A quick update

Hello! Thank you so much for all the kind and comforting words during my dog's illness. He's doing much better now. He got worse last week and I had to take him back to the vet, the same one I went to last week, because the others were unavailable. He asked me if I wouldn't mind staying with my dog while he performed more tests. Duh! Of course I wouldn't mind. Why didn't he just ask me that the first time? Anyway, I guess I have to apologize for going off on the doctor last week for being afraid of my baby. What was nice was that he refused to give up until he found a diagnosis. I got a little feisty with him because my dog kept getting worse. Sorry!

After many more tests and two days of intravenous medication, my dog was diagnosed with Addison's disease. How I understand it is that his kidneys don't secrete all the hormones they are supposed to or something like that. He responded well to the treatment and now he has to take medication for the rest of his life, but he's better. Yay! He has to go back in two weeks for his check-up and for more blood work to see if the medication actually helped and for further confirmation that he has Addison's disease.

I exhausted my editing fund, but at least I have my boy. Yay! Though, I'll still go ahead with my second round of rewrites and then more self-editing.

Thank you once again to all the wonderful people who wished me and my boy well. Please, have a wonderful Christmas.

My last post for the year 2014 (Almost)

Hey everyone. I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. This is going to be my last post for the year, unless there's something important I need to post.

My son (dog) has gotten sick on Sunday and we took him to the vet yesterday and the medication they gave him only made him worse. So this morning my brother took him back to the vet and they did all kinds of tests and deduced that he has a bacterial infection in his small intestine and put him on an antibiotic drip and kept him for a few hours and guess what? When he came back he was still not better, but gave my brother a pack of antibiotic medication to administer over the next few days.

Okay, I'm ranting, but I need to get this out. My dog hasn't eaten or drank anything in over two days. He still won't eat, not even chicken or steak or drink water to help save his life, not even when I force him (which makes him freak out by the way) and now I'm supposed to get this huge antibiotic pill down his throat? The vet told my brother that my son is not a social dog and he doesn't want to work with him, which is why he can't give him anymore antibiotics intravenously. My dog gets along fine with me and my family, as well as our two other dogs and even the cat. Of course he's extra grumpy because he's not feeling well and then I keep taking him to the vet to get experimented on. My son wants me to make it better and I don't know how.

The saddest part is watching him slip away right in front of my eyes and though I want to help, I don't know how. I tried forcing him to take the pill and he flipped out on me. It just stresses him out even more and I don't think adding stress to his already weakened condition is logical.

I'm sorry my last post is so heavy and depressing. But that is why I am ending my blogging year now. I'm going to focus on my son now and hope to comfort him any way I can and nurse him back to perfect health. Even my second round of rewrites will have to wait.

Once again, please have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and please take good care of yourselves. See you next year!

I feel so blessed and honored (IWSG)

I’m not as insecure this month as I usually am. Maybe it’s because I’m getting off a high of finishing my first round of rewrites, which I thought I would never get through or finally achieving my first publishing credit, by having my short entry accepted and included into the IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond. Once again, a huge thank you to the IWSG Team for all their hard work and making the e-book possible. I’m among great company and feel so honored.

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the talented Mr. Alex J. Cavanaugh, so that writers can share their insecurities and/or encourage others who need support with their own. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

Progress

The past week has gone very well for me and any depression episodes have been kept at a minimum. Yay! Today I finished my first round of rewrites. I'm going to take a few days off before I start on the second round.

How is your week going so far?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond is now available! For Free!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond is available! Woo! Hoo!

Thank you so much to Alex and the entire Insecure Writer's Support Group Team for making this happen. They all worked so hard and endlessly to make this possible and I for one, am very thankful. There is so much helpful advice and info I know I can benefit from. Congratulations to all the writers who have contributed.  

You can get your free copy here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Kobo

Goodreads

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you enjoy your time with your families and friends.

Good start to the week

I've been having a great couple of days. My rewriting is going along nicely. I'm not feeling stressed at this point, which is great. Yay!

My brother asked me to limit my refined sugar intake, as it may relieve my depression symptoms and it really is helping. It's just so hard to stop drinking soda and sugary drinks when you're addicted to it. Yes, I'm guilty. And I really have a sweet tooth. The torture! I've even started half-hour walks to help my mood. I hate the exercise when I'm doing it, but when I feel better the next morning I'm grateful. Plus, I really need to lose weight anyway, so...yeah.

Hope your week started off great. Let me know.

