BOOK REVIEW: Thinner by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)

2/5 Stars Blurb: Billy Halleck, good husband and loving father, is both beneficiary and victim of the American good life: He has an expensive home, a nice family, and a rewarding career as a lawyer...but he is also fifty pounds overweight and edging into heart attack country. Review: I didn't even finish this book, because quite frankly, it was boring me, and there were more interesting things to spend my time reading.  Stephen King is regarded as one of the greatest horror writers of all time. I don't doubt that he has an excellent imagination, but I have something to say that will probably be considered controversial. I don't think I enjoy Stephen King books. He is great at ideas, yes, but the actual reading of his books bores me and I think I've just thought of why.  I don't relate to any of his characters. They haven't done anything for me to care about them or root for them. I didn't sit there reading thinner thinking 'aww I hope Billy Halleck doesn't die, I love him' or anything to that sentiment. I'm reading because I'm curious about the gypsy curse and if it's real and if it is, whether it will kill him.  If he does die, fair enough. I don't care enough about him to be devastated about it, and I think that's a sign of a bad book. Readers are supposed to care about the characters and I just don't. At this point someone just telling me the ending in bullet points would satisfy me, hence why I closed it and decided to read something else.

BOOK REVIEW: Twirling Naked in the Streets and No One Noticed: Growing Up With Undiagnosed Autism by Jeannie Davide-Rivera

5/5 Stars

Blurb: 

Jeannie grew up with autism, but no one around her knew it. Twirling Naked in the Streets will take you on a journey into the mind of a child on the autism spectrum; a child who grows into an adolescent, an adult, and becomes a wife, mother, student, and writer with autism. 

This is a gripping memoir of a quirky, weird, but gifted child who grows up never quite finding her niche. It took 38 years to discover that all the issues, problems, and weirdness she experienced were because she had Asperger's Syndrome (AS), a form of high-functioning autism.

Review: 

I read this book in a day and a half. I don't think I've ever read a book so quickly in my life! While I suppose it could be partly due to having a new Kindle, it is also definitely the book itself. 

I have worked with people with Autism in my professional life, and so I wasn't completely unaware of the classic symptoms and traits. However, to see these come to life from a perspective of somebody with Autism, it was insightful. 

Jeannie grew up not knowing about Autism. It was a time when it wasn't widely known or diagnosed and she was seen, even by her own parents, as naughty, or spoilt, or a 'princess'. They didn't understand her stimming behaviours, the need to smell her food before she ate it, or why she was so choosy about which materials her clothes were made out of. 

Even when she was an adult, Jeannie was misdiagnosed with depression and anxiety, even Bipolar, before they came to the conclusion that she in fact, has Asperger's Syndrome. She was failed by society and her parents as a child, and then failed by her doctors as an adult. 

I can't imagine how difficult life must have been for Jeannie not understanding her own behaviours and finding the world confusing with no answers. I teared up toward the end of the book when she finally got her diagnosis, because finally she had some answers. 

I loved this book, because it's one thing to know about Autism but it's another to see it from the eyes of an Autistic person. Insight is useful to us all. 

Watty's Award and Facebook Page

I was absolutely shocked to hear I won a Watty award this year. Over 80,000 titles were entered so to come away with one is absolutely amazing. I love my Wattpad readers!

The award was a hot genre award for Urban fiction. I always considered my book to have a secondary sub genre of urban fiction, leaving the overriding story to romance, but I guess it can really be both. Either way, I'm thrilled. I even got a sticker put onto my existing cover (below)

In other news, I have a new author page on Facebook. If you get a spare second, please like the page to show your support. Many thanks.

P.S - Hope everyone is ready for Christmas!

https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaPayneAuthor

BOOK REVIEW: This Would Be Paradise by N.D Iverson

                                       

4.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
In a world where a virus has spread turning most of the population into flesh eating monsters, there are two friends partying it up in New Orleans when the infection hits. Far away from home, they are trapped and trying to make sense of all that has happened with the help of new friends and enemies along the way. Zombies aren't the only thing to fear...

Review: 

Where do I start with this? 

On the whole, I shouldn't have liked this book that much. It was a zombie story, something I'm not that keen on anyway and it was also pretty cliche. I mean, we've all seen end of the world, zombie apocalypse stories done time and time again. 

In saying all that, I loved this book! The characters were very relatable and real, and the story had me hooked at almost all points. 

There were even points where it could have been predictable where the author changed it around. For example, I was 99% sure there was going to be a romance element with one of the 3 guys. Though there was a tiny glimmer, it didn't work out that way. 

Honestly, I would have awarded this book 5 stars. The only things that brought it down a little for me was the fact that the story wasn't the most original and that it didn't wrap up at the end. It's going to be a sequel. I would have liked to see it finish on one book. 

