“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Benjamin Franklin
Many thanks, Spidey for this particular quote.
Yes, I am a teacher, but I am not thinking specifically about my career when I read this quote.
We are, no matter what age, capable of learning new things. I don’t believe that old ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ baloney at all.
And in that vein, I love to educate myself more on topics that are of personal interest to me.
Right know it is all about my writing, and the craft of writing.
I have build an arsenal of craft books to refer to when at the editing stage of my writing. But do I have the time to actually write them?
Sure, I dip into them once in a while, but I haven’t fully devoured them.
Then today, I was made aware of one that I thought might be a perfect read for me… and I started reading it, and have only a little bit left to read now.
It is called Time Management for Writers by Katie Forrest, and I am going to to all out there and say, if you need some help with managing time, whether you are a writer or not, you SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!
Sprinkled with personal anecdotes, Katie has really broken down the whys and wherefores of how we spend our time each day, and some extremely easy ways to identify our goals, our ‘Whys’, (as she calls them), and then implement strategies to maxinmise our efficiency.
I, for one, am definitelty excited to start a routine where I am more conscious of when I am productive, and how I can create a world that works for me, in my personal life, professional life and with my passion for writing.
Part of my new routine, to be established, will be a set amount of time, 3-4 days a week, where I read a craft book, and actually digest what I am reading and take notes.
This will enable me to hopefully create better words from the off, when I get back to my creative writing.
See. Educating myself!
And if you are interested, here are my ‘Whys’ for writing.
So… tell me, is there anything new you are learning right now?
What an emotional read! I really enjoyed the story of Cara and her tumultuous journey, both physically, and emotionally, to find herself. And when a four legged companion in on the scene, that can only make things better!
What a lovely, imaginative book, filled with rhyme and adventure! Ford has crafted a beautiful rhythmic tale about Timothy and his time machine, and all the adventures he is able to go on, fuelled by the imagination of a child. As a teacher, I find that we seem to shut down our children’s imagination, somewhat, catering to curriculum needs, but this book is a reminder to adults as well as kids, that we need to be able to play, pretend, and whisk ourselves off to other worlds sometimes. A wonderful premise within the book, and lessons to be learned!
It’s not often you get to read about a modern-day knight, and in The Christmas Party, this is exactly what we get. Well, actually it’s more the legacy of a knight. Declan Lorne is the last surviving knight in Ireland, his family having carried the title over 700 years. And it looks like he’s going to be the last ever knight too, having a family consisting of his wife and three feisty daughters. His sudden demise leaves a huge gap in the lives of all his family, and his will sets many cogs turning. Will his wife, Serena, ever accept being relegated to the Dowager House? Will Ottie, his oldest daughter, ever get over being the disappointment of a girl, rather than a boy, and not the heir she felt her father always wanted? Will Pip, the middle child, manage to control her own inner angst, and follow her dreams? And will Willow, the youngest daughter, ever find her true place in her family? I really enjoyed all the twists and turns within this book, filled with tragedies, and misplaced trust, love and loss. Oh, and I’d love to see a pink castle! Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Katie’s life, on the surface, is pretty simple, and straightforward. She rents a nice flat, has a good job, is in a relationship with a great guy… Has divorced parents, and a father in prison charged with statutory rape – the rape of Katie’s best friend, when she was fifteen. Memories of idyllic summers spent at the cabin by the lake are blemished by this one accusation that changes the lives of many people. Katie has spent most of the last six years erasing the connection between her and her father’s name, to escape the awkward questions from others, but she still loves her dad. After all, it was a mistake, a wrong conviction… wasn’t it? The impending release of her father brings ripples to the smooth waters of her life and the ripples reveal many secrets, things Katie was never aware of before. I read this in one day, as I got so into the story. A really tough topic to write about. The rape of a minor, and the way people cover things up. Seeing it from the perspective of a different victim, the daughter of the accused, shows another dimension. Very well written.
I enjoy watching Lilly Singh and have felt a certain Punjabi pride at seeing one of ‘our’ girls do so well in her chosen career as a YouTuber, with her hashtag and now as one of the first late-night female TV show presenters in the USA. I must admit I have had this book on my kindle for a while and it has taken a while to get to it, but I finally did this week, and I enjoyed the read. There were several chapters that were really poignant for me. I shall try to introduce more Bawse-ness into my life!
