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)

Jun 11 2015

Talking of Lack

I am an avid reader of self-development books, of spiritual books, of positive thinking-hug a tree-be a unicorn type books. I love them. But a little revelation that has occurred to me numerous times over the years, which I tend to forget about and then rediscover, (and in fact, even mention in my book – The Elphite) is that for some reason, in general conversation, we mainly only talk about the things we lack, or complain about the bad things we have.

We learn that in order to manifest what we wish to have, experience or be, we need to affirm in a positive way that we have whatever it is we are lacking. And so we keep writing down, or affirming out loud – I am abundant! I am my perfect weight! I have a beautiful home! I am madly in love with my soulmate!

Yet often, these things don’t come to pass. Or they do, but long after we have stopped affirming them, and when we have forgotten our requests.

So why is this? When struggling with finances, I found that I talked about money a lot, in conversations with friends etc, and even though I was being positive about money quite often, it was a front, because I was still struggling. I did ‘abundance’ courses, read books, sought out new affirmations etc, but somewhere along the line something occurred to me – all of my focus on money was coming from a place of lack. And that genuinely wealthy and abundant people rarely speak of money – they are focused on their passions, on what they love in life. And if they do speak of money, they are not coming from a place of lack, but from a genuine place of abundance.

So how do you get to that space of genuine abundance when you’re lacking what you need or desire?

I’m finding that only talking about the areas of my life where I genuinely feel abundant is a good place to begin. Because then I am not speaking and feeling from a place of lack. And to relax, go with the flow.

I try to avoid small talk too. I feel that small talk keeps us small, because it make us connect to others through our complaining, griping and moaning. We share our stories of illnesses, woes and grief, because we know that others will relate to what we say.

It seems we don’t want to appear to be too happy, only speaking of what we love, in fear of looking to be better than/superior to/looking down on anyone else. (I’m talking from a British perspective here, things may be quite different in other parts of the world, I hope they are!)

But I feel that it’s only when we move beyond small talk that we can all grow and evolve and expand our thinking. Often, I will quite quickly get into a conversation about other worlds, angels, the afterlife and parallel universes, with complete strangers I’ve met minutes before, because it’s almost like we sense we can talk of these things, and neither will get ‘weirded out’. When I sense it’s not possible to bring up such subjects, I find myself lapsing into silence, in the hopes of not finding things to complain about in order to connect. But I do find it difficult!

Do you have any tried and tested ways to operate from that place of abundance? I would love to hear them if you have!

Apr 21 2015

Adventures with Astrid – April 2015

It’s been a while since I posted about how I am getting on with my organiser, who I called Astrid. But it’s not because I have stopped using it every day, on the contrary, Astrid is my daily companion! Admittedly, most days, it houses my to-do lists, but having my addresses, notes, and plans for the coming weeks all in the same place is very useful, and I think this may well be the first time ever that I have started a diary in January and am still using it in April.

I used to keep a journal-style diary when I was younger. At first, it was just an occasional thing, when I wanted to rant about something or express my feelings when I was upset. Then in 1999, my sister gave me a ‘last year of the millenium’ diary, which had a metal cover, and the idea was to write something every day. And I did. Then the following year, I got another one, this time, a whole page for each day. And for several years, I wrote a journal entry every single day.

I have all of these notebooks and diaries tucked away in the loft, and I have no idea what I will do with them, maybe one day I will put them in a pile and burn them, or perhaps I will go through them and see if there is anything useful or funny, who knows, maybe they’ll even inspire a series of blog posts.

The funny thing is, I would always write in my diary when I felt upset or down, but as soon as I got happy, I stopped writing diaries. I was too busy being in the moment of happiness to write my thoughts and feelings down. So some of the happiest moments of my life have gone completely unrecorded, and yet some of the most painful moments of my life will live forever through my written words.

It’s probably because writing has always been my form of therapy. But it makes me a little sad to think that I can more easily recall the bad times than the good. And it makes me a little more determined to change that, and also to release the old stuff.

This little rambling reminds me of a scene in The Elphite, where Ellie is encouraged to burn her diary, which contains all her many memories, in order for her to release her past and create a new future. I think perhaps having a bonfire may be a good idea after all!

