AtoZ Blog Challenge: F is for FAVOURITES

When I made a list of my A to Z Blog Challenge posts, I promised to add a more personal flavour to my blog. So here is a list of some of my favourites:

• Coffee: We all like coffee (it is as essential as oxygen to a writer) but my favourite is
  
  what we call an Americano here. It is known as a Tall Black in other countries. Yip, espresso topped with hot water. I drink it at home too - simply can't live without the stuff! 

• Vegetable: Ha, you didn't expect this one, did you? As a child I was a fussy eater, to my Mother's biggest frustration. No amount of bribing could convince me to eat veggies I didn't like...ever. But as a child and to this day, my favourite veggie is lettuce. All of the varieties, sweet to bitter - love 'em all! And am I still so fussy? Not at all. As a student I realised that I had nothing against the vegetables at all, I just hated them because of the ways they were cooked back then. When my Mother changed that (and she is a great cook, by the way) I converted with a smile.

• Colours: My favourite colour is black. I wear black, sometimes with a splash of something else, more than 90% of the time. The only time when I divert from that, is for a practical reason: my job requires spending time in one of the hottest parts of South Africa, and then my black clothing stays home.
  My second favourite colour is purple. I get ribbed about that one quite often, since I had my hair coloured purple and blue. Which reminds me, it is time for another touch up.

What are you favourites? Favourite food, your all time number one spice to cook with, and kick-back to relax alcoholic beverage?

Voice Recognition Software and I: Part 3

As promised here is Part 3 of my experiences using voice recognition software (Links to Part 1 and Part 2). At first I thought it was going to be easy, I write therefore I can dictate, right? Wrong. I might be the exception, but making the transition from typing to dictating took longer than I thought.

For one I am not a talker, meaning that I am not overly fond of hearing my own voice the whole time. It took some getting used to, and it was easier when I was alone at home. Once I got more comfortable with that stage, I could continue doing it when my husband was home. Weird I know, especially since I have been married to him for twenty years. But then again human behaviour in unusual situations can be unpredictable.

Contrary to how it might sound, it took me only about three days to overcome that hurdle, so the writing flowed much easier by then.

Then came the scenes with intimacy, and that is not just sex writing. Extreme intimacy can be emotional and I have found that I get so involved with my characters that I cannot dictate these words fluently.

Since I also write erotica and the kind of language that can be associated with that, can be difficult too. It slows down the flow of words where I had to spell words not in the software's dictionary. So I decided to type the words for those kind of scenes. Fortunately, in erotic romance stories there are fewer sex scenes than people think.

The last and most difficult thing that I had to learn was “writing” while talking. I can think and plot and visualise my words while I type. It had been a big hurdle to overcome to do the same while dictating. It is still not an easy thing to do, and the software makes mistakes because of the way that I dictate as a result.

It takes a lot of practice to use voice recognition software and I will need to get back into it from the start, since my preferred writing computer has been out of commission for several weeks now. I have an old notebook that I have been using, and it is perfect for type writing, if you will excuse the pun, but it is not sufficient for the software.

If you decide to try out voice recognition software, Dragon Naturally Speaking or any other, do allow yourself the time to learn to use it properly. Find your groove with dictation by being patient with the computer, it is truly only a dumb machine. Also be patient with yourself and you will not be sorry when the words start flowing by at least double your normal word count targets for the day.

I can type about a thousand words per hour, but with DNS I upped that to 2500 without any additional effort, after I did the training of course :)

I am happy with using Dragon Naturally Speaking and will recommend it to anyone who wishes to write by means of dictation.

AtoZ Blog Challenge: E is for EMAIL Subscription

If you are like most of us these days, you are very selective when subscribing to any email

Image: Pinterest

list. And if you do there is either something you get for free, or you like what the host is telling you. I can already hear you thinking, what kind of freebie will be offered, or epiphany am I going to tell to you about to get your attention, and get you to subscribe--the answer is...neither.
There are many people out there offering all kinds of advice, or something like a free e-book to get your subscription, and there is nothing wrong with that. If you are happy with your subscriptions and you have the time to read the ones popping into your inbox, then keep them and read them, otherwise why waste your time?
As you might know April is also the time for Camp NaNoWriMo and I am working to finish the first draft of my third novel, Michael's Mystery. While it is still an incomplete first draft, ie full of plot gaps and grammatical errors, I will let you in on sneak previews of what is to come, hopefully later this year.
You can read such a scene here and if you want to feast your eyes on more to come, now would be a good time to subscribe to my mailing list. And no, there won't be daily emails, neither weekly or even monthly. I have other projects going on as well, and respect that your time is as valuable to you as mine is to me.

What is the mystery that has Michael so intrigued that he remains on Kryane even after the court case?

