Ready to A-Z...

With less than 24 hours to go before the annual A-Z blogging challenge begins, I thought I should announce my theme. Once again I'll be blogging film reviews from A-Z. Last year I tried to stick to only recent releases, but this year I think I'll dig into the archives and try to find films I had real reactions to.  Films I loved and films I hated.  Nothing I was "meh" about.

So are you ready?  Let's review films from A -Z....

My Soon To Be Sex Life- cover reveal!

I'm probably asking for trouble, giving this title to my blog post...  But I hope it got your attention!  Isn't this a gorgeous cover?

About My Soon-To-Be Sex Life: Charlie is down to her absolute. Total. Last. Resort.

Despite a thoroughly comprehensive list of potential cherry poppers, er…suitors, and careful plotting, Charlie is three weeks into her devirginzation campaign, still untouched, and getting desperate. In the movie of her life, this aspiring screenwriter is giving herself a PG, for please, get some.

Her project goes into freeze frame when her mom checks herself into rehab and packs Charlie off to live with her estranged, or just plain strange, grandfather, Monty. How is she supposed to get a date when she has to go pick up his Depends? 

Enter Eric, a hot rehab grad on the road to redemption, and the only one who can make Charlie rethink her strategy. The more she gets to know him, the more convinced she becomes that is the one, and not just another to add to the list of people who will abandon her.

In this hilarious and heartbreaking story of one girl’s detoured road to womanhood, Charlie’s list develops a life of its own – right when she realizes there’s so much more to lose.

Book on Goodreads: 

About Judith Tewes: Multi-published, award-winning author, screenwriter, and playwright, Judith Tewes resides in small town Alberta, where she: writes, sings, plays bass guitar in an all-woman band, walks her three crazy labs, and suspects she's living the life of a superhero's alias. A commercial writer writing under several pen names, Judith’s work includes: paranormal, steampunk, and contemporary young adult fiction, as well as thriller, horror, and dramatic comedies for the stage and screen. 

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Celebrate the Small Things 28-3-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?




In an effort to be productive, I'm using my blog to outline my weekly goals.  So far it's working and I've actually managed to cross quite a few things off my list.

If I have a productive writing time this evening, I should finish the new draft of STUMPED.  I can't wait to send it to my CP who has read every draft so far.  She'll be able to tell me if I've made the book better or ruined it entirely.  I think I've improved things, but you never really know...

A lot of new people have joined my crit group this week.  Some of them are quite inexperienced, I think, but having new sets of eyes to go over my work is always exciting!  And with so many of us in the group getting published over the last year, the activity level within the group has dropped considerably.  All this marketing and publicity takes valuable time away from critiquing.  New members mean the activity levels will pick up.  I may even be inspired to write a review or two!  I've been hopeless the last few weeks.  But once this revision is finished and sent off, I'll be free to relax and review a little.

And that's about it for me this week.  What are you celebrating?

This week's plan....

I've been so completely unproductive the past few weeks, I've decided that I need to focus myself a little more.  So on a Monday, I'm going to post here what I hope to a achieve in the next 7 days.  That way I'll feel somewhat accountable and might actually kick my own ass a little harder to get the things done I know I need to get done.  So here goes...  Here's what I need to do before next Monday.

Send my newly revised Taillights draft to two new readers for feedback.

Hopefully send Taillights to my editor by the end of the week since I promised it to her at the end of last month... OOOPS!

Finish writing the new scene in STUMPED that I started last week and failed to finish.

Talk to my insurance company about a payment plan for my house insurance.

Read the screes of boring fineprint on my amended mortgage paperwork and sign that off.

Review at least one chapter from a new member of my critique group.

Sleep more than 5 hours a night at least twice.

And I think that's enough for now...

What are your plans for the week?

Celebrate the Small Things 21-3-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?




I got this fantastic review yesterday.  I love it when a reviewer is thoughtful in what they say about a book. Especially when that book is mine...

My CP/beta reader sent back the revised MS of Taillights with her notes, and none of the things I was afraid were wrong with the book appear to be a problem.  She got everything I wanted readers to get out of it, and didn't have a whole lot of notes for things I need to fix.  I just need to get one more set of eyes on it, and then it's off to my editor.

I caught up with my best friend who doesn't live in the same city as me anymore.  She played a gig up the coast from here so I got a mini-holiday, going up and spending the night with a friend who lives up there.  The only bad part was having to get on a train at 7:30am to get back into the city in time for work.  The best part was getting to hear her sing again.  She's scary talented.  Take a look....



What are you celebrating this week?

Writing Process Blog Hop

My bestie and CP, Lexa Cain  tagged me in the Writing Process Blog Hop last week.  Lexa is the writer of the phenomenal Soul Cutter, a YA horror set in Egypt.  I'm not a huge horror fan, but I love, love, loved her book.  You should totally read it.  The links are right over there in my sidebar....

