Year 2 Good Deeds Week 3

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year.

This week I’ve been doing the following;

May 4th – There’s a lovely bit of a buzz for my new page on Editing, Publishing and More I hadn’t realised it might be quite popular.

Our bird box with its camera and our Blue-tit family which I began to tell everyone about last week has had several people chatting too.

May 5th – May Bank Holiday today so things are a bit quiet, not helped by having no internet for most of the day. I was able to add book reviewer “A Woman’s Wisdom” to the growing resources for writing as mentioned above. I think I’ll rename the title of the page, I’m still playing with it all. Sent the eldest child off with edible goodies when she met up with friends.

May 6th – Yesterday’s lack of internet went downhill , when within an hour of its return the whole area lost all its electricity. 5 hours later we were connected back up by a huge generator which is parked outside our back gate and is powering the whole estate. It’s noisy but at least we have electric. Finally got my review of Kings and Queens by Terry Tyler written, and it will appear here on the blog early June. Let a gentleman go before me in the supermarket queue as he only had one item. Added 2 more people to the page that I’m now going to call Resources for writers, Editing, publishing and more.

May 7th – Stuck at home today with a sick child, I have agreed to review The Manila Strangler by Steven Donahue it will join a small queue of books that I have at the moment. Today on the blog there was a guest author interview with Jack Croxall click here if you missed it http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-50R

May 8th – Getting back to normal today, picked up litter. WE HAVE BABIES! The blue-tits are starting to hatch this evening. So far we have 3 out of 7.

May 9th – There is a bundle of grey fluff in the blue-tit nest so not sure how many we’ve got to, with the glimpses we’re getting. Lots of activity and mad feeding going on.

Dropped some books off at the charity shop, picked up some litter. Friends came over for a Spring-watch session on the TV. We watched a grainy grey picture of tiny fledglings stumbling about the nest, climbing over each other and the un-hatched eggs, the Dad coming in with caterpillars so huge he didn’t know how to get them into his offspring’s mouths and the mother bird taking them from him and mashing them up for the babies in her own mouth. Nature is so amazing.

May 10th – A bit of IT help for my Mum this morning. Picked up litter on the way home. Finished reading The Hollow Heart by Adreinne Vaughan and sent off my review. Started the second book in the series, A change of Heart. Good deeds received ; Off out for a 50th birthday party tonight and being picked up by friends.

Guest Author Jack Croxall

Today our guest is Jack Croxall, author of yesterday’s book “X”. If you missed the review here is a link. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-50O

Let’s find out more about Jack.

Where is your home town?

It’s a tiny little village in Nottinghamshire, England (Winkburn) – it’s so beautiful, I love it!

How long have you been writing?

Since I could hold a pen! I used to make little booklets and magazines when I was a kid (mostly stories about dinosaurs and sharks) but I started ‘seriously writing’ when I was at university. I started writing bits and bobs for student publications, and then began writing fiction. I published my first novel at the beginning of last year.

Where did the idea for “X” come from?

Even though it only came out towards the end of last year, I’d actually been mulling X over in my mind for a very long time – I can’t remember the first bit of work I did on it! The reason I suddenly veered forwards with the story was because I finally worked out the theme, and, with it, X’s real plight. Before that all I really had was a setting and a character; nothing to tie them together in any meaningful way.

What are the “Uglies”?

They’re meant to be the undead, but the undead as I specifically imagine them. I’m writing a full novel set in the same world and I go into far more detail about them in that. In X I guess they’re kind of whatever the reader wants them to be.

Have you considered making the short story longer?

Not really, I think the nature of X’s predicament means the story just can’t be very long. The upcoming novel revolves around four different characters and a different storyline, there will be a few Easter eggs for anyone who’s read X though.

The world of books is so huge that I’ve not come across your work before, what genre or genres to you write in?

I write in the YA genre at the moment, but I always like to try and include elements of other genres too; mystery, horror, historical and thriller are my favourites.

Can you tell us about your “Tethers Trilogy”?

