Consider that my next big thing has a working title of 'Scrabble Pieces'. 

Consider that I enjoy a good game of Scrabble. 

Today's A-Z challenge blog is about using up those pesky hard-to-use 'Q' tiles when you're playing Scrabble.  April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days (excluding Sundays). 

#AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** Q is for Q TILE **

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QI

Best Scrabble word by far at only 2 letters long! 

Definition:    The circulating life energy that in Chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent in all things; in traditional Chinese medicine the balance of negative and positive forms in the body is believed to be essential for good health (noun)

QAT

Definition:    The leaves of the shrub Catha edulis which are chewed like tobacco or used to make tea; has the effect of a euphoric stimulant (noun)

QIS

Definition:    Plural of Qi

QUA

Definition:    As in the function of, or in the capacity of. An example of qua is an assistant manager acting as manager while the manager is out sick; the assistant manager qua manager.

Playing any board games this weekend? Have fun, whatever you're planning. 

Lou x

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April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** P is for PRESS RELEASES **

Hoping this one will be of serious interest for any writer wanting to promote their own work. 

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This is a template I have committed to memory for writing a press release. I won’t mind if you pinch it! I have written examples for how you might write a press release as a writer, but these are just suggestions. 

RELEASE DATE & AUTHOR

Write your name and the date of when you would like this to be printed on the top of the page. There is no guarantee this will be adhered to by the Editors, but you can help them by suggesting an appropriate timetable.

FOR EXAMPLE:  If your book tour starts on Monday 13th May, send the article out at least a week before, remembering to check if the publication is a quarterly/monthly/weekly/daily occurrence. Check any deadlines for submission.

HEADLINE

Something snappy – I am rapidly going off alliteration in headlines, but the more interesting you can make it the more likely the article will be read.

FOR EXAMPLE:  Local Writer To Visit Northampton’s Bookshops

SUMMARY

This is the main gist of the story.

WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY HOW?????

FOR EXAMPLE:  Local writer Louise Gibney will be touring the book shops of Northampton this month promoting her debut novel, ‘Girl Meets Boys’.

DETAIL

Expand on the story outline here. Let the reader know a bit about you. Give the a summary of the book you’ll be promoting, or the blurb, here.

MORE DETAIL

When did the book get published? Do you have any impressive figures which show how popular your book’s been since it launched?

QUOTE

Just one!

Do you have any noted writers quoted on your book cover? Think wider than this too – who else recognisable and related to your genre could comment? For instance, I approached Match.com to get a quote for ‘Girl Meets Boys’, my internet age rom com. I was turned down, but asking doesn’t hurt and you might have everything to gain.

Try to get a quote from the book store manager saying how much they’re looking forward to supporting a local writer.

A quote from you isn’t bad either – something nice about the pleasure of meeting fans, supporting literature in your area, and shopping local at your independent bookshops (only if you’re touring indies!).

CONTACT INFO & FIND OUT MORE

This is where readers can find out more about you, the event, and your books. You might get some more bookings through this paragraph, so don’t forget it. 

FOR EXAMPLE:  To find out which bookshops Louise will be visiting when, check out www.xyz.com (not a real website! – ED.) or contact her on [email protected] (not a real email address! – ED.) You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter @MissWriteUK.

WRITE <ENDS> AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE

This is so the editor knows exactly where the copy finishes. 

NOTES TO EDITOR

You can write any extra information to support the article after the <ENDS> signal. This is a perfect opportunity to list links to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. etc. Your phone number might be useful too, should the Editor have any questions. 

General Tips I'd follow...

Including a good photo of yourself looking writerly may make your story more attractive to print. Look professional, smile (not maniacally!), ideally posing with the book in question.

You don’t have to send a query note before you send in a press release, but doing so may ensure you follow any style guidelines the newspaper follows. 

Make sure you know the submission deadline to time it with your event(s). 

Always send a covering letter or something in the body of the email. 

Remember to tailor the press release to the publication – e.g. mention the town it’s distributed in, if you’re from a specific area covered by the paper say so.

Thank the Editor after your press release has been printed. Nice touch! They might remember you and help you out in the future if they’re feeling amiable. 

Now, go promote!

Lou x

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Images courtesy of OSU Library and My Failure At Modern Living

I interrupt the A-Z Challenge briefly to give you an update on a previous post. 

