Jul 22 2015

What My Characters Have Taught Me – Mrs M

In The Elphite, the main character meets her neighbour, Mrs M, known as the local psychic.

Mrs M knows that Ellie is living her life over and over again, but helps her to see that just because she know what is going to happen in her future, it doesn’t mean she cannot let it all go and choose to have a positive perspective of life.

She encourages her to burn her diary and release all of her past lives, as well as her fears for the future. Then she gives Ellie a tool to bring herself back to the present moment whenever she slips into fear.

She tells her to ask herself three questions –

Am I alive? Am I awake? Am I loved?

And if she’s able to say – “I am alive. I am awake. I am loved.”, then in that present moment, all is well, and there is nothing to fear or worry or stress about.

So much of our negativity stems from wanting to change the past or being afraid of what the future holds. Very little of it exists in the present moment.

What I learnt from Mrs M is remain present, and create the life I want to experience from this present moment.

Another thing I learnt from Mrs M, is that forgiveness, love and healing prayers are far stronger than feeling helpless, angry or hateful about a negative situation.

Have you read the Elphite? If so, what did you learn from Mrs M?

P.S. I’m offering a free eBook copy of The Elphite in return for an honest review of the book. If you’re interested, drop me an email! (theamethystangel@hotmail.co.uk)

Jul 13 2015

Putting the Novelty back into Novel-Writing

I don’t know about any other writers out there, but I know that for me, writing needs to be as fun as possible, otherwise things like washing up and cleaning become more interesting and therefore take priority over getting any writing done.

But how fun can you make it? Well, when I wrote my first novel, The Earth Angel Training Academy, it was immediately after reading No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty, a book that I have told many people about, because without it, I may never have got started. I’m currently participating in Camp Nanowrimo to get my latest novel written. Chris is a master at making writing a fun thing to do. He encourages writers to set crazy deadlines, eat far too many snacks, wear crazy hats as writing totems and then printing out the manuscript and diving into the paper with wild abandon.

Unfortunately, most of my writing time is really not very exciting, and consists of me being hunched over my iPad with some music playing. Fun or novel it is not. Until that is, I discovered the Hanx Writer.

For some time now, I have been hankering over getting an old typewriter. I remember having one as a child and loving doing my homework on it, and it seems like every movie author has one, and quite frankly, I just love the way they look and sound. But practical? Not really. To write my books, I really need a normal keyboard, and one that’s connected to something digital. So when I read about the Querky Writer, I was really excited. It was a typewriter-style keyboard you can attach to your keyboard. Genius! When I first found it, it was on KickStarter and was in pre-production stage. Now that I’ve seen the final product, I don’t find it does much for me.

Then while looking at the Querky Writer, I found this site, which sells actual typewriters that have been modified so they link directly to your computer or iPad. Now this was much more exciting, though if I were going to spend that much money, I would buy a Mac laptop, as my PC is terribly slow and I need a new one.

Then, my wanderings on Google led me to the Hanx Writer. Designed by Tom Hanks, who is a collector of typewriters (who knew??) the Hanx Writer is an app for iPad and iPhone that basically turns it into a typewriter. You can use the basic version for free, but I bought the upgrade and I have to say it’s fab. I have used it for the last two days, and weirdly, I think it’s made me a faster and more productive writer. All because I love the way the words appear on the paper and the clacking sounds of the keys.

Yes I’m on Chapter Eleven of the latest novel in the Earth Angel Series!

It’s definitely put the novelty back into novel-writing, and in a weird way, makes me feel like a real writer. One day, I may still get a modified typewriter, but for now, the Hanx Writer ticks all the boxes!

Now back to the clack-clacking.

Disclaimer: I’m not being paid to write this! This is my own honest opinion about an app I found accidentally and have fallen in love with.

Jul 6 2015

Escaping Reality

While sitting on a bench halfway up a hill the other day, (to catch my breath, it was a steep hill!) I realised just how much time I spend escaping from my reality.

When I was younger, I read books every single day, and would happily escape into fictional worlds full of witches and magic and Californian beaches and parties.

Then as I grew older, I loved movies, and spent hours in my room watching videos, getting them second-hand from video rental shops.

I also played video games, racing cars was my favourite kind of game, seeing if I could beat the other competitors on the track.