Of course! Tethers is a Victorian fantasy, steampunk-y, YA-y and adventure-y series set in rural England. It follows two teenagers, Karl and Esther, across three books as they become embroiled in a kind of conspiracy involving various otherworldly artefacts and a whole host of sinister characters. The first two books (Tethers and Unwoven) deal with themes of fate, grief and obsession.

What are you working on at the moment?

The final Tethers book and my zombie novel simultaneously – both are coming on well!

Do you have an expected publication date for fans?

Well each Tethers book has come out in February, so I’m aiming for the third to come out in Feb 2015 to follow the trend. As for the zombie novel, I really have no idea!

Where can fans find out more about you and your work?

The best place is my website: www.jackcroxall.co.uk everyone is always welcome!!

Find a copy of X here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Thank you Jack, I look forward to reading more of your work.

X by Jack Croxall

X by Jack Croxall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What would any of us do if our lives were turned completely upside-down? Imagine if in a matter of two months you lost all your family and friends and you were left to fend for yourself. Just how feral would we all go?

This is what happens to 15 year old “X”. Hidden in a cellar in rural England she writes the last few days of her existence in a journal for someone else to find. Once she had a Mum, a Dad, a Sister, a boy she liked at school and an ordinary life. Now she must scavenge for food, water and protection. She is alone and knows her days are numbered.

In just a few pages we meet “X” we read about what her life has become, how she copes and what she knows will happen. Jack Croxall has written a very dramatic short story which may leave you asking yourself just what you would have done in the same situation.

Find a copy of X here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
View all my reviews on Goodreads

Jack will be our guest here on the blog tomorrow, do come back and read more about him.

Reflections on the April 2014 A-Z Tour

The 2014 April A to Z Challenge, had over 2000 bloggers taking part this year it was an awesome tour to get involved in. If you’ve not heard about it, nip over to the April AtoZ Challenge website after you’ve read this post.

Firstly I want to thank Arlee Bird for continuing to organise the annual tour. Secondly A REALLY BIG THANK-YOU to all the authors who let me use their books for my challenge, without you and all your support sharing the posts it just wouldn’t be the same.

So how has it all gone? For me it’s all about planning. I began my journey at the end of January, I knew it would takes weeks to gather all the authors and the information I would need for the tour. I contacted friends and fellow authors and I sent out Tweets about my tour offering FREE advertising of work for authors. I even ended up stalking authors and inviting them to take part.

So what did we all get from the tour? Well hopefully readers were introduced to new books and new authors, TBR piles are now groaning under the weight of all the books on readers bookshelves. I’m hoping that the authors got some new sales and I, made some new blogging friends and supporters. At the bottom of this post I’ve highlighted bloggers that I’ve been particularly impressed by with their own tour. If you’ve not visited their blogs yet do take a moment if you can. I’ve been all over the world visiting bloggers taking part in the challenge. Each day I made a point of promoting up to 5 bloggers from the sign up sheet, some days I found they were no longer able to do the challenge, but people seemed to have had great fun. There really are some amazing bloggers out there.

On April 16th, this day in the tour also coincided with the end of a year long challenge which began this time last year. During last years challenge I set about reading a book called “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. This wonderful lady spent a whole year doing good deeds. I decided to try it for myself. An enormous challenge I began with tiny steps, if I could make it to the end of April, then I would carry on. My deeds may not have been as great as Judith’s but I have made it, I’ve collected my small change, donated money, given books and clothes to charity, I volunteer at a local school, I pick up litter, bake cakes, send gifts and thank-you notes and letters to friends plus I’ve done a whole host of other deeds. AND I’m going to do it all again! YES I’ve decided to carry on, you can follow my challenge on Sunday’s when I blog about my latest weeks.

My own April A-Z tour was set around the theme of books, here are a list of books and authors who featured on this tour.

Top posts during the tour which had everyone talking were letter B – Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lamb, letter G – The Georgie Connelly series by E.L.Lindley, letter N – Nobody’s Fault by Terry Tyler and letter T The 20’s Girl, the Ghost and All That Jazz by June Kearns.

