Back With a Blast - Finding Balance

You may have noticed, my poor blog has been quite silent for last month. I had decided my fitness regime (or lack of it) needed drastic attention so I was obsessing over that. The problem with obsessing is that it's hard to do that on more than one thing, so alongside my second mission was to find a balance, and try to bring some discipline into my routines that I could focus on various important issues instead of writing like a woman possessed or doing something else like a woman possessed. Of course, only having limited time doesn't help either, but I knew it wasn't impossible. So that was my hard journey. 

But finally, this weekend, things clicked into place, as they do. I reassessed my yearly goals, revised them based on current time, progress and changes, and found my centre again. It's a great relief to feel in control of all my goals, as opposed to just one at a time.

So now, you will be seeing regular posts here. Not one every day as I did a lot before, but definitely regular.

In news, the fitness obsession did work, and I am AMAZED to say I am now a regular exerciser (is that even a word? - it should be if it's not) :P and I don't even eat Pizza every week, let alone several times a week.

Reigns of editing my NaNo2009 novel have been firmly gathered, so editing is hopefully speeding up again.

And alongside, slowly - very slowly, I continue to work on first draft of my Bristol Fantasy.

All the other drafts have been put aside for now, as I have got my handful with just these things and all the other stuff I need to do. Journaling blog will be getting regular attention too.

How have you guys been?

Reading Challenge Update

For the first time I decided to have an official challenge to read a certain number of books this year. Minimum 75. Here is the update.
It doesn't include any e-books that I have read, as I don't really keep track of those. But among my "regular" books, 42 reads so far.

Reading List According to Readers of Writer Revealed

So here it is ...a fairy short, but very good reading list. 


If anyone wants to keep the list, and want it in Excel, email me and I will send it to you. I plan to include blog links for people who recommended the books in the spreadsheet as soon as I get a chance. 


The list is alphabetized by Author's names.In the brackets, people who recommended each book.


1. A Reaper's Tale: The Undecided by Adam Slade (Carol Ward)
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Carol Ward / Karin Eider)
3. The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop (Dolly Garland)
4. Anne Frank's Diary by Anne Frank (Dolly Garland)
5. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Dolly Garland)
6. The Kadin by Beatrice Small (Carol Ward)
7. The Little Country by Charles De Lint (Carol Ward)
8. Ramses Series by Christian Jaqc (Karin Eider)
9. Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers (Erica Chapman)
10. Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers (Erica Chapman)
11. One Day by David Nicholls (Sue Martin)
12. Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber (Sue Martin)
13. Christmas in Seattle by Debbie Macomber (Sue Martin)
14. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Sue Martin)
15. The Swarm by Frank Schaetzing (Karin Eider)
16. The Lacemakers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri (Sue Martin)
17. Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling (Karin Eider / Dolly Garland)
18. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (Adam Slade / Karin Eider / Dolly Garland)
19. Black Dagger Brotherhood by J. R. Ward (Karin Eider)
20. Teacher Teacher by Jack Sheffield (Sue Martin)
21. Persuasion by Jane Austen (Dolly Garland)
22. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich (Erica Chapman)
23. Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Adam Slade)
24. Next of Kin by Joanna Trollope (Sue Martin)
25. Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer (Dolly Garland)
26. Ilfayne's Bane by Julia Knight (Adam Slade)
27. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (Karin Eider)
28. The Body Finder by Kimberly Dertin (Erica Chapman)
29. The Anita Blake Series by Laurell K. Hamilton (Kaitlyn Hall)
30. The Merry Gentry Series by Laurell K. Hamilton (Kaitlyn Hall)
31. Valerias Last Stand by March Fitten (Sue Martin)
32. The Day Job by Mark Wallington (Sue Martin)
33. The Book Thief by Markus Zusack (Dolly Garland)
34. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (Sue Martin)
35. Tam Lin by Pamela Dean (Carol Ward)
36. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Karin Eider / Dolly Garland)
37. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman (Adam Slade / Dolly Garland)
38. The Crystal Shard by R. A. Salvatore (Adam Slade)
39. Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper (Carol Ward)
40. Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer (Karin Eider)
41. The Gunslinger by Stephen King (Adam Slade)
42. On Writing by Stephen King (Carol Ward)
43. The Stand by Stephen King (Karin Eider)
44. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Erica Chapman)
45. The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (Adam Slade)
46. The Woodwife by Terry Windling (Carol Ward)
47. The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan (Adam Slade)

Deadline to Tell The World What To Read

Hi Folks,

Sorry for a bit of silence. As they say....S*** Happens!!

