Monday 2 April 2012

Moving House

My blog is moving house now. I've decided I may get more people to check in if I move to word press http://fogonthebrain.wordpress.com/ so here's my new address. I would love for my followers to pop on over and sign up. I know I don't exactly blog for Wales, or even my little part of it, but I do like to say Hi once in a while.

The Storm is here!

And you can win a free paperback copy! Announcing the release of The Storm is Coming: An Anthology.
Storms can come out of a clear blue sky, or they can build over a long period. They can take many forms, all terribly destructive: a tornado or hurricane that destroys all your belongings, an abusive spouse who destroys your sense of well-being, or human actions that can devastate an entire society.
In this collection of short stories, poetry, non-fiction, and images, you will find the range of approaching storms, and the range of emotions involved in such cataclysmic events. Within these pages you will find Mother Nature on the warpath in the form of tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, and vengeful plants. You will find storms approaching in the form of an abusive spouse, a fed-up spouse, and the down-trodden. You will find murder and suicide. But, as is always the case after a storm passes, you will also find life beginning anew.
To celebrate the release of this anthology in both paperback and ebook formats, Sleeping Cat Books will send a copy of the paperback to one reader chosen at random. The rules for entering this drawing are below.
Please visit these contributors' blogs as we continue our blog tour to celebrate the release:
·         Gill Shutt – 2 April – http://fogonthebrain.blogspot.com/ Fog on the Brain
·         Carole Bellacera – 3 April – http://authorcarolebellacera.blogspot.com/ – Musings and News
·         Randy Mixter – 4 April – http://randy-mixter.blogspot.com/ Writing for Fun and Profit
·         Joe Massingham – 5 April – http://jmassingham.blogspot.com.au/ Joe’s Blog
·         Catherine McGuire – 6 April – http://www.cathymcguire.com/ Cathy McGuire – Writing and Art
·         Ransom Noble – 7 April – http://ransomnoble.wordpress.com/ Ransom Noble – Writer
Rules for Entry
·         Comment on the announcement post on the Sleeping Cat Books blog (http://www.sarah-holroyd.com/blog/the-storm-is-here/) between 1 April 2012 and 30 April 2012.
·         Be sure to use a valid email address when you post so that we may contact the winner. (This email address will not appear on your comment when you post it.)
·         One entry per person. You may comment more than once, but your name and email address will only be entered for the first comment.
·         The winner will be chosen at random on 1 May 2012 from all of the unique commenters on the post linked above. The winner's first name will be announced on the Sleeping Cat Books blog that day.
·         In the event that we are unable to contact the winner by 7 May, a second name will be chosen at random and announced on that day.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Invites For Frogs

   It's been a funny few weeks, sometimes rather surreal. I was invited to a book launch for Short Stack, the book of short stories I contributed to, published by For Books' Sake and Pulp Press. You'll find mine on page 72 by the by. Anyhow, they are having a launch party for the actual, hold in your hand, look at it and grin, copy and it's going to be in London towards the end of March.

   I can't go, to be honest I wouldn't have been able to go even if it had been a few miles down the road... I would have looked like I had come in fancy dress. My story is about the reanimation of corpses and that's roughly what I look like past about nine at night, my eyes dry up and go red and my joints etc have just about given up by then too. But I would have so loved to have gone, mixing with my fellow authors and the other people from the literary world... and probably saying something stupid or doing something dull. They asked if I wanted to read my story at the do... um, yes if you provide a large bucket of water, a packet of sugar free sweets and allow me a good hour to do it in... either that or I'm going to sound like a frog with a bad cold.

   I've got a new novellette coming out soon, On The Edge is a prose book this time, still Fantasy/SciFi and still darn good of course, and this time it'll be coming out in a paperback version as well, for all you people who don't have an e-reader. Greyhart Press are also going to be releasing Legends as a paperback which will be great because the artwork is so wonderful it deserves a wider audience and a better platform.

   Watch this space for a post about the launch of a poetry anthology called The Storm is Coming, published by Sleeping Cat Books, which I've contributed to. They are going to supply the blog so I don't have to think too hard, all I have to do is copy and paste which is a blessing at the moment. I've hardly written anything for a week or more, the energy to lift the pen just hasn't been there and my mind has had it's proverbial tumble weeds rolling around in it... probably with Vivaldi's Four Seasons playing as well while everything is put on hold. I haven't even been reading much which is almost unheard of.

That's it for now folks... watch this space.

