Sunday 17 July 2011

Finding Angel Character Biographies Finished.

Well it has taken a little while but I have finally added the character bios to my blog site. After all, what else is there to do on a cold, rainy Sunday in Tahmoor.

There are four pages in total (one for each of the main characters). Just look at the page menu on the right hand side of this page and you should see the bios listed.

You can find out all the relevant information on Christian, Daniel, Steve and Angel. There is of course the basics of what each of them does and their physical appearance but I've also tried to give you an idea of the type of people they are. To help you get a better feel for the gang I've also included some personal quotes made by each of them in the book and a picture collage inspired by each character.  

Anyway I hope you enjoy the read, and don't forget to let me know what you think.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Looking for sexy men.

On Sunday night I started working on the bio's for the men from my novel Finding Angel. While I was putting the info together I decided you might like some pics to help you visualise my heroic hunks.

What a disastrous idea!

After many hours of research or depending on your view of things, perving at images on the net, I discovered an unknown truth about the male species. You see it is just as difficult to find fictional men (pictures of anonymous guys that resemble my hunks) as it is to find perfect real life ones. How disappointed was I? I always believed that you can find anything on the net, but Sunday night proved me wrong.

Yes, there are lots of pictures of sexy men on the net. Google them and up they pop. Loads of them, just not ones that I needed. Story of my life really, lots of men around, none that I'm interested in. Of course there were some criteria that limited my search.... the pics needed to be stock photos, royalty free and not cost a bomb if there was a fee attached. Then there was the physical characteristics of the men I was looking for. A blond wavy haired sex god with brown eyes, a dark haired dominant hunk with nearly black eyes and a long haired lean muscled guy with tats.

Easy I hear you say, what's she bitching about? 

Well here's what I found out. Sexy blond haired men don't exist if you want them to have long or shoulder length wavy hair. Straight hair, short hair... no problem. Sexy men with dark short hair are in abundance (which you would  think gave the character of Daniel a leading edge.... wrong). They are in abundance with light coloured eyes not dark brown, nearly black. Most blond men have blue eyes, men with really dark brown eyes that are nearly black must never allow people to take pictures of them. Men with long hair of any colour who have tattoos either look like drug addicts or Satan.

Some of the men who, in the thumbnail images, looked like they might have a sexy dominant appearance usually turned out to be an illusion. Once the image was enlarged they looked like they were trying to pass a rock. If they weren't passing a large item out their bum then they just looked like they'd slap you if you offended them. Finally, about 10pm, I found three pics that I thought would be perfect. Yay me. Unfortunately perfection costs and I refused to pay $200 AU for the right to use the pictures. Like an unpublished author has that kind of money to throw away.... NOT.  So I did the only thing I could think of that might be of use. I enlisted my best friend, the gorgeous Lady Macbeth, to help me (much to her husbands' amusement).

One long distance telephone call later and she was on the phone telling me it can't be that hard to find what I was looking for. After assuring her hubby she was not looking at porn, we set out again to find Christian, Daniel and Steve.  At about 1am, after searching men who were too thin; too young; too old; muscles too big (yes this is possible); men who looked mean, sappy, gay, violent, drug addled; wrong colour eyes; hair not long enough; hair not wavy enough or OMG how many times was he hit with the ugly stick.... I finally called it a night. Disappointed and frustrated I went to bed... (again, not a new feeling... it's the story of my life really).

Monday morning with a new determination I finally found images that, even though they aren't exactly what I had in mind, they'll do. Yes... I settled. Just like so many of us do in real life I found men that weren't exactly what I was looking for but they'll do. I guess it's true that beggers can't be chosers.... even when your looking for an imaginary man.



Sunday 10 July 2011

The Virgin Blog or How to Lose your Virginity at 45.

This is the monumental virgin blog... meaning my first on this site. For all those dyslexic people who are thinking I'm a virgin and I'm writing a blog all I can say is.... lol, yeah right, I'm 45 yrs young....you're too funny.

Anyway, I just spent the last few hours trying to figure out what I'm doing (a tech head I am not) and hopefully now I've got it all sorted out. Well it's all sorted until I hit my first problem where something doesn't work properly.

So why am I doing blog I hear you say? Well for a few reasons, some of them based on technical incompetence, others on the need for a presence on the net and simply because I think it could turn out to be a bit of fun. 

Safety tip number one: never say you'll do something before investigating if you can do it.

I've ended up with this blog by accident. Initially I set up a facebook page to promote my work as an author. I had a few people who liked the page suggest that I put character profiles and some chapters on it so they can read bits of the novel. Good idea I replied, I'll do it!  Then I couldn't figure out how to do that on the facebook page.... mmm, yes technical incompetence. I had to admit that I jumped before looking and I overestimated my ability again. So, after much thought and beating myself around the head, I decided to set up the blog and link the facebook page to the blog.... no applause needed.

So, for those that know me on facebook, I'm still there and all you have to do is click the link I provide and you'll find me here, blogging away in my PJ's while eating pringles :)

The second reason for setting up the blog was to have the ability to include the blog spot and the facebook page links in submissions for publishers. I can't understand why publishers require an online presence when you're unpublished but according to some submission guidelines they do.  So given that a web page is so out of my reach on both a technical and financial basis, here I am.... Blogging.

My final reason for blogging is a simple one..... I think it might be fun. I am looking forward to being able to hop on here in the early hours of the morning when I can't sleep (yes happens often) or I'm bored (happens sometimes) and dribbling incoherent shit all over the page just to amuse myself. Oh, and of course hopefully amuse you guys as well.  I will begin the character profiles from the first novel 'Finding Angel' within the next few days so stay tuned. I'll then post some of my favourite bits from the novel so you can all get titillated. Finally I'll do an update on the second book and keep you all posted as it progresses.

Well that's all for now, the pringles have run out and I need a cuppa.... ciao for now.