Fast Forward

This morning I woke up feeling that all was wrong with the world and one of the dogs added to my crappy mood by having an accident in the house, while the other was barking at me rather heatedly. I cleaned the mess and took the dogs out again, but wanted to climb back into bed, pull the covers over my head and wait for Tuesday to roll along. Alas, I didn’t. Instead I stayed on the couch the rest of the day sulking, only getting up to help cook dinner.

After dinner my mood miraculously picked up and I set off for edits. I didn’t get as much done as I hoped, but managed to edit 10 pages. I think that’s good progress for one of my bad days. Also, I noticed that after editing a few pages I felt tired. I guess I’m mentally unfit. I haven’t written in a long time and jumping back unto the creative wagon takes practice. Hopefully I can do a little more tomorrow.

Mom wants to go back to the bookshop tomorrow. Hopefully I can accompany her without spending any more money. I should really be putting every penny towards my editing fund.

How are you doing? How has your Monday been?

I love bookstores

Yesterday mom and I went down to our local used books store and there was something really comforting about walking down rows and rows of books. Seeing all the names of authors and searching for one or two books to purchase and escape into...It was great.

I completed a few pages of rewrites yesterday and I really hope I can do a few more today. Though I woke up feeling like I want to go back to bed and pray that tomorrow is a better day. Depression is affecting my writing life and I hate it. But oh well.

What are you up to today?

Stop hiding and face your rewrites

The time has finally come for me to take a big girl pill and stop hiding from my manuscript. Today I woke up feeling good and wanting to start on my rewrites and that is what I did. I full page worth. The last time I took it page by page and it was a lot less stressful and daunting. I don't handle stress well, so anything to make my life easier, the better.

My brother and I have been working around the clock on his research, but I will make time for my rewrites. History is full of writers who worked hard and had a busy life, but who still made time to write. So, no more excuses. I can do it and have to do it. I hate leaving projects incomplete.

The past few weeks my depression was really kicking my butt. I didn't feel like doing anything and the crazy heat didn't help matters much, but now I'm ready to work on my novel The Amaranthine again. So depression better watch out.

I hope all of you doing NaNoWriMo is fairing well. Wishing you the best.

For those not doing NaNo, what are you up to?

Trust (IWSG)

I don’t know about you, but for me trust is important when conversing about my writing. I want to know and feel like I can share my secret life with someone who’s trustworthy and who wouldn't laugh or disperse info about my projects. Finding such a person or several persons is very rare. But they are out there, even for an introverted homebody like me. For me, it’s all about my gut. It lets me know who's trustworthy and who isn't.

More importantly, trusting yourself is even harder. I second guess my choices all the time and rarely trust my own judgment, even if my gut tells me I’m on the right track. But, I’m working on it.

Do you trust easily? Do you trust yourself? Do you share your writer experiences with anyone? 

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the talented Mr. Alex J. Cavanaugh, so that writers can share their insecurities and/or encourage others who need support with their own. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

A little change

I think many of you have noticed the change to my blog. I have recently changed my blog name from Daily Drama of an Aspiring Writer to Murees Dupé. Why? This way I can use my blog as a website as well without having to start over again. Also, my blog URL has changed, but it will not affect you. My previous URL redirects back here.  Hopefully it won't be an inconvenience to anyone.

I must admit I am feeling a little nostalgic. I started Daily Drama of an Aspiring Writer over 4 years ago and changing its name and URL is a very big deal for me. But I will still be blogging about the same things and luckily I still have all of you in my life.

Where are all the UFO’s?

Sunday night my sister and I sat outside staring at the stars. Not just because they're beautiful, but I stupidly believed that if I looked at the sky long enough, maybe I would actually see a UFO. I’m a serious Ancient Aliens fan and I always hear about UFO’s being spotted all across the world, so why not South Africa right?

Imagine my surprise when I see a bright star moving across the sky. “Look, a UFO!” I go on ranting all excited and happy. My other family members rushed outside and saw what I was getting excited about and they simply rolled their eyes. My brother, who is the voice of logic and reason, mentioned that it was a satellite. Unwilling to believe him, I did a search online and he was right. There are like 10 000 satellites in space right now, not to mention the international space station, which can both look like stars and the latter tends to flash brightly for a few seconds and then dim again. To make matters worse, when I returned outside about 10 minutes later, another moving star moved in the sky, just confirming how regularly you can see a satellite in the sky. 

So, where are all the UFO’s? Have you ever seen a UFO?

