Mishka Jenkins's Blog, page 15
July 1, 2014
Romance Weekly #lovewritechat
Back to the hop this week! Hello to all of those joining me from Sarah Hegger’s blog!
What questions are in store today?
1. Do any characters you’ve written into your books remind you of yourself? Explain which ones and why.
I don’t think so. I do try and stay away from making any character too like me, as I think it would be rather awkward reading through it and finding a character doing and saying everything I would :D
2. Was there a teacher or mentor in your life who helped nurture your writing?
Oh, good question. I never really had a teacher or mentor for writing, but I do have to say my best friend has been a big influence in my life and writing. I actually met him on a post-by-post roleplaying forum, so writing was what first connected us :D
Over the years I have been inspired by his writing, and he has really helped motivate and give me the confidence in my own work to pursue this career. One of the biggest helps has been the fact he’s so honest, he doesn’t mind telling me when something doesn’t work in my writing or needs improving/changing, and knowing that it won’t hurt my feelings. He seems to understand my want to improve my craft, so has always pushed me to keep going.
Thank you for that, Aether! :D
3. Every author has that moment when they doubt their ability to write. When that happens to you, how do you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and continue? What do you do to inspire YOURSELF?
Ah, the ups and downs of writing. I’m ashamed to admit that my down moments usually come when I read another author’s blog and see how they’ve sold hundreds of books, whilst I haven’t.
Sometimes I worry my stories won’t appeal to anyone but me, that my ideas won’t affect people the way they do myself.
Then I realise how much I love writing, how much I need to write and get these stories and characters onto paper. That is what motivates and inspires me, the fact that I have such an intense passion for what I do, that I have to keep going, no matter what anyone else is doing.
I am determined to be successful in this career, because I love it too much to fail :D
An interesting set of questions to come back to this week :) How would you answer them?
Now check out what Katherine has to say about them! Katherine Givens: http://katherinegivens1.wordpress.com/posts/
Don’t forget the Giveaway!
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Progress Report:
Status of Fourth Manuscript: Editing first draft.
Books read: 0/4 (July)
July eBook Review: Writing review.
June 30, 2014
June eBook Review- The Vessel by Callum McLaughlin
The Vessel by Callum McLaughlin
Goodreads Synopsis:
Savaged by disease and riots, the world has descended into a state of chaos. Amidst the desperate remains of humanity, the American government has resorted to extreme measures to try and repopulate their now depleted country but one unwilling subject of their ruthless actions will not suffer in silence.
Escaping from a facility at the heart of their experiments, Eva Cole’s nightmare is far from over. Hunted at every turn, she must fight to survive so that she can expose the truth
Review:
I was excited to read this book as I had already read Callum’s incredible poems on his blog, and was wowed by his talent for the written word.
I didn’t even read the description before downloading this book to my kindle so didn’t know what to expect.
Well, I have to say that I was not disappointed. This book gripped me and my emotions from the very first line and took me along with the story and characters so deeply that I felt like part of their world.
The story is set in a rather bleak version of Earth’s future, a future that felt believable, which I think helped draw me further into the story. We are introduced to Eva, the main character in a rather intense moment, and from then we are along for her journey through the story. She faces a life of being chased and possibly never finding her home, and I felt her struggle and turmoil all the way throughout.
This story was intense and driven forwards by the characters, who were all striving to survive in the world that was around them.
The actual writing was of very high quality, with descriptions that had me in awe at some points.
I would thoroughly recommend this book (as I already have to my mother!). It is a genre I would not normally choose for myself, but I am so glad that I read this. It is going to one of those books that I will think of frequently and a story that will stay with me. Can’t wait to see what he writes next!
Links:
June 27, 2014
Heart of the Arena
Heart of the Arena
Historical Romance
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Arena-Mishka-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B00KLBT0G8/ref=la_B00KLDXDDW_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401274839&sr=1-1
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Arena-Mishka-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B00KLBT0G8/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_2
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/442163
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22353226-heart-of-the-arena
Blurb:
Ancient Rome is a dangerous place, in more ways than one.
