Wednesday, August 31, 2011

INSECURE WRITERS SUPPORT GROUP


This is such a brilliant idea! Thank you Alex J. Cavanaugh. What it is about is...that on the first Wednesday of each month you post what insecurities you have as a writer or the progress you have made with your writing or any writing problems or questions you have and then other writers who have been through the same thing or that knows the answer will leave comments. And if you just need a little encouragement, someone will help with that too.

So head over here: http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/insecure-writers-support-group.html to sign up or to read more about the insecure writers support group. Hope to see you all there.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

THANKFUL AND RICE PUDDING!

I am so thankful that all my blogger fiends safely made it through hurricane Irene. I was really worried for you guys. Wish you all the best during the hurricane clean-up and that you guys haven't suffered much loss due to this whole ordeal.

Last night I had the strangest craving for rice pudding, which is weird because I have never eaten rice pudding and I don't cook or bake. So, I decided to go whip myself up a batch.

The dummy that I am decided to cook 1/4 cup of uncooked rice in some milk with sugar and cinnamon, on a low heat. And let me tell you, I had been stirring at that damn rice for more than an hour and in the end I still ended up with crunchy raw rice, a tooth achingly sweet paste and having used about 1 litre of milk.

So next time I am definitely using cooked rice and just adding it to the milk, sugar and cinnamon mix.

Thankfully I liked it and the sauce actually tasted awesome. Shame about the raw rice in it though. Once I perfect the recipe I will share it.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

PLEASE BE SAFE

To everyone touched or affected by hurricane Irene. I hope you, your families and friends stay safe. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

CALLING ALL PARANORMAL ROMANCE WRITERS!

Just letting you know that Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management is looking for great paranormal romance stories. Here is the link

Good Luck to everyone who is going to submit their manuscript.


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

JUST NEEDED SOME INSPIRATION

I needed some inspiration today and stumbled upon this article by the wonderful Stephen King and thought I might share it with everyone. Oh, and I am seriously saving to buy me his book on writing.

Here's the link: http://oldsite.greatwriting.co.uk/content/view/312/74

Monday, August 15, 2011

LIEBSTER AWARD AND YOU GUYS ARE GREAT!


I would like to thank all my bloggy friends who took the time to comment on my latest post. Your feedback was very useful and is invaluable. Thank you!

I got another award! They really do make me smile and act all hysterical, but it means a lot to me because it comes from my fellow bloggers. It is called the Sweetheart Blog Award!

1. Thank the person who gave the award to you.

Thank you so much Tonja!

You guys who don’t know Tonja, she is a truly awesome lady with a lot of guts and determination and you guys can find her over at http://tonjasmusings.blogspot.com . Thanks again.

2. Pass on the award to 5 other blogs with less than 200 followers

So now I have to pass it onto 5 other blogger friends with less than 200 followers. I chose the following people because they have less than 100 followers and they could really do with some more followers. Please pay them a visit.

Renee – http://reneesilvana.blogspot.com

Better is possible - http://clpcs-betterispossible.blogspot.com/

John - http://writepirate.blogspot.com

Tanyakschua - http://claustrophobicminds.blogspot.com

Reina - http://reina2000.blogspot.com

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog (check).

Sunday, August 14, 2011

YOUR HONESTY IS DESPERATLY NEEDED

I think I might be a little crazy or at least have masochistic tendencies. You know how people always tell you that when one of your W.I.P’s is unsuccessful with agents that you should query another project? Well, I can’t let go of this one. I truly believe that this is my best work to date even though I have written other completed manuscripts as well.

I know it is really stupid to keep querying a manuscript that keeps getting rejected, but my heart is truly invested in this one. It is the first book in a series and that might also be what puts off agents.

I just keep thinking, what if I wrote a bad hook or what if I didn’t do justice to the first chapter, because the hardest part about writing for me is the first chapter. I just can’t seem to get it right.

So I keep rewriting the first chapter and my query letter hoping I will finally get it right and impress an agent. I am aware I am wasting a lot of time with just one manuscript, but isn’t it worth the trouble if you really truly believe in your work? I naively think so.

So to torture myself further, here is the hook from my query letter. Please, do not be afraid to be brutal. Your honesty is what I am yearning for.

What would you do if you were told you had the potential to be an immortal? That was an offer Claire could not refuse. But could everything be so easy? Not if Alex, an Amaranthine, could help it. He constantly makes Claire’s journey into the world of immortals difficult, at times resulting in moments of laughter and tears. But is Alex simply obnoxious or is he trying to prevent Claire from understanding the true meaning of their relationship.

Did you like it? Did you hate it? Please, leave a comment.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

FREELANCING NOT FOR ME

I am giving up on freelancing. Firstly, I had two possible employment opportunities. The one guy offered me a job and after I accepted I never heard from him again. The other was a lady, writing 150 word posts for a ridiculous low pay rate, anyway I wrote my first three posts for her and never heard from her again either. She just picked my brain. Luckily for me those three posts were terrible. Hahaha! (Imagine evil laugh).

Secondly, freelancing takes a lot of time for research, querying for jobs and writing. It was hard for me to fit in novel writing as well. I guess it works if you are just a freelancer. Maybe I was just stupid and unable to multi task (Gasp).

I haven't been blogging or writing as much as I would like lately. I have just been feeling really tired and unable to focus.

Still no real job, but I will be temping for the next two days again.

Still no bites from any agents (sigh). But I am persevering and fully intent to keep on querying.

So...what have you guys been up to?

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

MY BEAN BURGER RECIPE

I worked on this recipe last week and perfected it to my taste. Renee (http://reneesilvana.blogspot.com) asked me to share it with everyone, so here it is...

Bean Burgers

Ingredients

1 Can of beans (The choice of beans is yours)
1 Onion
1 Large carrot
1 Pepper
½ tin of Sweet Corn (optional)
1 tsp of Garlic
½ Cup of pulsed oats
1 Egg (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
30 ml Olive oil

Method

Throw oil into a pan. Add the chopped onion, finely grated carrot and chopped pepper. Fry together till onion is soft. Add the garlic and the salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Throw the oats into a blender and pulse. Remove oats and put to the side. Drain the beans and toss them into the blender. Pulse till smooth. Throw the smooth mix into a bowl. Add the cooled onion, carrot and pepper mix. Also add the oats. Mix together.

Taste for seasoning. You can add more salt and pepper if you need to. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

All that is left to do is to shape them into burgers.

I also use this recipe for my vegetarian cottage pie and vegetarian meatballs as well. I personally like the taste because it has clean flavors and simple seasonings of salt and pepper. Feel free to jazz it up anyway you like.

Not quite myself

I have no idea why, but I have not been feeling like myself. Even being in my own skin feels alien.  The good news is that I still managed t...