L.J. Diva

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2017 IN REVIEW! How Mercury ate Mars, shoved itself up Uranus, and then shit great big Mars Bars on me.

by Filed Under: Business & Legalities, Humans & Behaviour, Life - Death - Health, The World Leave a Comment

My year in review, oh what a year it has been.
 
January: started off hot and horrible as it does and I was working through the whole thing. Mum had doctor’s appointments and scans and I went on a low calorie shake diet and lost 6 kilos/14pounds/1stone in three weeks. Started getting some books done in paperback.
 
February: I came back to blogging under this name and another name as well. I lost 3 kilos/7pounds/.5stone for the month. Bought some blog templates for other websites, and a bunch of photos from Shutterstock for books which were full steam ahead.
 
March: I started releasing Poems of a Musical Flavour under my real name and was getting the paperbacks done. I released Retribution under this name and made tonnes of plans for the year. I think I also managed to buy myself some things.
 
April: The shit hit the fan in April. Our local phone company store treated me like absolute shit every time I went in. They were so incredibly unhelpful that I rang the company and they finally helped, paying that month’s phone bill and sorting out the mess their store had created. A second company, our Social Security, decided to screw with me and cut off part of my money as it was “in review”, and mum’s bank decided to screw with her.
 
By now, I was down 12kilos/28pounds/2stone. Went to see gyno for screwed up menstrual cycle, he changed my pills back to the ones he took me off in 2008.
Had books corrected.
 
May: Social Security cut my extras completely and I had to hurriedly re-arrange the publishing schedule for the year and do as much as I could towards it. It also meant most things had to be moved for later in the year but all of the Poems had to be finished. They’re still not, now, the covers need tweaks, but since I’m with a publishing company…more on that later… Had the current novel, Forever, edited. 
 
Bought a dress from eBay that never arrived and blogged about it over at Jewel Divas Style. Had to go after the postal company for a refund.
 
Went back to the gyno.
 
June: Mum had a visit to the cancer clinic, and I had a couple of doctor’s appointments. Joined Author’s Alliance and bought a bunch of domain names and a business name as I decided to set up a publishing house.
 
At this point I’ve left lots out. Mums had multiple appointments because the doctor, and the hospital, screwed her around with her breast screens, but I can’t keep up with which months.
 
July: Bought more web templates for certain websites and decided to move hosting companies because ANOTHER company was screwing me over. They pissed me around so badly, they left websites down and didn’t bother helping at all. Fuck them!
 
Joined Gsuite for all of my emails, posted my half yearly schedule, and my style site, Jewel Divas Style turned 8.

Had to delete Indesign because of the cost. They stuffed me around with the final payment too. Decided to trademark three names.
 
Had eye test done, apparently need glasses to make reading clearer! Found out I had a fibroid in my uterus.

August: Bought another web template, had books corrected (costing me a bundle over the years). Decided to buy more business names and domain names I’m up to…quite a few… and I changed my publishing house name. Started setting up the L.J. Diva and Porn Star Brothers websites.
 
Mum finally got in to the hospital for her fat legs and was told she may need them bandaged every day to get the swelling down. 
 
September: renewed my Sleuths and Norton subscriptions, and Jewel Divas business name. Decided to trademark a bunch of names for business. Way too many! Had gained weight so went back on diet and lost 3 kilos/7pounds/.5stone, and had hand x-rays.
 
October: bought a second-hand Macbook Pro from eBay and downloaded Vellum for doing my paperbacks which will save me massive amounts. The L.J. Diva and Porn Star Brothers websites were professionally finished and they went live.
 
Got the four paperback interiors done for the Porn Star Brothers novellas. Decided Vellum was not good enough for the overall look I wanted in paperback and went back to MS Word. Also decided to keep Poems, Bones, and #teenblogger professional looking with the book designer I use. Finished off another website. 
 
Found out I had osteoarthritis in my fingers as well as a gallstone, and that fibroid I was told was in my uterus, nope, ON my uterus and not causing the mega bitch bleeding I’ve been having.
 
Mum finally called the hospital for her leg appointment. Had a bunch of appointments, mum found out she had another cancer which was removed.
 
We also had a mass amount of tradies doing work, and our manager came for the yearly inspection. Still haven’t got my money from Social Security.
 
