I'm not sure how many of you know the existence of an educational website called Coursera. I think it is definitely fun to join in the fun of learning with the other students across the world from different cultural backgrounds. I joined a course earlier called Rhetorical Writing somewhere in May this year and the response was overwhelming from the participant, but the only drawback of the course was the duration of it that lasted for about ten weeks. So I was not able to commit fully as my final examination was nearing at that point of time. Since I'm home now and I'm trying to occupy my time with a lot of useful activities, I joined Social Psychology class that commences this week.
What draws my attention to this class? I love to learn different subjects that educates me with a concept I can apply in my daily life. I feel social psychology is an important aspect in understanding the complexity of human being and the problems that follow when we fail at it. History, Geography and Science have intrigued me to a great extend when I was at school as I feel those subjects deliver knowledge as a package. With this class, I hope to be able to handle human better and look at psychology from a whole new perspective. It is going to last only for 6 weeks, so I am sure this can be managed well. On top of that, I will be granted 'Certificate of Completion' when I complete the course successfully. Oh yeah, this is a FREE course, so while you laze around in the internet, why not learn something useful and that too for free? :)
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
The Harbinger written by Christopher Huntingford is the first sequel to the other Harbinger Chronicles that will be following up soon. This story is based on kingdom adventure with Alexander Wolfield as the main character where the kingdom of Alveus is on the rise as it conquers the economic wealth. The story evolves as a rift between the king's sons develops. Apart from that, factions are also being formed in the countryside. Alexander faces challenges from his father as he became close and loyal to his ideals who points out the sins of the nobility and he soon finds his way out to leave the kingdom.
The characters of the King's children are very captivating in this book, with each one of them being so different from one another. I enjoyed Sofia's character in this book as much as the main character. She is the only girl among the four brothers and also the twin sister to one of the boys. The third son Calimus' is the black sheep of the family I would say as he shames the family and kingdom with his character. These characters add the suspense element to the whole plot as the tension rises when friction builds among themselves.
Christopher has an amazing website for his book that can be viewed at this link. His blog can be viewed at this tumblr website and like his Facebook page to get the updates regarding his book. You can pre-order the book now through his website or wait for the book the be available on Amazon on 9/1. About Christopher
Christopher Huntingford is a citizen of the world. He was born in the United States and raised on military bases across the Pacific Ocean. At one point he attended four schools in three years and ended up attending seven schools in a span of twelve years.
In the midst of his journeys he developed his creative side with his love of acting and a secondary love of writing. He went on to perform in high school and college plays and sketches, but left his love for a successful career in business management.
When his son Wyatt turned eight, Christopher promised to finish a story he had been musing on for a decade and publish it.
Ian was born in New York but now lives and works in Florida. He has traveled to many different
places throughout the US and has even been to Scotland once. Ian started studying Mythology at a
young age when given a picture book of Greek myths. Since then he has become a student of
Norse, Japanese, Egyptian, Irish, and many other types of Mythology. He has combined these
different mythologies into his series entitled "Modern Disciples." He is new to the world of
publishing books, but has written short stories and poems since high school.
Ian's book can be purchased via Amazon and he has also two other sequels to this book; Modern
Disciples Volume 2 and 3. Check it out!
Here are some interesting things about Ian and his writing journey mainly based on Mythology.
Where are you from?
Originally, I am
from Buffalo, New York. Before the turn of the millennium, I moved to Florida
and I have been living in Tampa ever since.
Why do you write?
I honestly believe that this is what I was
meant to do. I think everyone has a
specific purpose in life, something that he or she was meant to do. I think
many people who are unhappy are that way because they never found their true
purpose in life. Writing is mine.
What do you write about?
I mostly write about
Mythology. That is where the majority of our stories come from. Even our most
modern stories can be traced back to Mythology somehow. You can see it in Harry
Potter, the
Hunger Games, and the Maze runner to name a few.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I wouldn’t say I
have a specific style. I always try to edit my work as well as I possibly can.
I prefer third person perspective. I find first person a bit too restrictive. I
try to use the active voice as much as possible but sometimes it just does not
sound right. When I use dialogue I try to make it as natural sounding as I can.
That is how I write my fiction. When I write on my blog on Goodreads, I try to
sound casual while still trying to lead a serious discussion.
What are obstacles that come in the way of
writing?
Besides life in general, I would say the two
greatest obstacles are a person’s own fears, and their laziness. Those are
everybody’s greatest enemies in my opinion, no matter what they do. Every
excuse you can think of to not do something comes back to either being too
scared to do it, or being too lazy. “I don’t know if people will like this,”
your fear. “There are too many distractions in my life right now,” your
laziness.
Whats the most memorable thing said by a
reader about your work?
One of my friends who
read Volume 1 told me about how she started crying in the middle of a Subway
restaurant while she was reading my book. She thought her favorite character
was going to die. It’s amazing to think that somebody could become so
emotionally invested in a character that I just made up. That was when I
realized that I was meant to be a writer, and I had to do everything possible
to be successful with my writing.
