Well I sincerely hope that never happens again.

Last Sunday (6th) our internet and phone went off without any warning. It has only just been restored (Friday afternoon), even though our provider has been saying it'll be fixed in four hours since Tuesday!

I never realise how useful and how much I use the internet until it isn't there. Every time I wanted to look something up I had to just wait! So glad to have it back.

Hope you are all well *hugs*

Day 3 with Amber :)

So I promised better piccies of Amber and here she is :). She likes sitting in her bed and looking out of the window.

She’s also started exploring the rest of the house (well the parts where we have the doors open - don’t want to overwhelm her). She seems to like it in the old dining room because she can nip under the table if we come down the stairs. She also talks a lot :). It’s lovely.

Haven’t managed to get her to play yet, but she definitely likes the cat teaser because we left it out for her last night and this morning it was broken :).

Amber piccies :)

So this is Amber, our new kitty. Sorry, this isn't very high res - it's from the web cam we've set up so we can keep an eye on her without disturbing her all the time. There will be some actual camera piccies once she has settled more and is happier with us being around.

She's begun talking to us now, so we hope it won't be too long, but we don't want to stress her out.



[Edit - Here is another piccie a bit higher res (yes that is a bribe on the counter in front of her bed - she does like cat treats)]



originally posted on LJ

New kitty, Amber, is now at home

We picked up Amber yesterday and the poor baby is still nervous and not very sure of everything. She did, however, very much seem to enjoy the head scratch I gave her this morning :). She's happy to be petted when she's in her bed, but not outside it yet.

She's eating and moving around the utility room and seems to like her new bed, so all seems to be going well. She also very much likes the kitty treats ;).

We just bought her a scratching post as well, so she has something to exercise her claws.

I think with a little love and time she's going to settle down very nicely.

No piccies yet, but soon, promise :).

Fic: Awkward Moment, (PG, Charlie Waterman Flashfic)

As I am sure you have noticed me mention, I have a new book out this week. It is called Cat's Confidence and it is book 3 in The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman. In honour of the release I have written a little flashfic for this week's Drabble Cascade. It is a tag scene to the book, but has no spoilers, so it can be enjoyed by all.

Awkward Moment

by Natasha Duncan-Drake

Charlie opened the door from his bedroom and stepped out into his living room, where Alexander was waiting for him. They were still on their break after the last Task and they'd decided to take a trip to a world neither of them had visited before. Thanks to losing himself in the library all morning, Charlie was running late.

"Sorry," he apologised and then stopped, because he saw what Alexander was doing.

His friend had one of his many books in hand and was scanning through it. When Alexander looked up and lifted one perfectly shaped eyebrow, Charlie wasn't sure what to say.

"A stake through the heart would kill anything," Alexander said, "not just vampires."

"So would beheading," Charlie agreed, "and fire," at which point he realised, that possibly wasn't the most tactful thing to say.

Of course Alexander had to have picked up the book about evil vampires. The only vampire he knew couldn't have gone for one of the ones about dragons, because he wasn't that lucky.

"Now you know why everyone on Earth thinks vampires are fictional," he added with an awkward shrug; "none of the vampire lore actually makes sense."

Alexander stood up and placed the book back on the shelf without another comment and Charlie really hoped the book hadn't offended his friend. Books about evil white guys didn't offend him, but then half the universe didn't have the wrong idea about his race, so he wasn't sure he could judge.

"Shall we go?" Alexander asked and didn't sound overly bothered, but sometimes it was hard to tell.

"Yeah," Charlie agreed and plastered on a smile.

"That book did get one thing right," Alexander added as he lifted his arm to create a portal.

"Really?" Charlie asked, honestly surprised.

"Yes," Alexander said and paused in a way that wasn't overly dramatic at all, well not for a vampire anyway, "we are all devilishly handsome and good in bed."

The whole speech was delivered with a perfectly serious demeanour, so it took Charlie a moment to catch up.

"Oh you bastard," he said and laughed, "I was really worried there for a second."

Alexander merely gave him a superior smirk as the portal flared into life.

