A Book, A Baby, and A Sweaty Guy...

I am so excited to have a very special writer visit today!!

About a year ago, I was out blogging and ran into a little book, “Cat and the Dreamer”. It was a Saturday morning and my boys were still in bed, so I downloaded the story and began reading. I got so absorbed by it, I failed to make Saturday pancakes and forced the boys to eat cold cereal.

Since Annalisa was my partner in child neglect, I followed her blog and stalked her until she decided to call me friend. J

Find Annalisa at her Blog
On Facebook
On Goodreads

So, when Annalisa launched her new book “That Sadie Thing”, I was totally eager to invite her over for a chat.

Annalisa has many skills, but she has two I am particularly interested in…areas I am so very weak.  

They both involve briefs.

How do I write a short story and how do I not look like my grandma in my undies?

I lured her in with tea (she’s from across the pond…the Atlantic one).

Annalisa…come on in…kick the dirty clothes out of your way…my boys change in the living room…I think it’s because I don’t allow TV in the bedrooms…but just be careful you don’t trip and break your neck. I only carry the minimal amount of insurance.

Comfy? She nods, maybe looks a little frightened, but I push on…

I have a couple of good questions that I want good answers to. (And by good, I mean I better like the answers!)

I know your day job is exercise guru, right? I love the term guru!

Then I will call you Guru from here on out! So Ms. Guru, you're skinny...I assume that means you know what you're doing so… Help me!! I have tummy flab. A bit of jelly belly. What's the easiest, and by easy I mean, what's the best way to lose without giving up chocolate and not breaking a sweat?  

*Got to love those Brits, she didn’t roll her eyes at the question. Just flashed a little smile and said…

I started exercising so I could carry on eating chocolate - but I'm afraid it does mean breaking into a sweat.

CRAP! I mean I’m not at all surprised, but I had hope, ya know?

Well, walking is a great way to burn extra calories every day, but a couple of sessions a week of high impact exercise would be ideal. You can even do it in the privacy of your own bedroom. A circuit of squats, press ups (or modified press ups), jumping jacks, running up and down stairs for 20 minutes!

Press ups? That the same thing as a push-up?

Show me a push-up?

Look! Koopmans is out promoting his Blog O' Hop! Take it away Mark! I wasn’t about to break a sweat, not even for a demo!

(This is not really Mark Koopmans, it's Frank C. Müller, courtesy Wiki Commons)


Yes, thanks Mark. Push-up press up; they’re interchangeable.

And not something I care to do…soooo…onto the next topic!!

Authors are always looking for ways to get their name out there. Published shorts can be a plank on the platform, but the problem is...writing short stuff is HARD!!!

I've tried (and failed) many times. You, however, know how to do it. You have quite the list of short stories published and even have that new book, "That Sadie Thing", a collection of wonderful short stories available for sale from Amazon, simply click here  (See how I worked that plug in? I know, I’m good!) 

So, what are some of the secrets of the short tale? 

I've always found short stories much easier to write than novels - it's interesting you say short fiction is a way to build a platform, because when I first started and really wanted to publish collections of short stories I was told I needed a novel as a platform before a collection would be considered! Attitudes are always changing.

The reason I find shorts easier than novel lengths is because I don't have to explain anything in a short story. I have one that hasn't been published yet where a woman wakes up one morning and she's completely alone - all the people have disappeared, leaving radios on, cars in the drive etc. I don't explain it - it's the reader's job! If I was writing it as a novel, I'd have to come up with some plausible explanation.

In short stories, I can dip into a moment in the lives of the characters, be a little bit nosey and then leave again before they start doing the boring stuff like grocery shopping.

I don't actually think there's a secret - I think people are drawn to short stories or novels. If you can do both with ease, then you are very lucky. 

Now, before you (and all the rest of you guys!) go...mind doing me a favor? 

This is Norah.

She's my great niece.
(She gets her good looks from me, can't you tell?) 

Norah is competing for a cutest baby photo contest and she wants votes.

Click HERE and vote on entry #24

(Did you notice how I Jedi mind tricked you there?)