Category: Currently writing

DECEPTION Preview!

I completed a first edit of my brand new thriller novel, DECEPTION, and I’m really enjoying the potential of this story. Now that me and my editor are both working on it, it’s great to see the book adapting and becoming an even better read for you all.
Read the DECEPTION preview now!

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Sorry it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, I’ve had a mental few weeks. I got a new job – which didn’t turn out to be what I expected it to be (at all!) – I was without a job for a couple of weeks, and now I’m back at my previous employer; happy once again. Oh how we all love a happy ending.

Back to the point of this post now – I completed a first edit of my brand new thriller novel, DECEPTION, and I’m really enjoying the potential of this story. Now that me and my editor are both working on it, it’s great to see the book adapting and becoming an even better read for you all.

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Although this is only a preview, it’s hopefully still enough for you to get your teeth into.

I present to you a very small slither of my next novel, DECEPTION.

DECEPTION by T. J. Blake (Preview)

‘Through the stark and leafless trees I see her; she’s walking her Springer, ‘Bussy’. She has a slight bounce to her stride as she lets Bussy gallop around the lower woodlands.
She has that horse rider look; tight fitted riding trousers and boots, a black woollen jumper and a white shirt.
Her brown hair is woven into a plait and dangles over her right shoulder.

I see her most mornings. I remember the first day I saw her; an instant attraction. I think she’s beautiful. She has such pensive blue eyes; they remind me of a blue sky right before the sun descends. From different angles I catch the glint from her eyes, similar to the sparkle of a star in the night. Her skin is pale but in this cold she has rosy red cheeks that match her deep red lipstick.
Every time I see her I want to talk to her, I want to get to know her, and I want to be her friend.’

Copyright © 2016 T. J. Blake
All rights reserved. 

Coming in the summer of 2016!

Catching up with T. J. Blake – latest articles and creative pieces

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Sorry that I’ve been a neglectful blogger recently, but I’ve had a busy few weeks. After bagging myself a new job (which I start on Monday – woop!), I’ve been finishing up with my then current (now former) employer, editing my next thriller DECEPTION, and of course, been preparing for Monday.

Anyway, to the point of this speedy post, I thought I would just give you the titles and links to my latest articles and creative pieces; which I’ve added to my blog T. J. Blake #Author the past few months.

So, below are my latest blog posts, articles and general writing material.

About me

Why did I choose to self-publish?

Articles

How has technology affected the relation between speech and writing?

Overuse of the exclamation mark: You’re having a laugh!!!! A little strict?!!

Creative Writing

Flash Fiction

Poem Attempts

Short Story Nightmare

Illusory Waters

 

Please have a read of my latest material. Feel free to comment with your opinion, and please do share 🙂

‘DECEPTION – a love of lies’ synopsis

DECEPTION synopsis revealed – Please take a moment to read the DECEPTION synopsis, and feel free to let T. J. Blake know what you think by continuing to his blog ‘T. J. Blake # Author’.

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Happy Easter weekend everyone!

I had some aims for this Bank Holiday weekend, and it’s fair to say I have most definitely achieved a lot of them (thankfully!). Below is my ever so strict check-list.

Easter Bank Holiday weekend check-list

  • Complete first draft of DECEPTION – CHECK
  • Complete synopsis of DECEPTION – CHECK
  • Complete first edit of DECEPTION – I’m working on it!

As I said on my Twitter and Facebook pages earlier today, I will be revealing the synopsis for my next novel DECEPTION – a love of lies in a moment… actually, now!

DECEPTION has been in the works for well over a year now, and I’m very happy to allow you all the opportunity to read the official synopsis for my new thriller novel. Please take a moment to read the DECEPTION synopsis, and feel free to let me know what you think. I hope you like it!

DECEPTION – a love of lies (synopsis)

“Through the stark and leafless trees, I see her.

I remember the first day I saw her; an instant attraction. I think she’s beautiful. She has such pensive blue eyes that remind me of a blue sky, right before the sun descends. Every time I see her I want to talk to her, I want to get to know her, and I want to be her friend.
She usually completes the lower woodland walk in six minutes and forty-two seconds; she misses the deeper woodlands and goes home, I believe.

I walk down the road at the same speed as her. She reaches the crossroads at the bottom of the road, looks both ways, and then jogs across into the garden of a house. I stop walking and concentrate on which house is hers.

I can’t stare too long but I am intrigued already, I will come back.”

DECEPTION, coming in the summer of 2016!

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Six hours of writing this Sunday! 

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Since 2pm this afternoon, I have been writing my new novel DECEPTION. I was writing for 6/7 hours!

In this time, I was able to finish Chapter 28 and get started on Ch. 29.

Ch. 28 was an exhausting chapter to write – filled with twists, dark revelations and most of all, deep and emotional conversations for the two main characters involved.


Now, after today’s progress, I’m so close to completing the first draft of DECEPTION; I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m extremely excited to get this book finished and published for you all to finally read. It’s been well over a year now, since I started working on DECEPTION (formerly The Dog Walk) for my Creative Writing dissertation. I’m extremely hopeful about my fourth book, and I’m really looking forward to everyone experiencing this thrilling, creepy and dark journey.

Keep an eye out over the coming months for updates on DECEPTION – I’m aiming for it to be released in the Summer of 2016. A good read for your holidays!

