Shutting Down

Sad news!  I am shutting down this blog as I want to blog about other things.  I have two blogs and neither of them cover everything I want to blog about, and it seemed silly to me to make even more blogs.

My new blogs is here:

http://moosemousse.ml/

And if that doesn't work then this will:

http://moussemoose.wordpress.com/

I hope you like this new blog as much as this one.

NaNoWriMo Wrap Up

NaNoWriMo officially ended last week and with it so do my winning streak of several years.  I realised during the last week that I wouldn't make it this but it didn't stop me trying.  I wrote a few thousand words on the 29th and well over ten thousand on the 30th.  I stayed up as late as I could but I still fell some eighteen thousand short of the fifty thousand word goal.  Oddly enough, I felt ok with this.  I had always said that I thought of anyone who tried as winners.  They always seemed like hollow words used to help those who didn't make it keep their chin up and feel good about trying.  Being on the receiving end of those words I now think differently about them.

Did I win NaNoWriMo this year?  No, no I did not.  Did I achieve anything and was it worthwhile?  Of course!  I'm proud of what I wrote, even if it's not very good.  I'm proud that I tried.  I proud that I learnt that just trying is often success enough to make things worth it.  I also learnt some stuff about me too.  I had always taken it for granted that I would win NaNoWriMo and that at the end of it I would have a fifty thousand word novel.  This year I learnt that even though I didn't make it to the end I actually achieved something.  I wrote thirty thousand more words in one month than I did in the months since last November.  I expect the same is true of those who didn't make it to one thousand.  They still tried, they still put the effort in.

I also worked out some issues of my own.  Earlier this year my granddad passed away.  It didn't really come as a huge surprise but it was still a shock.  A great-uncle passed away too and his wife passed away a few days later.  I was not expecting that and it brought up a lot of mixed emotions.  My novel took an unexpected twist for the depressing, which I hadn't intended, but it allowed me to work through the emotions that I had experienced during the past year.  Whether it remains in the novel isn't clear, but I found the act of writing about it very helpful.  That's not to say it didn't hurt to write about it as it did, but when it was I done I felt better about things.

And so, to the year ahead.  I haven't decided what to do with this novel.  In an ideal world I'd keep going with it and keep it going to the end, then I'd edit and revise, and then I'd get it published.  This isn't an idea world though, so I really don't know.  What I do know is that I will be attempting NaNoWriMo again next year.  Until then I have books to read and reviews to write, and various other hopes and dreams too.  Between now and Christmas I will be going through all the books that I have read and I'll be sorting out some reviews for those, and they're not all YA!

[Review] Clisson and Eugenie by Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte is a well known name. He was Emporor of France, he invaded Russia and Spain, and he was at war with the English as well.  Not only was he accomplished when it came to fighting battles and making war, but it also turns out that he was a writer as well.  I don't know how succesful he was in his time, but he did write a few things.  One of them was the 'novel' Clisson and Eugenie.

Clisson and Eugenie is a love story between the titular characters in which they fall in love and get married.  At some point in their marriage, Clisson is called away to war and he leaves Eugenie behind.  After Clisson is wounded, he sends a trusted friend to keep Eugenie company until he is well enough to return.  Unfortunately, this friend seduces Eugenie and she stops sending letters.  Heartbroken, he engineers a glorious death in the heat of battle, leading a charge himself.

This novel itself is only a few pages long and might not be complete.  The edition I have is compiled from several fragments that were scattered after Napoleon's death.  It took many years to get them back together and the editors of the latest editions spent many hours comparing the various versions and sorting the fragments into order.  In parts the text is italicised to indicate that the passage is not Napoleon's work but rather the work of the editors to fill in a missing gap.  While I don't have the original French edition, the difference in writers does not notice in the English translation.

What is remarkable is the work itself, rather than the author, famous as he is.  It's a short but powerful and emotional journey from start to finish.  The romance between Clisson and Eugenie is clear and prominent in the text, as is the sorrow felt by Clisson at the end.  There was meme about how things are better love stories than the Twilight series, and this is definitely better by a long shot, despite being a fraction of the length.

