A Very British Blog Post

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

I was tagged back in March by Jane Wenham Jones to take part in this Blog Hop….but what with the A-Z Challenge, it’s only now I’ve been able to post my answers! Lol…. Sorry Jane and thank you

Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at freedigitalphotos

Q. Where were you born and where do you live at the moment?
I was born in Catford, South East London, well, Lewisham hospital to be precise which is on the outskirts. But I spent my childhood and early years of my marriage in Catford, moving to Kidbrooke, then Eltham until in 1997 when we decided to move out of London and set up home in Kent. Now, I live in Rochester

Q. Have you always lived and worked in Britain or are you based elsewhere at present? I’m a Brit through and through, but I’m not opposed to working from Italy if someone would buy me a villa with a pool?

Q. Which is your favourite part of Britain?
I LOVE London. What can I say *snigger* It’s funny because when you live there you don’t tend to do the touristy stuff, so I’ve seen more of London since I moved to Kent. I go back on a regular basis.

Q. Have you ‘highlighted’ or ‘showcased’ any particular part of Britain in your books? For example, a town or city; a county, a monument or some well-known place or event?
The book I’m currently working on is set in Blackheath (South East London) and Rochester where I live. My heroine lives here now but was brought up in London. Write what you know I say. All my characters come from “Sowf Eas Lunden”

Q. There is an illusion – or myth if you wish – about British people that I would like you to discuss. Many see the ‘Brits’ as ‘stiff upper lip’. Is that correct?
Ha ha ha, damn right it is! My gran would say “it’s what won us the war!” Lol No, seriously, the thing about the Brits is we’re determined, steadfast, proud and patriotic. Now, if that makes us stiff upper lipped, so be it

  Q. Do any of the characters in your books carry the ‘stiff upper lip’? Or are they all ‘British Bulldog’ and unique in their own way?
All my characters are South East Londoners, so I hope that comes across. One of my female characters is very stiff upper lipped I guess, because in the era it’s set women didn’t really complain. It was very much a case of “you make your bed you lie in it” (another of my grans favourite sayings). It’s only probably the last, what, 20 years, that women in general have had more choices. When I went to school in the 70′s & 80′s we got taught ‘Needlecraft’ and “Home Economics” where I was taught to iron a shirt (The Hubster will say “well, that didn’t sink in then!” Lol). My male characters are very British Bull Dog! Lol

Q. Tell us about one of your recent books
The one I’m working on at the moment is called “Still” It’s a novel about love, regret, competition between friends and the consequences of past decisions. Set in South East London and Kent it’s the story of a mother (Laura) and her daughter (Ruby) who have been estranged for five years, and the journey each of them must now take.

Q. What are you currently working on?
See above….I’m on rewrite number 4 as I’m struggling with the structure But I’m also editing my 2nd novel called “Tangled” which is about a woman who has an affair and the repercussions of that.

Q. How do you spend your leisure time?
What leisure time? Lol Ok, at weekends me and The Hubster like to get out and about. Museums, art galleries, historic houses and castles, that kind of thing. I find it very inspiring.

Q. Do you write for a local audience or a global audience?
Local definitely. Although, I’m very aware that nowadays you should write for a global audience. So if I ever get published in the States there will need to be a lot of changes lol

Q. Can you provide links to your work?
See above link for my ‘online’ work, but there’s not much. I keep meaning to upload more stuff, but never get around to it lol.

Now I’m spose to tag fellow Brits, but I don’t know which of you to choose lol. So I’m just gunna say, if you fancy giving it a go, please do, and leave a link to your post in the comments

Hope you enjoyed that? I did

How To Be Happy In 5 Easy Steps

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Ok, I know, I shouldn’t be here right? But I just had to get involved in Rebecca’s Meme, because I’ve been feeling a bit down (what? On a lovely relaxing break?) which I think has been induced by the looming birthday next week. It’s not that I’m scared of age, just that birthdays are bittersweet nowadays and the whole stressy writing business has taken its toll.

Anyway, back to being tagged by Rebecca in her “How To Be Happy Meme”

I’d been thinking about this recently, after a session at Happy Club with Peter Jones (if you’ve not read How To Do Everything and Be Happy I highly recommend it!!!!) where we were making lists of things that made us happy and trying to find ways to incorporate those moments into our lives.

I went straight home, opened a brand new journal and wrote this on the first page.

I now have a journal dedicated to living the best life i can. So far I’ve written about 20 pages!

So thank you Rebecca, this is exactly what I needed right now.

