It's finally my turn to tell you about my Christmas. So...
My Christmas started with turkey dinner at Oscars. I'm not sure who Oscar actually is, but when Mummy and Daddy say we're going there, we see nice people, and I often get some nice food. Plus, we get walkies during the same outing. I love it!
Anyway, a few days later, Santa Paws brought us some great stuff!
There was some great stuff in my stocking. Here are some photos of me checking out my stocking, and Mummy giving me my first toy (a rope tuggy toy) and treat (a small rawhide Christmas tree) from it:
And some other presents too. In fact, here's a video of me opening one of the things Santa Paws left for me:
There's both a squeaky turkey and a sprout dog toy in the package. But I loved the sprout so much I've hardly played with the turkey. I love Sprouty! Here I am on the sofa with Sprouty and the turkey:
I also got some new balls. But I don't have photos of them to show you. Here's a photo of me being given one of the rawhide crackers I got from Santa Paws though... I got a whole pack of these...
Another thing I got was a harder puzzle toy. Here's a video of the first time I tried to do it:
Daddy stopped recording at that point, because both he and I thought I was done. Turned out I missed one. But everyone says that's really great for my first ever attempt at a level three puzzle (my old one, which I can do in 15 seconds, is level 2). Yes, it really was the first time I tried that puzzle. I'd never even seen one like that before.
So, that was my Christmas. Can we have more Christmas soon... Please?
It turns out there was more Christmas!
I went to the groomer to have my nails trimmed last week, and since Nana sent me some money, Daddy took me to the petstore place to spend it after we were done at the groomer. He let me pick my own stuff. I picked a big rawhide shoe - because you can never have too many of those - and a chicken toy that's part squeaky teddy, and part tuggy toy. Here are a couple of photos of Mummy giving him back to me, after we got home with him:
Mummy and Daddy say I'm going to have to wait months and months for more Christmas now though. Apparently Santa Paws isn't going to come again until December. I wonder why he only comes once a year? Well, anyway, I know I have a birthday in there somewhere, so that will help make the wait not seem so long. Although, I'm hoping there will also be plenty more trips to the petstore place too, since that's always fun. Not quite as much fun as Christmas, but pretty close.
Also, I've got a trip to the groomer booked for Friday March 22nd at 10:30am. Mummy and Daddy say I'll get a full grooming session that day. It's right before my birthday, so it will be just right to be at my most beautiful for my birthday photos (my birthday is March 26th, for those who don't know).
It's time to take a look at what I've been reading and watching since the start of January.
If you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question. Please bear in mind that the format I've reviewed on Goodreads may not be the format I actually read.
Alternatively, if it's a movie or TV show you want to know more about, just click on the title to go to a page where you can find out more details about the movie or TV show in question; the title links will usually take you to a page on IMDB.
Don't forget: I read and watch things across multiple genres, as well as for different age ranges, so you should always check before reading or viewing, to make certain something is suitable for the intended audience, especially when children are involved.
OK...
Here's what I read this week:
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a pretty good read. It didn't grab my attention and hold it fast or anything, but I did enjoy it once I got in to it. It's quite slow-paced though, so if you like your fantasy to be fast-paced and action-packed, this probably isn't for you. Like I said though, I thought it was a pretty good read.
Divided Paths by Katrina Cope
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was an awesome read! It's a fantastic addition to the series, but also a wonderful read in its own right. The plot grabs your attention right away, and holds it through an emotional and action-packed rollercoaster ride until the end. The only thing that stopped me reading this book in one sitting was the fact other commitments, and the requirement of sleep, made it impossible.
*NOTE: I was given a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This fact has in no way influenced either my opinion of the book, or the contents of my review.
I did also read another book. I re-read "Wuthering Heights" too. However, since I've read it before, I don't need to review it. Besides, the fact I re-read it should be enough to tell you I enjoyed it, since I'm not likely to read something again if I didn't enjoy it the first time.
As for what I've been watching:
I haven't watched any movies since the start of January - new to me or otherwise. I did watch a DVD though. Where I keep only watching a DVD here, and another there... The most I've managed in one day is two DVDs... I'm still trying to get caught up with what I have of NCIS, even though I only have up to about season 10. Anyway, I've now almost finished season 7. I watched disk five of six in season 7 of NCIS on the weekend. The chinchillas are more caught up on NCIS than I am, since they've been watching it on TV. Good thing they're happy to watch it again. Anyway, I have nothing new to me that needs to be reviewed, but at least I watched a DVD that I wanted/needed to catch up on watching.
In case you missed the post about it at the end of December: "The Great Tadpole Rescue" is now available in audio via Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. The narrator is Jenny Bacon, who I've worked with on several of my other titles. You can find more details about the book, along with a variety of purchase links, in the post I just linked to, including ones for the paperback and eBook versions of the book. But here's a quick link for those who want to buy the book on Audible.
Also, the Kindle version of "Frank The Friendly Ogre" is now listed as free, like the eBook version is everywhere else. I won't bore you with details of why that took until now to achieve. So, you naturally still have to pay for the paperback and audio book versions, because of production costs. But you can get the eBook for free everywhere it's sold now.
In other news: I recently wrote a short guest post comparing the accessibility of Smashwords and Amazon, based on self-published authors who are using those publishing platforms while using JAWS and Firefox (what I use). It went live on January 1st, if you didn't see it and would like to read it.
Enough about me though.. Let's talk about you. So...
By the way, do you ever just sit quietly, doing nothing, until you get bored? If not, maybe you should, especially if you're a bit stuck for ideas for your writing. All writers must learn to be bored, at least some of the time. Remember to give yourself the gift of muse time, during the holidays, and throughout the rest of the year. I'm sure you can figure out where your muse hides, and remember to celebrate the weird stuff.