Captured by slavers, distraught but determined Sabina is thrust into the world of gladiators. Disguised as a man, she struggles to remain undetected whilst navigating through her new life.
But love forces its way into her focus again and when a haunting figure from her past remerges, the couple’s fate is to be decided in the Heart of the Arena.
Excerpt:
“He is not my gladiator,” she managed to reply, once she had regained herself from staring too deeply into his entrancing gaze.
“Then there is still hope that I might become yours.” He did say all the right things, every word making Sabina want to pull the man inside and worry about the consequences later. Yet, not thinking of the results of her actions was just the thing that kept getting her into trouble.
She cleared her throat. “There are many women who would wish it so.”
“Not you?” he asked, his tone no longer playful but serious.
“You do not know me well enough to make such statements,” Sabina replied, trying not to let herself be drawn further into this dangerous game.
“And what if I would wish to?”
“Do you always answer with more questions?”
“Do you not like it?” He grinned as he teased her and she rolled her eyes at him, but could not help the smile that lit her face.
**This is a scheduled post as I am away for the week, as such I won’t be able to reply to comments or emails until I return on the 30th June. Have a great week :) **
June 26, 2014
Stolen Bloodline
Stolen Bloodline
Paranormal Romance
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Bloodline-Mishka-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B00KLBS4BU/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_tnr_2
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stolen-Bloodline-Mishka-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B00KLBS4BU/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/442160
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22352758-stolen-bloodline
Blurb:
Stolen away from her humdrum life, Imogen is thrown into a dark world where the creatures from tales are not only real, but rule the realm.
Vampires.
In this world of dark, moonlight is Imogen’s only source of safety, but the moon’s glow reveals a lot more than she ever realised. She soon learns her heritage and bloodline are what put her in danger, and the reason these vampires are keeping her hostage. But with a father who doesn’t even care enough to call, how was she supposed to know?
Held captive by the vampire leader, Bane, and his brother, Caden, Imogen must find a way to keep herself alive. Yet, the longer she remains, the more she wonders whether those she feared are the ones she should trust, as new truths continue to shine through.
When Bane shows Imogen that life in a world of dark can be more enlightening than her own sunlit realm, it seems that, though he may have stolen her from home, she risks him stealing her heart as well.
Excerpt:
“The Guardians, humans of a bloodline so strong they have kept us at bay.” Once again he reached out to touch her. Imogen tried to pull away only to find her retreat blocked by the desk. She flinched as he brushed his cold thumb over her chin. “Most vampires cannot drink the blood of a Guardian,” Caden continued, as he pushed a curl of hair behind her ear. “It is a euphoric poison.” She shuddered as he moved his feather light touch to her throat, his attention focused on it.
**This is a scheduled post as I am away for the week, as such I won’t be able to reply to comments or emails until I return on the 30th June. Have a great week :) **
Support an Indie this Summer!
How about checking out some great indie reads for your summer reading? Support our indie authors and find some fantastic new stories to get lost in this summer!
The Vessel by Callum McLaughlin http://www.amazon.com/The-Vessel-Callum-McLaughlin/dp/149373797X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403264495&sr=8-1&keywords=the+vessel+callum
The Extraction List by Renee Meland http://www.amazon.com/The-Extraction-List-Volume-1/dp/0996002901/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403264528&sr=8-1&keywords=the+extraction+list
The Soul by S.R.Carrillo http://www.amazon.com/The-Soul-Volume-S-Carrillo/dp/0615968619/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1403264948&sr=8-2&keywords=the+soul+s.r.
