfortable going, ‘I wrote this book because I have a unique perspective that the world needs to hear.’ Girls are taught from the age of seven that if you get a compliment, you don’t go, ‘Thank you’, you go, ‘No, you’re insane.’”

- Lena Dunham, in an interview with The Guardian (x)

I really relate to this. I find self-promotion...

Occasionally I Answer Questions

It’s been a long time since I did one of these, but what the hell, right?

1:Could you go the rest of your life without smoking a cigarette?

Yes - I tried when I was far too young, but apparently cigarette smoke and asthma are not mix-y things. Plus, the smell is kinda disgusting…

2:Are you single/taken/heartbroken/confused?

Nope

3:What if I told you that you were pretty?

Then I would say thank you and probably babble a lot. I’m not too good with compliments.

4:Ever been told “it’s...

I was, in fact, the kid who stayed up all night reading books. ...

I was, in fact, the kid who stayed up all night reading books. My father developed a special cough that he’d do half way up the stairs, to warn me he was coming so that I could turn my light off and he didn’t have to come in to tell me to go to sleep. I’m fairly sure it was his subtle middle ground between being a responsible parent, and not wanting to have to tell me off all the time.

Sleep would always come a pale second to ‘just one more chapter’ when I was at an exciting part of my latest...

I’ve been really proud to see the various organisations...

I’ve been really proud to see the various organisations coming out in support - in their own way - of gay rights in the winter olympics. Google is the example here, but there have been others. Maybe they could do more. Maybe it’s just little things, but I feel the little things are important. They are all steps towards a world where this kind of thing is so obvious, so universally accepted, that it isn’t needed.

rumpledleathertrousers:

troyesivan:

wtfbruins:

Have we discussed Google’s shade yet?

u...

booksandpublishing:bookgeekconfessions:brightwalldarkroom:J...

booksandpublishing:

bookgeekconfessions:

brightwalldarkroom:

July 23, 1967 - February 2, 2014

Crying crying crying.

One of my favorite actors of all time. I am heartbroken.

My Capote. Ah, the heart aches.

One of my favorite actors. Truly terrible news.