Tears On Holly's Floppy Ears

As many of you know, I had my 30th Birthday on Saturday. My parents have just left the building this morning and I'm feeling, well ... kinda lost. My Sig.Oth, had a gig last night, so he's still asleep. He got home at 5a.m. So it's just me and Holly, in a cold quiet house, listening to the rollin' of the washing machine while I tap away on my keyboard and feel a little empty.

I had a wonderful week last week, though. I thought I would be relieved to have the house quiet again, but I actually feel strangely sad and hollow. Shed a few tears on Holly's floppy ears when my parents walked out the door. I guess I should be used to it by now. All the years of goodbyes I've experienced shifting back and forth from Australia to Greece. But now that I've been settled in one place for the longest period of time ever (nine years), I've become quite rusty at it - the saying goodbye.

Anyhow. Thank you to all my friends who shared Saturday with me. I had a really nice night! Now just gimme me a moment to compose myself (sob sob), and then I'll get straight back into my (ugh) routine.

If you'd like to see a few shots from Saturday, click this link :o)

PS: PJ HARVEY, Let England Shake. Such a GREAT album!

PS: I just realised I was supposed to be participating in a blogfest today. Sorry guys! I forgot!!!

The rockstars are visiting me this week!

The rockstars are visiting this week (my parents) ;-), so I'm not going to be online much. I'll do my best. I might post, and I might not. I might visit you and I might not. It all depends on whether they're in the mood to gallivant around town or veg out on the couch watching my collection of American TV series'.

Also, this Saturday is my 30th birthday. Sig.Oth. and I have organised a pretty decent-sized dinner of about fifteen friends at THIS RESTAURANT. I'm nervous. I don't want them all to sing happy birthday to me in public and make me go red in the face. I used to love being the center of attention. Now the thought makes me want to pee.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some shots of the rockstars ...

PS: If you wanna see pics of them, when they were actually rockstars click HERE FOR MY MOTHER and HERE FOR MY FATHER.

Speaking of rockstars, many of you have told me that I don't talk much about my significant other. Well, my Sig.Oth. is the guy who brings the rocks to town. You can check out his website HERE. Most of it is in Greek, but the About Us is in English and so is the Event History. And the Google Translate doesn't do a bad job, either, surprisingly!

Have a good week everyone. I might see ya, I might not! Mwah!

Do not. Underestimate. The Power. Of. Short sentences.

Have you ever read a book with a lot of short sentences in a row to create effect? If so, how did it make you feel? Stressed? Anxious? Have you ever thought about how writing 'style' can create emotion as well as word choice?

I'm going to give you a little example. Now tell me, which one makes you feel more stressed:

One:
The kettle boils and I pour coffee in my mug. As I wipe sleep from my eye, I lose balance. Hm … bit dizzy. This is weird. Gotta get that work done. My vision goes a little hazy as I pour milk in my coffee. Oh … hot flush? My fingers tingle and I shake my hand to get the feeling back. Cut-off circulation? It doesn't dissipate, and I drop my spoon in my mug. Clang! It splashes everywhere, including on my robe. I wipe it off with my sleeve.

Two:
Kettle boils. Coffee in mug. Wipe sleep from eye. Lose balance. Hm … bit dizzy. Weird. Pour milk in coffee. Gotta get that work done. Vision a little hazy. Oh … hot flush? Fingers tingly. Shake hand. Cut-off circulation? Doesn’t dissipate. Drop spoon in mug. Clang! Wipe splash off belly with sleeve of robe.

Number two is better, huh? Gives you that sense of urgency/breathlessness?

Have you ever tried this in your writing?
Have you ever tried any other style techniques to create a particular feeling? What were they?

Have a great weekend everyone! And welcome to all my new followers from yesterday's blogfest! Wow!

Bernard Pivot Blogfest: Let's get to know each other.

And today we have Nicole Ducleroir's Bernard Pivot Blogfest. Please be sure to check out the other participants. All we have to do is answer the following questions about ourselves. I've never heard of this questionnaire, but it's supposed to reveal a lot about our personalities. So here we go:

1.What is your favorite word?

I don't have one, but I tend to take a liking to different words every week, like um ... coffee, ice cream, lemon meringue pie ... um ... oh, sorry, what did you say? I'm not supposed to be talking about what I like to eat? Whoops ... but they're still words, aren't they?

2.What is your least favorite word?

rules (who needs 'em?)

3.What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Um ... being turned on creatively, spiritually and emotionally? No, seriously now, writing, music, writing, reading, writing, music, reading, um ... sex? What is that again?

4.What turns you off?

My off button. It's located ... um ... somewhere. Let me know when you find it.

5.What is your favorite curse word?

Really? My favourite curse word is a bit offensive. Can I whisper it? (cunt) (I like it because it's still considered taboo - isn't it? And it sounds so much stronger than any of the others, and if you really want to offend someone, 'fuck you' just doesn't work any more. But if you say, 'fuck you cunt', well, that's kinda crossing the line - the waist line to be exact ;o) Oh yeah, and its Greek equivalent: Mounotricha (literally translated: a cunt hair) PS: please don't judge me. I'm just answering a question! *flutters eyelids*

6.What sound or noise do you love?

Silence!

7.What sound or noise do you hate?

Garbage trucks at 5 a.m!

8.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Ok, well, I guess I'd like to be either a zoologist or an archaeologist. I actually studied archaeology before I got into English. I bet you didn't know that about me, huh?

