If there is anything you want to know, please don’t hesitate to ask. Until next time.

Cheers,

Alex

My husband, our girls, and I went on a family trip to Victoria, BC. Why? Because I was whining that I hadn’t had a decent scone since we left Ireland.  While on this trip, I was having a bad lupus day and my whole body hurt, but my feet were the worst; it felt like the bones of my feet were slowly being crushed. We stopped at LaConnor Inn in LaConnor, Washington. 

It was the smallest town I had ever seen.  The inn was comfortable, cozy, and right across the street from this amazing restaurant.  We went inside to check-in and behind the desk stood Chloe: blonde-haired, big-eyed, dressed in pink and ruffles. Even with the giant pink sneakers she had on, she looked like a Victorian-era porcelain doll.  

We checked into our rooms, and I asked my oldest to go downstairs and get some change or something. I don’t recall. She would not go down without her younger sister. It was so funny. My soon-off-to-college daughter was terrified of the girl behind the counter. I thought, and still do think, she was absolutely adorable, in the girliest of ways. My oldest thought she was one of those haunted dolls, like Annabelle. I thought… But what if she were a ghost? My youngest thought it was hysterical, and my husband, as always, just shook his head and walked away. 

During that trip, I found myself watching a lot of YouTube because walking wasn’t an option. Though we did walk down the short street that was this whole town,  my feet just couldn’t do it long-term. So, I was watching videos on YouTube, and one of the videos was about those coincidence photos, you know the ones. Where right before a couple’s wedding, they find a photo of the bride at Disney World and the groom in a stroller with a family in the background.

I knew I had to write this story.  So, check out Snapshots in Time.  It’s got it all: romance, a tower, a dash of time travel, and, of course, a ghost.”

Happy August Hauntlings. I can’t believe that it’s the last month of the summer.  Anyone else lusting after backpacks and notebooks? Have you gotten your planner for next year? I haven’t done that yet, but I am working with a great accomplishment planner. Let me know if you want me to do a review on that. 

Now let’s get down to some fun. But before I do. Please note that my blog posts are not edited by my amazing editor Kim. Although “Chloe’s Diary” <final name> is now in her capable hands. I am researching #ProjectRoyals.  

SO let’s have some fun. These Youtube links are my TOP TEN Historical WOW Moments.

Some are meant to be funny, some are edifying, and some are just plain interesting. So let’s take a look into the past, via the creative content makers over on YouTube.

10) Fascinating Facts About Anne Boleyn

https://youtu.be/-_7Dqs5unqs

Anne Boleyn was executed on May 19, 1536. This video has the Top Ten Fascinating facts about her. Some are well known, like that Anne’s sister Mary was one of Henry VIII’s mistresses. Ooooh, Tudor Sister Swap?

9) Death and Diseases of the Royals

 https://youtu.be/SV3k15110HY

Oh, those Royals. We talk about their heirs, their weddings, and always what they are wearing to this event or that, but here we are talking about their deaths and diseases. Of course with any historical documentary you want to check the facts, if three reputable sources confirm a fact, you be rest assured, you did your due diligence. 

8) Deadly Things Hiding in the Victorian Home

https://youtu.be/K3Jef7i7v1U

Were the Victorians Suicidal? Probably not, but they sure had some inventive ways of accidentally killing themselves. Sorry to say but those poor people weren’t even safe in their own homes. Arsenic anyone? Would you like some lead with your tea and biscuits? 

7) Catherine the Great #GirlBoss

https://youtu.be/LdcsGV1HaQU

This one is a full hour and a half documentary on Catherine the Great and how she took herself from being the proper and obedient princess to being the most powerful person in Russia’s history. One of the first #GirlBoss 

6) Ten Rulers in History Who Were…Not Quite Right?

 https://youtu.be/mrv8iaWBouQ

I’m not qualified to psychoanalyze anyone but…these people might consider making an appointment with a mental health professional or two, and in some cases, maybe just commit themselves. Yep, these are some baaaad dudes and dudettes. Although I don’t think Vlad was insane, he was just very good at scaring people into obedience and kind of evil. 

5) Marie Antionette: Her Clothing Pissed off a Nation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN4RQiYPSqM

Marie Antionette, poor girl, she loved the fashion but got her head lopped off for her faux pas. Honestly, she had no understanding of the demoralizing and mocking message the way she dressed because she thought it was a compliment. Fashion misunderstandings at it’s most deadly.

4) Thug Notes…I love this guy.

 https://youtu.be/K-qgVmsV3hM

This one doesn’t deal with history directly. It navigates its way into the topic by way of literature, written by historical people, who became history by writing the literature. You can see where I am going with this…, right?

3) You will snort. I snorted. Aubrey Plaza is the bomb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ab4rYDR0yY

Aubrey Plaza and Cleopatra? This shits funny. Historically accurate? Probably not but OMG, have tissues because you might laugh yourself to tears. Parks and Recs loss, History’s gain. Seriously, there might be some offensive stuff in here so watch with caution, not a lot offends me, but…I can understand how some parts can be on the wrong side of humor. Oh, and the person telling the story…she’s more than a little drunk. 