Speaking of your muse: here's a fun post with some suggestions for when you get an idea during bed time. You can take them as seriously as you like. *wink*
So, what if someone steals your high concept book idea? Well, if you really want to do something to try and avoid it, the post I just linked to does have some suggestions. However, the short answer to that question is actually that it doesn't matter. As long as they don't totally steal your book, writing it the way you do, you don't really need to worry. There are only so many plots out there. It's the telling that makes a story unique. So, just write your story, and don't worry about it. That's my advice, anyhow.
By the way, if you're thinking of producing your book in audio using ACX, as I myself have done, you might like to check out this mini-series of posts Don has put together on creating an audio book using ACX. Here's part 1, here's part 2, and here's part 3.
Finally, if you're looking for some promotional opportunities, don't forget there are plenty of bloggers out there willing to help. Sue has offered guest spots on her blog, and Don is inviting you to come be interviewed for his 2019 author interview series, for example. There are many others, and I'm not going to list them here, but a quick search should give you a list. Just remember to read any guidelines they have listed first.
I know we're a little over a week in to January, but I had a few other things I wanted to post first. Plus, we needed time to sort the photos and videos that were on the camera. Hence you only getting the rodent gang's Christmas post this past Friday. You'll get Lilie's one this coming Friday. Anyway...
We had our Christmas dinner at Oscars on the Winter Solstice. Yes, that was intentional. I mentioned in a previous post that I picked the 21st of December as the date for our dinner on purpose. Well, that was the reason: so we could have it on the day we celebrate the Winter Solstice. Had the weather been nice enough, we'd have had it practically on the beach. But the weather wasn't too good - it wasn't really nasty, but it was a bit too cold and windy to be eating outside - so we went inside to eat. We were still on the seafront anyhow, and it was still lovely. Plus, we did have to walk along the seafront to get there, so we did get to spend some time on the beach that day. Even if it was just to walk to and from Oscars.
It was a three course meal. Kelly and I both had the soup for a starter, though I can't remember now what kind of soup it was, even though I knew both when we ordered it back in November, and when we were eating it last week. It was definitely vegetarian friendly though. For the main course, Kelly had a turkey dinner, I had a nut roast dinner, and even Lilie got a bit of turkey. For dessert, I had Christmas pudding with cream, and Kelly had the cheese board (and I think gave a little cheese to Lilie). Since we don't drink alcahol, we were drinking cola during our meal. Oh, and we had Christmas crackers too, complete with lame jokes I can't remember, silly paper hats, and little "toys" (one of our crackers had a giant plastic paperclip in it, the other had a little spinning top... I've now got the spinning top). I even wore the paper hat throughout the meal (I had a yellow one). Kelly wouldn't wear his though. No. I don't have photos to share from our meal. We had the camera with us, but were too busy enjoying ourselves to remember to take photos.
Since we had our Christmas dinner at Oscars, we didn't bother cooking one for Christmas day. So, most of the rest of the holiday festivities involved nibbling on holiday goodies while reading Christmasy stories, or watching holiday movies, with breaks to talk to family and friends. It was great! There were plenty of sweet mince pies, fruit cake, gingerbread men, chocolate log cakes, satsumas, grapes, cheese and cranberry sandwiches, and a few other goodies. Of course, the chocolate log cakes were only for Kelly, and the mince pies and fruit cake were only for me. But we would have shared with each other if the other had wanted any of what we had. There was cocoa too... Even some with cinnamon in... Though that was mostly me. That makes it sound like we spent the whole time eating holiday goodies, but we didn't... Remember this was all spread out over about a week. Actually, the goodies were spread out over all of December, though I do admit we ate more of them over the week containing the Winter Solstice and Christmas.
Anyway, I read more than a dozen Christmas themed books this month, which I've reviewed on Goodreads already, and shared the reviews for on here in my review catch-up post last week. I also watched several holiday movies, including two new to me ones (which were reviewed in a post at the very end of December) and some old favourites. Of course, I watched "Santa Clause - The Movie" and read "The Bear Father Christmas Forgot" on Christmas Eve, like I always do. It's become a sort of tradition for me, and I love it!
We got a few more cards from family and friends, which got put up on the door by the sparkly snowflakes and bells. One from our friends, Lorna and Andy. One from my friend, AliceKay. One from my brother, Carl, and his girlfriend, Tory. One from my Mam. As well as one from my Uncle Phillip and Aunty Bev. Here they all are:
There were presents too, of course.
"Santa" filled our stockings with tasty goodies, which Lilie was quick to notice...
(You should be able to tell which is my stocking, and which is Kellys, but - since the furkids' stockings don't have their names on them - I'll tell you that the polar bear one is Lilie's stocking, and the other one is for the rodent gang).
One of the things in my stocking was a Kinder Surprise Santa, and it had this little angel in it:
(The little spinning top beside her is the one that came in my Cracker).
I also got some giraffe themed tableware...
A kit to make an elephant...
And a meerkat, who I've decided to name Drusilla, in honour of my meerkat encounters when I went to Drusillas for my keeper for the day experience. So, here's Drusilla the meerkat:
Plus, I had some teatree scented bath stuff, a few books (including a braille vegetarian recipe book, which is 16 braille volumes) and some money. I plan to use some of the money to get a new CD player, since the one I have to listen to audio CDs in the bedroom at bed time isn't working so well any more. In its defence though, it's about 12 or 13 years old, and has been used almost every day in that time. So it's done well. Time to retire it though, since it keeps needing several attempts to get it to accept a CD, and the speakers are going funny, so the sound quality is now a bit iffy.
By the way, I'd just like to say, "Thank you," to everyone who sent cards and/or presents, or who wished us a Blessed Solstice, Merry Christmas, or Happy New Year (whether online or in person).
