Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Special Guest: Patricia Josephine

Instead of my usually scheduled 'Books I've Read' post, today I'm excited to have Patricia Josephine on the blog, talking about the real life inspirations for her new book, Mistakes of the Past.  Over to you, Patricia...

Four real life inspirations in Mistakes of the Past

1)Rose’s cleft lip
My nephew was born with a cleft lip and palate. By the time he was five, he had five different surgeries. He still has more to go, but is getting a break. When I created Rose I wanted her to be a cleft lip baby. There really isn’t any reason and it has no impact on the plot. It’s just one of those things that affected my life, and I know it affects others, so it’s nice to see a character with something I can relate to.

2)Josh and his grandma
There is a scene where Luc is comforting a young man at the hospital about his grandma. The thing is, she is still alive in this scene. Still, Josh asks Luc why it hurts already when she’s not gone yet.

I have one grandma left. A few years ago, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, and every illness saps her severely. She’s in her 80s. That’s where the scene came from. I’m aware that I have less time than more with my grandma. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye and I doubt I’ll ever be ready. This scene is coming to term with that fact.

3)Rose’s memory of her teacher at the funeral
My main memory of kindergarten is getting in trouble with the teacher. My bestie of 30+ odd years and I met in kindergarten. We sat next to each other, and instead of listening to the teacher, we were talking. That got us in trouble. For the longest time, I was not endeared to that teacher.

4)The Gerrish farm and Rose’s landlord
Both those I drew from my own landlord. His last name is Gerrish, and I needed a one-time name and that popped in my head. When Rose gripes about her landlord not fixing her toilet and having to reach in to flush. That actually happened with my toilet. Although, my landlord fixed it really fast.

And as a bonus, here is one inspiration that isn’t based on real life.

Rose’s hair loops in chapter five. Anyone watch Avatar: The Last Airbender? Katara has hair loopies and I recall her brother poking fun about them. That’s the picture I had in my head when imagining Rose.



Blurb:
Luc seeks atonement for the actions that banished him from his home. Living as a priest in a small town, he strives to show how much he’s changed with the hope that one day he can return to his family.

Haunted by the guilt that destroyed her family, Rose has shut her heart off. She vows to never let anyone near again lest she hurt them. When she meets Luc, she can’t deny the draw she feels to him.

But the past is not easily forgotten. When Luc’s past finds him, Rose is caught in the middle. Forced to face who he used to be, Luc must decide if he’s willing to give up his chance at redemption to save Rose. But doing so means he won’t be able to hide who he is. Will Rose be able to reconcile the man she knows with the devil he used to be? Or are the mistakes of the past too damning?

Buy Links:

About the Author:



Patricia Josephine never set out to become a writer. In fact, she never considered it an option during high school and college. She was all about art. On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head. That was the start of it and she hasn't regretted a moment. She writes young adult under the name Patricia Lynne.

Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo, has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow, and an obsession with Doctor Who.

Links

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Weekly Goals 30-10-17

With November only two days away, my goal this week is all about NaNo and getting a good start on it.

My book idea is fairly ephemeral right now, but I have some interesting characters and I'm excited to see what they might do when thrown together.  Whether this will become a book or not remains to be seen.

My goal for this week is to start strong.  Ideally I'd like to get over 10K written by Sunday so I have a little bit of a bumper for the rest of the month.  I know I have at least one weekend away during November, so I will need to have a cushion in case I can't write a few days out of the month.

In general, I can write 2K a night pretty easily when things are going well.  So fingers crossed things will flow nicely when I get started on Wednesday.

What are your goals this week?

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Celebrate the Small Things 27-10-17



This post is part of Lexa Cain's bloghop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up!

So what am I celebrating this week?

It's the weekend again already.  You have to love those short weeks!  Or maybe not...  I have so much work to do before the Christmas break, I haven't a clue how I'll get through it all.  Especially if I'm going to NaNo as well.

I guess I'll be tired in December....

What else am I celebrating?  Well, this was pretty exciting!  I caught sight of my book in the wild at the local library.  Sometimes it really is the little things, right?


I have absolutely nothing planned this weekend, which is perfect as far as I'm concerned.  I hate feeling like the weekend was as rushed or busy as the weekdays.

