Cally Pepper's Blog

Happy New Year to all my readers!

I don’t generally get too excited about Year’s Eve; I’m not a party animal and I prefer to spend my New Year fairly quietly, my choice being a meal and a film at the cinema with my hubby then home to bed. In fact, I’m ashamed to say I’m usually fast asleep by the turn of midnight.

I do, however, like to reflect on the year that has passed and the year to come. But last year, not so much. I lost my mum on New Year’s Eve last year. So being forced into a new year without my mother was painful and it must have been well into the year before I would admit that time had actually moved on. I was very close to my mum, we were like best friends, sisters. I knew every memory in her head, I knew what she was going to say before she even said it. We used to laugh together all the time, we would giggle like school-girls and cry like babies over sentimental stuff.

So the whole of last year, 2013, was difficult for me. I did all the normal things but I was lost inside. I didn’t really know who I was any more. Of course the one wonderful thing that came from last year was that my first book, my debut novel, ‘Bird Without Wings’, was published. I do wish my mum was here to see that, I think she would have been proud.

So turning the corner into 2014 is a very therapeutic for me. I did attempt to send a ‘wishing lantern’ into the sky last night, with the idea of sending it up to heaven for my mum. To let her know I haven’t forgotten. Never will, in fact.

It seemed like a perfect evening for a sky lantern, very dark cloudless sky and very little breeze. But after standing in the garden holding this paper thing in the air, striking half a box of matches in an attempt to set light to it, we realised it wasn’t going to happen. Hopefully nobody saw us out there, me in my Tigger onesey (we won’t dwell on that, suffice to say it’s not a good look on a middle-aged woman) and hubby in his pyjamas and slippers. And then it started to rain, just a little bit, there was much frantic striking of matches to get the thing into the sky before it got wet. The final straw was when a huge tear appeared in the lantern. So that was that. So the garden sheds in Merseyside last night were safe from being ignited by a wayward sky lantern.

So it’s 2014, a fresh New Year. This is the year I have to find myself again, time to move on and remember that although we do lose people along the way, they never leave us whilst we have love in our hearts for them. You really don’t need a sky lantern.

So here’s to 2014 – hopefully a good year for everybody! Me? I have two books which I am hoping to finish this year. The sequel to Bird Without Wings, and another, very different, book. So 2014? An exciting year, hopefully. I can’t wait!

I recently took part in the ‘Goodreads Giveaway’ – where an author gives away a set number of books free to readers before or around publication date, and it is a sort of understanding that the reader will leave a review on Goodreads. I decided to send out 20 signed books, I really did want to know what people thought of the book.

But I was nervous. Actually, I was terrified. The only people who had read my book so far were kindly friends and relatives, the people who worked for the publisher, a professional critique organisation and the ‘Writers Circle’ group that I attend. But I still hadn’t come across anybody who would be brutally honest if they didn’t like the book.

So this was the first reaction from real readers, a cross section of the people who will be buying the book; my readers.

I sent out the books three weeks ago and waited with bated breath for the first review to appear.

The first two reviews came in on 14th November, another on 19th and the most recent came in yesterday. I am on an absolute high.

"I received this book for free from the Goodreads ‘First Reads’ program. I loved it! When does the next book in the series come out? A coming of age novel with a girl who is just finding out she is fae and that she has to save the fae from destruction. Well written and easily read. Definitely a book I will recommend to friends."

"So... I found this book to be a quick, easy read. I really liked this book - as is probably obvious from the rating I've given it.

Scarlett was a really interesting, well-rounded character. I did feel that she had realistic strengths and weaknesses. She was really naive at times, but it seemed to fit really well with her character. (She did seem a bit obsessive about her appearance, though, and very contradictory at times).

I really liked the way the Fae world was different to the everyday world. How it was described came across really well - and I liked the different fairies and how they varied to each other.

I really liked Luke - and I have to say that, although I was surprised by what happened at the end, it was much better than the trend I've grown completely sick of. I hope to see more of that relationship forming throughout the next book.

I liked most of the other characters as well. It was nice that Scarlett wasn't incredibly popular, talented, etc. I could really get into her head at times in the story and relate really well with her over certain things - like her need to control what she could in the world. Again, they were things that made her a well-rounded, interesting character.

I really hated Sasha at first, but she eventually grew on me. I would have liked to know more about Jasper's and Ethan's motivations - the best villains are those who think they have good reasons for what they're doing, whether they are or not.

