Guest post with Murees Dupe: Why I chose to self-publish

Morning everyone! I've got a real treat for you all today - I'm handing my blog over into Murees Dupé capable hands (which is great for me, as it means I can sit and relax get going on my writing that I've been putting off for far too long). She's here to talk about her self-publishing journey so far - take it away, Murees!

Why I chose to self-publish

Hello Rachel. Thank you so much for allowing me to guest post on your blog. You're amazing
by the way:)

When I decided to publish my first book, naturally I was sure I wanted to do it the traditional
way. I wasn't even thinking of self-publishing. I thought it was too much work and that I would
have to market my own books, not to mention deal with all the details of publishing my book. It
would be so much easier to get a publishing company to do all that for me. Well, then entered
my agent. I'm not going to go into detail, but I'm going to say that it was a bad experience and
that I wouldn't wish that experience on any other person.

After feeling dejected, and as if my world was falling apart, I noticed that many of my blogger
friends were self-publishing and doing a fantastic job of it, in fact. So, I went onto Amazon,
downloaded a few free books about self-publishing and devoured them all in one night. When I
finished reading, I knew I wanted to self-publish. Why wouldn't I? I get to keep most of my
profits. I get to control every aspect of material made available for publication. Most of all, I
would be in charge of my own destiny. I didn't need to depend on others to make my dream, of
being published, come true. I would be free to do what I wanted.

As I did more research on self-publishing, and talking to a few fellow bloggers (by email), I
knew I was making the right choice. Self-publishing offered me everything I thought I wanted
from a traditional publisher. I'm not saying traditional publishing is bad. It just wasn't right for
me. Self-publishing offers me creative freedom and my independence, which is more important
to me. It also helped that I got over the idea that being traditionally published would give me
some kind of validation as a writer. If someone is willing to pay to read your book, that is all the
validation one needs. Your readers are what's important, not the opinion, or validation of your
peers.

I'm still in the process of self-publishing my first book, but I was and am still surprised how
many great people are out there, who have offered to help me every step of the way. Thank you.

Once again, Thank You for having me, Rachel.

About Murees

Murees Dupé was born, and still lives in South Africa. When she is not thinking up new stories,
she is spending time with her family, playing with her three dogs, and cat, watching TV, or
overindulging on desserts. To learn more about Murees, visit her website www.mureesdupe.com.

Movie Madness: Ted 2

Welcome back to another Movie Madness post! Apologies for this being slighter later in the week than normal - I forgot to post it up, d'oh!

So I went to see Ted 2 at the cinema a week or so ago, and I'm sorry, but I just have to say that this is probably the worst film I've seen in a long long time. It's not even so bad it's funny - it's just bad. Ted 2 is set a couple of years after the original film; Ted is now married, but when he and his wife decide to have a baby, it turns out that Ted isn't considered to be a real person which means they can't adopt. Ted has to face the courts and prove that he's more than just a teddy bear, but he not only faces opposition from the law - he also has to try and outwit a toy company that want to experiment on him so they can mass-produce talking teddies.

This film is stupid. I was going to try and soften the blow a bit, but then I thought, what's the point? There's just no getting over how much I disliked this film. Bearing in mind that I am a huge Family Guy fan, and that I didn't completely hate the first film, I was really disappointed in this one. It really felt like that this film was made just for the sake of being made.

I'm actually struggling to come up with any good points, so I can turn this into a real review instead of just a rant, but I can't think of any. There was only one moment during the whole film where I laughed out loud; the rest of the time the jokes simply fell flat for me. This film uses exactly the same humour as the first one, and while that might have been fresh and new in Ted, in this film, it now just feels old. I feel like Seth Macfarlane has just one type of humour if that makes sense, which is why Ted/Ted 2/A Million Ways to Die in the West all feel like exactly the same film. It just seems like he's incapable of mixing it up a bit, or trying to appeal to a wider audience. But then again, given the success of Family Guy etc, why would he?

Ted 2 even has the same bad guy as the first one (Giovanni Ribisi, who always plays villains a bit too well...) - once again Donny is determined to get his hands on Ted and in his desperation, he'll do anything to kidnap him. I can understand why films choose to bring back certain bad guys - if the conflict is set up well, then I honestly don't mind if heroes have to fight their nemesis again and again. But in Ted 2, it felt like Donny was only brought back simply because they couldn't be bothered to think of another antagonist.

Amanda Seyfried plays the new love interest, and although I generally think she's a good actress, in this film it really seemed like she was just an add-on/eye candy. I wasn't sold at all on her and John's relationship; it felt really contrived and awkward. I actually spent a lot of the film admiring her wardrobe - it was a welcome distraction from the rest of the film. Morgan Freeman also puts in a surprise appearance, though why he chose to appear in a film like this, I'll never know. But I enjoyed listening to his voice, as always, so I guess that's a positive.