This is what the cake from a recipe I posted for my 'N' day for the #AprilBlogChallenge SHOULD have looked like.

DELICIOUS. PERFECT. STRAIGHT. CLEARLY DISTINGUISHABLE LAYERS. FLUFFY BROWN COFFEE ICING. 

This is what I managed to create. Sorry, bake. 

Hmmm.....

Well, it tasted good and Towcester Writers wolfed it down! The cake was moist but my decorating skills need some serious work, I think!

Join me later today for the post for 'P'. This challenge is passing by quite quickly, I'm amazed!

 April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
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Born To Be A Tourist

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** O is for OWNING UP **

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I’m owning up – I don’t love EVERYTHING about being a writer. Sure, it’s great most of the time, but sometimes it’s bloody tough.

These are the three things I hate about being a writer.

When someone says “Oh, you’re a writer – will I have heard of anything you’ve written?”

I don’t flamin’ know! Do you read a lot? Do you read my genre? Do you even read books written by my sex?! Yes, as ridiculous as this seems, some people I know only read novels written by men, so therefore they will not have read anything by me.

We all know it’s good to have read something by the author you’ve met, but there are nicer ways to ask this! Perhaps rephrasing it to “Ooh, interesting, what have you written – pardon my ignorance?” 

Ok, maybe that’s taking it a bit far, but a simple alteration to “Oh, you’re a writer – which books / blogs / magazines would you recommend I look at to find your writing?”

I hate that writing can be such a lonely profession.

However, I work hard to make sure I am not lonely in being alone. I connect regularly on Twitter with other writers and we have some good support networks (and banter!) between us now. Big thanks to GK Kingsley, Catherine Green, Alethea Williams, Rebeccah Giltrow, and Jacqui who are staunch supporters and ‘retweeters’ to a significant and very much appreciated level.

And of course, I run Towcester Writers Group and I still have a spot in my heart for my original writing group Speakeasy (Milton Keynes) as the very first group I attended. Being a member of a writing group is essential for any writer, in my opinion – check now to see if there are any groups near you! If not, why not start one? It’s not so hard -  I did it!

Finally, people expect you to be writing all day, every day. 

This is just not true. I have a full time job and lots of interests, many friends to keep in touch with, family to spend time with… Some people have a disappointed look on their face when I have no publishing news for my second novel. I won’t lie – it’s not anywhere near ready yet, even after a good 18 months into the first draft. However, I tell enquirers that new, fresh stuff is always available online!

I just cannot write full time, but when I do, I enjoy it. My blog is something I am relishing this month, being stretched by the A-Z Challenge, but I also write the occasional short story, a monthly column for MK Pulse magazine, as well as working on that second novel. Just imagine how productive I would be if I was a full time writer! 

Never fear, I am not giving up the quill anytime soon. I love to write, and I think I will always write in some form or another. I’ve written since I was a youngster, starting with letters to my Grandma and holiday journals, and now I just can’t stop!

All the best, 

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist - this week, my first restaurant review!

Images courtesy of Through My Looking Glass and A Blog Of One's Own

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 


** N is for NAUGHTY and NICE **


Combining my love for writing and cake in one post! Enjoy...

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This is one of my favourite cakes of all time - luxurious and impressive. Give it a go!

Mary Berry’s cappuccino coffee cake recipe

As discovered on The Telegraph website. 

If you are worried about cutting the cakes in half, you can just sandwich the two together with half the icing in the middle and half the icing on top.

Serves 8

225g (8oz) very soft butter, plus more for the tins
225g (8oz) light muscovado sugar or caster sugar
225g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
4 level tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water

For the coffee icing

175g (6oz) soft butter
350g (12oz) icing sugar
4 level tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/315F fan/Gas 4. Butter and line the base of two deep 20cm (8in) sandwich cake tins.

Measure all the cake ingredients, except the coffee, into a large mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Stir in the dissolved coffee until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared tins and level the tops.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25–30 minutes until golden brown, shrinking away from the sides of the tin and the sponge springs back when lightly pressed.

To make the icing, mix the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Beat in the dissolved coffee and divide into four. When they are cold, slice each cake horizontally in half, giving four layers of cake. Sit one base on a cake stand and spread with a quarter of the mixture. Continue layering up with cake and icing so you finish with icing on top and swirl to give an attractive finish.

