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#SoCS April 7/18 – Passive/Aggressive

07 Apr 2018 26 Comments

by Ritu in #SoCS, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #StreamofConsciousnessSaturday, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Passive/Aggressive, Socs

Linda’s prompt for SoCS this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “passive/aggressive.” Use one, use both, bonus points if you start your post with one or the other. Enjoy!

Now, usually, I would have spent ages trying to think how I could start the post with either word, and end with it too… but as I am officially away, and I just wanted to pay lip service to my regular SoCS post, I think I can excuse the need for the bonus points!

I think I have the perfect example of passive/aggressive behaviour from this weekend alone!

We have booked a lovely serviced apartment for a few nights with the kids – a little breakaway.

Hubby Dearest is great at finding reasons for requesting upgrades etc.

This time, he had requested an apartment with a balcony. The one we paid for apparently didn’t have one, so the company offered to upgrade us to a ‘Premier’ apartment, but it was in a slightly different area.

Two bathrooms (always a bonus) and two balconies – and all the mod cons requested. Perfect!

When we got here, it was a little trek from the carpark, and space was, shall we say, compact. Yes, there were two of everything, but it was all rather small.

He decided to contact them, to mention his disappointment.

It turns out that the reason we didn’t get the originally booked place was because there was actual damage to it. And it sounds like we didn’t even get a like for like swap.. but a downgrade, and all for the same price!

Time for him to get all passive/aggressive.

He’s good at that. Manages to make someone feel obliged to do something with his words, conveying his message in a way that sounds polite, but is actually quite harsh.

Anyway, as we sat at dinner, he was exchanging emails with this guy who then offered to taxi us to a different place (which looks better in the photos) but is in a slightly dodgy area.

So far, the plan is, we sleep on it… take em swimming in the morning and then decide on whether it’s worth moving, or arrange for some discount, and stay where we are…

Let’s see what happens eh!

Happy Saturday Peeps!

https://lindaghill.com/2018/04/06/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-7-18/

Voting is Now OPEN for the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards @BloggersBash – SACHA BLACK

06 Apr 2018 48 Comments

by Ritu in #bloggers bash, Awards, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #bloggers bash, annual bloggers bash, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Sacha Black, Voting Open!

The Bash is back!

Well, you all know that! But the voting is now officially open! And there are so many amazing blogs out there waiting for your votes!

There are nine awards and the process is very simple. a simple select then click vote on each nine awards, and that’s it. You’re done!

The hard bit is deciding which blog to choose though.

Please go ahead and vote. It means loads to everyone involved, the bloggers nominated, and the committee who have mixed their blood, sweat and tears into all the organisation for this fantastic event!

Oh, and if you are inclined to do so, my little blog has been nominated for Best Overall Blogger.

I’d sure appreciate a vote! Remember… But I Smile Anyway!

Head over to Sacha’s post, below, to vote!

via Voting is Now OPEN for the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards @BloggersBash – SACHA BLACK

Best-Overall-e1519401734212

Dirty Thoughts #ThursdayThoughts

05 Apr 2018 71 Comments

by Ritu in Family, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, India, Kama Sutra, Sex, Sexuality, Stigma

Just taking a break from my writing frenzy… almost 8,000 words in the last three days!

I’ve been reading parts of the manuscript out loud to my kids, but not all.

You see, there is … Shhhhh!… S.E.X. in it! And a little other hanky-panky of varying degrees of naughtiness!

As I was censoring bits and reading it out, it got me thinking…

Why do the people of the country that produced the Kama Sutra, the country with the second largest population in the world (so someone must enjoy doing it!), and predicted to have the largest by 2050, still have such a stigma about S.E.X.?

Whenever there is a scene on the telly that involves kissing, let alone S.E.X., the ‘telly changer’ is sought, to change the channel, or everyone is suddenly busy rustling papers or having an urgent conversation in another room?

If the latest Bollywood film shows a scantily clad heroine or a couple in a clinch, why is there always going to be people muttering about how they can’t understand how this ‘filth’ can be called entertainment?

Why, are problems of a sexual nature always hidden?

Sexuality, if not the preferred norm, swept under a carpet, never to be acknowledged?

Sure, I don’t want to go into the ins and outs (pun not intended!) of S.E.X. with my kids just yet. I don’t want to glorify it. They are only 10 and 12. But they know what it is. I just don’t want them to hear my descriptions (it’s not that graphic, honestly, but still, reading about naughty stuff to your kids? Sign me up for the Bad Momma Award right now!) just yet. They aren’t afraid to ask questions about sexuality either and I hope that by being open with them, if they were ever worried about ANYTHING, they felt they could come to us? (After all, I am the cool Flossing mum!)

But when something like S.E.X. becomes taboo, isn’t that the time we end up with other issues? It’s the thing that everyone wants to try, but isn’t allowed to, until marriage. And when you put these kinds of restrictions on anything, much like drink and drugs, don’t these same restrictions push certain youngsters to go behind backs and do things anyway? Is this not where you get more teenage binge drinking, rape, and forced S.E.X.?

Sure, there were plenty of sudden coughs and needing to get a drink when the smoochy scenes were on the screen in our house when I was growing up, but we still were able to talk to our parents. My brother, being a boarding school boy, was even more open about things, and as a result, it meant we became a family who didn’t hide things.

When I went to university, I didn’t find excuses to tell my parents when I was out for the night, and when the time came, I told them about my boyfriend, who later became my Hubby Dearest.

