I need to clone myself...

Hi all,

I just realised that I haven't updated this blog in ages. Sorry if you've been checking out this blog and found nothing new since you last looked! I know how frustrating that can be. It's just that time has been going so quickly lately, and I feel like I'm using every spare minute, each day and still not having enough time left to complete all that I want to do.

Maybe I should clone myself, but then where will it end? If I did that, then my clone would soon get busier and I would have to make another clone and it would all just get too weird! I think I need to look at my time-management skills and see if I can let a few things go: I can't let my childcare or my housework go, that's for sure, and I definitely can't stop working. That leaves my exercise routine, which I love to do and I feel all horrible,lethargic and bloated if I can't exercise, so that can't go either. That leaves dog walking, but I can't let my poor dog down, and so maybe I should stop watching TV in the evenings (but  by then I'm too exhausted to do anything else after my hectic days!) Aggh!, I am just going to have to have less sleep (which is going to be hard, because I don't get enough sleep now, due to my other half's constant snoring!) but, I'm so exhausted at the moment that sleep is my sanctuary!

Sorry to moan, but I just wanted you all to know why I've not been updating my blog. I feel like, until now, that I've not had a spare minute! The rest of the family have gone out today and so I've had a bit of me time and thought I'd catch up with the old blogging. The reasons I've been so busy are new house and new job. I hope it will all settle down soon so I can get back to some writing.

I will let you know when I have time to start writing a new ebook. I have so many ideas running through my head that I need to type something up soon!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll be in touch soon...

Love,

Anna x

What is Young Adult Fiction, anyway?

Hi Guys,

I read an article recently about Young Adult books taking on a rather disturbing format, which has been dubbed, "Sicklit". You can read the article for yourselves by clicking on this link - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2256356/The-sick-lit-books-aimed-children-Its-disturbing-phenomenon-Tales-teenage-cancer-self-harm-suicide-.html.

As you may be aware, I prefer to write humorous books, but more recently, because I felt like a change, I wrote my paranormal romance/horror trilogy aimed at young adults 15 and over. This trilogy contains themes of murder and control, but I don't think these themes are any worse than what is in the Harry Potter books, yet I now feel my books seem mild in comparison to these "sicklit" offerings that the newspaper article mentions.

I have a conscience, though, and that is why I have put a warning on my books that they shouldn't be read by anyone under 15; however, how can I be sure that nobody under age is reading it? That is my dilemma, people. I suppose the same can be said for the internet and television in general. I guess children have always wanted to delve into the forbidden adult world; I know I used to watch Hammer horror films when I was 13! I have made the decision to unpublish my trilogy from Smashwords, not because of Smashwords, as they have been great, but because the problem with my second book has still not been resolved by Barnes and Noble and there have been some comments left by readers, which suggest that under age people are perhaps reading it from that website. I am leaving them on Amazon, though, should anybody still wish to read them. I also want to add that I do have a Young Adult humorous ebook free on most ebook retailing sites and I hope that this will go some way to redress the balance from some of the darker ebooks aimed at the Young Adult market.

I welcome comments from readers and writers alike. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.


Bye for now,

Anna x




 

Happy New Year

I would like to wish all of my readers and friends a Happy New Year. I have vibes that this is going to be a great year. I don't know why; it's just a weird feeling I've got. Last year was pretty good: we had the Olympics,  the Jubilee and the country came together in celebration.

I think the best way we can all make this year great is to be respectful to each other and to help others whenever we can. I try to do this all the time and I think the world will be a much better place if we all treated others as we wish to be treated.

While I'm here, I would just like to apologise to any readers who were trying to find the second copy of my "Souls Apart" trilogy and were disappointed. I only recently found out that Barnes and Noble weren't stocking "Demonized" - the second book in the "Souls Apart" trilogy and when some readers tried to find it on Amazon, technical problems meant that it was the first book uploaded and not the second. I apologise for any disappointment and urge readers to send it back to Amazon if you have got one of the faulty copies. I also urge readers to email me if you have any issues with any of my eBooks, because it is my intention to entertain people and not cause problems for readers! I have uploaded it again on Amazon and it should have rectified the issue, but if you do want to read it, I suggest you try a sample first and this way you can check that the technical problems are resolved before you purchase a copy. I have also let Barnes and Noble know that they aren't stocking my book and so, hopefully, this will be resolved before the end of the week. Fingers crossed!

I do intend to write more books this year; however, due to moving house, I have had other priorities and so it will probably be toward the middle or end of the year before I have something ready to publish.

I hope 2013 brings you lots of great things and I will try to update my blog at least once a month to let you know where I'm up to with my next eBook.

Take care,


Anna x



I

It's September!