I'm a procrastinator that needs to read more

I don't know when it happened, but I have become a procrastinator. I got some feedback on my novel, The Amaranthine and instead of jumping in to rewrites, I am scrubbing the shower and doing washing with a big goofy smile on my face. For some reason I am giving my manuscript (MS) the silent treatment, which is strange for me, because usually I over think things and become obsessed with completing tasks and now I am hiding from my MS.

Also, I have decided to read at least one book a week, because I need to read more and broaden my horizons. I truly believe that knowledge is power, of course my mom will tell me to remember what happened to Eve for wanting more knowledge. Love you Mom! But if I miss the one week deadline so be it. In fact, maybe I shouldn't set a time limit. I should just get a pile of books and tell myself too read as many as I can in say a year?

What are you up to?

I'm just boring

Unlike most bloggers I don't have a writing or blogging schedule and my blog doesn't have a specific theme.I just write about whatever I am experiencing at that moment or whatever pops into my head, which is of course a big no no.

I wanted to enter the bucket list blog hop, but I couldn't think of one thing I wanted to do before I died. I am in a good place right now and at peace with what I have accomplished thus far in my life. Being published before I die is no longer an obsession and if I die, I die. I'm ready. Depressing words, I know.

I finally finished that large order of work I had, though my brother says there is more work on the way. He's leaving on a business trip for a few days, so I get to rest before more work arrives. I must say, having my brother for a boss is actually a lot better than I thought it would be. He is really professional and as long as his work gets done on time, he pretty much leaves me alone. No yelling or constant arguments like my previous job. I can proudly say he's the best boss I ever had.

Heard back from another critique partner, Katie Cross and her feedback was amazing. She pointed out exactly what I need to fix and she did it without being mean. I have a lot of work to do in fixing my manuscript and I am so thankful for her feedback. It is invaluable. Thank you Katie.

So that's it from me, boring I know. Are you doing anything exciting right now?

You are awesome

Thank you (blogger community) for being so unbelievably awesome. I don't think I tell you often enough how grateful I am for your kind words and friendship. Your comments encourage and help me so much. Thank you again. Each one of you is super awesome!

Just roll with it

The past few days I got some feedback on my manuscript from my sister (target audience) and like suspected, she had a lot of great feedback. Mostly that my love scenes were awkward and the wording used inappropriate and that I still have a tendency to info dump. Not to mention too much happening in too short amount of time. But other than that, she liked the story. Still, I was a bit bummed.

Then I approached a few editors for quotes and mostly I found out that my expectations of what editing costs and reality is out of proportion. The amount I have saved is not near enough and that I will have to keep saving for at least another year, (so goodbye September/ October 2015 deadline). So of course I felt a little bummed again.

This morning I spent some time in the cemetery with my mom and cousin, putting flowers on our relatives graves and the gesture lifted my spirits. The things I felt bummed about didn't seem quite so important and depressing anymore, especially after I saw how many unmarked graves there were, even that of children.

I still have to hear back from two other critique partners too, but I don't fear their feedback anymore. I will wait for all the feedback before making any changes.  I am also thinking of reworking my self-publishing deadline so that it suits me and so that I don't get unnecessarily stressed. I have learned that there is always a solutions, it might not be the one I always want, but there is always a solution none the less.

How did your day turn out? Anything happen that you didn't plan?

I'm afraid (IWSG

The past few IWSG posts I tried to post only positive messages and encouraging words. Today is the opposite, because I have to admit I am scared. By what? Pretty much everything. I'm afraid  of people, sharing or discussing my writing and asking for help. I'm afraid that no one (aside for myself) will ever like my writing.

Since becoming a blogger I have met so many great people and I want to thank you guys for always being ready to help me and offer advice. You help me to fight my fears everyday.


The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh, so that writers can share the insecurities they have and/or encourage others who need support with their insecurities. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

Oh snap, final editing is done

I feel kind of nervous and terrified at the same time. I have finished my self-editing and have sent my novel off to my beta-readers and I am shaking as I am typing this post. I was confident while editing, but now...at this stage not so much. My courage is hiding in my shoes. What if they hate it?

Anyway, I still haven't saved enough for professional editing services yet and will probably only send it off for editing next year only. I have stupidly given myself the publishing date of September or October of 2015. But I have no problem postponing it even further if I have to. The reason I chose September or October of next year was because I wanted to publish my first book before I was thirty. But it might not be a good enough reason. If everything goes according to plan, which it never does, I will probably make it. But I am not stressing about it right now.