Hannah Thompson is a woman – so am I She is a wife – yup, same here A mother – nods I’ve got 2 kids, a fur baby and two feathered ones, she has 3 children and a dog A teacher – yes, yet another similarity! An aspiring author – yet another similarity Has a hubby who is quietly supportive of her dreams but doesn’t always get the support quite right – check! Works part-time – no… alas I am a full-time teacher, wife, mother and wannabe writer!
Oh my God, if this woman had only 2 children, and worked a couple more days a week, this book might just have been my life!
Hannah is feeling the pressure. She has one child about the fly the nest, off to university, one teen who is keeping her on her toes with the company she keeps and the questions she asks and a young not quite tween, who is inquisitive and has a pet hamster which causes his own grief.
Working three days a week (not by choice), Hannah knows that the money isn’t exactly flowing into their bank accounts, and they have a child to send off to uni imminently, and the thought of having to finance two more is, quite frankly terrifying… and her headteacher is not keen to give her a full-time contract.
Until she has the bright idea to write a book on her days off.
Will her head have a change of heart and increase her hours? Will she finish this book or not? Will she find a way to publish?
Well, you know I’m not going to tell you. What I will say is that it was a fantastically funny book. I was able to relate to so much of it, and Hannah’s life echoes that of many working mothers out there.
Definitely, one I recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for an Arc in exchange for an honest review.
The second Japanese book I have read this year and I have to say, I found this one much easier to read. We follow the life of a 36-year-old woman, Keiko, who has her own social difficulties and finds her comfort in her part-time job as a worker in a convenience store. It’s been eighteen years since she started at a job where most would have thought of it as a stopgap between studying and proper career. However for Keiko, yer job in the store allows her to function in the world and be viewed as normal, rather than the oddity she has been regarded with all her life, but both her family and friends. There is even the contemplation of marriage, which is an alien concept to this middle-aged virgin. A short read about someone who, I think, is very much on the Spectrum, as they say, and her way of dealing with it, so she fits in with the rest of the world.
I’ve always been a fan of the movies, and the old classics are special to me, so to read a book that referenced so many fantastic films was great! Arden is a woman who is in a dark place, after the end of an awful marriage. She has shut herself away from everyone who cared about her, partly because her ex-husband made her, and partly because she feels shame at being so weak. A twist of fate finds her visiting a friend in the hospital, and finding someone else there she knew before. Mac – a film lecturer from her university, and her big love. He’s older and injured. Unable to speak from injuries sustained in a car accident, they begin to share evenings together as she visits him, and revisits the past, recalling a list of movies they watched together, cataloguing their affair with each other. Of course, she doesn’t have him to herself. She shares her Mac with James, his neighbour. Together, they ensure his visitor chair is never empty, and build a special friendship, sharing secrets about each other, that they’ve never told another soul. Mac used to talk about Arden finding her Bigger Love, but she never believed him…
I really enjoyed this book. It was a little predictable with the ending, but sometimes you just want simple stories that don’t have huge twists in them. Saying that, it isn’t a simple romantic story in the least, dealing with issues such as loss and separation, and the relationships between parent and child.
A recommended read. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for an arc, in exchange for an honest review.
A strange read. It took me a long while to get into this story: a tale of Abigail and her quest for the truth. A grown-up woman, divorced and mother to a 4-year-old, Abi is constantly on the lookout for answers in life to one big question. Where is her brother? Robert, her brother, disappeared when she was 15, and there has never been any information about where he went, or what happened to him. Ironically, that same year, Abi was sent a chapter of a self-help manual, the Guidebook. The chapters kept coming throughout her life, and she felt a link between her brother’s disappearance and the words in the guide. A request to come to a retreat, where the Guidebook would be the centre of attention draws her into another chapter of her life, filled with different discoveries. It was a strange story, based in the past as well as the present. I did find myself slightly confused. Are we meant to fly? Or was it all a euphemism for life? But I did like Abi, and her little son Oscar. Many thanks to Netgalley, Atlantic Books and Allan & Unwin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A book I managed to finish within a day, which, recently has been a struggle for me!
