Review: Untimed by Andy Gavin

Charlie's the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, his own mother can't remember his name. So when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don't take him seriously. Still, this isn't all bad. Who needs school when you can learn about history first hand, like from Ben Franklin himself. And there's this girl... Yvaine... another time traveler. All good. Except for the rules: boys only travel into the past and girls only into the future.

I usually don't like time travel stories but this one was a really awesome exception! Charlie and Yvaine are wonderful characters. It was interesting reading about history thru their story and learned things I must admit I never knew. I enjoyed how every time they jumped time their clothes and language would adjust as needed.

Guest - Marti MacGibbon - Never Give In To Fear

Never Give in to Fear: Laughing All the Way Up from Rock Bottom, the enhanced edition of this darkly funny, dramatic memoir, describes an emerging standup comic’s drug-fueled descent into the underworld, escape from human traffickers, homelessness, and ultimate redemption. With brutal honesty, humor, and clarity, the author vividly describes her experiences as she rides her downward spiral: a near-miss with a notorious serial killer, a series of tragically hilarious misadventures in the California drug world, and a terrifying account of imprisonment at the hands of Japanese organized crime, to name a few.

This revised and re-edited version contains three additional chapters that introduce readers to quirky characters, insights into standup comedy, resilience and recovery, and deliver an inspiring message about healing, hope, and courage to change.

GUEST POST - Seven Tips for Being a Better Writer by Marti MacGibbon
Writing is something we all do, every day of our lives. We compose emails, social media posts, write heartfelt letters to friends and family or crisp missives to business associates. Some people are gifted wordsmiths, delighting everyone with their talent, and yet they don’t think of themselves as possessing any special writing skills. Others know they’re writers, because they are published authors or popular bloggers. No matter how¾or if, you see yourself as a contender in the literary world, you can’t escape the fact that you are a writer. And in the course of writing day to day, you’ve collected valuable tips and strategies for being better at it. If you’re like me, you’re always thrilled to find a new piece of advice, or a tip or technique that you can add to your arsenal. Here are seven of my favorite tips for being a better writer:

Don’t dream about it, agonize over it, or talk about it. Do it. Writing, like standup comedy or skydiving, is best done by doing. Sure, you want to be prepared and well-informed about the risks and benefits prior to the experience, but don’t hold back and obsess on every little detail of planning and preparation before you get started, or you run the risk of getting bogged down in perfectionism and the resulting procrastination that can block your process. Instead, jump in and go crazy. Really let yourself go, leave your ego in the backseat and don’t let it drive. Your process will guide you, and the process of writing generates new ideas as you go.

Write with an audience in mind. When you write to a potential reader, you automatically become more conversational, flexible and realistic in your dialogue and description. Be intimate. I visualize a friend who knows me well and who would never judge me, but will be honest and call me on my B.S. And this friend is funny; gets my sense of humor. When I do this, it’s easy to get into the flow. Personally, I write to an audience of one at a time. I never envision a collective audience of readers or I tend to be stilted or phony.

Make use of tools that improve quality and work with an editor. Spelling, grammar, correct punctuation and illustrious vocabulary are all available through a variety of channels. The internet has brought all the manuals of style and reference books to within a click’s distance. Word processing programs have spell check and every other possible device to ensure excellence. Keep a thesaurus and dictionary on hand. Beyond that stage, work with an editor. Every writer needs a second set of eyes, or as many sets of eyes as possible to read, proofread and then do it all again.

Write about what you know, and what you love. When you’re writing, you’re communicating your innermost feelings and ideas on the page. You want it to sizzle and reverberate with passion and authenticity. A writing project is intimate, it’s your partner. Choose to write about something you can live with. When I wrote Never Give in to Fear, I had to wake up with it in the morning and go to sleep with it at night. Some of the things I described in my memoir were painful to recount. But I knew my story, and I love the fact that I’ve come back. The telling required me reliving some very traumatic experiences from long ago, but I knew it was necessary to relive those things in order for the description to hit the page and raw. But I lived in peace with the book, because I’d already gone through a process of forgiving, making amends and creating a new lifestyle, so I felt safe through it all, in that present moment.

Associate with positive people, and get rid of any negative influences. Writing is a work of the soul. You want to take very good care of yourself and be sure that your environment is supportive. Don’t listen to naysayers who speak from their own fear. Instead, stick with the winners: positive thinkers, preferably writers who share the experience and will offer honest feedback and share pointers and lead by example.

Description and detail, action and excitement are essential. Paint the scene with your words. Let the reader experience the entire moment, hour, day, or year through all five senses. Bring it all to life. The more detailed the description, the better. The character jumped in the car? What kind of car? What was the make, the year, the condition of the chassis, how did the engine sound? Did it sputter, or purr? Action verbs create action in your story. Avoid passive voice at all costs. Keep your description fit and muscular, if it gets soft and flabby it won’t carry your story.

Never give in to fear. Banish fear from your writing environment. Fear, more than any other obstacle, can hold you back from the fun, the satisfaction and the glorious discovery that writing brings. Whenever the scaredy-cat, monster-under-the-bed doubts and negative statements rise up in your consciousness, recognize them for the irrational, creativity-crushing lies that they are and push them aside. Don’t be afraid to write badly, you can always go back later and edit out any parts you don’t like. The main thing is to write, write, write until you find your rhythm, attitude and voice. Just get that first outline down, and paddle it out into the waves of creation, and keep riding those waves till you get your first draft done. After that, you hone and refine and polish and destroy and create some more until you have what you recognize as your work.

