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Wednesday Word: Thoughts on Advance, by K A Duggsy

8/30/2017

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​Synopsis:

The first book in a dystopian romance trilogy.

"Time is something we can't control. We may think we have plenty of it but it ticks past so quickly, before we know it, its run out."

I never knew I needed saving until he came for me. This stranger who removes me from all I’ve ever known. Hinting at secrets I should be aware of but can’t fathom. I’m caught up in something… something huge or so he says, yet he refuses to tell me. Memories have been discarded and he begs for me to fight for them … to remember him… to remember us.
To remember the life I’m living, the life I'm apparently going through the motions with, just isn’t the truth. The truth hurts and therefore is easier to numb, to submerge myself in forgetfulness. But my life isn’t the only one at stake and for that reason alone I have to seek the truth in all it’s heartbreak, in all the confusing turmoil. I have to find the answers and only one place can give them all...
Advance Industries.

This is the first book in a trilogy. If you are allergic to over the top mushiness or cannot stomach excessive bad language, this book isn't for you.

My Review:

I really enjoyed this book, the twists in the story kept me on my toes. I felt Faith's confusion enough for it to be realistic, but not too frustrating. Answers were revealed at the right time. I love stories involving time travel and amnesia. This book really kept me turning pages, not just because it has elements I love, but because it was quite suspenseful! I look forward to the sequel!

Other Reviews:

Her writing was so phenomenal that I just became consumed in Faith's adventure, she was so smart and brave.
It honestly wasn't like any science fiction romance I've ever read. It wasn't solely focused on sex or futuristic technology but on the characters. Their were still steamt moments, Kye was HOT. He was a bad ass alpha male but not some cookie cutter romantic hero, he was sensitive and cared for Faith so much.

I definitely recommend the reading of this book. There is so much intrigue that I became invested almost immediately. The writing is superb, I found myself not wanting to put the book down. K. A. Duggsy drew me in and kept me involved all the way through. The story flows nicely and never gets boring. I can’t wait to read book 2! Thank you so much K.A. Duggsy!! You have a new fan!!

This is a very unique, very inventive story line. I was caught up right away in the intrigue, mystery and danger of it all. It’s very well written with a fast-paced rhythm. The story never lags and the intrigue continues from page 1 to the very last.

The characters are relatable and well-drawn. I like Faith immediately and detested Johnson and Fraser just as much. You will too!
The “science” stuff wasn’t above me. Some authors, when writing sci-fi tend to over-explain their futuristic “stuff”. I don’t have an engineering degree; nor do I have a doctorate in all things 30th century…yet, most authors assume that I do. THIS author did not. Because of the way she wrote, I understood that this device or that one was meant for transportation, teleportation or communication without feeling as if I needed to be scientist or an engineer. At the same time, I didn’t feel “talked down to” either.
The love story was sweet. There weren’t a lot of SEX scenes…which was good. They weren’t necessary. Sometimes writers tend to believe that the gratuitous sex is what makes their book great. Sometimes, that’s true. But, they weren’t needed here and I appreciated that.
The other thing I found very exciting was that while the story is set in the future…our future…elements of the even-further-future came into play as well. Time travel, not yet invented in the beginning of the story happens when travelers from the character’s future show up! It’s really a fun twist.

About the Author

K A Duggsy was born in Cardiff, Uk and is a mum of 3. She loves to read romance, regardless of the sub genre, but she does prefer a HEA. Her biggest passion is reading, followed closely by writing. She alternates between the two, and her long-suffering children and partner frequently get ignored while she does so.
Her love of writing started with poetry and she had some works published.
Today, Tomorrow, Forever was her first novella, followed by Today, Tomorrow, Forever. Carey's Revenge. K A enjoys writing about strong women and the men who love them with a healthy dose of suspense and action thrown in.
Her first full length novel Advance (Advance Industries #1) was released in february 2016 in a genre she never thought she'd attempt.

​Check out the Advance series below!
Advance
Advancing
Advantage
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Tuesday Tips (a little late, sorry!): Punched in the face

8/30/2017

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​Alright, what the hell is this blog going to be about? Basically, differing perspectives on character's problems. It's another reading pet peeve of mine I wasn’t sure how to put into a brief title…
 
Sometimes books are inconsistent about what’s a big deal and what is not. Sometimes, you’ll have a story with a lot of intense situations, perhaps they’re at war. And then someone smacks someone. If the book makes a big deal out of this, I’m kinda going, “Really? Didn’t we just see ten people get murdered? And now OH NO, someone got slapped, it’s about to get super real!”
 
