Local Author Events at the Malvern Book Co-operative

I am happy to say that I was contacted by the Malvern Book Co-operative to be a part of their local author week from the 13th to the 18th May. There will be several local novelists taking part, and I am looking forward to it!

On Tuesday the 14th, at 7.30pm, there will be a ‘Speed Pitching’ evening, where the authors will be pitching their novels in a few minutes. (Apparently like speed dating only without the embarrassing chat up lines!) Then afterwards there will be time to chat to the authors about the good bits and bad bits of writing and publishing.

Then on Thursday the 16th, between 1pm and 4pm, I will be in the shop in Malvern, doing some writing and having a cuppa, and would love it if any other writers or budding writers wanted to join me for some informal writing/chatting about writing and publishing. I would be happy to answer any questions or make any suggestions

Then on Saturday the 18th, there will be two sessions of the local novelists coming in to sign their books and chat with readers. We would love to see you there!

Please pass this on to anyone you know in the area. You can find the Malvern Book Co-operative on Facebook too.

What is your life’s purpose?

Do you even have one?

Tonight in the Littledean Community Centre I will be doing a talk on the purpose of life, which will include wisdom from my favourite books, and also my recent experience at a retreat with Neale Donald Walsch in Oregon.

I used to think that my purpose was something that I had to discover, to find, because it was out there, somewhere. But through my spiritual journey I have come to realise that’s not the case at all.

Intrigued? Come along at 7pm tonight, you never know, something might strike a chord with you!

Check out the Exploring Alternatives group on facebook for more info.

A Spiritual Weekend!

I spent last weekend in the stunning Wye Valley, in the beautiful home of Annette and John of Wye Valley Healing. The intention was to write 20,000 words of my new novel, but the end result was closer to just 10,000. I was struggling with writing the book, because it really wasn’t going the way that I wanted it to.

On the Friday night, I decided it was because I didn’t have any chocolate, so I did a late evening run to the supermarket for chocolate.

But that didn’t solve the problem.

By the Saturday afternoon, I was feeling very frustrated with the lack of motivation and that I was blocking the words from coming. So I decided to go and visit my Faerie friend at Peace of Stone, for a Reiki treatment. I went from being annoyed and frustrated to happy and bouncy, and then spent the remaining afternoon with my favourite people.

So after that, you would think the words would flow, right?

Wrong.

I spent the evening watching ‘While You Were Sleeping’! Not particularly productive! (Though fun, I do love that movie!)

On Sunday, I attended the Mind, Body and Spirit Fayre in the Speech House Hotel in Coleford. It was a really busy day, and it was great to see people I had met at the fayre last year. I also chatted to people that I knew from over a year and a half ago, but hadn’t seen since. I had some fantastic conversations, and lots of fantastic hugs, especially from my new friend, June, who is the most beautiful soul I have met in a while.

The biggest breakthrough of the day for me happened when I was chatting to people about my new book, and how I was struggling, because it really wasn’t turning out the way I wanted. It was supposed to be the same story as The Earth Angel Training Academy, but told from the point of view of the children. But that wasn’t happening, other characters were taking over the story, and the children weren’t really getting a chance to speak! But as I chatted to people about it, I realised that the characters that were taking over were all male. Which is when I realised that the main characters of The Earth Angel Training Academy are predominantly female.

It was my light bulb moment! This would basically be the masculine version of the book! Quite a few of my readers have asked me what on earth was going on with the male characters, wondering why they acted in certain ways, because we only really see them from the female characters perspective.

So now I guess we will find out!

This was the sunset on Sunday, after an exhausting but illuminating and happy day -

 

And then I noticed that my book on Annette’s bookshelf was next to Paulo Coelho’s books, which made me smile

The Power of Manifestation

I created my first Vision Board in 2009, when I was in New York. Working with the available materials I and my friends had to hand, I created it on a thick paper bag, using photos from magazines. Within a year, much of what I had stuck on my ‘board’ had happened, though not quite in the way I had imagined! (Still waiting for the vacation to a deserted island, though!)

I realised the power of this visualisation, and after the end of my relationship, in 2010, decided to create a new Vision Board. This one was slightly more upmarket, on black card, and I printed out the words I wanted, and attached photos and cut outs from magazines and also did a mock cover of my first novel.

New Vision Board -

 

Aside from Paris, most of what was on this board happened, or came true, including seeing my first book in print. I chose the picture of the boots on the beach, because the surrounding article was about a man who had walked around most of the world, and to me the photo signified lots of travelling.