Unblessed by Crystin Goodwin http://www.amazon.com/UnBlessed-The-Blessings-Myrillia-Volume/dp/1496114086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403264748&sr=8-1&keywords=unblessed+crystin
Olivia’s Choice by Taylor Grace http://www.amazon.com/Olivias-Choice-Forest-Races-Taylor-ebook/dp/B00DUHI8OU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1403264794&sr=8-3&keywords=olivia%27s+choice+taylor
The Eleventh Question by Dianne Gray http://www.amazon.com/Eleventh-Question-Dianne-Gray-ebook/dp/B009U6W1RU/ref=la_B004MK5PAO_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403265121&sr=1-6
Echoes of a Storm by Alan Scott http://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Storm-Book-1-ebook/dp/B008ABNJYK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403265196&sr=8-1&keywords=echoes+of+a+storm+alan
The Eye Dancers by Michael S. Fedison http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Dancers-Michael-S-Fedison-ebook/dp/B00A8TUS8M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403265242&sr=8-1&keywords=the+eye+dancers
Swamp Ghost by Marcia Meara http://www.amazon.com/Swamp-Ghosts-Marcia-Meara-ebook/dp/B00K0QXLCS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403265283&sr=8-1&keywords=ghost+swamp+marcia
And many more.
Have a suggestion for an indie book? Leave it in the comments so as others might give it a go! :)
**This is a scheduled post as I am away for the week, as such I won’t be able to reply to comments or emails until I return on the 30th June. Have a great week :) **
June 24, 2014
Romance Weekly #lovewritechat
Don’t forget today is Romance Weekly blog hop day. Check out the facebook page to see where to start :)
Also don’t forget that the group has a giveaway happening with amazing prizes such as a Kindle Fire! – Giveaway!
**This is a scheduled post as I am away for the week, as such I won’t be able to reply to comments or emails until I return on the 30th June. Have a great week :) **
June 23, 2014
The Queen’s Jester
The Queen’s Jester
Fantasy romance.
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/The-Queens-Jester-Mishka-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B00KLBISGG/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_tnr_1
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Queens-Jester-Mishka-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B00KLBISGG/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_1_6TCG
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/442154
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22352807-the-queen-s-jester
Blurb:
An exquisite wedding gift. A husband whom she loves. A Jester who she craves. A Kingdom in peril.
After receiving a beautiful emerald amulet at the celebrations of her wedding, new Queen Marie finds solace in the stunning, yet strange amulet. A warm comfort that fills the hole that her husband has left with his distance at her every affectionate touch.
That is until the new Jester arrives, his presence fuelling in Marie an instant burning need.
The more she finds herself drawn to the enigmatic man, the quicker she realises he is anything but the fool.
Marie must make a choice, one that could not only affect her marriage and her life…
But her entire Kingdom.
Excerpt:
Her husband led her down the hallway, the nearer they drew to his chamber the shorter her breaths became. The thought of their wedding night and what lay in store made her stomach lighten with nerves, but at the same time flutter with excitement. He was silent and when she glanced at him her cheeks flushed pink to find him smiling at her. His chamber door seemed to grow too large to fit into the wall as they walked closer, her fingers gripping his steady arm as she let the anticipation wash like a warm, bubbling wave through her body.
Then Warrick halted. He stopped so suddenly that Marie stumbled.
“Here we are then,” he said, uncurling her hand from his arm and holding it in a tender grasp. She looked with a confused frown at the door beside her, the door to her chambers. “Today was most enjoyable.” He beamed a grin at her, though she was only able to keep the same puzzled expression. “I hope we have many such occasions together.” He seemed to be trying to encourage her to speak so she opened her mouth to reply.
“Yes,” she squeaked, unsure of how else to respond.
“Well.” He let go of her hand which slumped to her side. “Good night, Marie, sleep well,” he said and made a couple of awkward steps closer to her and then paused, as though he’d planned on kissing her cheek and thought better of it. “Yes, well.” His words attempting to mask his uncertain actions. With a faint smile he turned and walked away, disappearing into his own room at the end of the corridor.
**This is a scheduled post as I am away for the week, as such I won’t be able to reply to comments or emails until I return on the 30th June. Have a great week :) **
June 20, 2014
Lucky 7 and Stay-cation time! :D
I was tagged by Rain of Rain’s Writing Realm to participate in this! So let’s give it a go :D
The Rules:
Go to page 7 or 77 in your current WIP.
Go to line 7
Post on your blog the next 7 sentences or 7 lines —as they are!
