tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49751313352681950782024-03-12T23:26:48.018+00:00This Bird's EyeviewA writer of flash fiction, short stories and a novel...someday...maybe.Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-91186411726967049282013-02-22T12:37:00.002+00:002013-02-23T14:28:45.430+00:00FREE PROMOTION ON AMZAZON THIS WEEKEND<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Hi there!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a quick post to tell y’all my collection
of flash & shorts is on free promotion this weekend over on Amazon!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s in Kindle format (no dead wood version)
and it’s absolutely free all weekend!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Go on, give it try – it’s got a bunch of 5 star reviews and very
complimentary they are too!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FB930b8nN5Y/USdmZfnLBcI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/l0LcjGK3jAs/s1600/My.Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FB930b8nN5Y/USdmZfnLBcI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/l0LcjGK3jAs/s320/My.Cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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The links are below:</div>
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<br /></div>
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US Amazon: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cmepqoa"><b>http://tinyurl.com/cmepqoa</b></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"></span></div>
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UK Amazon: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cr8eb7m"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">http://tinyurl.com/cr8eb7m</b></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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And if you don’t have a kindle
you can get a free reading application to mount on your PC, iPad, or Android here:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><a href="http://tinyurl.com/b76g99y">http://tinyurl.com/b76g99y</a></b></div>
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<b>
</b></div>
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Enjoy, and don’t forget to go
back and leave a review and hit that like key!<br />
<br />
Go and read a sample on an earlier post, A snippet, a taster, the teeniest, tiniest morsel....<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4975131335268195078#editor/target=post;postID=7127047689424871156" target="_blank"> </a></div>
Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-10659108292373292062013-02-04T19:43:00.000+00:002013-02-11T00:06:38.849+00:00Should we accept what happens in the World, or try to make a difference?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just
passing thr<span style="font-size: small;">ough</span>. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow… and then we
return home"</span></span></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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This is an Aboriginal proverb. These are wonderful words. They have a unique grace that really resonates for a lot of people. How about you... how about me?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I see the beauty of these words, I appreciate the timeless grace they invoke but... the passivity, the disinterest, the apparent acceptance that an individual <i>cannot</i> make a difference - is something that jars with me.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Do you have a view? Tell me...</div>
Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-67611669702531631872012-12-07T17:02:00.005+00:002012-12-07T17:10:20.003+00:00Christmas is coming...and just look at that fat goose!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I am looking forward to Christmas this year. For the first time in a very long time I am not responsible for my Christmas. We are off to a hotel for a few days and spending The Day with my sister-in-law. Bliss! No getting hot and sweaty and frazzled, banished to a cooking hell while others guzzle canapés, champagne and the Quality Street. I shall arrive cool and fragrantly scented at the venue, bags of presents in my hands, make-up intact and clothes unspotted by cooking juices. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hell I might even get around to applying some slap and varnishing my nails! (Decadent thought) </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The one cloud on my horizon will be whether or not I'll be hearing from the S&H (son and heir). He's spending the holidays in Cambodia with Uni friends, at the home of one set of parents - brave couple! I think he might even be planning to be on the beach at Kampot. But <i>of course </i>he'll call I'm telling myself...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Anyway here's a couple of small presents from me to you for Christmas. They are short stories about... well you'll see. They are from my collection of 140 short and short-short stories, A Plate of Bits available to buy on Amazon. It will make a wonderful Christmas present for all your friends, so go and check it out!<br />
<br />
For the US link go<a href="http://tinyurl.com/cmepqoa" target="_blank"> here</a> and for the UK link<a href="http://tinyurl.com/cr8eb7m" target="_blank"> here</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Enjoy!</div>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
On the Road Home</h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I revisited our old stomping ground last week, before we set out on
this trek; remembering all the good times we’d had there, and no
mistake. Maz’s always been one for a good time, you know?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Jezza,” she’d say to me, “You are a one, so you are.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And we’d roll in the sweetly scented hay, stifling our laughter with kisses.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But that was BC – before conception. When she fell, she told her parents she was still a virgin; swore blind we’d never done <i>it</i>.
Well, she’s a good girl, isn’t she? We didn’t want people to think
she was a slag, y’know? A miracle they all said. I went along with it;
stood by her. They were suspicious, but I was clear of any dog–house.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Then some old bastard passed that law about the likes of me and mine returning home to pay my taxes.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So here we are on our way back, with Maz sitting on a donkey that’s
on its last legs, and her bulging fit to burst. God knows if we’ll make
it all the way before the baby comes. To make it easy, we're just
following that new star in the east; even a sightless gimp could follow
that all the way home.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And then when we do arrive, what’s the betting there’re no rooms to
be had, anywhere? S’pose in the end we’ll be grateful for a stack of
hay in any old stable. Mind you, I’ve got very fond memories of Maz in
stables; know what I mean? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last night she turns to me, with a big goofy Madonna–like smile plastered all over her face, and says:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Don’t worry; we’ll get through this Jezza. And then the baby’ll be born... We’ll be a proper family, then.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now there’s blind faith for you. Women – eh?</div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b> The Angel on the Tree</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
The little Angel sat on a sturdy branch half way up the biggest tree
in the little wood – despondent. The persistent rain drizzled down the
back of her best white gown. She hated rain – it made her wings moist,
and she abhorred moist wings; they were <i>so</i> restricting. You couldn’t get a good soar going with moist wings.<br />
She gazed around her wood, and mentally marshalled her silent troops.