After reading a book like that, you might think, yeah, someone would just get over it, right?After all, the character's perspective is: So I got hit by some idiot, who cares? I'm still alive, that's what counts.

But if the writer just takes that incident out of context, it can get troubling. They go write a young adult love story of a girl in high school, someone gets punched in the face, and brushes it off like it’s no big deal. Um, wait… Think about your real life. If you went off to school, or work, and got in argument with someone, and next thing you know their fist flies at your face, you’re gonna freak out. You’re gonna be pretty upset, probably for weeks following the incident.
 
My point is, please take your genre into account. What are your characters’ normal problems? Survival? Food? Shelter? Or popularity, happiness, and success? What would upset them on an ordinary day? Someone who’s worried about losing a loved one in a war probably wouldn’t care if someone said their hair looked stupid, whereas that high school girl worried about impressing her crush, well, that’s a big deal.

Know how big your character's problems are in their world. Things that are made too big or too small are distracting. 


Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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Monday Music: Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek

8/27/2017

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Recently rediscovered this old favorite of mine. Excellent music to space out to.
Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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Things no one tells you about being an author

8/23/2017

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No technical tips in the rambling words of a Wednesday. Here are just a few things I've discovered since publishing that I wasn't quite ready for:

Everyone expects “published” to mean instant success. Even if you tell them you self published. Why aren’t you famous yet? Why do you still have a day job? Aren’t authors rich? I still don’t quite know how to deal with these annoying people. What they don’t understand is, it is so important as indie authors to maintain a positive image. Complaining about low sales or bad reviews makes you look terrible. So, we’ll always smile and give you the most optimistic answers we can when you ask how things are going. We have to.
 
Some people will find you inspiring even if you feel like a disaster. Which is good and bad. It feels good to inspire, of course, but it’s also a whole lot of pressure. A whole lot of people want to write a book, and they’ll have questions for you if you’ve done it. Again, people will assume you were instantly successful, and know the exact path to take to get there. The truth is, learning all of this is such a crazy process that I still consider myself a beginner. I’ve got four books published and I’m working on a fifth, but I’m still learning. I can’t tell anyone the right way to succeed, because everyone’s writing journey is so different and so personal.
 
You’ll find out who your real friends are. Just about everyone who knows I’ve written a book has made me all sorts of promises. They pretend to be excited for you. They’ll say they will read your book, and also so-and-so will enjoy it, and… And then do absolutely nothing. I try very hard not to be “that girl” on facebook, but several times I’ve written out angry statuses and deleted them. And on the rare occasion one of them has read it, grateful as I am, I want to scream WHY HAVEN’T YOU REVIEWED IT???
 
On the flipside of that, every time a stranger tells you they loved your book, it’s the most amazing feeling in the world. I’ve experienced it once in person, at the Ashland Literary Festival. Never been “recognized” going about my day, but that was still incredible. It happens online more often. Once I was searching for people on twitter who I thought might enjoy my book. I followed a few people, and next thing you know I have a message from one of them who says “I loved The Mansion’s Twins! It’s so cool!” And I about died. What are the odds of that happening? They say achieving a dream can't quite be as wonderful as you imagine, but in this case, it really is.
Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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Tuesday Tips: Quick Tips Review

8/22/2017

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There are actually three rules to writing: Read a lot, write a lot, and be persistent.

Handling Negative Feedback (part one)
It helps to remember everyone gets tough criticism. Look up your favorite books on amazon and goodreads, and check out their one star reviews. No matter how successful you are, you can’t please everyone. “No two people ever read the same book.” –Edmund Wilson
 
Should You Follow a Formula?
Personally, I don’t think formula’s like the “hero’s journey” are necessary. Pretty much every story ends up loosely following this formula even when the author didn’t try, but it still doesn’t quite work for every story. Plus, if everyone used it, all stories would be very predictable. Let your story grow the way you want.

What’s Real Life?
Just some positive thoughts to keep in mind: Just keep on writing, and don’t let other people’s negativity stop you. Even if you don’t “get anywhere” by the rest of the world’s standards, you’ve created something out of nothing. That’s real magic.

Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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Monday Music: Spaceman

8/21/2017

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Love this weird song, both the original and this acapella cover. 
Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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Wednesday Word: Would You Really Refuse the Call?

8/16/2017

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Yesterday I gave a very simplified version of what the hero’s journey is, and how I felt about it in general. Gave a little advice, I suppose. Today, I have no advice. Today, I have what will probably become a rant.
 
In case you need a refresher, here’s what I found after Googling “hero’s journey.”
 