The cake can be made and iced up to two days ahead, kept covered in the fridge. Iced or un-iced, it freezes well.

Now I'm hungry. See you tomorrow!

Lou x

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April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** M is for MY children **


Half way through the challenge...

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Today I am future thinking. How will my (currently non-existent) kids' lives be different to mine?

Food 
I bet meals will be replaced by nutrition tablets for those who wish to do so. It would speed up meal times for a busy society, provide full meals for countries stricken by poverty and drought, and would be so much easier! 

Marriage
Co-habiting couples will be the norm. I predict a further decline in marriage in terms of numbers. I shan't bat an eyelid if my kids have their own out of wedlock, but I would hope they were still in a stable, long-term, and loving relationship. 

Sleeping 
I love my bed. It’s comfy, covered in pillows, cosy, large, but it could be better. I imagine future generations sleeping in futuristic beds which resemble a bubble. Gently lit lights which enhance your sleep and encourage nice dreams... Maybe optional music you can stream through your pillows…  Maybe my kids will even be able to choose what they dream about - that would be awesome!

Books
Need I say Kindles? How long will they last? Will the world become more digital? Will paper books ever drop out of existence? Paperback books are already being outsold by ebooks. There's so much debate and doubt over this, but the disappearance of paperbacks certainly won't happen in my potential kids' generation. 

Housing

People like gardens. I don't think those will disappear any time soon, but they might get smaller or be roof gardens more frequently in new builds. I spent most of my childhood in our back garden, so I dread to think about my grandkids riding about on top of a two storey (or more) building! That’ll be the end to pitch roofs too, probably. You’d need a good set of stabilisers to get up some roof slopes successfully.

Holidays 
One of my favourite topics. I don't doubt that space travel will be the ultimate holiday for my kids. It's going to get cheaper than $200,000 for a return trip, so it'll be much more accessible to the common man in the future.

Realistically, all being well, I could be around for another 40-50 years. I wonder what my kids will do differently to me… Saying that though, I bet my parents' generation thought fax machines would be defunct by 2013. Our office still uses one. 

Lou x

P.S. This was hard work today, I'm shattered! Join me tomorrow for 'N'... 

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Images courtesy of Future Technology 500 and Muta Morphosis

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** L is for LIPSTICK **

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'L' is for Louise. No, don't worry, I'm not blogging about myself in a huge egotistical move. 

Today's A to Z challenge blog is a writing prompt on a lipstick theme. I know most of my readers are writers of some kind, but I know some are not. Readers, curious Georges and Georginas, lost souls who thought they would find their 'Miss Right' here... And today I invite all of you to write something. 

Take a look at this picture. 

What kind of story is this lady a part of?

Why is she getting all dolled up? And for who?

What kind of character is she?


Now, GO WRITE!!!
























Until tomorrow - oh no, wait, Sundays are days off on the A to Z Challenge! See you Monday!

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
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Born to be a Tourist

That is all. 

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
...And on Twitter
Born to be a Tourist

For want of a better idea, I'm going with this today, for today's blog challenge. 

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** J is for words beginning with J... **

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JOCASERIOUS - half in jest, half serious
JORUM - large bowl containing drinks
JOLTERHEAD - clumsy oaf
JOGGLE - to pin to prevent surfaces from slipping
JOBATION - tedious scolding
JIMSWINGER - a frock coat
JETTATURA - the evil eye
JUGGINS - a simpleton
JESUITICAL - cunning, quibbling
JOCOSE - merry, characterised by joking
JENNETING - early type of apple
JAPANOPHILIA - love or admiration for Japanese things or people
JANIFORM - having two faces
JORDAN - a chamberpot
JECTICATION - wagging, tremulous movement
JUMBOISM - admiration for large things
JUVENESCENT - becoming youthful

Lou x

Find me on Facebook
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Born to be a Tourist

April is month of blogging A-Z for 26 days. #AprilBlogChallenge Check it out! 

** I is for IDEAS **

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Today's blog for the 9th day of the A to Z Challenge is brought to you via the 
genius of Chiao Kee from Easy Story Writing. Take a look at their fantastic 
website and like them on Facebook. 

This is the first time I've embedded a video into my blog... *applause*

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist