Books: The New Fitness Craze?

Imagine the scene. You are watching TV when you see an infomercial for the latest fitness craze...

Want to tone up for the holiday season?

Tired of costly gym memberships you'll never use?

Want a workout that's fun, easy and costs nothing?

You need BOOKWEIGHTS!

Bookweights is the revolutionary new workout sweeping the writing community. What do you need? Two books of similar size and weight.

But how does the system work? Let me break it down for you:

1. Hold a book in each hand.
2. Inhale.
3. Exhale and lift your arms over your head.
4. Inhale and lower.
5. Repeat until you have performed the desired number of reps.

(Image link)

Reached a plateau? Then beef up the size of your bookweight. The dictionary and thesaurus combination works well. There's also the added bonus of learning new words when you rest between sets. 

You build up the body. You build up the mind.
But wait. Join up today and you can work your abs as well for no extra cost. Simply pile up some books, lay on the floor, rest your feet on them and crunch your way to your dream abs.

And the cost? It won't cost you anymore than your trip to the bookstore. :)

Don't forget to check out my new contest to win a UK copy of Matched by Ally Condie. It's open until the 15th of December.

Small Print: Bookweights are not suitable for novella's, picture books or short story collections. 

Contest: Will You Be Matched?

So I ended up with two copies of this book:

The copy is the UK paperback edition (with different cover to the US hardback above). Take a peek:

On her seventeenth birthday, Cassia meets her Match. Society dictates he is her perfect partner for life. Except he’s not. In Cassia’s society, Officials decide who people love. How many children they have. Where they work. When they die. But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own. And that’s when her whole world begins to unravel... (Amazon summary)


And now I bring out the contest. I'm not one for fancy rules. Feel free to tweet/blog about it if you like, but no pressure. All you need to do is let me know you'd like to enter in the comment section (and leave me your email address). The contest will be open until Wednesday December 15th. Then I'll do the names in a hat dance.

P.S. I'm also posting over at Operation Awesome today. Feel free to pop by.

Cake Days

So I'm posting a smidgen later than usual today, but I promise I was being creative. How? I was baking.

Since both of my closest friends had their little ones in December (a week after each other!), the beginning of the month is spent looking for birthday presents and cake making.

The first birthday is on Friday. This year the niece asked for Pepper Pig. For those who haven't seen it, Pepper Pig is a UK cartoon aimed at toddlers where Pepper learns about different things (today was hiccups). It's very hard for me resist the niece. Heck, they both have me wrapped around their little fingers! So I spent two hours tonight decorating this:

Cake number two will be made next week for the goddaughter. Last year I made her Spongebob Squarepants. She got upset when I cut him. This year she's asked for Mickey Mouse. I predict tears when I slice into that one.

I love making and decorating cakes. For me it is like writing. I have all the ingredients that I bake till ready. Then I get to dress it up in icing and add trimmings. Just like I do when I write. Only I get to help eat the results of this creative endeavour. Good times!

And in other news my books and DVD came this afternoon. Happy times.

New Pretties!

So the snow pretty much nixed any post deliveries last week. I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to trudge through that lot with a sack. Only Santa suffers that fate each year. But it also meant that I didn't get my new book releases (and my Eclipse DVD, Grr.)

Here's what I'm waiting for:


 



The thaw has now set in (phew) so fingers crossed my pretties will be in my little hands soon.

How about you. What books are you waiting for/reading this week? 

Snow Joke!

This week has been spent snowed in. The snow I was so excited about at the beginning of the week turned into three feet of snow the day after. And it is still here!

So I treat you the view outside the lounge window onto my street.

Below we can see the next door neighbour has yet to clear off his car:

And directly outside my house is the dustbin waiting to be emptied. It is still there, still covered in snow. :)

Now I'm off to wrap up warm, drink another cup of tea and do some revisions until the thaw. I may be waiting all weekend.

So what are you up to this weekend?

Giving Back: Anonymous Critique

A few weeks ago, Shannon suggested a new feature for her blog in the form of an anonymous critique.

I'll let Shannon explain:

If you’ve ever handed your writing over to someone else, you know all about the horrid feeling that punches your gut and gnaws away at your confidence. You worry about character development, storyline, dialog, plot, premise, pacing, and so on.

Then, after you receive feedback, you wonder how honest your friends/family/beta readers were with their critique. Did they really like it? What would others, who don’t know me, think of my writing?

The Anonymous Critique is my solution to this quandary. I ease the anxiety of having others read your work by providing a cloak of anonymity on this blog.

Anyone can take part. Not ready to share your work? Then hop over and give back to the writing community by adding your feedback. So feel free to pop over and take a look.

It is the season of goodwill after all!

Blogsplash: The Hating Game

There may be an awesome themes around the blogosphere (and Twitter) today. Today is Talli Roland's blogsplash!

Here is the deal: Help Talli Roland's debut novel THE HATING GAME hit the Kindle bestseller list at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk by spreading the word today. Even a few sales in a short period of time on Amazon helps push the book up the rankings, making it more visible to other readers.

Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com

No Kindle? Download a free app at Amazon for Mac, iPhone, PC, Android and more.

About THE HATING GAME:

When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy. After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £2000,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes. Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end?

Coming soon in paperback. Keep up with the latest at http://www.talliroland.com/.

Having had the privilege to read a preview of the book, I can say I haven't enjoyed a chick-lit/romance book so much since I first took a peek into Bridget Jones's Diary. So go on, pick up your copy today. :)