What is your work schedule like when you are
writing?
Well, seeing as how I
recently quit my job, my writing schedule is now wide open. I basically write
all day while allowing myself to get out when I need to.
What would you say is your interesting writing
quirk?
For some reason I keep
writing “they” when I should be writing “the.” It’s something I have to keep my
eye out when I edit.
How long does it take to
write a book?
That depends on who
you ask of course. John Green says it takes him 3 years. I seem to take about a
year to write mine. Other writers get their books out faster. Another thing you
have to take into consideration is that publishing takes time also. Those times
vary on the publishing company, how relevant the topic of the book is to what’s
going on in the world, and whether or not the author self-published. Self-published
books get to the market faster.
Do you have suggestions
on how to become a better writer?
Practice your trade
often. Be a reader. Listen to serious, professional criticisms. Don’t restrict
yourself to your own book critics. Read reviews of other people’s books, and
movies as well. You can learn a lot about story and character that way.
What do you think makes
a good story?
First, you need an
interesting premise. Next, you need memorable characters. They don’t necessarily
have to be likeable, although pulling off a story where none of the characters
are likeable is very difficult to pull off. They just have to stick in the
readers mind. You also need some kind of conflict. There must be at least one
problem that has to be overcome. The most important thing is execution. That is
the one ingredient you can never live without, and sometimes get away with
being the only thing you have going for you.
What does your family
think of your writing?
That’s an interesting
question. They are my biggest fans, and at the same time my harshest critics.
They are always the first ones to read my books when they come out. Some of
them post reviews for me. Yet I’ve noticed that they will often give me 4 star
ratings while complete strangers will give me 5 star ratings. For the most part
though, they are very supportive.
If you could study any subject at
university what would you pick?
I actually studied
Creative Writing when I went to the University.
Every writer has their own idea
of what a successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look
like to you?
In my opinion, if you
can make your living off of it and don’t have to take a day job to make ends
meet, you’re successful.
What is hardest – getting published,
writing or marketing?
Again, this comes
down to traditional publishing vs. self-publishing. As a self-published author,
my greatest challenge has been marketing. Writing would be a close second, and
the publishing part is easy when you self-publish. As long as you have the
money and are not writing a how to book on being a pedophile, you will get
published. For traditional authors, I would think getting published would be
the difficult part. That involves finding an agent that will sponsor you.
Waiting for a publishing house to accept your work, and then when you do sell
your work waiting a year for the book to even hit the shelves. They also have
to market their books as well though, so that is something to keep in mind.
How do you write – lap top, pen,
paper, in bed, at a desk?
At my desktop
computer, that way if I need to research something really quick, the internet
is right there.
It is vital to get exposure and
target the right readers for your writing, tell us about your marketing
campaign.
Modern Disciples has
a Facebook page. I am working on getting it a website. It will be called
Mythbooks. One thing I’ve found is that giveaways don’t work. I have spent a
lot of time and money sending copies of my books away and gotten nothing in
return. That’s why I tend to shy away from them. I find its better to go to
Fiverr.com and get reviews there.
Do you have anything specific you'd like to
tell the readers?
Hey, how’s it going?
Finally, there are some who have been
comparing Modern Disciples to the Percy Jackson series. How do you feel about
that?
I think it would be
silly to say they don’t at least invite comparison. They are both based on
Mythology, Riordan and I both do extensive research into the mythologies before
we write the books. I do think however a better comparison that has been used
by the fans is “Percy Jackson for adults.” My stories are much darker and have
subject matter a bit too mature for the younger crowd. I also incorporate all
mythologies at once where Riordan prefers a one pantheon at a time approach. I
have read the entire Percy Jackson series though and I do recommend it highly.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
I had this post on draft in my
blog for a long time and I thought I had to write this out when I saw a post on
Glipho (a new exciting blogging platform) that was discussing an issue closely related
to this article.
Georgia has created turmoil
lately when its women stood up for protest against ‘’virginity test’’ that was
subjected to brides-to-be particularly by their mother-in-laws to ensure that
their sons future wives are ‘’pure’’ and uphold their chastity. Apparently,
there are as many as 200 ‘’virginity inspections’’ made each year according to
Georgia’s National Forensics Bureau with each test costing about $50 to $60 and
double this amount for faster results. This practise has caused uproar in the
society especially among feminists who slam hard on the unethical and oppressive
act. A week ago, Independent Group of Feminists organised a protest to stop the
‘’virginity institute’’ that ‘’measures’’ the value of women based on their
chastity alone.
Meanwhile, as the society puts so
much emphasis on the ridiculous belief that women who are not virgins at
marriage are not decent women, there is a steady increase in the demand to ‘’restore’’
virginity among women who wants a second marriage and women who fail the test
whereby surgeons temporarily stitch the hymens back together.
