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.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Monday, 9 September 2013
Tasty foods!
Healthy eating is important in general, but it's also a good idea for writers to eat well. This doesn't have to be bland and boring though, so here's a tasty recipe I've come up with that I really like. It's not perfected yet, but I enjoy improving it. Here's the latest version:
Tomato Puree
Garlic Puree
Bread crumbs
Olive Oil
Salt and fresh black pepper
I made the bread crumbs and added the salt and pepper as I chopped the bread into crumbs. A slice of bread was enough.
Cover the fillets in the garlic and tomato mix. Dip them in the bread crumbs until covered. They need to be stuck on but not squashed.
Cook at 180°C for 20 minutes or until golden.
The tomato and garlic mix will stop the Quorn from drying out and the bread crumbs will turn crispy making this delicious with any meal. Like I said, this isn't quite perfect but it's a great starting point for your own recipes.
Tomato and Garlic Quorn Fillets
Ingredients
2 x Frozen Quorn filletsTomato Puree
Garlic Puree
Bread crumbs
Olive Oil
Salt and fresh black pepper
Method
Mix a tablespoon of tomato puree with a teaspoon of garlic puree and a tablespoon of olive oil.I made the bread crumbs and added the salt and pepper as I chopped the bread into crumbs. A slice of bread was enough.
Cover the fillets in the garlic and tomato mix. Dip them in the bread crumbs until covered. They need to be stuck on but not squashed.
Cook at 180°C for 20 minutes or until golden.
The tomato and garlic mix will stop the Quorn from drying out and the bread crumbs will turn crispy making this delicious with any meal. Like I said, this isn't quite perfect but it's a great starting point for your own recipes.
Monday, 19 August 2013
[Review] The Weight of Souls by Bryony Pearce
The Blurb
Sixteen year old Taylor Oh is cursed: if she is touched by the ghost of a murder victim then they pass a mark beneath her skin. She has three weeks to find their murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will come for her…
When Justin - one of the most popular boys at school but Taylor's worst enemy - is killed, her life gets a whole lot trickier. Justin doesn't believe he's dead, so Taylor has to solve the mystery before she can lay him to rest. This leads her to the terrifying V society, and a game of Truth of Dare that went so very wrong.
The Review
Taylor seems to have a hard life. Reading the first few chapters was like reading a perfect account of being bullied. Always being the victim and yet always getting the blame for it. It did make it a little hard for me as it brought back some memories I'd rather forget, but I carried on and I'm glad I did.
Taylor has a lot to do with. Not just the bullying but also the curse. Her father thinks it's a disease to be cured and she could be touched at any time, which causes problems with her only friend. Justin's death puts not just a spanner in the works but a whole tool box.
Well written and well paced, The Weight of Souls has a great plot. Taylor doesn't just have to solve a murder, she also has to avoid other ghosts as well. A task that's not made easy when the victim doesn't think he's dead and he's not easy to find.
Mixed with the tale of how she got the curse in the first place, The Weight of Souls is a murder mystery unlike any other. A great read that kept me reading to the very end, and left me wanting more.
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Bad news!
So, in my last blog post, I said there was a plumber coming today. He came, he saw, he decided to do the work next week instead. Still no room, no desktop, no books, and my laptop is breaking.
Doom!
Doom and woe!
Oh well. At least I have Animal Crossing: New Leaf to keep me going, and I can do a review of that over on my gaming blog.
In the meantime, I have a special request! I'm looking for a website thing that will allow me to do a blog section as well as other pages. I quite like the idea of keeping my blogger blogs and having both of them appear in the same feed. I'll probably need a host.
I do have a googles sites website set up, but I don't know if it can do what I want. If anyone can help, I'd very much appreciate it!
Doom!
Doom and woe!
Oh well. At least I have Animal Crossing: New Leaf to keep me going, and I can do a review of that over on my gaming blog.
In the meantime, I have a special request! I'm looking for a website thing that will allow me to do a blog section as well as other pages. I quite like the idea of keeping my blogger blogs and having both of them appear in the same feed. I'll probably need a host.
I do have a googles sites website set up, but I don't know if it can do what I want. If anyone can help, I'd very much appreciate it!
Monday, 15 July 2013
Sorry!!
I am so sorry for neglecting my blog! Things have been quiet on the writing front and I've been starting reviews and then getting distracted so they've never appeared. I do have some great books for review though. I don't have access to my desktop or my books right now as I'm having plumbing work done in my room, which meant I had to clear out everything. That'll be done soon so I should be able to sort out a few books for the next few weeks.
