Resurrection Blogfest II: Over-coming Adversity

I'm taking part in the 'Resurrection blogfest II' today. Many thanks to Mino Lobo for hosting.

The premise is to re-post a past blog between the date ranges of November 8th 2012 to November 6th 2013.  Sounds easy right?  I thought that but I was wrong.  Because of my lack of blogging this year I had a hard time trying to find one within this time frame that was suitable.  Then I came across this one posted on the 4th March 2013.

Okay, it may not be exactly helpful in many ways, and it may not be an interesting read, but it is a post I thought worthy of a re-post. One blogger held a blogfest where you wrote a short piece about over-coming adversity.  He then collated all these pieces and created a superb anthology that is available on Amazon. And that's not all.  All the money made from this book goes to helping a special someone in his life who suffers with Cerebral Palsy.  It's such a worthy cause, and so many others out there thought so too, so I thought it would nice to continue with spreading the love (and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact I designed the front cover...)

Original post can be found here:

And if you want to read some of the other posts in this fantastic Resurrection Blogfest II, simply hop over to Mina Lobo at Some Dark Romantic and take your pick.  I'm sure you won't be disappointed :)

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It's here! It's here!!!

The 4th and 5th of February of this year (2013) saw a bloghop hosted by Nick Wilford.  This hop? The 'Overcoming Adversity' bloghop.

Bloggers from all over the blogasphere found themselves writing short pieces and taking part, pieces to move and uplift you.  These wonderful pieces were then collected and have now been published together in one amazing anthology to help raise money for one specific good cause.  Read on to find out more:

Blurb

A collection of seventy moving and uplifting original pieces - real life, flash fiction, and poetry - about battling against the odds and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. The contributors include Amazon bestselling authors Alex J. Cavanaugh and Kyra Lennon, and the cream of upcoming talent.

The anthology is part of a fundraising effort to send the editor's stepson, Andrew McNaughton, to a specialist college in England. Andrew has cerebral palsy, and is a remarkable young man with a promising future. However, the free further education options offered in his own country of Scotland will not challenge him and allow him to progress. In order to access the education he deserves, Andrew will have to pay exorbitant fees, thus creating a situation of discrimination.

Help us get Andrew to college by buying a book that runs the full gamut of human emotions, ultimately leaving you inspired and glad to be alive. Whatever struggles you are going through, our sincere hope is that this book will help.

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Adversity-Anthology-Andrew-ebook/dp/B00BM62EZA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362210101&sr=8-1

Amazon US:

http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Adversity-Anthology-Andrew-ebook/dp/B00BM62EZA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362210134&sr=8-1&keywords=nick+wilford

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/290822

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17452314-overcoming-adversity

Editor Bio:

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those rare times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction. When not writing he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also co-running a campaign to get a dedicated specialist college built in Scotland. Visit him at http://nickwilford.blogspot.co.uk/.

*As a side note, I'd just like to thank Nick for the wonderful opportunity given me to work on the cover for 'Overcoming Adversity', following the wonderful and interesting concepts of Ella over at Ella's Edge.

Always Do Something That Scares You Blogfest

WARNING: DON'T READ ON IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPIDERS...!

In celebration of Mila Ferrera's new book, Spiral, I'm participating with her 'Always Do Something That Scares You' Blogfest. Mila is also hosting a giveaway today too.  I've posted details of this and her book at the bottom.

The gist of the blogfest that sinks with her book is: "In SPIRAL, Nessa confronts her fears about getting close to Aron by reminding herself of her father's motto: "Always do the thing that scares you."  It's probably a saying all of us could use from time to time, so for this blogfest post about a time that you decided to do something even though it scared you, either to get over that fear or because you knew it would be good for you."


For those who have known me for while, you'll know I don't like spiders.  As a kid I would scream and run from the tiniest of spids.  Now I've reached adulthood (don't ask me when that happened.  I'm still in denial at the age of 32) I've grown to tolerate the smaller ones, but once they're past a certain size, the panic button in me gets pressed, I feel physically sick in my stomach, and I have to squeal and back track pretty fast.

However, I don't have this problem when I'm outside.  It's like spiders are outside creatures, and they should be outside and not in my house!  So, if there's one in the room with me, it has to go.

I'm not a mean person, and don't like to kill unnecessarily, so I tend to try and catch spiders in a glass and let them out.  And with the larger ones that I can't catch myself, I have to call upon my trusty hubby to come to my rescue.  But trust me to pick a long-distance lorry driver who is away from home most of the week and who isn't there to help when I need him.

Because of this I've had to conquer my fear.  I can't see a spider and then turn away thinking 'out-of-sight-out-of-mind'.  I know it's still in the house.  I may not be able to see it, but I know it's there, and therefore it has to go there and then.  No if's or buts.  And because I'm often here alone, it's down to me to do it.  Battling this fear is still a work in progress, but I feel I'm winning.  And here's proof!!!

Below are pics of a spider I was nearly mauled to death by the other week. She was in my bathroom hanging off a jumper - EYELEVEL!!!!  The jumper has hanging on the cupboard door for which I had been in and out of for the past ten minutes.  She was probably sitting there with her front legs in the air every time I opened the door screaming "Weeeeeee....!!! Look, no hands....!!!!"