Generally speaking, the writing was really good and made it easy for me to read. Unfortunately, I did notice several errors - missing quotation marks, for one, but Jasper's gender also changed at one point in the story. And the wrong name was used at another point. Also, there were a few sentence fragments that didn't seem to go anywhere.

I'd definitely be interested in reading more books by this same author and in this same series. If it's available on Kindle with text-to-speech enabled, I'll recommend it to a friend of mine who really likes books about fairies... or the Fae."

"I never would have imagined how perfect this book was for me to read in the first place much less winning an advanced copy on my first try in a Goodreads giveaway. It was hard to put the book down and when I did it was only because I REALLY didn't want it to end. This is a Fae (fairy) story that is a little more "adult" than others I have read and I do love and collect fairy stories. I really felt that Cally Pepper was writing specifically for me because even though it was a fairy story I could relate to the main character and put myself into her feelings and desires. The main character even shares my love for the same drink that is mentioned several times throughout the book, which I got a good smile at every time. I also liked a lot of the new ideas about fairy's and their world that the author added. It definitely wasn't one of those books where you knew what was going to happen next, especially at the end which I actually had to re-read again to make sure I read it correctly! As for the cover I was afraid a white book would get very dirty and ruin the lovely cover image but it was rarely put down so that wasn't even an issue. This book is a great one to have if you love stories about fairies like I do and like to see a new take on them. I am SUPER excited that there will be a second book in the Faebles trilogy for YA/NA!!! I'm hungrily awaiting the next one!!!!!"

"Faebles...how can I ever leave a review about this book. I am so conflicted. It was freaking amazing. I just might have to read it again."

So I am on Cloud 9 at the moment, 9 ‘ratings’ – all five and four stars.

No doubt my elation will come to a crashing end when I get my first negative review!!

[image error]

Okay, so the avid book fan is my Labrador puppy and she quite literally devoured the book, or at least part of it, whilst I was out at work yesterday. You can see the sorry remnants of the book in the photo.

I cannot turn this into anything other than a greedy naughty event. I can’t put a useful spin on this, pretend that she chooses her afternoon snacks in any discerning manner. Last week it was my camera case, my reading glasses and my walking shoes. The week before it was the TV remote, a pillow from the bed and a packet of highlighter pens. This week so far it has been a box of tissues, a DVD case, a pair of coasters and my book. That’s without even mentioning the obvious – the hall carpet, the wooden staircase, one or two areas of skirting, and wall plaster. We have had to politely ask the postman not to put packages through the cat-door as the naughty pup will eat them.

The most upsetting, strangely enough, was two weeks ago when my husband had bought two lovely fillet steaks for us to eat one evening. I had decided that Wednesday was going to be ‘the night’. I took the steaks out of the fridge and lovingly laid them out on my wooden chopping board, in order that they could ‘breathe’, and reach optimum temperature for cooking them.

Now, I know that you all realise where this story is going, but I’m going to tell it anyway.

So there were the two lovely steaks on my wooden board, waiting to be cooked. About an inch thick and lovely and lean. They cost my hubby about £7.50 per steak, this was going to be a real feast.

‘Oh,’ I thought, ‘I think chips would be lovely tonight with the steaks.’ But being a bit of an idle person I decided to nip out to the shop at the end of the road and get a bag of frozen chips.

Yes, yes, I know you know what’s coming ...

But we are still getting one or two bluebottles in the house, so being a very careful person I decided to cover the steaks, so I got one of those ‘umbrella’ type things out of the drawer and carefully laid it over the steaks. I hopped into the car and nipped to the end of the road for the chips.

Well.

I came back in and noticed immediately something was wrong. My older Labrador, the sensible (and well behaved) one, slunk into the back room. My little blondie puppy lab sat smiling at me.

I looked on the kitchen worktop and couldn’t believe my eyes. There was one steak, sitting on the bread board, all plump and succulent, and beside it was a damp oval where the other steak should have been. The umbrella had not moved.

At first I was a bit incredulous. For a start, she would have had to get under the umbrella and pull the steak towards her with her paw. I was stunned. I started looking all around, in case the steak had moved by itself. Well, you never know do you? Listen, I write books about fairies – stranger things have happened.

I looked on the floor, in the dog’s bed, in the sink. Silly me. Finally it clicked.

I turned to my sweet little blonde Labrador baby, pointed to the worktop, and in my most fierce voice said to her, ‘did you do that?’.

