* * * * - 4 StarsThe Hills Be Shaken is a good detective story with an intriguing point of view. I highly recommend it to all mystery/action fans. Initially, I thought it would be boring and felt it took a while to get going, but this could be me wanting to get stuck into the juicy stuff. There are plenty of characters in the story, with good descriptions, leaving you hanging to know more. It has a great plotline with good twists and turns. There were quite a few deaths, but this makes the story what it is. I found the ending to be quite moving. I wasn't expecting the conclusion to be this way.
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* * * * * - 5 StarsThe Dinner Club. This book was not my usual genre of reading material, but after seeing it on Instagram and enjoying seeing Helens posts in my feeds, I felt that I had to read it. Where do I start? The characters were so relatable to me in my own life. All of them touched my heart. At times I had tears rolling down my eyes, and other times I was laughing out loud, making my dog wonder what was going on. The descriptions of the characters grab your attention and pull you into their lives, feeding your appetite to read more of the story to find out where their lives are going to go. This book is so well written. It has some hilarious lines that made me laugh so much. I can't put them in this review because it would spoil your fun reading this book. References to television shows that everyone knows ensures that the story is relatable, readable and keep you interested, not that you would lose interest. This book has been written, so you are learning more about the characters as you carry on reading. Usually, a book takes me a week to read. I haven't read anything in nearly a year, but I polished this off in two days. I just couldn't put it down! Then it ended, and I felt sad that I had read it so quickly. I highly recommend adding this to your to be read pile, placing it firmly on the top as your next read. Giveaways My publisher has given me a few bookstub cards to give away; these are a voucher where you can download Comet the Red Bus in eBook form for free. I will run the giveaway at the beginning of February, as I am currently doing a special promotion for NZ readers to buy the paperback copy of the book at a 35% discount. I wanted to ensure that my local communities could afford a copy. How it will work... I will post the giveaway on my social media accounts, website, community social media pages/groups, and a few competition websites. Someone who wants to enter the competition needs to like/follow my Facebook page, share the giveaway post somewhere of their choosing (it will be pinned to be found easily) then comment on the giveaway post "Done." Facebook gives me the tools I need to see who has liked/followed, shared the post, and commented. I will then write down all the names, put them in a bucket and draw a name out via Facebook live. If you are in NZ, I will courier the card/voucher to you; if you are in another country, I will just message you a photo of the voucher. One condition of entry is that you must provide me with a photo of yourself holding the card or holding your reading device with the book onscreen to share with the followers on the page. I am excited to be able to do this. If this is successful, I will do another one in April! Take care, everyone, and keep an eye out for the giveaway updates! Chris George, who follows my author page on Instagram, asked me the following question. What does a workday look like for you? A noisy alarm goes off at 4.15 am. It always feels like I have only just got to sleep when it starts blaring. Then I do the essentials, go downstairs, have a cup of tea. I like to be closing the front gate after me at 4.50 am at the latest. I commute to work; I get to work most days at about 5.55 am. Then, on a quieter day, I like to grab my daily roster and stay downstairs in the driver's smoko room, greeting check the team off as they arrive. I have been doing a few other tasks and moving buses around in the mornings, so I haven't been able to hang out with the team downstairs as much lately. But a new year and new priorities. Once the team has hit the road in their buses, I'm back upstairs to deal with bus faults, complaints, compliments, incidents, and any accidents. Accidents are rare, which is a bonus. It reduces the paperwork I need to complete. I spend quite a bit of time doing rosters, and I am working on a few projects at the moment, which requires a fair amount of my time. The result from these projects will be good. I liaise with our workshop on bus issues, and I will take a spare bus out if one on the road has decided to be naughty. I carry out several other tasks, and I like to help out the others in the office when I can, as we are a team. It makes life easier if we can all lend a hand when the need is there. I try to get to the gym at lunchtime. I am actively trying to lose weight; that will be another blog for another day! After coming back from the gym (if I have been a good boy and gone), I get the daily roster out for the next day, distribute it to the office team, and put a copy downstairs, so the team knows what they are doing tomorrow. My role has challenges. I am very passionate about ensuring we operate a professional service to the public to a high standard. I need to keep on top of everything to ensure we meet this goal and meet our KPI's I am blessed in this role with a supportive team of bus operators. We make a great team, and everyone does their bit and does it well. I hope that answers your question, George. If anyone else has any questions about me, my life in the bus transport industry, or my journey to lose weight, as well as my author's journey, feel free to leave a comment. You can also send me a message on Facebook, Instagram, or via my contact me page on my website. Happy new year Christopher I don't think anyone wants to read a book that has grammatical errors and sentences that make no sense. I am by no means a good typist and this often shows in my blog posts. I do the usual spell check and two days later I read the blog post and spot several issues in one form or another. If you are looking at publishing a book or document, I highly recommend getting a good editor before your book goes to a publishing agency. From my experience, you cannot rely on one person to do the job right, and do the job well for you. I am in the process of working with editors and my publishing company to get Comet the Red Bus republished due to numerous grammatical and word errors. This is a costly exercise as I purchased over 200 of my own book to sell locally, these all have issues. Yes, I can still sell them at a discounted rate, but it is numerous thousand dollars for a faulty product and one the publishing agency is not prepared to take credit for. You can always catch others’ mistakes, but rarely your own. This is simply the nature of writing. Getting entirely outside your own head, your intentions, and seeing your copy with “another's eyes”. Don’t let anybody fool you, the only “self-editing” you should do is before you turn that manuscript over to a real editor. What does an editor do? In simple words, an editor polishes and refines your text. They give direction to the story by enhancing the major points, pulling the spotlight on places where the readers should focus. They chop out what doesn’t fit and what is nonessential to the purpose of the story. They will ensure that the final product is the best it can be. Why shouldn't the writer self-edit?