Vikki’s How To Be Happy in 5 Easy Steps

1. Eat cake! Things are always better after cake

2. Have hobbies and interests! Do things you enjoy – make the most of every moment!

3. Make sure there is ALWAYS someone who is pleased to see you! Friends and family are important.

4. Buy a new pair of shoes! Gorgeous new shoes always make us girlies happy

5. Own a pet! Unconditional love, from a furry friend is just the best!!!!!!

Just writing those down has made me smile

So those are my 5 top tips on how to be happy, or what makes me happy. Now it’s your turn. Give me your 5 in the comments box…make me smile And if you want to post this on your own blog, please link back to Rebecca’s and feel free to tag.

Fun With The Liebster

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

This is a loooong post….but I did have to answer 22 questions!

I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award, twice. There seems to be different versions of this floating about, so I’ll combine the two when it comes to nominating

Firstly, by Blackrooster for this version:

And then by Mandy Webster at Write on The World for this version:

Thank you soooo much, both of you!

So I’m sure most of you know the rules by now of these things, listing facts about yourself, but this one involves asking specific questions. I do like questions, and here I get to answer 22! Lol

Blackrooster asked me:
1. Your favorite book is… I have a couple. The first would be Wuthering Heights and my second would be Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

2. What bugs you the most about the times we live in? Hmmm, that’s a hard one! Probably that people don’t care about each other anymore. Everyone seems to be thinking of number one, what’s in it for me

3. What do you love the most about the times we live in? The Internet! Although The Hubster will be shaking his head lol. Look at the people who are now part of my life who would never have been so 20 years ago. It’s brought people together!

4. Do you have a nickname, if yes, what it is? No, I’ve never really had one to be honest. Boring I know.

5. Do you have a pen name, if yes, what it is? Ahhhhh, well, I have this dream, that me and The Hubster will write a book together and then we’ll be Vikki Roberts *sniggers*

6. When did you start writing? Fiction, in 2010, when I joined a creative writing class in the September. But I’ve been journal writing for years.

7. Is the computer your friend? My iPad and my Mac are my friends

8. What’s your most pronounced personality trait? Oh gawd, naivety? Trying to see the good in people when sometimes there really isn’t any. I’m too trusting and end up getting hurt.

9. When do you think robots will be “smart” enough to do our dirty work for us? Ha ha ha, I hope not, not ever!

10. Who’s the funniest person you know? Probably my daughter, her wit is so quick and sharp…I don’t know where she gets it from lol.

11. Horror or comedy? Comedy, definitely!

Mandy asked me:
1. What made you start blogging? I think I started blogging in 2004 on LiveJournal. I used it like a diary, all personal stuff, but then I stopped in 2008 and haven’t been back to it. There’s lots of stuff on there that isn’t for public consumption lol (it was friends only). One day i’ll go back and read it all then delete it. I started again in 2011 when I did an online writing course. It was their suggestion.

2. You have one month, unlimited funds, and zero repercussions; what do you do? Oh wow, now that’s hard! Lol. I would probably spend it on eating at the finest restaurants! I love food, especially gourmet stuff and of course, there would be no weight gain

3. What is your Spirit Animal? (Hint: does not have to be a REAL animal). Not sure, but I’ve always been drawn to foxes. When I was a child and came face to face with my first one I was scared but fascinated. Then, about 2007 I killed two. It was awful I had a huge 4 wheel drive at the time and they ran out in the road. I was on my own. A woman stopped to help me, or rather comfort me as I was hyperventilating and then 2 young guys stopped and moved them out of the road. It was awful I guess I’ve been trying to make up for that ever since, I feed them when I can.

4. Remember that one thing you did that you hoped nobody would ever find out about? Go ahead and tell that story now? I’m pretty much an open book and believe that when making decisions, don’t do anything you’d be ashamed of later. I try to live by that. It’s really not worth the guilt is it? Ok, nearly beating (note I said nearly) my son over the head with a remote control because he’d got me so angry (he was about 12 at the time). But, like I said, I knew it was wrong, I knew I’d hate myself (not to mention how it would affect him), I knew how I’d feel so I stopped, and apologised. I just snapped. It had never happened before and never happened again.

5. If you could have dinner with any 3 people, living or dead, who would you choose?
I watched Midnight in Paris for the first time recently. Oh wow!!! So it would have to be Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein!

6. When was the last time you tried something new, and what did you do? Last week I started Fasting. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be lol

7. What is your favorite film of all time? My Fair Lady

8. Favorite book(s) of all time? See above

9. If you could go 10 years into the past and tell yourself one thing, what would it be?
Oooooo, that’s a good one. To not take things for granted, your life can change dramatically in just one day! Oh, and warn myself about things that were gunna happen.

