May 13 2014

Book Tours and Reviews and Oracle Readings!

It really has been a busy few weeks, and things seem set to continue in that way. This is just a short update, to mention a few things that have been happening.

First of all, I had a lovely review posted by Tiffany Hathorn, who read and loved The Elphite. She also interviewed me for her blog the other week. It seems mad that many people have read and loved The Elphite, but I have so few reviews on Amazon (or anywhere) for it. I’m determined to remedy that, by doing some more marketing for it, a part of my Visionary Collection launch.

I have finally edited and posted a new Oracle Card Reading, and will post another later in the week. You can watch it below 🙂

[youtube http://youtu.be/UOzIPZiV8z0]

And finally, in this short update, I would like to put a call out to anyone who would like to get involved in my book tour, because I have to say, I think it will be epic! You can check out all of the details on the website.

Aside from that, I am focussed on finishing I’m Here, ready for release in just a couple of weeks, and organising more publishing workshops. (Oh and watching Fringe – ever so slightly addicted to it!)

I will post another update soon!

May 8 2014

And so it begins!

First post on the I’m Here Book Tour news blog – it’s now official!

I'm Here Book Tour

Very excited to be writing the very first post for the I’m Here Book Tour!

Thanks to the very generous sponsorship from Liz Chukwu, (author of Kismet) I was able to order the cards for the book tour.

Just this morning, the cards arrived. (Which is crazy fast as I only ordered them on Monday! Nice one Vistaprint!)

I was quite nervous about opening the giant box (must admit I had no concept of what 5000 cards would look like) but when I saw them I was very pleased.

Now I am very motivated to get the book finished so I can start sending out the cards to be distributed around the world. If you would like to get involved in any way, please click on the ‘Get Involved‘ page, to see how. I am still looking for…

View original post 49 more words

Apr 30 2014

The Visionary Collection Cover Reveal!

I just can’t wait any longer to show off my shiny new covers for the Visionary Collection! Aren’t they beautiful? They were designed by the fabulous madappledesigns, and I really couldn’t be happier. I am working on the formatting at the moment, so the first three books in the collection (Heaven dot com, The Doorway to PAM and The Elphite) will be available with the new covers on Kindle and in paperback by the end of May, along with the release of my brand new novel – I’m Here.

The full covers for the print copies:

Apr 28 2014

Authors Are Humans Too

I know fellow book-lovers out there will understand what I mean when I say that favourite authors can become like gods to us, and that we can put them up on pedestals, elevated high above us ordinary human-folk. And when we reach out to tell them how much their words have touched us, how much their prose has changed our lives, we are shocked and quite excited when they respond, amazed that they deemed us worthy to reply to.

But honestly, authors are humans too. It was more unusual to get a reply years ago, when snail mail was the norm, because as most authors know, finding writing time can be tough as it is, but handwriting and sending replies to fanmail would eat into that time too much. These days, when you can reply in 140 characters on Twitter, or reply to a Facebook post or a short email quite quickly, the likelihood of getting a response has increased dramatically.

I remember writing to one of my favourite authors as a teenager, in the earlyish days of email, and was very excited to get a reply, even though the reply consisted of a single line. It felt like I had connected, though briefly, with a mythical creature that a mere mortal like me shouldn’t have been allowed to. In recent times, I have connected with several authors on Twitter, and have ended up having conversations with some of them, who have turned out to be genuinely awesome people.

Back in January I received a message on Goodreads from a fellow book-lover and book reviewer, asking for a copy of The Elphite, because she was keen to review it. I responded quite quickly and soon sent a copy of the book. The review she has written will soon be posted, along with an interview, and the brand new cover of The Elphite! She said that she was surprised and extremely excited that I had responded to her request, and sent her the copy, because after all, I was an author, and to get a response from such a mythical, magical creature was unexpected but exciting.

I’ve said it before, but I will repeat it here – I am just a human. I’m not even an incarnated Faerie or a Starperson. Just a mere mortal. And I love hearing from my readers and from potential readers. It is what keeps me writing, keeps me connecting, keeps me creating. So reach out, send messages, all are appreciated and cherished and often printed and stuck on my walls, to motivate me to publish more books.