Okay, so I’m not going to discuss my bedroom gymnastics with my Pops and Mum, but I know If the need arose, I could. And after all, as my Pops said to my brother many years ago, when he asked if they still, you know, did IT… “We are human you know!”

Yes, they are… but that’s one image I can do without in my mind!

Anyway, here ends my rambling on my thought for the day!

Calling All Novel Writers! #NeedYourHelp #AmWriting

04 Apr 2018 100 Comments

by Ritu in My Writing, RiNoWRiMo, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #AmWriting, Advice wanted, Blog, Blog Posts, Blogger, Blogging, Saving WIPS, Writers Question

Hey! Writer Peeps! I have a couple of questions for you…

#AmWriting

I’m another 2,700 words in on my WIP. Things have developed in ways I hadn’t even planned, but in a good way.

I tend to edit on the way, but am conscious that I will need to print a paper copy out to do the fine editing.

My questions:

Do you save each chapter as a separate document or the whole story as one block with chapter breaks?
Would you arrange for Beta readers once you have done your own edit, or do you think it needs a professional eye first?

I can’t believe that I am seriously that close to finishing!

Eeeeek!

M.J. Mallon – The Curse Of Time – Paperback Book Release #BlogTour

04 Apr 2018 23 Comments

by Ritu in Blog Tours, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Paperback, The Curse Of Time

A few short months ago, a dear blog pal of mine, M.J. Mallon, better known as Marje from Kyrosmagica blog, published her first ever eBook: The Curse Of Time – Book one – Bloodstone.

I’m not jealous or anything, but sitting there looking at my 17-year-old WIP, I am always in awe of my pals getting things finished, and to publishing stage!

Anyway, MJ (Marje’s alter ego as she loves Superheroes!) spent a long while researching her facts and locations for this book, and the time came in August 2017, to press publish.

I was honoured to host her on her first blog tour too! Read more here.

Her blurb reads as follows:

Fifteen-year-old Amelina Scott lives in Cambridge with her dysfunctional family, a mysterious black cat, and an unusual girl who’s imprisoned within the mirrors located in her house. When an unexpected message arrives inviting her to visit the Crystal Cottage, she sets off on a forbidden pathway where she encounters Ryder, a charismatic, but perplexing stranger.

With the help of a magical paint set, and some crystal wizard stones she discovers the truth about a shocking curse that has destroyed her family’s happiness.

I was finally able to read it the other week, and as a relative newcomer to YA fiction, I found it intriguing.

My reviews on Goodreads and Amazon give Marje’s book – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It took me a short while to get into the swing of the story, but once I was there, I really enjoyed the tale.
Drawn into the life of the main character, Amelina, you are quickly whisked off into a world filled with supernatural happenings, people in mirrors and crystals. Lots of crystals!
There is an element of change evident in Amelina as the book progresses, showing her development as a person who is capable of having a huge effect on those around her, as she learns of the powers she has had bestowed upon her.
I didn’t like Ryder… not that you are really meant to. Ryder is someone who she meets, and who influences her negatively. The fact that I didn’t like him shows that his character was written well within the story.
Over all, a book brimming with supernatural happenings, a mysterious cottage and a family problem that needs solving.

Available to buy here!

And now, this month actually, the paperback is finally ready to be unleashed to the public, with some exciting additions, in the form of some illustrations of key characters in the book by the extremely talented Carolina Russo.

The artwork below will be included in the paperbacks, but in black and white… how exciting to find a fellow artist to imagine your characters for you!

Esme And The Mirror ©Carolina Russo - Online Use - Copy

The Creature ©Carolina Russo_Online Use - Copy

I know you are clamouring to hear more about Marje, so I’ll hand over to her…

I am a debut author who has been blogging for three years at my lovely blog home Kyrosmagica: https://mjmallon.com. My interests include writing, photography, poetry, and alternative therapies. I write Fantasy YA, middle grade fiction and micro poetry – haiku and Tanka. I love to read and have written over 100 reviews: https://mjmallon.com/2015/09/28/a-z-of-my-book-reviews/

My alter ego is MJ – Mary Jane from Spiderman. I love superheroes! I was born on the 17th of November in Lion City: Singapore, (a passionate Scorpio, with the Chinese Zodiac sign a lucky rabbit,) second child and only daughter to my proud parents Paula and Ronald. I grew up in a mountainous court in the Peak District in Hong Kong with my elder brother Donald. My parents dragged me away from my exotic childhood and my much loved dog Topsy to the frozen wastelands of Scotland. In bonnie Edinburgh I mastered Scottish country dancing, and a whole new Och Aye lingo.

As a teenager I travelled to many far-flung destinations to visit my abacus wielding wayfarer dad. It’s rumoured that I now live in the Venice of Cambridge, with my six foot hunk of a Rock God husband, and my two enchanted daughters. After such an upbringing my author’s mind has taken total leave of its senses! When I’m not writing, I eat exotic delicacies while belly dancing, or surf to the far reaches of the moon. To chill out, I practise Tai Chi. If the mood takes me I snorkel with mermaids, or sign up for idyllic holidays with the Chinese Unicorn, whose magnificent voice sings like a thousand wind chimes.

Marje can be found on various Social Media sites:

Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Collaborative blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
My Facebook Authors/Bloggers Support Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1829166787333493/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/
Tumblr: http://mjmallonauthor.tumblr.com/