She often visited them, just to keep in touch. It wasn’t really her
wood; it was just her job to look after it. It wasn’t really a wood,
more a line of trees at the back of a country Inn. But she had been
given the responsibility to protect these beautiful trees. The little
angel quietly chatted to the trees in her coppice:<br />
“Right chaps, we got through it last year! And now we have to gird
our loins for this next one,” She murmured softly. There was an
interested rustle in response.<br />
Last year had been her first year as guardian, and in their defence
she’d managed to transport a flight of Urania butterflies from the
Amazon for those couple of hours in early December – just long enough
for the locals to be amazed and so put a stall on the annual seasonal
cutting. Ok, when she’d got the flight back to their rightful home,
they <i>had </i> been a little frost–bitten and even more than a little confused…but no real harm was done.<br />
Well, she’d thought so; but her immediate boss hadn’t appreciated her
ruse. No flash methods this year, she’d been told. Just good old
fashioned guarding; easier said than done.<br />
“It had worked though,” she muttered a little sulkily, “and isn’t that what it’s all about?”<br />
There must be a way; she sat and considered, glumly.<br />
No flash. No ruses.<br />
When the idea hit her, she nearly fell off her branch. It was so
simple! So beautifully simple – and she was sure this would save her
trees forever. All she needed was an event to make special – and she
knew just how to make it special. Any event, and she would be home and
dry; which was more than she could say about herself now! She would have
to keep her eyes peeled.<br />
When it finally happened on Christmas Eve, she’d almost given up; had
so nearly run out of time, she’d even thought about cheating again, and
to heck with the consequences. It was so close to the wire, she could
hear the axes being sharpened, in the barn over the road – even as the
tired young woman had eased her swollen body down into the soft hay in
one of the outhouses of the Inn. The baby boy had been born very soon
after midnight early the next day.<br />
At the very time of the baby’s birth, the little angel launched
herself into the air and, whirling at terrific speed, shone mightily
onto the trees below; her trees, her beautiful trees that she wanted so
much to protect.<br />
After all, she reasoned, it had worked 2000 years ago. She remembered
this from her training in Angelic Matters: How to Manifest to the
Populations of Earth. So, no reason to think that this time would be
any different.<br />
And do you know, she was right?<br />
<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Cornbread and Candy Sauce</h2>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Big, fat, flakes tumble down, covering everywhere – deadening sound
and softening contours. An icy wind flaps in from the north causing some
flakes to swirl and dance on their way down from the leaden sky.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Snow is falling hard; the blizzard has been raging all day. And now
the barn has a drift stacked up against the lea–side. Inside, flakes
flutter through the cracks in the boarding – to flurry in a spiral and
sprawl untidily over the floor. They lay where they land, no warmth
melts their hearts. The quiet is like a presence – heavy and waiting.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Back and forth a rope swings slightly, a tiny occasional creak the only indication of the weight it holds.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Drip.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A viscous, crimson plop.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A furry scurrying tells of interest from some hidden inhabitants. But
the long rope, attached to the rafters, swings lone and inaccessible.
Experience has dictated the position.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Drip–drop.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Dark red, thick, mixes with the snow covering the iron ground.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Suddenly a crack of yellow light from the door; foot stamping and hot
breath blowing on hands. Ma shines the lantern on the rope’s bottom.
They both stand and admire the plum–bob weight – Christmas dinner.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Sure is a big ‘un.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Sure is.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“How’d ya catch it?”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“Same as usual – cornbread and candy sauce… gobbled it right up. And then – thwack!!”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A mime matches the words; a hammer blow to crack a nut.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“When’ll ya draw and dress it?”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“When time’s right. Waddaya think?”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“20 minutes a pound’ll be a long cook at that weight! Best not stuff it – it’ll take forever to roast, else.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The lantern’s light wavers and recedes; voices dim and fade out. The latch is closed.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Plop–plop.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Thick blood drips down stiff fingers and onto the floor, covering the wristwatch, obscuring the dial.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not everyone eats turkey at Christmas.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"> Ho! Ho! Ho!</span></b>
</div>
Please…<br />
I pray whilst listening to the racket coming in through the open bedroom door; my eyes squeezed tight shut.<br />
… just go to sleep. It’s half past two in the bloody morning and the
twins will be awake in an hour or so for their early morning snack.<br />
This is not a good Christmas. Jimmy is working nights – again. The
twins may have the snuffles, but their appetites remain; and despite
being six months old they still stubbornly insist on an over–night top
up. And Johnny – Johnny is on top note.<br />
Maybe if I just ignore him, he’ll go to sleep now?<br />
It's been all go since eleven – getting him a drink of cold water;
taking a blanket off his bed; taking him to the toilet; putting the
blanket back on five minutes later; getting him a drink of warm water –
and on, and on. I pull the pillow around my head in a futile attempt to
muffle the constant noise; for a good five minutes I allow the endless
whine from the next–door bedroom to wash over me. As each minute ticks
by it saps my seasonal spirit yet further.<br />
“Mummy what time is it? Has Father Christmas been yet? Has he
brought lots of presents? Can I get up now?” He loops round and round
and round and…<br />
Finally, I snap and yell at the top of my voice:<br />
“Johnny, for the very last time – If you don’t go bowbies <i>right</i> away… Father Christmas… Will… Not…. Come.”<br />
At last – blessed silence from my eldest son. Ah! Peace and goodwill to all.<br />
<br />
Merry Christmas! <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-42147747059329194162012-11-30T12:39:00.003+00:002012-11-30T12:39:48.285+00:00It does work...I had a dressing down last weekend by some author chappie who took exception to my free promo on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354278118&sr=1-1" target="_blank">A Plate of Bits.</a> available on Amazon.co.uk backon that link there - or on Amazon.com <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354278259&sr=8-1&keywords=a+plate+of+bits" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