I was intrigued by the blurb. Would this story about a young African American woman, who worked for a successful white family, be something like a lot of social themed novels recently, chanting #BlackLivesMatter?
Well, it did, a little, but that wasn’t the entirety of the novel.
Emira, the babysitter is a twenty-something woman, similar to many out there, unsure of the direction of her life, plodding along, trying to find where she really wants to be.
She just happens to be black.
And the regular babysitter for Alix and her family, looking after two-year-old Briar, and on occasion, her baby sister, Catherine.
Alix is a thirty-something woman, married with her two beautiful daughters and a successful husband, riding on her own social media successes, and in the process of writing a book.
What happens one night in the local grocery store, when her babysitter is falsely accused of taking a child, who is obviously not hers, sparks a chain of events that explore so much more than racial stereotypes. Sure, that is a big part of it, but it is approached from two very different angles, that of a black woman, and that of a white woman. Neither is racist, but both have stereotypes foisted upon them by others.
Add to the mix, crossed wires, and past secrets, and you have one heck of a delicious novel!
Many thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve always been a fan of historical fiction and jumped at the chance to read an advanced copy of The Lady of The Ravens by Joanna Hickson.
Set in the times where the Tudors took control of the monarchy, the author has cleverly interwoven fact with fiction to create a compelling story that weaves the legend of the Ravens at the Tower of London, with a fictional tale of Joan, a young lady who starts her life of royal duty by being a companion to Princess Elizabeth, and, as time goes by, works her way up to the rank of Lady in Waiting for the then Queen Elizabeth. Along the way, she is chosen to marry Sir Richard, and becomes mother to six stepchildren, despite never wanting to bear children herself.
Joan develops something of an obsession with the majestic black birds that frequent the green around the Tower, and despite the belief among the commoners that the monarchy and country is safe, as long as the ravens roost at the Tower, she is horrified at how the archers use them as target practise, and the treatment of them.
I loved how the story of the ravens and how they appeared to become more accepted, and the life of Joan blended in with the real facts of the monarchy and events that happened at this time.
The characters came to life, and I became a champion of Joan and her cause through the book!
Definitely a recommended read if you are a historical fiction lover!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Published 9th January 2020
Well, there you have it, my reading journey this month!
Happy Monday to you all! Can you believe it? we’ve been sharing a cuppa every Monday for 60 weeks now? That’s mad! Now, if you’re ready with yours, let’s go!
If we were sipping chai together I’d start by telling you the lurgy hit the household this week! Hubby Dearest and Lil Man were struck down by Man Flu, then Lil Princess did something to her neck, and was full of sniffles too. The bins have been overflowing with tissues… perfect! And me? Well, I think I have saved myself mostly from the lurgy, but the pains, well they are still around. Anopther Dr’s appointment has been booked but it’s not for another two weeks… And at school we haven’t been safe either. On Monday I had 21 students in, instead of 29, many off with a Norovirus style bug. Then we ended the week with one confirmed Chicken Pox case… let’s see what this week brings…! I’m due to have my flu jab on Friday. Hope I can last until then!
If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that we had our anniversary last Monday. Being a school/work night, we didn’t really do too much, and with Hubby’s Man Flu, we’ve kept our celebration on ice for now. But I was gifted beautiful flowers and a gorgeous figurine by my wonderful man, as well as a T-Shirt I was joking about… what do you think?
If we were sipping chai together I’d have to mention that despite my aches and pains, I had a date with Lil Princess and our friends, to go and watch the real Little Mix in concert on the Thursday night! It was a rush to get there, after school on Thursday, but we did it, and had a great meal together, before watching the band. The girls loved it, and I think is mums might just have enjoyed it a little more!
If we were sipping chai together I’d tell you that I was shattered by Friday. This out on a school night really is too much for me now! I got through the school day, and rushed home to get cleaning done, and then whizzed to the shops for the grocery, then once I got home, I was ready for bed. I had a fantastic sleep! And we did nothing this weekend, bar rest, eat, read and watch TV. A much needed set of downtime!
