Effrosyni Moschoudi's Blog, page 63
December 23, 2013
BOOK REVIEW: “Found” by Nikki Anne Schmutz
This particular novel is undeniably best read around Christmas and I was lucky that it landed in my hands around that specific time. The main character is Samantha, a teenage girl who experiences pain and frustration because of problems at home with her parents and especially with her dad. When she falls pregnant, she leaves home to avoid the anticipated severity of her father’s wrath. What follows is what is usually portrayed in all our favorite Christmas stories: a delightful Christmas miracle. Nikki Anne Schmutz tells her heart-warming story of lost hope and redeemed love with the utmost sensitivity and wonder, as if it has been wholly seen through the eyes of an innocent child. There is absolutely no ugliness in this story, despite the many hardships that Samantha faces while living on the streets until she is rescued by the kindness of strangers. What’s more, the streak of astounding serendipity that brings her to their door involves nothing short of a miracle from God. Instead of describing in detail Samantha’s bleak problems before she is rescued, the author rather seems to concentrate on the new lessons that Samantha learns as she watches her life slowly transform before her eyes. This magical tale of pain and joy, loss and retrieval, unfolds smoothly and effortlessly. It takes form like a jigsaw puzzle in the hands of an experienced user who knows as if by instinct what goes where and precisely in which order. One of the things that the reader will readily observe is that the author has quite a strong faith in God. Nikki Anne Schmutz highlights the book with her Christian beliefs to the point that perhaps she renders it unusable to anyone who wouldn’t be in agreement. Faith in God is the backbone of this story and so, I think it will appeal best to people who would agree that indeed, there is a great power that connects us all and sees to our comfort and guidance. Believers will find this book extremely inspiring. It is peppered with pearls of wisdom and I expect that it will also provide a good measure of solace to any people facing similar circumstances in their lives. The characters are all believable and in particular, I found the kindly priest’s wife, Marion, to be such a lifelike character that I still have trouble picturing her in my mind without thinking of my dear mother-in-law who is a minister’s widow. The way Marion speaks, her quiet and peaceful manner and even the love that she conveys with her words and actions render her quite realistic and very familiar to me. The story comes to a satisfying end with its main characters altered in many ways, some of them more than others but by the end, they all share the same realization: that if only we allow the hand of the Devine to touch our hearts, miracles will start to happen that will change our lives forever. If this is not a Christmas message, I don’t know what is! “Found” is a reminder that prayer can change lives and that when all hope seems lost, this is the time to expect the most important changes in and around us. Sometimes, the greatest problems that we face are blessings in disguise, things that without them, we’d never evolve or heal. I believe that this is the essence of this book and for this reason, in a nutshell, I class it as the perfect Christmas read.
“Found” is available on Amazon both in paperback and kindle format.
December 20, 2013
Rome: Following the Robert Langdon Trail
By Effrosyni Moschoudi
(Published on http://www.Travelterrain.com)
Okay, so there are a million and one articles out there about the Eternal city! Unless you have just landed on this planet and you have two heads and a green belly button, then you obviously know already what’s to see when in Rome! But this is not an article about The Fontana Di Trevi or the quaint lanes of Trastevere and I won’t waste your precious time either about the sense of cosmopolitan bliss that you get while going around the shops in Via Veneto. Instead, I will share with you a different side of Rome: the beauty of its churches which I stumbled upon on a short holiday break for The New Year a couple of years ago.
I do confess that as I set off on my sightseeing tour my original intention had been somewhat different. Other than the indispensable city guide, I had also packed a paperback edition of Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons”. I had already read the book from cover to cover and I had come to Rome with it, determined to follow the trail of its main character, Robert Langdon.
Read the article on www.Travelterrain.com
December 16, 2013
Zagori: A Journey Through Time
By Effrosyni Moschoudi
(Published on http://www.Travelterrain.com)
My husband and I visited the area of Zagori in the spring when the snow and the ice had melted and the treacherous uphill roads were a pleasure to drive on without distractions, except maybe the frantic clicks of the camera from my enthused husband by my side. As soon as we parked at Monodentri and stepped out to find ourselves before a maze of cobbled stoned lanes, we thought we might as well have exited Doc’s Delorean from “Back to the Future”. This place felt like it had come out of a fairytale. We had visited this village to walk up to the Monastery of Agia Kyriaki quite early in the day, having set off from the city of Ioannina after a very early breakfast at our hotel. There were not many tourists around and we thought that at any moment, we’d see a flock of sheep or the odd mule walk up the cobbled lane past us, right through the middle of the path where special stonework had been laid for the animals’ passage back in the old days.