She didn’t say anything. She just licked her lips and wagged her tail.

I received my first ‘author copies’ of my book on Saturday. It was a strange feeling. I felt as though I had been on a long journey, counting off the miles to the goalpost, and yet on reaching the final I felt reluctant to step over the finish line.

I placed the three boxes of books in my living room, telling myself I would open them later. My young nephew and niece were here for the day, so I didn’t want to open the boxes whilst I had company. I knew it would be a profound moment. A tearful moment. I’d thought about it, couldn’t wait to see my novel in print. I knew that when I saw my book, picked it up and held it for the first time, opened it up and saw my story there in print ... I knew I would burst into tears. Especially when I turned to the dedication page, simply ‘For my mum’. My mum died last New Year’s eve, but she had been poorly for a few months so she never really knew about the book. My mum has been my best friend and inspiration all through my life and I knew she would have been so proud. I and knew that when I opened to the dedication page it would be bittersweet. There would be more tears.

So I placed the boxes on the dining table to open later.

It wasn’t a great day, Saturday. My husband had a puncture on his bike and so my nephew, niece and I had to delay our McDonalds lunch to drive out to take him a spare inner tube. As we arrived back home and set out for McDonalds he rang again, he’d had another puncture. So it was McDonalds drive-through and try to eat burger and chips in the car whilst vainly telling the kids ‘not to drop crumbs’. It will take me weeks to get the burger-and-chips detritus out from between the seats and probably much longer to get rid of the smell.

So it was later that afternoon, after the kids had been collected and before my hubby had returned with his troublesome cycle, that I opened the boxes. I carefully ran a knife across the top, taking care not to damage the contents. I opened the flap and peered in. The top of the parcel was protected by bubble-wrap, I pushed it back and plunged my hand into the box, closed my fingers around one of my books. I pulled it out and looked at it, flicked through it, read the dedication page, and felt ... nothing!

Okay, if I am being absolutely honest with myself, if I felt anything at all it was disappointment. An anticlimax. I couldn’t understand it, I pulled out a couple more books and looked at them, but with the same result. Complete and utter indifference.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like the books. I did. Okay, I did think maybe the colours on the front cover were a little too pinky-orange. But I don’t think it was that. I popped the book back in the box and went into the kitchen to start the tea. My husband came home and I forgot to mention to him that my books were here.

Very strange, I know.

The following morning I was in the living room and I noticed the boxes of books. I’d forgotten about them, or maybe pushed them to the back of my mind. “Oh, my books came,” I told my husband, and I went over to a box and pulled one out. I walked across to him, and as I held my book out to him I was suddenly flooded with emotion and pride, I couldn’t speak. I stared at my book, turned to the dedication page, and burst into tears.

Is it very, very sad to pre-order a copy of your own book from Amazon, just for the thrill of receiving your own book through the post when it is released like everybody else?

Yes? Oh, in that case I won't tell anybody that I just did that ...

But here's an intriguing fact ... my book is no. 71,444 best seller on Amazon in Books ... how can that be so when it hasn't even gone to print yet?

I am so excited, I feel like a kid at Christmas. I finally have a publication date for my debut novel 'Faebles: Bird Without Wings. The date is set for 13th December so it will be out in time for Christmas. Words cannot describe how happy I am. And I am pleased that the publishers have agreed to keep the price low, the paperback price is set at £7.99 but the e-book will be available at just £2.99.

Anybody who wants to see a video trailer of the book, you can view it at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUyAL9...

My book is written. It must have taken longer to edit, tweak and check it, than it did to write it. It is ‘in production’ which means that I get snippets of information on the publisher’s website, a glimpse of what is happening. The cover has been designed. But I am not known for my patience, despite being a Taurean. So when I eagerly log on to the website in the morning and find that nothing has happened, I want to nudge somebody. Whisper in their ear ... remember me. My book. Me, me, me.

I got the idea for a book about fairies a few years ago. I have a long garden and the bottom third is sectioned off. I call it the fairy garden because I like to think there are fairies living there. I’ve always been drawn to images of fairies, butterflies, dragonflies. And I’ve often wondered, just wondered, where it all comes from. The folklore about fairies and dragons. Did somebody make it up, or maybe, just maybe, there really is something else out there.