As you can see, we had a really nice time... It was a lovely way to spend the holidays.
I didn't get my snow, but I did get some fireworks, since someone was doing a bit of a display somewhere nearby on the evening of Christmas Day, which we could easily see and hear from our place, and we'd had some the Saturday before too. I wish there had been snow as well, but you can't have everything, right? Anyway, here's a clip of the Christmas Day fireworks. I shared one last week, but here's a better one:
We didn't do anything for New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. We almost never do. We heard lots of fireworks New Year's Eve though, and you'll be glad it was earlier in the evening we got a clip to share withyou, because even I found the explosion of fireworks at midnight a bit much. I swear everyone who had been doing fireworks earlier in the evening kept their biggest and best firework, had it ready for midnight, and ended up setting it off at the exact moment everyone else did. It really was rather loud. Anyway, here's the short clip we did earlier in the evening:
So, that's how I spent my holidays... How did you spend yours?
The Lilie dog says she heard Santa Paws, but we didn't see or hear him. Either way, Santa Paws brought me and my chinchilla sisters, Mollie and Maizie, some great stuff. Look at it all:
Some of what you see in those pictures there was in our stocking, the rest was among what the Mummy human says are the things that would have gone under the tree, only we just had the little wooden tabletop tree, so they couldn't fit under it. They were on the table instead, which is probably a good thing, because otherwise the little white Lilie dog would have gotten in to them. She gets in to everything.
Anyway, those little trees are wooden toys for us to gnaw on, and the sprouts are too. The other things are giant hay biscuits, and dandelion roots. There's also a box of raisins. Oh, and there was a small package of oatmeal just for us as well, but the Mummy human gave it to us before the Daddy human could get it included in the photo. We don't care though, because we enjoyed eating it, which is what matters most. I'm sure you'll agree.
By the way, here's a photo of me, which was taken on Christmas day, beside some of my presents:
Also, here's one of my chinchilla sisters. Well, you can see Maizie anyhow, but Mollie didn't feel like having the flashy thing take her photo, so wouldn't stick her head out when it was pointed at their cage. She is there, nibbling on the giant hay biscuit with Maizie, but you can't see her. Anyway, here's the photo:
The Daddy human did try to get a shot where you could see Mollie properly, but she wasn't willing to co-operate.
So, that was Christmas for me, Mollie, and Maizie. We're already looking forward to next time Santa Paws comes!
Let's be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading.
~Lena Dunham
If you go by my 2018 blogging schedule, I'm not due to do this post yet, since book reviews are supposed to go up on the first Sunday of the month. However, if you go by my 2019 blogging schedule, there are no Sunday posts, my book review post is due today, and I'm past due updating you on what I've been reading. What to do?
What I'm going to do is update you on what I read in December this week, and start doing my weekly review posts from next week. Well, OK, next week's will have an extra two days in it. But whatever. I've also got some book related quotes I want to share, so I'm dotting them throughout this post too, just because I can.
So, let's take a look at what I read in December, shall we?
I can feel infinitely alive curled up on the sofa reading a book.
~Benedict Cumberbatch
As with the previous posts like this one, if you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question.
Books are a uniquely portable magic.
~Stephen King
Don't forget: the format I've reviewed may not be the format I read. Also, please remember that I read across multiple genres and age ranges, so you should always check if a book is suitable for the intended reader, especially when children are involved. Sometimes reading the book's description on its Goodreads page will be enough for this, but other times you may need to check elsewhere to figure out the genre and/or recommended reading level.
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
~C.S. Lewis
OK... On to the reviews!
Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I originally added this to the list of books I want to read at the recommendation of a friend who thought I'd enjoy it. He thought right. This was a fantastic read. The worldbuilding is amazing, the characters are wonderful, and the plot is excellent. I'm glad I read it, and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
While the Bombs Fell by Robbie Cheadle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a charming book, which gives great insight in to what life was like for some growing up during WWII. The recipes at the end were a nice addition too.
Star-Born Mage by David Estes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
David Estes has done it again! This book was totally awesome! The worldbuilding - or, more accurately, universebuilding - is fantastic, the characters are well-rounded and interesting, and the plot moves at a nice pace. This story will grab you from page one, and hold you captive until the end, while taking you on an emotional rollercoaster, and filling your mind with amazing descriptions that will have you feeling as if you're right there with the characters.
A (Hygge) Christmas Carol (annotated): Being a look at Dickens' most famous Christmas Story ever, through the eyes of a hygge-lover and Christmas Obsessive by Jo Kneale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you're a fan of the story of "A Christmas Carol" and also like the idea of embracing the concept of hygge, you should read this book for sure. It gives you an excuse to read the story again (not that you really need one) while at the same time using the story to illustrate what the concept of hygge really means. I love the way it's organized, so you can read part of the story uninterrupted, and then look back on it with hygge in mind. I also agree with Jo's observations on the story, and how it relates to the concept of hygge.
Death of a Dapper Snowman by Angela Pepper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a nice little holiday mystery. It was a bit of a slow starter, but got more interesting afterwards. If you like mysteries set in small towns, and enjoy having humour injected in to those mysteries, you'll probably enjoy this book.
The Snowman and the Snowdog by Raymond Briggs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was cute, and I loved it! Saw this when it was aired on TV a couple of Christmases ago. Loved the little movie, and loved the book version too.
The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a sweet story. I wasn't sure how I felt about it for the first couple of chapters, but once little Mopet appeared, my enjoyment of it increased so much that I ended up staying up past my usual bed time to finish the book. The ending was a little predictable, but told so well I felt I had to continue until I learned exactly how it came about. I only hesitate to give it the full five stars because of the slow start.
