Pimping my Pal & Begonia Bribing

The Pimping...

I talk to a LOT of people in the online community. A LOT. I've been active online for around nine years now, give or take, and I'm far more outgoing online than I am in real life. Online, I can let loose the crazy person inside and have virtually no fear of being given the raised Eyebrows of Doom. Well, I probably still get the Eyebrows of Doom, but because I don't see it, it doesn't matter.

My first online home was HPANA (The Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator), which sadly shut down a while back so I can't provide a link. I was deeply engrossed in the Potter fandom and picked HPANA as my online outlet - and it literally changed my life. I started writing shortly after joining the site, and I can honestly say that without HPANA, I wouldn't currently be biting my nails about whether my debut novel is selling or not.

But I digress (something I do an awful lot, but embrace because one of my earliest online friends advocates digression as a religion).

Anyway, what got me actually writing was plucking up the courage to join the fanfic community on HPANA. I stumbled into the Fan Fun forum one day, and I was happy to find lots of lovely Harry Potter stories that I could lose myself in while I waited for book six to arrive. I started my own writing with a pretty mediocre fanfic called 'The Wedding', which was a novella length story about Ron and Hermione's big day. I'll be honest, it was crap. And I do mean crap. But people seemed to like it, and when I started the sequel (Harry, Ginevra, and the Rocky Road of Romance - yeah, that really was the title *snort*) I had a pretty strong fan base. In fact, I would say that 'Rocky Road' is a good comparison to my current novel, as the wacky and crazy tone is a pretty close match.

The Watery Tart

Anyway, as well as the crazies, I also attempted a couple of more serious stories. One of them, 'Lily's Choice', was the first, and it was a fanfic based on my theory of Harry's mother, the deceased Lily Potter. This was the story that brought me more interest, and one of my biggest supporters was Tami. From day one, she was just fabulous, and when she started posting her first fanfic, 'The Other Prince'(the sublime story of Snape's mother, Eileen Prince), well I of course had to read right away and offer my support in return.

Let me tell you, 'The Other Prince' was more than sublime, it was brilliant. And it was very obvious that Tami was a gifted writer, who would one day end up being published. And not only did we support each other's stories, we also became friends. Real friends. Tami just has zany humour, and we really clicked because I am the same way.

When Tami started posting her second fanfic, 'The Best Laid Plans (Sometimes Go Awry)', I was on board right way, and it was just as fantastic as her first story, though the tone was very similar in many ways to my 'Rocky Road' story. We both told a serious story, but we both infused our work with crazy scenes.

By now, we were big mutual fans, and it was the start of a real friendship. When HPANA shut down, we were sad, but we still contacted each other. We had Facebook. We had our writer's group (made up entirely of HPANA members, by the way). And we actually met in real life a few years ago, too, which is pretty amazing seeing as Tami is from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I am from little old Cardiff, in Wales (our writer's group met up in Cardiff several years ago when the opportunity arose to showcase some of our drabbles [100 word pieces of fiction] at a Cardiff art gallery).

Anyway, ANYWAY... basically, we mind melded virtually from the start. We just share the same humour, and sometimes even share the same thought, wacky though that sounds. There are only a handful of people I can say that about, and these are the people that I call my best friends. I have a few of these people in the real world, which is awesome, but for me to have that in the online world, too... well it's nuts. I don't know where I'd be without my HPANA buddies. The website may have gone, but the friendships have remained.

The Bribing...

Well it's not really a bribe, but the fabulous Tami (aka Alyse Carlson) has a book baby birthday today!! Her second cozy, 'The Begonia Bribe', has just hit the shelves!! *throws confetti* I'm so thrilled that Tami took her writing to the next level, and so proud of my mind melding friend. Her first cozy was a BEST SELLER!! And I'm pretty sure that the follow up will rocket too. *nods* Here's the deets, and HUGE CONGRATS to my friend, the awesomest Watery Tart in the world! *glomps Tami*


The Blurb:

Roanoke, Virginia, is home to some of the country’s most exquisite gardens, and it’s Camellia Harris’s job to promote them. But when a pint-sized beauty contest comes to town, someone decides to deliver a final judgment …

A beauty pageant for little girls—the Little Miss Begonia Pageant—has decided to hold their event in a Roanoke park. Camellia is called in to help deal with the botanical details, the cute contestants, and their catty mothers. She soon realizes that the drama onstage is nothing compared to the judges row. There’s jealousy, betrayal, and a love triangle involving local newsman—and known lothario—Telly Stevens. And a mysterious saboteur is trying to stop the pageant from happening at all.