Read the whole article on www.TravelTerrain.com
December 14, 2013
NEWSFLASH: Effrosyni Moschoudi joins the Travel Terrain team
Travelterrain is a travel website with a difference. Founded by two professionals from India who also happen to be cousins, it started as a hobby after work. Yet, it soon started to evolve into an exciting corner of the web that is steadily gaining popularity among world travelers. Why? Because it is so fresh and interactive! To start with, it owes its success to the directness and friendliness with which it approaches readers, offering them among other things the opportunity for an impromptu spotlight!
It takes just a few minutes to fill in the online questionnaire where among other things, you are invited to reveal your most and least desired holiday destinations as well as to list the contents of your suitcase that you deem most indispensable. But the joys of the interview experience and the exciting publicity to be gained are not all. There is an added bonus for online marketers as well. Travel Terrain offers interviewees the opportunity to share any accomplishments or news of current projects with no less than 1,000 devoted subscribers to the site’s newsletter.
I have recently had the pleasure to become an interviewee myself and shortly after, I was honored with the offer to join the Travel Terrain team as a contributor of travel articles (mainly of Greek destinations). With these articles, I will be including photos from my own travels and I look forward to sharing my most cherished holiday experiences with you all.
The first article is scheduled to go live on Monday, December 16th and it will be for an enchanted mountain destination in Greece. Watch this space and you will soon be amazed to discover a landscape that is totally different to the typical Greek island image you are accustomed to. Instead, I will present to you among other things, villages made of stone, an evergreen gorge and breathtaking views of snowcapped mountains.
See you Monday for the real thing!
Visit Travel Terrain here
Travel Terrain on Twitter @TravelTerrain
Apply to become an interviewee
Send your own travel experience here
Great news for Fantasy & Sci-Fi Fans
Something good is happening on Facebook. You may not want to miss it if like me, you tend to devour time traveling stories or have stacks of books on your selves about aliens, fairies and the odd mythical monster.
Best-selling fantasy author Leeland Artra has had a great idea and luckily, he didn’t keep it to himself! Instead, he shared it with other indie authors and soon, a handful of likeminded people were brought together on Facebook in order to share their common interests in Fantasy & Sci-Fi. We called this new hangout, “Fantasy Sci-Fi Network” or less formally: “FSF Net”.
There, we share posts relevant to these genres whether they involve fiction from books and films or breaking news in our world of the “futuristic” kind. After all, never before has an era resembled the highly imaginative fantasies of the past more than ours does today. Imagine if a time traveller from the 18th century were to visit our world now! Wouldn’t their jaw drop to see us talking on Skype or just on our cell phones? And what would they think about our fast cars and jumbo jets, not to mention the leaps we have made in medical research? How would they react to be told about the discovery of the God particle at CERN or about today’s most infallible crime scene solver, the DNA test?
You get the idea! The Fantasy Sci-Fi Network on Facebook is a place where enthusiasts will not only hear of the latest Tom Cruise Sci-Fi movie or the most recent fantasy books to be released, but they will also marvel at groundbreaking discoveries in space that are happening now. Basically, anything that will please and intrigue the average Fantasy & Sci-Fi enthusiast’s ever-expanding mind.
As one of the authors who have joined the Network as a content contributor, I can vouch that the posts are handpicked and fresh. What’s more, each one is unique (we will not resort to tedious repetitions!) and we do not post willy-nilly either as to avoid clogging up our respected readers’ news feed. Last and most importantly, we are sticking to our strict PG 13 rule so that all our content remains suitable for all ages.
We welcome authors and readers alike in order to travel together to the very last stretch of our imaginations (as if that were ever possible, right?)
Join me & let’s connect at the most FANTASTIC (excuse the pun!) corner of Facebook. Teleport yourself there at a mind-numbing speed!