A – A World Apart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yA

B –  Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lanb http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yy

C – Coronado’s Treasure by Randy Mixter http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yw

D – Derek’s Revenge and the Derek series by Mac Black http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yq

E – Everlasting by Candace Knoebel. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yn

F – Finding the Right Time by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yl

G – The Georgie Connelly Series by E.L. Lindley http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yi

H – Hidden Heart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yg

I – The Imdaland Series by Rebecca Etherington http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4ye

J – Jaded by Kristy Feltenberger Gillespie http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yb

K – The Bench by Sue Koenig http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4xb

L – Legends of Windemere – Family of the Tri – Rune by Charles E Yallowitz http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×9

M – My GLR by John W Howell http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×6

N – Nobody’s Fault by Terry Tyler http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×4

O – The Orphan and The Thief by M. L. LeGette http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×2

P – The Potter’s Daughter by Daniel A Smith http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×0

Q – Quentins by Maeve Binchy http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wY

R- Red Clay and Roses by S. K. Nicholls http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wW

S – Silk, Spice and Furry Dice by Andy N Robinson http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wU

T – The 20’s Girl, The Ghost and All That Jazz by June Kearns http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wS

U – Unforgiven by Barbara J Hancock http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wQ

V – Victoria by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wO

W – What it Takes by Terry Tyler http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wM

X – X by Jack Croxall http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wK

Y – Over Odyssey – Yellow by Tony Carnival http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wH

Z – Zen Master Next Door by Edward Kardos http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wF

During the tour I met so many great bloggers, here are some of the blogs which really impressed me.

Susan Scott at The Garden of Eden blog http://www.gardenofedenblog.com/

Vikki Thompson at The View Outside http://the-view-outside.com/

Hilary Melton-Butcher at Positive letters  Hilary  http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/

Co-host Damyanti at Daily (w)rite http://damyantiwrites.wordpress.com/

So it’s with a little sadness that I wave Goodbye to another year of the A -Z, but not without thanking, once more, all the hard working hosts and co-hosts who helped make it all happen.

 

All through the tour we’re asking readers to leave as many comments as possible on blogs, all supportive comments are much appreciated, thank you.

Letter X on The A to Z April Challenge 2014

Today is letter X on the A to Z April Challenge. My book today is X by Jack Croxall. Genre; YA

Fifteen-year-old X thinks she is going to die. Shacked up in the cellar of an old farmhouse, she starts a journal to document her last few days. Much less than a few days if the things outside manage to get in. A best-selling short story, just 28 pages long.

X is available through Amazon UK and Amazon US now.

www.jackcroxall.co.uk

Twitter @JackCroxall

Here are some randomly selected links to other bloggers who have taken up the April blogging challenge, please find the time to visit them too.

http://marlenemoss.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.mystiparker.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.akmorgen.com/

http://tyreanswritingspot.blogspot.co.uk/

During the challenge we are asking people to leave as many comments on blogs too, all supportive comments are very much appreciated, thank you.

A to Z Theme Reveal – 21st March

Welcome to the A to Z Theme Reveal for my blog.

So what is the A to Z Challenge? It’s 26 blogs using the letters of the Alphabet all through April taking Sundays off. It’s a chance to find new friends, get new followers and promote your work and your blog content across the world. Anyone with a blog can sign up and take part. This will be the 5th Year of the challenge first introduced by Arlee Bird in 2010 and it has grown in success each year. Last year over 1600 bloggers entered and during the challenge we are encouraged to visit as many of the participants as we can and leave comments. I think it is a fantastic opportunity to expand your blogging world. This year nearly 1400 people have signed up already and there are still more than 10 days left to sign up. Find out more at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

My Theme is all about books, their authors and their writing. Each blog tells you a little about the book and where you can purchase a copy or find out more about the author. The books cover a wide range of genres and hopefully there is something for everyone.