Anyway, so previously, I asked you to send me a list of 10 books you think everyone should read. Books that matter to you for whatever reason - because they entertained you, made you cry, made you laugh, made you think something new...whatever....it's your list....your choice.

I will be posting a consolidated list of those books on Sunday 25th of July - so if any stragglers amongst you want to send their list, please feel free. Email me the list at lostwanderer5 [at] gmail [dot] com, and I will add it.

Final Post: Dolly Garland - Why I Write Fantasy?

According to Oxford Dictionary, Fantasy is "a genre of imaginative fiction involving magic and adventure, especially in setting other than real world."

Magic. Adventure. Heroism. Fantasy makes it all possible. Even the least brave of us can travel through jungles, climb the highest mountain and fight the fiercest tiger. Fantasy makes impossible possible. Even the science fiction I like is because of its fantasy element - imagining things that could be or might be. Worlds that are similar enough to ours to portray humanity that we can relate to, characters we can care about, but different enough to show us a glimpse of a different, magical world that at some point in our life we wish to be in.

Fantasy opens the doors of imagination. It enriches our ordinary world. Fantasy offers a wide scope, with little magic that changes a person or something that changes a world. It could be a new way of looking at our own world, or a journey to completely different one. Fantasy could be anything, and as a writer and a reader of it, it makes me feel that I could be anything. 

I also like the freedom of being able to create my own worlds, and play with magic and creating societies. The most amazing thing is to make it believable, to portray it with such vividity that while people read it, they believe in the existence of that world. To sit in one's living room, and face the dragons or wield a sword or fall in love with a wizard or a vampire....where else could you have it all, but in a fantasy? 

P.S. "Why I Write..." series is at the end. Thank you to all the contributors and all the readers. I have enjoyed reading about what makes you love your genres.

Guest Post: Anne Ashby - Why I Write Sweet/Traditional Romance?

Hi, My name is Anne Ashby and I write Sweet/Traditional romance – Why?


The obvious reason for writing Sweet romance is because I like to read sweet romances. But that’s too simplistic. For me, it’s the storyline/plot which attracts me to a book. The romance is secondary. In a Sweet romance you get both of these, a strong story and a great romance.


Sweet romances need a strong fleshed-out story to flow throughout the book because they don’t explore the intimate part of the developing relationship. Something has to replace this intimacy and with Sweet, it’s a strong, believable plot. As the hero and heroine must have plenty to keep them together on the page and yet be separated emotionally, plot and characterisation become very important. For me, this makes the book worth reading, and writing.


Arguably Sweet stories could be classified ‘old fashioned’ but I strongly disagree with this. Times have changed since consummation of a relationship in a Sweet story couldn’t occur unless the characters were married. Most Sweet stories are set in contemporary times and contemporary situations. Physical acts of love definitely still occur, they are just not described in any detail.  Emotions and tension should build and zing as strongly as in any romance.


I don’t write Sweet because I’m a prude, or at least I hope I’m not. Twenty one years served in the Navy while it was still a very male dominated Service cured me of any prudishness I might have grown up with. I write them because I have stories hankering to be told, and I’m a sucker for a romance. I hope my Sweet stories guide my readers down an intriguing pathway and allow their own imagination to soar.


Visit my website www.anneashby.com  or  www.thewildrosepress.com to order/read excerpts of my forthcoming books 


**
P.S from Dolly - Anne will be available to reply to comments after July 3rd. 

Your Collaboration Needed

So I had this bright idea - well it is bright, in my opinion :-)  Most people who follow this blog are writers, but we also share one other common identity: READERS.

Let's do something as readers that would benefit other readers and ourselves hopefully. I would like you to recommend up to 10 books (you can do 1 if you want) that you think people MUST read, or they are missing out on something. Please make sure it at least has the correct title and author's name.

Please EMAIL YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS to lostwanderer5 [at] gmail [dot] com. I will consolidate them, include your names and links with your recommendations. (So please make sure to send me your links too)

I think it will be a great thing for the readers, and for all of us, next time we have some Christmas money and wondering which authors' royalty cheques we should contribute towards. I haven't set a date for posting the list yet - depends on how many people might be interested, but I will give you a good few weeks.

If you want to leave a note in comment expressing your interest, please do so, but send the actual recommendations to my email address as it would be much easier to manage and to make sure I haven't missed anyone.

I really hope there will be good participation for this, and if your friends or family want to recommend something, send me their list and I will be happy to credit it to their names.

[Signs off....hoping to find a full inbox]

EDIT - Fiction and Non-Fiction both are fine. Just clarify which ones your recommendations are. Also, Adam's comment has led me to add - feel perfectly free and at ease to include your own book. If I had mine published, I am sure I would be including it :-)