Please do comment below if you write diaries, and if you think it’s a good idea to burn old ones in order to create a better future, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Jan 14 2015

The Sliding Doors Effect

After someone mentioning the movie, Sliding Doors, over Christmas, I decided to watch it again, for the first time in many years, because I remembered enjoying it when I was younger. The idea that when we make a decision – or miss a train – that there is another version of us that splits off into a parallel universe that exists alongside the one we’re in, is actually not a completely crazy concept.

In The Elphite, my main character, Ellie, lives her life over and over, making different decisions in each lifetime which means that her life takes different pathways, though ultimately, keeps ending up the same way. The concept of fate and destiny and whether our lives are already written is fascinating to me, and that’s why it’s a feature in my books and is the theme of many of my favourite movies (like Deja Vu).

Just for fun, I thought it would be interesting to explore what my life would been like if I had made a different decision at a certain point in my life. The decision I have picked was the one I made to quit my degree at Lampeter University. If I had stayed at Uni, then in the second year, I would have lived in Ohio, and studied in a college there for the year. Which to be truthful, was the main reason for choosing that degree, because I had always wanted to live in America.

Perhaps while living and studying in America, I would have made connections with people there, maybe met an American guy or just very good friends. After returning to Wales and completing my third year, I might have then moved back to the US, and through my contacts, and with my shiny new degree, got myself a job over there, doing… erm… something… writing for a magazine maybe?

After living in Ohio for a while, I’m pretty sure I would have then looked to move to either the east or west coast, after all, I’ve never been very keen on living too far inland, and after spending some time in New York previously, I think I would have probably headed there.

Would I have been successful in New York? I’m not sure, I can only speculate. I would hope that I would have still discovered Nanowrimo, and still gone on to write novels, but I can safely say that none of my current books (apart from Heaven dot com, which I wrote when I was 16) would have existed in this parallel universe. Because everything that inspired them happened after 2005, when I started out in Lampeter Uni. I’m Here might have ended up existing, as it was inspired by events that happened in my short time at Lampeter, but it may have had a completely different twist to the end.

I did actually live in New York in 2008, perhaps I passed my parallel universe self on the street without realising it?

It’s fun to imagine that there could be a parallel universe me, working for a magazine or in a publishing house in New York (which is entirely possible, as I have connections there that existed before 2004) but I am quite glad to be experiencing the reality I currently exist in.

If I had left Lampeter, but then actually completed the second degree I tried, in Derby University, then there could very well be a parallel universe me who is a fashion designer… now that, is a very scary concept!

What do you think your parallel universe selves are doing? Is there a big decision that you’ve made, and then wondered what would have happened if you’d chosen differently? It may not be the most productive use of your time, but it’s certainly a fun idea to explore. Perhaps it will inspire you to make changes, or just be grateful for your life and the way it turned out. Or perhaps you’ll just end up saying – Michelle is a complete nutter. However it works out, know that the reality you are experiencing is exactly the right one for you 🙂

Nov 24 2014

Visionary Collection Kindle Boxset!

I am so pleased to announce that you can now buy the first four books in the Visionary Collection as a boxset on Kindle!

The awesome madappledesigns has been hard at work, creating this fab boxset image for me, and I have just published it on Amazon.

Nov 23 2014

The Winner is…

Wenna Macormac!

Congratulations Wenna! I will send your bracelet to you asap! Thank you to you and t everyone else who entered the giveaway with a comment on my blog or Facebook on what you would do with 20k.

To all who entered, to receive your free PDF copy of The Elphite, please email me at theamethystangel@hotmail.co.uk and I will reply and attach the file to the email. Please put – The Elphite – in the subject heading.

Stay tuned for more mini giveaways in the run up to Christmas and the release of the latest book in the Earth Angel Series.

Nov 16 2014

What Would You do with 20k?

To celebrate hitting 20,000 all-time views on my blog, which I am likely to reach by the end of tomorrow, or possibly even today (view count stands currently at 19,926) I have decided to have a random giveaway!

Everyone who enters will receive a PDF copy of The Elphite, and the winner (who will be selected at random) will receive an Elphite bracelet, as pictured below. To enter, simply comment below what you would do with 20k, and then share this blog post with your friends, via Twitter or Facebook or by reblogging. I will draw the winner this time next week, at 1pm on the 23rd November.