If you've read a good book and you want to recommend it, just reply and I'll see if I've got it or I can pick it up. I'm always on the look out for new things, so I'm up for anything really. I've read so many books and I've only disliked one. Oh, and bad writing isn't a problem, as I like Dan Brown.
Until then, keep reading and writing.
If you've read a good book and you want to recommend it, just reply and I'll see if I've got it or I can pick it up. I'm always on the look out for new things, so I'm up for anything really. I've read so many books and I've only disliked one. Oh, and bad writing isn't a problem, as I like Dan Brown.
Until then, keep reading and writing.
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Book Links for Salisbury
Cover
Overview
Kate is having the worst day of her life. Nothing is going right and her life is falling to pieces around her. With the help of a friend, she manages to pick herself up before life send her through another loop and a whole lot more crazy.Set in the cathedral city of Salisbury, England, this is a romance novel with a twist, and a few surprises along the way. Featuring cats, coffee, zombies, and ferrets, Salisbury has something for everyone to enjoy, including real locations that can be visited.
Links
Nook:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/salisbury-rachel-james/1113742128
iBookstore:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/salisbury/id572578472
Kindle:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Salisbury-ebook/dp/B009QEJJAI/
Lulu (ebook):
http://www.lulu.com/shop/rachel-james/salisbury/ebook/product-20456428.html
Lulu (paperback):
http://www.lulu.com/shop/rachel-james/salisbury/paperback/product-20314800.html
Friday, 19 October 2012
Let's Talk About Bullying
Bullying is never acceptable, ever, and yet it goes on everywhere. And I don't just mean school, but throughout life. Why it happens isn't really important, mostly because there are so many reasons and so many people have their own theories about that listing them all would be mostly guess work and speculation. Only the bullies know why they do it, and sometimes even then I wonder if they do. All that really matters is that we do something about it.
For me it started when I was at Primary School (ages 5-11), it continued when I went to Secondary School (normally 11-16), and then at Sixth Form College (16-18). It stopped when I went to Uni for two years but I dropped out due to ill health and it continued at the college I went to (20-22). It wasn't always the same thing, but it always had the same effect. It made me feel like crap every time.
To make things worse, I was the only one who'd get into trouble. One time at Secondary School I was sitting down to lunch. I was just sitting there, probably eating sandwiches or something similar, just minding my own business. I don't remember how it started but this other kid in my class was on me, so I threw him off as I was trying to eat. He then yelled out that I was going psycho and that everyone should grab me. All I wanted to do was eat, so I shook them off as best I could, but that wasn't the end of it. This kid yelled out the same sorts of things about me being psycho, and I was jumped on, again. It went on a few more times before I just gave up and walked out, slamming the door behind me. It was a reinforced glass door and I broke it, the glass actually coming out the frame. Like I said, I was the only one who ever got in trouble. Despite not being the one who started it, despite being the victim, despite everything that lead up to that, it was only me who got in trouble. I refused to pay for the door but it turned out later that my parents had.
When I was at college, there was another kid who found out something I wanted kept secret and he promptly shared it with his friends. They made my remaining time there a living hell. I wanted to get on with my work, but they would constantly berate me during class, yelling out how I was a freak and that I should be allowed at the college. The worst thing is that they would do this with teachers present and the teachers would know it was going on and just ask them to be quiet if the teacher was speaking.
And talking of teachers, what the hell do you do if the teacher is the bully? There is nothing you can do about it then. They'll just persuade the other teachers that you're at fault, that you're a problem child, that you're just being difficult. One teacher would send me home every time I forgot something, no matter how insignificant, which meant I never got the homework, so I was sent home again the next week, and so one, ad nauseum. Another teacher straight up told me I didn't have asthma and that I was putting on an asthma attack. Really? After all the doctor's notes? After all the times it had kept me home? You really want to tell an asthmatic they don't have asthma while they're having an attack? I could go on and on about how my Asperger's Syndrome caused problems, but I'll just say that the Secondary School spent their Special Needs budget on building repair and leave it at that.
Those are just a few incident of many. At Primary School there was a kid picking on me. The only friend I had was with me at the time and he stood up for me. He stamped on the other kid's foot. You'd think that the bully there would've been punished, but he wasn't. It was my friend who was. The other kid had an ingrown toenail or something and my friend was suspended. Nothing happened to the bully, even though he was at fault and my friend was just standing up for me.
And that's the biggest problem with bullying. Nothing ever happens to the bully. It's always the victim who gets blamed. It's always the victim who's punished. It's always the victim that anything negative happens to. What can you do when you can't trust the teachers to punish the bullies and not you? What do you do if the teachers are the bullies? What do you do when you're an adult and shamed into silence because 'it only happens to kids'?
