Happy Leap Day

Ahh! The 29th of February and most men are hiding.

Those who know anyway are hiding.

Yes Ladies! I wonder how many popped the question today?

Leap Day is considered the day that Women are allowed to propose to a Man.

Is this too archaic? Are we not liberal enough that women have to wait four years in order to propose?

Is this romantic? Personally and this is only my opinion please do not hound me down for it. Is that if a man is interested he will ask, if not, then he is not worthy of our love. I can say this because I am happily married and have been for the past 12 years.

So how did it all begin?

It began, ladies we can thank St Bridget in 5th Century Ireland who complained to St Patrick that it was not fair that women must wait for the man to propose, with Patrick relenting he set aside the 29th of February for women to propose.

"Go St. Patrick!"

So is it Good luck or is it Bad luck?

Some say that it is some say it's not. In scotland it is considered Bad Luck to be born on the Leap Day.

In Greece it is considered unlucky for couples to be married during an entire Leap year and most especially on the Leap Day. (I wouldn't want to be in the marriage business in Greece during that year, business may be a little slow.)

Last useful bit of knowledge for those trivia nights, Leap Day is also considered St Oswald's Day named after an archbishop of York who died on Feb 29 992, celebrating his life with a feast day.

As for me, it was another day barely recognising the significance behind the day.

What did you do on Leap Day?

Propose? Hide? Say Yes/No or were you like me and had another ordinary day.

Til next time

Happy Reading

Valissa

I want a cat.

I have always loved cats, not sure why. My cat Joe used to scratch the crap out of me when I was little, ok so maybe I tormented him a bit, but he was a great cat.

I got to thinking of him on the weekend after a snake passed through my garden (not fond of snakes) but he (Joe) would bring home animals that he would capture. Mice, Rats,Rabbits, snakes (we lived in a bush town) so this was good.

Anyway Joe would bring them to the back doorstep and Meow til you came out, had a look and told him he was a good boy, something similiar to his rent payment.

He would have had to pay a lot because he was at the Vet's a lot, he definately used up his nine lives, he lived til nineteen.

But getting back to the story (very long winded) the snake reminded me of Joe and the story of myself as Joe bought home a snake and as a toddler at the age of about three, I picked it up and showed my mum.

"Look Mummy, look what Joe bought home."

Mum Screamed.

I dropped the snake. The snake slithered away never to be seen again.

My husband and I had a cat for approximately a week as a neighbour moved house and didnt want to take the cat with her. We named him Oscar and he was a great cat, the kids loved him and he fit in real well, til the neighbour asked how 'fluffy' was and was aghast that I made the cat sleep in the laundry. He was comfortable, he had a bed.
The neighbour promptly made haste to my house and gathered 'fluffy' back up and wouldnt let my kids say goodbye. The kids were devastated, and to this day my eldest still remembers Oscar.

My husband is not a cat lover, and when I mentioned this evening that I wanted a cat he looked at me and scoffed then he realised that I was serious and promptly changed the subject.

I like the idea of having a cat helping me to write my stories on those cold nights (after everyone has gone to bed) where I sit in front of the computer with the inanimate obect being my only companion. A cat would be companiable, I could talk to the cat and not feel strange that I am talking to a cat, its a lot better than talking to the computer. (do I admit that I do this, probably not a good idea).


Hmmm......

I wonder if I get a cat.... Oh how I would love one.

til next time


Happy Reading
Valissa

Small Steps

Today I took some small steps in grounding myself as a professional author.

Some of you may find it surprising to find, that, I find it difficult to consider myself an author and that everyday I have to remind myself. 'This is what I am, what I want to be and the achievements that I want to make whilst on this earthly plane of existance.'

I was talking to a lady today about how insecure I am about myself and my work and she was surprised as I come off as being, a very secure and self confident person, (OMG those drama lessons worked!) It comes down to how you portray yourself, and with all of my insecurities, I try to not let them show. (Oh they're there, lurking, hiding, waiting for any opportunity to pounce.)

Funny that we should have talked about self-confidence, because I watched the Kings Speech today and King GeorgeVI had insecurities of his own and he was a king.