 

Well, I have made a new board since then, in 2012, but I kept this one in the loft, because I liked it. This February, I went to California, and in my last few days met a couple of guys in the hostel I stayed in on Venice Beach. We went for a walk along the beach, and decided to paddle in the ocean, just so we could take photos and make people back home jealous (it was snowing in England, Mike was from Chicago where it was freezing, and Bob was from Canada, where temperatures were also very low). So we took our shoes off and paddled, then when we came back to them, I realised that Bob’s boots looked incredibly similar to the brown boots on the sand on my Vision Board!

So I took a photo of them -

 

So not only did I manifest travel, which is what the boots signified to me, but also the boots themselves!! So sometimes, the images we use on our Vision Boards can come into our lives in a literal way as well a symbolic way.

So, if you’ve never made one, give it a try, it’s fun, if nothing else!

 

In need of inspiration…

Having got so far behind on my wordcount in the last week, I have hidden myself away in a beautiful location, courtesy of some lovely friends of mine, who have very kindly opened their home to me. It’s hard to imagine being anything other than inspired while looking out of the massive windows at this impressive view, but I must admit, I have been struggling.

The lack of chocolate certainly wasn’t helping, so I have done a dash to the supermarket to stock up, as tomorrow I will be all out pelting the keyboard. As it happens, Camp Nanowrimo are having an official writing marathon tomorrow, you can see more info here. So far today I have managed 3400 words, which is a small effort towards my 20,000 word goal for this weekend, but it’s a start.

So tomorrow I will write as if my life depended on it, because who knows how madly busy next week might be?

Going back to my lack of inspiration, I have realised that it’s actually really very hard to be positive all the time (and believe me, I do try, after all, I know that whatever energy you send out, you get back, so I try to send out positivity) and still be a writer. (Or artist or musician, for that matter) Because these pursuits generally involve writing, painting or singing about tough subjects, usually sad ones. (Unless of course you write comedies, you lucky people!) And to write about heartbreak, it’s quite necessary for your heart to be broken. Sometimes repeatedly. And every time it happens, you begin to wonder what the point of it is. Did I get my heart broken so that I could write that really heart-wrenching scene in my book? Was that the reason for it? Or would it have happened anyway, whether I was a writer or not?

I realise you could drive yourself crazy asking questions like these, and believe me, I think I have. (Though anyone who knows me would argue that I’ve always been a little kooky).

Part of me wishes that I had a passion for a career that didn’t involve the uncertainty, anguish and pain that writing does. That I wanted to be something straightfoward that I could train for and just do. Something that I earnt a decent amount of money for doing and felt satisfied at the end of the day.

Instead I must remind myself that I am lucky to have a passion at all, and that not only do I have goals and aspirations, but that the world of publishing has changed and evolved enough for me to make them happen.

And that perhaps if I cannot be positive, when things seem so dark, I can at least be thankful for all that I have, all the amazing people that I know, and for the love that I have experienced.

Apologies for the melancholy nature of this post, I blame it on listening to one too many Ray LaMontagne songs!

Mind, Body & Spirit Fayre

Last weekend I was in Monmouth at the Positive Living Fayre, run by Peace of Stone, and had a great time catching up with people I hadn’t seen in months and meeting lots of lovely new people too!

This weekend, on the 14th April, I will be at the Mind, Body & Spirit Fayre, held in the Pavilion at the Speech House Hotel in the Forest of Dean, near Coleford. Last year’s fayre there was fantastic, and I am very much looking forward to this one! There will be lots of therapies on offer and stalls, as well as talks and workshops all day too. I will be doing a talk and workshop, about my writing methods and journey, and will be doing a meditation and competition too!

Would love to see you there if you are in the area I will have my four novels for sale, The Earth Angel Training Academy, The Earth Angel Awakening, The Doorway to PAM and The Elphite. I will also have some limited edition handmade bracelets that were made for the release of The Elphite for sale too!

Working myself into a Nano Frenzy!

Wondering what the hell a Nano Frenzy is? I will explain!

As I have set myself the task of publishing two books a year, I am in need of a book to publish this summer. And I haven’t written it yet. I have already had a couple of e-mails asking me where the next book is, so I thought I had better get going!

So having decided I would write my new book in April, I then received an e-mail from the beautiful folk at the Office of Letters and Light, telling me they are running Camp Nano in April this year! And you can set your own wordcount. Perfect!

So I promptly signed up, and set my wordcount to 75,000. Yes, that’s right, 75,000.

Then I was discussing the screenplay of The Elphite with Eiran, and we set the completion date for the 1st June, which requires me getting on with it, so in a fit of madness, I signed up for Script Frenzy too. That’s 100 pages of script. In April. Yes, you read it right, 100 pages.

Well it should be interesting, that’s for sure… 2,500 words of original material every day, as well as 3-4 pages of screenplay, adapted from The Elphite…

Oh and did I mention I will be doing a couple of Mind Body Spirit fairs, working,  and getting on with the marketing for my other books, too?