In the late nineties, the internet arrived, with its allure of chatrooms and emailing, which then consumed much of my time and attention.

Of course, I did actually go outside and interact with real live people throughout my childhood and my teens, but I did spend quite a chunk of time ‘somewhere else’ and not quite on this plane of reality.

In my twenties, I discovered the world of spirituality and mind, body and spirit books, that then taught me about other dimensions and universes that existed, and I explored those topics through my writing, which was also my way of escaping my reality here on this planet.

Now, it’s mainly social media that is my escape. Only with the pretence attached that it’s a more social form of anti-social behaviour, because I’m not escaping into a fictional world of fictional characters, but into a digital world full of actual people.

I stopped to take in the magic of the woods

While sitting on the bench, all of this was running through my mind, and I forced myself to put away my phone (I was having a conversation on Facebook with my friend) and I just sat there, and took in the sunlight, the shape of the leaves above me, the sounds that I could hear, and the smells. I wanted to beat myself up over having escaped so much over the years that I had missed out on being here, fully present, in each moment. But then I realised something.

Escapism may be the only reason why I am still here.

It’s no secret that there have been many times throughout my life when I have found it difficult to remain on this planet. Indeed, many Old Souls and other Earth Angels often feel this way. It can be a dark and scary place to be, and the idea that we are here to make any kind of difference can be incredibly overwhelming. So reading, writing books and poetry, watching films, playing videos games, being on Social Media – they are my coping mechanisms. In a similar way that alcohol, drugs, meditation, overeating, etc are coping mechanisms that others employ.

I would like to be more present, to be in the moment with whatever is happening or however I am feeling. But I recognise and accept that in order for me to be here, I also need healthy doses of escapism, in the form of fictional worlds and chatting with friends in various parts of the world, watching stupid cat videos and even blogging my random thoughts right here for all to see.

So next time you find yourself vegging out in front of the TV or computer, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just enjoy the escapism and let the break from reality refresh you and help you to be more productive and present at other times.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the world of Faeries and Starpeople to continue writing my new book!

Jun 22 2015

Get Busy Living

In a follow-up to my post on Talking of Lack, I thought I’d write a little about realisations that have been formulating as a result of that post, and as a result of chatting to my friend and sorting through my stuff.

In my post before, I said how it seemed that we generally only speak of that which we lack, or the negative things that we have. And that we cannot create the life we want, by speaking of what we don’t have. Even affirmations can push away our desires, as continuously affirming – I am abundant – clearly comes from a place of lack. Because people who genuinely are abundant, do not feel the need to state it out loud.

It occurred to me today, that when things are going really well in my life, I literally don’t have the time nor the desire to really discuss it. I’m just too busy living it. It’s really only when things aren’t going so well that there is need to discuss things, to write things down, to think about things. I wrote in another post back in April, that I used to write diaries, but only ever really wrote when I was unhappy, which meant that I had recorded all the bad times, and was too busy having fun to record the good times. I said I wanted to change that, and to record more of the good times, but do you know what? I think it’s more important to be fully in the present moment, experiencing the good times, than to divert your attention onto recording them.

How do you know when life is good? When you’re too busy living it and enjoying it to talk about it or write about it. A couple of years ago, I created a ‘happy memory jar’, which I planned to fill with memories written down on pretty pieces of paper. For the first six months of that year, I was separated from my Flame, and though I was very busy doing things, seeing new things and meeting new people, I wasn’t completely happy, as so any happy moment was recorded and put in the jar. I did have some genuinely happy times, but the point is, there were plenty of moments surrounding those happy times where I was a little down, and to lift myself, I would write down the happy times.

By the middle of the year, I was back with my Flame and was putting fewer bits of paper in the jar. That Christmas, I emptied the jar and read all of the memories, and then I decided to re-use the jar for the following year. Because I was happy, and I was busy living, I didn’t put any slips of paper in that jar. I berated myself when I realised that I had been forgetting to write things down and add it to the jar, but I realise now how silly that is. That in fact, by not having time to write a diary, or to write down memories, it meant I was truly content and happy.

So truly, I believe that instead of thinking or talking about doing something, we should just do it. Instead of affirming that we are something, we should just be it.

