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~ The Occasional Blogger

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Tag Archives: Reading

Going a-viking in 2016

05 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Reading, travel, vikings scotland, writing

As I put my Pictish manuscript in a box to wait for someone to want to buy it, I head off on a new adventure.

Viking silver

 

Book Two, Raven Sword (working title) in “The Stone of Destiny” trilogy, sees my reluctant time traveller smack bang in the midst of Viking Scotland. I’m busy collecting pretty pictures to inspire; reading novels, text books, blogs and dedicated websites. Awesome fun. You may remember reader, how much I love researching.

Beyond that, I am working on the plot, sorting inciting incidents from character development to narrative arcs. Exciting times.

Viking Ship

 

 

There is something about starting a new story, it’s like heading on a journey. I work out a destination, plan the route, pack supplies and become breathless with excitement. Because, I know, beyond a doubt that my journey will deviate from my intended path, and possibly even find a new destination. It will be fun, frustrating, exhilarating and exhausting.

long house

A year from now, if I’m disciplined, I will have a wonderful addition to my writing portfolio. Who knows, I may even find a home for my writing and you will be able to pick up a paperback with my name emblazoned along the spine.

My year is going to full of adventure, some writing related and some other stuff. We’re off to Vanuatu in May and then I’m heading to the Historical Novel Society Conference in Oxford this September. I also plan to write Raven Sword, and finishing my Australian Historical, but that’s another story.

So, that’s my 2016 sorted. What plans do you have for the coming year? Are you too going to be writing, or do you have some other adventure in mind?

Back into the fray . . .

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Felicity Pulman, Heart Attack, I Morgana, Janna Mysteries, NaNoWriMo, painting, Reading, recovery, Shalot, stress, writing

Here we are reader, almost half way through January 2015 and I have to say my life has been hectic since I finished NaNoWriMo in November. Most of December was taken up with preparing for an audit for our business. With new laws and expectations, I ended up needing to rewrite our entire business policies and procedures as well as implementing a lot of new strategies. The audit was the week before Christmas and we passed with flying colours. So then it was time to get ready for Christmas. Shopping, cooking, present wrapping and cleaning.

We made it through the week between Christmas and New year with little to do and prepared to enjoy the break. I started back into my daily work schedule, decided to paint the interior of our house, started painting, it was all looking good.

Before

Before

After

After

And then the MOTT had a heart attack.

After the angiogram

After the angiogram

As you can imagine, this has taken it’s toll on Miss Muse, she took off and hid in the archive box and wouldn’t come out. So I spent a good majority of the last 2 weeks at hospitals, doctors offices and trying not to freak out. MOTT is fine, out of hospital and preparing to annoy me for the next 8 weeks until he is cleared to resume driving a commercial vehicle.

But, I am taking the opportunity to write while he is running the phones and chasing loads. I need to write a minimum of 30K in the remainder of January, so I can get my ms to Felicity Pulman for her perusal. After being fortunate enough to win a mentorship with the awesome author of “A Ring Through Time”, “The Shalott” Trilogy not to mention the “Janna Mysteries” and her latest release “I, Morgana”, I certainly did not want to blow the opportunity. So from now on reader, I will be writing like a wild thing.

If all goes well, I’ll share a snippet with you soon. So enough about me, what have you been up to? Have you ever read any of Felicity’s books? What did you think? I loved the “Shalott” series, and have “I, Morgana” on the top of the pile beside my bed.

Special Edition ~ featuring guest blogger, Juliet Madison

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Australian Romance Author, Guest Blogger, Juliet Madison, new book release, Reading, Romance, special edition

HAPPY RELEASE DAY! Starstruck in Seattle (plus bumper giveaway)

Starstruck

Juliet Madison is celebrating the release of her third book with Escape Publishing, STARSTRUCK IN SEATTLE, a contemporary romance novella with a touch of magic (romagic).