He wouldn't shut up about how I was letting the side down, giving my work away for free, aligning myself with the worst elements of wannabe bad self-published authors who wouldn't know the different between a semi-colon and a lower portion of the digestive tract if it slapped my face. (Actually that was my analogy not his. He was just rude, slighting, condescending and extremely patronising) <br />
<br />
So after bandying various emails, which got ruder and ruder, he tried to switch the tables and accuse <b><i>me</i></b> of harassing <i><b>him </b></i>because every time he administered a slap, I had the...<i> temerity</i> to answer back and defend my writing and actions. In the end I just had to keep repeating to stop emailing me - he took the hint in the end.<br />
<br />
The promo went really well, I had a lot of downloads. It <i>has</i> garnered me more sales in it's wake, and some more 5 star reviews on Amazon - what more can I hope for? Major sales and a take off like Fifty Shades of Grey, yes. Okay, I admit that hasn't happened - but neither did I expect it to. Being a new voice breaking into an arena is tough. Any and all (legal) promotional avenues should be considered and no-one has a right to put another author down for doing something they would not.<br />
<br />
But back to my original grip.... I'd like to know - who died and made<i> him</i> head monitor?Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-56246807689678250462012-11-23T16:47:00.005+00:002012-11-24T23:11:03.633+00:00Today is the day!My collection of short stories, <span style="color: red;"><i><b>A Plate of Bits</b></i></span>, is on free promo today (Saturday 24th November) for 2 days. Why not go to Amazon (links below) and grab a copy? It's not only a great Kindle filler, but is a great read, too. Well that's what all the 5 star reviews are telling me.<br />
<br />
It's a stonking 326 pages with over 140 stories crammed in there. Okay, yes it's on Kindle only - but don't let the fact you don't<i> </i>actually<i> have</i> a Kindle stop you. Because you can download a free reading App for PC, MAC, iPad, or Android from Amazon and read it there. You don't actually<i> need</i> a Kindle! Cool, eh?<br />
<br />
Have a look around the posts below for a couple of tasters of the stories. But hey - when do you get stuff for free? Not often - so fill your boots, dip your bread in, snatch this offer with both hands and other phrases of similar ilk. And don't forget to tell your friends - all and sundry, friend and foe, nearest and dearest, great and small,
nearest and farthest, big and small, here and there - hell EVERYONE!
Even the good, the bad and the ugly!<br />
<br />
<br />
Now I'm pooped out with assembling all those hack phrases, but why not put this event on your calendar, print it in your diary, stick a note on the fridge, write it on your hand... okay I'll stop.<br />
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<br />
Links for downloading are:<br />
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For <span style="color: red;"><i><b>A Plate of Bit</b></i><i><b>s</b></i></span> on Amazon.com go <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cmepqoa" target="_blank">here</a>, and for Amazon.co.uk go <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cr8eb7m" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
For the free reading App from Amazon go <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_158732207_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000425503&ie=UTF8&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=auto-sparkle&pf_rd_r=7D531DE33C2741FF8D27&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=245331387&pf_rd_i=reading%20apps%20for%20pc" target="_blank">here</a><br />
<br />
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I hope you enjoy the book, and I'd love to hear back from you about which is your favourite story.Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-71270476894248711562012-11-22T13:17:00.001+00:002013-02-23T14:28:54.544+00:00A snippet, a taster, the teeniest, tinest morsel...Here's one of the stories from my short story collection <span style="color: red;"><i><b>A Plate of Bits</b></i></span>, I hope you enjoy it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4975131335268195078" id="n41">
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Gracie's Gift</h2>
Today has been a lovely day; a hint of spring hanging around. I took
a long walk in the sweet smelling air, a tender breeze riffling my
hair, as though an invisible hand was stroking my head.<br />
I remember when Granny Gracie used to do that when I was a little
girl. I’d sit beside her chair on a small stool, and she’d stroke away;
there was no need for any words between us. We were silent companions,
watching the early evening telly together; just us two eating supper.<br />
She lived alone – had done for years. She used to tell me Granddad
had long since departed – to a better place she’d say with a snort. I
thought he’d died, but I found out when I was older he’d been in Luton
all the time, living with another woman – his Fancypiece.<br />
As I grew older Granny Gracie wasn’t so well; she’d get mixed up,
forgetting my name; who I was; where she lived. One time she confused
me with Granddad's girlfriend.<br />
“What’s <i>she</i> doing here?” She hissed, pointing a quivering
finger accusingly at me. “Why isn’t she with your Dad? She always was a
brass–faced one, she was. <i>Fancypiece</i>."<br />
She spat this epitaph out as one would a mouthful of poison, glaring
at me – as though her stare could have the power to melt me into a
puddle on the spot. But at other times I was still her tea–time pal.<br />
Granny Gracie died years ago, now. I was sad when she did, but it
was a blessed release – or so the vicar said at her funeral. She’d had
cancer for the last few months – well she’d had it for years we found
out in the end, but had kept quiet about it until she couldn’t cover it
up anymore. She hadn’t wanted anyone to pity her.<br />
“I had enough of that when He went – y’know?”<br />
Everyone had nodded when she told them this, looking bored and
embarrassed. After so many years people seemed to think she should have
gotten over the fact her husband had left her and moved on; of course
no one said that to her face. Well they didn’t want to give their heads
for washing voluntarily, did they?<br />
She asked me to visit her, one Easter when I was home from Uni for
the holidays. We had steaming cups of tea and a shop bought lemon cake,
cut into large wedges; well as Granny Gracie said – no use her looking
after her figure now, and I was still young enough to run it off. At
the end of that visit – a saying goodbye visit I realised afterwards –
she gave me her engagement ring. The one He had given her before they
were married as a promise for forever. She set no store by that now;
but thought I might like it as a keepsake.<br />
“Don’t tell your Auntie Pam,” she whispered over the teacups,
grasping my hand in her smooth–skinned claw and shaking it. “She’s
always wanted it for your cousin. But it’s mine to give… and I like you
better.” Then she’d folded my fingers around it and added. “Look
after yourself and be a good girl. Don’t do anything that’ll make your
mother worry about you… and keep your knees together until you get your <i>own </i> ring on your finger.”<br />
The next time I saw her she was laid in a box, looking a lot smaller than she ever had; but neat.<br />
Now, I wrap my arms around my belly and hug my secret to myself.