At least I will have my brother's data to keep me busy for the rest of this month and next month. We have a mammoth task in front of us, but I know we can do it. To give you an idea, I have over 10 000 pages of scientific data to enter into a specific document and format, but I feel happy about the fact that I will be making my brother's job easier, as he doesn't have all that time to enter data.

Anyway, enough about me. How are you doing? What is going on in your life?

The Trouble with Flirting by Rachel Morgan

**NEW RELEASE**

THE TROUBLE WITH FLIRTING

by Rachel Morgan

Labelled a nerd for most of high school, Livi sees her first year of university as a chance to redefine herself. She can finally enter the popular crowd and maybe even land herself a super hot boyfriend. But Livi’s about to discover that the price of popularity may be more than she's willing to pay, and that what—and who—she wants most has always been right in front of her.

Amazon

Goodreads

Trouble Series Website

The Trouble Series

Forgiven (A Trouble Novella) *FREE*

The Trouble with Flying *OUT NOW*

The Trouble with Flirting *OUT NOW*

The Trouble with Faking *OCT 2014*

The Trouble with Falling *DEC 2014*

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Morgan was born in South Africa and spent a large portion
of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. After completing a
degree in genetics, she decided science wasn’t for her—after all, they didn’t
approve of made-up facts. These days she spends much of her time immersed in
fantasy land once more, writing fiction for young adults and those young at heart.




She is the author of the Amazon bestselling YA fantasy series, Creepy Hollow, and the lighthearted contemporary romance Trouble series.

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+ | Pinterest

Goodbye Tina Downey (sunflower tribute)

Rest in peace Tina #LifeisGood

Social media is not the enemy

As you all know, I fear technology. Mostly because it has this tendency to malfunction around me. But, i have decided to get over my social media fear and try and join at least the basic platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Why? Well, many bloggers ask you to spread the word on those two platforms and I can never help because I don't have Facebook or Twitter. The other reason is that when I release my series, that I would want to share the release with a wider audience as well. Blogging is and will always be the type of social media I like best, but I guess one has to grow, right? I read that a lot of people don't read blogs and would be more inclined to read Facebook or Twitter. But it all scares me.

I already joined Google+ a few months ago and the only thing that annoys me is the fact that certain people only follow you so that you will follow them back and then they stop following you and in the end you are following thousands of people and only a handful of people are following you back. So maybe Google+ doesn't work like Blogging, where you should follow everyone back.

Okay, I am starting to babble. Hopefully I can join a few more social media platforms without any hassle or freaking out. What social media platform do you like? Do you think the concept of social media is scary?

Just a thought (IWSG)

Dear Writer

You are talented.

You are special.

You are wonderful.

You are worth it.

You are appreciated.

You are loved.

Never allow others to convince you to give up on your dreams. Only believe the truth about yourself. Love yourself and be kind to yourself, always. 

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh, so that writers can share the insecurities they have and/or encourage others who need support with their insecurities. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

The Watchers Book 1: Knight of light by Deirdra Eden

The Watchers Book 1: Knight of Light

In England, 1270 A.D., Auriella (pronounced yurr-ee-ella) flees her village after being accused of witchcraft. Pursued by nightmarish creatures, she struggles to accept the truth about her powers.

“The Watchers” are supernatural beings in human form whose duty it is to protect and guard mankind from the armies of darkness. Unfortunately, some of these Watchers go bad.

Deirdra Eden’s The Watcher’s Series is written in a traditional fairytale style with a young girl’s discovery of incredible, but dangerous powers within herself, a cast of humorous side-kicks, (including a dwarf, pixie and dragon) a quest for greater self-discovery and purpose, and villains of epic proportions.

Watch the amazing Knight of Light book trailer on youtube.

Amazon  Facebook  Twitter  Goodreads  Wattpad  Pinterest

About the Author

"My goal in writing is to saturate my books with intrigue, mystery, romance, and plot twists that will keep my readers in suspense. I want to see fingerprints on the front and back covers where readers have gripped the novel with white knuckles!

Aside from writing, I enjoy jousting in arenas, planning invasions, horseback riding through open meadows, swimming in the ocean, hiking up mountains, camping in cool shady woods, climbing trees barefoot, and going on adventures."

-Deirdra Eden

Find Deirdra Eden and The Watchers Series online at Amazon, Deirdra's website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Wattpad, and Pinterest.




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The Thelum Series

I have had some time to think about my writing and what my writing goals are and what I wanted to accomplish when I hopefully self-publish next year. Well I have made many decisions. I am going ahead with my novel, The Amaranthine (previously known as Immortal: New Beginning). It is the first book in my series which I have decided to call The Thelum Series. I have completed the first drafts of two other books in the series and they still need re-writes and editing. So there will be plenty to do in the upcoming years.