Got my tax done, waste of money, but I need to do it to keep my business number and I learned the hard way a few years back when I had to file four tax returns at a cost of over $800 and try and get my business number back. I’ve done it every year since.
 
Ended the month with more issues than when I started and posted about the new Porn Star Brothers website.
 
November: Revealed my new author website and posted book reviews on Valley of the Dolls and Lace. This is the last month of the year that I’ve been blogging, and hopefully December and January will be better. I’ve posted my writing schedule’s yearly update below. Most of the list has been done except for what’s left, and that will be done eventually over the next few months and into the new year.
 
Next year’s schedule is all ready to go, and who knows, maybe I’ll get a holiday over xmas and new year’s. Three days off here and there.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 
In February I told you of my writing plan for the year. Now it’s time for a full year catch up.
 
I’ve edited the plan to show what’s happened and what hasn’t so I’ve colour coded all of them. Green is for ‘done’, orange is for ‘in the process of’, red is for ‘not done yet’.
 
(1) Under Tiara King the two series I had planned to write have been waylaid for another year or two but…
 
– 1 – I did release the six book series, Poems Of A Musical Flavour, from March across e-book. The paperbacks have been mostly done and need tweaking as setting up my own publishing house came up, and along with the omnibus edition in e-book and paperback, will hopefully be out March 2018.
 
– 2 – I released two books in paperback, How To Be A Jewel Diva and Closet Confidential in May. I have decided to add to them in 2018 and will re-release under my own imprint.
 
– 3 – I haven’t got #teenblogger to Ellen DeGeneres yet, but it’s in the planning.
 
– 4 – I want to get my jewellery back into its own website but it’s on the plan, so we’ll see. Selling has been on hold during the year to save money and time. I’m still looking for wordpress.org templates that would suit the type of website look I want, but with everything else going on, this won’t happen for some time.
 
(2) Under T.K. Wrathbone
 
 – 1 – I released a paperback in March called Two Bone: Anthology 2 which is 2016’s stories in paperback.
 
– 2 – I got three stories written, typed up, edited, assessed, and out along with an anthology. Thank God I had already done the e-covers. All four were released late in the year.
 
– 3 – Will get the paperback version done professionally and it will be out in March 2018…I think.
 
(3) Under L.J. Diva
 
– 1 – I’ve started getting the first four Porn Stars books done in paperback plus an omnibus edition of all four and release them across
September and October.  Didn’t quite happen! I only did the interiors myself late October, but the covers need to be done and they will be out next year. The omnibus e-book was released in September and the paperback version will be on sale in March 2018 along with the four novellas and the paperback of Forever, as well as the e-book of Love Never Dies.
 
– 2 – I typed up book #2 and had it edited, assessed, and a cover done for release in September 2017, it is called Forever. The paperback will be done for release in 2018.
 
– 3 – get books #3, #4, #5, #6 typed up along with any short stories if I have time. (so far, only #3 is typed up and being edited this month)
 
– 4 – Did the websites for the book series, plus an author one purely for books and they are live.
 
– 5 – Got family and business trees for the book series made up. The Stephanopoulos family tree is huge and keeps growing with every book, along with the business tree. I also have character lists and a family/book timeline typed up but that is an ongoing process. All are up on the Porn Star Brothers site now.
 

What I did on my recent writing holiday, a quick catch up on mum and the weird weather we’ve had.

by Filed Under: L.J. Diva's Books, Publishing, The World, Writing 2 Comments

 
*a quick catch up on mum and the weather*
 
She went in for an endoscope on Wednesday the 25th of May to see if 1 – the ulcer had gone and 2 – why she wasn’t able to keep her food down because she’s been vomiting a lot since January.
 
The weather was overcast and rained off and on all day while I op shopped. On Thursday the weather was sunny and warm yet we had a rainbow in the morning. You know the old song, a rainbow at night the Sheppard’s delight, a rainbow in the morning the Sheppard’s warning. Well it didn’t rain even though the rainbow was there. 
 
On Friday it pissed buckets down and reached about 12 degrees celcius which is freakin’ cold and I dug my winter woolies out even though it ain’t winter yet. On Saturday it was sunny once again, Sunday was overcast and cold and it’s been like that since. Weird shit! One day on, one day off.
 