I have a very good friend who is a medium, she sees and hears things that I cannot explain away. I don’t have any particular faith, and I don’t believe in organised religion. I don’t like people telling me what I should believe, especially when they can’t prove it. Perhaps that’s the stubborn Taurean in me after all. But I have my own ideas, I watch, think, listen, learn. And my first book, the first in a Trilogy called Faebles, is the result of these thoughts.

What if there really is another world out there. Just out of reach. We don’t know that there isn’t. No science can disprove it. We don’t know everything, we don’t know how birds know to migrate, how a baby knows to be born, how to suck. How we know how to breathe, smile, laugh, cry.

So ... what if there really are lots of worlds, lots of people, creatures, life ... all sharing the same space. After all we switch on the radio and we have sound. We switch on our wireless laptop and we are connected to the whole world. We switch on our SatNavs and they are connected to satellites that are suspended in space. We can’t see them, we can’t touch them. But we know they are there because somebody told us.

So how do we know that there aren’t other things out there. A world similar to ours. Inhabited by people just like us, except they have wings. Fairies. Just because we can’t see them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

I am soooo excited. I've been talking to this production company about a book trailer, and they have produced a really great book trailer for Faebles: Bird Without Wings. I'm so exicted I'm like a child jiggling about on the spot.

I got the idea for a book trailer after chatting on the publisher's forum, and one of the authors, Cricket Baker, mentioned she had made a trailer for her new book out soon, The Ghosting of Gods. I clicked on the link for the book trailer and was so impressed that I got in touch with Burning Monk Productions and immediately went about getting a trailer for my book too. You can see Cricket Baker's book trailer at http://youtu.be/A6pMtfD2Dxo - well worth a watch.

I've had the first draft of my trailer and it is amazing. I've asked for a few tiny alterations, and they have promised the next draft for Sunday. So as soon as the trailer is finished I will post it on this website. One small problem is that my book cover is not yet done, so there is a temporary book cover displayed on the trailer for now.

Sooooo excited !!!

I've joined Southport Writers Circle.

Actually that's not quite true. I have been to five meetings of Southport Writers Circle. I've really enjoyed the meetings, we read out our writing and it varies from chick-lit and short stories for womens magazines, to fairly deep poetry (I'm assuming its deep, lets just say I don't understand it) and equally deep pieces of literary writing.

But everybody is very nice there, and friendly and kind. The suggestions I've received on my writing have been very helpful and supportive.

But here's the thing.

As a newcomer I have to attend eight meetings and I have to read at three meetings minimum. And after eight meetings I am not allowed to go to any more meetings, I have to go away whilst the committee decide whether to accept me as a member. If they accept me as a member, I am then allowed to continue attending the meetings.

But how embarrassing if they don't accept me! Can you imagine having met with people, got to know them, beared my soul via my writing, and then they say no, we don't want you.

I'm no spring chicken and in my life I've failed plenty of exams, I've suffered rejection, humiliation, embarrassment and criticism. But this ... this is scary.

Well the sun is out. The garden is gleaming and the buds are just starting to burst into view. So I got into the garden early, new Xmas gloves on, found my secateurs (how can you lose a pair of secateurs??), green bin in the garden. Pruning. Yes I cut all the old flowers off the hydrangeas, cut back the jasmine (my jasmine is not a plant, it's a garden monster). And yet it doesn't flower! It just takes over the garden. I think it is an alien but we won't dwell on that.

Anyway half an hour later my back is killing me. Why is it that just as you start to enjoy the healthy, pleasant hobbies like gardening, your body packs up on you.

So I though, well, enough's enough. Can't possibly do too much can you. Or too little.

So I came back in, made a quick lunch, and sat down to watch the next episode in my 'Homeland Series 1' DVD box set. Which I also got for Xmas.

I've been struggling through Homeland. Everybody said how fantastic it was and I'd missed it when it was on the telly. So I asked father Xmas for the first series for Xmas. Watched the first few episodes and I admit I found them a little slow to get into. And then the second DVD went all funny on me. So I had to download two episodes from i-tunes, and then of course it was weeks before I got around to watching them. I'll get to the point in a minute.

Finally managed to watch the rogue two episodes, got the DVDs back out and I was just starting to get into the story. Thinking, actually, this is good.

So back to today, I came in from the garden to watch my next episode of Homeland. And there wasnt one! The last episode I saw, when I was just starting to get into it ... was the last one! Now go figure, as they say over the water.

Not impressed. Now I'll have to go and buy Series Two.