To visit as a reader, all you have to do is click the mouse and say as loud as you can: BEAM ME UP FROSTIE!
AUTHORS CAN APPLY TO BECOME CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS
OF FSF NET BY VISITING THIS PAGE:
FSF NET ON LINE:
Blog: http://fsfnet.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FSFNet
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FSFNet
LINKS FOR LEELAND ARTRA
Blog: http://lartra.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LArtraAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LArtra
December 11, 2013
Who Do You Write Like?
Yes, grammatically, the title of this post should be "Whom do you write like?"
But, blah.
I thought this little widget is interesting, though I have no idea how accurate it is.
Copy a couple of paragraphs from your writing, paste them into the text box on this page, and the "I Write Like" site will tell you what famous author you write like.
What a fun site to discover! I pasted into the text window a few paragraphs from "The Necklace of Goddess Athena" and it analyzed my writing as having the style of Dan Brown! After the initial shock (and joy, seeing that he is one of my most favorite authors), I mulled it over for a bit and I guess it makes perfect sense. My excerpt featured two characters shivering, unbathed, poorly dressed for the occasion, feeling lost and desparate in unknown territory. Sounds familiar ;) So whom do YOU write like? Go find out!
December 10, 2013
An Unexpected Blessing
I remember reading a Christian book when I was a teenager – I used to do that a lot back then – and there was this passage that had really stuck. According to the author, not all prayers are said in words. Apparently, people can express the most effective ones through the manifestation of their feelings with as much as a single sigh or tear. When emotions inside us expand and overflow like a mighty force of nature, they often send out to God for us, the greatest of prayers. Now, that was quite an innovative idea for me at the time but because it was so fresh, I kept it in mind just in case. In time and as I eventually came to study the Law of Attraction, this notion began to make solid sense but it wasn’t until 30 odd years later that I finally got to experience this fully for myself.
What brought this on and inspired me to write about this today, was the feeling of joy I had this morning when I opened my bedroom window to be welcomed by a spell of sunshine that caressed my skin – a greatly relished sensation after a string of gray and cloudy days. Without much ado, I went about my business tidying up the room. I was already in a state of gratitude as I lay my favorite duvet neatly back on the bed and so it was inevitable to be reminded cheerfully (as I often am) how I had come to acquire the specific article of bed linen. Now this duvet, is no ordinary duvet… You see, it was given to me as a present from God. No, I haven’t lost my mind or anything like that! I hope you will allow me to tell you the story behind it first and then you can decide for yourselves.
It was a Thursday, two years ago. Back then I was unemployed for a year and struggling with feelings of bitterness and inadequacy. That particular morning, I had got out of bed with a heavy heart. The reason was trivial but somehow, it had upset me greatly. There is a chain store in town where I do my weekly shopping and for that particular day, they had announced the sale of a certain duvet. The moment I had seen it in their leaflets, I had fallen in love with it. It was the most precious thing, with a delightful print that featured tiny pink roses and miscellaneous patchwork patterns of utter cuteness in pastel colors. Although I knew I wanted one, I also knew I couldn’t afford it. Yet somehow, I couldn’t let it go and that morning, I was seriously upset. I remember sitting at the edge of my bed and as I often do when pain overflows, I started talking to God. I didn’t do as much talking as I did crying that particular time though and I remember specifically bringing to mind the days when I worked at Athens airport. Back then, I often went on spontaneous shopping sprees around its mall, exiting with bags of fashion accessories, books, cds or DVDs that I had acquired at the spur of the moment, sometimes spending over 100 euro at a time. The contrast of my predicament that day, when I couldn’t even buy “a stupid duvet that cost a measly 25 Euro” was more than I could handle. Tears continued to stream from my eyes and I remember saying pleadingly in the end, “Help me, help me deal with this please. I can’t handle it any more…”