AtoZ Blog Challenge: D is for DREAMS

My post today is not for the kind of dreams that we have in repose, but for those we have

awake. Daydreams, dreams of the future, dreams of what we wish to become. Even animals dream, but what distinguishes us from our furry or aquatic friends, is the ability to dream of what we want to be.
Of course, we cannot become birds flying about in the sky, but dreaming about it, made flight possible. We became...more.
In dreams we overcome our limitations, it is then up to our desire to make it happen. To be the more that we dream about. Whether it is to be a painter, a sculptor, a writer, a pilot or a teacher.
Our successes in achieving these dreams come with our commitment to make it happen. Our sacrifices, some big, some small, to do the time will determine our level of achievement.
How do you define success? Fame? Money? Recognition?
Do I see myself as a Nobel laureate? Hey, that would be nice, but that is not what I need to be happy as a writer.
I write, therefor I am a writer; therefor I am happy.
I do not write full-time, reality dictates that I have financial obligations that needs to be attended to, but I make the time for my dream. What I sacrifice to make it happen, is what makes it worthwhile. That is how I define success.

You can read more about my dream - Chasing the Dream

Do you still chase your dreams?
 

AtoZ Blog Challenge: C is for COURSE

Fiction writing is my passion, but to some extend so is teaching. For a long time I didn't realise that it was exactly what I had been doing when I worked as a consultant - I taught people the requirements for exporting their products.

In case you were wondering, I would make a terrible school teacher, but sharing knowledge, that is a different story altogether.

Last year I wrote non-fiction for NaNoWriMo in November, and found it more difficult than fiction writing for that particular challenge. My project is the development of a Course for Indie Writers, that includes everything except writing. There are many local and international courses on creative writing and another is definitely not needed.

The course is aimed at the South African indie author, because the stigma of "traditional is better than indie", is very much alive and kicking in this country. Sad but true.

With the exception of one or two small details, the course can pretty much be used anywhere. The manual for the course will be published to be more accessible to a wider audience, but it is still aimed as part of a three day face-to-face interaction.

I have learned loads of things on my journey as an indie author, and hope to keep learning more.

If you have any pearls of wisdom, or useful links, to share, please do not hesitate to add them to the comments.

AtoZ Blog Challenge: B is for BLOGGING

Of all the possible B's that I could have chosen, biography, bomb or broken heart, blogging was the first that came to mind.
Twitter recently celebrated its eighth year in existence by asking people to re-tweet their

very first tweet. It was fun to see that at least my first was worth another RT ;)
So I had a look at my first blog post (you can see it here) and tried to recall where the name Butterfly on a Broomstick came from, and to be honest, I don't think there was ever a reason for the name. It just popped into my head and it stayed. In fact, I like it more now than I did when I came up with it!
I like the idea of promoting other people's books. Not that I have the time to read them all, which is a real shame since I love reading. My own reading list today is more than a hundred books long, paperbacks and e-books. Sounds terrifying even to me, then again I can't wait to read the next one.
I don't often post reviews, but when I do it is because I really liked a book. I love romance and it takes a really special story to get me out of my normal routine to write a review. There is one coming soon - a romance that was the complete opposite of what you would expect - and I love those.
I do share some personal experiences from time to time, but keep the private stuff, private. Is my life that interesting that people would want to know every single detail? I doubt it, so I keep to the things that could be considered interesting, such as parts of my country that I travel to that are not part of the regular tourist beat.
I am still working on convincing my husband to drive, instead of fly, to our annual holiday destination this year. Why? Because I have never been to the country and would like to see some parts of it besides the nature reserve where we will be going on a photographic safari. Which reminds me, I really need to get my passport renewed.

Which blog(s) have you found to be the most inspirational or useful to you? Please share the link in the comments, it might just be the site that someone has been searching for ☻

AtoZ Blog Challenge: A is for ANTHOLOGY

I can almost hear you roll your eyes, when you saw the word anthology, since I have been going on and on about this project of our writers' group launching in June this year.

And when I came up with the idea for the letter 'A', that was exactly what I had in mind. However, when I sat down to write this post, something else came to mind. In fact, for the purpose of this post, A stands for Friends.

I am not the kind of person that makes friends easily, nor do I go around accumulating thousands of friends on Facebook. Maybe I am not as likeable as I think I am - no, I wasn't fishing. What I am trying to say is that a writers' group can be more than just people with a common interest. We do not have to live in each others' pockets, but we can do things. We can create things. And we can create together.

Enter the anthology.

As enthusiastic as I was when I came up with the idea, there had been hurdles to overcome. Big ones and small ones, and writing ones too. But we did. We pulled together, and the passion we have for writing, and the project is increasing.