Nobody knows yet – but if it’s a girl, I’m going to call her Gracie.<br />
<br />
<br />
And here's another:<br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
War of the Roses</h2>
Well here it was.<br />
She’d been expecting this letter for six weeks. <i>Decree absolute. </i>
Her not-really-learned-to-function, lasted–less–than–a–year marriage
had finally been put out of its misery; it was over, dead. She felt sad,
defeated… responsible; guilty. After all, if she’d been the wife he’d
wanted; if she’d transmuted her very soul into what he needed - wife,
whore, mother, nursemaid; if she’d become a quiet biddable doormat, then
maybe they would be together still.<br />
But she’d always been a goodtime girl; housework? Pah! That could wait for a rainy day.<br />
Or perhaps they’d met too young, shacked up together too soon, so
when they’d finished growing up they were different people to the ones
they’d been at the start; ones who wanted very different things from
their life–partners?<br />
No matter. She shuddered, sighed and folded the pages together
again, carefully inserting them back into the envelope. She’d file them
for future reference. Keep them in her records to negate the
beautifully copper–plated marriage certificate that should never have
been written in the first place.<br />
If she were honest, the union had been dead in the water before it had started.<br />
They’d been under siege from all sides; her parents didn’t approve of
him, and his parents – well his dragon of a grandma – wanted a church
wedding, and there was no way that was going to happen. Opposition only
strengthened their resolve to see it through their way; like children
being forbidden a treat, they just wanted it all the more.<br />
The registry service had pleased nobody, the photographs were
evidence of that. Glum faces stared out of the frames; smiles had been
hard to find, that day.<br />
The only cheerful splash had been the gorgeous flowers the wedding
party had pinned to their lapels. Sprays of gardenias and baby’s breath
for the women, and roses for the men. Not clinical, passionless
standard roses, but heavily scented, old–fashioned heads. They’d filled
the chamber on that June day with a heady mix of traditional rose
perfume. Delicious.<br />
Now, a small smile hovered around her lips. It seemed that the
Pennines weren’t the only block between a Lancashire lass and Yorkshire
gent’s wedding. Nobody had ever guessed what she’d done.<br />
Of course she’d been aware of the old rivalry from an early age;
royal houses, cricket, cities and everyday folk. The two teams that
showed up for the wedding that day backed either the white rose of York
or the red rose of Lancaster. And she was a good Mancunian. So when it
fell to her to order the corsages, she’d ordered white roses for the
men. All but the groom; she’d ordered him a red rose.<br />
And he’d thought it was for love…<br />
<br />
<br />
Now go and buy it! For UK sales go<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347319331&sr=8-1" target="_blank"> here, </a>and for US sales go <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top" target="_blank">here</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4975131335268195078" id="n41">.</a><br />
<br />
Enjoy! <br />
<br />Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-86208022788283185962012-11-21T14:03:00.001+00:002012-11-22T14:15:35.306+00:00A freebie for 2 days, so here's the promo bitCome this Saturday, the 24th, my short stories collection A Plate of Bits is on a two day free download at Amazon. I hope everyone will make good use of this and grab a copy. After all it's free! The fact that it's got over ten 5 star reviews must tell you something, too.<br />
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And peeps - don't forget to tell everyone you know - all and sundry, friend and foe, nearest and dearest, great and small, nearest and farthest, big and small, here and there - hell EVERYONE! Even the good, the bad and the ugly!<br />
<br />
And it doesn't matter if they don't have a Kindle because they can download a FREE Kindle App for PC, Mac or other device from Amazon and then read it. Neat, eh? Go <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top" target="_blank">here</a> for US link, and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347319331&sr=8-1" target="_blank">here</a> for UK link. <br />
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Just to recap, A Plate of Bits FREE on Amazon this 24th and 25th November. Put it in your diary and grab a copy when you can.Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-15970226033976920742012-10-26T12:22:00.004+01:002012-10-26T18:04:52.879+01:00Let's talk shorts!<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Short stories, tell me about them.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Do you agree with the likes of Stephen King? Or maybe you think Mary Wortley-Montagu was talking sense. What did they say? Well for those of you who haven't followed me on Twitter or Facebook this week:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stephen King - '<i>A short story is like a kiss in dark from a stranger.'</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mary Wortley-Montagu - '<i> Life is too short for a long story.'</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Or what about these evocative quotes from Lorrie Moore - ' <i>A short</i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23short&src=hash"><b><span style="color: blue;"></span></b></a>
story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage'</i> and '</span><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">A <s><span style="color: blue;"></span></s><b><span style="color: blue;"></span></b>short
story is a photograph; a novel is a film.'</span></i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And from </span><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Andre Dubus is - 'I
love short stories...I believe they are the way we live." and 'short stories are
what our friends tell us, in their pain and joy, their passion and rag<span style="font-size: small;">e.'</span> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don't the wise words by these authors set the atmosphere well? Because <span style="font-size: small;">a</span> good short story <i>should</i> captures the essence of a moment, and (when done well) tells us all we need to know about the characters involved.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Have your <span style="font-size: small;">say below, </span><span style="font-size: small;">let's talk shorts!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-oOo-</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My collection of short, and short-short, stories<span style="color: #660000;"><b><i> A Plate of Bits</i></b></span> is available to buy in US <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cmepqoa" target="_blank">here</a> and UK <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cr8eb7m" target="_blank">here</a>.</span>Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-84086473237412182102012-10-23T11:07:00.000+01:002012-10-24T13:18:45.131+01:00Short Stories - worth the bother?I fell into writing short stories.<br />
