Super Sunday: Sealed with A Kiss now Free on Smashwords

Sealed With a Kiss is free over on Smashwords!

Can a gift from her grandmother protect Lise?

Lise doesn't believe in vampires. Or so she tells herself. Though, she constantly wears the garnet necklace her grandmother gave her, which wards off the creatures. Andreas, the man she's attracted to, seems more than a little interested in it. Could there be an ulterior motive?

Happy Reading!

~Eleni~

Super Sunday - 8 of my favourite things for January

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the latest Star Wars instalment. It was also such a joy watching a new generation getting enthralled by the saga.

The Force is strong with this one.

2. Family celebration

Flowers for engagement

Always grateful for my family but I was so ecstatic that my gorgeous god-sister had her engagement party to her lovely young man. Was so nice to laugh and I even danced for the occasion. Though I do need to work on my fitness. Once upon a time, I could Greek dance all night long but after one dance, I was puffed out! Oh and can I just mention
the deserts, my goodness!! I put on weight just by looking at them.









3. 52 week challenges

As I mentioned previously I'm participating in a reading challenge and an illustration challenge. Not do I take joy in participating, but I also in reading/viewing the updates.

I mean check out the 52 week Illustration challenge blog and you can see what I mean.

Sketched design on paper and retraced in Photoshop. Coloured in Photoshop.

4. Canva

I've done a few things with Canva for this blog and for my reading blog...

5. Monopoly Billionaire
It's a faster version of the original and I was introduced it this month by Masters 7 and 11. Fun and definitely brings out the competitive side. I actually one of the games. Huzzah!

6. Reading

Rachel Johns' 'The Patterson Girls' was an amazing read. Here's the review I put on Goodreads.

What can I say about this book - it was absolutely amazing!! If it wasn't for other commitments this month, I would have finished it much sooner. But in a way this delay only made me savour the read more.
Rachael Johns has written an easy to read book that grabs you from the first chapter following the story of four sisters scattered around the world. Together for their first Christmas without their mum, we witness their emotional journey as they all come to grips with their loss and finding out about The Patterson Curse. Each sister has a different voice but this doesn't jerk you out of the story. This story shows how even when you love your family you don't necessarily always get along with them. And that a loving family is there no matter what.

Having lost my father last year, this book was also therapeutic for me - the right book for me at the right time.

Thanks for the fabulous read, Rach!
Disclaimer: I personally know Rachael but I don't automatically give 5 stars to books of people I know. I'm a reader first on Goodreads.

7. Person of Interest season 2 finale

Yes, I am way behind on this series but I'm watching repeats of it on Foxtel. I thoroughly enjoy the premise of the show and the acting as well.

the blurb from IMBD: An ex-assassin and a wealthy programmer save lives via a surveillance AI that sends them the identities of civilians involved in impending crimes. However, the details of the crimes--including the civilians' roles--are left a mystery.

Semi- regular star Amy Acker is amazing! Lots of action scenes, which are done really well, and of course there's the questions of AIs and surveillance. As well as entertain, it does make you think about the freedoms we have lost in the guise of security. 

and last but not least 

8. Star Wars Colouring Book

My amazing friend Alison gave me a Star Wars Colouring book for Christmas! The designs are in the Art-Nouveau style and just amazing. I've only done one so far, but I'm in need of more mindfulness real soon.







How about you - what were your favourite things for January?

~yia~

Super Sunday week in review: Space, reading, OWL, oh my...

I've still been recuperating, much more in the last two weeks thanks to a procedure.

This is what I've been doing the past week or so...

School Project with Godson
This is going to be fun. This is a project to designed to be done with a family member. My Godson is very much interested in Space, which I am too. While I'm not the most scientific of minds myself, I appreciate all things scientific, so it'll be good for me to learn a thing or two as well.

So far we've borrowed a few things from the library and been reading bits. It's such a huge topic and the presentation in front of the class is only 5 minutes, so it'll have to be us learning and giving a recap to the class. Some art may be involved. :)


Reading
Oh, be still my reading heart, I've managed to pick up the pace again. It's been slow going with the mind fog at times, but that's okay. I'm enjoying being a reader and while sometimes the writer part of me notices something in the writing, I'm trying to push that part to the subconscious to relish the act of reading for reading sake.

This in turn has made me update my details on Eleni's Library and even start a new reading quote feature. I love quotes as you know *wink*.



Blogging OWL

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'm co-presenter in online Blogging workshop for Romance Writers of Australia. Week one's lesson went well with Daniel de Lorne presenting the bulk of it (he kindly took the lead in while I've been recuperating). This week Dan will talk about Wordpress, and the following week, I'll talk about Blogger.

It's great immersing myself in blogging again and picking up some nifty items - like Canva (created the graphic for Neil Gaiman quote - that have changed in my time focused on other parts of my life. And I'll be looking at my blogging schedule as well.




Family time

I've been spending more time with family and would you believe this night owl is getting up to have breakfast at a reasonable hour (around 8am). I know, right! But it's been great. And we've been watching some TV programs together - Castle and Arrow are faves for all three of us. 

Our pup (who is almost 9 years old) had surgery to remove some cancer spots and is doing well now a few weeks later. Here he is waiting for my brother to come back home. Yep, she's a cutie but a cheeky one. 

Coming Week
I'll pretty much be focusing on the above as well as a design project, so while I'm still doing things it's not at the break neck speed I was doing previously.

