THANKS MELISSA!

Melissa Bradley, over at Melissa's Imaginarium has awarded me this awesome  7 x 7 Award!

 I am so happy that Melissa thought to present this award to me and I sincerely thank her for doing so! She is awesome!

  
This has taken quite a bit of thought and time to put together to post and also to receive this award I am to abide by the rules below. So here goes:


RULE #1:
Tell everyone something that no one else knows about you

I hate to cook, but lucky for me I married a chef, so I don't go hungry!


RULE #2:
Link to one of the posts that I personally think best fits the following categories

Most Beautiful 

A Christmas Thought For All!

The Christmas poem featured in this post was sent, handwritten, on a Christmas Card to my Dad, from one of my Great Aunts. We are not certain whether she found the poem somewhere or whether she wrote it herself. She has an interest in writing poetry so the later could be a possibility! Anyway, I chose this as the most beautiful post, because the meaning in the poem is simply - beautiful!

Most Helpful

MY EXPERIENCE AS AN INDIE WRITER

This  post definitely had some very good points about publishing indie style!

Most Popular

 A - Z CHALLENGE - LETTER 'L'

I do not know why, but this post has had 639 hits, so I would say, from the figures that it was my most popular. The only thing I can think of which made it this popular was that Alex gave me a shout out on his blog! Thanks Alex!

Most Controversial

INDIE AUTHORS BE CAREFUL!

This has been the most controversial post I have written. It was when Amazon pushed for control of the eBook market!

Most Surprisingly Successful 

Tips for Publishing eBooks with Smashwords! 

This was one of my early posts, when I first started blogging and just after I had published my first novel with Smashwords. It has had  424 hits! I also won a coffee mug for being in the first top 30 entries from Smashwords!

Most Underrated

Challenge Issued: Paper Canvas Tapestries Collaborat​ions

As this challenge was to give author's and writer's a challenge to piece together work to benefit a charity, this has been the most disappointing post of all! Yikici  has only had three participants entering work to date, which I think is very sad.

Most Pride Worthy

  

I have two posts in this category, both important times involving the publishing of my book!

The Thrill of Pressing the Button to Publish

The Gratifying Feeling of Holding my First Book in Paperback

RULE #3:
Pass this award on to 7 bloggers

M.J. FIFIELD

Gwen Gardner

Michael Pierce

Ciara Knight

Elise Fallson

Lynn Proctor

Christine Rains

INSECURE WRITER'S SUPPORT GROUP

FIRST WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH 

IT IS TIME FOR 

INSECURE WRITER'S SUPPORT GROUP

To find out more about this group,

visit:

Alex J. Cavanaugh 

(The Ninja Captain)
at

http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com.au

Sometimes I feel as though the writing world is something I really know nothing about and I wonder to myself, if I should be participating within it.  Yes, I have written a book and it is published, thanks to the modernization of the publishing industry and the invention of the eBook! But does that really mean that I am a part of this mystifying world?

Today, I have been contacted by the lovely Ali Cross, as I have been the lucky winner of a Personal Branding Consultation, by entering her Hundred Followers Giveaway, at the Writer’s Dojo! 

My first question to Ali was, "What is a Personal Branding Consultation?"  I certainly have no idea and this lead me to wonder about my non-existent understanding of this writing world. Of course Ali was very understanding and told me that she would help me to discover my 'brand' and advise me how to promote it. She also made me feel a little better about my ignorance when she told me that a lot of writer's don't really know what their brand is and stand around scratching their heads contemplating it! (To be honest, I hadn't even thought about how I promote myself or what image to present)!


Being honest, I only found out what a 'WIP' stood for in March, when I entered Rachel Harrie's Platform Building Campaign! It doesn't really take much to guess what it means, but when you are new on the block, all these terms are quite baffling!

Then  of course, there is Critique groups / partners etc, and Beta readers. Trying to define what the difference was between the two, was also a challenge and wondering why I needed either, also took some time to reflect upon and consider! Now I am glad that I have taken the plunge and considered this option as I think all writer's need some help to tighten up loose ends, catch spelling mistakes and grammar issues.

So my question is, 'Are there others out there who have felt this way, or are feeling this way now? And if so how did you overcome your ignorance, did you just plod along like myself learning as you go, or did you learn through some other means?'

Carolyn

TEASER TUESDAYS

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by

http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/

of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along!

Just do the following

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE ANY SPOILERS!
Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away!

You don't want to ruin the book for others!

 

City of Lost Souls

Book 5 

in

The Mortal Instruments Series

by

Cassandra Clare

 

BLURB: 

 The demon Lilith has been destroyed and Jace has been freed from her captivity. But when the Shadowhunters arrive to rescue him, they find only blood and broken glass. Not only is the boy Clary loves missing–but so is the boy she hates, Sebastian, the son of her father Valentine: a son determined to succeed where their father failed, and bring the Shadowhunters to their knees.

No magic the Clave can summon can locate either boy, but Jace cannot stay away—not from Clary. When they meet again Clary discovers the horror Lilith’s dying magic has wrought—Jace is no longer the boy she loved. He and Sebastian are now bound to each other, and Jace has become what he most feared: a true servant of Valentine’s evil. The Clave is determined to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. Will the Shadowhunters hesitate to kill one of their own?

Only a small band of Clary and Jace’s friends and family believe that Jace can still be saved — and that the fate of the Shadowhunters’ future may hinge on that salvation. They must defy the Clave and strike out on their own. Alec, Magnus, Simon and Isabelle must work together to save Jace: bargaining with the sinister Faerie Queen, contemplating deals with demons, and turning at last to the Iron Sisters, the reclusive and merciless weapons makers for the Shadowhunters, who tell them that no weapon on this earth can sever the bond between Sebastian and Jace. Their only chance of cutting Jace free is to challenge Heaven and Hell — a risk that could claim any, or all, of their lives.

And they must do it without Clary. For Clary has gone into the heart of darkness, to play a dangerous game utterly alone. The price of losing the game is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she even still trust him? Or is he truly lost? What price is too high to pay, even for love?

Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

 MY TEASER FOR THIS WEEK:
 It was dark in the alcove, so dark that Jace was only an outline of shadows and gold.  His body pinned Clary's to the wall. His hands slid down along her body and reached the end of her dress, drawing it up along her legs.