Sending love out to everyone who has ever sent me messages, you are all amazing. xx

Apr 28 2014

eBook Workshop in West Wales

I will be holding a workshop in Lampeter, West Wales, on the 6th May, in which over the course of a day, I will take the participants through the process of publishing an eBook. It’s going to be a mad, jam-packed day, as there is quite a lot to cover!

For the course fee, each aspiring author will receive the day’s tuition, a comprehensive manual, and follow-up e-mail support. There are only 8 places left, so if you live in West Wales and would like to learn how to publish your own eBook, get in touch. You can e-mail me at theamethystangel@hotmail.co.uk or call me on 07910946573.

I will be holding more of these workshops in other areas of Wales and England, so if you are interested in attending one, please get in touch and let me know where you are.

Apr 21 2014

Versatile Blogger Award

Last year I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, this year it’s the Versatile Blogger Award! I have been nominated by the wonderful Matt Campbell Nicely, who I know through doing the fabulously fun #FridayPhrases (or #FP for short) on Twitter, where you tweet poems, micro-stories etc. Thank you, Matt, I appreciate the nomination and also all of the retweets!

So, in order to pay it forward, as per the Award rules, I need to nominate 15 bloggers! So here goes:

#1. Drew Chial http://drewchialauthor.com/

#2. Miranda Adams http://journeysinwriting.com/

#3. Julie http://peaceablewriter.wordpress.com/

#4. Little Miss Money http://thepursuitofriches.com/

#5. George Hardwick http://www.georgehardwick.com/blog

#6. Kat http://www.divorcedkat.com/

#7. Oleander Plume http://oleanderplume.blogspot.co.uk/

#8. Joe Johnson http://bigjoessoapbox.com/

#9. Liz Lockwood http://lizitivity.wordpress.com/

#10. Unaware but Underlined http://unawarebutunderlined.wordpress.com/

#11. Roger Jackson http://jabe842.wordpress.com/

#12. Joanne Blaikie http://fredamoya.wordpress.com/

#13. Joanna Maciejewska http://melfka.com/en/

#14. Graham Milne http://grahamscrackers.com/

#15. Karen Soutar http://karensoutar.wordpress.com/

and one more for luck!

#16. Greg Mischio http://alterthecourse.com/

I hope you check out all the awesome blogs above!

Now, apparently I need to reveal seven things about myself, that the person who nominated doesn’t know, so here goes:

#1. I have a terrible memory, but I only need to listen to a song a couple of times, and I will know all the lyrics, and be able to sing along (although in a tuneless kind of way)

#2. I used to have pet slow worms (they’re like mini snakes) and lizards as a child . My cats would catch them, and I would look after them for a bit until they had healed, then release them again. I have a photo of me kissing one of the slow worms.

#3. I used to have a physical reaction to any kind of public speaking (bright red cheeks, stuttering, jelly knees, shaking hands) until 2012 when I used EFT to get over it. I now love speaking in public, to small and large groups. It’s usually hard to get me to shut up.

#4. I have a weird diet. I’ve always been a veggie, but I am also gluten-free, caffeine-free, mostly lactose free and very rarely drink alcohol.

#5. I have had prophetic dreams. Sometimes they are literal, and sometimes metaphorical. I dread dreaming of tornadoes.

#6. My favourite books as a child were the Sweet Valley books, by Francine Pascal. I used to dream of living in California, and always wanted a twin sister.

#7. Seven is my lucky number. Numerologically, it is my birth date number, and it is also the number for this year. It’s also Harry Potter’s Quidditch number!

Thank you again, Matt, and thank you to all the bloggers who make life more interesting. You’re all awesome. xx

Apr 18 2014

Sorting out the Editing!

The weather has been so beautiful in the UK this week, that I decided to spend the day editing my new novel, I’m Here, in the sunshine. Increasing the brightness of my screen solved the visibility issue, but the sun was getting a bit too bright for my eyes, and seeing as I don’t own any prescription sunglasses, a hat was needed.

Well, this was all I could find…

Sat in the sun, wrapped in a blanket and wearing a sorting hat. Can editing get any better than this?