But the drama turns deadly when Stevens is found dead, poisoned by some sort of plant. With a full flowerbed of potential suspects, Cam needs to dig through the evidence to uproot a killer with a deadly green thumb.

by Alyse Carlson

Available at Amazon, and pretty much anywhere that sells books. So, you know, go buy it. *smiles winsomely*

Deflated Princess

You all know that scene from the Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban movie, right? You know, when Professor Lupin jumps in front of Harry to face the Boggart, and said Boggart turns into the moon? Well, remember how the moon became a balloon, and deflated and whizzed round the room? (Ha! That last sentence is almost poetic!) Anyway, that's how I feel at the moment...

Original image

Sheesh!! What a month April was!! I am seriously proud of myself that I managed to complete the A-Z posting challenge on TWO blogs, especially when you consider that I failed right at the end last year when I was just doing ONE blog. I wrote limericks over at my other blog, and scheduled most of them in advance a few at a time, and on THIS blog, I scheduled them the night before they were due. Still, that's a heck of a lot of typing, and having various windows open to add the numerous links that were needed for each post. I'm all linked out. *snort*

Major thanks to my 'CR Sisters' - my fellow authors at Crimson Romance - who stepped up and offered their fabulous books to be promoted by little old me. And HUGE thanks to Tami, who gave me the idea to book blurb to begin with. For someone who dithers no end when it comes to blogging, having a theme was essential, or I would never have managed to do it.

*coughsAvailableAtAmazoncoughs*

Of course, I'm also feeling all 'whooshy' like a deflated balloon for another reason. My debut rom-com released on Monday, and April was NUTSO, what with preparing various interview and guest spots on different blogs, and actively seeking reviews for my book baby. I knew I'd be busy with everything. but it still came as a shock just how busy I'd be. And it's only just beginning! Promotion NEVER ends, and is particularly important when you are a debut author.

I'll have no real idea how it all pans out until I get my first royalty statement from my publisher in September, so until then I'll be crossing my fingers that my book baby gets noticed! In the meantime, THANK YOU so much to those of you who have bought it, or shared a fabulous review of it! Any and all encouragement is fantastic, and gives me the nudge to continue with my writing!

Y is for...

YIPPEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Ok, 'Yippeeeeeeeee' isn't in the title of this book, and neither is it the name of the author. Come to think of it, I don't think it's even a word that is used in the book itself, either. But you know, I think I can be forgiven for not strictly sticking to my own rules on today's posting (not that I was particularly strict with some of the other posts this month, either, but that's another blog post...)

Today is release day for IF THE SHOE FITS!!!! Yay! Yippeeeeeeeee! Yabba-dabba do!!! *snorts and dances at the same time*   (Hmmm, would that be *snances* or *dorts*? I'm going with *snances*).

*coughs* Ok, now that we have that out of the way, I'll proceed with the posting format that I have used for all of the book blurbs that I have posted so far for the April A-Z...

The Blurb:

Life isn’t a fairy tale… except when it is.

There’s nothing wrong with Ella Gibson’s life— it just isn’t very exciting, despite being surrounded by lingerie. Working for Cardiff’s top modelling agency should have been glamorous, but most of the time Ella is running around with memos and cups of coffee. It’s a far cry from living the dream, but skirting the edge of her fantasy life is enough.

Then comes the day when her cat starts to talk, claiming to be Ella’s fairy godmother. As if that weren’t crazy enough, the pesky puss becomes a fashion advisor and behavioral expert, too. Add an evil ex-stepmother, a hunk called Charming, plus a looming party-cum-ball, and you have all the elements of a classical fairy tale. There’s even a couple of ugly sisters—the fact that they are two gorgeous gay men being neither here nor there.

Ella’s not your typical fairy-tale princess though, and it will take more than a discarded glass slipper to get her man. It’s quite possible she may have to curb her enthusiasm for cursing a wee bit, not to mention her love of vodka. And can Muse, her surprisingly straight-laced feline friend, overcome her prudishness long enough for Ella to sneak a kiss or three with her intended beau?

by Amber T. Smith

Author Bio:

It's meeeee!!!!!  Er... I mean: Amber T. Smith lives in Cardiff, the bustling capital city of Wales. When she isn’t busy keeping her kids, her cats, and her lizards from fighting, she can generally be found dreaming up new plots for alternative fairy tales.

I don't think I can link to the same blog that I'm using *snort*, but if you would like to follow my madness, feel free to come here, my main blogging page, or visit me at my book blog (where I've been limericking my way through the April A-Z). I'm also on Twitter and Facebook if you'd like to say 'hello'. I love talking with new friends! (I love talking in general, but prefer it when there are people who answer me back, rather than babbling to an empty void *winks*).