Aspiring actress Anna Hilford might only have a small role in a leading television drama, but she longs to be dreamboat Karl Drake’s leading lady. Sick of being loveless and overlooked, Anna seeks the help of intuitive love coach, Lulu, from LuluTheLoveAngel.com to give her the courage and determination to follow her destiny. But fate has different ideas, Lulu has undisclosed power, and Anna is about to realise that life happens while you’re busy making plans…

Juliet tells us a little about how this book came to be…

“I got the idea for this story when Sleepless in Seattle was on TV. I thought, instead of a call-in-radio show where people ask for advice, what if there was a website that specialised in helping people anonymously with their love dilemmas? So I thought up the idea for a Love Coach, but as I like to do in many of my stories, I decided to give it a slight magical twist, and gave the character of Lulu some other-worldly powers that help her to give destiny a shove in the right direction. But, as Lulu discovers, doing destiny’s work can be a pain in the wings, and may be more challenging than she thought. ”

 

~ BUY NOW: >> STARSTRUCK IN SEATTLE is available worldwide and you can buy it from all ebook retailers, including:

Amazon / Amazon UK / iTunes iBookstore / B&N Nook / Kobo / Booktopia / JB Hi-Fi / Google Play / ebooks.com / All Romance ebooks

 

~ You can also add it to Goodreads here, and visit Juliet online at her website, blog, facebook, and twitter.

 

~ GIVEAWAY>> Juliet is giving away four prize packs of ebooks from Escape Publishing until 10th October (20 ebooks in total). See the prizes on offer and enter here

Here’s what you could win. Enter one or all of them!

#1 Fun, Fast, & Fabulous novella pack:

Christmas Wishes, New year’s Kisses, and Valentine’s Dates by Rhian Cahill; I Dream of Johnny by Juliet Madison; The Virginity Mission by Cate Ellink; and Bonjour Cherie by Robin Thomas.

Enter here

#2 Escape from Reality pack:

Fast Forward by Juliet Madison; Red Moon by M.A. Grant; Fish Out of Water by Ros Baxter; King Hall by Scarlett Dawn.

Enter here

#3 Out and About pack:

Matilda’s Freedom by Téa Cooper; Getting Wild by Sarah Barrie; Swift Runs The Heart by Mary Brock Jones; Riding on Air by Maggie Gilbert; Dark Oil by Nora James.

Enter here

Wow, so there you go! You have to be in it to win, so click on those links and you could be a winner. All the best dear reader, and Congratulations to Juliet, I’ll certainly be reading Starstruck in Seattle soon.

Thanks everyone for dropping by, Paula.

38 days, and counting down

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

1820, Colonial Australia, Dunedoo, History, Homestead, Intrigue, love, Mystery, NaNoWriMo, New South Wales, Poems, Reading, Rhymes, Romance, writing

Hello reader, here in sunny Australia it is the 23rd of September. This means that there are only 38 days before NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, or November in the non literary world.

NaNoWriMo

That’s 38 days of reading, researching, plotting, planning, thinking and even dreaming.

Yes, I do dream about my characters. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with a scene having played out in a dream. Then the difficult bit is to get it recorded before I lose it.

This year I am planning on something a little different to the style I’ve written before. While still a romance, still a bit of a mystery, those being my favourites, Raven’s Ridge will be a mix if historical and contemporary, mystery and romance. And I can’t wait.

Serendipity seems to play a part in my my writing. A while back, ages really, I found a rhyme about crows, I just liked it so I saved it and forgot about it.

IMG_0083

I love the last line in particular and it became the premise for Raven’s Ridge.

In June I wrote a romantic romp that took my characters to a farm out near Dunedoo in central New South Wales. I fell in love the house I’d imagined and my sister, who read each chapter as I wrote it, did too. We both knew another story with the house as the setting had to be written.

Usually when I’m writing, I start with an idea, then build from there. Add characters, add in a mystery a romance and off it goes.

This time, I started with a house. I want to include our colonial history as I love reading and researching the early European settlement of Australia. So what better than to have a Colonial mystery unravelled in a contemporary setting. Perfect.

Homestead

So for the next few weeks I’ll be scribbling, drawing and reading. I have a pile of books and diaries and letters from the early part of the nineteenth century and have about six weeks to soak up the language, attitudes and history of 1820 Colonial New South Wales. Six week to shape my character’s attitudes, beliefs, likes and hates. Six weeks to learn about organic farming and agriculture. Six weeks to prepare for NaNoWriMo.

books

So reader, do you like a mystery? Does history fascinate you? I love both and am really looking forward to delving into the secret past of Raven’s Ridge and the Craven family’s hidden troubles. Does it sound like something you’d like to read? I hope so.

Introducing . . . Iris Blobel

02 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Blog Tour, Hobart, new beginnings, Paula Beavan, Reading, sisters, Tasmania, To believe in new beginnings is to trust in tomorrow, writing

This week reader I have a visitor. It’s exciting for two reasons. One that this is my first time I’m the hostess for a blog tour. Two is that Iris has a new book out.