Now, getting back to my thoughts
on this, I drafted this post because I was angered with the fact that women are
oppressed emotionally with the common notion that the society held that blindly
and stupidly believes that women’s ‘’chastity’’ is the greatest gift for their
men. I found a blog where a man was discussing this and says that men treasure
their wives more when they reserve their precious first experience for them. If
men choose to respect their women, this freaking damn plain sheath won’t be an issue
to be debated on in the first place. If men really appreciates women when they ‘’preserve’’
themselves for their men on the wedding night, why are we still seeing some of
them wagging their ‘tails’ and going after another woman or ditching their
wives with a few children? Is that damn hymen is something men own in women in
the first place to be given away and is their concern on women as thin as the
sheath?
Of course the first sexual
encounter remains fresh on mind, just like the first kiss, the first phone you
used, the first school you attended and everything else that came first in your
life. But the first may not be the best. So men, why the fuss over the women’s
chastity when you know their past won’t harm your happiness together?
If men can be encouraged to have
sex and explore sexual activities at a very young age, so can women. If the
damn society thinks men need to have sex with other women who are not their
respective wives just so that they save embarrassment during the wedding night,
so can women. If men think they can shove their damn thing into any women just
because they have sexual liberty, so can women. If men need to learn how to ‘handle’
their wives so must women or else don’t complain that your women are not good
at bed!
I believe women would feel bad
with the fact that someone has laid her hands on their men as much as men who
feel the same over their wives. If something is wrong for women, it is equally
wrong for men too.
So, my results came a few days back, and I am proud to say that I survived four years of engineering. I'm now an official Chemical Engineering graduate. Pheww.... Still job hunting as I believe I the best is yet to come. We are going off to my dad's place where he works tomorrow and as it is holiday here in Malaysia starting next week for Eid Celebration and it is time for real Malaysian celebration. We are planning to chill out at Cameron Highlands for the weekend too so you may expect some pictures next week on Glipho if I am not too lazy to upload them here. As for myself, I thought of forking out some money from the part time business I am doing to give myself a treat for successfully surviving the long 19 years of education with something that I have always wanted to get: A Shade ;) Let me know what to look out for if you have an idea for my shopping for shade ;)
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
Bobby Adair has done a great job with his book Slow Burn: Zero Day. If you love stories about zombies or reading suspense and horror books, I bet this book is going to entice and keep you glued to the book.
This book features Zed as the main character who is in the idea of approaching his mother for some money only to find out that his mother is dead. Very soon, Zed learns that his stepfather has got a zombie feast and deeply horrified Zed then kills his stepfather. He passes out for two days, wakes up and calls the cop who later arrests him. In the prison, Zed sees the world is in turmoil about the new flu strain that has been spreading across many continents and people live in fear of getting infected.
Although Zed managed to kill his stepdad, he was actually bitten by him before he died. So Zed is considered a ''slow burn'' where he can later turn out to be infected or not which is the main suspense that drives the interest of readers till the last page of the book. Zed comes out of the prison and finds his survival in the chaotic world where he defends himself from the zombies who are infected and faces challenges interacting with people who are not infected and runs away from Zed in fear.
I thought Bobby has weaved this story very realistically with some sense of humor together with suspense, horror and thrilling elements. I bet you would feel the tense throughout the book as the eagerness to know what happens next keeps you hooked to the book. The characters are well drawn and well developed, and the main protagonists experience circumstances and develop a point of view not often seen in Zombie/Infected Apocalypse fiction.This book is available for free download at Amazon's link and at Smashwords.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
Ever wondered what happens to your life when you, as a woman, hit the age of 50? How do you intend to live your life after 50 or even 40? Do you think you should slow down and live a life that is calmer and reserved? Janice L. Walker has a message for you and all the other women who think just like you as she proves you wrong with her book Womens & Lemons: Your Time Is Now. Yes, WOMENS, you read that right. Find out why when the book is out.
For the past 15 years,
Janice L. Walker has conducted workshops and seminars for a variety of women’s
groups. She is passionate about issues that involve women and believes that
women do not truly appreciate themselves as they should, especially in their
50s. She encourages, affirms, motivates, and inspires women to be all that they
can be, and accept nothing less than the best for themselves at this particular
juncture in life.
I had an opportunity to read Janice's book before it is out this FALL 2013, and I feel Janice has incorporated her experience in this non-fiction work to help women start enjoying their lives. With the motto that 50 is really the new 30, I feel this book is a perfect read for our mothers who are getting old and living a dull life. It serves as a call for them to get out of their house, do what they are passionate about and achieve their dreams.
While reading this book, I also thought it is essential for men to encourage their wives and mothers to live a joyful life by going out for vacation, participating in social events with their friends and continue exploring adventures at this age. I feel it is time for us to stop consuming too much of our mothers' lives. Women have sacrificed enough for their families during their younger days and Janice encourages them to start living for themselves.
So, when life gives you lemon, squeeze the life out of that lemon and enjoy all that
life has to offer you, which you so richly deserve!!
Womens and Lemons is coming out this fall and you can request to be notified on the release of the book by emailing to vipfalo@aol.com and you will get to choose one out of ten free posters of Womens and Lemons available when you get the book.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