10. I’m thinking of taking a vacation; where should I go? Anywhere in Italy!

11. Best reason you called in sick to work, when you weren’t actually sick at all? I’ve pulled sickies, occasionally, but not for any really good reason. Usually to go to job interviews for another job lol

So my nominations are (and please choose whichever logo you want):

Janet at Postcard Fiction
Catherine Johnson
Pauline Conolly
Rebecca Bradley
Cara Thereon
Sara Flower
Mel at Feather Pens Tartan Dreams
Pam at RoughWighting
Lori at Poetry Patio
Peter Germany
Marina at findingtimetowrite

And here are my 11 questions for you lovely bloggers:

1. If you could choose a new name for yourself, what would it be?
2. What is your favourite form of exercise?
3. What is your favourite smell?
4. What is your guilty pleasure?
5. What do you wish you were better at?
6. If you had a choice (but only one), would you rather have a cleaner, a personal shopper or a personal trainer?
7. What 3 things would you take to a desert island?
8. If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
9. If money was no object what would be the first thing you’d buy?
10. What was the last meal you ate?
11. Milk or plain chocolate?

Can’t wait to read your answers, I’m nosey like that

The nominees for the Liebster Award with love (motheroutlaw.wordpress.com)
another ‘blush’ liebster award (plaridel.wordpress.com)
Liebster award (clairelewisco.wordpress.com)
Liebster Nominee… (food4thesoul93.wordpress.com)
11/11: The Liebster Award (offgothepanties.com)

Fruition and Why I Blog

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

As you know, I don’t normally post on a Wednesday, but, I have a very special reason today. It just so happens that two guest posts I’ve done recently have both gone live at the same time.

Firstly, I’m over at Mandy Eve Barnett’s blog being interviewed about my writing (she’s put me under fruition, but I can’t think why lol).

AND

I’m over at Sydney Aaliyah’s blog telling her followers Why I Blog.

Thank you so much ladies, it was fun!

A few days back Patsy Collins nominated me (thank you so much honey!) for The Reality Blog Award. The rules are, acknowledge acceptance, answer the questions and pass it on….simples

The questions:

If you could change one thing, what would it be?  Ooooo, only one? Lol I wish I’d never started smoking.

If you could repeat an age, what would it be?  Thats hard….Probably my late teens, happy days

What one thing really scares you?  Dying! Not because of the pain or illness, because of leaving people I love behind

If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be?  The Queen….just to see what it’s really like

So I’m going to nominate:

Mandy Eve Barnett
AND
Sydney Aaliyah

Keep it real ladies

Awards Galore!

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

I’ve received a few awards in the past month lol

Firstly, The Sunshine Award from Mel at Writerly Goodness

And then Jenny Keller Ford nominated me for all these!

And for my 11th star!

And then Karin Bachman nominated me for The Versatile Blogger award

Thank you so much ladies! I’m feeling very loved Do check out these wonderful blogs

So, the rules are the same for all of these, 7things about yourself. I’m running out if ideas with this one! I’ve done books, facts about me, photos of me growing up, my art work, where I live, what’s left? I know! How about 7 of my most treasured possessions (not inc people and furry things!). So here they are in no particular order:

1. My wedding ring. It’s been with me for nearly 27 years. I’d feel completely lost without it

2. My grandmothers bracelet. I wore this bracelet on my wedding day, as my something old.

3. My grandfathers clock. He owned about 20 clocks, and when he died I was lucky enough to inherit a couple. This one is my favourite.

4. My anniversary bracelet. That The Hubster had made especially.

5. My Peter Blake. That The Hubster bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago.

6. My Kiss sculpture. That was bought on a trip to Rome.

And finally…..my writing notebooks

I have 20 now….not bad for just over 2 years worth of scribbles I refer to them so often it’s incredible.

I could go on and on with this list! I guess I’m the kind of gal who likes to be surrounded by precious things

Right, onto the next bit… I couldn’t possibly nominate 7 bloggers for each of these awards, (i’d be here for hours! lol) so I’ll stick to just 7 in total and let them decide which award they want, hey, have them all if you want to

Jane Ayres at The Beautiful Room
Sandra at Another 12 Novels
Nicky Wells
Florence at Ramblings From The Left
Rebecca Bradley
Mary at The Daily Mayville
Debbie at The Wicked Queens Mirror

I know these award things are time consuming, and I know a lot of you get a bit tired of them…..but i love them because what better way to highlight some great blogs (and bloggers) that you think deserve a pat on the back

Insecure Writers Support Group – January 2013

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Firstly, thank you soooo much for all the entries on yesterday’s post. You guys are amazing! Fantastic stuff! I haven’t replied because I don’t want to influence the hubster in making his decision, so at the moment I’m keeping stum! When he makes his decision on Sunday I can then have my say lol. I’ll announce the winner next Monday (7th).