Why The Thelum Series? Well, Thelum is a fictional world (like earth) I have created for my story to play out in and it is simply easier for me than writing about an actual country or city. It is going to be a paranormal romance/urban fantasy series written from a first person perspective. I know many of you are grimacing right now, but it will be good. At least I think the first book is taking shape nicely.

I am in the final stage of self-editing before handing it over to a serious romance book expert and to be honest, I am terrified of her opinion. Who is it you ask? My oldest sister. Now I know what you're thinking about her not giving me honest feedback, but when it comes to her romance novels, she is brutal. She should actually critique manuscripts for a living. She really reads all kinds or romance and science fiction and will rip my manuscript apart for unrealistic characters, loopholes in my plot and whether my book stands a chance in the romance market. After her critique (end of this year) I am hoping I would have saved enough to hire a professional or freelance editor (next year).

I just have to focus on the rest of the self-editing at the moment. I don't know why, but I have this really nasty habit of rushing the editing process. Slow and easy definitely works best for me, but now that I am at the final stage I am getting low on momentum at the most crucial point. But I will forge ahead. I will make it through. Even if I have to kick myself to get there.

So, what are you up to?

I got tagged for the Radiant Award

I am always thankful and humbled whenever I get nominated for an award or get tagged. Having accepted this award, I have to adhere to the rules, which are:

1. Give a shout out to the person who nominated me.

2. List 26 words describing me, starting at A, finishing at Z.

3. Tag 4 other people.

I want to thank Stephanie Faris for tagging me. It was really kind of her and her blog is a great read. She always has wonderfully useful content to share. Plus, she supports curvy women, so she rocks!

Now, 26 things words that describe me. Sorry in advance if I sound boring.

A - Awkward
B - Busty
C - Caring
D - Dreamer
E - Enthusiastic
F - Fearful (Most things)
G - Grateful
H - Hermit
I - Intelligent
J - Jealous
K- Kind (I like to think so)
L - Loquacious
M - Moody
N - Naive
O - Obsessive
P - Prepared
Q - Quirky
R - Romantic
S - Serious
T - Tenacious
U - Unpredictable
V - Vicious
W - Writer
X - Xanthippe
Y - Yammerer
Z - Zealous

Now to tag 4 others... You are under no obligation to accept this tag, if you would rather not participate.

Neurotic workaholic

Michelle Wallace

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Rebecca Bradley

What words would you say best describe you?

I can think again

My neck pain is gone, like magic, but most importantly I am back to feeling like I can think. Before the medication made me feel sleepy and for lack of a better word, drugged. I got some of the best sleep ever, but my mind was so foggy. I walked around feeling like what I can only assume zombies feel like, aside for eating everyone of course. Thank you so much for all your well wishes.

I read a post by Stephanie Faris the other day Body Problems You Never Knew You Had and this post really struck a nerve with me, because as a woman I don't look like the women in magazines and find it hard to love my curvy body when most people advocate for the skinnier form. To my surprise there were so many people advocating for the curvy form, which cheered me up. Even better, Alex J. Cavanaugh gave a wonderful response to that post on his Blog today, which made me feel even better about the whole body issue thing. Thank you Alex.

What are you up to today?

I blame the aliens

My head feels a little funny and I kind of feel like I have been floating for most of this week. I have to take medication for the inflammation in my neck muscles and the medication is kicking my butt. It is really strong and I just end up sleeping or staring at everyone as if they are speaking in tongues. According to the doctor I must recently have received trauma to my neck to have hurt those specific muscles, but I can't think of anyway that could have happened, so I am just going with the theory that I was abducted by aliens and they had forgotten to put me down gently when they brought me back.

I am still on a resting period between edits, which works out perfectly for me, because I would have been so angry with myself for wasting good editing time. On the downside. I had to use some of my hard earned editing money to pay for my doctor's visit and medication. Damn aliens. Back to saving every penny.

The Messenger (IWSG)

If you feel insecure or down on your luck today, I hope the message of this song will cheer you up. The lyrics are beautiful and it is one of my favorite songs of all time. 

The Messenger by Linkin Park

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh, so that writers can share the insecurities they have and/or encourage others who need support with their insecurities. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

Sitting in front of the fire

It's a wonderful rainy day and the best thing about it is that I get to curl up on my favorite chair in front of the fire. Yay! I love the rain.