~*~

Drabble Cascade #30 COMPETITION - word of the week is 'stake'

View more lists from Wittegen Press

We're getting a new kitty! :D

So as of Friday, Rob and I are getting a new kitty. So excited! :)

I have missed having a cat a lot, but for a while after Levi died we just didn't want another one and then we knew we were going away for a long weekend in Sept and didn't want to have a new kitty only to go away from them for four days while they were still settling. Hence we waited and it was a great decision because Amber came up for re-homing.

She is absolutely beautiful and lovely natured, although she can be nervous around new people. She's the kind of cat who likes to come up to you, not the other way around, but she did seem to really enjoy being given a love when we went to meet her at the cattery.

Cynthia, the lovely lady who is re-homing Amber, came over to visit yesterday to check our house and make sure it was suitable and apart from cat proofing the garden so Amber can't get out (Rob has ordered the supplies already and they should be here by next week) all is well. Rob is having to give up the sideboard in the old kitchen where he has his 3D printer, but it's a small sacrifice :).

I was on Amazon yesterday to buy a litter tray, carrier, dry food, water fountain and blanket (she likes to have things she can snuggle under) and today I went to B&M and Scats (local farm shop) to buy a bed, bowls, litter and some toys :).

Just have some wet food to buy on Friday now and we're set.

Cat's Confidence out today :)

It's launch day! Yay!

Cat's Confidence is out today and for one week until 8th Oct is is $2.99, after that it's going up to $3.29, so get in early for the better deal.

It's available on Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, B&N and Kobo at the moment and will be on other sites shortly (thank you Smashwords aggregate program).

All the buy links are here at the main book page.

Summary:
The Seer says that a Questor is always prepared for the Task for which they are chosen and Charlie has been a Questor long enough to know the Seer is always right. Still, it never occurred to him that being ready would mean specific training for a specific Task. Charlie, Kaelyn and Alexander are given six weeks to become a Dragon Warrior team: all they need to do is master magical telepathy, archery, flying and, the trickiest of all, how to put on a dragon-harness in under five minutes!

Once through the portal in the land of Snijela, they must pass as veterans, make friends with other dragons and figure out why they've actually been sent on their Task in the first place. Add in a volatile young queen, two feuding nations either on the verge of peace or all out war, as well as spies, sexism and an alarming acceleration in Charlie's premonitions, and nothing is ever going to be straightforward.

Available for Pre-order - Cat's Confidence. Chronicles of Charlie Waterman #3

Cat's Confidence, Available for Pre-order Now

It's finally ready!

Thank you to everyone who has been so patient, Cat's Confidence is finished and in the pipeline of being published. The official release date is Tuesday October 1st 2013, however, it is available for pre-order.

The very nice people at Smashwords now ship to Apple, B&N and Kobo for pre-orders so we have decided to take advantage of this option. While on pre-order and for one week post the release date, Cat's Condidence will be available for ~10% off at $2.99 (or equiv - regular price $3.29).

Cat's Confidence pre-order options:
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Apple (coming very soon - it's been submitted, but it sometimes takes them a while).

For those who use other services like Amazon, we're very sorry, there is no pre-order option, but the price will remain at $2.99 for one week after the launch date. So buy early and you will get your ~10% off.

Description:

The Seer says that a Questor is always prepared for the Task for which they are chosen and Charlie has been a Questor long enough to know the Seer is always right. Still, it never occurred to him that being ready would mean specific training for a specific Task. Charlie, Kaelyn and Alexander are given six weeks to become a Dragon Warrior team: all they need to do is master magical telepathy, archery, flying and, the trickiest of all, how to put on a dragon-harness in under five minutes!

Once through the portal in the land of Snijela, they must pass as veterans, make friends with other dragons and figure out why they've actually been sent on their Task in the first place. Add in a volatile young queen, two feuding nations either on the verge of peace or all out war, as well as spies, sexism and an alarming acceleration in Charlie's premonitions, and nothing is ever going to be straightforward.

Writing Book Blurb is HARD!