Yes, the stories are done. Yes, we are in the process of final formatting for e-book and print publication, but it is not the end. There is marketing to be done, and books to be promoted and launches to be arranged. And we are working towards doing that. Together.

Friends.

In May I will introduce you to each of my awesome friends. Guess what? We wrote a book together. It is called STORM and it will be available soon.

Do you like to read? Do you support indie authors? Why not help us tell the world about STORM. Check out the details and join in the fun...here. 

A to Z Blog Challenge Coming to the Broomstick

 
I am taking part in the A to Z Blog Challenge in April this year.

There will be a post everyday, except Sundays, where the corresponding letter of the alphabet will inspire the post of the day.

There will be more personal posts, and you are welcome to leave a comment or ask a question at any time.


Here is my list for April :)

  1. Anthology
  2. Blogging

Hope to see you around!

  3. Course
  4. Dreams
  5. Email subscription

  7. Favourites
  8. Guest Posts
  9. Hobbies
10. Interview
11. Journaling
12. Kryane

14. Lettuce
15. My Story
16. NaNoWriMo
17. Obisidian
18. Plus 1
19. Questions

21. Reviews
22. STORM
23. Twitter
24. Useful links
25. Vacillate
26. Words

28. Xa'an
29. Yoke
30. Zirda

Voice Recognition Software and I: Part 2

 Since I started using Voice Recognition Software I have learned a few lessons:

1. Pronunciation: I might be fluent in English, but talking to a person is not the same as dictating to a computer. Since the computer does not understand speech, it only recognises frequencies and audio patterns, clarity is essential.
2. I have also learned (and the software will tell you that when you start out) is to speak fluently, ie speak in whole sentences, then it is more accurate. And yes, it actually is.
   A sentence in a novel might look like: John frowned. "What do you mean it exploded?"
   When you dictate that, the sentence will sound like: NEW LINE John frowned FULL STOP OPEN QUOTE what do you mean it exploded QUESTION MARK CLOSE QUOTE NEW LINE
   It does take some getting used to. The words in capital letters are INSTRUCTIONS to the computer, rather than dictation. You need a pause before you say them, otherwise the computer will type the "full stop" as part of your sentence. Still happens to me, especially if I am not paying close attention.
3. DNS (Dragon Naturally Speaking) can type directly into Microsoft programs. I, however, use YWriter5 or Open Office to write; neither of which are Microsoft products. No problem.
   When DNS recognises the software as being not directly compatible with its interface, it opens a text window that you then use for dictation. When you have finished dictating a portion of writing, issue the command TRANSFER, and he text will be moved to Open Office Writer (or whatever other word processor you might use).
   Word to the wise: Check the settings on DNS. Make sure the TRANSFER involves a COPY action and not a MOVE action. I lost a bit of writing when the transfer went to the wrong place in the document and could not be re-copied. Fortunately for me they weren't that many words.
4. There are other voice recognition software also available. I tried the built-in version that came with Windows 7. Yip, it is there you just need to find it. Like DNS it can be used to control programs in Windows, open and close files, browsing the internet, etc.
   I tried using it for dictation as well. It is not as accurate as DNS, no matter how much time I had spent on "teaching" it. I would think that it was written for control of programs more than dictation. If you could live with about 65-70% accuracy, editing is still needed after all, then consider using this for a start.
   You can use it with Notepad or Wordpad and then transfer to your word processor of choice. It has its own COMMAND set that you need to learn (these COMMANDS are not standard for the different packages).
   While it might be okay to write with, I would not recommend it for editing.
5. As mentioned you need to learn the DNS COMMAND set. Even if you have a standard (read not wide) screen, you can still keep the COMMAND set window open on the side until you a familiar with the commands to use.
   DNS has commands specifically for editing, and I have used that when I notice obvious errors in the text. I only "edit" with DNS while dictating my first drafts.
   Since I use DNS to relieve the stress on my hands, any editing I do after writing that first draft I use a keyboard, but you don't have to.
6. The one thing that I really like about voice recognition is that it makes no spelling errors. I know its weird, but I have a thing about spelling mistakes while I am writing. DNS has a large vocabulary, but still there are words that you to spell. It will add those to its dictionary - very cool!
   Names are a huge problem though. Since I also write in the fantasy genre, the names of my characters are not the usual. I mean, Alu"Edr'Erinia you are not going to find in a baby name list very soon (at least I hope not!)
   In cases like these, I keep a list of notes in a separate file where I pick a common name for the character, like Alan, and then find and replace it afterwards with my character's real name. It might sound like extra work, and it is, but it is so much easier than trying to spell that one - or pronounce it the same way - every time. 

In the last part I will tell you a bit more on my experience with dictating fiction, and a few last tips on writing with voice recognition software.