Hi all,

I can't believe it's September - my birthday month is here again!
I just wanted to let you all know that I have finally published the concluding installment to my Lost Souls Triolgy - "Final Cut". I apologise for the delay. I'd hoped to have it ready for Spring, but so many things have happened to me this year, I just didn't get round to it and I won't publish it unless I'm completely happy with it.

To celebrate its release I have made the first book, Souls Apart, free on Smashwords and this will hopefully filter through within the next week or so to itunes, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords other distribution sites. It won't become free on Amazon unless readers click the link to tell them they've seen it cheaper elsewhere. So if any of you wish to download it to your kindles via Amazon, it would help me if you would do that, as I don't like charging for books I've made free everywhere else. It's just Amazon currently doesn't let writers make books free unless they are part of the KDP select program.

I hope you will enjoy September. I am going to be working on a new set of shorter YA novels, although I don't have plans for any more trilogies, just yet. I have enjoyed writing shorter stories, because I feel that the new digital market lends itself to shorter stories, rather than longer novels. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel readers of ebooks would rather buy cheaper and shorter books; I know I certainly do when I'm looking for a new kindle ebook.

Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy my books,

Love Anna x

Why are some people so annoying!!!

Hi all

I just wanted to get something of my chest...WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE SO ANNOYING!!!

Phew - that's better. I just wanted to let you know about a recent experience of mine. I was selling my old heap of a car on ebay and weirdly enough, I had over 30 people watching it and I was inundated with offers from people wanting to buy it without waiting for the auction to end.

Like the little miss goody goody I am, I turned down those offers because I wanted to play fair and let the auction run until the end so whoever won the bid would win fair and square and everyone would be happy.

All was going to plan until the winning bidder turned out to be a total time waster (and looking at his feedback from other sellers, this was one of the nicer things he's been called) and so I'm still stuck with my car and I've lost my listing fees and so my whole ebay experience was a total waste of time and I just wondered what sort of person deliberately bids on items they have no intention of buying.

It's like internet trolls. Why do people do it? Have they got something missing in their lives (or in their brains, perhaps?)

Oh well, I just wanted to have a little moan about annoying people and warn people about some of the pitfalls of using ebay.

I will be off on my hols this Saturday and so I will be chilling out on the beach and hopefully I will come back with a newfound sense of calm for my next blog post.

Enjoy your holidays everyone.

Bye for now

Anna x

Useless Warnings

Hi all

I am aware that I have been neglecting this blog, in favour of my other blog, Callie's World, again!
I thought I'd post, today, about something that really annoys me - it's Health & Safety gone mad!

Have you ever noticed, when you've opened a box of eggs, the stupid warning - "Warning - contains Egg." Agghhh! Help! I didn't realise! OMG! What am I going to do! You get the point?
I know it bloody well contains egg - that's what I wanted it to contain. How stupid have you got to be to not know what an egg is, I mean, come on...

And the list goes on... on a bag of peanuts the other day I saw this notice..." Warning, contains nuts." -Agghhh! I know it contains nuts! I'm not stupid - rant rant rant!!!

Anyway, I was thinking about these useless warnings, the other day,and I decided that it might be fun to put warnings on some of the following...

1) Unreliable men - "Warning - contains a two-faced, lying cheat."

2) Spanx - (I thought that this particular warning would benefit men) - "Warning - contains mounds of loose flabby flesh - remove at your peril."

3) Coffee flavoured revels - wouldn't it be great if they could warn us which ones are the disgusting coffee ones!

These are all I could think of, so far. I would love to hear yours.

I would also love to hear from anyone who didn't realise that boxes of eggs contained egg or packets of peanuts contained nuts - there must be someone out there or why else would they put it on the packets, lol!

Anyway, Enjoy the long weekend,

Anna :-)

Here comes Spring

Hi all,

It's April, the sun is shining and the birds are singing! I am suddenly aware that the months are flying by and I've not been updating this blog enough as I've been concentrating on my other blog, Callie's World.
I thought I'd update you on what I've been up to.
Firstly, I've been working as a tutor of adult literacy, numeracy and ICT, which has kept me busy during the day; in fact, it's been keeping me too busy as it is so stressful with all the papwork we have to do, that I'm too exhausted to do anything else when I get home. I haven't been doing any writing, except for my other blog. I am in the process of looking for another day job and so I've been doing a lot of online courses to help me prepare for a career change. I thought I'd let you know about a great website I found for free from Microsoft office packages to psychology. It's called Alison.com. Why not check it out?
Once I'm feeling ready to start my next book, I will let you know. It will be the last in the Lost Souls trilogy and after that I want to go back to writing another  romantic comedy.

Enjoy your Easter break. I read in the Daily Mail recently, that chocolate keeps you thin. Yay! All the more eggies for me then. :-)

Love,

Anna x