9.What profession would you not like to do?

Garbage collector. I just couldn't bear to wake up all those poor writers who stayed up half the night trying to finish their novels.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

God: Don't worry, you're not going to be shoved into an alternate universe, or another body, to be given another chance to rectify all the mistakes you made. You're really dead, and it's really over, so relax, pick a cloud, and go to sleep.

Me: Really? Awesome. Oh ... wait ... does that mean, the man of my dreams, who I was convinced I'd met in another life, really wasn't from another life because I didn't have one? Sheesh. I was so sure we had some kinda cosmic connection. Shame ...

God: Oh, don't worry. Of course, he was. You see, this was your last life. You are perfect. Be proud.

:o)

There are certain ways of marketing a book which I believe will stunt sales. (and a special announcement)

I'm going to make a very bold statement. But before you take it negatively, please hear me out first, because in actual fact, it's not negative at all, it's positive.

My statement:
I lose interest in social networkers who only ever blog, facebook, twitter about their books, sales figures and other people's reviews of their books.

Let's face it. We've all gotta market our work if we want to sell it. But there is a better way than just 'putting it out there'. People are going to be so much more interested in someone's book if it's not in their face all the time, and/or they do their plugging along side other, more interactive issues. Please be clear here, that I am not criticising anyone in particular. I'm just voicing an opinion I have come to realize greatly effects what I choose to read online, and I believe I'm not the only one who feels like this. I want to interact with authors. If I just wanted information about a new release, I'd read the newspaper. Get my drift?

For example, who would you consider buying a book from ...

This kind of social networker:
"My book titled 'blah' is available on blah, blah and blah. Please review it." (The real meaning = Please buy my book, pretty please, even though you know nothing about me. Why should you know anything about me to want to buy my book? Read the blurb, it's interesting! You just have to trust me on that, even though, really, I haven't given you any reason to trust me on that, because we've never interacted together online.)

Or, this kind of social networker:
"You'll never believe the week I've had and what I've discovered. I did this and this and this, and it made me feel like this and this and this. Does this kind of thing ever make you feel like this too? Please tell me I'm not alone. PS: My book is finally on Amazon! I'd love for you to check it out!" (The real meaning = I really appreciate my followers, and I also really want to know more about them and want to share all my ups and downs with them and discover if we have anything in common. And once we've established that, I hope that one day they'd like to purchase my book. And if they do - bonus! If not, I'm still going to interact with them anyway, because we've become such great friends.)

I don't know about you, but I choose option two. I don't feel like I'm being handed a press release in the street this way. And I feel like they actually want me to be there, to experience what they're experiencing with them. In my opinion, this is how we should network if we want people to take notice. And I don't think doing this is any more complex than the straightforward announcement.

In addition, never, ever, excuse my abruptness here, but never just tweet something like this: Title of book, great review #clickthislink. Because I won't click it. But I will click it, if you tweet: I'm so excited and thrilled about this review! Thank you so much, (name of person who wrote the review) #clickthislink. If you tweet that, I'll click it because you seem appreciative. Well, I would if I was on Twitter. ;o)

So, what kind of networking do you think works best? Do you agree with what I've said? Why/Why not?

Special Announcement!

Seeing as we're on the subject of plugging. Roland Yeomans has published his first book! Yay! Congratulations, Roland!Let's give him a little support and check it out, hey?

(See? Brief, to the point, and embedded in a post which should trigger INTERACTION. Interaction is the key, folks, and don't forget it!)

One minute possessed ... the next, vibrating in a bubble bath.

Yesterday I finished revising String Bridge. I can't believe it! Over the weekend I was totally possessed. I completed ten days worth of scheduled revisions in two. It was crazy, I tell you! My brain was working in overdrive for some strange reason, and my fingers were struggling to keep up. But they did. And I didn't even have a meltdown when I finished. But this is not what today's post is about, it's about what happened to me afterward.

I ran a bath. With bubbles. A little too hot, but not scolding hot. I sat in it with Marilynne Robinson's latest novel, HOME. I got in. Winced. Made sure I didn't wet the hand I intended to hold the book with. All good. Ahh ... relax. And then suddenly ...

... the constant, ongoing noise in my head , which I had become accustomed to and thought was normal, stopped.

I swear I could hear dead skin cells dislodge themselves into the bath water. Yeah, I know, that's a disgusting thought, but I tell you, I could finally hear what was going on around me: the crackling of the bubble bath; the swipe of my fingertip across two millimetres of paper; the sound of a bird tweeting, probably 20 meters down the road, soared through my window like a train whistle; my significant other's mouse clicking through two closed doors. I could hear the vibrations of silence.

I took a deep breath and leaned my head against the white tiled bathroom wall and let myself sink into this amazing feeling as if a bed of velvet. For the first time, in a LONG time, I relaxed.

And then ... I dropped my book in the bath.

How do you feel after completing a big project? Does the noise in your head stop, even if just for a few minutes?

Getting Giddy over 100-year-old books! OMG!

I know I'm not scheduled to post today, but I just HAD to share this with you! My father sent me some REALLY old poetry books from Australia, a couple are 100 years old! Check these out! I'm so excited. I don't know why, but they feel like treasure! They smell amazing and a couple are leather bound and squishy between my fingers. Yum!

Do you ever get giddy over antique books?