Father Christmas and Me by Matt Haig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a pretty good read. Not my favourite of the series, partially because I didn't enjoy the narration, but also because I sort of felt like things were dragged on a bit longer than they needed to be for a while in the middle. Still, this was a really enjoyable read over all, and a nice addition to this series.
A Steampunk Christmas Carol by Stephen Hunt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I thought this was an interesting idea for a re-telling of this tale, and there were parts of the altered story I really enjoyed; the author was very creative in the use of alternative terms for things. However, there were places where the changes made were neglected in favour of the original text, so that I sometimes felt like I was trying to read the original and a steampunk version at the same time. Also, the changes made near the end made the ending less satisfying than it otherwise would have been, since name-dropping by certain characters revealed things before the proper time, defeating the purpose of the scene that followed. So, a good read, with the potential to be a great one, but not quite as enjoyable as it might have been.
The Chimes by Charles Dickens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A reasonably good read, though not nearly as good as "A Christmas Carol" in my opinion, and certainly not one that's going to make you feel merry and bright.
Christmas Magic by Alexandra Moody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you enjoy darker holiday reads, you might enjoy this book. I did have a slight issue with how casually the main character uses her magic even during the stage where she's supposed to be trying to hide that she had it. Plus, there are a few places where another round of editing would be a good idea. But I mostly thought it was a pretty good read, and enjoyed it enough that I was glad to be able to pick up book two and continue reading right away.
Christmas Chaos by Alexandra Moody
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a great read. Better than the first book, in my opinion. I only kept putting it down because I had to do other things, otherwise I could have easily read it in one sitting.
Christmas Curse by Alexandra Moody
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This would be a 4.5 star read for me, so I'm rounding up. Anyway, it's a great ending to the series, and an enjoyable read in its own right, which is only spoiled by needing a little more editing in places. It's most certainly worth the read though, despite those issues.
The Christmas Penny by Maxwell Grantly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A lovely story. I saw the "surprise" near the end coming, since comments made beforehand had already revealed it, but I enjoyed the story, and especially loved the very end.
Emily's Magical Christmas by Kevin Taggart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a sweet story. Although, it was slightly spoiled for me by the age of the main character. An 18 month old isn’t going to understand about Christmas and Santa; if an 18 month old is excited when you’re mentioning Santa, and repeating words like “Santa” and “toys” a lot, it’s because the people around her are acting excited about it, and she’s heard those words repeated a lot. Now, if she was a year or two older...
Writing is a miserable, awful business. Stay with it. It is better than anything in the world.
~Ann Patchett
I told you in yesterday's post how last year was for me in general, and what my goals for 2019 are in most areas of my life. But now it's time to take a look back at how 2018 was for me as an author, and what writerly goals I have for 2019.
Despite the health issues, and everything else I ended up dealing with, 2018 actually wasn't too bad of a year for me as an author, though it could have been better. I didn't do everything I'd planned to, but did a lot of it, and even did a couple of things I hadn't planned to. I think I did OK overall.
*Continue audiobook production of my backlist.
*Finish and publish that pirate themed adventure story.
*Get my new pet themed poetry collection published.
*Update my website and social media profiles so they mention audiobooks too.
*Change the paperback links on my Smashwords book pages so it lists the links for Amazon instead.
*Just write, and enjoy the process.
So, how did I do?
*I did continue audiobook production, though I didn't get all my backlist available in audio like I'd hoped to. I now have almost all my backllist available in audio though, despite production delays, and the need to dissolve the contracts for some of my books. Those not yet produced are expected to become available in early 2019... I hope.
*I didn't get my pirate themed adventure story finished and published, because real life got in the way. I probably could have squeezed in some writing time some days that I didn't, but I was already juggling so much that I let my writing take a back seat, because I just couldn't do it all. So I haven't made as much progress on the story as I'd have liked. There's progress, but not as much as I'd have liked, and it's nowhere near being ready for publication yet.
*Both the eBook and paperback versions of my new pet themed poetry collection - entitled "Puppy Poems And Rodent Rhymes" - were published in March. The audio version is hopefully coming soon.
*My social media profiles were updated back in January. I added mention of audio books, and took the opportunity to do a slight rewrite on my profile while I was at it. It took longer for the website to be done - and there are a few updates yet to happen on it - but I did send the updates to the person responsible for doing them in January. It's not my fault if he didn't get to hem.
*I change the paperback links on my Smashwords book pages back in January. Thankfully, I didn't have to change them again when CreateSpace merged with KDP during the second half of this year.
*Writing time... Yeah... I really didn't do well with that. During the first couple of months, I didn't get even close to enough writing time for my liking. So many other things were going on, including the completion of many of the tasks on this list. Then I was dealing with medical issues, and spent several months either in hospital, or at home feeling unwell, so let my writing take a back seat in order to achieve the other million things I was juggling. During the last couple of months I was feeling a lot better, but had a bunch of things I wanted to finish before the end of the year, so continued to let my writing take a back seat. So, yeah... There wasn't as much time to just write as I'd planned, or would have liked. I did enjoy what writing time I did get though... Does that count?
As it turned out, I also did a couple of things not on my list:
*Added links to Audible on my books' Smashwords pages, since Smashwords made the option to list where your books are for sale in audio available in June, so I figured I'd make use of it.
*Wrote a story about our Westie girl, Lilie, which was published in August. The story - which is called "Where's Noodles?" - is already available as an eBook, paperback, and audio book.
*Made Kindle versions of my books available. So, now those of you with Kindles can buy your eBooks directly from Amazon, if you want to. This does not make any difference to the versions already available from other eBook retailers, such as Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, etc. Also, Kindle friendly versions of all my books are still - and will continue to be made - available to purchase via Smashwords too.
Like I said, it wasn't too bad of a year, even though I didn't complete all the goals I set myself. I achieved a lot, including some things I hadn't planned, even with everything going on in my life. So I'm not complaining, and am considering it a reasonably good year.