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At the time I thought I didn't have the focus to write a novel. A novel would take too much concentration and sustained effort, I thought. There were so many words to assemble (around 100,000 seemed to be the target for a modern novel - give or take the odd 10,000 or so) better to stick to the smaller stuff, easier to manage, I thought.</div>
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I'd arrived at the short story format from Flash fiction. Even shorter, snappy pieces, sometimes as few as 100 words make up a flash, thought they may be longer up to about 1000 or 1500. I became addicted to writing this type of... format very early on.</div>
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Flash, I felt, was the easiest form of writing - quick, clean...<i> immediate</i>. I wrote this size story effortlessly. Sit down (usually with a prompt) and the words just flow out. In about an hour I would have a piece of some 600 words (generally) which (usually) said what I wanted it to say. Perhaps I'd spend the next hour or ten days picking over whether <i>this</i> word was better than <i>that</i> word in a sentence. Quickly I learned that this meant the piece was 'cooked'.</div>
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Then I started reading books on how to write and I found received opinion turned my instincts on their head. The rest of the writing world figured the exact opposite to me. Novel writing, because of the freedom the large word count gives you, was the easiest...<i> size</i> of creative writing, flash fiction (or as they are sometimes called short-short stories - for obvious reasons) was perceived as the hardest, because in a flash piece every word has to work for its living. The beginning may only be implied, a reader may feel thrown into the story, and the ending can, with a few clues, be left up to that reader to resolve. But there's no room for redundant words, sloppy or flabby prose.<br />
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So where does that leave short stories?</div>
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Well, I've found that, again, they are a seperate art form. They are not, cut down versions of a novel written because you couldn't think up enough to make it to the magical 100,000 word count. And they are not stretched flash stories.<br />
<br />
A good short story should be a
well-crafted piece of work that tells a tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It will have a beginning, middle and a resolution; the characters and
dialogue will progress the plot just as in a novel - but the event horizon of
the story is necessarily tighter than that of a novel. It covers less –
generally in time – than a novel, but the play of emotions can be much richer
for all that.<br />
<br />
As Stephen King expresses it: <b><i>A short story is like a kiss in the dark from a stranger</i>.</b><br />
<br />
If you want rolling sagas set
over generations, encompassing world wars, family feuds covering hundreds of
years and the like, then a short story probably isn’t going to fit that
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a short <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>good at, though, is highlighting an individual event and telling
the tale surrounding it, sometimes in poignant detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a good short story, the reader gets to
know the characters in that situation, that small piece of the characters’
timeline, much better than they ever could in a rolling epic which may only
touch on motives, emotions, reactions and consequences of that one event of
many in the plot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all if a novel
were written in as much depth all through as a short story, the book would
never be finished!<br />
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Once I realised the differences it allowed me to enjoy the three very different formats and lengths available to them to tell a tale - and that's really what it's all about. What do you think? Leave a comment below...</div>
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-oOo-<br />
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Read more on this topic in the excellent <a href="http://tinyurl.com/wtt-oct" target="_blank">Writers' Tricks of the Trade</a>, October edition. I'm on page 18 with a piece titled 'Short Stories - Small but Perfectly Formed'. And catch me on Twitter to discuss your ideas on short stories at <a href="https://twitter.com/AvisHG" target="_blank">@AvisHG</a>, or on FaceBook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avis-Hickman-Gibb-writer/374473805949697?ref=hl" target="_blank">Avis Hickman-Gibb - Writer</a>. Buy my collection of short and flash stories in UK<a href="http://tinyurl.com/cr8eb7m" target="_blank"> here</a>, and in US <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cmepqoa" target="_blank">here</a></div>
Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-78901913432558762052012-09-29T13:37:00.002+01:002012-10-23T12:50:56.671+01:00Oooh - there's a bit more interestI am now very proud to tell all and sundry I have two 5 star reviews for the book. One on Amazon.com - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/product-reviews/B008W7DFWI/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1" target="_blank"> A Plate of Bits, US</a> and one on Amazon .co.uk <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B008W7DFWI/ref=pr_all_summary_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1" target="_blank">here </a><br />
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Go read them people, then go buy the book! Go <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349801758&sr=8-1&keywords=a+plate+of+bits" target="_blank">here</a> to buy A Plate of Bits on Amazon.com or Uk-ers go <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1349792718&sr=1-1" target="_blank">here</a><br />
<br />
You'll be glad you did!<br />
<br />
