Search

Search only in certain items:

    Cardflow+ by Qrayon

    Cardflow+ by Qrayon

    Productivity and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    We love index cards. We use them a lot. They are a versatile and surprisingly powerful tool for...

    Strike Knight HD

    Strike Knight HD

    Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    STRIKE KNIGHT HD is now available on the iPad for FREE with beautiful high resolution graphics!!! ...

    The Courier-Mail Edition

    The Courier-Mail Edition

    News and Magazines & Newspapers

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Experience today's Edition of The Courier-Mail, including The Sunday Mail, like never before, with...

Rating: 4.5

The Breakout Novelist is a fantastic handbook that should be on every writer's desk. It should be marked up, highlighted, paper-clipped, and sticky-noted (if that's a word. Let's pretend it is). There is so much great advice and information in here it would take weeks and multiple readings to really get it all: but it's not meant to be read through from start to finish. It's a handbook, workbook, dictionary type tool.

There are many categories such as plot, theme, characters, chapters on voice and hyper-reality, protagonists vs. heroes, and information about what to do when you've got your manuscript done and "ready." There are exercises questions, prompts, and examples carefully explained and outlined. It's easy to read and understand and doesn't feel like an instruction manual: it's fun and enjoyable and interesting to read.

I wholeheartedly recommend any serious writer—just starting or multi-published—to grab a copy of The Breakout Novelist.



check out my blog for an excerpt/guest post: http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com/2011/04/review-and-guest-post-breakout-novelist.html
  
Amazing Crayon Drawing was truly amazing. Remember how Awesome used to be a word to describe something that was truly "Awe-some?" well, it's Awesome.

Looking at the drawings were really inspiring and amazing. When I think of crayons, I think of cheap kids art supplies. My family business is retail art supplies and art classes for kids ages 4-12, and we don't have your typical Crayola crayons. We have the fancy pastels and the high-quality pencils and stuff. But Hammond uses Crayola, something I never considered a professional artist's tool.

Crayon drawing looks a lot like colored pencil or hard pastel on a gritty paper. depending on how hard you press you get either a buffed glossy look, or a light colored pencil look.

The instructions are good, though I can't draw and don't feel that this book would make me any better at it, but it definitely leads artists through the step by step process of laying down colors in a realistic way.

Recommendation: Ages 8+ to anyone who loves to draw with color (at a very reasonable price).
  
My Very First Story Time: Cinderella
My Very First Story Time: Cinderella
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cinderella: Fairy Tale with picture glossary and an activity (My Very First Story Time) by Pat-a-Cake, Rachel Elliot, Tim Budgen is a retelling of a much loved story, only with a difference, this has a multicultural slant.

Cinderella, (along with many of the other characters in this book) is portrayed as mixed heritage. She is also more capable of looking after herself, and a much better role model for young girls since this story is less about her being a slave to her ugly sisters and her “woe-is-me” pity-party and more about how she makes things happen for herself as a valued member of her society. Albeit a magical one.

I’d say this is great reading for children three years and up, as this has paper pages and doesn’t seem to be for an early self-reader, despite the title, but you can still read this story out loud to younger children at bedtime.

A charming book, full of diversity, simple rhythmic words and brightly coloured illustrations.
  
Cait Morgan has traveled to Nice to present a paper for a sick colleague when she runs into her former boss, Alistair Townsend. Unable to say no, she finds herself at a birthday party for Alistair’s wife that night. Dinner is ruined when Alistair drops dead at the table and the other guests start feeling sick. With the police looking at Cait, she needs to figure out what is really happening.

Cait is an interesting character because she has an excellent memory but a habit of judging others quickly. I did find myself annoyed by her at times, but that never lasted for long. The suspects make a strong cast as they have layers to them that Cait has to peal back before she can solve the crime. And the plot heads into some areas I wasn’t expecting that I found interesting. I had a couple of niggles with the climax, but they were minor.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2018/02/book-review-corpse-with-silver-tongue.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
TR
The Romances of Chretien de Troyes
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I really enjoyed reading these Medieval stories. My favorite one was Erec and Enide. I had to read these for one of my college classes on Medieval Literature and it was very interesting to be able to read.

I loved, in Erec and Enide, how it was set up into three acts and how all of them were so different from each other.

When I was rereading some other fiction that I really enjoy, I noticed some allusions to the Erec and Enide story, specifically the hunt of the White Stag which I thought was very cool. I'm not sure whether or not the author meant to do it, but it was definitely there.

I had to do a paper on Erec and Enide, so I was able to analyze their relationship and how i changes over the course of the story.

I'm keeping this review pretty short and I may come back to add more later.

I recommend this to anyone who really likes Medieval literature and stories about King Arthur and his court.