If you have Windows 7 or 8 or your computer, why not try its voice recognition, and tell me about your experience is in using it.

Voice Recognition Software and I: Part 1

After I did the incredibly brave (read stupid) thing to write 100,000 words during NaNoWriMo in 2012, I vowed to never to do that again. My hands hurt for weeks afterwards. Given the fact that I am responsible for writing a large report to our project's client every month, it had not been a smart thing to do.

Since then I have been looking out for voice recognition software that was easy to use, had a good accuracy rating, was compatible with my accent (I speak English, but with a South African accent) and was affordable.

The last requirement had been the most difficult. The one package, Dragon Naturally Speaking, fit all my needs, except for the aforementioned price. I found it on Amazon, but had to wait quite a while for a special offer to come around to be able to afford the package, the shipping and duties to South Africa.

Using the software

1. Take the time to let the software "learn" your voice. Every person is unique and the software can only work with a good measure of accuracy if you take the time.
2. DNS also learns your writing style from books, emails, articles, etc. that you have already written. Be patient while it works through these files.
3. Pronunciation needs to be clear. Computers do not understand mumbling and incoherent speech, although people do.
4. Invest in a gaming headset with microphone. These kinds of headsets are of higher quality and aimed at interaction with a computer.

Part 2 will be my personal experience with using DNS software, and other comments on writing fiction with voice recognition software :)

Tips, Tricks and Tales: Infuse Your Time with Extraordinary Purpose by Paula Grieco

Creative commons photo credit: Angie Nan

“A dream without a plan is just a wish.” Katherine Paterson

When I left the corner office of a high-growth tech company to work for myself, my biggest fear was that without external deadline pressure, I would never complete tasks again. Not one. Ever.

What I discovered was that checking items off of my “to do” list was still relatively easy…even with the distraction of social media.

The bigger challenge was ensuring that when all those completed tasks were strung together, I reached a meaningful goal – a dream even. There are an abundance of tech tools and sophisticated systems available to help you manage your time. But if after checking off all your tasks for the day, you feel no closer to reaching your goal, try this really simple method that has worked for me.

1. Start with your no limits list. Write down your biggest dreams and aspirations. Make them as measurable as possible and write down as many as you want.
2. Pick your one big meaningful thing. Really just one. Not saying that you won’t work on others, but many of us fail to reach our goal because we are trying to work on too many directions at once. Good goals distract great goals. So pick one. Really, just one.
3. Have a place for all your other brilliance. Creative and entrepreneurial types tend to have an abundance of amazing ideas. Have a place (one spot) to save all those brainstorms for the future.
4. Create a space for your one big thing. Get a box or clean out one drawer or empty a shelf to keep that one goal you just wrote down. This space is sacred so only items related to your goal are allowed in your box. Nothing else. Ever.
5. Underwhelm yourself with easy actions. Break your “big thing” into small actions until there is one step that feels easy. Make one phone call. Write 100 words. Some days, when you can, do a little more.
6. Dedicate a day a month to your dream. One day a month – blow it out of the park. Devote a whole day to working on your one meaningful thing. Every day, but especially on this day, get prepared the night before. Make a list of what you would like to accomplish. Even set out your clothes. Research shows that we have limited decision making capital everyday so take care of all the insignificant decisions.
7. Set a deadline. Only after working on your goal for about a month, set a deadline. Then multiple it times two.
8. Don’t dream (or write or make art or..) alone. Join or create a closed Facebook or face-to-face group meet up. Not negotiable.

Distractions will still happen, but they won’t derail you. (Though when you are writing a blog on time management, it is not advisable to begin your day by studying a tobacco body infographic – particularly if you don’t smoke.) Tasks will be hard, but not insurmountable.

Basic systems work. Save the complexity and sophistication for your dream – not the tools to manage it. 

In the comments, tell us how you make your time count for what really matters.

Author Bio

Paula is a former tech exec turned – entrepreneur and writer. She released he first book in the spring of 2013, Take 5 for Your Dreams. She is co-founder of What’s Your Brave?, a writing and media project that empowers girls and their parents to be brave, dream big, and take bold action.

Her work has been featured in: The Boston Globe, Online Christian Science Monitor, Tinybuddha, The Good Men Project, SheHeroes, and She Can’t What. It matters deeply to me that every person — that means you — on this planet has the opportunity to be who they really are and live what deep-down matters to them.

Sign up for Paula’s blog at: www.justbewhoyoureallyare.com.

Requesting Hosts for Blog Tour of STORM anthology

The Pretoria Writers' Group is requesting hosts for a blog tour of the STORM anthology.
It is an anthology to be published in two volumes (I for fantasy/scifi/dystopia and II for contemporary stories) intended for an adult audience (no erotica).

The tour will be from 11 to 24 May 2014.