Have they perfected the science of human cloning yet? I may need another me…

I had a conversation with God…

… in 2007, and was told that I would one day meet Neale Donald Walsch. At the time it seemed like a crazy idea, I had no means to go to America or even to one of his events in the UK. I put the notebook away and soon forgot about the conversation. About a year later, I had moved to New York to work as an Au Pair, and was reading all of the books in the Conversations with God cosmology. I looked online one day and realised that Neale was doing an evening seminar in the city.

It was a brilliant evening, and the whole time, I felt like there was something I had forgotten, but couldn’t think what it was. I got my book signed by Neale, and then left, all the while knowing that I should have said something, though what, I didn’t know.

A couple of months later, I found the conversation in my notebook, and I realised that God’s prediction had come true. At that moment I decided that I would have to meet Neale again, so I could tell him.

Fast forward 5 years – just last week I attended the Spiritual Renewal Retreat with Neale in Medford, Oregon. It was an incredible 4.5 days, I met so many amazing people, a lot of whom I am keeping in touch with, especially my fabulous buddy, Molly The retreat included a lot of people sharing their stories, and I told Neale about my conversation, and about meeting him in New York. I wanted to thank him for doing a free retreat, (they do one free one per year) as it made it possible for me to attend, seeing as I only needed to find the air fare.

Me & Molly

The week was made even more special by the live and beautiful music of Cathy Bolton. She had a song for every topic discussed, and brought a few tears to our eyes with her angelic voice. I love my CD that I bought, it may well become the soundtrack for my next book

The week flowed perfectly thanks to the wonderful CWG staff, Will, JR, Annie,  and many others. Janine, a wonderful lady who runs a programme to bring books to prisoners, called Freedom Inside, was running the book stall there. I loved what she was doing and so offered to send copies of The Doorway to PAM to any prisoners who would like to read it.

It was a truly transformative retreat, and I am so glad that I went. Hearing the CWG material from the man who wrote it made it come to life. And having it applied to the situations of those in the room helped everyone to see how it applied to them and their lives. If you have yet to read any of the Conversations with God series, I urge you to pick up a copy of Book 1. You won’t regret it

I am now spending another week in Medford, exploring the towns and lakes and mountains that surround it. I’m staying with a lovely couple who live here, who are very kindly hosting me through couchsurfing.org.

This holiday has given me the break I desperately needed, and in April, when I return, I will have the energy to get on with writing! I have set myself some crazy tasks – more info on that to come…

I have a Millionaire Mind!

Last weekend, from the 15th to the 17th of March, I attended the Millionaire Mind Intensive in London. Well, it was intensive alright! Three crazy long days, after which I felt thoroughly exhausted… but exhilarated at the same time.

I have to admit, after reading some negative reviews of Peak Potentials online, I wasn’t as excited about the course as I had been initially, and when I arrived early on Friday morning, I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

There was a lot of high energy dancing, high-fiving and shouting, which was a little odd at first, but by the end of the weekend, the energy was fun and aside from having no voice left, made me feel good.

I met some fantastic people, who I will be keeping in touch with, and as with most courses, I find that the connections you make are as valuable as the information learnt. The techniques we were taught and the exercises we did were great, and actually did change my mindset towards money, which is the whole point of the weekend.

The only downside was the constant sales pitches for their other courses. Now, I completely understand that they make their money through selling these other courses… but the way they went about it actually alienated and annoyed people in the audience. In fact, before the weekend, I really loved the look of the Enlightened Warrior Camp, but after the incessant sales pitches just wasn’t interested anymore! I was also glad that after seeing the bad reviews, I was prepared for the pitches and had firmly decided to not sign up to anything else, or even spend any other money there, because I had set the intention that the weekend course was all I needed to do to change my money blueprint. That way, I listened to their pitches to learn about how to (or how not to) market and sell things.

I suppose the only other thing that bothered me about the course, was the inauthenticity of the speakers. They seemed like lovely people, but when something is as systemised as the MMI, and they are just literally reciting from a script and using all the ‘right’ gestures and tone of voice to get the material across in the way they have been taught, it just feels fake.

But was it worth going? Yes, I believe it was. As long as I implement the ideas and exercises into my life, I believe that I can change my financial situation, in fact, things are already improving,  just a week later, so if you are thinking of going, don’t let the bad reviews or sales pitches put you off, go and see for yourself

Some photos of my new friends -

 

 

 

When Velvet met Shelly…

This gallery contains 8 photos.

When I wrote The Earth Angel Training Academy in 2009, I had no idea that four years later, I would be meeting one of the characters!! Here is the scene in the book where Velvet meets Shelly the Mermaid : … Continue reading →