Still, I'm hoping for a better 2019. In particular, I'm crossing my fingers for a year with more writing time in it, since I have a lot of story ideas begging for my attention, and I want to be able to share my animal stories, fairy tales, etc, with you.
So, what are my goals for 2019?
Finish writing, and then publish, the adventure story. I mean it this time.
Finish getting the last of my backlist available as audio books.
Write and publish at least one other story.
Write more poems towards my next poetry collection.
I've got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.
~Louisa May Alcott
Of course, my upcoming surgery will put a bit of a spanner in the works, especially considering I don't have a laptop at the moment, can't exactly be carrying something as heavy as the brailler around immediately after surgery, don't get on with the document writing thingy on my Kindle, and find it tricky to do more than a very short piece of writing with my phone. This means that writing while I'm in hospital, and immediately afterwards, isn't really going to be an option. At least, no more than a few brief scribbles. But afterwards... When I'm home, and have had a bit of recovery time... I hope, will involve plenty of writing. I'll also be trying to get some writing time in before I go in for surgery.
Oh, by the way... There's still time to register for STORYSTORM 2019, in case you want to do that. Registration closes on January 7th.
This is the start of a whole new year, and another chance to start fresh with a whole new set of goals. Speaking of which, are you making any goals for 2019? If so, what are they? I'd love for you to tell me in the comments. Whatever they are, good luck, and remember these 12 things.
Today might not be so good. But tomorrow, you got another chance to get it right.
~David Baldacci
Happy New Year!
2018 didn't go quite as planned for me. Most of the year was taken up with medical issues, and then there was the whole preparing to move thing, which then didn't happen, so we went through unpacking again (after having only finished unpacking in the first place as we went in to 2018). Not to mention losing my Grandad at the start of the year - not that I was close to him, but still... He was my Grandad (the only one I've ever known, since I never knew my Dad's Dad) and people dying is sad even if they aren't people you're close to - and almost losing a couple of other family members and friends to health issues that still plague them. Add to that the stressful situation with nasty neighbour that prompted the now aborted moving plans to be kicked off, and the extra stress I put on myself by still being determined to do so much... Yeah... Not my best year. Could have been worse, I suppose. I have had worse years. Plus, there were some good points, like making a few new friends, discovering subscription boxes, signs of improved health to come, and finally seeing an end to the situation we'd been dealing with for some time with nasty neighbour.
Still, though 2018 wasn't actually as bad of a year as it might have been, and plenty of people had worse years than I did, I find I'm more than ready to move on to 2019 at this point, thank you very much! I'm actually so eager to do so that I've had to keep stopping myself from writing "2019" instead of "2018" when writing the date since about November. So... Yeah...
With that in mind, let's take a quick look at what my goals were for 2018, and how I did with them. Then I can tell you all about my goals for 2019. So, you can read the post with full details about my 2018 goals if you like, but here's the short version of what they were:
2018 Reading Goals:
*Read at least 150 books.
*Do the 2018 A-Z title reading challenge.
2018 Blogging Goals:
*Continue blogging on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, using hashtags when appropriate, and using Tuesdays when extra posting slots are needed.
*Start blogging more about other topics besides books and writing. I even had some monthly features planned. See the post linked to above for full details of the blogging schedule I planned to work with during 2018.
2018 Houshold/Personal Goals:
*Finish organizing the things on the shelves.
*Arrange to finally get the shower rail and curtain put up.
*Get back in the habit of meditating daily again.
*Actually remember that it's OK to take time off from working on the computer sometimes, and have a day off at least once a week.
*Teach Lilie the difference between what she's allowed to chew, and what she isn't.
So, how did I do?
Reading:
I finished the A-Z reading challenge in early August. If you'd like to see exactly what I read for the challenge this year - either because you missed seeing my post when it went up back in August, or because you don't remember - read my post about it here.
I didn't think I'd manage to complete my Goodreads reading goal, but I actually did, thanks to some short holiday reads. I ended up reading 153 books in 2018 - three more books than my goal was set to. You can see my year in books here.
Blogging:
Despite everything, I managed to do a pretty good job with my blogging goals. Although, I didn't properly do some of the monthly features I was going to do (most notably the movie and TV show reviews post). However, since the point of the monthly features was to have me talking about the other things going on in my life outside of my reading and writing, and I did do that, I'm proud of me for doing as well as I did with my blogging goals, and calling it a success. Feel free to disagree, but I personally feel I did well with my blogging goals, especially given what I was dealing with during most of the year. I mean, I didn't miss any posting slots, and even had to use several Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with the odd Saturday. Although, my determination to achieve this is part of the above mentioned extra stress I put on myself, so that part of it isn't such a good thing. Still, I did it.
Household/Personal:
At first the household goals got ignored because of the eventually aborted moving plans. Then it was too late in the year to make any real progress, though we did try. Some things are more organized, while others are less so, since they're back to being in boxes until we get more shelves, and the shower rail is still waiting to go up.
The personal goals - which were basically my attempts at self care - sort of got thrown out of the window in my efforts to do everything else I wanted or needed to while jumping through hoops to get my medical issues sorted out (not literally, of course, though I'm sure the gynecologists would have liked me to get that much exercise). I tried to salvage the situation towards the end of the year, but didn't make as much progress as I'd have liked.
Lilie's not quite so bad about chewing things though, so that's something, I guess. Mind you, there's still room for improvement in that area, since she's still not entirely out of the habit.
To be honest, I feel the household and personal goals were something I totally failed at, because I can't honestly say I completely checked any of them off, and I very obviously failed to achieve the ones that were entirely under my control.
So, that's how I did with my 2018 goals. I didn't do as well as I'd have liked, but never mind. I did OK, considering everything that was going on. Anyway, as I mentioned above, I'm eager to move on to 2019, so let's take a look at what my goals for 2019 are, shall we?