My only criticism is that it does read much like an outline of a novel or a lengthy synopsis.  I don't know if that was intentional or whether Napoleon intended to write a fuller version with dialogue, in depth descriptions, character actions, and so on.  What I do know is that, short as it is, it is a very good read.  I'm not sure it's worth the RRP of £7.99 though as two thirds is writing about the novel with the novel taking up the last third.  I managed to find it for £2 though and I consider it quite the bargain.

Should you see a copy for about that price then I highly recommend getting it.  Whether it's for historical reasons, interest in Napoleon, or just because it's not something you see often, it is something I'll read a lot.

National Novel Writing Month Begins

So today is November 2nd.  I had meant to do a post yesterday but I didn't actually manage to write anything, so I'm making the first post of my NaNoWriMo journey today.

It is 2pm exactly right now and I have 688 words.  I have three hours and 45 minutes until I have to leave the refuge that is Starbucks and go home.  In the time I hope to have written 3,332 words in total.  It'll be a struggle but it'll catch me up for today's goal.

So far I still don't have a genre or theme or plot or anything.  I do have two characters though, so it's not a complete disaster.  All I can say now is 'wish me luck'!

[Review] When The World Was Flat by Ingrid Jonach

 

Blurb

Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.

But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and in love.

When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.

An epic and deeply original sci-fi romance, taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the world-bending wonder of true love itself.

Review

The book, 'When The World Was Flat (And We Were In Love)' to give it the full title, starts off much like any other love story, for the most part.  Lillie lives with her hippie mother in the small town of Green Grove.  She has her friends that she hangs out with, taking lots of photographs.  And then Tom arrives, along with her nightmares.

As things progress, everything becomes complicated for Lillie, with more questions being thrown up all the time.  Answers are few and far between, but only propose more questions.  Who is Tom?  How does she know about him?  What do her dreams mean?  Are they connected?  If so, how?

Well written, the pace is varied and is always appropriate to the situation, serving to heighten emotions.  The imagery is wonderful and vivid, bringing the dusty world to life.  Lillie seems to act like it's a very boring place to live, but it seems a lot more lively and exciting, but it sure seems that way compared to where I live.

There is only one very small thing I'm not sure about, and it could just be me here.  One of the characters seems a bit, well, too sexual.  I'm not saying that it's wrong or anything, it just seems odd to me.  It's probably because I've never known anyone like her and her behaviour is very different to my own.  It's not a big part either, but it is mentioned a few times.

Over all though, this is a great book.  It's yet another good read from the fine folks at Strange Chemistry.  While there might not be a sequel straight away, I'm excited to see what Ingrid Jonach comes out with next.  (I asked about this in the interview)

Interview

As always, my questions are in italics and the answers are in bold.

Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Happily!

I am the author of three books for children and now one book for young adults. I live in Australia and am a dual citizen of Australia and Austria. My family is spread out, as my mother and two brothers live in Australia and my father and half-sister live in the United States.

I studied creative writing at university and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing with Honors. I have worked as a journalist, a public relations consultant and a public servant.

Last year, I got married to my now husband Craig, who I met at university. We have been together about eleven years now and have a pug dog.

This isn't your first book, but is it still exciting to have a new book come out as it was for your first?
Absolutely.

This latest book was particularly exciting because it was my first young adult novel. I love being able to connect with readers online now, which was difficult with my children's books.

Do you find it gets easier to write with each book?
I think every book has its own challenges, for example ensuring your new protagonist has a different voice to your last protagonist and not repeating phrases or settings.

I am becoming a better planner though. I used to write organically, but I now at least plot the key scenes.

Reading WTWWF, I got the feeling that it was all very plausible and could even be real.  Is this a subject you've thought about or done a lot of research into?
Thanks!

I have a lot of wacky theories about the world and this was one that I had wanted to write about for many years. I knew there was some fringe science behind it, but was surprised when I started researching String Theory and found that it led back to Albert Einstein.