Right that's the advertising break over with, now back to real life. It's sunny so am off to skivvy for the hubby (this is NOT a euphemism) while he cuts the grass... I'm the wheel-barrow-emptier, the pass-me-this-er, the just-hold-this-while-I-er. Sound familiar?<br />
<br />
Then an exotic round of the local supermarket before falling exhausted into a bath with a glass of French red<br />
<br />Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-89283267022666560222012-09-22T14:05:00.000+01:002012-10-09T18:04:42.400+01:00Building slowly...Well I've sold one or two copies of my first eBook <i><b><span style="color: red;">A Plate of Bits</span></b></i> and I'm a happy bunny. I'm slowly building what is called a social network platform and diligently taking part in tweet-teams, posting stuff on Facebook and just generally interacting...<br />
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But this can take up most of your day, if you let it. I don't want my eye taken off the real ball of getting the next one out of the door. Perhaps after that I'll be able to do some real <i>creative </i>writing - you know start a story from scratch and see where it goes...<br />
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Um when I say one or two, there have been a few more than that whispering down the lines to little Kindle readers. I was being modest. Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-67313003023617370682012-09-11T00:26:00.003+01:002012-10-30T13:56:49.294+00:00A couple of interviewsThere has been a small flurry of activity around my new book - <i>A Plate of Bits</i>. There are two interviews out there and I thought I'd log them for y'all and say...<br />
<br />
GO READ THEM PEOPLE!<br />
<br />
I am being intelligent and winsome in both. I use proper sentences and everything! The first went up at <a href="http://bostonliterarymagazine.com/sum12interview.html#hickman.html" target="_blank">The Boston Literary Magazine</a>. And the second is at <a href="http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/interview-avis-hickman-gibb-has-a-bit-more-than-you-can-bite/" target="_blank">Flash Fiction Chronicles</a><br />
<br />
...Then you could just go and buy a copy of the eBook <span style="color: red;"><i><b>A Plate of Bits </b></i></span> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347319331&sr=8-1" target="_blank">here</a> for UK and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top" target="_blank">here</a> for US<br />
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It's a bargain at just £2.58 for a whopping 141 stories. And even if you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free app to read it on smartphones, PCs and MACs. So there's really no excuse...<br />
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Support your friendly author. </div>
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<br />Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-47544151215322860732012-08-22T14:05:00.003+01:002012-08-22T15:48:52.673+01:00Answers on a postcard...What is wrong with Americans?<br />
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In the passed 24 hours I have stumbled across three incidents of ... what shall we call them? Gross insensitivity? Stupidity? Should mind their own business? Or just plain bog off back to their own little backwater and resist any attempts to play with the grown ups out in the Real World?<br />
<br />
Harsh words? Maybe, but just read on....<br />
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This week Mitt Romney's side-kick - whatever his name is - thought it would be a good idea to slag off the UK's NHS service - presumably to try and whump up the number of voters who'd plump for his party at the next poll. What a good idea, slag off how a foreign country runs it's health service, they won't catch on.<br />
<br />
Nobody will be any the wiser - will they?<br />
<br />
Well yes, actually they will; they have read the news, you see residents of other countries do actually pay attention to what is going on in the rest of the World. <br />
<br />
We saw the apparently petty-fogging attempts by Mr Romney to distance himself from said side-kick's massive foot-in-the-mouth bloomer. Didn't the side-kick think to run this shameful ploy by the powers that be in the Republican party before he ran with it? Hard to believe.<br />
<br />
And then... We find naughty pictures of Prince Harry taken when he was cavorting in his own hotel room - naked!<br />
<br />
Shock! Horror! Scandal, rumour - gossip!!<br />
<br />
Well, no not over here. For Christ's sake - he a young, fit, healthy twenty something year-old, he's unattached and well... up for it. Why in heaven's name can't he cavort in private? I'd be a wee bit worried if he didn't cavort, that's what young men do. So he was playing strip billiards or some such - with an equally dishevelled woman. So what? Was he running up and down the public areas of the hotel, waving his willie about? I don't think so! Can anybody tell me why they are shocked?<br />
<br />
And finally... I listened to a radio debate about Mr Romney's side-kick's goof yesterday. And to represent the US we were treated to a Charlie Wolf, who is apparently a columnist for The UK's Daily Mail. He was there, front line to kelp the kicking the NHS was getting - and this was after he'd admitted that he's undergone successful treatment for cancer under the NHS. But this notwithstanding, he still took aim and gave the NHS a good kicking for daring to sell their wares abroad. Get the kinks out of the system first, was his cry, don't go wasting resources by selling brand NHS abroad.<br />
<br />
The discussion also touched on the free at point of contact service we enjoy in the UK. Admittedly no one is turned away at a NHS hospital, not even if they are poor. But the service is not free, we pay for it via taxation. I think a better term would be universal healthcare, for all.<br />
<br />
Something the USA has still to catch up with.Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-4258581050790000732012-08-20T14:21:00.001+01:002012-09-23T22:56:50.830+01:00Somebody stop me!!<br />
At first a new author gets a kick out of clicking the Amazon Kindle reports button to check on just how many copies have been sold...now. How about now?<br />
<br />
And now?<br />
<br />
There's nothing so satisfying as seeing that you've made yet another
sale. But checking once a day is enough surely? Somebody support me on
this, as I am - quite frankly - out of control, here. but it's so seductive to bask in the glory of the sales figures. That means... <i>how</i> much will I'll get in just over 80 days? What mega investment will I plump for? What a nest egg! Or not.<br />