It turns out mum’s stomach is full of infection thanks to the hospital pissing around wasting time and not doing anything about the ulcer  back in February when they found it. Basically, it’s festered. She was admitted and has had a tube shoved down her nose sucking that shit out since so it’s just over a week. Today, Friday, she has surgery to hopefully get rid of the fucking shithead and so I’m not sure when she’s coming home.
 
Now, onto the post.
 
Recently while the school holidays were on, I had a writing holiday. Now this approach worked wonders for me because I had three novellas to get out and didn’t want to worry about being online and dealing with the blog and social media.
 
When I write, I need absolute peace and quiet and no interruptions. And thankfully, after finishing of the last T.K. Wrathbone story, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (now available for pre-sale at Amazon, Smashwords and Kobo) just days before starting these books, I decided the only way to get these novellas written was to take time off and write them since I had planned to start them last December but then mum got sick and my plans got fucked, so they were pushed back and back and back until April when I finally fit them into the schedule.
Below is how I started, with three 240 page A4 spiral notebooks, a 10 pack of blue pens and a new pack of post it notes.
 
The day before I read some inspiring work by Jackie Collins
 

 

And then I got to work. I found by the end of book 1, which took me four days to write 120 handwritten pages because I only write on the right hand side of the paper (it’s so I can make notes and add extra stuff on the left hand side opposite it during editing and reviews), that it came quickly, writing 40 pages on Sunday, 30 each on Monday and Tuesday and finishing it off with 20 pages on Wednesday, that I was going to need another notebook.
 
 
All to write the conclusion to the stories, and because one of the notebooks did not have the full amount of pages in it (talk about rip off!) I raced out and bought another notebook. 
 
As you can see, I went through seven pens, albeit not from the pack I bought especially as I ended up finishing off another pack I had been using. And I went through all of the small post its.
Book 2 took me about 7 days because he was hard and took his time coming. The third book took me 10 days as my writing plan for that was different. Book 1 and 2 were written in the holiday, book 3 came from May 8th to May 16th with days off for shopping and doctors in between. I was tired and my hand was cramping so I figured if I wrote at least 10 pages (or 1 chapter) a day then I could get it done in 12 days. I got it done in ten because in two days I wrote four chapters. So he came at a relaxed pace.
 
I also managed to get a hell of a lot off my list. Below is the huge three month list I’ve been using this year in front of a very small part of my Nancy Drew collection. This is April, May and June and this pic was taken at the beginning of April (I had already gone through Jan, Feb and March). On the other side of the cardboard (my own DIY To Do list) is July, August and September, then I’ll do another one for Oct, Nov and Dec.

 

And here it is at the beginning of June below, now in front of my Jackie Collins burgeoning collection. I re-arranged a few things in the last few months as I suddenly started buying Jackie’s books from everywhere. As you can see, even caring for mum, writing under two names and releasing under another, it’s all in the To Do list. If you have your list in front of you with everything spread out across the months, it is easy to keep up and keep across three different writing names.
 
As you can see, under Lady Jewels Diva there is still work to do as it was pushed back, but that’s okay, because the novellas I wrote in April and May will be typed up this month, all 360 pages of it. 
 
Yep, I do the handwriting and the typing!
 
As for anything left, this month is for getting the print versions of my T.K. Wrathbone and #teenblogger books into print. So not so busy, then come July it’s all about the novellas being assessed and the covers created, releasing the rest of my T.K. Wrathbone books and writing more for that pen name. Come September, the novellas will be released and then comes getting them into print next year.
 
Yep, even next year is already in the planning!
 
That’s how my writing is coming along and how I used the school holidays for productivity even though I don’t have kids. Holidays do come in so handy!

 

God I hate the new domestic violence ad for the Australian government.

by Filed Under: Humans & Behaviour, Manners & Decency, The World 4 Comments

This is the latest ad in showing the violence against women, that the Australian government has produced.



Every time I see this ad it enrages me, not just for the pathetic bullshit humans have taught their children, but more for the fact that so many women have not taught their daughters any better.

If a boy hits you or abuses you it’s because he likes you!

I was never taught that bullshit  because from grade 1 I had boys chasing me around my school, cornering me and assaulting me. 