This new day is too dear,with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
2019 Reading Goals:
I want to read at least 104 books in 2019. That's two books a week. I'd like to read more than that - especially given the length of my ever-growing "want to read" list - and most likely will end up doing so, because it's me. But 104 is the number I'm setting my Goodreads challenge for this year, and I'll be happy if I just read that many books. I just want to focus on relaxing and enjoying my reading time, not worrying quite so much about numbers. That's why I'm setting my Goodreads reading challenge to a number that's pretty low for me, despite having read more than that in 2018.
I'll also be doing the A-Z challenge one of the Goodreads groups I'm a member of likes to do every year. In fact, this year there are two versions of it, one for titles and one for authors, and I'm planning to do both. I'm going to try to anyhow.
I might decide to participate in some of the other group challenges on Goodreads too. But I'm not setting it as an actual goal, especially since I don't know at this point what other challenges might happen on the groups. It's just something I'll do if I decide I want to when sign-ups happen.
2019 Watching Goals:
This is a new catagory for me, but I have stacks of DVDs I want to watch, along with loads more on my list of ones I want copies of, which I'll naturally also want to watch. So I'm setting a goal for those this year too. My goal is to watch at least 52 DVDs in 2019. That's one a week. More would be great, but I'll be happy if I can say for sure I watched 52 DVDs.
To be clear, that's disks. So, for example, if a season of a TV series is six disks (like most of NCIS is) watching a whole season counts as watching six DVDs. So, by "a DVD" I mean one movie, or one disk of a season of a TV series.
I'll have to make sure to keep track of how many I watch myself though, since I'm not on a movie/TV series version of Goodreads. Does one of those even exist? It wouldn't surprise me if it does...
2019 Blogging Goals:
I'm starting a new blogging schedule as from January 2019. I've actually spent quite a lot of time thinking about my new blogging schedule. I considered leaving things as they were. I weighed the pros and cons of either increasing or decreasing my post frequency. Etc, etc, etc. Actually, being honest, I went back and forth with a decision on this several times, and I probably spent more time thinking about it than I really needed to, because that's something I do a lot. But there you go. In the end, I decided to go with a blogging schedule that will have me blogging five days a week. I'll be starting the following blogging schedule as from January 2019:
Monday: motivational and inspirational quotes, and words of wisdom. The posting of quotes is a feature I decided to keep going with, and do every week, since it seems popular among my readers/followers. Plus, seeing all those quotes is a great way to start the week, and collecting them is kinda fun too.
Tuesday: anything goes. Whatever's been happening in my life, weather reports, craft project updates, and any other random thing I want to share. Basically, anything that doesn't fit nicely in to one of the other days, so most weeks this will likely end up being a weekly version of the "random ramblings" or "this and that" type posts I sometimes do.
Wednesday: #WriterWednesday posts, which will contain writing links I consider worth sharing, any writing related news or updates I have that I can share with you from my week, book announcements for either myself or other authors I'm spotlighting, quotes about writing, or some combination of these things.
Thursday: what I've read or been watching in the past week, along with reviews for all new to me books, movies, and TV shows.
Friday: my usual #FurkidFriday posts; anything the furries have to share.
I'll continue scheduling the posts to go up ahead of time, though I'm changing the time from 10:00am UK time to 9:00am UK time. Still, since they'll be scheduled ahead of time, there will be a cut-off time for new things to be added, or times they wait until the following week because I didn't get a chance to add them to the post, like is already the case with the links in my #WriterWednesday posts. For example, if I finish a book or watch a movie on a Wednesday, I probably won't get the review up for it that week. In fact, you can almost guarantee I won't.
I did consider combining the posts for Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I was going to do them as one long post on a Monday. But, in the end, I decided to keep them as individual posts. It makes tagging them easier. Plus, though there are exceptions to this rule, most people seem to prefer several shorter posts to one long one these days. I've also had some comments made directly to me from followers of my blog about how people like things being in individual posts, and how they were glad when I started doing that. So, there you go.
This new schedule officially starts today. However, I'll be setting up posts for around the time I'm going in to hospital, so during that time they won't be exactly as it says on the tin, so to speak. I'll be trying to stick to the set themes for the days when setting things up though. I even have a fun feature planned for the Fridays, which originally started as an idea I had with an author friend, and turned in to a sort of mini post series that I hope you'll enjoy.
2019 Personal Goals:
My personal goal involves the embracing of Hygge, while practicing better self care, as I explain in this post. This is something I've already started trying to achieve, but which I'm still trying to figure out. I'm trying different things, to see what works best for me, and what I do and don't want to include in my life on a regular basis, if you know what I mean. I want to look after my health better. Not diet, or anything like that. But be the best me I can. A quote I spotted on Twitter last night sums it up perfectly:
As the New Year rolls in, a reminder: Diet culture and diet resolutions normalize eating disorders. It’s possible to center your health without weight loss goals. Let 2019 be the year that you decide that you aren’t too much or too little. You’re just right.
~Julie Murphy
Anyway, there's also my surgery finally coming up early this year. But, though having that done is something I want to have happen, I'm not putting it as an actual goal for the year. Still, I'll be glad once it's done. Also, having it done will make it easier for me to focus on my actual personal goal, especially once I've had my recovery time afterwards.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
~J.R.R. Tolkien
So, in short, I have five goals for 2019, which are as follows:
Read at least 104 books.
Do both versions of the A-Z reading challenge.
Watch at least 52 DVDs.
Blog five times a week.
Embrace hygge, and practice better self-care.
Between the things I have planned, and the long-awaited surgery finally coming up, 2019 looks like it's going to get off to a great start for me. I hope you can say the same!
