The W(h)IP IT GooD Blogfest

Again, DL Hammons at Criusing Altitude and Elise Fallson  came up with another great idea for a blogfest that allows writers to share their ideas with others, find CPs and Betas for their work and most importantly, share their ideas with others. I admit, 4 months of daily writing and sharing at least 2 haiku on the net has made easier for me talking about poerty writing, but prose ideas are still... difficult to let out.

Here are the prompts and my answers:

WIP Title: Still under consideration - titles make me nervous, so this one is still under consideration
Word Count (projected/actual so far): 18.214 written from 30-35 K projected

Genre: Paranormal Romance with a little adventure in a N/A world
How long have you been working on it?: about 2 months
 
Elevator Pitch (if you came across an agent in an elevator ride, what couple of lines would you use to summarize your book): 

When he decided to go against the rules and break a centuries old blood oath, he had thought of  many things going wrong, but being forced to protect the one he's trying to get away from was never on his list. Going from a long term goal to own his fate to the complicate, annoying task of trying to keep her alive and out of danger turns both their lives upside down.   

Brief Synopsis (250 words or less):  
An old, crazy, stupid oath... crazy stupid decisions... What kind of results can you expect? (I'm not saying more, yet. Though the romantic interest has her own plans that have nothing to do with what he wants.)

Are you looking for a Critique Partner?: YES, please!
Are you looking for a Beta Reader?: YES, please!

If you'd like to help turning this idea into a true, honest to God story, let me know. 

Now go visit other writers and discover their WIP. 

The Faerie Tale Prince Blog Fest

Rachel Morgan, Author of the Creepy Hollow series came up with a great Blog fest in order to celebrate the release of the second novel in the Creepy Hollow series, THE FAERIE PRINCE. That's why we get to tell everyone who your fave fairy tale prince/hero is and why.

SO, fairy tale princes and heroes... that's tough... even more so, being Romanian. If it comes down to my Romanian herritage, my hero comes from a poem and it's named Hyperion or The Evening Star. Hyperion falls in love with an emperor's daughter, Cătălina, and leaves his place on the sky to ask to ask his father to make him mortal, as the emperor's daughter had asked, so they can be together. But while he's gone, Cătălina falls in love with a boy in the palace and forgets about Hyperion who's willing to give immortality up for her.
Hyperion is a true prince/hero because of the moral values he shows in spite of being hurt by Cătălina. This rather sad, but beautiful poem was written by Mihai Eminescu and it is one of my favourites.

It's only fit to mention Ryn from The Creepy Hollow series after this sad story because he has his own sad story and a strong personality. And he's dark-haired! (just like I like it! - please, don't question my preferences!)

In movies, Tv shows and animees, I love a diversity of heroes: Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice,

Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries,

Dean from Supernatural,

 

In books, my heroes would be: Adrian Ivashkov from The Vampire Academy and Bloodlines,

Jace Wayland, Alec Lightwood and Magnus from The Mortal instruments series,

Patch in Hush, Hush series

The Beast from The Beauty and the Beast

Hercules

And... Rachel says:

It's release day for The Faerie Prince, the second novel in the Creepy Hollow series! Woohoo! If you're keen to read it, you can find it at the following places online:

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Apple iBookstore

CreateSpace (print)

Guardian trainee Violet Fairdale is just weeks away from one of the most important occasions of her life: graduation. After messing up big time by bringing a human into the fae realm, Vi needs to step up her game and forget about Nate if she hopes to graduate as the top guardian of her year. Everything would be fine if she wasn’t forced to partner with Ryn, her ex-friend, ex-enemy, current ‘sort of friend’. They might be trying to patch up their relationship, but does she really want to spend a week undercover with him for their final assignment? On top of that, the possibly insane Unseelie Prince is still on the loose, free to ‘collect’ as many specially talented faeries as he can find—and Vi is still at the top of his list. Add in faerie queens, enchanted storms, complicated not-just-friends feelings, and a murder within the Guild itself, and graduation is about to become the least of Vi’s problems.

In celebration, The Faerie Guardian is on sale for a limited time!

**GIVEAWAY**

There will be a giveaway running from now until the end of the blog tour (Sun 9 June). A giveaway where FOUR people could win something! The prizes are a signed copy of The Faerie Prince (or The Faerie Guardian, should the winner prefer that), an Amazon gift card, a mini book pendant and necklace, and a Creepy Hollow pin badge. Check out the pic below!
Giveaway is open internationally

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Around, but not quite there/here yet

What do you do when you set too many goals and make too many promisses?

I had a well thought plan for April, May and June, but I've let myself get caught in so many things that I barely remember the original plan. I'm working to get back on track, though, so, I hope that by the end of May, I'll be back to some semblance of normality.

I don't know what others do when they try to do more than they can take, but I (almost) gave up my super good griend, the Internet, and I'm also on the verge of cutting back on sleep. ;) Neah, that's too extreme.

I think I must start learning to say NO.
Help me learn how to do that by asking me to help you with impossible things! I need practice.

The Night of Spring - Kyoshi Takahama

Kristjaan came up with a new Special haiku episode, where Kyoshi Takahama, the haiku-master of May and his haiku are used as inspiration. Kyoshi isn't a well known haiku poet, but he has written wonderful haiku.

Today's haiku by Kyoshi is written at the end of Spring,which he calls 'the night of Spring'. As Kristjaan said, that's a wonderful imagery for the departure of Spring.

I really liked this prompt and felt very happy to write on this theme.