Y'know, as far as I'm concerned it's not the writing of the novel/novella/short story that's the hard bit. That part is perfectly natural as far as my brain is concerned, no it's what comes next that is difficult.

If you go the traditional publishing route, you don't have to worry about this part, but, at the moment, I am attempting to write the book blurb for my new novel (Cat's Confidence - The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman Book #3).

It sounds like it should be easy, doesn't it? A couple of paragraphs about the book; no problem right?

WRONG!

See what I'm actually trying to do is this:

• condense a 96k novel into a couple of paragraphs
• without giving away too many plot details
• while providing enough information to hook a reader 
• and making sure the emphasis is not on the wrong things
• [Edit] and one I forgot that my friend Lizzy on Twitter mentioned - loading it up with keywords for SEO (search engine optimisation)

The only reason I can ever do this is because I have a wonderful husband who reads my books and then helps me write a blurb that would make him want to read it.

So I come up with what I think is a good blurb and he reads it over my shoulder while making faces and telling me which bits suck. I honestly couldn't do it without him. He's much better at it than I am and I think that might be because he has a terrible memory for fiction. Hence, when he reads he usually only remembers the important bits, where as I have everything running around in my head and often can't focus on just the exciting parts.

I went on a self-pub course a couple of years ago and even the professionals at HarperCollins admitted it's a deep and mysterious art. They have people employed specifically for doing just that, but we self-pubs have to manage it ourselves. Although I suppose there must be people out there who will do it for you for a fee.

A blurb can make or break a book too. Even if you have the most wonderful cover and your books is edited beautifully, if the blurb is bad it can frighten away your readers. I've been on a horror kick lately and have been downloading a lot of free and low price horror books to fill my craving. Some I saw but did not obtain had the loveliest covers, but the blurb either didn't tell me enough or didn't make sense or didn't grab me or had mistakes in it.

Here is a good breakdown of how to write a good book blurb.

Here's an even more detailed one.

It's almost as hard as writing a synopsis when submitting a manuscript. Of course it would be too easy if they were the same skill, but they actually require a different mindset because you're not trying to hide the ending in a submission.

Thank you for listening to me whine, I'd love to chat if you have your own blurb horror stories, whether from reading them or trying to write them.

Writing update - Cat's Confidence & Nanowrimo

So my new novel is almost ready. I'm formatting it as we speak and then it just needs some final checking and it's good to go. It's called Cat's Confidence and is the third book in The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman. It has magic and dragons and lots of other good things :).

What I like about writing the Charlie series is because each adventure is partly set on a new world I can go for a new slant in the genre. The first one is contemporary fantasy, the second is mafia and paranormal and this one has a high fantasy bent to it because of all the dragons.

It's actually taken a lot longer to finish than I thought it would, but I'm really pleased with the end result and giving my readers the best I can is always my aim. So sorry to those I have been keeping waiting, but it's ready now. Watch this space for the release date.

I've also decided what I am going to write for Nanowrimo this year. Usually I do the next in the Charlie books, but since I have only just finished the last one I'm breaking the chain.

I'm seriously considering looking for an agent again, at least for some of my books, and I have one who I would really, really like to catch. I think the novel I want to write for Nano could grab her interest and I've been meaning to finish it for a while. So far I have 10K wds and so with an extra little push I could finish the first draft during Nano and edit it up afterwards.

It's sci-fi/fantasy adventure, futuristic, but with a touch of myth along the lines of something like Indiana Jones. I suppose it could be looked at as a little like reverse gender Indie in space. My lead is called Eli, she's feisty, fearless, asexual and has a rather problematic deep, dark secret. She is backed up by Lance, who is her eccentric AI and makes it his duty to fill the gap Eli leaves in the sexual market with just about anyone he can get to enter VR with him as well as making sure Eli doesn't do anything too insane. They retrieve things that have been lost, usually in very dangerous places.

I'm at the stage where I know what happens in it, but not quite why yet, so I shall have fun diving in. I don't plan for Nano, I just write, so I think I'm actually good to go way before I need to be. Who knows I might be 30K words in by the time Nano starts, then I'll have to write something else too :).