If you are interested please email your preference for hosting to blog.tour.info@gmail.com

Notes:
1. This is NOT my personal email and only messages with STORM HOST in the subject line will be attended to.
2. Please indicate which Volume of STORM you would like to host (or both)
3. Please indicate if you would like to review (either or both) of the Volumes (a limited number of ARCs in PDF will be provided before the tour commences)
4. Please indicate if you would like to interview any of the authors on your blog (please provide the name(s) of the author and your questions in the email)
5. The authors are: Linzé Brandon, Vanessa von Mollendorf, Natalie Myburgh, Carmen Botman, Charmain Lines and Richard Wheeler.
6. The covers, buy links to both volumes, short excerpts of the stories in the relevant anthology (I = 6, II = 4) and the Smashwords author profile links for all the authors will be provided by 7 May 2014.

If you have any questions please include them in the email - thank you.

Guest Post: Time, the Great Equalizer by Dale Lavely

  In one currency, we are all given the same amount; time. Rich or poor, old or young, talented or not, we all get the same dole of time each and every day that we are alive. Once spent, we can’t retrieve even one second of time once it is gone. It doesn’t matter if you’re the President or a blue collar worker, you will all be given the same precious commodity of time.

  Many talented people make the most of their time and find ways to be productive. Some wastefully squander their allotment of time. Whether you value time or waste it, it marches on. Time ticks on and most aren’t even aware of its passing. The problem, especially for highly distractive, busy, or uncaring people, is that we aren’t aware of the gift of seconds, minutes, and days. I think that’s the attraction of sayings like, “carpe diem”, (the quote is usually translated, “seize the day”) was taken from a poem written in the Odes in 23 BC by the Latin poet Horace. Wikepedia also included the translation, “trusting as little as possible in the next day”. In odes 1.11 had another saying,” Whether Jupiter has allotted you many more winters or this one”.

  None of us knows how much time we really have, so we need to find the treasure of time and guard it. Keeping the reality of a limited resource like time will require watch care, attention, focus, and an ability to prioritize how we will fill our elusive container of time. Each of us much choose what we will spend our time on. This task of time allotment, is both the most delicious and yet daunting task any of us will have.

  There are so many choices to make in our modern society. If we even look at the possible food choices we make each day, around 200 according to researchers at Cornell University, we can get overwhelmed. How can we be intentional about how to use our hoard of time? One tip I learned from Michael Hyatt is to weed out things in your life that compete with your main priorities. There are things that don’t get us closer to our goals and waste our time. We need to take a hard look at where we want to spend our days. Without goals we are like a ship without a destination. No one but ourselves can decide what is important to us. We are all driven by different values, priorities, and expectations in life.

  As I write this there is a PBS special on Stephen Hawking. He lived with the specter of death for most of his life. He decided to spend his life trying to figure out how the universe began. What makes life worth living for you, may not make sense to me. It is a worthy use of time to think about our goals in life. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Life in Socrates’ days was much less predictable and probably not as long as ours. The quest to deal with time valuing issues is timeless.

  It is a treasure that normally can’t be taken away from us. While it is in your power to decide I hope you and I will choose well.

 Author Bio

You can connect with Dale on her blog http://dalelavelyatthewell.com/WP/ 

Mayhem in March: Guest Post by Khalid Muhammad

The story behind Agency Rules: Never an Easy Day at the Office

“When you are so hungry for peace that you are blind to atrocities, you are no longer sovereign or free.”

What’s it like to live in a country where you live in fear every time you leave the house? To live in an urban city under siege from criminals and gangs that operate under the unbridled support of political parties and terrorists alike, with police taking their share to the look the other way? Where bomb blasts and terrorist attacks become part of the nature of the country and people become desensitized to the blood and carnage with each passing day? What’s it like to have 90 million people suffering from Stockholm Syndrome believing that negotiating and agreeing to terrorist demands, the country may become safer, while the other 90 million are screaming for military action?

This is today’s Pakistan and the place that I call home. What I have just described to you is not all of what Pakistan is today. It is a nation that is fighting for its existence in the community of nations, but it is also a nation full of hard-working, educated, honest people that want to see peace returned to their country. And there lies the rub…

Over the years, Pakistan has been infiltrated by traitors to the nation, more interested in bolstering their offshore bank accounts and assets, than they are in building a better country. The repercussions are felt like shockwaves throughout the country every day - an economy in tatters, education non-existent for those without wealth and employment opportunities unavailable for those without approach. It’s the same Pakistan that the religious extremists use to recruit more followers into their holy wars.

