"Blindsided" Blog Tour

Hello! Today I'm hosting the irrepressible Kyra Lennon as part of her Blindsided Blog Tour. There's some hair-raising fun in store, so strap yourself in! Without further ado, I'll hand you over to Jesse, Blindsided's MC.

Hey guys, Jesse here! Isabelle, Georgia and Willow dragged Hunter and me to this awesome place called Winter Wonderland. It’s in Hyde Park, but it’s only there in the lead up to Christmas. You’ll learn all about it in Blindsided, but I wanted to show you some photos from the park! Kyra is such an enormous dork, she re-created Winter Wonderland on her computer – here are some photos for ya!

Pretty cool, huh?

And to show you the insane rollercoaster Hunter and Willow took a ride on, this video:

Isabelle: Are you telling everyone how much of a total wuss you are for not going on the rollercoasters? *giggles*

Jesse: Well … you didn’t go on them either.

Isabelle: I’m a girl!

Jesse: So is Willow!

Isabelle: Yeah but … okay, you got me there. It was more fun to stay down here with you anyway.

Jesse: *hugs Isabelle* Okay, we don’t have time to be too sappy, we have to tell everyone about Kyra’s giveaway!

Isabelle: Oh yes! When Kyra released Game On in the summer, she did a very silly giveaway, offering one lucky winner a collection of Leah’s tacky souvenirs! It was so popular, Kyra has decided to do another silly giveaway this time around which relates to our time at Winter Wonderland.

Jesse: While we were at the park, Isabelle talked everyone into buying winter hats – totally uncool – but fun. So, Kyra would like to give two lucky winners a chance to win a winter hat! All you have to do is follow the instructions below! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blindsided Synopsis: After a successful first soccer season in L.A, Jesse Shaw heads to London with his best buddy, Hunter, but his world is turned upside down when a dangerous prank threatens his career and his blossoming relationship with Hunter’s cousin, Isabelle. Isabelle Mills lives in Notting Hill with her parents and her twin sister, Georgia. When she finds out her cousin is coming to stay, along with his famous soccer player friend, her first instinct is to hibernate until they’ve gone. However, once she meets Jesse, everything changes. He’s everything she ever wanted, but with so many obstacles in their path, can she really risk putting her heart on the line?

Author Bio: Kyra Lennon was born on the South coast of England, and to this day, still lives by the sea. After years spent working in retail, where she met enough versatile characters to write hundreds of books, she finally took the plunge and quit her day job. Kyra's debut novel, Game On, was released in July 2012. While fiction writing has always been her passion, she also has numerous articles on a variety of topics published on prolific websites. 

Buy Links: 
Kyra Lennon on Amazon.com
Kyra Lennon on Amazon.co.uk

Find Kyra online
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

I highly recommend Blindsided whether you've read Game On or not! It takes a popular character from Game On - the sweet-natured Jesse - and introduces a great new bunch of characters who really jump off the page. I found myself quickly caught up in their lives and problems. It also makes for a nice festive read at this time of year. Congrats, Kyra!

Baby Faces blogfest

I almost forgot about this blogfest hosted by the very lovely Trisha at WORD + STUFF. But better late than never, eh?

1. Between December 2nd and 3rd, post a pic of yourself as a baby, and/or;
2. Tell us a story about when you were a baby (no doubt you can't quite remember it yourself, but you've probably heard some stories from other members of your family).

You can choose to do one or the other or both, depending on your mood on the day(s). ;)

Well, all my baby pictures are in my parents' house (the only one I can recall right now is of me in the bath, holding a rubber duck that is for some reason pink. I look surprised at having my picture taken), but I can share a story. I must have been two or three at the time this happened, so slightly more toddler than baby - hope that's OK!

We had just moved into a new house - the one that I grew up in until the age of fifteen. My parents' friends had come round with their two young daughters, and thanks to me, us three kids mysteriously disappeared. At the time the house was in somewhat of a state of disarray, with most floors having no carpets, antique wallpaper peeling off and so on. My dad took twelve years to get it perfect and then sold it. My sister's room was at the top of the house, up quite a narrow staircase, and was next to the attic, with a tiny door connecting the two (think Alice in Wonderland). I'm not sure I'd even been up in the room before. As you'd expect, us kids were allowed to wander off and play while the adults chatted. I ended up going up these narrow stairs, which were probably quite difficult for young kids, with the two young visitors in tow (they were twins, possibly). And then, of course, the "magic door" which seemed just the right size for us was extremely inviting. I got it open, and found a dark space beyond. I may or may not have found the light switch, but if not, my eyes must have adjusted, because I ended up at the other side of the attic having crossed a lot of wooden beams and taking care not to fall into the "yellow sea" (just as well, because this was foam insulation that I would have fallen straight through and into the room below). We played in there quite happily and quietly for a good while, but our absence was soon noted, and it probably took a good half an hour for the adults to find us and lift us out of the attic. Just as well none of us broke our necks! Of course, following the incident, my dad fitted a lock to that little door - spoilsport. It was childlike exploration, but there may also have been an element of showing off in front of two girls!

Well, there you have it. Sorry the details are a little vague... be sure to check out Trisha's blog to visit the other participants!

A quick note - sorry I'm still not getting around much to your blogs. My laptop has suffered a mishap, and until it can be fixed or replaced I'm using my stepdaughter's, so my online time is limited. Andrew still has his casts on, and I'm spending a lot of time with him. We've just had two inches of snow here, so it's debatable whether he'll get to school today - a shame, since his sister has her work experience there this week! I've got a few blog tour posts/cover reveals booked this month, and of course I'll honour those, but I miss you guys. Hope everyone's doing well!

"Make Believe" Anthology Launch

Today I'm helping to celebrate the launch of the Make Believe anthology from J. Taylor Publishing, featuring the story Birthright from one of my best blogging buddies, Lynda R. Young. Like many others, I can always rely on Lynda for sensible, straightforward advice and a positive and encouraging comment on anything I post. I was intrigued by what I read of her story and can't wait to read the rest! Congratulations Lynda!

Christa can mask the pain and hide the scars, but running from a birthright is impossible. 

She’s tried to escape her grief by fleeing to a small town in Florida. Much to her frustration, the locals think they recognize her even though she's never been there before. To make things worse, a man named Jack spouts outrageous theories about her. 

Both spur Christa to bolt, to start fresh yet again, but there’s something about Jack that intrigues her enough to stay. The only problem? Someone else wants her to leave, and they won’t stop until she’s dead.  


Blurbs from all the stories included in Make Believe can be found on the J. Taylor Publishing website HERE.

And an excerpt:

Palms rustled overhead as Mrs. Tinder shouldered open the rickety door of Christa’s new home.

“Here we are,” the landlady said. The dark space breathed Florida’s hot air. “It’s not usually so humid here in December, but never you mind about the unseasonal heat, dear. As soon as the air-conditioning kicks in she’ll be right as rain.” Mrs. Tinder toddled over to a control panel on the wall and pressed a few buttons. A hum emanated from the walls, the lights blinked on, and the air stirred.

Busying herself around the single room cabin, Mrs. Tinder spread the drapes, straightened the cushions and opened and closed the fridge. She turned her sharp gaze on Christa. “You have family in town?”

Christa gave her a tight smile. “No, I don’t.”

“Friends, perhaps?”

She shook her head.

Mrs. Tinder’s wrinkles deepened into a frown. “You’ll be alone over Christmas?” Her pinched lips broadcast her true thoughts. No one should be alone over Christmas. It’s not right. It’s not natural.

Christa’s smile wavered. “I’ll have plenty to keep me busy.” She tapped her camera case, still hanging from one shoulder.

“Ah, a photographer.” The woman’s nod turned to a slow shake.

Christa didn’t need pity, and she didn’t need more invitations to join random family gatherings, either. To prevent further discussion, she asked, “Are there any galleries in town? Or museums?”

The woman’s face didn’t brighten. “No galleries. There’s one museum. A shack run by a man named Jack.” She grunted. “But you don’t want to go there. His displays are a load of balderdash, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Balderdash?” Christa asked in mock surprise. “A mighty strong word.”

Looking like a school principal about to pass judgment on a wayward child, Mrs. Tinder perched on a kitchen stool and leaned on the counter.

Christa regretted the tease, realizing the woman had taken it for an invitation to continue.

“Apologies for my language, dear.” Reprimand laced Mrs. Tinder’s tone. After a pause of awkward silence, she sniffed. “Mr. Jack fancies himself the town historian, but he wouldn’t know history if he fell into a dung pile of it. He snoops into family lore, delves into lost legends, and makes up stories when he can’t find nothing of no interest. Mark me, all of it’s nonsense.”

Christa nodded, though she didn’t understand at all.

“Don’t get me wrong. Jack’s a lovely boy, but he’s strayed from the path.” Mrs. Tinder peered at Christa with an appraising eye. “Perhaps a woman like you would do a young man like Jack some good.”