I threw a few questions her way and now I’ll share the answers with you.

Here she is. Iris Blobel

NewBeginnings 500x750 with logo

Tell us a bit about New Beginnings.

New Beginnings is about two sisters from Sydney inheriting a house in Hobart. Thing is, though, they have no idea who Clara Bellinger, the previous owner of the house, was. Trying to settle into their new home and new town, Sophie, the older sister, is still concerned it’s been all a mistake. To add a bit of romance to it, there’s Mark, the lawyer, and Zach, the neighbour from across the road.

Where did the journey of New Beginnings begin?

In the beautiful city Hobart, Tasmania! I took some “family-time-out” last year and went across the Bass Strait. When I walked through the streets of Hobart, I wondered how it would be to live in this city, how it would be to be the “newbie” and bit by bit I had the story of two sisters moving there from Sydney.

Do you listen to music to help the muse?

I love music! I get a lot of wonderful ideas while listening to music. That’s when I use most of the yellow post-it stickers … little ideas quickly jotted down. I love Westlife and Darius Rucker, but then again, there are so many other artists I like that inspire me. Presenting a radio program once a week gives me the opportunity to listen to a lot of various music.

While I write, though, I need absolute silence around me. That’s why I usually write at night.

What did you listen to – or do to get you in the zone while writing New Beginnings? 

Westlife …

“So I say a little prayer
And hope my dreams will take me there
Where the skies are blue, to see you once again… my love.
All the seas from coast to coast
To find the place I Love The Most
Where the fields are green, to see you once again…”

If you didn’t write, what would you like to do creatively?

I am soooo glad I’ve found writing, because I don’t like any sports, no knitting, stitching or cooking … so … hmm … writing it is J

What’s your favourite book or series?

My favourite book without a doubt is “If you could see me now” by Cecelia Ahern. I love the idea of the Peter Pan-alike story of teaching a woman to live, love AND believe.

Favourite book series is “Lucky Harbor” by Jill Shalvis and the Reacher series by Lee Child. Love them both!

Who is your favourite author?

Jill Shalvis and Lee Child

Thanks Iris for sharing a little about New Beginnings and your writing life

I’m going to follow the links below to purchase a copy of New Beginnings myself.

Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/New-Beginings-ebook/dp/B00ENU02BU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1377251351&sr=1-1

Astraea Press: http://astraeapress.com/#!/~/product/category=662245&id=27261175

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/349320

Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/new-beginnings-6

Bio:

Iris Blobel was born and raised in Germany and only immigrated to Australia in the late 1990s. Having had the travel bug most of her life, Iris spent quite some time living in Scotland, London as well as Canada where she actually had met her future husband. Her love for putting her stories onto paper has only recently emerged, but now her laptop is a constant companion. Iris resides west of Melbourne with her husband and her beautiful two daughters as well as her two dogs. Next to her job at a private school she also presents a German Program at the local Community Radio.

 Excerpt:

Sophie stared at the house. With tears stinging behind her

eyelids, she slowly turned around and helped Mia out of the car.

The little girl looked fragile in the unfamiliar environment, even

though she wasn’t anywhere near fragile. Very clever for her age,

Mia had seen and gone through a lot, but handled most situations

with trust and belief. Sophie wasn’t sure whether that was a good

thing or not. Her younger sister undoubtedly had her mother’s

looks, with the long, straight blond hair, her bright grey-green eyes,

and pale skin. But deep down inside, there was a survivor instinct

as well. Something, she wondered, her mother might have lacked.

“Is this our new home, Sophie?” her sister asked quietly.

Hesitantly she nodded. “Yes, sweetie, I hope so.”

Mark took the suitcase from the boot of his car and walked

towards the house, opened the gate, and placed the girls’

belongings next to the fence. He turned, and Sophie made no effort

in hiding the struggle with emotions.

“That’s it. This is Forty-Six Chestnut Avenue,” he told them.

It was all too much for her, and she sat down onto her

suitcase and took everything in. She stared at the old brick-built

English cottage house. A small path ahead of her led to two worn

out steps and up to the arched entrance. Tucking a strand of hair

behind her ear, her gaze moved over to the windows. Multi-pane

windows with shutters and flower boxes in front. Beautiful.

Though the flowers seemed long dead. The garden was true to the

cottage style, but looked wild and unattended. It was in need of a

lot of work. She looked up and saw a chimney and instantly

thought about cold winter evenings in front of the open fire. She’d

heard that Hobart was very cold during winter.