Agency Rules – Never an Easy Day at the Office, rather than picking up from today, stumbles

backwards to the 1990s, right after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan and the beginnings of the extremist/terrorist camps within the tribal areas. Fresh from a successful war with a superpower, the Mujahideen fighters that had traveled from Pakistan returned home. A segment of these fighters with more militant leanings looked to change the country that had neglected them and their religious beliefs in favor of a liberal agenda that allowed women to attend schools, men to dress in Western clothing and Islam to be sequestered to Friday prayers and religious holidays.

The book will take you through the 90s and the networks that were created within the country’s madrassahs (religious schools) that today funnel fighters into the al-Qaeda and the fight against the NATO forces in Afghanistan. It will give you a picture of Pakistan through one man’s eyes as he fights for his own identity and place in society. He is the embodiment of the Pakistani that the world doesn’t see in the headlines or the evening news. As the honorable soldier, the precision sniper, the intelligence operative and the conflicted man, Kamal Khan takes you through one of the greatest adventures before the War on Terror started to a Pakistan that is at war with itself.

Shrouded in political expediency, hampered by internal power struggles, international espionage and doublespeak that makes Washington’s spin doctors proud, Kamal’s mission is a nightmare of rampant militant fundamentalism that threatens to choke and take Pakistan hostage. For him, the fight is not just for freedom, but the survival of a nation.

Mayhem in March: Agency Rules by Khalid Muhammad

Find it on  Amazon  Smashwords  Kobo  Barnes and Noble 

Synopsis
Celebrated as a ragtag force that defeated and broke the Soviet Union, no one predicted the

Mujahideen would bring with them a plague that would spread like wildfire through Pakistan in the years to follow. When the battle-worn fighters returned with no enemy or war to fight, they turned their sights on the country that had been their creator and benefactor.
From the same battlegrounds that birthed the Mujahideen, a young Kamal Khan emerges as a different breed of warrior. Discarding his wealthy family comforts, Kamal becomes a precision sniper, an invincible commando and a clandestine operative bringing intimidation, dominance and death with him to the battlefield. Ending the plague is his prime directive.
Shrouded in political expediency, hampered by internal power struggles, international espionage and doublespeak that makes Washington’s spin doctors proud, Kamal’s mission is a nightmare of rampant militant fundamentalism that threatens to choke and take Pakistan hostage. For him, the fight is not just for freedom, but the survival of a nation.

Excerpt
Nine months ago, the Muslim League government had won a surprising mandate across Pakistan on a manifesto that was full of promises that would be difficult, if not impossible, to deliver. One of their core promises was returning Karachi, Pakistan’s largest metropolis and economic hub, back to a peaceful existence.
Since his party’s election victory, Prime Minister Azam Shah had struggled with difficult questions on the actual implementation of his manifesto that had gotten them elected, but had never seemed to provide any clear or direct answers. One thing he had clearly demonstrated was his intense love for the cameras and media spotlight during his political events. As the opposition leader in the previous government, he had taken great pleasure in highlighting the failings and bad decisions of the sitting government. Today, however, was a different story as his government was now in power and he was regularly in the hot seat. During a tour of a children’s hospital in his native Multan, the Prime Minister was again posturing for the media. As the visit drew to a close, the newly minted Prime Minister sauntered to the podium as if he had won an award, unserious and jovial, until a staunch critic of the government posed a difficult question.
“Prime Minister, you have occupied the most powerful seat in the country for almost nine months now. Do you not see it as a failure that your government has not drafted any policy to address the violence in Karachi?”
It was not the first time it has been asked, but it was the first time the word ‘failure’ had been introduced into the public debate. As he looked around the gaggle of journalists, each thrusting forward to capture his next words on their recorders, he knew this would be the lead headline for the rest of the day, opening the door for opposition and coalition parties to criticize his inaction.
He measured his response, almost rehearsing the words in his mind before speaking. “I think it’s too early to use words like failure. When we were not the ruling party, our information was limited to what the previous government wanted us to know. Now, we have more intelligence about the situation, and I am briefed daily.”
Journalists started firing follow-up questions at him before he could complete his response. He held up his hands to try to bring the situation back under control.
“Just a minute, may I finish my response before you start your follow-ups?” he asked, trying to assert his position, but even he knew he had less than thirty seconds to finish and get away before he was cornered by the wolves stalking their prey.
“The government has had several meetings with all the stakeholders, both collectively and individually, over the past few months to ascertain the best course of action,” he continued hesitantly, knowing he had been repeating this for months now. He knew he wouldn’t win any favors by repeating himself. Just then, he felt a hand on his side and saw a note placed before him on the podium. Quickly scanning the note, he flashed a semi-smile. “Next week, we will bring everyone together to decide the final course of action.”