So many times, I have stated what I am going to be, or what I’m going to do, and often, those things didn’t happen. Instead of stating or affirming these things, I should just get on with it. Because if I was getting on with it, I wouldn’t have the time to discuss it!

If this blog post has made any sense to you at all, and anything has resonated with you, please do comment below! If not, I hope that my mad ramblings have at least convinced you that you are quite sane and sensible, unlike me 🙂

Why does it take so long to let go?

Jun 15 2015

What My Characters Have Taught Me – Aria

Aria is without a doubt, my favourite character. When I first read through The Earth Angel Training Academy, having written it in just over two months, I couldn’t help but giggle at Aria’s fantastic lines. Her cheeky, slightly naughty, infallibly honest nature shines out and I love writing anything with her in it!

One of the primary things I have learnt from Aria is to have fun. To not take anything too seriously. She hated the fact that humans seem to be so boring and serious, and did everything possible to have as much fun as she could. She chose not to go to Earth in the first book, because she couldn’t bear the idea of losing her wings and becoming a heavy human, and I have to say – I’m with her on that one!

Another thing I learnt from Aria, is that honesty really is the best policy. She always says what she thinks, and is always open with her opinion. She hates to hurt anyone’s feelings, but cannot help but tell the truth, and because she is coming from a place of innocence, it’s difficult for anyone to be annoyed with her. One of my readers said that Aria irritated her in the beginning, but then she completely fell in love with her, which is generally how it goes with Faeries!

But the best thing I learnt from Aria is that as long as there’s chocolate, then everything will be just fine!

Jun 2 2015

Vivid Dreaming

I’m no stranger to vivid dreams. I have woken up deafened from the noise of the tornado that’s just gone past me, woken up breathing heavily in fear of being chased or attacked. I’ve often had prophetic dreams too. Sometimes I have foreseen things in a literal way, other times, in a metaphorical way.

But what happened last week really did spook me a little bit!

I woke up on Thursday morning, and found that I was crying, because I had just been sobbing in my dream. In the dream, I had rescued a wolf from a river, as it had choked on the water and started to drown. I had pulled it out and rescued it, then I picked it up and cradled it in my arms like a child. Then I took it home but found that it kept wanting to eat things it could choke on, and by the end of the dream, it had in fact choked to death, which is why I woke up crying.

Now, if you’re into dream interpretation, then please, by all means, let me know what you think any of that meant!

So later on Thursday, I headed to the Brighton Film Networking meeting, and got chatting to Lorenzo Fantini, and artist and founder of Screen Rebels in London. For some reason we were talking about dreams, and I described my dream to him. He then showed me some photos of his artwork, and one of the images was so eerily like my dream, that it quite honestly freaked me out a little. The only difference was the creature was a fox, not a wolf, but he has very kindly let me share the image with you. Here it is:

Then on Saturday morning, I had a dream where a lion was watching me, and when I picked out a random tarot card later in the day, it had a lion on the card, sitting on the side, just observing the scene.

I’m just praying that the red and blue, whale-sized baboon fish don’t turn up when I go to the beach tomorrow…

May 25 2015

Going Old-School

As a writer who relies heavily on technology to write and publish books, I am a massive fan of all the advances in technology that we’ve seen over the last twenty years. I write my books on my iPad, edit and format them on my laptop, publish them on Createspace and Kindle, and then market them on Facebook and Twitter. Every step of my process relies on technology. None of it can be done without gadgets and electricity.

But despite all of these things making my craft much quicker and easier to do, there is something quite magical about creating something using old-school methods. I used to love my old typewriter, and would happily do my school work on it, taking care not to make too many mistakes, otherwise it would be covered in tip-ex, or I’d have to begin again. And I used to love sitting on the beach, or with a torch under my covers, scribbling in notebooks with a pencil. I absolutely love stationery, pens and pencils and notebooks – I have so many, yet most of the notebooks lie empty, unused.

I do treasure the pieces of writing that I have written with pen, and one of my favourite writing moments was when I was living in New York, and was sat in a diner with a friend who kept saying the most hilarious things. Not having any paper to hand, I grabbed a napkin and penned one of my favourite poems, titled – Musings over Milkshake. I still have the napkin, seven years later! I found it the other day:

To read the poem in its entirety, click here.

Who knows, I may even go completely old-school and write a whole novel on the typewriter, or even a pack of 200 napkins – now that would be an interesting challenge!