And then she just cried. Emotions that had bottled up over

the years surfaced, and she wasn’t able to hold back any longer.

The cautious thought that life could improve from now on was too

overwhelming. Tears fell down her cheeks, but she wasn’t

embarrassed.

“Don’t cry, Sophie,” Mia said tenderly to her. “It’ll be all

okay.”

Mark came closer and kneeled in front of her. Carefully he

wiped away a tear from her cheek. “How about we go inside?” he

asked quietly with a gentle smile that made her yearn for a man’s

touch, missing from her life for so long. She gazed at him and

wondered how it would be to have someone else in her life. A man,

who shared a gentle touch or kiss, a kind word, or a well needed

hug. Sophie had had less than a handful of young men dating her,

because looking after her little eight-year-old sister, Mia, on her

own made it difficult to have a social life. But no way would she

complain. She and Mia loved each other as much as they needed

each other. Even more so since their mother had passed away. And

they both hoped this would be their chance.

Well there we have it reader, a new author for us all to check out, though New Beginnings is Iris’s fourth book, so here are the links to her other books.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52502

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-To-Her-Dreams-ebook/dp/B0065KN74U/ref=pd_sim_kstore_7

http://www.amazon.com/Innocent-Tears-ebook/dp/B009CK7HSC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1347964191&sr=8-4&keywords=iris+blobel

Another day off, but here’s something

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

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Tags

books, day off, good reviews, Novel, novels, Paula Beavan, Reading, reviews, snowed under, Writer, writing

Here is a little something for you as I’m MIA.

under the pile<image credit>

My day has looked a lot like the image above, and although I have several blog posts half ready, I just didn’t get there today. So, dear reader, I hope you enjoy the article about writing good reviews. See you Friday.

What are we looking for?

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

can't put it down, diana gabaldon, Good read, good story or great story, good writing, literature, love reading, Paula Beavan, Reading, turn offs in writing, writing

Hi again reader, I’ve been thinking! I know, “Danger danger, Will Robinson!”

will robinson

<image credit>

Seriously though, as a reader, I’ve been wondering about what I look for in a book. How I define a good book, and what I consider an average read. What’s the difference between un-put-downable and “Oh, look, I need to clean the ceiling fans.”?

girl reading

<image credit>

For me it starts with characters. I need to connect. I need to care about what’s happening to the characters. I am fairly persistent, I will give a character a good chance to engage me. But if by the third chapter I can’t remember their name or it’s not clear what is at stake for them, I’m outta there!

On the other hand, being a writer, I notice (that is, I do now, I never used to) when a author has proceeded to tell me a whole heap of stuff about the character in one go I kind of stall. I think this is known as “information dump” in writerly speak. You know the book where the author tells you in half a page that the MC (main character) loves gardening, lives in a pretty cottage by the river and has three dogs and seven cats and wants to marry a millionaire who drives a Jaguar and really likes to eat ice cream cones while sitting listening to Bach on her iPod.

If I wanted to set a scene and show you all that information, I could write it more or less as I have above, or I could do something like this:

Mary carried her ice cone to the small bench seat at the bottom of the garden. It was one of her favourite things to do at the end of a hot day spent pulling weeds and tidying the roses. She sunk down onto the slatted timber seat, proud of her day’s achievements. The quiet song of the river dancing over the stones soothed her and she closed her eyes to listen, watching the red glow of late afternoon sunshine through her closed lids. She sat thus, dreaming of her ideal man, imagining the faceless millionaire as he emerged from his Jaguar. Her favourite fantasy evaporated as fast as the perspiration on her neck when ice cream dripped and ran over the back of her hand to plop in a sticky mess on her sunburnt thigh. 

A well written story shows us all this in the shape of action. This style of story telling is called Deep Point of View, and the best writer I know for this Diana Gabaldon. If you haven’t read her books then I strongly recommend that you do. Here’s a link.

So we have a character we could grow to care about. She likes gardening and ice cream. Fair enough! But then we want something intriguing to happen. We want to be given a reason to read on, to find out if everything is ok and that life and love works out for Mary. Perhaps even, we could  hope that Mary meets her Jaguar driving millionaire – just a thought.

So we could say that Mary was busily wiping off the dripping ice cream only to see an unusually large boat float by on the curve of the river that ran along the bottom of her garden and on the deck stood a man whose face filled the blank of her imaginings.