Have a great week!
~yia~

Super Sunday

The Plug

Check out this workshop by the talented Carla Caruso at the SA Writers Centre



Writing RomCom with Carla Caruso 

Flowers, heart-shaped chocolates, and hand-written love letters… we’ve got love and romance on our minds. After all, it’s Valentine’s Day! Bridget Jones’ Diary, Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Devil Wears Prada have nailed the art of having us fall in love with the characters whilst chuckling with every page turn. Now it's your turn!

This workshop will brush up on your romantic fiction writing skills and learn how to craft a love story that’s both memorable and funny. Participants will learn about the different romance genres, diverse romantic characters, where to get published and how to connect with the romance writing community locally.

Carla Caruso is an Adelaide romantic comedy author published by Penguin and HarperCollins. Previously she worked as a newspaper and magazine journalist and fashion stylist. Some of her titles include Catch of the Day, A Pretty Mess, Second Chance and Cityglitter. She’s made the top 21 in Mills & Boon’s international New Voices competition and is a co editor of the Romance Writers of Australia’s monthly magazine.



10:00 am - 1:00 pm, February 14, 2015

BOOKINGS HERE 

The Quote

"A woman has got to love a bad man once or twice in her life to be thankful for a good one."

~Mae West

The Funny

The Picture

I came across this in my files. I have no idea where this is, but the attribution seems to be V.Borg.

The Reading

Just finished reading:

 

Currently reading:

  

 

Re-reading:

The Editing

Healer's Destiny






Have a great week!!


~yia~

Super Sunday

Welcome to the first Super Sunday for 2015!


The quote:

Literature is humanity talking to itself. 

~ Norman Rush

The funny:

The drawing:

Having wanted a wacom (drawing tablet) for ages, I finally got one and produced this avatar. Though it has no double chin!

The reading: 

All the latest reading is happening at my book blog, but the books I've been reading most this week are:

Tapestry by Fiona McIntosh
Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon (re-read)
Liminal by Maree Anderson
Dressed to Slay by Harper Allen
Falling Awake by Jayne Ann Krentz (Audio)

The editing:

Healer's Destiny

Have a great week.

~yia~

Super Sunday

The quote 

"The truth is, honey, I've enjoyed my life. I've had a hell of a good time."

~ Ava Gardner

The funny

Saw this many a year ago and I still find it hilarious. 

The photo 

The roses in our front yard as they looked a couple of weeks ago. Pretty eh?

The reading 

* Darkness Unbound by Keri Arthur 

* Time Thief by Anna Hackett

The editing

* Healer's Destiny

Have a super Sunday and a great upcoming week. 

~yia!

Super Sunday

Hey ya all - just coming up for air (life continues to be busy) to share a couple of things...


Isn't this just the coolest...

And this is for Star Trek: TOS fans!

~yia~

Super Sunday: Sagan and masters...

This came up on my Goodreads Quote of the day and I thought I'd share....


"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

~ Carl Sagan

And now for the funnies...

haha...

Have a wonderful week.

~yia~

Super Sunday:

The Quote

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

~Walt Disney

The funnies

Thanks Alison!

Hope you have a great week everyone.

~yia~

Super Sunday: Where have I been?

I am so sorry that my blog had gone into a longer hiatus than expected. A number of reasons - health, conference, Tafe...everything melded together and my writing and blogging have been the two avenues to suffer the most.

I have missed blogging and all of you. So I'm back!


One thing I do enjoy doing is spending time with the godkids and the boys love watching movies. Ice Age 4 was on the other week and at this scene, I don't think I have laughed so hard for ages.





Hope you had a laugh too.


Have a great week.

~yia~

Super Sunday: One Step at a Time...

You may have noticed other than having guests and featuring other authors on my blog, I really haven't been around much. Yes, pesky health issues has struck again. Firstly a back issue, then headaches and then a wrenched neck issue. Apparently when you wrench your neck in your sleep it's called a 'wry' neck. Laughed when I heard that one.

So I'm feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself (but not too much) and I'm actually following orders and resting. The neck problem has been hard as it's hard to be too long at the computer and of course I do a lot of work at the computer. You can imagine my to do list.

My focus lately has been on my course and some other design work and unfortunately I haven't been writing. Not even editing, which is bumming me out a bit. However, I have managed to do some reading lately. In between rests as even holding a book or iPhone can be painful if I do that too long. Looks like the universe is MAKING me slow down. :)

Right now, I identify with this.

Silver lining people. 

I did manage to watch Supernatural season 7 and Sons of Anarchy season 4, so all was not lost in the last couple of weeks. 

April is birthday month and so a big shout out to all my peeps who have birthdays. There's a lot of you!

~yia~

Super Sunday: To Read or Not To Read...

Now to some fun with Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie. I saw a snippet of this when watching Stephen Fry's series on language. Such fun, that I had to share. And it goes very well with the above quote too....



Youtube link 


What I'm reading currently:
The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis by Sharon Ledwith (Middle Grade)
Book 3 of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin


~yia~

Super Sunday incl Minion news

Hi everyone, hope you've had a great week. Before I launch into the Super Sunday shennanigans, I'd like to let you know that you can hear me read my Flash Fiction story, Minion, on the AntiSF radio show 175.

The link is here. The story starts at around 30:40 but why not listen to the whole show and more great stories.

And now for the funnies. 

~yia~

Super Sunday: New Look Website and Blog

It has been a while since I've changed the look of my website and of my blog, so viola - here is the website:

Still at the same address: elenikonstantine.com

As you can see, I've tried to have the same look with the blog. For those reading this in a reader or in an email, it's worth the look :) Yes, I'm biased.

For the banner, I've used the fairy image that I have used for years because I still think she's groovy. And I changed it slightly for the banner of the blog as well....

What do you think?

~yia~