Then I clocked her, and let's just say a squeal wasn't the only thing that come out of my mouth!! I'll leave that to your imagination.  This beast was the largest I've seen in a hell of a long time (as UK spiders go, this was a dinosaur!).  So I battled my fear, and whilst sqweeming and shuddering, and saying many pleasent things to myself, spent another 10 minutes trying to usher this thing off the top of the hanger where she had perched - yes, PERCHED - until she got onto a flat area where I could put a glass over her.

I then succumbed her to some humiliating photos just for scaring the bejezzus outta me, before letting her go as far away from my house as a pjamma'd woman could get it.  All in all, I'd say it was definitely a step towards conquering my fear - and a step worthy to include in this blogfest. 

Now, I've warned all those who don't like spiders to not read on, but if you're still here, you've been warned...mwah ha ha ha...and to confirm, the glass used was a coca-cola pint glass!  I was pretty proud of this achievement :)

*Shudders....*

Spiral by Mila Ferrera

Summary
Nessa Cavanaugh, psychology student, knows how to stay on an even keel. Despite the urging of her mother and her academic advisor to get a life and have some fun, “all work and no play” sums up her plan to survive her grueling internship year at a children's hospital. She doesn't want to end up like her father, whose constant ups and downs broke her family, and avoiding unnecessary emotional entanglements is a must.
Then she (literally) runs into Dr. Aron Lindstrom in the middle of her disastrous first day on the job. The attraction is instant—and terrifying. Nessa knows she should stay away—especially when she finds out he has a reputation for being a player—but Aron is brilliant, intense, and as sexy as they come. When he challenges her to take a chance on him, her plans to stay focused on work start to crumble.

But what begins as passion takes on a dangerous edge, becoming an emotional roller coaster that’s frighteningly familiar. As things spiral out of control, Nessa must decide whether she should hold on for the ride or run … even if it means leaving her heart behind.

Check out Mila's giveaway

Rafflecopter giveaway...

And check out the other participants in this brave blogfest :)  Enjoy

Heroes & Villains Blogfest

Today I'm participating in the 'Heroes and Villains Blogfest', hosted by Jackie over at Bouquet of Books and Dani at Entertaining Interests. Check 'em out.

The objective:

•  Post who your favourite Heroes, and yes, your favourite Villains are.
• List as many, or as little, as you like.
• Be creative with it: videos, art, pictures, lists, etc.
• And most of all - HAVE FUN!

So here goes:

How can you define a hero? Someone - or something - who comes along and saves the day? Someone people look up to for hope and inspiration? Someone who makes us feel good and confident about ourselves in hard times? All of the above and many more...

And how do you define a villain? Someone who's the complete opposite of the above; who strives to destroy hope and inspiration; someone to kick you when you're down...

But not all heroes are heroes, and not all villains are villains. A fairytale princess may be rescued by her hero, a gallant knight, and after marrying him and expecting to live happily-ever-after discovers that he's a wife beater and a philanderer. And the man, the villain, who the knight battled against and killed, the man who kept the princess in the tower against her will, may merely have been keeping her there in order to protect her from the horrors that he knew this knight was capable of. This label is more often than not given from the eye of the beholder as opposed to the people themselves.

One of my all-time favourite heros/villains can be listed under both labels. Is he a villain or is he a hero? Only the watcher of this character can decide.

So who is this person?

Some know him as Eric Draven, but to others he's simply 'The Crow...'

I just love this character! But then is it the character that's loved or the curse? Without the Crow, Eric Draven would be just another face in the crowd. There are many films, books and comics that tell the Crow's tale, each with a different person but each with the same tragic premise; a victim of a murderous crime gets given the gift of resurrection for the purpose of justice. He then hunts down those involved, taking their lives one by one and exacting his revenge.

Usually it isn't just the protagonist that's a victim. Usually there's a loved one involved - a wife, a child, their lives cruelly ripped from them and from him - and for this you can feel his pain, your heart goes to him and you want him to exact his revenge on the evil that did this. You want him to kill those who killed him, who killed his family, and preventing them from inflicting the same pain on someone else, thus making him a hero. But this act of a vigilante is also seen as villainy in itself.

So, The Crow: Hero or Villain? I guess that's in the eye of the beholder...

Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest: Hi There . . .

I'm taking part in the 'Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest'.

The basic concept - in the growing blogasphere where new people are joining everyday - is to write a short piece about yourself in order to remind everyone once again who you are before you continue to get swallowed by the ever-expanding webspanse. 

So here goes:

My real name (married): Dawn Rose Ilott.

My publishing name (maiden): Dawn Rose Cartwright (Or DRC to some)

I'm settled in a happy marriage to a HGV driver but have no children (except for a grown step-son).  Instead we have a cat, a Persian called Daisy - or Stinky Pete (Pete on good days).  On evenings when the other-half is out trucking, I'm usually writing.  I've written 15 novels since the age of ten and now have itchy fingers to find the perfect publishing agent for my more recent fantasy series (I say series but they're a collection of stand-alones set in the same fantasy world, and all connected with the same history and the same legends, etc etc, yada yada).  In the meantime I have a thriller and a collection of short horror stories published on Amazon Kindle, purely there as an experiment to see how easy self-publishing on the cheap is and to see whether it's the way forward for me or not.  Let's just say after a year and a bit of being self-published, I haven't given up hope in finding that agent.  So, until that day comes I'll keep writing my fantasies and my horrors and I'll keep doodling and designing and appreciating art, and I'll keep watching films and reading and living the life I lead.

I'm Dawn and I'm pleased to meet you all... :)