Mar 25 2015

Success is…

After holding a google hangout to share my process on defining success, and having some lovely feedback, because the hangout recording wasn’t great (and very long!) I decided to put together a very short simple video describing the process. It is now on youtube, and if you try it out and enjoy it, please do let me know!

[youtube https://youtu.be/ovSzXCUZwjg]

I have also created a new page here on my blog, which contains links to all of my videos or videos I have been featured in. You can access the page from the menu or by clicking here. You could use the same process for creating definitions for other things, such as love and relationships, or money and abundance. I hope you have fun with it, there are no rules so make it your own!

Mar 11 2015

Earth Angel Bears

Last week, while trying to declutter, I discovered a half-finished bear from my bear-making days. I looked into the seed bead eyes of this limb-less creature, and I felt a deep need to finish it, and bring it to life, after it had been stuck in a bag in the loft for the last seven years.

Once she was properly ‘alive’ I found I just couldn’t stop. In the last week, I have created several new bears, and have also designed new wings, as I decided to restock my empty etsy shop with ‘Earth Angel Bears’.

I started making bears when I was a teenager, and my very first bear was a sad little creature called Doddle. I blogged about Doddle a while back. He took me a whole week to make, and though I felt a sense of satisfaction at actually finishing him, he really didn’t look quite right! But after several years of making bears, creating my own patterns, honing and much practice, my bears finally started looking like real bears.

Over the course of 7 years, I made nearly 100 bears, and sold many of them, giving others away as gifts. I kept very few of them, three of which are the Old Souls I have listed on etsy – Mulberry, Robert and Gwri.

Just before I went into retirement, I had started to make hand-felted faerie wings for my bears, because I wanted them to fly. I sold a few, including Floyd, a bright pink bear with purple wings who went to live in New York. Then for some reason, somehow, I stopped making bears. Right in the middle of creating one, who I have now called Leilani. She is an incarnated Faerie bear, and I think she’s rather lovely:

The biggest thing I have realised this week, is that I have really missed creating physical things. I’ve painted a few cards in the last few months, and done the odd creative project, but creating these little characters is something different entirely. It has given me a sense of accomplishment to see them lined up, ready to go to their new homes where they will be loved and where they will help people to Awaken! It makes me feel like Velvet, creating her Earth Angel army to send to Earth to help bring about the Golden Age! (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out my first book 😉 )

I feel like my life is almost entirely digital, and it’s not unusual for me to spend 12 hours or more a day staring at some kind of screen. Which make me feel a little bit sad. So it’s been a complete joy to set the screens aside and create beautiful little ones. I do hope you fall in love with them too! I have created a Facebook page, and I would love for you to check them out on etsy and to share them with your friends.

Here’s a picture of Honesty and Larry, named in honour of Aria and her ladybug friend from The Earth Angel Training Academy.

Mar 1 2015

Business or Pleasure?

I can remember the exact moment that I stopped seeing blog writing as being a fun way to share my thoughts, experiences and ideas online, to seeing it as a marketing exercise. It was when I read a post by a successful Indie author, who used his blog to showcase his writing talent, which then made people curious about his books, and therefore then bought them.

Up until that point, blogging, was simply, blogging.

After that point, keywords became very important, blogging about popular things became important. Writing regularly became important.

Or so it seemed. In truth, my blogging didn’t change. I still only blogged when I felt like I had something to say. I actually tended to avoid popular topics, and I still only use relevant keywords to the subject I am writing about. So, although I have been aware from about 4 years that blogging is now considered a marketing exercise, I really have not been using it as such. Of course, I mention my books occasionally, but it really is just a place that I express my thoughts. I haven’t monetised it in any way, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I get any sales through it – I think that the people who follow it just like to find out what I’m up to, keep up to date with me and read my ramblings on various subjects.

So I have decided to ditch the idea that blogging is a marketing exercise, because in all honesty, all that thinking has done for me is suck out a little of the joy of it. Historically, blogs were simply online journals, where ordinary people could share their lives with the world. And I think I would like this blog to remain true to that.

If anyone reading my posts is inspired to read my books – excellent! If not – excellent! Either way, I will continue to ramble in my normal fashion, and I hope that’s okay with you.

Do you blog? Is it for business or for pleasure?