If we were sipping chai together I’d have to tell you about something really fun that we did at school this week. We have been learning about seasons and decided to make season bottles with the children. I have to say, I was pretty proud of the ones we made with the kids in our class… Check them out below! And nativity song practice is in full flow too. We have been singing our play songs each day, and the children have really impressed me with how well they have picked up the words! And I have mentioned this before, but they really do sound so angelic. I can’t wait for the performance!
If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d mention that the week may involve less children, due to sickness, but it also affects adults, and I already know one of our team is going to be off for one day, due to her own kids… Tis the season to be sicky, fa la la la la, la la la la!
If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d tell you that I am a little nervous as I am being observed on Thursday too. Being observed is never fun. I hate that we have to be judged on a 20-30 minute lesson, when I KNOW I am a good teacher… but hey, at least I know my observer well!
If we were sipping that chai together, and possibly reaching for cake or cookies I’d let you know that it will be my Finndian nephew #1’s fifth birthday too this week… where did that time go? And that means that I’ll be celebrating my five year Blogiversary too this week!
Right, that’s me done Peeps! Let me how your week has been.
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Thanks for the reminder, Spidey.
This quote comes at a timely fashion, as the household is battling the coughs and sniffles that the onset of the cold weather tends to bring.
It’s not easy when your Lil Man grows up. Because that means that there are now TWO individuals liable to get MAN FLU!
Yes, yes, I’ve read the articles claiming that MAN FLU is real, but I am so not convinced.
You have a cold, plain and simple. It’s not nice, I get that, but still – MAN UP!
I’ve spent time finding Vicks Vaporub, locating cold medications to ease symptoms, and found a set of tablets, that my 14-year-old can take now as he feels he is too grown up for syrups now. And then furnished the Hubby Dearest with his tablets too.
He’s had it bad, I have to admit, needed a couple of days off work, and that in itself is unlike him.
But, as I said before… it’s a COLD!
I’ve been battling my own health issues as you all know, and still am none the wiser as to the reasons for my aches and pains. I think another trip to the doctor to get some more investigations, is in order.
And to top it off, I found a rash, small and pink ringed, on my leg. The consensus was ring worm, but it is one isolated case and I have been given cream, and was told that, yes, it is contagious, but as long as I keep my leg covered, use the cream twice daily, wash my hands a lot and make sure I don’t share towels, things should be okay. But it is now a little blister, sans ring… was it ever ringworm? I don’t know.
Then poor Lil Princess. She’s sniffling too, but has strained a muscle in her neck so she isn’t a happy bunny right now, either.
And at school it isn’t much better. On Monday, I had eight of my class off with a Norovirus style bug. And by the end of the week, one confirmed case of chicken pox… the lurgies are spreading!
I am booked for my Flu jab at school on Friday too. Here’s hoping I don’t succumb before then!
But it is true though, if you have your health, you are better off than a lot of the population out there. Wealth is great, yes, but what is it, without health?
I might not be working at 100% myself right now, but I am still capable of moving around, going to work, caring for my family. What more can I ask for?
Guess who’s come to visit my blog again, with another blog tour?
Dear Jim Webster is back with three delightful books from his Tallis Steelyard collection, and a special story just for the lucky readers of my blog too!