<br />
The sales trickle in in ones and... well ones! It starts slow and with luck begins to grow. Rather like a zygote as it pauses before growing into the blastocyst that will become the fetus that eventually becomes the baby that will grow into the man; or woman. Eventually, after time and the proper care and stimulus. <br />
<br />
Hangon, let me check - any more sales.... no change from ten minutes ago when I last checked.<br />
<br />
So, in the end, you have to stiffen your resolve and get on with doing something else - like edit the next one? Or write it, even?<br />
<br />
But just in case you missed it, here is the Amazon tag handily placed for your convenience so you can go and buy a copy. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1345469025&sr=1-1">http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1345469025&sr=1-1</a></div>
<br />
Even if you don't buy it, I am told that just by clicking on the Amazon button will help bolster my stats in the famous Amazon algorithm that pushes titles onto and up lists. And a girl needs all the help she can get on getting on that first rung of the ladder.<br />
<br />
So... Go on - make my day!!Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-91802777619928299002012-08-13T23:11:00.001+01:002012-08-13T23:16:25.819+01:00My Knees Have Gone All Trembly...<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">OK
I've finally done it! My shiny new collection of stories is now for
sale up at Amazon. Go check it out. Hell, go and buy a copy! It's
only £2.58, a snip!</span></span></h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">The cover looks like this:</span></span></h6>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RprIr8wBT0k/UCl8ZiawlVI/AAAAAAAAAGk/vZc2vuMYhnI/s1600/Cover+lower+o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RprIr8wBT0k/UCl8ZiawlVI/AAAAAAAAAGk/vZc2vuMYhnI/s320/Cover+lower+o.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Isn't it pretty?<br />
<br />
I'd love to hear from you - whether you've read it or not.<br />
<br />
Here's the link:<br />
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344893201&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Plate-of-Bits-ebook/dp/B008W7DFWI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344893201&sr=8-1</a></span></span></h6>
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}" style="font-weight: normal;">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the culmination of five years' work and the whole process from start to published had been quite a journey. Now the work begins....</span></span></h6>
Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-29317533716760340492012-08-08T13:41:00.002+01:002012-08-09T10:59:09.852+01:00Cheeky Sod, I thought....I've just received through the post what appears to be a page torn out of a magazine telling the reader all about the benefits of this 'Amazing Discovery'. (My quotes, their capitals)<br />
<br />
Apparently I could benefit from new research which reveals a 'SKIN CARE BREAKTHROUGH' (Again my quotes, their capitals... I'll not bother remarking on this again, shall I?) It's going to<br />
<br />
'HELP REDUCE THE APPEARANCE OF : WRINKLES, FINE LINES AND DARK CIRCLES'<br />
<br />
But apparently the supply is extremely limited and in high demand - so I am urged to take advantage of this incredible offer before it's too late.<br />
<br />
And apparently one of my friends has taken the trouble to rip this page from the magazine and send it post-haste to me. They've even written a message in the top left corner urging me to 'Call Fast, it works!" And apparently they only paid the postage. Wow! What an offer! Such magical cream it can give me 'Extraordinary Lift! Extraordinary Results! Extraordinary Skincare!<br />
<br />
But - too late? Too late for what? Too late to get some of this magic
stuff? (The thought does spring up - if it's so f**cking good, why
didn't they make more of it?) Or does that mean it will be too late for me? If I don't order<i> right now</i>, is the skin of my face going to drip down to my chin, making me
look like Droopy Dog? (Those of you of a certain age will remember this
sad little puppy - those of you who don't need this blasted cream,
Google him) <br />
<br />
There are even two pictures of a Susan Looper (whoever she is) And it appears to be photos of Susan Looper twenty years apart, or of Susan Looper senior and her daughter. Great stuff!<br />
<br />
Then the insidious thought occurred - which of my bloody friends would have the brass-faced nerve to send such an outright insult to me? Buy this you baggy-eyed freak, your poor, raddled face is in desperate need of a lift.<br />
<br />
Whoever it is, I am <i>definitely</i> crossing them off my Christmas card list...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-44060443346973113382012-06-28T20:47:00.001+01:002012-06-28T21:00:49.954+01:00It's that time of year again!Well it's time to fire up the old blog! It's nearly a year since I last did this - I wonder if I remember how it goes? And that looooong gap is not because I've been sat on my tush doing s*d all! I've been busy busy busy finishing that Novel, and gathering up my collection of short and flash stories into one place.<br />
<br />
That place will be Kindle Select. I am just about to become intimately acquainted with the The Big K. Those lucky people at Amazon don't realise how honoured they are about to be!! <br />
<br />
I've slewed around the offerings for us aspiring authors, read lots of electronically published authors experiences... done research until it's dribbling out of my ears. And I'm now ready to publish <i>A Plate of Bits</i>. It's most of my shorts and flash for the past 5 years all together in one handy eBook, for your convenience. My pride and joy is close on 150 pieces of work and weighs in at a respectable 84,000 words.<br />
<br />
I shall be popping back to report on my journey in the coming weeks - <i>Daaarling</i> that's de rigour don'tcha know? Any newbie published author putting themselves up on KSP today just <b>has</b> to blog about it.<br />
<br />
Pour your heart out, they say. Messy, I say - but here we go...Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-78406722471399972011-07-13T09:21:00.001+01:002011-07-13T23:53:43.970+01:00Another post from a dozy BloggerI really must get the hang of this blogging lark, a first time reader might think I'm mute - but anybody who knows me KNOWS I chatter with the best of them. Just been very busy with second draft of WIP, and working through some personal stuff.<br />
<br />
I also must start submitting flash again.<br />
<br />