About the Author

When people talk about Khalid Muhammad, they talk about an entrepreneur who has helped others build their dreams and businesses. They talk about a teacher, who is dedicated to his students, both inside and outside the classroom, and they return the dedication tenfold.
Now, they talk about the author, who has written a fast-paced, action-packed spy thriller
about Pakistan, the politics, the Army and terrorism.
Born in Pakistan's troubled Swat Valley, educated and raised in the United States, Khalid returned to Pakistan almost 17 years ago and fell in love with his country. His debut novel, Agency Rules - Never an Easy Day at the Office, is a journey behind the headlines about Pakistan, the world's most dangerous place, to deliver an intense story that will challenge the reader to question what they have been told. 



 
Connect with Khalid online 
Website - http://agencyrules.com
Facebook http://facebook.com/AgencyRulesPK
Twitter http://twitter.com/AgencyRulesPK

A note from Linzé:  Come back tomorrow for a guest post from Khalid on the story behind Agency Rules.

Mayhem in March: Twisted by Vanessa Wright

Find it on Smashwords

Synopsis

A collection of 22 short stories from the bizarre to the truly chilling as the author takes you along for a roller coaster ride, welcoming you to the darker side of humanity. She delves into the shadowy world of obsessions, addictions, death and the loss of innocence and imagination. She takes an

honest, in depth look at things that happen all around us, yet we tend to ignore.

Here we are forced to look at the pain of what it means to be human in all its various facets and to truly explore the face that looks back at us in the mirror. No one is truly good or truly evil; nothing is exclusively beautiful or ugly, we are a sublime mix of the two, walking the tightrope median between the two opposites. The author expects the reader to think about what he has just read and to question the so called normalcy of everyday life. She peels back the layers to reveal the hidden skeletons in the closet. Fear, doubt, depression, loneliness, bulimia are only some of the elements which are open for discussion.

As a society we have shied away from the darker aspects that are certainly part and parcel of who we are. Surely the path to true wisdom and resolution of these issues is in the enlightenment thereof, the dusting off of the cobwebs in the cupboard.

Excerpt:

2. Bright Lines

The pain was so excruciating that the primitive, instinctual mind swept in and strangled her hold on the cold, metal object in her hand; survival being paramount. She endured a few agonizing seconds before euphoria washed her away and out to a sea of peace.

She could feel her mind escaping the confines of her body; the binding chains were thrown off, liberating her imprisoned soul. With a sigh of relief she became a light, downy feather abreast the rising air currents. She bobbed rhythmically to the deep internal breathing of the earth. She held her own breath, afraid of disturbing the feeling of inner peace and warmth that suffused her body. It broke through barriers and walls that were cemented into her soul by time; shattered her strongholds and allayed age old fears of insecurity and worthlessness. In this second, now, she was more than worthy.

Colours appeared brighter as if life had been washed back into them. The bleach had leeched out and leaves on the elm trees outside ran green with the sap of life. The sky seemed to bleed blue into the day. She exhaled slowly, carefully and watched her breath become kaleidoscopic reds, greens, yellows and shiny purples. Tentatively she reached out and touched the brittle clouds of vapour and dissipated them into slithering ribbons of light. Their beautiful reflections made her eyes hurt and her heart contract with sadness and loss.

Her body became weightless, tethered to the earth by a gossamer spider’s thread. Threadbare she had come into this earth and threadbare she would escape its confines. Her thoughts scattered and twisted, undulating lazily around the idea of living and surviving. Perhaps and perhaps not she thought, giggling giddily. Control was hers to keep or to release. How easy it would be to allow her life to slip silently away. Allow it to be carried away on sea breezes and on the white feathers of barn owls.

Her outer shell could then become one with the earth, decomposed and nutrient rich. Her bits and pieces gnawed at, secreted away by chipmunks and field mice; becoming part of a shelter here and the lining of a cosy nest there. Scattered and mindlessly free she would roam the earth, and her life’s circle would close, ending where it had begun…..dust to dust. At this thought a lazy self-indulgent smile curled at the corners of her wide mouth.

Author Bio

46 year old visual artist and home body, suddenly decides to pick up her writing again and just

couldn’t stop. I have been published in two anthologies: My kort vir jou sop  as well as Write for light 

Currently in the process of putting the finishing chapters to a crime thriller called Artifacts.

Find me on Twitter: @Artysoul1966

My blog where you can enjoy various short stories: http://iread1966.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VanessaWright.Auth

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/artysoul1966/boards/

Story board for Artifacts: http://pinterest.com/artysoul1966/artifacts-crime-novel-coming-soon/

Guest Post: Using Your Free time for Your Passion by Marcio Coelho

I was always interested in doing more things than my free time allowed. Surely having a job with something that does not make me truly happy, increases my anxiety to seek satisfaction outside of the company. But it’s been like this since I was a child. I remember that after I came home from school and ate lunch, I used to spend the day involved in some kind of activity, in most cases, related to music.
So I got some theoretical knowledge about music, rock bands, and national and international artists. Moreover, I myself have become a musician. Unfortunately I still don’t work in this business; I have music only as a hobby, and also part of a bigger dream to be realized, but distant for now.