I can't say loud enough... Check, rest, check, get an editor, and then get a second opinion if needed. Thats my advice based on experience. So...... what shall I write about in the next blog? I am enjoying writing the blogs to give myself some experience and giving my brain some exercise during this lockdown we find ourselves in. Can't wait to share the next one with you all. Chris I changed jobs! It came as a surprise to many people I know, especially the company I was working for. They felt it came out of the blue. I had a good managers role with good salary and benefits, they seemed confused to my departure. I had in fact been browsing for a new role for about 9 months, I grew tired of a negative working environment and made to feel like I wasn't good enough and being micromanaged. When someone is being micromanaged it is usually because they want you out. It is hard to keep your team happy and motivated when you yourself are slowly, but surely slipping into a deep dark hole yourself and cant see a way out. Several years ago I was diagnosed with depression and was seeing a counselor for this, and this helped me. However, staying in this type of environment would never be good for me and I felt, not good for the business . I was concerned about the negativity affecting the relationships with my team and with our clients. However both, up until I left and still now, are good, and I keep in touch with everyone. I found my way out. However, it wasn't entirely up to me. The company I am now working for has a person who reached out to me when their managers position was advertised as their manager at the time had resigned. I applied straight away. I was in such a low place mentally that I never thought I would be asked for an interview. I was incredibly nervous as I had been with the last company for 18 years and had not been to an interview outside this company for a long time. Feeling incredibly anxious, I went to the interview and the two people interviewing me were lovely. They welcomed me, they were kind and I felt at ease straight away. Instantly I knew I wanted in. I was invited back for another interview and had a Zoom meeting with their Human Resources team the following day who were also lovely people. Moving forwards, I have been with this company 4 months today. I love it. I absolutely love my job and enjoy going to work. My managers are awesome, I feel like part of the family, I am treated with respect and treated like a Manager. My confidence is back and I know I am good at what I do. My experience and skills help me in my new role, and help me with the challenges of starting in a new company. Even though this is a similar role to what I was doing, every company has their own way and it takes time to learn their ways and systems. The main thing though… I am happy. My head is in a good space. Minimal stress and most of the anxiety I had from the daily crap in my last role has gone. Mental health is no joke. It includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, poor mental health and mental illness are not the same. A person can experience poor mental health and not be diagnosed with a mental illness. Likewise, a person diagnosed with a mental illness can experience periods of physical, mental, and social well-being Mental and physical health are equally important components of overall health. For example, depression increases the risk for many types of physical health problems, particularly long-lasting conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Similarly, the presence of chronic conditions can increase the risk for mental illness. If you are struggling, reach out to someone, talk to your doctor, call one of the free health lines. Do not be embarrassed about it. During lockdown, people struggle, don’t be shy, we all have phones these days, there is no excuse. Ask for help. I better get on and do some work now, I am enjoying the working from home every second day type routine I currently have under the Alert Level 4 (Lockdown) in New Zealand, but today I am in the office and have a list of tasks to carry out. Keep Safe everyone! Just like that and New Zealand is straight back into lockdown with a matter of hours as notice. This isn’t a bad thing, and we were prepared because we were told that if the Delta variant came to New Zealand, we would be put into Lockdown, and this is what has happened. New Zealand has fought off COVID before and we can do it again. Perhaps before we open the border or a travel bubble with another country, this time we will have super tight restrictions and regulations around it. We can’t afford to have further lockdowns, especially when the government is funding wage subsidies for businesses each time. I personally don’t mind lockdown, it gives an opportunity to relax and catch up on things around home. I am in a fortunate position where I can work from home if I want to during lockdowns, but I opt to go into work every few days to check in on the team. They are not so fortunate and are on the forefront driving the public around, wearing a mask all day every day with little to no thanks from the public. It can be more stressful being on the road at work than it can be being stuck at home for weeks. In general I think it is the uncertainty of not knowing how long we will be at level four for is the most stressful part, how it will impact our incomes and the way that it upsets our home and work life patterns or routines. I’m not complaining that it’s upset mine. Having a break from a 4am alarm is great. One thing that lockdown gives us is plenty of time to read books! I haven’t picked up a book yet, however I recently picked up some old readers digest magazines from a secondhand shop, I like reading those, even though some are nearly 20 years old, many of the stories in them are relevant today and the magazines contain some amusing anecdotes and looking at old adverts is intriguing. One of my projects for lockdown was making a good stock of jam to stock I’m Taupo at Love Heart Collective, this is a business where vendors have a space in a retail setting and they also offer workshops for kids etc, check them out on Facebook if you have a chance and give them a like. I have made about 40 jars of jam now, and that’s enough for the time being. It’s quite a complicated task, making sure they all set and are not too thick or too runny. I’d love to know what you and your whanau are doing this lockdown, or if you are overseas and in and out of lockdowns still. Keep safe, take care. Well it is finally here.