Probably a pin prick of the research that I did actually ended up in the novel. We (my editor, agent and I) tried to keep the science as simple as possible, but I am looking forward to explaining it more in a spoiler section on my website one of these days.
Will there be a sequel?
The jury is definitely still out. I know exactly what happens in the next two books, but they are only rough drafts at the moment. My attention has been on other standalone novels. I have just sent one off to my agent and am going to get cracking on the third standalone. They are loosely tied to the concepts in When the World was Flat (and we were in love).

Did you watch the TV show Sliders when it was on?
I absolutely did! It has been many years since I last watched it, but I definitely think it inspired the science fiction in When the World was Flat (and we were in love), without giving away too many spoilers!

(Rachel's note: I used to love Sliders when it was on)

If you had to sum up When The World Was Flat in just one tweet (140 characters), what would you say about it?Oooh… here goes!

When Lillie Hart meets Tom Windsor-Smith she has no idea her whole world is about to change - literally.

Any last words?
I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read or who will read When the World was Flat (and we were in love), and to all of the bloggers, bookstores and librarians who have been so supportive. It means so much to me!

Author Bio

Ingrid Jonach writes books for children and young adults, including the chapter books The Frank Frankie and Frankie goes to France published by Pan Macmillan, and When the World was Flat (and we were in love) published by Strange Chemistry.
Since graduating from university with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing (Hons) in 2005, Ingrid has worked as a journalist and in public relations, as well as for the Australian Government.
Ingrid loves to promote reading and writing, and has been a guest speaker at a number of schools and literary festivals across Australia, where she lives with her husband Craig and their pug dog Mooshi.
Despite her best efforts, neither Craig nor Mooshi read fiction.
Find out more at www.ingridjonach.com

Giveaway Details and Widget

Enter below for your chance to win one of two awesome prize packages as part of the Around the World in 80 Days Blog Tour for When the World was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach. 
There will be two winners worldwide. Each prize package includes:
•    a signed copy of When the World was Flat (and we were in love)
•    a pair of silver plated key-shaped earrings in a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) gift box
•    a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) bookmark.
The competition will run until 21 October 2013 and the winners will be announced on this page and via www.ingridjonach.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Participant Widget

Guest Post - by Ingrid Jonach

 

Date: Friday 4 October 2013

Topic: Guest Post

Guest Post – My Top Five Aussie Books 

 

I live in Australia, so I thought I would share the top five Aussie books that have had an impact on my reading and writing. I highly recommend you read these! There are many more I could have added to this list, so I have offered a few more at the end.

1. Brother Night by Victor Kelleher 

 

I credit this book with my love of reading. It is the heartbreaking story of a pair of twins – one beautiful and one hideous – who embark on a journey together to find the Sun Lord and the Night Lord. Rabon may be the beautiful twin, but he has a personal journey of his own to undertake before he can hold a candle to his brother, the monstrous (but only in appearance) Lal.

I was introduced to this story by a teacher in Year Six. I cried when I read it as a child and then again when I read it as an adult.
The author, Victor Kelleher, was born in England, but has since lived in Africa, New Zealand and Australia. I can also recommend his other books, which span the science fiction, fantasy, crime and horror genres.

2. Almost French by Sarah Turnbull 

 

This was a laugh out loud book for me, but I wonder whether it would be accessible to readers from other countries. Apparently it has done pretty well in the UK and it is being made into a feature film for release in 2014!

It is a memoir of an Australian meeting and falling in love with a Frenchman and it is very much a book about the differences between the Australian and the French cultures.

It is genuinely funny. Just look at this excerpt:

The trail of lime trees outside our building is still a public loo. …where else are they supposed to go to the toilet in a city where public toilets are about as common as UFO sightings?

Sarah Turnbull actually spent a lot of her school and university years in Canberra, which is where I live! I recently discovered she has written a sequel to Almost French called All Good Things, which is on my TBR list!

3. Bride Stripped Bare by Nikki Gemmell 

 

I remember being mesmerized by this book being written in second person, kind of like a choose your own adventure book (remember them?).