Tuesday 31 January 2012

AWOL

Sorry I've been AWOL for so long, life keeps getting in the way of what I really want to do... which is write. Having a young child, and one who needs me to be there for him even if it's just to drive the car, means I'm bound by motherly duties which are, by their very nature, fixed to set times of the day. You can't get breakfast at three in the afternoon, for example, and the schools take a dim view of 'My child won't be in today because I've had this great idea for the next chapter and have to get it down on paper'.

Then there was Christmas which takes up a huge chunk of time even if you do order most of it over the internet. My husband is great and does most of the cooking and washing up when he's at home and does it all over the Christmas period but I still have all the presents to buy, even two for myself this year. And when you have a family the size of a small state, a son born on Boxing Day and a grown up child who still insists on having a stocking, it works out to be quite a lot of things to organise.

So writing has taken a back seat, not that I haven't done any but blogging and everything non-novel has been dropped until now. One of the presents I got was an Italian leather journal which I started my new novel in and I've written 130 pages so far, not bad considering. Considering what? Considering my hands don't like the cold so they give out on me or refuse to work at all. I've had the odd day when my brain has given out on me and the journal has remained unopened on the bed next to me.

Now, I'm going to try harder to get things done... I've said that before though so don't hold your breath!

Thursday 24 November 2011

Untitled Project

Untitled Project
The Legends of Light video... my first attempt. I got up at three in the morning due to pain. So I checked my emails, went on Facebook and Twitter and made it to half five, then got bored. So here is what I did for an hour, went on to Animoto and made a video for Legends. Not bad for a first attempt if I do say so myself. Now all I have to do is stay awake until I can get the kids off to school. *YAWN*

Wednesday 2 November 2011

I'm there. I'm not sure it's any different from here.

Yesterday was the day I'd been waiting for. The day my book was published. The Legends of Light is now available to buy. My e-book is a reality. So I'm over the moon right? I'm dancing on air and shouting it to the world... right? Well no, not really. I'm wondering what to cook tonight. Yesterday I rushed out during the dry spell and cleaned up after the dogs (I know, too much information). I'm wondering if there's enough washing for a full load and deciding that if I don't look it won't exist.
So what's going on? This is something I dreamt of, this is IT as far as a writer is concerned surely?
What I've discovered is that the thing that gets your heart racing (only a little, hopefully), the thing that gets you excited and up in the mornings, is writing. Creating something out of nowhere, getting involved with your characters, getting to know and love them, even the evil ones. Once the book is written then that's it, unless you are doing a sequel or a prequel or an offshoot or some other quel or shoot, you need never see those people again. It's like being on holiday, you make new friends, you have so much in common, you are going to keep in touch no matter what. Then when you get home you never hear from them again and you don't mind.
At the moment I'm still typing up Altair Jones' story, I'm editing my horror poems, I'm starting a book with no name yet and I'm wondering if I should do a short story as a lead in to my next published work... Endings. Oh and I'm doing pizza tonight, it's quick, it doesn't involve lifting heavy pans and there's only me and youngest at home. And it doesn't take up so much of my life if I do quick and easy meals. I'm never going to write a cookery book that's for sure.
http://greyhartpress.com/our-fantasy-stories/the-legends-of-light/

Friday 14 October 2011

Went AWOL... sorry.

I'm back, sorry I went AWOL. I've been trying to write a book of horror poems and am nearly there. I've also finished writing my pulp fiction novelette (is that how you spell that?) provisionally called Altair Jones and the Rehab Murders. A woman who's only friend is her ship's computer Dan. She's a PI and is called in when the bodies start to pile up in The House of Lost Souls a rehab run by The Order of the Sun. Who dunnit and why? I'm not telling.
The edits are more or less done for The Legends of Light and the book cover is wonderful. Greyhart Press rock. Well I would say that wouldn't I. Anyhow it should be available to buy hopefully next month. I'll try and keep you updated, if I remember.
Apart from that I'm feeling like death warmed up. The fibro isn't liking the weather changes and it's getting colder at night so I'm waking up more often. Not much I can do about it except complain to anyone who'll listen... that'll be nobody then... except you guys. Oh god, my best friend is a blog!
The kitten we got in the summer is well and truely settled in. He's got the dogs in order and the staff are doing what they're told (me) He will insist on helping with my writng though. If I'm in bed writing by hand he keeps nudging the end of the pen. If I'm typing he'll attempt to walk across the laptop... ho hum. Maybe I can teach him to type and he can earn his living.
That's all for now. See you soon, I hope.