·  Ordinary World
·  Call to Adventure
·  Refusal of the Call
·  Meeting with the Mentor
·  Crossing the First Threshold
·  Tests, Allies, Enemies
·  Approach
·  Ordeal
·  Reward
·  The Road Back
·  Resurrection Hero
·  Return with Elixir
 
I just want to focus on one aspect of this that drives me up the wall, and that is item number three: “Refusal of the call.” Every time this happens in a book, it frustrates the crap out of me.
 
  1. It feels like slowing down the story for no reason. We know the hero is eventually going to say yes. It’s not suspenseful, it’s annoying.
  2. And the main reason I’m going crazy: We would all die to be in your shoes! Didn’t every kid grow up hoping something huge and magical would happen to them? If a portal opened up in my backyard, I would have left and never looked back. And my life was just fine! Most of these fantasy heroes have terrible lives, with terrible, borderline abusive (and sometimes not borderline at all) families, zero friends, and no talent in school because they’re supposed to be off learning magic/sword fighting/whatever in another world!  And they’re like, “Hm, I don’t know if I want magic and heroics, when here I can be yelled at, lonely, and enjoy my meaningless life for a while.” DAMMIT!
 
“But Ellie and Savannah refused the call!” DID THEY? I don’t think so! Savannah hesitated for about three seconds before running away with Ellie. And when June told them they were the only ones who could save the world, again, they only hesitated for a moment. “Wait, can we really do that?” And June was like, “Nah, it’s fine, I’ll teach ya and we’ll get ya there.” When I was getting feedback before it was published, someone said maybe I should make it clearer why the girls are so readily willing to accept their gifts, and say yes to June. My response? “I’ve literally never given that half a thought before.” Of course they’d say yes!
 
I was reading “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” and this section caught my eye. And by “caught my eye,” I mean I froze, and read it over six-hundred times, and haven’t been able to turn the page because it was the craziest thing I’ve ever read. I sat down to write this blog immediately after reading it for the 600th time:
 
“Is Jacob going to stay with us? At the time I’d thought, Of course not. But why not? If I never went home, what exactly would I be missing? I pictured my cold cavernous house, my friendless town full of bad memories, the utterly unremarkable life that had been mapped out for me. It had never once occurred to me, I realized, to refuse it.”
 
REALLY? It never occurred to you? Are you insane? Am I insane? Didn’t every kid dream of this kind of sh*t? Your life sucked, and your telling me you wouldn’t think of giving it up? AREN’T YOU LIKE FIFTEEN WHAT THE ACTUAL FLYING--
 
Okay. I need to calm down. So. When would it be reasonable for a hero to refuse the call?
 
  1. You’d be giving up something great. If you already have a great life, and your leaving for totally unknown, I can kind of sort of understand.
  2. Extreme danger. I’d understand if you were going to be walking into a hellish battle, and not a cool, magical fairyland.
  3. You're a hobbit.
 
Whew. Okay, I’ll see you next Monday, and maybe by then I’ll have chilled out a bit.


Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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Tuesday Tips: Should you follow a formula?

8/15/2017

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Many writers debate whether or not to make and follow an outline for their books. That is, plot out the beginning, middle, and end in more or less detail. That’s usually as far as that debate goes. Only recently have I met one who insisted upon directly following a formula such as the “hero’s journey” storyline.
 
I just quickly Googled the “hero’s journey.” Here’s what I found:
·  Ordinary World
·  Call to Adventure
·  Refusal of the Call
·  Meeting with the Mentor
·  Crossing the First Threshold
·  Tests, Allies, Enemies
·  Approach
·  Ordeal
·  Reward
·  The Road Back
·  Resurrection Hero
·  Return with Elixir
 
That’s just a quick and simple overview and if you want to learn more, go ahead and research for yourself. I personally have heard enough of it after sophomore year English class where they tried to force us to write a story based on this. Everyone else got excited because “Yay! We don’t have to write a research paper!” Which I totally understand. I hate the strict laws of essay writing as much as anyone else. But, after attempting to force Ellie and Savannah into this mold (because they’re all I’ve ever had), I gave up on a huge school project for the first time in my life. I straight up didn’t do it, because I straight up couldn’t.
 
I mean, let me just try to right now (somehow, there are no spoilers ahead).
 