It wasn’t funny.

I was hit, punched, spat on, dropped onto the ground which fractured my coccyx bone, sworn at, called names and not once did I EVER think or believe it was because he liked me. If it was a man doing all of that it would be assault plain and simple. But because it’s a boy it’s because he’s a boy and he likes you.

All I want to do with this ad is scream at the women to get the fuck up and fight back. Stop sitting on the floor like a pathetic piece of shit and stand up for yourself.

How sad that the human race has been dumbed down. How sad that political correctness and molly-coddling of children has gone too far past the possible point of no return. How sad that women are not to taught to defend themselves. How sad that Boomer parents didn’t teach their Gen Y children to defend themselves. How sad that women think that defending yourself is just more violence and not a human right. How sad that women would rather their child stand or lie there and be beaten up because they don’t believe in fighting back and defending one self.

How fucking sad that some human beings have become as dumb as shit.

I am over these ads. I know they are made for a reason. I know that men are beaten up as well. But violence is violence no matter what the age. Women beat up men, children and other women. Men beat up women, children and other men. Children are beating up their mothers, fathers, other kids and raping and molesting other human beings.

What the fuck has this world come to when children as young as ten are raping and molesting other children and elderly women? Either the male side of the species is incredibly sick and we need to get rid of them, or we all need to get tough and straighten these little bastards out before they get to adult hood.

Either way, I am over women not standing up for themselves and fighting back. I am over pathetic women who have been taught badly, and don’t get their god damn acts together.

It’s time to grow up and be an adult and not that pathetic little child who was taught that if a boy treats you badly it’s because he likes you. If anything, this is the one thing that has fucked women up mentally over anything else, and it’s time for women to sort their shit out and start fighting back.

With Donald Trump trash talking women, I ask why men treat women that way!

by Filed Under: Humans & Behaviour, Manners & Decency, The World 2 Comments

With Donald Trump’s recent, and not so recent, comments about women (although I agree with his comments about Rosie O’Donnell as I can’t stand her either), and all of the sexist misogynistic banter on social media I, as I’m sure many others are asking, why do men do this?

Why do grown arse adult men, who know better, who have wives, sisters, daughters, think that it’s okay to talk about women in such a
way? Especially when they would rip the guts out of any guy who spoke that way to their daughter.
 
Has it got to do with their age? I doubt it. Sure they may be stuck in a certain century with their knuckles dragging on the ground, but many men of that era DO NOT speak that way to women.
 
Has it got to do with their upbringing? Sure some of them may have seen their fathers treat their mothers badly and followed suit once an adult, but many men of that upbringing DO NOT speak to women that way.
 
Has it got to do with hating their ex-wives, hence they have been turned against women? Sure, there are many men, just as there are many women, who have been turned off the opposite sex by bad experiences with their partners, but many men with bad past relationships DO NOT speak to women that way.
 
So what the bloody hell has it got to do with?

They don’t hate women, they had a decent upbringing, what in fuck’s name makes them speak to, and treat, women so badly?
 
Look at what males do to women on social media. Rape jokes, fat jokes, whore jokes. I know that it’s probably a genetic hatred of women in
general, as men were genetically modified to hate women right from the dawn of humans, as you could go back over the centuries to show how much men hated women by the way they treated them, but in this day and age, what in fuck’s name makes males treat women that way?
 
Why do they do it? Does it make them feel so big and so good when they put down someone below them? I know all about people like this. They hate themselves so much that they must tear down anyone who seems to be happier, have a better life and have more things in general, just so they feel better about themselves. Just so they look big to all their mates.
 
Because that’s what it’s like in school, and in the real world. Get them on their own and they’re gutless little cowards who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Get them in a group and mob mentality sets in. They do it to look big and feel good. But they don’t really. We know they don’t. Because afterwards, when the glow dies down, they’re still the tiny little pissant nothings they were before they even opened their mouths.

How ironic!



The Walking Dead, Forever, Politics and some author called Chuck Wendig.

by Filed Under: Authors & Books, Movies & TV, The World 6 Comments

ooohhhooohhhhhh it’s friday the 13th ooohhhoooohhh let’s get on with it.
 