2) Crime Scene Investigation: Medieval Royals

https://youtu.be/lmZFwPMyKvc

This one is gruesome, creepy and just plain Ewww. But so worth the watch. It’s like CSI: Medieval Madness. Dark Arts, Murder and Mehem mentioned, for those who are easily freaked out..you might want to skip this one. But it’s so interesting. It’s a full 45 minutes longish. 

1) Why wasn’t Historian on my career paths listed in HS?

https://youtu.be/LxPdqeUPGBI

Dr. Lucy Worsley. My hero. If you don’t know who she is, you only need to research history, look on Amazon for her books (which are good too, btw). She looks at all sides of history, in this video, she compares the historical clothing of Harlots, Housewives, and Heroines.  Her Youtube videos are tasty little niblets of her BBC shows. You want to know what the whores of yore wore, I can tell. 

Well, that is enough frivolity from me. What’s your favorite Youtube Channel or topic, let me know in the links. Don’t be shy. I watch a variety of Youtube channels from cursed objects to Jeffree Star: Both of which I am living. 

Cheers and until next time: Happy Reading.

Alex

Nora Roberts has been posting about this on her blog, which you can get to by clicking the link.  I don’t want to repeat what she said because you can go read it but in a nutshell, those 99 cent or free books that are being downloaded are most likely plagiarized. There is a trend now where scammers are hiring ghost writers to write books quickly, and they are using the copy/paste feature to copy other author’s books. That way the “author” can pump out books one after another, which is what they do.

So how do you define plagiarism? Plagiarism.org explains it like this.

” In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward.”

I think its much more than that. An Indy authors profit is usually 35% of the cost of each book. So if an author has a book special and sells that book for a dollar they earn 35 cents. Yep, 35 cents. Unfortunately this scam is not only hurting the authors that these ghost writers steal from, they are hurting all Indy authors. They are pushing out a book a month (usually more than half of the book is stolen) publishing it and then selling it for a dollar. The reason this works for them is because people can’t resist a bargain and a bargain on a book is well in my opinion, the best kind of bargain.

Besides the obvious wrongness of this. People aren’t buying well written books because they think they cost too much or because it takes too long to get the next book in the series. A book can not be written in a month, with any piece of art, no matter the medium, to create something meaningful, it takes time.

There’s the actual writing of the book, that is after you have done the research, the plotting, the character development and if it takes you less than that, someone is either very very good or very very lucky.

Once a rough draft is done then its revised until it is a really good story. Then revisions, this is where any inconsistencies, plot holes or any other issue the manuscript may have are fixed. This again usually takes a couple of months.

After those revisions are done, its off to the beta readers. The further look for inconsistencies, plot hole and so on and so forth. This step is important because after a while, authors can’t see the issues a book might have. We need those extra eyes.

Another go through to check grammar and its off to the editor. I use a professional editor and she’s amazing.

This and all the things that go with all of the above, like the cover design, and store blurb, the pitches, acknowledgements and dedication pages, must be done before the book should be published. And that takes way longer than a month.

This is why I chose to go traditional. I need an agent. I need someone who is going to look out for me and my books and make sure that the content I am sending them is 100% the best that it can be. If my career depended on me plagiarizing or scamming anyone, I would never write another book. It’s horrible thing to do. And I don’t know how these people live with themselves.  Indy author’s make very little money from their book sales to begin with, usually it doesn’t cover the cost of the cover or editing. As an Indy Author, I write for the sheer love of writing. And of course to pay maybe one bill.

Plagiarism is just bad news. Its bad for everyone. It’s bad for writers because can’t put out a book a month nor are we willing too.  So to the people who are doing this. You will get caught, because what you are doing is theft and fraud.  It’s wrong and the truth will come out.

Below is my editor, Kim Huther’s ad. She’s amazing and you can get to her website by clicking on her name above. She does NOT edit this blog, no one does. So this is just my ramblings and unedited going ons.

Cheers Everyone!

And have a great week.

Alex

So why ghosts? Aren’t they supposed to be terrifying? Perhaps not,  Perhaps they are proof that love remains even after death parts us.

I can’t remember the first time I watched The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, but even though it’s in black and white and came out in 1947, way before many of us were born, it has remained a favorite.  It’s probably the biggest influence on what kind of stories I write. If you haven’t seen it, click on the title and it will take you to Amazon where you can rent it. I highly recommend it.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a story of a widow named Lucy, who moves to a seaside home and and develops a friendship with the ghost of a cranky sea captain, who haunts her home and helps her keep her independence during a time where very few woman could make it alone without a husband.  That is until a real flesh and blood suitor shows up.  Lucy is played by the amazing Gene Tierney and the Captain is played by Rex Harrison.  I think anyone who watches this movie will find that a little bit of their heart was taken by Captain Daniel Gregg. <sigh> Or perhaps I am just an old souled hopeless romantic.

This movie may be the reason that my books will all contain a ghost, either as a main character or as a supporting character.

I hope you watch this and find it as romantic as I always have.

Cheers

And Happy Valentine’s Month.

Alex