Right, now where were we…..I won’t be posting on Wednesdays normally, apart from once a month

IWSG Day, created by the brilliant Alex J Cavanaugh seems to come round so quickly every month, but I’m not complaining

I don’t often share how I actually feel on my blog, so IWSG Day is an opportunity for me to have a day of self pity and wallowing lol.

Sooooo, I’ve just started the complete rewrite of But Not Forgotten, which is now The Last Word Cafe. I spent most of the Christmas break flitting from 3rd person to 1st person, weighing up the pro’s and cons, and basically making a decision….which I then changed a week later lol.

I started thinking about my own reading preferences, went back over the last few books that I’ve read. And it seems to be that I like reading first person POV, so it would make sense to write in it wouldn’t it? But, what made me decide to go for 3rd person was the fact that when I write in 1st person it just sounds like me. Who was it that said find what you’re good at and use that to your advantage? Someone in my Faber class told me she loved my voice or rather, my characters voices….Ok, well, if that’s the case it looks like the novel will be in 1st person and expect some very strong South East London (pronounced SOWF EAS LUNDUN) accents

So yep, the decision has been made (thank gawd!) and I’m now on day 3 and feeling nervous….because I so want it to work and I’m terrified that it won’t *bites finger nails*

Terrified seems like such a strong word, but it’s true. I want to come away from the Faber course feeling I’ve achieved something, that it was worth it. I will not fail and will have my novel completed by June. I’m trying to stay positive about the Agent pitch I’ll be doing in June….but, lol Still, I guess I should take comfort in the fact that last year the best piece of work (in our tutors opinion) wasn’t taken up by any of the agents!

I can do this can’t I? Or am I completely delusional? Lol

IWSG: NaNo Down, 50K to Go. (writingreadingandlife.com)
You Decide! 1st Person vs 3rd Person (ninetyninepercentgaming.wordpress.com)

Happy New Year! & A Giveaway

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Courtesy of Stuart Miles freedigitalimages

It’s 2013! Wow, how did that happen?

I hope you all had a lovely night last night

But it’s not only New Year I’m celebrating…on the 1st of January 2012 I gave myself a challenge, to Blog every single day for a year, and today, I have achieved that! GO ME!!!

So to celebrate my success I’m offering a giveaway. As regular readers will know I am a huge fan of prompts, so any books I come across that are full of prompts go straight on my shelf This one, is a gooden!

I’m offering a free brand new copy to one lucky reader who can complete the following sentence……

Vikki rolled over and squinted at the bedside clock, it was 4am, but she’d been trying to sleep for hours.

What did I do next?

Sooooo, leave your answer in the comment box (one sentence will do) and I’ll get the hubster to pick a winner. I’m happy to send overseas by the way and I might even slip in a little extra something

Awwwww, I’m going to miss blogging every day….. But it’ll take the pressure off Thank you so much for all your comments and likes over the past year. I’ve had a wonderful time. And to all my followers, thank you, most of you I don’t even know! Please leave a comment every once in a while so I can say “Hi”

Tell me, what was i doing at 4am? Try to keep it relatively clean people Lol

New Blog Schedule

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

As from the first of January I’ll be changing the blog schedule (and the layout) and will only be posting 4 days a week. It’s gunna feel weird, as I’m so use to posting every day, but, it will free up my time to do other things.

So the new schedule looks like this:

Mondays: Plans for the week
Tuesdays: Faber until April
Wednesdays: Nope, sorry, day off. Apart from one post once a month, IWSG!
Thursdays: Fraid not.
Fridays: A random post.
Saturdays: Faber once a month until April and random stuff.
Sundays: I’ll be chilling

Some of the random posts will be fiction, inspirations, reviews and I’ll even share some pages from my journal. I’ve been working on a timetable (which I may share at some stage). And so far I have filled 12 hours every day with stuff I need to do *gulp*

Awwwww, it’s the end of an era! What will I do with myself? lol. Probably start wading through this lot and trying to write a novel *snigger*

I’d just like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to everyone who’s commented, liked, followed and read my blog. 2012 hasn’t been a bad year all told. There have been moments where I wanted to give up (blogging and writing), but I’m glad I stuck with it. I’ve met some fantastic people on this journey, and I’m so looking forward to sharing 2013 with you all

Don’t they say a change is as good as a holiday?