This weekend I devoted most of my time to working on my blurb and I actually came up with a version which I liked very much. I even asked my sister, who loves romance novels (my target audience) and she liked it as well. One less thing for me to worry about.

My savings for editing is coming along nicely. I haven't saved as much as I wanted yet, but I know I will. It might take a while, but I'm in no hurry.

I blame the ghost in the machine

I am kind of embarrassed to mention it, but my computer had to go in for repairs. For some reason my computer screen went black and stayed that way for days. So I took it in for repairs and guess what? The computer suddenly started working perfectly and the tech guy blamed me for not shutting down my laptop properly. I am convinced that me and computers don't get along. There is a ghost in the machine that plays all kinds of havoc and makes me look bad. Bad Ghost.

Back from holiday

The holiday was great fun and I have gotten a lot of rest and have even finished my second round of rewrites. It was something about the solitude that really stimulated my creativity. As promised, I have some photos for you guys. The camera wouldn't work, so I had to make due with my phone's camera. 

View from our balcony

View from the balcony

View from my room

On the beach

On the beach

I also wanted another ear piercing, so when I got home I got an upper ear piercing to both ears and no, it didn't actually hurt that much. I love the way it looks though.

My ear

I feel re-energized and I got to see my writing in a new light, which was refreshing. I also got to catch up on my reading and I read Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs, which I liked and I finally got to read Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, which I loved. It was so hot.

So, what have you been up to while I was gone? 

Effigy by M.J. Fifield available now

It's Effigy Release Day!

EFFIGY (Epic Fantasy), Book One in the Coileáin Chronicles
by M.J. Fifield

Release date: July 22, 2014

Now available in paperback and on Kindle at Amazon and CreateSpace (other editions to follow soon!)

The survival of a once-mighty kingdom rests in the hands of its young queen, Haleine Coileáin, as it slowly succumbs to an ancient evil fueled by her husband’s cruelty.

A sadistic man with a talent for torture and a taste for murder, he is determined to burn the land and all souls within. Haleine is determined to save her kingdom and, after a chance encounter, joins forces with the leader of the people’s rebellion. She gives him her support, soon followed by her heart.

Loving him is inadvertent but becomes as natural and necessary as breathing. She lies and steals on his behalf, doing anything she can to further their cause. She compromises beliefs held all her life, for what life will exist if evil prevails?

Her journey leads to a deceiving world of magic, monsters, and gods she never believed existed outside of myth. The deeper she goes, the more her soul is stripped away, but she continues on, desperate to see her quest complete. If she can bring her husband to ruin and save her people, any sacrifice is worth the price—even if it means her life.

Add it to your Goodreads List!

About the author:

Armed with a deep and lasting love of chocolate, purple pens, and medieval weaponry, M.J. Fifield is nothing if not a uniquely supplied insomniac. When she isn't writing, she's on the hunt for oversized baked goods or shiny new daggers. M.J. lives with a variety of furry creatures—mostly pets—in New Hampshire's Mount Washington Valley. Effigy is her first novel. Visit her online at mjfifield.com, find her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

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On Vacation

I will be on vacation next week, so I won't be posting, maybe one scheduled post.  I also won't have access to the internet, so I will only be able to respond to comments and emails when I get back. I hope all of you will have a great weekend and week ahead. Please stay safe.

When a dog gets the better of you

My chef sister was off today and needed to take her dog to the vet. Because her dog is a rather big dog she needed my help taking the dog to the vet. After all, the dog is such a cutie.

Anyway, the appointment went well and my sister's dog was very well behaved. My sister stayed behind to pay and I took the dog's leash from my sister to take the dog for a walk. Instead I ended up on a light jog to what I hoped was a toilet break and not an attempt to run away in anger.

In the end all she wanted was to go back to the car and she had ended up dragging me behind her in her search for the correct car. Finally at some point I realized that she only wanted to go back to the car and once there, she calmed down. Duh.

A few minutes later my sister came out laughing.
"What's so funny?" I said, petting her dog.
She said, "Everyone inside the vet's office saw you running with the dog and one guy said 'there is a lady in the parking lot being dragged around by a dog'."

What can I say, my life is anything but boring.

Fresh bread

My freshly baked bread

Yesterday I attempted to bake fresh bread and much to my surprise I had gotten it right. I am so proud of those two beauties, even though my family had already started eating the one loaf. What can I say, the smell of freshly baked bread was just too great for them to ignore. Yay for me. 