I'm sorry if this review isn't as good as my normal Movie Madness posts, but I just really didn't like it. If you're a die-hard Family Guy/Ted/Seth Macfarlane fan, then you'll probably like it; but to everyone else, my advice is to steer well clear and spend your money on something else instead.

Have you seen Ted 2? What did you think? Am I being a bit harsh, or was this film actually awful?

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Hi guys!

So I'm back (briefly), and I just thought I'd update you all on what I've been up to. Nothing very exciting if I'm completely honest, but I felt bad for not blogging. Saying that though, it's felt so good not to be under pressure to write a blog post, or to use social media or to write in general. And because I haven't been under pressure, I now feel more ready to write than I did last week - I'm not saying I'll get to right right away, but I'm definitely more in the mood than I was ;).

So what have I been up to? Well, I've attempted to tidy the house, I've been playing the sims and reading a book or two,  I've sorted out my garden a bit more (although I got so mad yesterday - my sunflower that I've been growing for the past six weeks got eaten by ants, right before it was about to flower - I'm telling you, I have the least green thumb ever) and yesterday I also bought a new car - I've been wanting to change my car for about a year now, and I thought that since it's finally summer and I'm not driving everyday, now was the perfect time to do it :).

I've also been up-cycling some of our furniture. We're in the process of doing some building work to the house, and we've been living off hand-me-downs for a while, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to do something different and try my hand at painting furniture. Here's a mirror that my mum gave me last year, that I finally got round to painting:

This is the original gold colour - personally, I found it a bit dated, which is why I decided to paint it. I put masking tape around the edges:

Then I put on the dark grey undercoat:

Before I painted the whole thing white:

The next day once the paint was dry, I sanded off some of the paint to give it more of a distressed look. I quite like how the grey and gold now shines through the white. Finally, I got the Engineer to wax the whole thing for me, because I couldn't be bothered. And ta da! A brand new mirror!

I know these photos aren't the best for picking out the detail, but hopefully you can see some of the grey and gold coming through in the light. I might take a few more close-ups and post them up later.

My current project is painting a dresser that my mum gave us last year too - we sanded it down the Easter before last, so that give you some idea how long it's taken me to get round to doing it! I'll post some photos up later on this week, once it's finished.

Also, I just wanted to say thank you for all your well wishes when I had my ear operation. I still can't hear very well out of it, but then again, I never could. But at least it no longer sounds like everyone is underwater :). I'm going back for a check up at the end of summer, so fingers crossed it stays like this!

So that's it from me! I'll probably be off for a few more days now, but I'll be back again soon. Have a great day, everyone :)!

What have you been up to so far this summer? Have you ever painted furniture? How's your writing going?

We're all going on a summer holiday...

It's finally here - after waiting for so long, having to drag myself through two days of school filled with super hyper children and getting up an hour earlier today for training today - IT'S FINALLY THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS!!

I'm so so relieved. I feel like these last few days have really dragged. But now I've deleted all my alarms, and I'm looking forward to a good long lie-in tomorrow (mainly because I didn't sleep much last night and had to be up earlier than normal - on the last day too, hmph) - no more getting up early for me for the next six weeks! Yippee!

I'm going to be taking a short break from blogging for the next few days. I might write and schedule some posts tomorrow, but to be honest, these last few days have been hard and I'm looking forward to simply getting back to being 'me' again. I'm tired, I'm cranky and all I want to do tomorrow and Friday (and all weekend if I'm honest) is sleep, read, tidy up and maybe potter about in the garden. Oh, and buy a hoover. I must remember to do that.

I'm hoping to start blogging regularly again from Monday, but we'll see how it goes. I'm also very aware that now that it's the holidays, I can't put off doing all the writing work I'm hoping to get done. But I'm not going to beat myself up about starting it straight away - I have time after all. Either way, I'll definitely be back blogging at some point next week :).

So all that's left is for me to wish you a happy rest of your week/weekend. If you've emailed me/commented on my blog over the past few days, I'll try and get back to you as soon as I can. If you're also off for the summer holidays, I hope you have a lovely time whatever you have planned :). If you've got a normal job and you're not off, well, at least the weather should be getting better so you can enjoy the lovely British summer we're bound to have ;).

Happy holidays/summer, everyone!

What have you got planned for the summer? Do you have any writing goals you'd like to accomplish? Are you going away anywhere for the summer?