Tag 7 people and do the same.
You can choose between page 7 or 77.
Ok so- Page 7, Line 7, 7 sentences. (Oh, hit a rather exciting moment!)
“It is time,” the council servant said, bringing Kai back to the conversation.
“Not for me,” Milana replied, crossing her arms once again.
“You cannot refuse your destiny,” the man shouted, slamming his fist down onto the table. Kai flinched. It was the first time he’d seen any council servant express emotion, especially with such an angered reaction.
Milana was unmoved by the display. “I don’t care for destiny.”
So there, a teaser from my current WIP, in all its unedited glory :D Considering I don’t like sharing stuff about my current projects, I’ve done a lot of that this week!
So to tag 7 people-
- Sierra (Permashift)
- Raevenlywrites
- Melissa Barker-Simpson
- Callum McLaughlin
- Crystin Goodwin
- Taylor Grace
- YOU! (Mwahaha, yes, I tag you if you’re reading this!)
In other news-
I am going on a stay-cation :D I will be away from 21st-29th June.
In that time I won’t be around on the blog or email, I will be completely gone. Going to have a week resting, hanging out with family, and watching the tennis (yay for Wimbledon!).
I have some posts scheduled, but I will note on each post that I am away, so people don‘t think I am just ignoring them if they post a comment :D
So I hope every one has a fantastic week! And I will be back to normal on the 30th June :)
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Progress Report:
Word Count: 7190 (46,397 total word count)
Status of Fourth Manuscript: Writing first draft.
Books read: 1/4
June eBook Review: Review written and ready.
June 19, 2014
10 things to include on your author website
Some great ideas, some I am definitely going to have to take on board, especially along with the comments on my marketing post :)
Originally posted on Callisto Green:
Although all authors and all websites are different, there are some elements of a writer’s site that are standard practice to include and which your readers will expect to see. Here are ten things you should always aim to include on an author website:
1. Information about yourself
Being an author is not quite like being an accountant or a sales rep. Okay, being an author is not at all like being an accountant or a sales rep. But one of the specific differences is that people are genuinely interested not only in your work, but how you work, where, when and why you write as you do, and generally what makes you tick. They want to know about who you are. Even the little day-to-day details. Especially the little day-to-day details. They’re curious. Maybe nosey, even! But this is a good thing because it shows that they’re interested.
There…
View original 1,094 more words
June 18, 2014
What they don’t know won’t kill them!
The back story of my characters has been on my mind lately, and obviously on other people’s too, as there have been a couple of great posts about it, for example:
Shehanne Moore has a great post about drip feeding the back story into your book.
Rachel Carrera has an interesting post asking for opinions on how readers enjoy reading back story in books.
Knowing where your characters come from and what they’ve done to become who they are when readers meet them is important.
The way back story is introduced is very individual based on the story and the writer, but it wasn’t the technical aspect of writing back story that had me thinking. Instead, lately I have been mulling over the back story itself.
Have you ever had a piece of back story for your characters pop into your head out of nowhere, that is so random or out of character for them, but you just know that it’s right?
What I mean is, I have a group of characters and for some reason I just have this thought that 2 of these characters got together one night.
For this to happen would be rather out of character for them, but now I’ve thought of it, I can’t un-think it, and it’s stuck as being a part of their back story.
Now, this piece of information isn’t written in my story or even hinted at, and it will never be revealed to readers. It’s just a snippet of info about these characters that I, as the writer, know about them and has shaped the way they are.
It got me thinking about other bits of back story from previous characters that I know as a the writer, but that readers would never know, and how it affects the way that I write these characters.
I wonder how many characters I’ve read about in books who have back story I don’t know about.
It’s interesting to ponder, right? :D
Do you have any interesting back story about characters that only you know about them, that you haven’t shared with readers or other people? Have you ever imagined your characters doing something really out of character? Do you enjoy creating back story for your characters?
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Progress Report:
Word Count: 3049 (39,207 total word count)
Status of fourth manuscript: Writing first draft.
Books read: 1/4
June eBook Review: Review written and ready.