The special haiku:

haru no yo ya tsukue no ue no hiji-makura

the night of Spring -
an elbow-pillow
on the desk

Carpe Diem Special #37

May 17th - The night od Spring

the night of this Spring -

decorating my window

last apple -blossoms

late apple-blossoms

swung by the late-Sping faint beeze -

writing spring haiku

last sight of Spring moon -

the summer morning ballads 

in forest's birds song

NahaiWriMo

May 17th - Quandary or Quietude

the peace in her voice

filling her yard in sping sun -

acacia perfume

  
 

The WIP IT Good Blogfest

The WIP IT GooD Blogfest

On Friday, May 31st, you can take your chance to tell the blogosphere about your most recent [W]ork [I]n [P]rogress. You’ll be guided by the provided prompts to answer in your own post, and even give you the opportunity to solicit CP’s (partners who exchange material for detail critique – usually chapter by chapter) or Beta Readers (test readers who read entire manuscripts and offer broad opinions) if you’re looking for that.
Here are the prompts you'll have to follow:
WIP Title:
Word Count (projected/actual so far):

Genre:
How long have you been working on it?:
Elevator Pitch (if you came across an agent in an elevator ride, what couple of lines would you use to summarize your book):
Brief Synopsis (250 words or less):
Are you looking for a Critique Partner?:
Are you looking for a Beta Reader?:

I really love this blogfest idea because it helps and guides you to tell others about what you're working at and it helps you get help in finishing/editing/revising/ your work. :) Go visit DL Hammons at Criusing Altitude and Elise Fallson to sign up for this fun and very, very useful blogfest.

Carpe Diem

May 16th - Justice

no right or wrong now

on paths of Life, awaiting

the Divine Justice

merciful cherry

knows no distinction between

the damned and the blessed

in perfect balance

serving the Creation's heart

Free Will and justice

NaHaiWriMo

May 16th - pet

caressing my cheeks

sweeping my old verandah

 May morning mild breeze 

Review Shadows of the Past

Review: Shadows of the Past

   Shadows of the Past

Publish date: 4^th December 2012

Publisher: Wild Child Publishing

Genre: paranormal/light romance/light horror.

 Blurb 

Anne's relationship with her boyfriend Neil has disintegrated. After a two-year separation, they pack for a week vacation in hopes of reconciling. But fate has other plans for them.
The discovery of a bejeweled cross and ancient human bones opens a door to a new and frightening world--one where the ghost of a medieval nun named Genevieve will not let Anne rest. This new world threatens not only to ruin Anne and Neil's vacation but to end all hopes of reconciliation as Anne feels compelled to help free Genevieve's soul from its torment.
Can Anne save her relationship and help Genevieve find her eternal rest?
The twists and turns in this paranormal tale keep the reader guessing up to the end and weave themselves together into a quest to rekindle love.

My Review:

The book is exactly what the blurb promises to be: a beautiful and touching paranormal love story that plays on the idea that love transcends time and soul mates will always search for each other.

First, I loved the premise of the book: the restless soul of a young nun from the XVth century leads Anne, its present day reincarnation, towards the place where the nun's body has been abandoned centuries ago without being aloud to find peace.

Secondly, I loved the shift between present and past, between Anne's and Genevive's stories and the way their stories are woven together. Carmen plays the visions/apparitions/dreams card and the fact that in spite of telling the story of two different female protags, she manages to create background for both Genevive and Anne.

Thirdly, I liked the descriptions the author used to put everything in place - I'm not usually a big fan of thorough descriptions, but this book is one of the few exceptions.

I'd say Carmen managed to write a beautiful, touching love story that transcends time, about overcoming adversity and one's learning, personal growth and transformation and a second love story about choices.

The end of the book is a happy one if just a little gloomy, which is understandable for such a tragic story (promising more, maybe? - I hope so). 

I felt for Genevive's lack of luck, I loved Anne for her strenght and I loved the  book.

Author bio:

            Carmen Stefanescu was born in Romania, the native country of the infamous vampire Count Dracula, but where, for about 50 years of communist dictatorship, just speaking about God, faith, reincarnation or paranormal phenomena could have led someone to great trouble - the psychiatric hospital if not to prison.
            Teacher of English and German in her native country and mother of two daughters, Carmen Stefanescu survived the grim years of oppression, by escaping in a parallel world, that of the books. 

            She has dreamed all her life to become a writer, but many of the things she wrote during those years remained just drawer projects. The fall of the Ceausescu’s regime in 1989 and the opening of the country to the world meant a new beginning for her. She started publishing. Poems first, and then prose. Both in English.

Find her on:

Goodreads

Amazon

Google+

Blog

 

Carpe Diem

April 15th - The Wheel of Fortune

silent mid-spring clouds -

young gypsy reading the cards

near an acacia ***

foretold destiny -

a May rain washes away

all my misfortune

my fate's dual coin -

tossing up the dry  branches,

down they go again

my faith and my fate -

walking by a water stream

searching direction

karma comes and goes -

in Mother Earth's ancient laws

I find my justice

NaHaiWriMo

April 15th - odour and ornaments

robed in small sharp thornes,

perfuming my green garden,

roses' pale blossoms

tasting like spring day -

red poppies smile at the sun 

in wheat fields odour

*** I'm not a racist I'm just playing on stereotypes

Wisdom

After too much time away from my very good friend, the Internet, I'm back to it.

Carpe Diem

May 14th - The Hermit

all our world's wisdom -

children's happy, lovely smiles

in morning sun rays

under the blue sky,

his Inner Self connection -

no Sunday service

NaHaiWriMo

May 14th - neccessity

blue butterfly wings -

all my happy dreams shattered

by reality