Guest post with Misha Gerrick: Why I Went the Self-Publishing Route

Today, I'm handing my blog over to the awesome Misha Gerrick, which is convenient as I still don't quite trust myself with technology after my ear operation on Thursday. So while I try not to stumble over at work, and get to used to actually being able to HEAR what children are saying to me (is this a good thing? I'm not entirely sure yet), I'll leave you in Misha's more than capable hands.

Take it away, Misha!

Why I Went the Self-Publishing Route

When I started out writing, I never thought that I would ever self-publish. It wasn’t really about
the traditional reasons for me. (You know, all the usual myths about self-publishing, like how
people buy into the publisher’s brand, or how self-published books have lower quality etc.)

To me, it was always about the money. See, I live in a place where one US Dollar equals thirteen
units of my country’s currency. Which means that the usual rates for a good freelance editor to
edit one of my books equal three months’ salaries to me.

So when I started out, the cost of self-publishing something up to standard was prohibitive. In
my mind, I had to find a publisher who’d help to defray the costs.

But then I got a publisher, and things went spectacularly wrong. The whole experience made me
take a long and hard look at royalties and what they really are, and today, I’m sharing how I
think about it.

When signing with a publishing house, we agree to trade in a portion of the value (or net price)
of our books in return for services for which we would otherwise have had to pay upfront.
The thing is that these days, those services just aren’t what they used to be. Don’t get me wrong,
I loved working with my former editor and I’d possibly jump at a chance to do so again. But.
I’m someone whose critiques have been credited by multiple writers to be the thing that landed
them publishing deals. And I have a good eye for people who make me good critique partners.
So why, if I have every confidence in my skills as editor for other people, would I not be
confident enough to edit my own work? Especially when I’ve been able to put together an
awesome team of people to help me find my own errors, all in return for me helping them in the
same way.

What else does a publishing house offer?

The cover?

I take pictures and edit them myself. I knew what I would be going for in the cover. After
investing in Photoshop, it wasn’t all that hard to get what I wanted. You’d laugh if I told you the
total cost. Most of it was actually measured in time and effort.

Formatting?

This was actually the one I was scared of, but I got an awesome how-to self-publish guide that
was gold when it came to tips pointing me in the right direction. (Like where to get cover
templates and how to format a paperback so it looks nice.)
E-book formatting turned out to be laughably easy, after another self-publishing friend told me
where to get the right how-to guide.

This leaves…

Marketing.

Which anyone who isn’t Lee Child or JK Rowling or someone along the same lines of
famousness knows to be laughable in any publishing deal anyway.

We’re expected to do all our own marketing. (Never mind that it doesn’t really seem to work all
that well all the time, but that’s a subject for another story.) So what’s the difference between
doing my marketing for my book with a publisher and doing the same marketing for the book I
self-published?

You’ve got it.

There is no difference.

Of course, money isn’t the only thing that made me strike out on the self-publishing path. Far
from it, but it’d probably take a small book for me to explain them all. But out of the many
reasons I have, the (tiny) value of services rendered to me in return for a substantial portion of
income derived from my book (and MY hard work), is the big one.

Anyone thinking about self-publishing? What’s the big deciding factor for you when it 
comes to self-publishing or not?


The Vanished Knight

The entity living inside Callan’s soul orphaned her at age eleven. By the time she’s sixteen, it’s
ensured her being shunted from one foster family to another.
Her thirteenth foster assignment should be routine. Except... it's not. A psycho in medieval armor
kidnaps her and she ends up in a magical world. There, she accidentally discovers a secret her
parents had kept until the day they died.
Both actually came from this magical world, but left before Callan was born. To cover their
tracks, they’d lied about everything. Even who they really were.
Driven to find out where she comes from, Callan’s trapped in a race for life and death. Walking
away isn’t an option, but if she stays too long, the entity will find its next victim.
In this world where secrets are sacrosanct and grudges are remembered, finding the truth will be
near impossible. Especially when Callan has her own homicidal little secret to deal with.
One with a taste for destroying her life.

Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon Universal Link | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Heir’s Choice

After discovering her parents had kept a whole world secret, Callan races to discover her past.
Not easy to do with an increasingly agitated entity living in her soul.
Going to her long-lost elvish roots should answer all her questions. Instead, she ends up in the
middle of a nightmare.
The elves are on the verge of an apocalyptic war. Their enemy, King Aurek of Icaimerith, will
only be appeased if Callan marries his heir. It’s either her life getting messed up, or an entire
country’s lives lost. Simple enough, right?
Wrong.
Because when the entity wants the elves blotted out of existence, saving them gets taken to a
whole new level of complicated.

Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon Universal Link | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Bio

Misha Gerrick has been creating stories long before she could write and is currently going after
her dream of making a living as a writer.
If you’d like to see how that’s going, you can visit her on her blog, where she also discusses all things related to writing and publishing.
Or, if you’d just like to know what she’s reading and get updates on what she’ll be publishing
next (Sorry, no newsletter just yet):
You can follow her Tumblr
You can follow her on Twitter: @MGerrick1
And you can circle her on Google Plus: +MGerrick

Synthetica Blog Tour: Final Day!

Hey guys!

Well, it's finally here - it's the final day of the Synthetica blog tour! These past two weeks have gone so fast! I'd just like to give everyone who's taken part a HUGE thank you! Whether you've had me on your blog, retweeted on Twitter or commented on my blog posts, all your encouragement has meant the the world to me - so thank you :).

I don't have a riveting final post for you, because I'm still a bit zoned out from the anaesthetic I had yesterday (on the one hand, this is awesome because I'm ssooo relaxed and chilled for once...but on the other hand I keep misreading texts and not processing what anyone is saying to me...whoops). So instead, today I'm just going to highlight the blogs that I'm featured on, and I'm going to try and write a few special posts for you for next week instead :).

In case you're wondering, these two pictures pretty much sum up my state of mind for the past two days:

   

Anyway! Today, I'm over at Random Redheaded Ramblings, Samantha Writes and Paperback Princess. Also, the lovely Danielle Shipley has a fantastic Kiss & Tell interview with my character Anais Finch over on her blog today - make sure you check it out! Will Scarlett is just hilarious.

So that's all from me for now - hopefully I'll be back and a bit more with it next week :). Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Don't forget, Synthetica is available from:

Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads

Synthetica Blog Tour Day 9

Morning everyone!

Today is the penultimate day of the Synthetica blog tour! Normally I'd have something super exciting planned (i.e. yet MORE posts about Synthetica...you know you love it), but I'm just about to head off to the hospital to get my ear sorted. I'll see if I can post anything up later, depending on how I feel when I come round from the anaesthetic.

I'm over at Just US Book Blog and Le&ndra Wallace today, so make sure you check them out! Also, in case you missed it, here are the other blogs I've been at over the past few days:

Worth Reading It?  -  http://www.worthreadingit.blogspot.com 

Books and Ashes  -  http://booksandashes.wordpress.com

The Page Unbound  -  http://thepageunbound.com

The Word is   -  http://suzannefurness.blogspot.co.uk

Writing Pearls  - http://www.writingpearls.com

Hopefully I'll speak to you all a bit more later and have something a bit more exciting for you to get your teeth into, but if not, see you guys tomorrow!

Have a great Thursday!

Synthetica Blog Tour Day Six: Synthetica Trivia

Afternoon all!

It's day six of the Synthetica Blog Tour. Today you can check out a book review from Bibliobibuli Young Adult Book Blog, and I'm also over at Around the World in Books and Book Snacks. Also, as an extra treat, the wonderful Murees Dupe has kindly allowed me to do a promo post on her blog as well - make sure you check it out! She's awesome :).

I don't have a character interview for you today, as a little thing called life reared it's head at the weekend and threw off all my blogging/writing plans. So instead I'm going to distract you all with some random facts from the Synthetica universe to keep you entertained until tomorrow when service will, hopefully, resume as normal.

Enjoy!

Synthetica Trivia

1. Synthetica is set in a future where you can change your DNA on a whim - all you need is to visit a HelixPod situated conveniently in the city centre, and a load of money. Want bright purple hair and orange eyes? You got it! Want to change your body mass/height/weight? Not a problem...so long as you have the means to pay for it.

2. This may be kind of an obvious one, but everyone in the Imperial City has an ID picochip implanted behind their right ear. This ID chip not only allows the authorities to pinpoint in someone is in trouble, it's also linked to the Food Network meaning your meals can be tailor-made to your dietary requirements - yum!

3. The Imperial City has a 10pm curfew and a 'One Child' policy.

4. The Imperial City was inspired by my time in both London and Shanghai.

5. Despite never playing the game, Anais was inspired by this Final Fantasy artwork I saw in a shop:

6. On the cover artwork for Synthetica, the binary code in the background reads 'This city is mine':

7. Xander wasn't born in the Imperial City, but everyone else in the novel is.

8. Anais loves ice cream, but isn't a huge fan of chocolate. Dalla loves both.

9. Clay is just as intelligent as the Hacker. They just choose to use their skills in different ways.

10. Anais failed Programming at school.

11. Auto-cabs in the Imperial City are just fancy driverless cars. No one owns one - it's a form of public transport.

12. I enjoyed writing the villains in my story far more than the main characters #TeamNox #TeamHacker

13. Anais' mum has pale green hair and her dad sports teal hair. They're a multi-coloured pastel family.

14. Despite being called the Imperial City, the city hasn't had a royal family in over 100 years.

I hope you enjoyed finding out a little more about the Synthetica universe - if you'd like to know any more, or if you have any questions, just let me know!