4 Copies of 'Synergy' to Giveaway!

In 7 days time, my GoodReads giveaway will be LIVE, and you will have chance to win 1 of 4 free copies of my debut paperback. The giveaway is available to anybody based in the US, UK, Canada and Germany.

 
 

    Goodreads Book Giveaway
 

   

       
   

   

     

          Synergy
     
     

          by Georgia  Payne
     

     

         
            Giveaway ends November 11, 2015.
         
         
            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.
         
     
   
   

    Enter Giveaway

A Musing On Genre

One thing that I've noticed when it comes to my book 'Synergy' is that people often comment 'It's not what I would usually read', or 'it's not what I expected.' These are all genuine comments from people who have or ARE reading the book and are enjoying it. Which begs the question, why wouldn't they have usually picked it up, and furthermore, why do they end up enjoying it?

I think it all comes down to genre. This has been a big area of debate in my own mind when I started writing/selling, because I feel like the Synergy series, primarily the first book, falls into a few different categories, or should I say, is borderline.

In some respects it's a romance. That is, after all, the overall theme of the story. It follows two people who end up in a romantic relationship. However, there is a lot more background involved other than the romance. A lot of people have added my book to their bookshelves labelled 'Urban.' Even Wattpad Romance put my book into an 'urban' category. So what does this mean? It's an Urban Romance? Because I've never personally seen that option anywhere.

I changed the genre on Wattpad from 'Romance' to 'General Fiction' because I felt like there was too much going on to label the book JUST a romance, but maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe I'm overthinking this whole thing, or maybe, just maybe, some books can't be categorised into one 'box' or 'genre.' Maybe some books can be borderline genres.

Trailers

Wattpad is great because it allows you to add quirkly little extras to your book. You can add videos or pictures to each individual chapter. I like to add a song that fits the chapter usually, but a lot of people do trailers for their Wattpad books. I've now got one for three of mine. They're not the greatest but it's just a bit of fun, afterall.


'Synergy' Part 1



'Synergy' Part 2



'Dorm Room'

BOOK REVIEW: The Sleep: Part I: The Fan & The Things That Hit It by Rose Catherine

You know when you come across a book and you wonder why it hasn't been published yet? This is totally one of them. The author has such a natural way with words. It's so effortless, and I believe everything that happens.

Evie, the main character, is just a normal teenage girl who is at school one day when everybody 16 and over falls asleep, out of the blue. It's some sort of epidemic worldwide, and nobody has a clue why it's happened. Evie is now responsible for her younger brother, and sets off to rescue her parents from wherever they've fallen asleep.

The story itself is really thought provoking. What would happen in a world where there are no adults? How would everybody cope? What would disappear first? The things we take for granted like the internet and phone lines slowly start to cut out, and the world becomes desperate.

So much happens in this first book and it's hard to believe it all takes place over the space of a week. With a rescued kid under her wing, an annoying class mate, and two new dogs, she has a lot to contend with. I loved reading this book, and now that I've seen there's a part 2, I'm going to be reading that one next. It's on amazon at just 99p, so it's an absolute bargain. I'd tell everybody to read it.

BOOK REVIEW: The Ghost Files by Apryl Baker

Apryl Baker was an author I found via Wattpad originally. Her book 'The Ghost Files' was intriguing to me because I love a good creepy book centered around ghosts, and I wasn't disappointed. The book didn't hang around, throwing you straight into Mattie Hathaway's gift of seeing the dead, though at first, she ignores the people who seek her help. She just wants to be like any other teenager out there, but then her foster sister goes missing, and she sees her ghost.

Mattie is a tough, guarded foster kid who projects anger like nobody's business. She doesn't trust easily, but when a young police officer by the name of Dan comes into her life, she lets him into her secret. It's the only chance she has of saving her foster sister.

Mattie eventually finds herself kidnapped by the same person who took her foster sister. Tortured and on the brink of death, she may need to trust her spiritual gift if she has any chance of surviving.

The Ghost Files already has 3 books, and a 4th is in the plan. The first book has even been accepted by a film company, so we could be seeing the characters come to life on the big screen before long. It's a must read, and you can even download the first one for free on kindle.

Part 3

Part 3 of Synergy is going pretty well. So far I've written 9 chapters in a row, and about another 4 out of order. I just have some to fit in between the first nine and the later four, and then the end. I keep meaning to sit down and organise my thoughts. A couple of nights ago I planned to sit with my highlighters and make sure I had all my chapter ideas down, and make sure I haven't left anything out. There's so much I keep thinking about and I tell myself "do not forget to mention this."

Sometimes I wish I was more organised, but the simple truth is, I'm not, and I probably never will be. That's just me, and that's just how I work. Honestly, sometimes I believe it's best to go with wherever your creativity takes you, and write from the heart, instead of worrying about your plan. Sometimes the best twists and turns in your book come from spontaneity I believe.

Real life is taking over a little bit at the moment as I have a job interview to prepare for in a few days so my day off won't be able to be all about writing unfortunately. Still, there's no rush. I'm still trying to get the first book off the ground.