Comet the red bus has been released online in New Zealand and internationally! So exciting!!!! I am still waiting for my copies to arrive, and have imagined the feeling of opening one for the first time, seeing my name in print, seeing my first children's book in print, in real life. I have seen word and PDF copies of it, but to actually hold the real deal in my hands is going to be an emotional moment for me. My dad who passed away a few months ago used to work as an offset printer. He loved his job. Dad is well known for picking up a book and giving it a good sniff. He could tell you about the paper and the ink used. Sadly this first book was published a bit late so I will mis the chance to see Dad do this with my book; but I know he would be proud that it was published. I have had the website updated and it will continue to be updated to give quick and easy links to where to purchase it online. There are numerous sites including Amazon, Xlibris, Barnes & Noble, Kobo etc. There are twelve that I have been advised of so far. Comet the red bus is available in softcover, hardcover and eBook, and I am working with the publishing agency to get it turned into an audio book, it will have a musical intro and ending and will be fun for children to read along to. I look forward to telling you more about that as it progresses For now though, I need to concentrate of the two colouring books that are about to be published and the second Comet the red bus book. Plenty to keep me occupied along with working my usual job. Thank you all for your support and to those of you who have pre ordered a book in NZ. We opted to offer NZ a big discount to keep things local. I look forward to updating you when your copy has been shipped. Take care everyone! Chris. Enid Blyton
I can not count the hours as a child that I have spent reading the likes of The Famous Five or The Secret Seven. As an adult I still like to read these, but I have to admit that I haven't done so in a number of years. Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer whose books have been among the world's best-sellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Blyton's books are still enormously popular, and have been translated into 90 languages. As of June 2018, Blyton is in the 4th place for the most translated author. She wrote on a wide range of topics including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery, and biblical narratives and is best remembered today for her Noddy, Famous Five, Secret Seven, and Malory Towers. (Credit to Wikipedia) The reasons I like reading these stories of hers is that I find they take me to another place and time, one that is magical and adventurous with characters that have close friendships and trust. Of course, not all of her books have lasted the distance so to speak. Some of her stories have had to be changed over the years to be able to meet modern day views. To address criticisms levelled at Blyton's work some later editions have been altered to reflect more politically progressive attitudes towards issues such as race, gender, violence between young persons, the treatment of children by adults, and legal changes in Britain as to what is allowable for young children to do in the years since the stories were originally written (e.g. purchasing fireworks); modern reprints of the Noddy series substitute teddy bears or goblins for golliwogs, for instance. The golliwogs who steal Noddy's car and dump him naked in the Dark Wood in Here Comes Noddy Again are replaced by goblins in the 1986 revision, who strip Noddy only of his shoes and hat and return at the end of the story to apologise. With over 90 of her books in my collection, and my always on the lookout for one I do not yet have, I will always be able to pull one out and enjoy an evening adventure. Now to find the boxes where they are all packed from the last house move! Life has been so full on lately with many work commitments and trying to get in enough exercise to keep my weight loss journey on track that it wasn’t until I looked on my Facebook page that I realised that I had not posted a blog in a while so I decided to come online and write something as I find writing helps me with my anxiety, and I like to keep you all updated on my books.
Today I signed off on the cover and internal layout and now…. it is printing and distribution time! After signing off I suddenly decided that some of the words didn’t sound right, one of the illustrations could have been better, but I need to get over that as I’ve wasted a lot of time chopping and changing this book already. On top of this I have two colouring books, one is published and one is almost ready to go. These will all be available on this website soon, I am excited to share them with you, they have been a long time in the making. Only short and sweet today as lots to do. Keep safe. |
AuthorAfter the outstanding success of his first children’s picture book, Comet the Red Bus - Around the City, Author Christopher Candy has continued to write the next book in the Comet the Red Bus series. Working full-time as a Manager for Tranzit Coachlines, Christopher has many years of bus-related experience that brings his characters to life. Christopher is based in the Tararua region and enjoys spending time with his partner, farm animals and pet dog, Tupance. You can see updates from Christopher, including new releases, giveaways and more, on his website or social media accounts. Archives
October 2023
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