Synthetica is available from:
Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads

Book Blitz: Love In The Gilded Age by Saruuh Kelsey

Love In The Gilded Age (Fissure Chronicles, #1)

by Saruuh Kelsey 

Release Date: 10/28/14

Summary from Goodreads:

Once in a hidden queendom...

There is an ocean: In the infinite distance, between one hidden world and the next, is an unmeasurable expanse of twenty seas. One sprawling edge of the world to another is filled with waters as beautiful as they are deadly, as miraculous as they are fraught. Treasure and treachery litter their ocean beds, sleeping side by side with adventurers whose travels ended abruptly, lives caught and held under a wave until all breaths fled. 

There is a land: Tucked into a corner where four oceans fold together, land rises up illustrious in a jagged slash of mountains and forests, with secrets and wonders as plentiful as any water. 

There are chronicles: Not of the twenty savage seas but of the fissure of land and the people who sigh life into it.

In an original epic fantasy world, Love In The Gilded Age reimagines the heroes and heroines of Grimm fairy tales as ethnically diverse, LGBT, disabled, and gender flipped. 

Buy Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble

EXCERPT:

Xanna drove herself forward, leaning into the run to propel them along. Her mother was trailing behind her but didn’t have an option except to follow as Xanna leapt from the last bit of land and crashed into the pond. She heard Koal’s strangled shout as she broke the surface, gasping and paddling wildly. She fought every bit of tiredness in her muscles as she dragged her mother from the depths of the water; she emerged spluttering and angry. “He will kill you for that,” her mother said without emotion. No fear for her daughter’s life, no regret, no anger, just a blank statement of facts.

“No,” Xanna hissed. “I won’t be the one dying today.”

“Three souls will pass in this last fight.” Her mother dissolved into the senseless chanting of before, only repeated the ominous three souls will pass in this last fight. At least she had the good sense to pump her legs and move her arms to stay afloat.

Xanna had to get the rope off them if her plan was going to work. She pulled at their bound wrists, fearful and frustrated, and the vine uncoiled as if in response to her wish at the same moment the Wolf reached the edge of the pool and leapt in. It loves my mother, Xanna thought, but found she didn’t care. She gripped the rope in a fist as she put three lengths between her mother, watching the Wolf wade sloppily through the water to the woman it loved.

She didn’t have long. Xanna had to act, and she had to be both quick and quiet about it—a impossibility now that her every movement made a splash. Still, she had to try. Koal was shouting at her from the clearing but she blocked out his warnings.

The Wolf only noticed her presence when she wrapped the vine around its neck and pulled it taut. Growling, it fought to face her but couldn’t spin and remain afloat at the same time. Xanna kicked her legs faster, unable to use her arms to keep her from a drowned death as she strangled the animal. She was slipping, on the verge of sinking. Without warning, the Wolf dipped underwater, testing her grip on the vine. She lost the rope.

Xanna looked around for it desperately. It was her only weapon.

The vine didn’t resurface but the Wolf did.

About the Author
Saruuh Kelsey is the author of several novels for young adults, including the free Lux Guardians series and The Legend Mirror series. Her latest releases include THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE, the first novel of a new YA fantasy series, and a collection of diverse fairy tales in LOVE IN THE GILDED AGE. Find her online at saruuhkelsey.co.uk.

Author Links:

   

Synthetica book tour - Character Interview: Xander

Morning, all!

Today, I'm over at Sabrina Giles and AM Station as part of the Synthetica book tour - make sure you check out their awesome blogs!

Today's Synthetica character spotlight is...*drum roll please*...Xander Silvas!

Now, as some of you may recall, I've already talked about Xander during the A - Z Writing Challenge, as he was a convenient choice for the letter 'X'. So instead of doing a standard profile, I thought I'd also do a quick character interview, so you can all get the lowdown on Anais' purple haired boyfriend.

Hi, Xander! How's it going?

Hi! It's going well thanks. Can't complain, although you did nearly try to kill me at the end of the book [glares]. What did I ever do to you?

Oh, um, that wasn't me...that was the Hacker! *cough* How does it feel to work at Civitas? Do you see it as a long term career?

Yeah, yeah, whatever. It feels great! To be honest, I've wanted to work for them since I was about ten years old. I can definitely see myself working there long term - it would be good to graduate out of an internship and into a proper job with the company.

Anais has made her own feelings about Civitas clear - does this ever cause any problems between you two?

We don't really discuss work, and since Civitas can be a touchy subject with her, I try not to talk it up too much. It hasn't caused any problems - yet. Though I daresay it will do in the future.

How are things between you and Anais?

Things are okay. We've both got a lot on our plate at the moment so we haven't seen each other much and when we do, it's not like it used to be, but - [pauses] - it's understandable, and I hope we'll be able to make time for each other again once everything in the city has gone back to normal.

Do you think everything will go back to normal, after everything that's happened?

I really hope so.

Would that be a good thing?

Of course. I see nothing wrong with the way the city is being run at the moment.

Okay...how do you feel about this whole Hacker business?

It's awful that something like this had to happen to our city, and I hope that he's caught soon.

No plans to take him down yourself then?

No! Of course not! Can you imagine what that might do to my career prospects, if I messed it up?

Right, let's skip to the fun bit! Xander, what three things would you take with you to a desert island?

My RetCom - no wait, would that even work out there? Okay, scratch that - erm, I'd take a crate of water, a pack of flares and a lifejacket. Wait, what was the point of this question? I messed it up didn't I?

Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

That's a weird question...too hot I guess. The Imperial City's climate can get pretty humid in summer, so I'm used to it.

Finally Xander, what's your biggest fear?

Being buried alive.

Well that's...lovely! Thanks for coming today, Xander! Have you enjoyed your time on my blog?

It's been an interesting experience, though you twenty-first century people are a bit strange. I think I'll stick to my own time period from now on.

I hope you enjoyed finding out a little more about Xander. He was one of the hardest characters for me to write about if I'm honest, but I enjoyed writing his interview. If you'd like to find out more about Xander's world, you can view a description of Synthetica on my blog. You can also download Synthetica from:

Amazon
Smashwords
Kobo

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Tune in on Monday, when we'll be meeting one of my favourite Synthetica characters, the lovable - yet questionable - rogue, Clay Winterbourne! Have a great weekend!

Movie Madness: The Other Woman

Welcome back to Movie Madness!

This week's film is a bit of a departure from my usual genre - it's a light rom-com called The Other Woman. Once again this isn't a new film, but it was a film I watched when I was on my own one Saturday night, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. It tells the story of Carly, who finds out her new seemingly perfect boyfriend is actually married. She becomes (through no fault of her own) best friends with her ex-boyfriend's wife, Kate, and together they team up with his second mistress, Amber, to plot his downfall.

You'd be right if you were thinking that this film is basically a load of brain-fluff. It is. But it's funny brain-fluff, so I didn't mind too much.

Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton work really well together, and I firmly believed in their somewhat unusual friendship. Considering the circumstances, you'd think they'd end up hating each other, but this is one of those films where friends are placed firmly above men. I especially loved Leslie Mann, and she played the slightly-weird, kooky wife perfectly - I really felt for her situation. If I found out my husband had not one mistress but several on the go at once, there's no way I would've handled the situation as well as she did.

It's a fairly straight forward plot that you don't have to think about, but the jokes were good and the chemistry between the three main actresses was fantastic. The scene where Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann run along the beach and end up fighting actually had me laughing out loud.

I also loved Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (who's also Jaime Lannister from GoT) who plays Mark in this film too - he's slick, sophisticated and does a great job of playing the nice guy when he's actually a huge douche. In some parts even I was confused about whether to feel sorry for him or not, because he did such a good job of covering his tracks and showing remorse over his serial womanising! Luckily, his true colours where eventually unveiled. The only thing I didn't like about this film is when Mark completely lost his rag at the end - I get that it's a lot to take in when your web of lies comes crashing down, but he'd been such a slick character up to that point, it seemed completely out of character for him to lose his temper. But then again, I guess he never was a nice guy!

Overall, if you're looking for something to watch when you have the girls over, or you want a light film for a Sunday night, then I'd definitely recommend this!

Have you seen The Other Woman? What did you think of it? Do you like 'light' chick-flick films or something with a bit more edge to it?

*

It's also day 4 of the Synthetica blog tour - don't forgot to check out today's tour hosts: The Bibliophile Chronicles and Words I Write Crazy!

Synthetica book tour - Character Spotlight: Dalla

Morning all!

Today is Day 3 of the Synthetica blog tour: I'm over at The Phantom Paragrapher and Travel with Books and Coffee - thanks for having me!

Continuing with the theme of spotlighting all of Synthetica's main characters during the blog tour, today on my blog we're going to be getting more of an in-depth look at Dalla Goddard, Anais' best friend and a girl with a heart of gold.