(I loved this movie by the way, very enriching) ~ well for me it was. (I do not own the title or claim the rights to this picture)

So to get back to my small steps.

The last couple of weeks I have been slowly working at getting Becky my next novel to be published and have been also trying to get my previous novel Hart 2 Heart onto both Amazon and Barnes and Noble, the online bookstores.
Which I can proudly say is now online for you to purchase. (a little self plug there) details to purchase are available on my website. http://www.valissaenever.com.au

I have also been working on the next book in the series of Crystal Hart which is coming along nicely after I had deleted five or six chapters worth of text, only to have to rehash at it, which is harder to redo than I thought. But all the same I am excited at how the book is coming along and if you enjoyed Hart 2 Heart, this is a doozy.

In the next few days or early next week I should have a copy of the final artwork of the cover of my next book Becky, fingers crossed. While you are waiting you can look at my website where I have posted a preview of the not final cover.

Well till I have more to say.

Happy Reading

Valissa

Marketing yourself

I was doing some research both for myself and the Upper Yarra Writers Group which, for at least this year I am running.

So I was looking at Marketing and ways to market yourself and of course the usual social sites are there. There are a lot more than what I am on and half of them I have NO IDEA what they are or what they do.

I stick with the blog and facebook and a few websites (not many) that are dedicated to reading and/or authors.

The marketers recommend that you should be on ALL of the social sites and also blog yourself away on a daily basis. And that is even if you have a publisher who does all of your marketing that you should still do that.

So for research sake I thought that just for the hell of it I would pretend that I was on the majority of them.

I blogged about nothing in particular, I updated my website, my facebook, and sent a few text messages to some girlfriends as if they were tweets.

I had spent nearly half a day when I could have been writing or editing, don't get me wrong I am not complaining (maybe a little).

But my point is I dont have much to say, I would love for you to think that I am an interesting person and that I lead an exciting life. But I couldn't do that EVERYDAY!!!

REALITY CHECK.....

I'm an ordinary person leading an everyday life my house gets messy my kids are not angels and when I get up in the morning my hair looks like a bunch of rats have been nesting in it, and stays that way until I brush it or put it up in a tie.

The research also suggests that when you write your biography to make it witty and charming and a little bit exciting. Too bad if you are none of those, which of course I am, you can even add sarcastic to that bunch of remarks because I am.

I just wanted to add that although I may put stuff out there I dont want to bombard people with a lot of nonsense and dribble for the sake of my name being in your face.

This may be regarded as dribble to a few people and I apologise if you feel that way although if you felt that way I doubt that you would have read this far. :)

I will post things that mean something to me or I think is funny or perhaps just to put things out there into cyberworld because I want it off my chest and out of my head. I shall try not to bore with you my nonsensical dribble and try to make my life as interesting as possible without blurring too many lines into the fictional side of my life.

Marketing yourself or pushing yourself so far under people's noses that you piss them off. Hmmmm.... fine line

Til the next time I market myself.

Happy reading

Valissa :)

Writing

The kids are back at school, the house is quiet and if I could get off facebook I would do a lot more writing than I have been. ( laughing at myself and my lack of discipline)

I keep telling myself that I need to ease into it but the truth is I am enjoying the quiet and the solitude, not good when I have four projects on the go and Becky is so close to being finished.

I am excited about Becky and to give you the honest truth I am petrified of putting it out there, I know that some of you are excited about it and looking forward to reading it but the fear is still there.

I have given myself a deadline of the 13th of March for the hard copy of Becky to be released. A deadline of the 28th of February for the e-book version. (Phew!) I better get my skates on.

I have a preview of my cover for Becky although not the final copy and it is small but it gives you a first glimpse.

I have also set myself further dates for the other's to be released if anything it is to prompt me to stay true to myself and the committment to get my books out there.

For those of you who have read my first book Hart 2 Heart the sequel to that is going to be released (fingers crossed) on the 5th of August. At this stage this date is for both hard copy and e-book dates, but closer to the date this may change, pencilled in you might say, at this point in time I do not have a title for the book. Will let you know when I do.

Til next time

Happy Reading
Valissa