If someone gave me a cheque for twenty thousand pounds right now, I would pay off my debts, and then live off the remainder while I wrote my next two novels. Which is a really boring and sensible answer, but I think it’s what would make me the happiest! My fun answer would be that I would rent a shop in Brighton and open the first ever Earth Angel shop, filled with beautiful angel, faerie and mermaid gifts and books, and offer a safe space for Earth Angels to gather. Or even crazier than that, I would use it to buy a campervan, and travel around Europe, writing novels wherever I go!

What would you do? To get your PDF copy of The Elphite, and to be in with a chance to win the bracelet comment below! I look forward to seeing your answers 🙂

Jul 21 2014

New Ending for The Elphite!

I recently wrote a brand new ending for The Elphite, and have released it as a free download – all you need to do is join my mailing list (click here). If you are already on my mailing list, I will have sent you the direct link to the download in my last newsletter.

The reason I wrote this new ending, was because there was quite a big twist in the tale that many of my readers have missed, and I wanted to reveal it. I know some will find it horrifying, but I hope that others will see that actually, it makes a lot of sense! You may find you need to re-read the book to see all of the clues.

At the end of the new piece, there is a chance to vote on what you think should happen next. Why have I done this? Partly because I honestly don’t know what would happen next ( I never do) and partly because it would be fun to have some reader participation in choosing what the characters would do.

If you have read The Elphite, please sign up and get the new ending, and then let me know what you though of it!

Jul 4 2014

The Elphite Audio Book

For quite some time now, I have been asked for the audio book versions of my books, for people who either find it difficult to read ebooks/paperbacks or for people who like to listen to audio books while travelling, and though it seemed like a good idea, I have not got my head around doing it, until now.

It was mostly the technical side that put me off, as you are aware, being an Indie Author means doing pretty much everything for yourself, and the idea of recording, narrating, editing and uploading entire books just seemed a bit beyond me. But recently I managed to work out a way to do it myself, and so I have recorded, edited and uploaded the first chapter of The Elphite to SoundCloud, to see what feedback I get on it. If it’s positive (or at least constructive!) then I will continue recording and upload it and sell it on Amazon.

So here it is, the Prologue and first Chapter, please let me know what you think!

Jun 24 2014

Why I Love Being Indie

While chatting to my editor about Indie publishing versus traditional publishing today, it occurred to me that when I write, I love the uncertainty of not knowing where the story will go, but when I publish, I love the certainty of knowing that it is going to be a published, printed book.

Many writers are the opposite. They plot and plan their novels, knowing every twist, turn, sub plot and cliffhanger, crafting their masterpiece exactly how they envision it. Then they print off copies, put them in envelopes, and start sending them to agents and publishers, hoping that someone will recognise the book for the genius manuscript that it is. They have no idea if they will even get a reply from said agents and publishers, let alone an acceptance from them.

I used to think that I was just too lazy to be traditionally published, that I couldn’t be bothered with the query process (which always seemed arduous, painful and long) But I have just realised that it’s the uncertainty that I cannot handle. Which is why after I wrote Heaven dot com, fourteen years ago, I stopped writing. Because it was just too hard to get published, so why bother writing stories that would never be read? It was the evolution of Indie publishing that then made me think that perhaps I should write more, and motivated me to start writing novels. (Chris Baty’s book, No Plot? No Problem! also spurred me to write)

I’m not the kind of writer who must write every day. I’m the kind of writer who writes to share ideas, thoughts and channellings, with as many people as possible. And so writing without the certainty that I will be able to share the words, does not appeal to me at all.

I do start to feel a little antsy if it has been a while since I wrote anything, and scenes start to write themselves inside my mind, just begging me to write them down. In fact, Elphite fans will be pleased to hear that I have an alternate ending in mind, which I am thinking of writing and releasing soon.

But I don’t wake up at 3am every morning with the urge to write, which I think is both a blessing and a curse. (I hate mornings, but I would love to write more!)

If you are a writer, how do you feel about the certainty/uncertainty of writing and publishing? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

And just because I love it, here is a new quote photo for I’m Here.