NaNoWriMo Planning! Shout Outs #3

No podcast to recommend today =)

This year is the first year I am going to be answering a whole bunch of character questions so I know what makes my main character tick before I get to a sticky situation in my story-line. So I was googling like mad looking for character charts or check lists.

Here are a few of the ones that I found.

Character Interview Sheet
Character Creation Form
Character Sheet

Those are just a few of the ones I found but if you google 'creating a character' or 'character sheets' you'll see that there are a whole bunch ore out there.

I don't think I will be using them as a fixed exercise but I'll definitely be using them as a basis for building my character this year =)

NaNoWriMo Planning! Shout Outs #2

I have another podcast for you today!

This time it is Grammar Girl.

This is a podcast I could probably do with listening to religiously but I dip in and out of it when the moods strikes me.

The episodes are pretty short and well tagged so if there is just 1 thing you aren't sure about you can scan through the titles and find it. It deals with things from spelling to sentence structure.

www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

NaNoWriMo Panning! Shout Outs #1

Its OCTOBER!!!!!!!! (you know, just in case that is news to anyone)

So, as it is NaNoWriMo next month *happy dance happy dance* I know loads of participants are planning out their stories and getting their ideas together.

So am I!

Instead of having reviews this month I thought I would shout-out some links that I have come across/been using in planning my story for this year and just some useful bits and pieces.

~~~~~~~~~~

Does anyone like listening to podcasts?

I love them.

A couple of years ago I stumbled across the podcast 'Writing Excuses' which is hosted by Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler and Dan Wells. This is a great podcast. Each episode is 15 minutes long and is packed to the gills with information on writing. They also include a reading/listening recommendation and a writing prompt. 

They are onto the 8th season right now (you can still download the previous seasons too) and you can find them on Itunes or their website writingexcuses.com

This is one of my favourite podcasts next to Books on the Nightstand and The Readers :)

Favourite Romance Shout Out! Bind Ups!

I used to have an EPIC weakness for Mills and Boon - it was very stressful stuff trying to keep them away from the prying yes of my mother I'll tell you that. 

But moving on. 

So, every now and then they will publish collections. Like the Lords and Ladies Collection and then the Christmas specials. And then I end up with all these chubby books filling my shelves when I am only keeping it for one of the books or short stories that are in it. 

Here are some of them - 

In this one there is - 

Miranda's Masquerade by Meg Alexander
&
Gifford's Lady by Claire Thornton

Who can guess which one is my favourite?

1...
2....
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand

Miranda's Masquerade by Meg Alexander is the winner. 

Believing Lord Adam Heston was about to propose, Miranda's twin sister, Fanny, flatly refused to see him. So Miranda reluctantly agreed to play the part of her sister and politely refuse his offer - only to find Adam's intentions were otherwise! In her rage, Miranda threatened breach of promise and found herself engaged! Worse, Adam played "Fanny's" devoted lover to the hilt, both in society and, to her delight, in private. And Miranda soon realized that if she revealed the truth, she would lose the one thing that really mattered to her now - Adam!


NEXT

Here we have - 

The Larkswood Legacy by Nicola Cornick
&
The Neglectful Guardian by Anne Ashley

Any guesses. 
1...
2...
aaaaaaaaand


The Neglectful Guardian by Anne Ashley wins this round!

Sarah had waited years for the absent Marcus Ravenhurst to make an appearance and check up on his ward. But life under the care of her cousin had finally become intolerable. So much so that she had taken matters into her own hands -- assumed a new identity and set out alone for Bath.

As luck would have it, the weather soon forced her to delay her journey at an inn along the way, the very same establishment the neglectful Marcus had come to, searching for his missing ward. But could the intriguing man who watched her so intently really be the man who held her future in his capable hands?

**I Looooooove me a good guardian/ward story - in fact this is due a re-read this year I think)


Last but not least. 

Bride at Bellfield Mill by Penny Jordan
&
A Family for Hawthorn Farm by Helen Brooks
&
Tilly of Tap House by Carol Wood

Thoughts?

1...
2...
aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnndddddd

A Family for Hawthorn Farm by Helen Brooks wins the final round. 

Wealthy farmer Luke Hudson gets more than he bargained for when he plucks a destitute young woman from the workhouse. He may have rescued Connie Summers from a life of penury and hard labor, but her spirit and warmth give him a new outlook—and a second chance at love

This is a lovely gentle romance. 

Series Shout Out! M.C. Beaton

I have mentioned M.C. Beaton before here on the blog, but don't let your eyes glaze over yet. I have some pretty recently published series to shout out about. 

So, you may know M.C. Beaton through Hamish Macbeth or Agatha Raisin, but this lady has been writing for years and quite a few of her books that she wrote under different pen names (one being Marion Chesney) are being re-published. 

The Travelling Matchmaker

This is a series that I have read and LOVED. We have the recurring characters but then each book focuses on a new couple. 

There are 6 books in this series. 

The Six Sister

*scuff shoes* I have been on a How to Train Your Dragon kick since I bought these so they are sitting on my TBR pile. As you can tell form the series name though it is all about a family of sisters finding love and husbands. 

This is another series with 6 books in it. 

The School for Manners

'If you have a Wild, Unruly, or Undisciplined Daugher, two Ladies of Genteel Birth offer to Bring Out said Daughter and Refine what may have seemed Unrefinable. We can make the Best of the Worst' (from Goodreads Description)

Again, there are 6 books in this series. 

House for the Season

This is the latest of the series to come out and it is still in the process of all the books being released - the last one is released in March

There will be 6 books when it is all out. 

If you are looking for a nice light read - usually under 200 pages - with happy endings you can't go far wrong with any of these. 

Favourite Romance Shout Out! The Unexpected Bride by Elizabeth Rolls

WHAT OTHER SECRETS WAS HIS BRIDE HIDING?

Did family honor really dictate that he marry the first eligible girl who could make intelligent conversation? The Earl of Darleston certainly hoped not, but there was no denying that he needed a bride. And Miss Phoebe Ffolliot seemed the ideal candidate for a marriage in name only.

Or so he thought. Until his bride brought a wolfhound to their wedding and he learned that he hadn't married Phoebe -- but her twin, Penelope. But when Penelope revealed the reason behind the charade, Darleston knew his "unexpected bride" deserved nothing less than his whole heart. Could he now turn a paper marriage into wedding bliss?

(Image and Description from Goodreads)

Quick shout out time to one of my favourite romances.

You know those books that survive every book culling you have. Every second hand shop go-around and every house move or spring clean?

Well this is one of those books for me.

There is a case of mistaken identity (say hello to the wrong identical twin!), a marriage of convenience (kind-a) and the blind heroine.

What I like so much about this books is that the hero is a really nice guy. He acts like a bit of a prat when he first finds out that he had married the wrong woman and that she is also blind but he is genuinely a nice guy and comes around very quickly. His anger mainly coming from the idea that her blindness could be passed onto any children they might have. Which, it can’t do because she was blinded in a riding accident.

Penelope is adorable with some of the things that she comes out with. Like when she has to ask Peter to read a letter from her mother to her. 

Penelope had a wonderful family who all love her. And I loved it when they made an appearance after her marriage. Her little sister has a very overactive imagination and is sure that her big sisters husband is keeping her locked up in a dungeon somewhere.

This book will be surviving the spring cleanings for a lot longer.