So, for this blog hop, I have to answer some questions.  So here goes.

1)  What am I working on?  Revisions.  I'm revising an older book for my editor, and revising one of my newer ones after an R & R from an agent. I can't wait to be done so I can write something new....

2)  How does my work differ from others of its genre?  I'm not afraid to push boundaries.  My books tend to be very emotionally honest and raw as a result.

3)  Why do I write what I do?  Because that's what I want to read.  If I can't find books that cover the subjects that interest me and that I'm passionate about, I figure it's up to me to write them.

4)  How does your writing process work?  It's kooky.  I tend to start with a very small idea, usually a single scene, then when I figure out where that scene fits in a bigger idea, I'll start by writing that scene.  It's usually not the beginning or the end of the story, so from that single scene, I'll work both ways to finish the story.  I usually write the ending fairly early on so I know what I'm aiming for.  But sometimes I miss....

I have to pass this blog hop on to two other writers, so I'm passing it to J E O'Neil and M J Fifield.  Good luck ladies!

LGBT Month

I just joined this even though it's in April and will clash with the A - Z Challenge.  I guess at least one day in April I'll be writing 2 blog posts instead of one....

I like this because it's an event with  no real rules. All you have to do is read and share LGBT+ books. At least one book or one post! You don't even have to have a blog!  The hosts are okay with a YouTube channel, or reviews on Goodreads and/or you can use the hashtag #LGBTApril on Twitter!

Head on over to Laura's blog an sign up on the link-list.  You can also vote for a book you'd like to read as part of the read-along they have planned (I picked Pantomime BTW - because I've read the other books on the list)

If anyone wants to read An Unstill Life and post about if during April, let me know....  I can get you a copy.  I know the author....

Celebrate the small things 14-3-13

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?




I actually did some writing.  I know, incredible, right?  I got to the point in my revisions where I needed to write a new scene, and I did it.  And it felt amazing.  In just over an hour, I managed 2K.  I didn't want to stop, but it was late and I needed to sleep.  Unfortunately, despite planning to keep going last night, I was so exhausted when I got home, I just couldn't.  But at least I know I can do it.

I spoke to my local library about donating a copy of my book to them and was given the email address of the YA buyer.  Hopefully I'll be able to make my book available through the library.  I don't know that it will increase sales, but I like the idea of people actually reading it.

And that's about it for this week.  What are you celebrating?

Can you be a writer if you don't write?

I'm a sorry excuse for a writer at the moment.  I haven't written anything for ages!  I'm not even sure I can call myself a writer any more.

It's been a week since I looked at my latest round of revisions.  It's not like I have an enormous amount to do, but somehow life keeps getting in the way of writing.  My job has become this huge, unmanageable beast that sucks all my time and energy, and I need to spend at least a little time with my family.  Which leaves about 0 hours for writing.

And I hate it.

I have stories burning to be told.  I have people waiting for revised MSs all over the place. I want to do the work.

Can someone find a way to squeeze an extra 2 or 3 hours out of a day?

Celebrate the Small Things 7-3-14

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Head on over there to join up! 

So, what am I celebrating this week?





The main thing? This article. It has really made me reassess my career in many ways, not to mention make me tear up at work!

I've been working on another revision, this time on STUMPED.  And after not having read it for over 6 months, I'm kind of amazed at how good some of it is. I didn't think I could write like that, but I know I wrote this stuff, so....

I'm going to see the Tiger Lillies on Sunday and I can't wait.  I've seen them four or five times before, and they are always brilliant.  Demented, but brilliant.

What are you celebrating this week?

So who is interested?

I've now been published for 2 months.  I haven't had a full royalty statement yet, so I have no idea how many books I've sold (not a whole lot, I suspect), but I have found various ways to figure out if people are even interested.

Firstly, there's Goodreads.  I pop in there every few days and every time more people have added An Unstill Life to their TBR piles or whatever they categorize them as.  Which is good.  Especially when they're not people I know in real life or through the online writing community.

I check the book's page on all the sales sites for reviews too, but there aren't a lot.  Whether that's because people don't like leaving reviews, or if it's because no one is buying it, I don't know....  If you buy a book from any retailer that allows you to leave reviews, even just a line or two makes a huge difference.  It's hard not knowing if anyone is reading it.

The the best thing I've found, is that by Googling my title and my name, I can see if anyone has mentioned my book anywhere.  I've found several blogs where readers have listed my book as being one they're looking forward to reading.  And that's really exciting!  Of course I have no way of knowing if they actually buy the book unless it's mentioned again later, but just knowing that the blurb/cover/gossip has made them want to look further is cool.

There are sales tracking sites like Novelrank too, but because they only track sales from certain Amazon retailers, I don't think it's a 100% accurate indication of sales.  But maybe that's just denial on my part because I don't want to believe the numbers I see there....

Do you have any other ways to gauge interest in your book?  Please share!