Once I dried my tears and had a cup of tea, it was time to carry on with my day. My morning chores at the time included walking my beloved dog Nerina who sadly has now passed away. That day it was windy and I dressed warm to go out. I set off walking briskly with my pet and we took our familiar route via rural roads and fields to a rise where I always stopped to admire the sea view. It was too chilly there that day so I didn’t stay long. I patted Nerina’s head and with her tongue sticking out, she began to escort me willingly back home on the same familiar path. As soon as we started to make our way back, my eye caught a strange shape on the ground at the edge of a field. I walked up to it and what I saw sent my eyes bulging out of their sockets in disbelief. Caught up in the dry weeds by its very edge, there was a 20 Euro note and it was flowing in the breeze in full length, as if beckoning me to approach. I remember thinking how odd it was that it was caught up like that. The wind was so strong I couldn’t understand how come it hadn’t blown away yet. I picked it up and had a quick scan around. There was no one about who might have dropped it. And then all at once, I remembered my upset earlier on and my prayer. And I also remembered about that Christian book that said that sometimes when emotions overflow, they become greater than words in bringing on an answer to a prayer. Needless to say, I walked home with the widest grin on my face and straight afterwards, I visited the supermarket where I used - silly I know – the very same banknote that had been given to me to help me buy that duvet. Of course, I had to chip in another 5 euro to make up the amount needed but that was more than affordable and I came back home feeling truly blessed. When my husband came home from work, I couldn’t stop smirking and when he asked what’s going on, I told him the whole story to his amazement. Even today, when I think about that morning, I still can’t come up with a logical explanation. I have walked these streets ever since I was four… and I have never found any banknotes – just the usual pennies people often drop. Plus, I don’t believe in coincidences. As always, I choose to believe in the Devine in these cases. Even my husband, the typical Brit, couldn’t help but agree with me that this has definitely been a gift from above. That is not to say that he didn’t have his British moment though! With a wink and a chuckle, as well as agreeing with me, the cheeky devil also suggested that I should have another walk and see if God is willing to reimburse us for the 5 Euro as well!
What does it mean to be Greek?
Recently, I’ve had the pleasure to be hosted on the blog of fellow author and friend, Nikki Anne Schmutz. During our interview, I attempted to explain to her what it means to be Greek.
Meet Effrosyni Moschoudi, author of ‘The Necklace of Goddess Athena’
Posted on December 6, 2013 by nikkianneschmutz
In all my networking & marketing I meet alot of people, very few do I come to consider a friend. Indie author Effrosyni Moschoudi, from the beautiful city of Athens, is more than worthy of mentioning to all of you. I’ve been reading her book ‘The Necklace of Goddess Athena’ and love it so much I want to share it with everyone! So to quell my own interest in how she came up with the story I asked her a few questions.
Read the interview here.
NEWSFLASH: Effrosyni’s interview on IndieAuthorLand
During her recent interview on Indie Author Land, Effrosyni revealed more about her mysterious protagonists from “The Necklace of Goddess Athena”.
To read her interview, visit here.
December 3, 2013
Attention Authors: December Giveaways from Fabulosity Reads
THE FOLLOWING IS ORIGINAL CONTENT FROM FABULOSITY READS BOOK PROMOTIONS.
GET YOUR SELF TO THE: LOVING AUTHORS @ #CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY
Fabulosity Reads Book Promotions is a book touring website that promotes authors and their precious works to an extensive audience using blogs, twitter, Facebook and other Social Media, with the aim of introducing them to an appreciative readership.
They are also generously showing authors some love this Christmas and at the same time celebrate opening their doors.
Giving a helping hand to three (3) authors in the New Year as a Christmas and opening gift all rolled into one.
For a chance to be one of these yet unknown lucky people, pick one of the giveaways and enter or even better yet, pick both.
Make sure they get your entry quickly…. and books if you submit for the review inclusive giveaway.
Good luck and May the luckiest of us win indeed!
*Dont forget to familiarise yourself with the details and guidelines of the giveway: GUIDELINES
Also check out their Holiday Specials on the site. Crazy prices if you book in the month of December and January.
Enter the:LOVING AUTHORS @ CHRISTMAS PARANORMAL GIVEAWAY
*http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YTQ1NWM3Zjk2MGMzZTg0ZThhYTIzYWJlNDcwMWUxOjg=/
Enter the: LOVING AUTHORS @ CHRISTMAS ROMANCE GIVEAWAY
*THESE ARE THE TOUR PACKAGES REPRESENTED IN THIS GIVEAWAY
