AtoZ Blog Challenge: Z is for ZIRDA

You are the female lead in my novel Tiger Gold - The Strikemasters. Tell my readers a little about yourself.
Well, my name is Zirda Thanah and the story starts where I am a student studying graphic and industrial design, when my parents and my unborn brother were killed. They were murdered. If it hadn't been for my friends Denise, and Mr T I would have gone crazy. But they supported me through this difficult time.
I now work for a company, called Placing Boxes Design, where I am an aircraft and transporter interior designer. I love my job. The challenge of interpreting a client's vision for his transporters and then seeing them implemented is a very good feeling.
I don't have many friends, and Susan is my best friend and also my colleague. Mr T is a constant companion and presence in my mind, but someday I hope to meet him face-to-face.

How did you feel when you realised you were blind after the attack?
I was scared and confused since I couldn't remember what happened. My blindness baffled the physician since there was no damage to my eyes. I had a suspicion that it had to do with the fact that I couldn't remember the attack.

And for the rest of the story, you will have to wait until it's published :) 

Thank you for joining me on this A to Z Blog Challenge in April. I trust that you had learned a little more about me and I hope to see you again very soon!

All the best,
Linzé
♥

AtoZ Blog Challenge: Y is for YOKE

Yoke and Yolk are Homophones. Words that sound the same but have different meanings. Instead of making a list or a lesson about homonyms, homographs, heteronyms, polysemes or capitonyms, why not a bit of tongue in cheek about some of these?

But if you want to learn more, you can click here :)

Enjoy the word play!

AtoZ Blog Challenge: X is for XA'AN

Akan Village on planet Xa'an

Xa'an is the place where everything began. Where Géra and his best friend, Ta'an grew up and got into typical boy trouble on the Ville estate.

The forest bordering Akan where they met T'ara when she got lost as a child.

The place where they had formed friendships that would last a lifetime.

A planet when a young Elizabeth was convinced by her cousins, Géra and Stefan, that snakes were not dangerous at all. Only to find out much later that her abilities would always draw the reptiles to her, without any threat to her life.

On the outskirts of the city of Ikea where the cousins would ride horses and swim in the river and live the carefree existence of the young - uncaring and unknowing of the destinies that awaited them all.

Xa'an, a planet destined to produce a wise young Grandmaster - to live through wars, defended by powerful dragons and warrior magicians. A planet that saw, and will see, sacrifices so big, and love so true, that in itself it might just be enough to safeguard its future.

Pinterest Storyboard of  Keeper of the Dragon Sword

AtoZ Blog Challenge: W is for WORDS

They comprise of a group of symbols we call alphabet letters. We assemble them in a larger group, and call it a sentence. Then a collection of sentences become a paragraph. And so it grows until you have a short story or novel. An article or a memoir. So we speak, we write and text, with the singular form of code: we call them words.

So how many words are there in English?

► Can you guess?

 

And which word is the most recognisable word on the planet?

► Answer

English is not my native language, so I am learning new ones almost every day. The newest addition to my vocabulary: escutcheons (Courtesy of The Cat Who Played Post Office by Lilian Jackson Braun)

Which is the most recent new word you have learned?

AtoZ Blog Challenge: V is for VACILLATE

What is a mind if you cannot change it? A butcher. A baker. A candlestick maker? An engineer or an architect? With every character I write, I epitomize the very core of it. Today a construction worker, tomorrow a pilot. Am I constantly changing my mind? Of course I do.
Step into my office and take up the mantle and listen to the voices that are crying out - I am the creator of worlds, the destroyer of galaxies, the cupid of all the happily-ever-afters.
See me: the lover, the conqueror, the hero, the weaver of tales dark and desirable - I am the writer...and you better start running!

AtoZ Blog Challenge: U is for USEFUL Links

I might have mentioned this before, so please forgive me rehashing this one :)

I am in the process of developing a course for indie authors to help them learn about all things indie - except the writing itself. With many creative writing courses out there, and good ones too, there is no need for me to reinvent the wheel. Developing a course takes a lot of time and research to ensure that the information shared is not only relevant, but actually useful to the student.

Here are some of the useful links that I found and will be sharing and/or using in my course.

Time Management

Marketing information

What it means to be a writer
Writing Advice

If you found a blog or website particularly useful, why not add it in the comments, then I can look into including it in my course to share it with all the students - thank you!

AtoZ Blog Challenge: T is for TWITTER

As the end of April approaches, I find myself “all a freakin' twitter” with nervous energy. The publication date of our group's anthology is coming closer with the speed of white light. At least that is what it feels like.

Was it only yesterday that I came up with the idea? Time certainly flew by and very soon our stories will be out there for people to read and hopefully enjoy. Of course there is printing to arrange for the paperbacks and a venue to finalise for the launch and hours of marketing still ahead.

But being the kind of person I am, I have already been looking towards the future. What will be in stall for the Pretoria Writers' Group in 2015? Another anthology? Maybe a series? Who knows.

There are baby plans in the making (for some members), work issues for others and then there are the invariable normal life issues that crop up. As always we each decide our priorities and devote our scarcest resource, time, accordingly.

On that note maybe T should have been for Time,  Touchdown or Transmogrified instead :)