Education

I may be a geek, but I never pass up the opportunity of free education. There are people in the world who sadly receive none, and people that are quite literally putting their lives at risk to learn, so why not be appreciative of every opportunity we have the privilege of receiving.

This week (yesterday in fact) I started a Creative Writing and Research course. While I got the opportunity to write creativity and share ideas, we also explored Psycho Geography, and different types of writing I wouldn't usually consider, such as poetry.

Learning can never be a bad thing.

Exploring Goodreads and Seeking Reviews

I joined Goodreads a while ago but I never really explored what you can do on there. I didn't realise there are all sorts of different groups you can join on there, all with their own forums. It's been great to explore and make new connections.

This week I've been focusing on reviews, and a few lovely people have agreed to read and review Synergy, as well as be a Beta reader for part 2. It's pretty scary, putting yourself out there, but you have to, right? You'll never get anywhere if you don't try.

I'm on holiday from work for 2 weeks after today so I'm looking forward to grafting on part 3. I took to pen and paper a few nights ago to plan it out - something I've never done! I even got the highlighters out for key words and made a mind map. Hopefully the chapters will start to flow soon and I'll have a semi-solid plan.

I do find that I write better when I don't plan it out 100% but I still need some sort of structure, so I know exactly where I'm going with it.

I've just finished work so I think I'll have a lazy Sunday with what's left of it, then get to it tomorrow.

 - Georgia

The Sunshine is a Writer's Worst Nightmare

It's not very often in Britain that you get a genuinely hot summer's day. On the odd occasion there is one, you can bet it's only down south, while us northerner's get stuck with clouds and drizzle. However, yesterday was one of the best day's for weather I've seen in a long time. I spent the entire afternoon laid out in my garden on the sun lounger, doing nothing but sunbathing and listening to music.

Still, whenever I relax, I always have this niggle in the back of my mind that I could be using the time to write. When you've got a novel in the works, as well as a blog to maintain (2 blogs if you count this one), every spare minute is time that could be used more usefully.

I debated bringing my laptop down into the garden but let's face it, the sun prohibits you from seeing the screen anyway, and I don't fancy my laptop breaking due to overheating. I just had to accept that no writing was getting done yesterday.

Today, it turned out to be another lovely day. However, after laying in the sun for a couple of hours, it appears the clouds have overtaken. The forecast says it's going to thunder and lightning later, so it looks like some writing may be on the horizon after all.

Hope you're all enjoying the sun where you are!

 - Georgia

Legal Advice

Last night I took to searching for legal advice because of Synergy Part 2. It's hard to write about criminal aspects that end with court when you don't have a clue how it would go down in real life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely clueless. I've worked with my fair share of offenders, but I live in the UK. Knowing a lawyer in the US, I've heard before how different US law is, and it's even more confusing because their laws vary from state to state.

I didn't really need to know the ins and outs of everything, more just confirmation that what I was writing wasn't unrealistic, that the timing to everything was right, and I think I've got that. Thank God for the internet and it's many forums!

Smashwords Premium Catalogue

Accepted! Finally!

Smashwords has been an absolute nightmare for me this week. I read everything you could read on formatting for Smashwords, convinced it couldn't be that hard, that I could do it myself. I definitely couldn't. Finally, I succumbed to paying someone on people per hour, and after days of back and forth messages, I'm in the premium catalogue.

I can't even tell you how relieved I am, because it was really starting to annoy me. Generally, you'd view Amazon as a bigger company than Smashwords, yet their formatting is so much simpler. I don't understand.

Part 2 of Synergy is getting closer to the end, and I'm eager to finish it so I can go back through and edit. I recently wrote my most favourite chapter to date, and I'm loving how Dee and Jason's journey is going. I already know there's going to be at least a third book, because their story is still not told, that's for sure.

I finished shift 4 of 8 at work today, so I'm relaxing with a well deserved glass of wine now. Unfortunately, it means I'm not going to get much writing done next week either, but what can you do.

Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to my first ever blog post on my author site. This really isn't anything new to me, since I've blogged regularly for over a year, however, I've never done it specifically about myself. For a while now I've shared my author news on my blog's social media, but I figured it was about time to establish a blog for my books alone.

If you've never heard of me, that's expected, since writing as an author is very new to me. My first e-book 'Synergy' was self-published on Kindle on May 26th 2015, and in just under 3 weeks I've managed to earn myself a good amount of pocket money (that's all I'm seeing this venture as so far.) Previous to posting it on Kindle, I've had over 8,000 people read it at Wattpad, and considering it's 'mature' rating restricts it from showing up in searches, I'm very happy with that number. I've had some lovely comments from some lovely people and am really enjoying getting my story out there.

I'm going to leave the first post at that. I don't want to scare you away! Thanks for reading; I hope you'll follow this blog for details of my writing journey.