It's my publisher's 7th birthday this week, so I'm off to take part in a live event on Facebook now.  Come join us if you wish at Celebrate Evernight's 7 Years of Publishing....  You can ask me anything you wish!

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Books I've Loved: Tash Hearts Tolstoy


Okay, so how do you not pick up a book with a title like this one?  And when you add in one of Russia's most revered authors, I wasn't going to pass this one up.  Not after studying Russian literature at university for two years.

And I didn't regret it.  I read the whole thing in an afternoon, not wanting to put it down.  Luckily we had a public holiday Monday and I had the luxury of time to do just that.

Tash is a vlogger and has been working with her best friend on a web series based on Anna Karenina.  They're pretty proud of it, but they're not getting a lot of views until a superstar vlogger mentions their web series and things take off.

Suddenly their little series is blowing up with subscribers skyrocketing, fan art appearing online and discussion boards filled will speculation about where the story might go next.  And when the show is nominated for a Golden Tuba, things get even more exciting.

Especially for Tash who has been online flirting with fellow vlogger, Thom.  Suddenly their text-based relationship has a new layer of possibility because they will have the opportunity to meet in person at the Golden Tubas.

The characters in this were all very well drawn.  I didn't always like Tash, or her best friend Jack, but they were real and flawed and behaved as badly as people in real life.

I also really liked Tash's struggle with her sexuality.  I haven't come across many asexuals in YA literature, and it's a shame because I thnk there are probably other people out there struggling to figure out why they just don't have sexual feelings for people of either gender.  I also feel like asexuality is seriously misunderstood and books like this might change the perception that finding the right sexual partner will 'cure' asexuals or that they have only ever had bad sex.

So I would definitely reccommend this one.

But here's the blurb so you can make up your own mind.

After a shout-out from one of the Internet’s superstar vloggers, Natasha “Tash” Zelenka finds herself and her obscure, amateur web series, Unhappy Families, thrust into the limelight: She’s gone viral.

Her show is a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina—written by Tash’s literary love Count Lev Nikolayevich “Leo” Tolstoy. Tash is a fan of the forty thousand new subscribers, their gushing tweets, and flashy Tumblr GIFs. Not so much the pressure to deliver the best web series ever.

And when Unhappy Families is nominated for a Golden Tuba award, Tash’s cyber-flirtation with Thom Causer, a fellow award nominee, suddenly has the potential to become something IRL—if she can figure out how to tell said crush that she’s romantic asexual.

Tash wants to enjoy her newfound fame, but will she lose her friends in her rise to the top? What would Tolstoy do?

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Weekly Goals 23-10-17

10 days or so out from NaNo and I still have only the very vaguest idea what my novel is going to be.   I feel like even attempting to do NaNo is a crazy idea with the amount of work I have to get through in my day job before Christmas.

But I'm going to try.  I may not get to the 50K this year, but I'm going to write something.  I feel like my writing muscle is atrophying this year because I really haven't written anything except the first part of that ghostwriting project that seems to have stalled.

So this week I need to get myself ready for NaNo.  I also have a bunch of guest blog posts to write for a blog tour I'm doing at the beginning of November.

And on Thursday morning, I'm doing half an hour on Facebook Live to help my publisher celebrate their birthday.  So if anyone has anything in particular they want to know about me or my books, just sing out and I'll try to cover it in my Live session.  I really have no idea what to do, and it will be 6:30am here, so I'll be in my PJs....

What are your goals this week?

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Celebrate the Small Things 20-10-17



This post is part of Lexa Cain's bloghop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up!

So what am I celebrating this week?

LOOOOONG Weekend!

Yes, it's Labour Day on Monday so we have a three-day weekend.  Now I know I just got back from a vacation last weekend, but it's been a crazy, crazy week at work and three days off is very needed.  Especially since I have a whole pile of writing work to do as well as housework.  I also hope to do some reading.  I'm so far behind on my reading challenge it's not funny.

My friend who has been in Europe for 6 weeks just got back and my son and I are going up the coast on Sunday to see her and to go to a piano concert.  It will be great to catch up, and the pianist is Russian and playing Russian repertoire which is my favourite.  I'm looking forward to it.

What are you celebrating this week?