This is how I imagine Dalla - minus all the weird flowers in her hair...

Name: Dalla Goddard
Age: 17
Lives: Imperial City
Occupation: Intern at Civitas

Quickfire Interview:

What are you up to right now?
I'm just chillin' at home, listening to music on my RetCom and messaging my BBF, Anais. Oh, and talking to you, obviously!

Favourite place?
I love my bedroom! In fact, my whole flat is pretty awesome. And I love going to the park at sunset. It's my favourite time of day.

Favourite meal?
Street noodles! There's this awesome place down by the market that does the best noodles - they're my favourite snack, especially after a night out!

Favourite subject at school?
Programming! Closely followed by Computer Coding. And Advanced Maths was always pretty fun too. Don't you just love subjects that make sense?? Like, there's only ever really one answer - I just love logical things like that.

Night in or night out?
Night out!

Ice cream or chocolate?
Oh gosh that's a hard one...chocolate, probably.

Tea or coffee?
Herbal tea for me!

Flora or Fauna?
Flora!

Ideal career?
Program Developer at Civitas! How cool would it be to actually create new technology? Like, you actually take a brand new idea and turn it into something real. That would be amazing!

Three things you couldn't live without:
Just three?? That's harsh. Hmm I guess I'd have to say my RetCom, chocolate and my BFF. Anais is such a doll!

What's your ultimate dream?
I'd love to travel the world one day. Sipping cocktails on an exotic beach while watching the sun going down - sounds like my idea of heaven!


I hope you all enjoyed finding out a little bit more about Dalla. She was one of my favourite characters to write - she's such a bubbly, friendly person that I just had a blast writing her scenes - no wonder Anais loves having her as her best friend!

If you'd like to find out more about Dalla's world, you can view a description of Synthetica on my blog. You can also download Synthetica from:

Amazon
Smashwords
Kobo

We'll be taking a short break from the world of Synthetica tomorrow, but I will be posting up my latest Movie Madness review, so stay tuned!

P.S. If anyone can draw/knows anyone who can draw anime, please let me know! I hate trawling the internet for drawings - I'd love to have my own originals :)

Synthetica book tour - Character Interview: Skye

Welcome to day 2 of the Synthetica blog tour! Today, I'm over at Donnie Darko Girl, Mythical Books and Nerdychampagne. Thanks for having me!

Today on my blog, I'm featuring one of the main characters in Synthetica: Skye Belaforte, Head of PR and one of the Directors for Civitas, the company at the centre of all the turmoil in Synthetica.

To mix it up a bit, I thought I'd interview Skye for you, instead of doing a straight forward character profile. Let's go!

Hi Skye! First of all, great hair. What made you choose sky blue? Was it because of your name haha?
Skye: [rolls eyes] How quaint. My name's Skye, so I must've chosen to have sky blue hair to match. Do you really think you're the first person to ask me that?

Um...no?
Of course not. And for your information, this is my natural hair colour. I pride myself on my appearance, but I don't feel the need to mess with my genetics. I'll stick with fashion over features, thank you very much. [smoothes down impeccably crisp shirt]

Right...so what made you decide to get into Public Relations?
I have a natural rapport with people.

*Coughs* Obviously. What made you decide to work for Civitas?
Why wouldn't I want to work for them? They're the largest technology company in the Imperial City, and the fifth fastest growing company in the world. The opportunities are limitless. Civitas prides itself on it's 'natural' ethos, and it's sense of community, which we endeavour to bring to all our products. In the last year alone, Civitas -

Alright, we get it. What do you make of all this trouble that Civitas is in at the moment?
[Sniffs] Civitas isn't in trouble, thank you very much. This is just a slight blip in our otherwise perfect record of bringing consumers the technology they want. The people speak, and we listen -

[Interrupting] Are you listening to what this 'Hacker' is saying? He thinks Civitas should be shut down, for good.
Forgive me if I don't take the word of a disillusioned man seriously. So one person doesn't like what we do, so what? If he doesn't like the services we provide, he's free to move elsewhere. Civitas isn't going to pay attention to the ravings of one man.

Right...and you think that's a sensible view to have?
Oh come on, how much damage can one man do? Civitas owns or has shares in roughly half of all the businesses in the Imperial City. He can't take us down that easily. Are you going to ask me any proper questions, or can I go? I've got a very busy schedule, you know.

We're almost done. What do you like to do on a weekend or on your time off from running a global corporation?
I don't understand the question.

