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.

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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.