FOLLOWERS BLOG HOP

My name is Murees Dupé and this is my blog. Most days my blog posts are about my life as a writer and other days I talk about the everyday happenings in my life while seeking publication, or I just write about everyday things that happen to me. I tend to be like a magnet for crazy people (the dangerous kind) and I tend to be accident prone. It also does not help that I have no luck at all.

If all of this sounds interesting, then please follow me. Thanks for the visit.

FOLLOWERS BLOG HOP AND PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

I know this is very last minute, but I needed to tell you guys about the followers blog hop, which will be hosted by the awesome and funny Melissa Chesley over at writings, musings and other such nonsense on 10 June 2013. Yes, I know it is on Monday, but there is still time to sign up.

If you want more followers or simply want to help other individuals gain more followers then this is the blog hop for you. All you have to do is sign up at the linky list below and write a post on the 10th of June and include all the links that you want your new followers to follow you at. Of course, you have to disable Captcha in order to make leaving comments easier. As usual with a blog hop, you visit the other individuals on the linky list, follow them and leave a comment of you doing so. Easy right?

On to the pineapple upside down cake. As you know, I have started to read the Stephanie Plum series and have now become an addict. If you read those novels you are always hungry and salivating at the wonderful food descriptions and the fantastic cuisine the main character is always exposed to. Not to mention that the men make you want to drool too. Well, I emailed Ms Evanovich and told her about how great she was and how I loved her books (because I honestly wish that I had written these books) and in response, her assistant provided me with a recipe for her pineapple upside down cake, which also happens to be the favourite of the main character in her Stephanie Plum novels. Of course I baked it myself and it was delicious. You can find the recipe here. It is easy and delicious and not even I could make this a flop and I am not a baking type of person.

THAT SADIE THING BLOG TOUR WITH ANNALISA CRAWFORD

I am so excited and honoured to have the awesome and talented Annalisa Crawford over, visiting my little blog. Welcome Annalisa and enjoy!


Thanks for having me over today, Murees!

Open Windows is a peculiar story for me to talk about, because I don't really remember writing it. That's quite strange, isn't it? I do remember that the first thing I wrote was the part where Michael's ghost asks Jackie if she has a pencil, and she throws it into the empty room. For ages that small passage stayed in my notebook.

I wrote this story in 1994 - you might see me mention that year a couple more times during this tour because it was one of my most prolific years for short stories. I was unemployed at the time, and between applying for jobs and opening letters telling me I hadn't been successful (back when they used to let you know you were a failure rather than just let you forget you'd applied in the first place), I wrote a lot.

Open Windows originally won third prize in a competition called Little Acorns, held by a lovely man who would hand-write one or two sentence critiques. For that reason alone, I entered almost every single monthly competition he held, because just having someone take me seriously as a writer was a huge boost. On a couple of occasions these critiques came with a cheque attached - you can probably imagine my joy!

A couple of years later I entered the story into another competition, a local writer's circle comp, because Little Acorns didn't publish winning entries, so I could resubmit. This time it was published - yay!


About Annalisa
I live in Cornwall, with a good supply of beaches and moorland right on my doorstep. I live with my husband, two boys, a dog and a cat. Despite my location. I neither surf nor sail, and have never had any inclination to try. I much prefer walking along the beach and listening to the waves crashing over rocks. For this reason, I really love the beach in the winter!

Buy That Sadie Thing here (this link should take you direct to your local Amazon)
Follow Annalisa here, or Like her here
Read her blog here

BE BRAVE (IWSG)

I have always been the kind of person to think things through and plan things ahead. Of course, when I decided to become a writer, I took a similar approach and do you know what? I am not any closer to my dream of being a successfully published author.

My point? Sometimes you just have to take a chance. Submit that book proposal. Talk to a person that knows more about that career path that you want to follow. Ask that cute guy or girl out on a date. Be brave, live.

I feel like I have been planning and planning and I still end up disappointed. So if you are like me and have been getting the short end of the stick, lets be brave and dare to do something different.

Annalisa Crawford will be stopping by my blog tomorrow to talk about That Sadie Thing. If you want to, you can come over and say hi to her. I know she will appreciate it.

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.

RARE SIGHT TO SEE

I just had to share this rare little phenomenon of really heavy hail with you guys. Just so that you know, this much hail is rarely ever seen in my town, no matter how cold it gets. It just makes me want to get back into bed. 

IT IS HIGH SCHOOL ALL OVER!

I have been trying to figure out why it is that I am not fitting in at my place of employment, even though I have gone out of my way to be nice and try and fit in as best as I can and I now know why. It is because it is high school all over again. For those of  you who do not know this, I was never popular. I was always a loner and I was just never good at making friends. Apparently I thought outside of the box and that is frowned upon.

Now, once again, I am the much talked about weird kid who is gossiped about and picked on. Walking into a place where everyone hates you is kind of upsetting and it does hurt my feelings, but hey, my family tells me that is what people do in the real world. They suck it up. A few months ago it was just my one co-worker that hated me and now it seems everyone at work hates me too and has joined her to destroy me or something.

Is there not a point in your life where the whole high school mentality stops and everyone starts thinking for themselves? Are there actually people who still care about who is cool and who is not? Are there actually still people that only wants to be friends with the cool kids? If there are, I can't even begin to understand that kind of mentality. I have never been the kind of person to have other people think for me or force me into things. I never wanted to be one of the cool kids and for some reason, that just makes me even more hated at work, which is my high school experience all over again.

FREE E-BOOK

Hey guys, Madeline Ann Stringer over at Reincarnated as a writer desperately needs your help with getting her e-book, Despite the Angels noticed. Her e-book is available for free download here or here and all you have to do is download it, read it and write a review on Amazon about what you thought about the book, please.

Or if you simply just want to read it, that is always good too. For those of you without a kindle, there is free software also available on Amazon that you can download here, so that you can read the kindle version. For those of you that prefer the paperback, you can purchase it here.

If you are interested, please check this out or if  you simply want to visit Madeline Ann over at her blog. that is cool too.