Yes, it is a leather sorting hat. I created it for the Harry Potter parties that I did last year for friends, and my own in January. I thought it would get too heavy after a while, but I have worn it for the morning, and thanks to the amazing hat, I have finished the first edit of my novel. Because of writing the novel over such a long period of time, there were a few inconsistencies that needed clearing up, as well as a couple of threads that needed tying up at the end. I’m ready now to pass it over to my editor and my trusty beta readers, to get their feedback. As yet, no one else has read it, so the jury is still out on whether it is any good. Seeing as I plan to publish it by the end of May, I’m crossing my fingers that it is!

Joking aside, I cannot stress how important the editing stage is. It still amazes me when authors put their work out without having it edited or proofread by someone other than themselves. I do edit my books quite a lot, but I know that having another pair of eyes, (or two or three pairs) is invaluable. I’m not saying that my books will be completely error-free, but I do strive to get them as good as humanly possible before releasing them into the world.

Very, very soon, I will be revealing the new covers for the Visionary Collection, including the cover for I’m Here. I absolutely adore them, and I cannot wait for you to see them. But until then, have a giggle at my mad editing selfie 🙂

Apr 14 2014

When will I meet my Twin Flame?

It’s been a while since I did an oracle reading, partly because I’ve been so busy, but mainly because I haven’t had any questions sent in for a while. So if you would like to ask Amethyst, Aria or Velvet a question, please do email it to me – theamethystangel@hotmail.co.uk.

A lovely Earth Angel called Ana sent me a question, and I recorded Velvet’s answer last week. You can see the video below:

[youtube http://youtu.be/RkHyS5YVCBI]

Ana then sent me a very long email in reply to the reading, telling me how she had related to it and how it had helped her to see things in a different light. I do love to receive feedback and to hear how a reading might have had an impact. Looking forward to receiving more questions!

Apr 14 2014

A Fabulous Weekend!

This weekend I was in Cirencester, taking part in the Wellness Symposium. The British Dowsing Society had a shop there, and there were a few other stands, including Shelly Sishton and myself. In the morning there were various speakers, and in the afternoon there was a choice of workshops. On Saturday, I listened to a couple of the talks and then attended Adrian Incledon-Webber’s workshop in the afternoon. Then on Sunday, after listening to Shelly Sishton’s talk about essences in the morning, I then held my workshop/talk on how to publish independently. It’s the first time I have done a talk of that length (75 mins) but there was so much to pack into it, I could probably have talked for another couple of hours! It was also my first ever stab at doing a powerpoint presentation, which thanks to Scapple, was not only fun to create, but also fun to present! The attendees asked lots of great questions, and gave me a nice round of applause at the end, so all in all, I think it went quite well!

I had a great time chatting to people, and selling books, and made the interesting discovery that the majority of dowsers there were StarPeople! It was also the first time I had given out my shiny new brochure, which was designed by the awesome madappledesigns, to showcase the new structure of my business, The Amethyst Angel. There will be a PDF version of the brochure on my website very soon, but here’s a sneaky peak!

Apr 7 2014

Kindred Spirit Awards

I received an email to ks_awards_2014 day from one of my readers, to say that they had just nominated me for ‘Spiritual Writer’ in the Kindred Spirit Awards. There are 6 awards, and for each category, there is a list of nominees, then a box labelled ‘other’. She entered my name in the ‘other’ box, and suggested that I reach out to my readers and ask them to do the same!

I must admit, when I saw the other names nominated in the category, I felt like it would be silly to even try to compete, but even to just be nominated means a lot to me, and I want to ask you, that if you feel like you have benefited in any way from reading my words, whether its my novels or my blog, then you will vote for me, and bring my work to the awareness of even more people. Because that is why I write, to help as many people as possible.

So, the link to vote is here, on the Kindred Spirit website, and the deadline to vote has been extended to the 30th April. If you feel that my work deserves the award, then please do nominate me, and also vote for the other amazing people and organisations in the other categories too.

Thank you so much, for you love and support, it means a lot to me. And thank you, Helen, for nominating me first!