World Book Day at Dominican, Portstewart.

This is going to be a fun week!

I'm so looking forward to visiting Dominican College in Portstewart this Thursday (1st March) to read from my book for year 8 and chat about books, reading and creative writing. The fact that it's World Book Day is the icing on the cake - what a wonderful way to spend  the annual celebration of books and reading!

Looking forward to meeting you, year 8!!


Dominican College, Portstewart

Congratulations!

Huge congrats to the winners of the Demon's Daughter giveaway - Debbie, Shannon and Finty. Thank you so much for entering the draw - hope you enjoy your winnings!

*****COMPETITION*****

To celebrate the 'official' publication of 'Demon's Daughter' in paperback on Saturday 18th February, I'm offering the chance to win a signed copy of the paperback plus some other exclusive 'Demon's Dughter' merchandise - all in a handy book bag.
All you have to do is sign up to follow my blog or visit and 'Like' my Facebook author page. The link is here.
The first name drawn on Saturday 18th wins! Good luck!

How was it for you?

So? Did you get a mountain of Valentine cards?

Maybe you got all dressed up and went for a meal in a fancy restaurant, drank champagne and came home to a carpet of crushed rose petals leading the way to your bedroom where candles flickered and soft music played.
Nah, me neither!
I did get a card, flowers a new book to read (yay!) and some wine from my hubby which was perfect. Maybe after you've been married for almost 20 years life becomes more about paying bills, putting food on the table, clothes on your kids' backs and the daily grind than romance, so it's actually pretty nice that once a year you get a reminder of why you fell in love in the first place and what life's really about - family, connecting with someone, peace and contentment. Even 'though most people do it 'cause they feel they 'have' to, I bet that by the end of the day even the simplest of Valentine gestures ('Here, Love, let me cook dinner tonight') is enough to give us hope that romance isn't really dead - just a bit buried under reality!

I'm still here...

Feeling very lazy as I haven't put up a new post since 30th January! Eek! So, what have I been doing? Well, I've been reading, writing and learning that I need to get over myself and invest in a thicker skin, that's what!
I read 'Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging' by Louise Rennison which was quite fun, then 'Beastly' by Alex Finn which I'm still in two minds about - very clever but not all of it worked for me, although it intrigued me to enough that I might read some more of her books. I'm now starting 'Bloodlines' by Richelle Meade which I'm approaching with trepidation. Why? Because I loved 'Vampire Academy' sooo much and this is a spin off which may or may not work. Then again, Richelle Meade is wonderful so it'll probably be great!
Book 5 is finally gelling and the new characters are fun to be around - unusual for me that none of them are supernatural but, hey, it's early days! Anything could happen!
I had my first solicited review and wasn't disappointed! Well, ok I was a bit gutted that my book didn't deliver enough to satisfy the reviewer but glad that I received an honest and very thorough review. I sooo wanted to argue a number of the points made but that would be a huge mistake - I'll have to be satisfied that I did my research and leave it like that. I also have to be realistic about what I've written - it's my first novel so it's not perfect. I may love every letter on every page and be fiercely protective of my characters but in the end of the day it's a work of fiction, built to entertain and not everyone who comes across it is going to love it too!
At least I now have a benchmark to start from and a blueprint of what I need to improve to make book 2 better than book 1.
Onward and upward!