·  Ordinary World: Ellie and Savannah in their unpleasant foster homes (Or in the ordinary magical world?)
·  Call to Adventure: Ellie to Savannah, “hey, let’s run away!” (Or in the other world, being asked to reset the balance?)
·  Refusal of the Call: Savannah: no, Ellie, I don’t think I want to run away.
Ellie: Come on. Let’s go.
Savannah: Okay!
Or maybe…
June: You’re the only ones who can reset the balance.
Twins: I don’t think so, can’t you?
June: No, I can’t, and you can.
Twins: Okay, cool.
·  Meeting with the Mentor: June: Hey, let’s learn some magic.
·  Crossing the First Threshold: Would this be the shadow cave, or the first locked door on their way to the center of magic?
·  Tests, Allies, Enemies: Again, are we talking about inside the regular mansion, or the real trip to the center of magic?
·  Approach: Approaching the center of magic?
·  Ordeal: Hey, we might kill all the storm-made beings, including our friend Nathaniel, are we okay with that?
·  Reward: But we’ll be saving literally everyone else, so, maybe it’s worth it.
·  The Road Back: From where? Have we or haven’t we reset the balance yet?
·  Resurrection Hero: Do we reset the balance here?
·  Return with Elixir: Hey, look at all the cool stuff we just did.
 
Now, a lot of that might be completely off, or downright wrong. But there are two main things I want you to notice:
 
  1. Even though I said I don’t like this method, pretty much every story ends up loosely following it even when the author didn’t try to make it work.
  2. It doesn’t quite work for every story. The Mansion’s Twins sort of has two journeys in one story—the first trip to the magical world, and the second to the center of magic.
 
So, I’d advise against this method. The main reason I’m opposed to it is, if everyone used it, all stories would be very predictable. So, why do some people love it? Because for several hugely popular stories (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings) it works. Plus, it cuts down on reader confusion. We expect rising action leading to a climax, and then some falling action and wrap-up at the end. But you don’t need to follow an exact formula to get there.
 
Let your story grow the way you want. I’d advise plotting out your story enough so there is a clear beginning, middle and end. I like loose formatting because it gives you room for surprises. We don’t want everyone to be able to predict every part of your writing.

 
Don’t be alarmed if your story starts to fall into this formula. We’ve experienced it so many times in books, movies, etc, that it’s natural for something like it to fall out of our brains when it’s our turn to create. But don’t force it to fit either. We’ve experienced it so many times, I think it’s time for something a little different.
Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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Monday Music: Hot Air Balloon

8/14/2017

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I've always loved this song, and love the acapella version even more. This song reminds me of Ellie and Savannah's parents, flying together. Travis's adoptive brothers were an acapella group, and wandered the world in a hot air balloon. After a while of travels, he reunited with Cassandra, and the two of them took to the sky together. 
Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
0 Comments

Wednesday Word: Running out of Time

8/9/2017

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​I don’t understand why I always feel like I’m running out of time. Like, I know they say “live as if you’ll die tomorrow,” but I take that way too literally. This is the source of all the anxiety in my life. I just feel like I don’t have enough time. And I don’t get it when older people say “you’re young, you have plenty of time,” because time keeps moving exponentially faster. No one told me about this. No one said a word of warning, and they damn well should have even though I don't know how I would have prepared myself for it. If time keeps moving like this, faster and faster as the years pass, isn’t most of my life already over? And that’s just assuming I don’t get hit by a bus or something, you know, TOMORROW.

At the same time, I know this is a ridiculous fear. I’m 27 years old. If I have kids, I'm adopting, so it's not like I'm worried about a biological clock. I've always been healthy, so I'm not worried about dying early of any kind of disease. So, what's this about?
​
My dreams have always been either way too big, or way too small. Like, my dream is to actually live in the world of magic, so I had to “settle” for aspiring to be a bestselling author (too big). But then I realized I needed a day job to support myself WHILE I worked on authoring, and any old thing would do (too small).


Picture

This hits me really hard.

I'm not as afraid of putting time into something and then failing as I am of putting time into something and then realizing it's not what I really want. I want the time to be worth it. Trouble is, then I get paralyzed and don't pick anything. And when I do find something reasonable, why can't I just do it NOW?? I don’t want to waste any more time.

​I know this fear isn't exactly logical. I also know there’s nothing wrong with being lost like this. I guess I’m just impatient. I often have to remind myself of two things:

1) You are probably not going to die tomorrow
2) You are doing the best you can

Actually chasing my dreams is what life's all about, right? In doing so, I'm way ahead of people who are afraid to try, right? Calm down, enjoy the moment, be happy, etc?

No, I'm not going to end this post with some cheesy life lesson like the questions above, except maybe that it's okay to be lost. Everyone gets this way. And on occasion, everyone also gets those super clear moments when it seems like we have life 100% figured out.

Then the moment's gone, like all the others before it.

But hey, it'll be back.

​Probably.

Maybe

​We'll see.

Mansion's Twins
Mansion's Family
Dawn's Acapella
Acapella Angels
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