Tomorrow we'll talk about the writing side of things.
In the meantime, I'd love to hear how you did with your goals for 2018, if you had any. So tell me all about it in the comments. Or, just tell me how 2018 was for you. Was it a good year? A bad one? Somewhere in the middle? Either way, I'd love to know. Also, do you have any goals or resolutions for 2019? If so, what are they? I'd love to know about those as well, so tell me about them in the comments section of this post too.
Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.
~Alan Lakein
Hope is not an emotion; it's a way of thinking or a cognitive process.
~Brene Brown
Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.
~Leo Buscaglia
When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end up is really, in fact, where we always intended to be.
~Julia Glass
There are far better things ahead than what we leave behind
~C.S. Lewis
Every piece of the universe, even the tiniest little snow crystal, matters somehow. I have a place in the pattern, and so do you! Thinking of you this holiday season!
~T.A. Barron
It's time to take a look at what I've been watching in December.
I only have a couple of reviews to share with you, because most of what I watched was holiday movies I've seen several times before. But you don't need to hear about me enjoying "Friends" reruns, or watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Santa Clause - The Movie" again, or how many times I watched "The Polar Express" and "The Muppets' Christmas Carol" this year. So I'll just tell you about the new to me movies.
As with the previous posts like this one, just click on the titles to go to a page where you can find out more details about the movie or TV show in question; the title links will usually take you to a page on IMDB.
Don't forget: I watch things across multiple genres, as well as for different age ranges, so you should always check before viewing to make certain something is suitable for the intended audience, especially when children are involved. IMDB will usually provide this information for you, but you'll have to look elsewhere if you can't find it on the page I link to.
OK... On to the reviews!
Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation (2018 movie):
This was a really great movie. Not quite as good as the first two, in my opinion, but still really good, with plenty of entertaining moments, and one or two touching ones too. I give this movie four out of five stars.
Arthur Christmas (2011 movie):
This was a fantastic, and very entertaining, movie, which the whole family can enjoy. I give this movie five out of five stars.
The Swan Princess Christmas (2012 straight to video movie):
This was a pretty good movie, with a lovely message about the holidays, and the spirit of Christmas. It wasn't amazing, but it was an enjoyable and cute movie... A nice one for fans of Disney's original Swan Princess movie. I do wish the children singing had actually sounded like children though. Anyway, I give this movie four out of five stars.
Lily is a water fairy, which means it’s her job to make sure everyone who lives on her pond is safe and happy, so when Mrs. Frog’s tadpoles are stolen it’s up to her to rescue them.
Will Lily be able to find the missing tadpoles and get them home safely to Mrs. Frog?
Previously only available as an eBook or paperback, "The Great Tadpole Rescue" is now also available as an audiobook, read for you by Jenny Bacon.
Regardless of the format you'd prefer, here are the main places where you can buy the book:
Daddy was playing with the flashy thing over Christmas, so no doubt we have stuff on it to share with you. But Mummy and Daddy say they still need to sort them - whatever that means - so I can't share any of it today.
While you wait, I thought I'd tell you about what happened in the early hours of Christmas morning.
I heard Santa Paws.
I'm sure I did. No matter what Daddy says.
Daddy says it was probably the squeaky things in cages playing. But soon after I heard the noise coming from our living room, Mummy and Daddy said we might as well go see what Santa Paws had left us, since we were up. They seemed pretty confident he'd been already, so they must have heard him too. Daddy likes to tease sometimes, and he must have been teasing me when he said it was probably the squeaky things playing. How else did they know for sure Santa Paws had been already, even before we went in the living room to look?
And, he had been too! Our stockings were all filled with goodies.
The squeaky things in cages all insist they never saw him. But they must have been too sound asleep, or not looking properly, because I know he came. After all, how else would our stockings be full of goodies? I know our stockings were empty at dinner time. I checked. Mummy let me look, right before Daddy took me out of the living room to feed me, while Mummy stayed in there to feed the squeaky things and clean up from dinner, like we do every day.
Sure, Mummy did take a while in there, but there's nothing weird about that. We'd done lots of play time that day, and Mummy often stays in the living room for a bit after dinner when that happens. She says she, "Needs five minutes of Mummy only time," even though she's often more than five minutes. I don't mind though, even though I'm never allowed in the living room after that - something about giving the squeaky things in cages peace - because after that Mummy goes in the bedroom to read, and I get to play with her one more time before I have my treat ball and settle for the evening. I've never been allowed in with the squeaky things after dinner time, unless Mummy and Daddy are having a movie night.
Anyway, like I said, the stockings were empty when I checked them at dinner time. But after I heard the noise I'm sure must have been Santa Paws, and we went to check, they were full of goodies. So, it must have been Santa Paws I heard, right?
The only thing I don't understand is why he didn't come in and say, "Hello," when he heard we were awake. I told him in my letter I love visitors and wanted to see him. I guess he must have been in too much of a rush.
I heard Santa Paws though. I know I did. Like I said, Daddy likes to tease sometimes, so that must be why he keeps saying it was just the squeaky things in cages playing. Yes, that must be it.
I know Christmas is technically over. But people will still be posting about how they spent their holidays - I'll be doing so soon myself - and I couldn't resist. You see, when I was doing the 12 days of Christmas book tag I posted last week, I noticed some other tags I could do. When I went back to get the questions for them, I spotted this one had just been posted. I didn't have anything scheduled for today at that point, so I thought I'd go ahead and play along. If you'd like to play along too, please feel free to do so, either in the comments section of this post, or on your own blog. I'd love to see your answers!
Just to mix things up a bit, I'm answering only based on reads from 2018.
OK, here goes...
