About

Rosemarie Cawkwell

Hello

That’s me. Up there. In front of a museum. About a fictional character.

I like books. I like reading them, I like to write about them. I like the way they feel and smell. I can fall in love with a good cover design. Book shops are heaven and libraries are sacred. Destroy then at your peril.

I also like music and live concerts, walking, embroidery and crochet, travelling, geeky stuff, science, history, religion, why people act/think/believe the way they do, getting in to passionate debates with anyone who can formulate an intelligent and coherent argument, my dogs – otherwise know as the hell hounds – who are my babies, and spending time with my close friends watching films, eating and ignoring each other for hours on end. If you can sit in companionable silence with a person for a day, you should probably do your best to keep that friendship.

I am also inordinately fond of tea.

Mainly I love writing.

About everything.

My brain never shuts up, but I’m not so good at verbal communication (I’m quite introverted). Writing is an emotional outlet for me as well as a creative one.

When I get really hacked off with the world I write it down.

And then inflict my opinion on unsuspecting blog followers. Sorry about that.

My writing and reviews have appeared here, on http://www.everythingbooksandauthors.com, and several years ago I wrote a few articles on http://www.suite101.com. I don’t do that any more.

What will you find in my blog?

BOOKS

Lots of book reviews because this is primarily a book blog, but also occasional film and music reviews, places I’ve visited, things I’ve seen.

In 2013 I joined http://www.netgalley.com. I try to request, read and review a couple of ARC’s a month from there. I also review new books I buy myself, old books I borrow from the library, and otherwise acquired ebooks (people email, I politely say ‘gimme’). Twitter has provided me with a few cracking volumes. I love sci-fi and fantasy, science, biography, history. I’ll pretty much read anything. I’m an opinionated git as well, so I don’t have a problem telling people what I think – but I try to be polite about it. There’s no need for bad manners.

I’m listed on the Creativia friends page http://www.creativia.org/our-friends.html. Creativia are a small independent publishers based in Finland. They have some good books in their catalogue, check them out.

I’ve also had reviews published on http://www.everythingbooksandauthors.com. This website is run by a very dedicated lady by the name of Toni to publicise new books and authors. She also has a list of free and discounted Kindle books that’s regularly updated. Again, go have a look.

If you have a book you’d like reviewing email me.

I’d love to review books for a living, but it’s a crowded field. Until a miracle occurs I’ll just keep at it in an unpaid capacity.

In addition I write about the progress I’m making on various works in progress – a novel and a couple of short story collections.

In November 2011 I took part in NaNoWriMo for the first time, in 2013 I actually managed to complete a first draft during the month. I’m currently working on my second draft.

I like to challenge myself. In January 2014 as part of reviewing a book I tried to write a creative piece every day and share it with my readers. I didn’t quite manage that but only because some of the tasks in the book would have taken a week at least to really get to grips with. See my ’30 days of creative writing’ page for the results. I’m giving NaPoWriMo a go this year (April 2014) and I’ll be back at NaNoWriMo in November.

There’s also my poetry, random fiction, prompt post responses, rants, emotional discharge (that sounds very wrong!) about my anxiety and depression, commentry about world events and other ire-raising topics. I talk about personal stuff sometimes/quite often.

Comments and conversations are welcome, and I have a policy of at least looking over the blogs of new followers. Say hello, talk to me, I don’t bite (most of the time).

Rosemarie Cawkwell

(Really lucky people get to call me Rosie)