For all of you Regency shoe lovers…I came across a website today where they sell Georgian authentically styled shoes. I now must get rich because I NEED to have pairs of ALL of them. Heavy sigh! These (pictured) nankeen Regency ankle boots are high high high on the list. They also come in black and another colour I can’t remember. If, like me, you dream of Regency shoes… Have a look at these beauties! The sold out red leather buckle shoes look as if they were conjured out of one of Fragonard’s paintings…Magical!
Book Review: Torn Trousers…
This last year was mostly spent in a miasma of story consumption. I read books like a story-starved creature. The part of my brain that produces stories had malfunctioned. Strangely, It wasn’t writers’ block. I felt nothing as if someone had disconnected the story part of my brain. Then I started meeting up once a week with my friend Gwynn (who’s also a writer) and we’d talk about world events, history, anything that came up as well as discussing stories and writing. [Read more…] about Book Review: Torn Trousers…
Alive and Writing…
Most of the last year feels like a long strange blur spent reading other people’s stories. I have read A LOT of books in all sorts of genres. With my thyroid careening back and forth between under and over active I’ve been living in a creative wasteland. For most of the last six months I couldn’t watch Tv or movies because my brain couldn’t handle the moving images or follow the story lines (very irritating). Thankfully my brain could still read! Finally about a month ago my brain seems to have found an even keel and I’ve been writing again which feels really good. With luck I’ll even finish something in the not too distant future. That’s my goal! I’ll let you know when I’m close to sending a book out into the world. I can only hope it will be sooner than later (if only for my sanity). I have a backlog of characters and stories all clambering for attention. I need to get them thinned out before another crowd comes rushing in. Wish me luck!
Fiction Addiction…Three More Free Stories I’ve Recently Enjoyed
The last few weeks I’ve been consuming other people’s stories like a literary black hole, but it’s priming my writer (I’ve actually cracked open several stories and tentatively started working on them). Here are three more great free stories (all romances in various genres). The links take you to the books on Barnes and Noble, but they can be found elsewhere (I found them on iBooks). [Read more…] about Fiction Addiction…Three More Free Stories I’ve Recently Enjoyed
Can a Romance Novel Change Your Life…?
Some books we consume as light reading end up catalysts for change in our lives. Laura Florand’s romance novels have fallen into this category for me (I recommended her free story The Chocolate Rose in my last post). In her chocolate series her heroes are French chefs (the stories set in France). I’ve loved all her heroes. Even the book I gave two stars (The Chocolate Temptation) I’ve actually re-read the first half again (and will read again because the first half deserves five stars). Her French chefs are just so captivating I’ll probably break down and buy the rest of the series (soon).
So how can reading about fictional French chefs finding love change one’s life? If you’d asked me this question two weeks ago I would have raised an eyebrow and stared back with a blank mind. I think it was while reading The Chocolate Rose a second time that change set in. The hero is a pastry chef who pours his heart into his desserts. When he offers the heroine something he’s made for her the reader knows he’s offering his heart on a plate though she doesn’t realise this at first. It made me stop and wonder if I’m dishing up my heart for my creative endeavours and if not, why not? There is no point creating anything without passion (without pouring our hearts into it). It’s made me ask myself, do I dish up my heart in my stories? I do! Am I dishing up my heart in my other artistic creations? Hmmm – not all the time! Why not? What do I want to be creating? Does it make me happy to dish up my heart? Yes, but I must feel passionate about the feeding.
So what else is changing? [Read more…] about Can a Romance Novel Change Your Life…?
Fiction Addiction – Three Free Books I’ve Recently Enjoyed…
The last few months I’ve been gorging on other people’s stories. Perhaps a part of me has been story-starved. Normally when I’m writing I crave non-fiction, but at the moment I crave fiction (like a fiction-addiction!). Perhaps I needed the escape so as to not think about not being able to write because my brain is still not right (I’m off to the hospital in a few weeks for an ultrasound on my thyroid) – in the mean time I have had new stories sprouting in my head and older unfinished ones demanding attention, but it’s like the characters are talking to me while I’m under water. I’m sure they’re frustrated! I know I am. In the mean time I’ve discovered new authors and tried out new genres. I’ve taken to haunting my local library once a week – willing to crack open any cover that grabs my eye. I’ve spent a lot of money buying books, but there are some great free books out there. I had to share my three favorite.
I downloaded mine from iBooks, but you can also find them free on Amazon (and I’m presuming other sites). My links will take you to the UK Amazon site so you may want to go straight to your own if it’s different. [Read more…] about Fiction Addiction – Three Free Books I’ve Recently Enjoyed…