1 – We had a vote to have an election spill at the beginning of this week. The Liberal party voted 61 to 39 in favour of keeping Tony Abbott as Prime Minister and not having a spill.
 
Morning shows tried doing their live crosses from Parliament house only to be drowned out by the aboriginals waving their flags and screaming about deaths in custody and stolen children. The cops moved in too late. They allowed them to get right up behind the show’s stage and I would have been worried for my life having them so close.
 
2 – Survivors of The Lindt Café siege have been on TV. Channel nine had one lot, channel seven the other. None of them crying, none looking overly emotional. Channel nine was advertising their interview three weeks after xmas and this only happened a week before xmas.
 
If I had a gun in my face I would be too traumatized to go on TV.
 
In fact, it all looked a touch fake to me. No tears, no nothing. So much for being traumatised.
 
And what I don’t get is why some people’s first thoughts after something happens are “let’s get on TV and talk about it”. Why is that more important than recovering from the experience you’ve just had?
 
I don’t get it. I really don’t get why a TV show or magazine interview comes first and foremost.
 
You may be able to watch it here.
 
3 – The Walking Dead premièred this week with what could be seen as a boring episode. There was no focus on what had happened to Beth, no Maggie grieving, no tears shed, and the funeral was for Tyreese not Beth. It’s like an episode was left out and we go from them being outside of the hospital to suddenly taking Noah home to see his family. Too much info left out for my liking.
 
And how did Noah’s kid brother get out of his room to bite Tyreese in the first place? We saw him look to his left and saw the shadows at the bottom of the door but the door was clearly closed. How did a zombie kid open a door? Does this mean they can do more than just bite now? Who knows? But Noah certainly had no issue with stabbing his kid brother in the head. And where did the guy in the bathroom come from? Surely he would have been able to walk out at the sound of the door opening and closing, yet this zombie seemed to wait until not only had Tyreese been bitten and the kid killed, but Noah yelling and running off for help. Too much time passed for a normal zombie to leave it until he decided to come out.
 
The other lack of continuity was how they put Tyreese into the car. He went in feet first, his head was on the right passenger side, yet when he dies and they pulled him out, they pulled him out head first. Not possible and I noticed it right away. 

And how did they kill him? There was no visible head wound when he was in the ground, no blood, his hat not on his head covering any wounds. How did they stop him turning?

 
4 – Forever started two nights ago here in Aus and while I’m a bit over TV cop dramas, the twist helps move it along. And Ioan Gruffudd isn’t too bad to look at either. What annoys me about shows is they shoot first ask questions later. Why did she need to arrest him because she found out he was on the train? She had no evidence what-so-ever that he was involved with anything but instead of simply going around there herself they issued a warrant. And I didn’t think they could enter without serving that warrant to the store/home owner otherwise the search would be illegal. Either way, that was stupid. And continuity had an issue in this show too, just a pity the person in charge doesn’t notice their errors.
 
5 – In the battle with my weight I’ve decided to try Zumba. I bought a box set off ebay and will be starting on Monday in the morning before breakfast. God help me.
6 – Quote of the week goes to Chuck Wendig. It’s only a part of the conversation he was having but it says so much. Check the full article here.
 
 
 

The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games opening was nothing but a staged musical

by Filed Under: Movies & TV, The World Leave a Comment

The 2014 Commonwealth Games ceremony was shown here in Aus three times yesterday and from the opening scenes all I thought was…musical.
 
It looked like a musical set on a much larger scale in front of a much larger audience. From the costumes to the props, to the big ole Nessie. It looked unprofessional, lacking in maturity, and clearly lacked the money to make it better than what it could have been.

And if John Barrowman from Torchwood and Doctor Who was the best they could do for “talent” then good grief.

Ewan McGregor and Billy Connelly popped up via recorded links, Rod Stewart came for a sing along and for the love of God, Susan Boyle stuffed the first line of Mull of Kintyre.

Here in Aus we have what’s known as the School Spectacular. It’s where New South Wales school kids get together once a year in the entertainment centre and put on a performance for friends, family and general show-goers. It’s also shown on tv.

Below are two pics, the first is from the opening of the Comm Games, the second is from a School Spec. See the similarities? The Comm Games opening was a disappointment, but clearly only the best that Scotland could do. Not something I’d be proud of putting on.

 

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