Justice Of A Sort
It was perhaps a month after I’d arrived back from Slipshade and the whole episode should have faded from mind. As it was, it seemed determined to haunt me, like some over-spiced meal eaten too late in the evening. So, for example, one evening I was at the Misanthropes. I hadn’t actually dined. In fact I wasn’t entirely sure I would. The money I had earned from my Partannese adventure had gone, frittered away paying creditors and suchlike. Thus it was a little disturbing when I had noted a small group of men, obviously displaced Partannese brigands, in the street. One of them I recognised from Slipshade, he was the gentleman who won the pie eating contest. Given I had been the person to hand him his prize and congratulate him, I was sure he’d remember me. Thus I faded down a side street and hoped that they hadn’t seen me. As I pondered their presence, it struck me that Port Naain has the power to draw people to it. After all, had I not already met Darstep Balstep, previously lord of Slipshade Keep, and now a jobbing poet? It struck me that Balstep had merely arrived early than these others. He was doubtless more focused on his future and had probably stolen a horse as well. I could imagine the small collection of ruffians I had just seen would be initially indecisive with nobody to issue them with orders. It could well take time for them to make their minds up as to what they ought to do. So I put aside my irritation that the ill-starred ramifications of the Slipshade episode were still occurring, long after any financial recompense for my sufferings had been spent. I feel that there is a lesson there for the young. Given that the unfortunate consequences of your actions will always be with you, wisdom demands that you think long and hard about your plans. Ensure always you are more than adequately compensated, ideally in advance. But in all candour I was at peace with the world and was sipping a glass of moderate wine. I was willing to let the evening pass as it would. I had no patron to flatter that evening, no recitals that needed arranging, and any impromptu verses that I might need over the next few days had already been written well in advance. I was there purely to relax, and was hoping to hear some tale or some drollery that I might tweak and work into my own performances. Then even as I sipped, I heard a voice cry, “Steelyard, you currish, crook-pated, codpiece.” I was somewhat taken aback, had the Partannese ruffians I’d seen in the street tracked me down already? I looked up, and saw Flobbard Wangil striding across the room towards me. He looked furious and even as he approached he snatched a plate from in front of one of the diners and hurled it at me. Fortunately I dodged and it hit Lancet who was sitting in the armchair next to me. He ended up covered in a hot pepper sauce. He leapt to his feet and hurled a pie plate at Flobbard. This latter individual, whilst angry, was not one of those rendered unobservant by his emotion so ducked and the pie plate struck Julatine Sypent full in the chest. It must be said that Julatine and Lancet do not get on. Part of it is professional jealousy. Julatine is a good painter, but his bread and butter comes from painting twee cottages and similar. Lancet is not a bad painter, (he’s a better painter than he is a poet) and occasionally he too will paint some quaint rustic scene. His pictures always sell more quickly than do Julatine’s and will command a higher price. Even more galling for Julatine is that he is a perfectionist. He will take days over a piece of work. Lancet will knock the same thing off in an afternoon. What makes things worse is that Lancet has been known to dwell on this topic in conversation, at length, to Julatine’s obvious irritation. Between ourselves a lot of the rancour is Lancet’s doing. Whether he considers provoking his rival to be a piece of performance art I’ve never thought to ask him, but he brings to it a dedication and a level of preparation worthy of such an endeavour. As an example, he was walking south of the river and came upon Julatine who had just started to paint a particularly pretty cottage. Lancet hid to avoid being seen, came back to the city and demanded my assistance. That evening, armed with paint, we approached the cottage. It was painted a primrose yellow. The paint Lancet had acquired as a rather paler yellow shade. So that night, when the occupier was asleep, Lancet and I painted the front of the house in this shade. I would paint the plaster, and Lancet would then come along with some white paint which he cleverly used to ‘fade’ and ‘distress’ the yellow. It was obvious that Julatine must have noticed because in the Misanthropes early the next evening he was complaining about how the light had changed and given a whole new perspective on colour. Apparently he’d had to redo a considerable piece of his work. So later that night Lancet and I returned to the cottage. The woodwork was picked out in black and had obviously been repainted no more than a couple of years previously. We repainted the woodwork so that it was a more faded and washed-out grey. Early the next evening Lancet and I dropped into the Misanthropes but Julatine merely sat at a table glowering at the world and said nothing. After some supper we went back to the cottage with a saw. There was a young tree standing in front of the cottage. As quietly as we could, we cut it down. But we felled in very close to the ground, the idea being that we would camouflage the stump by putting some stone or turf over it. Then it would be as if the tree had never been there. Unfortunately just as we’d finished, the owner came out. He