THAT SADIE THING and other stories (COVER REVEAL!)



I am so excited to share this cover reveal with you, by the gorgeous and wonderfully talented Annalisa Crawford.

A couple break up on a rainy night; a runaway longs to go home; a woman finds comfort from eating lunch as her best friend lies in hospital; a teenager feels oppressed by her father. All of the characters in these stories are trying to find their place in the world, attempting to find connections that matter with the people around them.

This collection brings together prize-winning and published stories from the past twenty years: the ‘greatest hits’.

That Sadie Thing and other stories will be available on

Kindle from Monday 25th February 2013.

Annalisa Crawford lives and writes in Cornwall with a good supply of beaches and moorland to keep her inspired. She finds endless possibilities in the relationships between people. As this collection testifies, she has been writing for twenty years - but doesn't feel a day over twenty-one.

Find her on her blog, Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.

MORE CHANGE WAS NEEDED

Today I had a talk with my attitude and we came to the conclusion that I have to stop being so damn depressing. I read a few of my blog posts for this year and man, do I sound dull. Well, first of all, I just have to mention that I have a job interview tomorrow. I am really excited, probably because this is only the second interview I have ever been invited to. With the other jobs I simply just got hired, being a temp and all that. But I really have a good feeling about this job.

The other thing is, I have been a really bad vegetarian. When I say bad...I mean eating tons of carbohydrates and mostly eating everything fried. Not to mention that I have been eating a lot of those frozen pre-packaged vegetarian stuff, which I know is not good for me on the long run, but I have just been so lazy. So, I have decided to start making my own bean burgers again and to actually start cooking for myself again and actually trying to get some form of exercise. After all, exercise makes you feel happy, right?

I just got so tired of waiting for things to change in my life, so I decided to make a few changes to a few things that are in my control.

I am also working on a short story about a nymph assassin, which I am really excited about. It is the same story idea I had a few years ago, which caused a few of my fellow bloggers to make fun of me for the idea, because apparently nymphs can't do anything aside for running around naked and having tons of sex. Just so that you know, I think that is total bull-crap, but I know it will be good and she will totally kick butt.

What is going on in your life?

JUST MOVING MY FURNITURE AROUND

Last night I worked on the details to one of the short stories that is causing chaos in my brain and this morning I wanted to write about something completely different, which is usually a sign that I should move onto something else. I know a story is worth writing when it compels me to to write it, no matter what.

Things have been feeling a bit stagnant and depressing, so that is when I knew it was time for me to move the furniture in my room about. Whenever my life is not working out the way I want, I change my room around, which as you must know, tends to be a lot. My mom once told me that constantly changing the placement of furniture in one's room tends to cause your whole life to constantly jumble around too. I guess I tend to have a restless soul.

What are you guys up to?

I AM DEFINITELY LOSING IT

I wish I could just jank myself out of this writing slump. I know I have to write and I know what I want to write and that it is something that I want to do for the rest of my life, but for some reason I am just not writing. I get to my computer and nothing happens. These days I am more interested in catching up with movies I haven't watched or catching up on a favourite TV series. 

I guess I am sabotaging myself. I guess I thought that my first book would have found a publisher by now, but deep inside I know that these things take time and that there could be a big chance that my book might not sell at all. Right now I kind of feel like my writing is going nowhere. I know that is a really depressing way of thinking, especially if I have an agent, but I am realizing that things don't get any easier, even if you have an agent. There is only so much one person can actually do for a book. 

I started job hunting and you guys won't believe how many scams and scammers there are in the job market. Honestly, I applied for one job and then the possible employer wants to charge me money to buy a supposed manual, so that I can do my job. I fell for this 2 years ago and then found out it was a scam. The other scam is where supposed recruitment agencies require my CV, a photo of myself and all documentation with regards to my education and proof of qualifications. This might not sound bad, except for the fact that many of these recruitment agencies don't even exist, which I found out from Google, not to mention that I only applied for one job and suddenly all of these supposed recruitment agencies start spamming me with the same emails every day. I guess they use those documentation for identity theft. 

Well, I guess the upside to all of this is that my life never seems to be boring. Though, right now I would give almost anything for a quiet life. 

AWARDS FOR ME

I just received the Very Inspiring Blogger Award from the very talented and wonderful Al Diaz over at http://fatherdragon.blogspot.com. Al is new to blogging and he can really do with a few more blogger friends. Thank you for the award Al!

 

I also received the Versatile Blogger Award from the equally talented and awesome Linda King over at http://excusemewhileinotethatdown.blogspot.com/. Thank you so much Linda!

Both awards mention that I have to share 7 things about myself so here goes...

7 things about myself...

1. I want to get another tattoo, hopefully still this year, as the one I have feels lonely.

2. I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian.

3. Most of my writing gets done really late at night, because I find it hard to really focus during the day.

4. I am not a morning person, at all.

5. When I was 23, my sister and I lived in New Zealand for three months.

6. I get along with animals a lot better than I do with people most days.

7. I am so much of an introvert sometimes that I tend to isolate myself from family and friends for weeks on end.

Now, for passing these awards along...I hate picking favourites, so I am just going to post these awards on my blog for anyone to claim, if they want it.

A CHOICE MADE

I handed in my resignation on Thursday and now I am once again unemployed. I suppose many of you are wondering why I would resign from one job before I even have another, but the truth is, I am not the person I was back in 2010 and 2011 and I am no longer happy with doing certain things.

With this job there was just too much responsibility, expectations and in truth, the salary was ridiculously low for the amount of work expected. In 2010 and 2011 I was happy to do the low paying, high stress job because I just wanted my career to start somewhere. Now I am 27 years old, I have been there and done that and I was supposed to move up career wise, not take two steps back.

I guess working as a freelance writer from September 2011 until November 2012 has changed me more than I thought possible. I now know that I want to be successful and I want to have pride in what I do. Things got so bad at this job that I couldn't sleep and I was completely stressed out all the time, which made me realize that I was losing myself. I was changing into someone I hated and my writing suffered. 

My family are trying to be supportive, but in truth a few of them are really disappointed in me. I feel really bad too because I couldn't stick it out like I did in 2010 and 2011 (doing the same job), but the job was ruining me. I made the choice and though I don't regret it, I feel guilty. This is the first time I ever quite and somehow my brain hasn't accepted that I won't be going to work tomorrow.

HERE IT IS AGAIN (IWSG)

The writing has not been going as I wanted, but I have lots of new ideas. I even have a few thoughts on how I am finally going to write my very first real short story. A real short story in the sense that I am going to stick to the word count of 7500 words or fewer, as my other supposed short stories have always been longer than that.

I know that my blog has not been really happy of late, but just because I am struggling to write or create does not mean that I don’t want you guys to achieve any of it either. I hope that all of you are writing and making your writing dreams come true. If the inspiration hits you, write. No matter if your pasta is burning or if the kids are drawing all over each other. I wish you guys all the best ideas and hope that the writing will just pour out of you. Until next time…

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderful and talented author and blogger, Alex J. Cavanaugh. You guys can visit Alex over at http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com.