1. An orange! Which book is refreshing and vibrant, both inside and out?
"Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lindgren. I know it is inside, and I'm sure it would have been on the outside too, though I couldn't tell you that for sure, since I don't remember if I saw the cover in the past, and haven't a clue what's on it
2. The next thing you see is a bag of chocolate coins. (Yum) Which book have you recently bought that was expensive, but totally worth the high price?
"Nyxia Unleashed" by Scott Reintgen. Both of the Nyxia books haven't come cheap, but they've been totally worth it!
3. You also pull out a bath bomb. Tell us about a book that had explosive action scenes.
I've read two that could fit this, and can't pick between them, so I'll list both: "Quest of the Brokenhearted" by Charles E. Yallowitz, and "Star-Born Mage" by David Estes.
4. Next is a pack of playing cards. Which series won you over?
"Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer. I only just started reading the series this year, but was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the first book, and am looking forward to reading the others (which I'm hoping will happen soon).
5. You also get a candle. Which character is a symbol of hope in their story?
Smoky the Yorkshire Terrier from "Smoky the Brave" by Damien Lewis.
6. There are socks inside too. Is there a book that you think really encompasses all the distinctive tropes of its genre?
Is it cheating to pick a non-fiction book? Because "Ask an Astronaut" by Tim Peake would fit if it isn't. It's a perfect example of a book about space.
However, if picking a non-fiction book is cheating, I'm going to have to go with "The Girl Who Saved Christmas" by Matt Haig.
7. There’s also a notebook. Which author’s writing process do you find most interesting/inspiring?
I'm always interested in hearing about the writing process of all the authors I love.
8. To go with the notebook, there’s a fancy pen. Is there a book or a series that you’d change if you’d written it yourself?
"Leela The Chinchilla" by David Emil. It's a cute story, but some of the stuff just doesn't fit for a chinchilla, or for the type of character the chinchilla in question is meant to be. If I wrote it, I'd use my own experiences with our chinchillas, Mollie and Maizie, to improve upon the character and story.
9. There’s also a small bedside clock. Which book took you a long time to pick up but was worth it in the end?
"Lord Valentine's Castle" by Robert Silverberg. I seriously can't wait to read the rest of the series! It was recommended to me by a friend a couple of years ago, and I don't know why I took so long to read it. I'm glad I finally did so though, because it was an excellent read.
10. Your pile is getting really big. You reach in to pull out the last gift and it’s… a lump of coal? You’re a little disappointed. But you look closer and realise there’s a seam running through the coal. You crack it open and sitting inside is a tiny golden snitch. Tell us about a book that surprised you in some way.
"True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole" by Sue Townsend. I was surprised by how little I enjoyed this one, considering I'd loved the first two books in the series. I hope the other books in the series will be more like the first two.
Happy Boxing Day! I hope you're enjoying your holiday celebrations, whatever you happen to be doing to celebrate at this time of year. Or, if your celebrations are over, I hope you enjoyed them.
Did you get a new eReader for Christmas? Or, perhaps, you got some money you want to use to fill your old one? Then you may be interested to know that the Smashwords end of year sale is now on. Authors across Smashwords will be offering their books at various levels of discount, from 25% off to completely free, for a whole entire week. I've enrolled most of my books at 50% off, which puts all my books at between $0.99 and $2.50 with coupon code SEY50 (which should automatically apply itself when you add books that are in the sale to your cart) on Smashwords throughout this sale, which runs from December 25th 2018 through January 1st 2019. Go to my Smashwords profile, and grab your eBook bargains today! Oh, and don't forget to browse the list of books on sale, and see what eBook bargains you can pick up from other authors! This is exclusive to Smashwords, but all my books - and those by many other authors - are available in multiple eBook formats, making them accessable to you, regardless of your eReader of choice. In fact, if you can read this post, you can read my books, since there's a version you can read in a web browser.
Yes, officially most of my books are aimed at children. But, in the words of one of my favourite authors:
A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.
~C.S. Lewis
I expect most people are too busy enjoying their holiday celebrations to be online today. Or maybe recovering from having done a bit too much enjoying of them yesterday. But I wanted to mention the Smashwords sale. Plus, I grabbed a couple of links before I started focussing properly on my holiday celebrations, so figured I might as well go ahead and share them. I'll take a look at what came through while I was busy enjoying the holidays later, and share those another day. But here are the couple of links I have for you this week:
You know... That moment when you get a shiny new idea, and start writing your amazing book... It's a wonderful feeling. But the sparkly happy feeling fades eventually. It's the way it goes with everything. So, what happens when the honeymoon phase ends? The same thing as with anything else: you work at it, and remember that what you put in to it is what you get out of it too. So, if you want to be a writer, finish that book. Yes. Keep working on it, even if the honeymoon phase has ended. One day, you'll be glad you did!
While you're working on that book, you'll want to learn how to master story archetypes, so you might want to read the post I just linked to for some details about the different archetypes.
Another thing you'll need to learn is about backstory. Spacifically when to use it, and how much to use.
By the way, if any of your characters happen to be going on some kind of adventure where they'll be exploring dungeons or ruins, here are some dungeon crawling tips they may find useful. Those of you who play roleplaying games may find them useful too.
My final link today is for those of you who find NaNoWriMo (NationalNovel Writing Month) happens at the wrong time of the year, or who need that accountability to give you the nudge to get further than the writing stage of book production. Have you heard of the 85k90 writing challenge? It's a writing challenge that essentially structures your writing year for you: January through March for writing, May and June for editing, etc... The post I just linked to explains in more detail. Anyway, I won't be doing it, but I thought it looked like a great challenge, and figured I'd give it a mention, for the benifit of any of you who might be interested, especially since two people immediately spring to mind who might see this post, and often say they would love to do something similar to NaNoWriMo, but find November is a bad month for doing a writing challenge like that. There's also Camp NaNo in April and July... In case you didn't know.