Got any plans to change your Blog for 2013?

I’m Collecting Stars – Update

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

This, and yesterday’s post, seem so unimportant in light of the events in Newtown recently. Us Brits may by 1000′s of miles away, but, you guys across the seas are all still in our thoughts. Unfortunately, we too have had to deal with the unthinkable I have no words that could even begin to give comfort to those affected, but I feel what Jeff Goins had to say summed up my thoughts.

So if you’re not really in the mood for participating in this I totally understand.

I seem to have acquired another 5 stars, making that the 6 in total

HUGE shout out to the following bloggers who nominated me!

The lovely Bridget Straub

The talented Patsy Collins

The wonderful Paula Acton

The super Sabrina at Creativity or Crazy

and…

The fabulous Joanne Phillips

Thank you so much ladies

Check out The Blog Of The Year Award Page for rules and info on how it all works.

And now….my final round of nominations are:

Mandy Eve Barnett
Melanie Macek
Sydney Aaliyah
Jenny Keller Ford
Brigitte Surette
Chris Stocking
Elliott at Brainsplats
Rebecca Bradley
Roger Colby
Kate at 4amWriter
Sue at Sassyspeaks
Nicky Wells
Ayesha Shroeder

and finally…..
Holly Michael who set me on this journey!

Hell, I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone You all deserve to be Blog of The Year!

I’m Collecting Stars! Blog of the Year 2012 (the-view-outside.com)
Blog of the Year 2012 Award (angiesgrapevine.wordpress.com)
Blog of the Year 2012 Award ~ (globallightmindsdailyinspirations.wordpress.com)

The Liebster

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Sorry I’m behind with responding to your comments from yesterday, but I was up London at a publishing event (which I thoroughly enjoyed!) and didn’t get in til late last night *yawns* Will catch up today I promise!

I’ve been nominated by the fabulously talented Kim Cox for The Liebster Award!!!! Thank you so much Kim!

Here are the rules:

1. When you receive the award, you post 11 random facts about yourself and answer the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you.

2. Pass the award onto 11 other blogs (while making sure you notify the blogger that you nominated them!)

3. You write up 11 NEW questions directed towards YOUR nominees.

4. You are not allowed to nominate the blog who nominated your own blog!

5. You paste the award picture into your blog. (You can Google the image, there are plenty of them!)

11 Random Facts About Me….ok, well, you know I’m a rule breaker, so rather than give you 11 facts, I’ll share with you 11 pieces of my artwork. Hope you like them

My Questions From Kim

Q. What were you doing the last time you really had a good laugh?
Oh gawd, I can’t remember! It’s usually something to do with my daughter and husband mucking about

Q. What is more difficult for you; looking into someone’s eyes when you are telling someone how you feel, or looking into someone’s eyes when they are telling you how they feel?
When I’m speaking, definitely!

Q. Neat freak or chaos theory?
Chaos all the way!

Q. You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?
Jump in of course!

Q. At a movie theater which arm rest is yours?
The one in the right

Q. You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days?
I think I would only tell my husband. Spend it with the people I love

Q. What is your quirkiest habit and how long have you had it?
Oooooo, ummmmm, probably the fact that I have to have the volume of the stereo in the car on an even number. I don’t know why and I don’t know when it started lol

Q. If the professor on Giligan’s Island can make a radio out of coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?
I haven’t got a clue! Lol

Q. What song always makes you happy when you hear it?
Anything by Oasis!

Q. Tattoos or no? If so, how many, where and what do they look like and if not, have you ever thought of getting one?
I have two. One just at the top of my bum, and one on my shoulder

Q. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
This! I made it

I’m going to nominate…

Sam at Him, Her and Us
Rebecca Bradley
Sydney Aaliyah
Pauline Conolly
Peter Germany
Zoe at Ozonenut
Madalyn Morgan
Kirsten at A Scenic Route
Sue at Sassy Speaks
Marina at Finding Time To Write
Jane at The Beautiful Room

And here are my 11 questions:

1. Are you a punctual person or are you usually late?
2. How many hours a week do you spend watching TV? Now come on, be honest!
3. What do you wear in bed?
4. In a heated argument do you walk away or keep at it until you’ve had the final word?
5. How many times a day do you look in a mirror? Come on, you can tell us.
6. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
7. Do you consider yourself lucky?
8. Do you fear death?
9. What are your top 3 pet peeves?
10. What character in The Wizard of Oz are you most like?
11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?