Great few days

Hello Table Mountain (view from car)

The past few days have been really great and the struggle from earlier in the week forgotten. Yesterday my siblings and I headed off to Canal Walk in Cape Town for dinner and some shopping. Food was excellent and the fact that my siblings were treating me was even better. The company was wonderful and the frozen yogurt I had on my way out topped off my night quite well.

This morning my family and I kicked off our day with a great breakfast of eggs, crispy bacon, fluffy pancakes, sparkling wine, freshly squeezed orange juice and french toast. It was absolutely delicious and once again, the company was superb. After breakfast my brother took my two sisters and myself on a mystery drive, as it was a beautiful day and we wanted to experience it. We started off our journey to Franschhoek, but changed direction quickly when we realized the Bastille Festival was on (too crowded for us) and we headed towards Pniel and then Stellenbosch, where we bought some fresh ingredients for supper, which was delicious.

On the way to Franschhoek (view from car)

Still on the way to Franschhoek (view from car)

I think what made these few days extra special was the fact that my chef sister was off for a few days and we got to spend lots of time together. Sometimes I talk a lot of crap about my family and how they don't understand me, but I love them a lot and they are more than just my family, they are also my best friends and life just wouldn't be as great without them. Mom decided to sit out both adventures because she wanted to play computer games instead.

Out of balance today

After days of freaking out, I got the answer I wanted. I am going to continue as a sole proprietor and worry about each obstacle as it comes my way. I tend to be one of those people that worry about everything all the time and drive all those around me crazy. Thank you to my blogger friends for your wonderful support and advice.

With my rewriting I am going to take it page by page, instead of chapter by chapter. Hopefully that will stop me from procrastinating. My brother thinks I am delaying the self-editing process because I am afraid of failure in the long run and I think he might be right. Sometimes I wish I was a lot braver than I really am.

I have become a lot more of a hermit, but I can’t help it, I just prefer my own company and only leave the house to buy groceries. Avoiding huge amounts of human contact actually keeps me sane, believe it or not. Being amongst people irritates me and depresses me even more.

Certain days I think the depression medication is helping and other days I know it isn’t. Lately I have been feeling really low and getting out of bed has become a chore again. Most people know why they get depressed, I don’t. My hormones just get so out of whack that I patiently wait and pray that it will return to a reasonable level as soon as possible.

I would love to be one of those people who are enchanting and who always has something good to say, but I’m the exact opposite. My mom says I have been this depressing person since I was born. I know many of you would like a lot more interesting and vibrant posts, but I honestly don’t think it is in me right now. 

Hyperventilating today (IWSG)

When I started off the day I wasn’t feeling insecure about anything. In fact I felt good, as if I was on top of the world. Fast-forward a few more hours and I find myself hyperventilating. Why? Because I am trying to get things in place if I want to self-publish (next year hopefully).

That doesn’t sound so bad? Well, I never thought of me, self-publishing my work, as a small business. All businesses need a business plan and I did one in college as an assignment, but I have no idea how to do one now and then I have to think of what type of business I will be, an enterprise, LLC and so forth and then what will my business be named?

It is all getting so real and I have taken up the bad habit of procrastinating. My editing has slowed down too. Everytime I look at my manuscript I worry about sorting out all the tax info for my small business. I know this is really unrealistic and immature, but I thought I could just get my book ready and publish, ignoring the whole small business thing all together. Now there are so many other things to consider and I feel like I am in over my head. My problem is that I over think things sometimes.

How are you doing? Please, I hope you are doing much better than me, if not, I am sending you plenty of virtual hugs.

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh, so that writers can share the insecurities they have with each other and/or encourage others who need support with their insecurities. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

I changed my email

Hey everyone. I simply wanted to mention that I had changed my email to mureesdup(at)gmail(dot)com. My Yahoo address will still work for a week or two, but then it will close. I have simply been receiving far too much spam at Yahoo.

I am sorry if it causes anyone any inconvenience.

Effigy by M.J. Fifield Cover Reveal

Congratulations M.J. You did it!

Release date: July 22, 2014 

Cover art by Ravven

Effigy Blurb:

The survival of a once-mighty kingdom rests in the hands of its young queen, Haleine Coileáin, as it slowly succumbs to an ancient evil fueled by her husband’s cruelty.

A sadistic man with a talent for torture and a taste for murder, he is determined to burn the land and all souls within. Haleine is determined to save her kingdom and, after a chance encounter, joins forces with the leader of the people’s rebellion. She gives him her support, soon followed by her heart.