Watch the ether....Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-31918944357872740162011-04-02T10:41:00.000+01:002011-04-02T10:41:27.092+01:00God is it THAT time already?Who set the clock forward to spring? Last time I took a peek we were in depths of winter....<br />
<br />
So much has gone on - life, writing, stuff. Current novel is first-drafted and now well into the real business of knocking it into shape. What I can take from this lapse (in time) is - I'm not an avid blogger! I only speak when I have something to say.<br />
<br />
<br />
And now I've said it....Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-38211575318872246832010-12-02T17:13:00.002+00:002012-06-28T23:33:36.858+01:00Cornbread and Candy SauceHere's a little seasonal gift. A flash of mine that was originally published in The Ranfurly Review. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Cornbread and Candy Sauce</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Big, fat, flakes tumbled down, covering everywhere – deadening sound and softening contours. An icy wind flapped in from the north causing some flakes to swirl and dance on their way down from the leaden sky.<br />Snow was falling hard.<br />The blizzard had been raging all day. And now the barn had a drift stacked up against the lea-side. Inside, flakes fluttered through cracks in the boarding – to flurry in a spiral and sprawl over the floor. They lay where they landed – no warmth melted their hearts. The quiet was like a presence – heavy and waiting.<br />Back and forth a rope swung slightly – a tiny occasional creak the only indication of the weight it held.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Drip.<br />A viscous, crimson plop. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">A furry scurrying told of interest from some hidden inhabitants. But the long rope, attached to the rafters, swung lone and inaccessible. Experience dictated the position.<br />Drip-drop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Dark red, thick, mixed with the snow covering the iron ground. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Suddenly a crack of yellow light from the door; foot stamping and hot breath blowing on hands. Ma shone the lantern on the rope’s bottom. They both stood and admired the plum-bob weight - Christmas dinner.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Sure is a big ‘un.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Sure is.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“How’d ya catch it?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Same as usual - corn-bread and candy sauce. Gobbled it right up. And then - thwack!!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">A mime matched the words. A hammer blow to crack a small head.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“When’ll ya draw and pluck it?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“When time’s right. Waddaya think?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“20 minutes a pound’ll be a long cook at that weight! Best not stuff it – it’ll take forever to roast, else.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">The lantern’s light wavered and receded; voices dimmed and faded out. The latch was closed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText2">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Plop-plop.<br />Thick blood dripped down stiff fingers and onto the floor, covering a wristwatch and obscuring the dial. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />Not everyone ate turkey at Christmas.</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Ho, Ho, Ho!</span></div>Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-74155012529732615782010-12-02T17:06:00.003+00:002010-12-02T23:17:23.373+00:00Post NaNo - I got the 50K done - WooHoo!!So, I wrote 50,077 words last month. they were in sentences, paragraphs and everything. I even managed some fair spelling, too. Ok, what the hell, I'll admit it - I relied on spell-checkers. Doesn't everyone?<br /><br />I calculate I am about 62% complete on the first draft and I'd like to get cracking on writing the other 38% over December - so come the New Year I can slap that text about a bit and get a solid second draft.<br /><br />I am also concurrently (Multi-tasking, me) submitting my second novel<span style="font-style: italic;"> Market Warfare</span>, and I hope to get an Agent interested in helping me take it to market.<br /><br />Any offers?Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-24208017478998781072010-11-02T17:22:00.002+00:002010-11-02T17:27:10.665+00:00NaNoWriMoIt's November and it's NaNoWroMo time!! Can the bunch of us keep up the output - will there be a novel at the end? Who knows, but it's jolly good fun and very helpful to write in competition against others. Very motivating. Meanwhile I have some printing to do to get the other novel out of the door and on it's way to some lucky agent!Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-83923661532212863262010-07-31T01:19:00.003+01:002010-07-31T01:23:18.327+01:00Such a lot done...since last I posted. Second draft finished and away to a reader panel. And I'm 20K plus into WIP3. I find it a challenge to try and emulate Trollope and write 2000 words a day. Thing is he did it longhand using a quill pen (I think) and then went on to his day job.<br /><br />If I keep this rate up I'll be finished mid September and can get back to the third draft of WIP2.<br />Busy busy busy...Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-25278920634773781112010-05-21T23:14:00.001+01:002010-05-21T23:17:14.362+01:00The WIP is finished ....Well the first draft is anyway! I am so looking forward to letting it set, writing some flash and then getting down to the second draft!<br /><br />Woo Hoo!Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4975131335268195078.post-13254085706807390922010-05-03T12:34:00.003+01:002010-05-03T16:41:44.233+01:00Who are these people?I am an infrequent blogger. I have to admit that. But I do wonder - fleetingly - who these people are who leave Chinese/Japanese written comments on my entries?<br /><br />Not enough to be actually curious and follow them back to their own blogs/site/whatevers. Just enough to ask 'em - please stop it and go and bother someone else.<br /><br />This type of behaviour doesn't make you interesting, it makes you a dork...<br /><br />Oh my WIP is now ~ 101K, and I'm heading down the end slope towards the finishing flag.<br /><br />Then with the first draft written down, I'll start to craft the book...Avis HGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373148753050857114noreply@blogger.com0