OR

river

<image credit>

“Dammit!” Mary licked the sweet milky rivulet from the back of her hand before wiping the melted ice cream from her thigh with her finger. The overheated skin of her sunburnt legs quickly warmed the cool sweetness. Not wasting even a drop, she licked her finger. Index finger still in her mouth, she heard the throb of a motor. She lifted her head and shielded her eyes to look up the river. A large cabin cruiser was idling toward her, approaching the bend in the river. What were they doing? The  river was far too shallow for such a big boat to navigate. She stood up, a frown creasing her brow. From beneath the hand that shaded her eyes, she saw only one figure on board. She couldn’t see the face of the man who stood silhouetted on the deck. The boat crept around the far side of the watercourse, passing the shady trees on the opposite bank. She got her  first clear view of the man’s face. Her heart began to thud, a rapid tattoo in her chest.  The ice cream cone forgotten, she let her hands fall to her side, the ball of melting confectionery fell out of the cone and onto the grass beside her bare foot. Her breath caught. His face fit every fantasy she’d ever had. The face she’d never been able to imagine into her day dreams. She couldn’t look away. Across the sun dappled water his eyes held her’s captive. Until a loud screeching of fibreglass tearing over rock prised her attention from the handsome boater and down, to look at the point of contact between nature and design. Rover, Rex and Rosie came crashing through the herbaceous border, all three dogs emitting the deep warning growls, reserved for strangers who threatened. 

For me a good story has an interesting character, a story question that I need to know the answer to and it has to take me deep into the character’s point of view. Too large a cast of character’s who aren’t clearly defined can also be the beginning of the end for me.

closed

<image credit>

So how about you reader? What are you looking for in a story? What keeps you reading? What turns you off? If something turns you off a story do you read on in the hope of improvement? Or do you just give it away and move on? My time is limited, if it doesn’t grab me and hold me, I’ll find the next book and hope it does a better job of entertaining me.

Life is good

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Paula Beavan in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Author, Blessed, Colonial Australia, History, Novel, Paula Beavan, Reading, Stories, Work from Home, Writer, writing

I have been reading a book to help me navigate the crazy maze we call social media. It’s called “Are you there Blog? It’s me writer.” by Kristen Lamb. You can check it out here There’s a chapter about what I guess is basically positive thinking.

It got me thinking!

thinking

I am blessed to be able to work from home! Our transport company enables me to slot in writing time between processing invoices. I get to pretend to be efficient when answering the phone, even though I’m actually hanging tea towels on the clothesline. When I get sick of sitting at the computer, I go out and prune the roses. Yes reader, I have finally tidied them up. I’m hoping for a good display this spring, stay tuned.

I mean how good is that!

reading in sun

I get to sit in the winter sunshine and read books and call it working! Even if I do answer phone calls regarding loads from Melbourne to Sydney, between sentences. There aren’t many jobs where you can just pick up your work and carry it outside to take advantage of the sunny day.

So enough of me feeling sorry for myself. I have it good and I know it!

One of the perks of having a transport company I get to drive out west sometimes and I see things and countryside that inspire me. Some places inspire me to write romance, have you ever been to Hill End? I have an idea for a story set in the Gold Rush town. It’s a great place to visit, if you ever get the chance. I’d love to write a suspense horror story set in a place like the small town of Sofala NSW. That place is fantastic, you can almost here the Duelling Banjo’s. (no offence to anyone in Sofala, I actually love it, it has such an atmosphere and old world charm, your left with an eerie feeling of being lost in time.)

Deliverance

I’ve mentioned before, here, (last week) that I am planning a Rural Romance for my next story, and so have provisionally set it in the Dunedoo area. I’ve travelled through, and stopped at, Dunedoo many times. But to set a story there I will have to go out for a day or two and have a closer look. I also need to research the history of the area as my MC will be going on an emotional journey into her family’s history. She will search out connections with the Colonial settlers in her family tree. I can tell you here and now reader, this sort of thing excites me. I get lost in the hunt and sometimes don’t emerge from Google for days.

settlers

So, reader do you like history? I’m fascinated by the lives of our country’s earliest European settlers. I love to read about the contact between the northern invaders and the indigenous Australians. There were many heartwarming stories as well as the horrible events.

Do you ever wish to time travel back to see first hand what it was really like? I do. So I hope to perhaps connect with our forefathers via fiction, and perhaps we can share the journey. In the meantime, I am going to be grateful for what I have and enjoy the benefits. As there are always benefits. Sometimes we just have to look a little harder.

RWA

Paula Beavan Author

Paula Beavan Author

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