Loving him is inadvertent but becomes as natural and necessary as breathing. She lies and steals on his behalf, doing anything she can to further their cause. She compromises beliefs held all her life, for what life will exist if evil prevails?

Her journey leads to a deceiving world of magic, monsters, and gods she never believed existed outside of myth. The deeper she goes, the more her soul is stripped away, but she continues on, desperate to see her quest complete. If she can bring her husband to ruin and save her people, any sacrifice is worth the price—even if it means her life.

About The Author:

Armed with a deep and lasting love of chocolate, purple pens, and medieval weaponry, M.J. Fifield is nothing if not a uniquely supplied insomniac. When she isn’t writing, she’s on the hunt for oversized baked goods or shiny new daggers. M.J. lives with a variety of furry creatures—mostly pets—in New Hampshire. Effigy is her first novel.

Links: Website // Blog // Add Effigy on Goodreads // Visit the cover artist 

The nerve of some people

Last night I took the dogs out to do their business and guess what I saw. I have this habit of looking up and down the street when I'm outside to make sure there are no dodgy people lurking about and when I look across the street, I see someone carrying off my neighbors gardening chairs. So I screamed at the culprit to startle him, or at least make him worry that I might call the police, but no. The guy kept walking as if he owned the chairs and started cussing at me for interrupting him. Can you believe that? I get that I might not look scary, but shouldn't the fact that he was caught stealing scare him a little?

Anyway, I didn't call the police. We live two streets away from an illegal squatter camp that has just popped up one day and all the criminals head straight for it (about less than a minutes walk away), because not even the police dares to go in there and by the time the police would have shown up, he would be gone. I should mention, this is the same creepy guy I have had trouble with in the past. For some strange reason the police never do anything about him. Before we know it he is back being a nuisance.

The thing about South Africa is that it is a great country filled mostly with wonderful people, but we do have a problem with crime and criminals have so many rights that protect them that the criminals have more freedom than the non-criminals do.

Another thing, last week some guy, I don't know, went off on me on Google+ because I commented on a quote someone else had posted about "A well read woman is a dangerous creature" and apparently the guy thinks I'm a lonely feminist that will never have anything more than an empty house, plants and dogs. All just because I said I loved that quote. What the hell? Anyway, I didn't respond, because I figured that guy just wanted someone to talk to and I was so not in the mood.

Our Beautiful Child is available now!

Congratulations Annalisa!

For no reason whatsoever, Annalisa thought it would be fun to answer some of the questions that Jackie magazine asked the stars of the day (the example she's found is from 1984 – and the victim was Johnny Marr from The Smiths). She will be answering one question on each of the random blogs taking part!

Question: Nickname?

Annalisa's answer: At school, I was called Olive Oyl and Mona (after Mona Lisa).

And my answer: There are so many, but my family called me chicken. At school the names were a lot meaner, like fatty and big boobs...the list goes on.

Our Beautiful Child is available right now! 

“The Boathouse collects misfits. Strange solitary creatures that yearn for contact with the outside world, but not too much. They sit, glass in hand, either staring at the table in front of them, or at some distant point on the horizon.” 

… so says the narrator of Our Beautiful Child. And he’s been around long enough to know.

People end up in this town almost by accident. Ella is running away from her nightmares, Sally is running away from the memories of previous boyfriends and Rona is running away from university. Each of them seek sanctuary in the 18th century pub, The Boathouse; but in fact, that’s where their troubles begin.

Ella finds love, a moment too late; Rona discovers a beautiful ability which needs refining before she gets hurt; and Sally meets the captivating Murray, who threatens to ruin everything.

Three women. Three stories. One pub.

Links: Website // Blog // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest // Add to Goodreads// Author page on Amazon

You must believe (IWSG)

When it comes to reaching goals or fulfilling dreams, the most important aspect is that you have to believe in yourself. It doesn’t matter if your dream or goal is writing related or not. If you want to achieve something, you have to believe that you can do it. You have to have faith in yourself. If you can’t believe or trust yourself, you can’t expect others to.

I know this because I don’t always believe in myself. I don’t always have confidence in my dreams or goals and wonder if I am truly talented enough to do what needs to be done. I don’t always believe that I have what it takes to do what I want. But every now and then I get a reality check and the feeling of trust and belief in myself kicks me in the face and before I know it, I am my own number one fan and cheerleader.

I’m not always the most confident person, but if I can believe in myself, so can you. 

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh, so that writers can share the insecurities they have with each other and/or encourage others who need support with their insecurities. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.