What else? Each post will also have links to other bloggers who are taking up the A to Z challenge, by providing these I’m hoping to encourage my regular readers and casual visitors to expand their blogging experience and meet new people.

What do you have to look forward to?

April 1st – A world Apart by Camelia Miron Skiba

April 2nd – Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lamb

April 3rd – Coronado’s Treasure by Randy Mixter

April 4th – Derek’s Revenge (The Derek Series) by Mac Black

April 5th – Everlasting by Candace Knoebel

April 6th -Round up of the tour so far

April 7th – Finding the Right Time by Stephanie Hurt

April 8th – The Georgie Connelly series by E. L Lindley

April 9th – Hidden Heart by Camelia Miron Skiba

April 10th – The Imdaland series by Rebecca Etherington

April 11th – Jaded by Kristy Feltenberger Gillespie

April 12th – The Bench by Sue Koenig

April 13th -Round up of the tour so far

April 14th – Legends of Windemere series – Family of the Tri-Rune by Charles E Yallowitz

April 15th – My GRL by John W Howell

April 16th – Nobody’s Fault by Terry Tyler

April 17th – The Orphan and the Thief by M L LeGette

April 18th – The Potter’s Daughter by Daniel A Smith

April 19th – Quentins by Maeve Binchy

April 20th -Round up of the tour so far

April 21st – Red Clay and Roses by S. K. Nicholls

April 22nd – Silk, Spice and Furry Dice by Andy N Robinson

April 23rd – The 20’s Girl by June Kearns

April 24th – Unforgiven by Barbara J Hancock

April 25th – Victoria by Stephanie Hurt

April 26th – What it Takes by Terry Tyler

April 27th – Round up of the tour so far

April 28th – X by Jack Croxall

April 29th – Over Odyssey – Yellow by Tony Carnival

April 30th – Zen Master Next Door by Edward Kardos

Reflections of the 2014 challenge.

Click here for a link to other blogs who are revealing their theme today.

Good Deeds Week 9th – 15th March

Welcome to my weekly roundup of my year long challenge to do one Good deed a day for a year. This challenge began back in April 2013 and is still going strong. My inspiration came from reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Here is what I’ve been up to this week.

March 9th – Making afternoon tea for the in-laws today and catching up with all their news.

March 10th – Had a lovely morning helping out at school. Posted my book review of The Royal Descendant by local author John P Ford  on the blog today http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4Ph and was delighted for him when he told me he’s going to be promoting his book at Costa Coffee in Fleet on Saturday 22nd March 10.00am – 2.00pm.

March 11th – Sent out an invite to a friend to come for a coffee next week. Did a little job for someone else at work this morning, who was busy elsewhere. Invited author Roy Dimond for a virtual coffee after finishing reading his book The Singing Bowl and thoroughly enjoying it, we had a lovely chat about his writing across the Universe. Roy will be a guest here on the blog on March 27th along with his co-author of Saving Our Pennys, Jeff Lietch.

March 12th – Good Deeds received, had a lovely gift in the post, Derek’s Revenge sent to me by the lovely Mac Black. Look out for a review of this book in May. Invited friends over for tea next Wednesday.

March 13th – Found that my neighbours had left their back gate wide open and then gone away for a few days, so I shut it for them making the garden less exposed. This isn’t the first, over the years I’ve shut neighbours garage doors and even a front door when people have rushed off leaving them wide open for days at a time. Finished reading three books today; Key of Valour by Nora Roberts, Me and Billy the Kid by Briana Vedsted and X by Jack Croxall.

March 14th – Tidied up the blogs that I follow in the reader section of WordPress, followed some new bloggers. Started reading Blackwater by Alison Willams. Good Deeds received, a friend has organised a girls night out for us in a couple of weeks time.

March 15th – Sue Koenig author of The Bench, let me know her book was now up on Amazon and Goodreads, I have previously read and reviewed it and have now posted my reviews. Her book is poetry and short stories. Sue is also a fellow A to Z challenger.