I wish I knew what the answers are, but I know it's not suicide. No matter how close I've come before, I've somehow not gone ahead with it. I'm still here, able to play games with some good friends and write books and enjoy the bits of life that are fun. It has gotten better for me, and if it can get better for me then it can get better for you too.
There are lots of anti-bullying songs out there. Some deal with homophobia, some are just general. Have a google, you'll find some, but these I like:
Hero - Superchick
Bully – Shinedown
Make It Stop – Rise Against
Jumper – Third Eye Blind
Never Too Late – Three Days Grace
For me it started when I was at Primary School (ages 5-11), it continued when I went to Secondary School (normally 11-16), and then at Sixth Form College (16-18). It stopped when I went to Uni for two years but I dropped out due to ill health and it continued at the college I went to (20-22). It wasn't always the same thing, but it always had the same effect. It made me feel like crap every time.
To make things worse, I was the only one who'd get into trouble. One time at Secondary School I was sitting down to lunch. I was just sitting there, probably eating sandwiches or something similar, just minding my own business. I don't remember how it started but this other kid in my class was on me, so I threw him off as I was trying to eat. He then yelled out that I was going psycho and that everyone should grab me. All I wanted to do was eat, so I shook them off as best I could, but that wasn't the end of it. This kid yelled out the same sorts of things about me being psycho, and I was jumped on, again. It went on a few more times before I just gave up and walked out, slamming the door behind me. It was a reinforced glass door and I broke it, the glass actually coming out the frame. Like I said, I was the only one who ever got in trouble. Despite not being the one who started it, despite being the victim, despite everything that lead up to that, it was only me who got in trouble. I refused to pay for the door but it turned out later that my parents had.
When I was at college, there was another kid who found out something I wanted kept secret and he promptly shared it with his friends. They made my remaining time there a living hell. I wanted to get on with my work, but they would constantly berate me during class, yelling out how I was a freak and that I should be allowed at the college. The worst thing is that they would do this with teachers present and the teachers would know it was going on and just ask them to be quiet if the teacher was speaking.
And talking of teachers, what the hell do you do if the teacher is the bully? There is nothing you can do about it then. They'll just persuade the other teachers that you're at fault, that you're a problem child, that you're just being difficult. One teacher would send me home every time I forgot something, no matter how insignificant, which meant I never got the homework, so I was sent home again the next week, and so one, ad nauseum. Another teacher straight up told me I didn't have asthma and that I was putting on an asthma attack. Really? After all the doctor's notes? After all the times it had kept me home? You really want to tell an asthmatic they don't have asthma while they're having an attack? I could go on and on about how my Asperger's Syndrome caused problems, but I'll just say that the Secondary School spent their Special Needs budget on building repair and leave it at that.
Those are just a few incident of many. At Primary School there was a kid picking on me. The only friend I had was with me at the time and he stood up for me. He stamped on the other kid's foot. You'd think that the bully there would've been punished, but he wasn't. It was my friend who was. The other kid had an ingrown toenail or something and my friend was suspended. Nothing happened to the bully, even though he was at fault and my friend was just standing up for me.
And that's the biggest problem with bullying. Nothing ever happens to the bully. It's always the victim who gets blamed. It's always the victim who's punished. It's always the victim that anything negative happens to. What can you do when you can't trust the teachers to punish the bullies and not you? What do you do if the teachers are the bullies? What do you do when you're an adult and shamed into silence because 'it only happens to kids'?
I wish I knew what the answers are, but I know it's not suicide. No matter how close I've come before, I've somehow not gone ahead with it. I'm still here, able to play games with some good friends and write books and enjoy the bits of life that are fun. It has gotten better for me, and if it can get better for me then it can get better for you too.
There are lots of anti-bullying songs out there. Some deal with homophobia, some are just general. Have a google, you'll find some, but these I like:
Hero - Superchick
Bully – Shinedown
Make It Stop – Rise Against
Jumper – Third Eye Blind
Never Too Late – Three Days Grace
To Write Love On Her Arms – Between The Trees
The Call – Matt Kennon
Don’t Laugh At Me – Mark Wills
Everybody Hurts – R.E.M.
Don’t Jump – Tokio Hotel
How To Save A Life – The Fray
Savin’ Me – Nickelback
Jeremy – Pearl Jam
Hold On – Good Charlotte
Happy? - Mudvayne
Last Resort - Papa Roach
Some might seem like odd choice, but it was bands like Linking Park, Papa Roach, Slipknot, and Marilyn Manson,that kept me going some days. Hope they help you too.
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