For example:

There were the endless birthday nights and New Year's Eves of just you in your bed and no one else. There was the welling up at weddings, the glittery eye-prick, when all the couples would get up to dance. Sometimes it felt like your heart was crazed with cracks like your grandmother's old saucers. Sometimes the sight of a Saturday afternoon couple laughing in a park would splinter it completely. 

The result is a poetic and extremely personal narrative, even if the author is choosing the adventure. The narrative follows the story of young wife who explores her own sexuality after discovering her husband has been unfaithful. On her website, Gemmell said, “I hoped to write a book that was startlingly real-with all the messiness and magic of life as we know it.”

The other innovative thing about this book was that Gemmell attempted to release it anonymously. She was outed before publication.

4. Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden (Series) 

 

This was arguably the most popular series for young adults while I was growing up.

I tend to take a while to jump on bandwagons and I remember reading this a few years after a friend recommended it. I was hooked. It follows the story of a group of teens who go on a camping trip, only to discover the country has been invaded on their return. They then go into guerilla warfare against the enemy.

Excerpt:

Well, I’d better stop biting my tongue and start biting the bullet. There’s only one way to do this and that’s to tell it in order, chronological order. I know writing it down is important to us. That’s why we all got so excited when Robyn suggested it. It’s terribly, terribly important. Recording what we’ve done, in words, on paper, it’s got to be our way of telling ourselves that we mean something, that we matter. That the things we’ve done have made a difference. I don’t know how big a difference, but a difference. Writing it down means we might be remembered. And by God that matters to us. None of us wants to end up as a pile of dead white bones, unnoticed, unknown, and worst of all, with no one knowing or appreciating the risks we’ve run.

It was turned into a movie in recent years, which I am not sure completely did it justice.

5. Jessica by Bryce Courtenay

This book is devastating. I remember crying my eyes out when I read it. It is a historical novel, based on the life of the daughter of a farmer. It is too difficult to give a brief overview of this book because it is seriously epic.

Bryce Courtenay is the same author that wrote The Power of One. He was South African and Australian (dual citizenship) and resided in Australia. He was regarded as a national institution until his passing last year while he also lived in Canberra. The next day the flag was flying at half-mast at our wedding venue Old Parliament House. I like to think it was for Bryce Courtenay (although the internet has neither been able to confirm nor deny this, despite flags flying half mast across the country).

Interesting fact, Courtenay worked in advertising before his books took off and was responsible for one of the best loved advertising campaigns in Australia – Louie the Fly.


Other Aussie books deserving a shout-out is Sleeping Dogs by Sonia Hartnett; Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein; and Looking for Alibrandi by Marina Marchetta.

Author Bio

Ingrid Jonach writes books for children and young adults, including the chapter books The Frank Frankie and Frankie goes to France published by Pan Macmillan, and When the World was Flat (and we were in love) published by Strange Chemistry.
Since graduating from university with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing (Hons) in 2005, Ingrid has worked as a journalist and in public relations, as well as for the Australian Government.
Ingrid loves to promote reading and writing, and has been a guest speaker at a number of schools and literary festivals across Australia, where she lives with her husband Craig and their pug dog Mooshi.
Despite her best efforts, neither Craig nor Mooshi read fiction.
Find out more at www.ingridjonach.com

Giveaway Details and Widget

Enter below for your chance to win one of two awesome prize packages as part of the Around the World in 80 Days Blog Tour for When the World was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach.
There will be two winners worldwide. Each prize package includes:
•    a signed copy of When the World was Flat (and we were in love)
•    a pair of silver plated key-shaped earrings in a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) gift box
•    a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) bookmark.
The competition will run until 21 October 2013 and the winners will be announced on this page and via www.ingridjonach.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excitement a-go-go!

Just received an exciting email!  A few months ago I asked to be part of a 'blog tour', where people write guest entries for various blogs and they get posted on certain days.  That one didn't work out but when the next one came up I asked to be part of that one too.  That one was successful and I am now sitting on a guest post!

It's all very secret and hush hush right now, but come back at noon UK time for the exciting guest post!  I want to post it now, I really do, but I can't!

 Yes, I'm a tease, but it's worth it!

Right, now I just need to make sure the formatting is all good and I can schedule it.