Christa stiffened. Matchmaking was one of the many reasons she’d left New York for the holiday season. She hadn’t expected to find it in a small town in Florida, as well.


You can find blurbs here and excerpts here for all the stories in the anthology.

Find it on Amazon UK, Amazon US and Goodreads.

A brief Author Bio:
Lynda R. Young lives in Sydney, Australia, with her sweetheart of a husband who is her rock, and a cat who believes world domination starts in the home. She writes speculative short stories and is currently writing novels for young adults. In her spare time she also dabbles in photography and all things creative. You can find her here: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads.


I wish Lynda and her fellow writers all the best with this exciting anthology. Happy Monday, everyone!

NaNo Update - Week 3

Another week, another update. How's everyone doing out there, as we race towards the home leg? Life has been extremely hectic at casa Wilford, and my progress reflects this. As of now, I have 28,523 words, so that's 7,970 added since last week. I'm not quite where I need to be, but I'm hanging in there by sheer bloodymindedness and I've found an iron will to finish. Anyone else get that. If you've done this before, do you feel like you're possessed by some kind of demonic force in the final week?

For those who may not know, my stepson Andrew has been in hospital for an operation to straighten his legs (this involved cutting tendons among other things). This should work to improve his posture when he sits in his wheelchair. Everything went really well, and he got home on Monday, but obviously he requires a lot of intensive care, around the clock. We've got our mattress down from our room to sleep on the floor next to him, and his bedroom is now the centre of the house! Fortunately, he allows me an hour in the morning to write while he and Mum have a doze, and I can still do my early morning, 4am session. That's already been done today, and I'm hoping to add 1500 later to bring me up to a round 30k. If I do that tomorrow, and each day next week (hitting 3k each day), and do 1000 on both Saturday and Sunday, I'll hit the 50k bang on. But, obviously, I'm hoping to exceed it! At the minute, I'm feeling very positive about being able to finish this.

And I'm now writing this story specifically for Andrew. I can't help feeling guilty about being away from him, even if he's sleeping at the time. He's a connoisseur of YA, and I'm counting on his reaction as a beta reader. I'm lucky to have a ready-made audience to provide feedback!

I'm fairly pleased with how the story's coming along, and for the most part it's flowing at a great pace. There's only been a couple of occasions where I've really struggled, which is far different from my previous novelling experiences. I just hope it's not too easy! It feels like there should be one more big plot twist, which is eluding my grasp. The answer? Keep writing. For everyone who's commented on these updates to that effect, I'm incredibly grateful - it's meant a massive amount to me!

I've learnt that I enjoy writing fantasy, whereas before, somehow, I never felt like I'd be capable of it. I'm letting my imagination run riot, removed from "real world" constraints. This is something I would definitely do more of, so I'm glad I gave it a go!

I hope all my friends across the pond have a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving, and I wish you a productive week, whatever you're up to!

NaNo Update - Week 2 and "U Got the Look" Meme

It's the end of another week in NaNoLand and the halfway point in the month. I've got to say I'm doing better than I thought I would be. I didn't have time to write anything between Thursday and Monday: we took my stepson for an assessment at his new college on Thursday and Friday, then we had a fundraising Fun Day on Saturday, then other stuff came up. But I've added about 5500 words since Tuesday, bringing me up to 20,553. My aim was to get to 23k today, so I'd only be 2k words under par. Unfortunately, my predawn session this morning was a bit of a struggle, and my little one has a bug so she's off nursery. I'm writing this while she's watching Spongebob. Hopefully, I'll get a bit more done tonight when she's in bed.

I'm kind of coming to the middle part of the story where I'm hitting the really sticky bit. The conflicts and problems are there, now I need to work through them. I've thrown my main protagonist and his newfound female friend into a seemingly impossible dilemma, with pretty much no idea how they're going to get out of it! Luckily, she's smarter than he is, and has connections in the right places...

I was also tagged with the "U Got the Look" meme this week by the very talented C.M. Brown (thank you!) So I thought I'd link that in with my update this week in bringing you an extract. All that's required is to "go to your current WIP, hunt down the word LOOK, and post the surrounding paragraphs." So here's something from the last week...

Eventually, the door opened and sharp footfalls echoed on the hard floor. Wellesbury opened his eyes; he had been trying his best to think of absolutely nothing.

“Good evening,” said the examiner, sitting behind the desk. He was a lean, sinewy man of about sixty, with blue eyes that seemed to be boring into Wellesbury’s soul. “It is unfortunate indeed that we have to detain you in this way, but perhaps it shall not be for too long.”