had obviously grown suspicious over the past couple of days. We had just hidden the tree in some scrub and had come back for the saw. He spotted us, shouted, and we fled. He didn’t try to pursue us but I suspect he’d mentioned the incident to Julatine. My suspicions were aroused mainly because somebody poured a bucket of whitewash over us as Lancet and I stood chatting outside the door of the Misanthropes the following evening. Still I digress. Flobbard Wangil was inadvertently prevented from approaching me by the hail of projectiles and insults Lancet and Julatine were hurling at each other. Others were dragged into the exchange as they became caught up in things, but finally Flobbard got close enough to be to attempt to belabour me with a chair. I managed to snatch up a stool from by the bar and was successfully fending him off with that. Finally Lancet inadvertently summoned the Watch. It seems that he had managed to irritate a number of those present in the Misanthropes, and they ganged up on him and threw him out of the window, and he landed on two watchmen passing below. They burst in upon us. To be fair they were too wise to ask a silly question like, “What’s going on?” Instead they got down to the root of the matter by asking, “So who started it all.” Somewhat to my surprise everybody pointed at Flobbard and me. Thus, protesting our innocence, we were arrested and given the day had been hectic, from a judicial point of view, we were led straight before Malanthon. The clerk read out the charges, which were largely affray in several of its forms. Then the clerk asked Flobbard what had happened. Flobbard brought up the story of the Slipshade expedition and how I’d abandoned him there. The clerk then asked me for my version. I recounted the story as well, but stressed that I had abandoned him because I had assumed he had stolen the stones and secreted them within his person. The clerk glanced at Malanthon and attempted to sum up. “So you, Flobbard Wangil, are angry because thanks to Steelyard here you spend three weeks in a cell with only a commode and a selection of laxatives for company?” Flobbard nodded. “And you, Tallis Steelyard, handed Flobbard Wangil over to the authorities because you believed he had the stolen gems?” I too nodded. At this point, Flobbard burst out, “But I didn’t have the gems, I never had the gems, I never touched the gems.” This rather shook me. Flobbard’s tones were not the whining of a petty criminal caught playing a game too rich for him. He spoke with the voice of an honest man (in this matter at least) who was exasperated beyond measure at being accused of a crime he had not committed. To be fair to him, if a three week diet of laxatives had not produced the stones, then I had to face up to the fact that he had probably never had them. Malanthon made some notes and then looked at us. Flobbard just shook his head. I could see his point, he didn’t feel particularly guilty. Malanthon looked at me. I cleared by throat. “I think I owe Flobbard an apology.” That got a smile from Malathon so I turned to Flobbard. “I’m sorry Flobbard. I was obviously wrong.” He was obviously in a state of shock, I don’t suppose anybody had ever apologised to him before. He shook my hand, and we both turned back to Malathon. The clerk read out from the piece of paper that he had been given.
“Tallis Steelyard is to apologise to Flobbard, and is to also organise a pie eating contest in which Flobbard can participate.”
And now we’d better hear from Jim Webster.
So here I am again with another blog tour. Not one book but three. The first is another of the Port Naain Intelligencer collection. These stories are a bit like the Sherlock Holmes stories. You can read them in any order.
On the Mud. The Port Naain Intelligencer https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mud-Port-Naain-Intelligencer-ebook/dp/B07ZKYD7TR When mages and their suppliers fall out, people tend to die. This becomes a problem when somebody dies before they manage to pass on the important artefact they had stolen. Now a lot of dangerous, violent or merely amoral people are searching, and Benor has got caught up in it all. There are times when you discover that being forced to rely upon a poet for back-up isn’t as reassuring as you might hope.
Then we have a Tallis Steelyard novella.
Tallis Steelyard and the Rustic Idyll https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07ZKYMG1G/ When he is asked to oversee the performance of the celebrated ‘Ten Speeches’, Tallis Steelyard realises that his unique gifts as a poet have finally been recognised. He may now truly call himself the leading poet of his generation. Then the past comes back to haunt him, and his immediate future involves too much time in the saddle, being asked to die in a blue silk dress, blackmail and the abuse of unregulated intoxicants. All this is set in delightful countryside as he is invited to be poet in residence at a lichen festival.
And finally, for the first time in print we proudly present:
In his own well-chosen words, Tallis Steelyard reveals to us the life of Maljie, a lady of his acquaintance. In no particular order we hear about her bathing with clog dancers, her time as a usurer, pirate, and the difficulties encountered when one tries to sell on a kidnapped orchestra. We enter a world of fish, pet pigs, steam launches, theological disputation, and the use of water under pressure to dispose of foul smelling birds. Oh yes, and we learn how the donkey ended up on the roof.
All a mere 99p each!
Get to know a bit about Jim over on his blog here.
And you should check out all the blogs where Jim and his blog tour are visiting!