But why am I talking about music, since the idea is to talk about time management?
Because I used the free time I had with something that I really liked: a passion. If you do not spend your spare time with your true passion, at least a portion of it, you are probably managing your time in the wrong way. And over time, not so good consequences will come.
Today I work as the only software developer for a small company . The workload, some times, is absurd for just one person. A few years ago, when I still did not have this notion of having a possibly inhumane job, I used to yell and struggle with my coworkers , take those bad feelings out of the company, and transfer it to my family and friends.
Anxiety took over my life – until very recently. Then gradually I began to educate myself to do only what was possible, and not worry about what I can not accomplish that day at work. No matter whether customers would complain, or if my boss would yell at me - we all had to understand the fact that I was alone. If the company did not want or could not hire other programmers to help me, fine, but I could not harm my physical and mental health because of a job. Areas like design, web design and software development have a motto in Portuguese that sounds like "our company is not a pastry" (where you ask for a pie and the clerk would delivers it to you right away).
Everything needs time and the customer must wait, like it or not.
If this is happening to you, it's time to stop and consider whether it is worth.
By the time you start to notice things like peeling skin, spinal pain, unexplained stomach aches and headaches, and so on, you need to stop and think about it. I have seen people going to the hospital because of accumulated stress at work. I myself have felt pain in the kidney that I could not explain very well how it happened. On another occasion, a sharp pain in the middle of my chest made me think that something serious was happening to me, some kind of heart problem, but in the end all the doctors found nothing and said "it would have been gas" (a little funny and kind of ridiculous, but rather that than a heart issue).
After what I have lived and suffered for not knowing how to manage well my time, I can say that if you feel some kind of imbalance in your life, or cannot do everything you would like, remember to stop for a few minutes, close your eyes, breathe, and try to search deep in your consciousness for what you can change, and be more free to do what you love, even if it is not in your current working time.
Exit the office, even if your job is not perfect, and make time to have fun with those you love, doing what you love. If you have an awesome job, it’s even better, but still don’t let it dominate your schedule. It`s you who command your calendar, and not the contrary!

 Author Bio
Marcio CS is a Brazilian musician, blogger and writer, 39 years old, who also works in IT. He`s happily married to another writer, Marcia Tondello. They have a daughter, Lara, who is also growing into an artist.
I use the nickname "Marcio CS", that is my artist nickname :)

My current blog is at http://www.marciocs.com.br (which it`s redirecting to http://eumarciocs.wordpress.com).

Read an eBook this week

It is eBook week on Smashwords and as a participating author I am discounting THREE of my books just for you this week

Click the title of the book and voila!
  

Géra's Gift is now $ 1.50 (50% off)  use code REW50 to get the discount

  Keeper of the Dragon Sword is $ 1.50 (75% off) use code REW75 to get the discount
  Their +1 is $ 1.50 (50% off) use code REW50 to get the discount

 Bubble Trouble is FREE
Pixie Dust, Boots and Reindeer is FREE

Click for help on how to download any Smashwords ebook to your eReader

ENJOY!

♥ ♥ ♥

 

February Fantasy Fan Month - One more Time!

Sometimes we miss the good stuff because real life interrupted. In case you did miss out on the blog tour, the books are still here and the links to find them still live. Here they are again, specially for you, a selection of fine fantasy writing!

Just click the title and there you go!

Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula by Elise Stokes

Canvas Skies by SL Wallace

Velvet Rain by David C Cassidy

Tolomay's World and the Pool of Light by ME Lorde

Tempest by RK Ryals

The Hunt for Xanadu by Elyse Salpeter 

The Rise of the Red Shadow by Joseph Lallo

Shadow Path by BL Blair

Thank you to these wonderful authors for taking a tour on my blog in support of the Fantasy Fan Month. Take a moment and find out more about them, you won't be sorry :)

See you in March for Murder, Mystery and Mayhem!

Fantastic February Blog Tour - Shadow Path

Amazon

Magic and crime. Agatha Christie meets J.R.R. Tolkien in “Shadow Path,” the first book in the new Portals series by author P.L. Blair.

An Ogre murdered with a rune-inscribed sword is just the beginning as Kat Morales, a very human detective on the Corpus Christi, Texas, police force, and her Elf partner Tevis McLeod follow a blood trail that leads to Pixies, necromancy and Magic of the Blackest kind ... to its climax in a stronghold Between worlds, where Tevis must duel spell for spell with a former lover who wants to see her old flame extinguished permanently.