Wellesbury didn’t answer. He tried to meet the man’s gaze, but somehow it was like looking directly into headlights on a dark winter night. He was feeling groggy and spaced out from the protracted period of sitting on his own. Don’t let him brainwash you.

The man punched a few buttons on the computer terminal. “My name is Examiner Tharl, and I work here at the Assessment Centre. Please, do not be afraid of me. I, along with the entire Government, am working in your best interests. This session will just be about exploring what has happened and finding the best ways to minimise any damage.

“Now, you are aware that you’ve been brought here because of your exposure to a demon from the Under-Region.”

Wellesbury remained silent, making no move whatsoever.

Of course, I'll have to change the name of the Under-Region, because it makes me snigger too much...

And I will tag the following five:

Kyra Lennon

Tobi Summers

Jenny Herrera

Ilima Todd

Clare Dugmore

Basically I'm being really nosy about your NaNo stuff. ;)

How are you all doing with your projects, NaNo or not?

I've Been Interviewed...

...by the illustrious Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh over at the A-Z Challenge Blog today. So, if you'd like to know about my inspiration for my A-Z posts in April, and what I've got up my sleeve for next year (clue: it will involve you getting to challenge me quite a lot), I hope you'll check it out!

That's all for now. I'll be back tomorrow with more tales of clambering up the NaNo cliff face. Have a good day!

NaNo Update - Week 1

So, how's everyone doing out there? NaNoers on track? I have to say I've had great fun on the first week of my first ever NaNo. Things seem to be flowing nicely, which is good. As usual, I'm not sure if anything is any good, but I'm definitely enjoying it! As I'm away today and tomorrow to accompany my stepson on an assessment at his prospective new college, I've been beavering away, busily building a dam of words so I don't fall behind during the time off. Total so far is 14975, with about 11000 added since Monday. I don't think I could keep up this pace all the time, but my procrastination habits have been well and truly zapped for the moment. My new daily goal on a "normal" writing day will be 2000. So if you want to write more, yes, it can definitely help!

Sorry about the lack of blog commenting, by the way. I'm still snooping on people's progress on Twitter and the NaNo site! Fundraising and campaigning for Andrew is very much ongoing, so most of my other time has gone towards that. Hopefully next week will be better. And my internet connection is being extremely unreliable. Which is probably just as well, really...

OK, how about a little extract? I've just had a look through my WIP for the first time, and I did quite like this dialogue between one of my two protagonists, Wellesbury, and his gravball teammates (a game based on football) after one of them recounts how a dirt-streaked boy materialised in the midst of their gleamingly clean city.

“Well, that settles it,” said Hedgeson, with the air of one solving a great mystery. “He must be a demon.”

“There’s no such thing,” said Wellesbury.

“How do you know? We’ve all heard about them. Demons live under the ground, in the place where it’s... not clean.”

“That’s just kids’ stories, Hedgeson. We’re not five any more!”

Hedgeson leaned into him. “So you think you know best, do you? Just because you reckon you’re a hot shot at gravball? Fine, you explain where this kid came from. Assuming Finnister didn’t make the whole thing up.”

“There’s no way I could have made it up,” said Finnister, imploring Hedgeson to calm down with his eyes. Hedgeson tended to be domineering, and he hadn’t meant to cause a fight.

“Right, okay,” said Hedgeson, sitting back. “I can understand that alright. But let’s hear Welles’s opinion on it.”

Wellesbury shifted, not willing to come out with what he was thinking. One of the boys coughed without covering his hand. In this world, that was fine.

“Well...” said Wellesbury, and looked up to study the ceiling, with its pitch markings mirroring those on the floor. “Maybe he came from... somewhere else?”

“What, you mean outside of Whitopolis?” said Hedgeson. “Anyone been out there?”

“I have, on holiday,” said Salvo. “It’s the same as here, just... smaller. You know, small towns. And the people are the same. Everything, you know... white.”

“So that can’t be it.”

“No,” said Wellesbury, and Hedgeson snapped his head up sharply to look at him.

There was no turning back now. “I mean... outside of... outside of Pristinia.”

The boys looked at him for a minute, slack-jawed. Then, on a cue from Hedgeson, they all started laughing – some more nervously than others.

Wellesbury put his head in his hands. If only he’d just kept quiet and let Hedgeson have it all his way. What had he been thinking?

See you next Thursday. How are you doing with your writing, editing, or anything else you're up to?