Holidays! What do you do on your HOLIDAYS?
[thinks for a minute] I usually go into the office to make sure everything is running smoothly without me, or to catch up with a few little bits that I didn't get finished the previous day. Then while I'm there, I might try to schedule in a meeting or two, depending on if the other directors or managers are in, or visit the Research & Development department. By the time I've done all that, it's usually around 7pm, so I'll have some dinner then maybe work from home before going to bed.

[Pause] Okay...moving on...what items are on your bedside table right now?
Why on earth would you want to know that?

It's just a bit of - you know what, never mind. Do you have any secrets?
Is this a joke? Are you actually a real journalist? Even I did have anything to hide, which I don't, why would I share that highly personal information with you?

Let's make this our last question - Skye, what's your biggest fear?
That Civitas goes bankrupt, or ceases to be a company. Or I get fired.

Erm, that's great! Thanks for talking to us today, Skye! Have you enjoyed your time on my blog?
It's been an experience to say the least. No, don't get up, I'll see myself out.


So that's it! Thanks for tuning in to Skye's interview - I hope you enjoyed it!

If you fancy checking out any more of Skye's world, you can view a description of Synthetica on my blog. You can also download Synthetica from:

Amazon
Smashwords

Tomorrow on my blog, we'll be finding out more about another character from Synthetica, Dalla Goddard! See you tomorrow!

Synthetica blog tour kick-off!

Today's the day that the Synthetica blog tour finally kicks off! Hooray!

If you can't tell already by my tweets and this blog post, I'm just a tad excited. In honour of this occasion, over the next few weeks I'll also be popping up lots of Synthetica-related posts on this blog, including character profiles, character interviews and just general Synthetica related goodness. I'll also be tweeting random facts about the series, so if you'd like to join in on Twitter, or ask me any questions - and I hope you do! - I'll be using the hashtag #Synthetica.

If you'd like to check out the tour, here's the blog schedule:

July 6th

Bookwormia  - http://clsmithbooks.blogspot.com/ - Promo Post

The Voluptuous Book Diva - http://voluptuousbookdiva.blogspot.Com - Promo Post

Nejoud Is currently reding  - http://nejoudiscurrentlyreading.blogspot.com - Review

Hope To Read  - Http://hopetoread.com - Promo Post

July 7th

Donnie Darko Girl  - http://donniedarkogirl.blogspot.com - Review

Mythical Books  - http://www.mythicalbooks.blogspot.ro/ - Promo Post

Nerdychampagne   -  https://nerdychampagne.wordpress.com/ - Review

July 8th

The Phantom Paragrapher  - www.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.com - Review

Travel with Books and Coffee -  http://travelwithbooksandcoffee.blogspot.com - Promo Post

July 9th

The Bibliophile Chronicles - http://www.thebibliophilechronicles.com - Review

Words I Write Crazy -  http://writingcrazyme.blogspot.com/ - Review

July 10th

Sabrina Giles  -  https://sabrinagiles.wordpress.com/ - Promo Post

AM Station   - http://amstationreviews.blogspot.com - Promo Post

July 13th

Bibliobibuli Young Adult Book Blog -  http://bibliobibuliya.com/ - Review

Around the World in Books  - http://www.aroundtheworldinbooks.ca/ - Promo Post

Book Snacks  -  https://booksnacksblog.wordpress.com/ - Promo Post

July 14th

Worth Reading It?  -  http://www.worthreadingit.blogspot.com - Review

Books and Ashes  -  http://booksandashes.wordpress.com - Promo Post

July 15th

The Page Unbound  -  http://thepageunbound.com - Promo Post

The Word is   -  http://suzannefurness.blogspot.co.uk - Promo Post

Writing Pearls  - http://www.writingpearls.com - Review

July 16th

Just Us Book Blog  - http://justusbookblog.blogspot.com/ - Promo Post

Le&ndra Wallace  -  www.leandrajwallace.blogspot.com - Promo Post

July 17th

Random Redheaded Ramblings  -  http://redheatherduff.blogspot.com - Review

Samantha Writes - www.samanthawrites.ca - Review

Paperback Princess  -  http://princess-paperback.blogspot.com - Promo Post

A huge thanks goes to Nereyda over at YA Bound for organising everything, and also a huge thanks to all the bloggers who've signed up for the tour - this literally couldn't happen without you!

Also, in honour of the blog tour (and my KDP membership finally ending - woohoo!), Synthetica is now available for you to buy on Smashwords.

If it gets accepted into the Premium Catalog, then it'll also be available for you to download from iBooks, Kobo and Barnes & Noble and I'll make sure I post up those links as soon as I know it's been accepted :).

So that's it! Let the Synthetica book tour commence! *trumpets sound and confetti falls from the ceiling - wait, is this a book tour or the apocalypse...?*