Here’s a quote from acclaimed author Frank Herbert’s Dune series: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” I love that quote. I hope you do, too. And I hope your writing will grow, multiply, amaze, and thrill your readers. Enjoy the process.

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Genre – Biographies & Memoirs

Rating – R

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Connect with Marti MacGibbon on Facebook & Twitter

RW Peake - Marching With Caesar

In the second book of the critically acclaimed Marching With Caesar series, Titus Pullus and his friends in the 10th Legion are called on to serve as the agents of change as their general, Gaius Julius Caesar singlehandedly changes the Roman Republic to Empire. From Spain and the dusty plains of Pharsalus, to the streets of Rome itself, Titus must survive the battlefield and navigate the treacherous world of Roman politics.

Helping Titus are his surviving tentmates, including his best friend Vibius Domitius, but like the rest of the Republic, their friendship is tested by the strife and fratricide that comes with civil war. At the same time, Titus has to deal with the challenges that have confronted career military members throughout the ages as he tries to balance the demands and heartache created by the long absences from his young family.

Nevertheless, through it all Titus and the men of the 10th Legion continue Marching With Caesar.

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Genre – Historical Fiction

Rating – PG13

Connect with RW Peake on Facebook & Twitter

Blog http://blog.rwpeake.com/

Blog Guest Post
A Day in the Life of RW Peake
All in all, it’s good to be me. I’m at a point where I’m selling books at a rate of three figures a day, so I can now say that I’m an author who does this full time. My normal day consists of checking my sales, then checking my email. At this point, I’m averaging 3 to 4 pieces of correspondence from fans a day, and I will continue to answer each and every one of them personally as long as I can. I have some truly great fans who have responded to my books with such an overwhelming and positive enthusiasm that I feel very strongly that it’s incumbent on me to take time to communicate with them. I’ve heard and actually debated with other indie authors who believe that this is beneath them, that there should be some sort of invisible barrier between themselves and their great, unwashed fans. For lack of a better term, I think this is utter bullshit. Long before I became an author of my genre, I was a fan, and I love nothing more than talking about Ancient Rome with fellow enthusiasts. One day this may change, or the rate of correspondence might become too much to handle, but that’s a problem I’ll deal with when it gets here, and it’s a really good problem to have in the first place.

After that, I scan the Internet looking for anything that pertains to my books that I can put on my Facebook fan page and Tweet about. For example, I’ve been the #1 best seller in the Ancient Rome genre for quite some time now, so once a week I inform the world of that fact, and how long the streak has continued. Also, I’ve been fortunate to receive a very high number of reviews, and the vast majority of them are in the 4 or 5 star range, and I’m not shy about letting the world know. I would refer back to Ted Turner’s adage.

Next, I spend a significant portion of my day adding to a blog that I’ve created called Caesar Triumphant, a suppositional history of a Caesar that survived the Ides of March and in fact goes on his campaign to Parthia as he had planned. My story actually picks up 10 years later, when he and his army invades Japan, the final land to be conquered by the greatest conqueror of all time. It’s more for fun than anything, and is based on a simple idea; if the Legions of Rome faced the samurai of Japan, who would win? Of course the eras that are the classical periods for both civilization don’t match up, and I wasn’t willing to introduce time travel, so what Caesar and his men (the central characters are from the Marching With Caesar series, just 10 years older) have to face are proto-samurai.

Finally, I am working on the final edit of my next book, Marching With Caesar-Antony and Cleopatra, which will be out on February 24th.

Oh, and I also play a lot of video games, watch enormous amounts of daytime TV, and pretty much do what I want, when I want. Yes, it’s good to be me.

Free Subway Sandwich - At Select Locations in SC and NC

I wanted to share a totally cool freebie with my South and North Carolina Followers as well as a few locations in Georgia I think.

From January 28 - February 2, 2013 Subway is inviting you in for a FREE Breakfast Melt and small coffee! But you must act quick by clicking the following LINK and choosing a location near you and a date/time you will pick your food up and print off your confirmation number and that's it!

They look really yummy! Can't wait to go grab mine!

Nicholas Sparks Safe Haven Release and Giveaway

"Fathom Events and Relativity Media are presenting “A Night with Nicholas Sparks’ Safe Haven: Filmmakers, Author and Stars Bring the Book to Life.” This one-night event will be broadcast live to select cinemas nationwide on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. CT and will feature a live discussion and Q&A with Nicholas Sparks, appearances by Oscar®-nominated director Lasse Hallström and stars Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough, and exclusive clips and behind-the-scenes footage of the much anticipated film."

For more information check HERE

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.

But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

*********GIVEAWAY*********
***Thanks to Hachette for generously offering up one Physical copy of the Movie Tie In Edition of Safe Haven for one lucky follower of this blog. USA entrants only please and no Post Office Boxes. Book will be shipped from the publisher so please provide your email address on the "freebie" spot on the Rafflecopter.

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