How time flies – why did I choose to self-publish?

How time flies – why did I choose to self-publish?
Time. It’s a funny thing. We have so much of it, but we still don’t always take advantage of it.
This blog post is just a quick post about why I chose to self-publish and how it’s changed me.

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It’s been three years (on the 28th of March) since I self-published my first novel Endurance. 

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I remember working on it whilst at university, and I most of all remember having doubts about self-publishing Endurance – mostly because there was a niggling fear of what people would say or think about me for doing it. Once I adapted a hardness and carelessness for what people would say about me, my decision was made. The decision though even after that wasn’t simple, because then I needed to consider whether to self-publish Endurance after an edit, or to finish Endurance and then just see if I could get the story published.

However, when I thought about it, I knew that would be a challenge for anyone, let alone a nineteen year old university student. In the end, I thought ‘you know what? fuck it, I’m going to give it a go’ and decided to start my self-publishing career as T. J. Blake.
‘Why?’ I here you ask; because firstly, I could, but secondly, I wanted to see what people thought of my writing. I had a slight idea of what people thought of my work, because of my Creative Writing and English Language studies, but I wanted to know what more people thought; more than my family or my peers. This is exactly what self-publishing has done for me, it’s given me a great amount of experience, a huge boost in confidence and now I’m ready to self-publish more.

So here I am, nearly three years later with three books self-published, and a fourth & fifth in the works, I’m very happy with my writing progress.

Having self-published two out of three books from The Endurance Series (Endurance & Endurance: Apocalypse) and standalone novel The Author, I can proudly say that I am looking forward to self-publishing my fourth novel DECEPTION, the finale of The Endurance Series (Endurance 3) and the many more books and book series to follow.

If you want to find out more about my books, then feel free to continue to ‘Books by T. J. Blake‘ or continue to my Amazon author page or even my Goodreads author page.

Endurance: Apocalypse - Out Now!                                          the-author-front-cover2

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Creative Writing: Illusory Waters

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Afternoon everyone.

I thought I would let you all know that I have now added another Creative Writing piece to my sparkly new Creative Writing page. This new entry is a short story of mine, which was previously called The Metaphorical Truth, now called Illusory Waters.
I changed the name simply because Illusory Waters is much more appropriate, and I think it sounds much better!

If you have a spare five minutes, then please, have a read of my new short story Illusory Waters.

Further amendments to my blog

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What have I been doing with all of my Saturday morning? Well I’m feeling a bit ill, so I thought why not stay in and do some work on my blog; before knuckling down to write some more of DECEPTION.  

So, what have I done? Well, I came across a piece of work which I wrote in my first year of university. At the time I think I received a 2:1, but reading back I’m not sure how I got such a good mark!
Anyway, I went through it, made a couple of changes and now it’s available to read on my blog as an article. This brings me onto my first change to the blog, my new page – the’Articles‘ page – where I can now upload articles I write or find lurking within my computer. You’re probably wondering what my article is about? It’s about how technological development has impacted our language. The article covers a basic overview of how technology has adapted, as well as looking into how it has changed people’s writing and speaking capabilities, or has it? – How has technology affected the relation between speech and writing?

I’ve also created a ‘Creative Writing‘ page, which basically merges most of my creative pieces together. These pieces currently include my Flash Fiction, ‘Poem Attempts’ and Short Story Nightmare.
On this Creative Writing page, I have added something pretty nifty. Everyone loves a poll (I know I certainly do) and when we see one on a website, it’s hard not to vote, right? This is why I have created a poll for my Creative Writing page. By going to this page and scrolling to the bottom, you can find the poll and place a vote!
It’s a basic question, it’s not political and it isn’t going to impact anyone’s life, but I would like to know which of my Creative Writing pieces you enjoyed most.

Those are my two major changes to the T. J. Blake #Author blog, feel free to have a nose!

Writing DECEPTION

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Just a quick one from me! 

Getting closer to completing the first draft of my thriller DECEPTION! Can’t wait to get into the editing to fine tune this beast of a book. I’m excited about it, I hope you will be too!   

Writing DECEPTION – Instagram post 

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#amwriting my next #thriller DECEPTION. So close to completing the first draft and really looking forward to making it available for everyone to read! 📖🖊 #author #writing #writer #mystery #DECEPTION #novel #book #TJBLAKE #comingsoon 
Follow me on Instagram – t.j.blake93

Currently reading ‘Disclaimer’ by Renee Knight

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At the moment I’m reading an addictive book called ‘Disclaimer’ by Renee Knight – it’s great. For a long time I’ve been hungry for a book that constantly has me predicting, has me wondering (even when I’m not reading) and more importantly keeps me hooked. If this is what you desire from a book, then get your hands on a copy of Renee Knight’s Disclaimer!
If you’re dying to find out more, than below is the blurb for Disclaimer.

“Imagine if the next thriller you opened was all about you.  When an intriguing novel appears on Catherine’s bedside table, she curls up and begins to read. But as she turns the pages she is horrified to realize she is a key character, a main player. This story will reveal her darkest secret. A secret she thought no one else knew…”

With some great story telling from Knight, the book immediately hooks you in and introduces you to the main character, Catherine, and into her personal life – a lot of stress, a deep secret and of course, the mysterious book.
With so much hunger to discover Catherine’s secret and the identity of the book placer, you just find yourself wrapped up in the book; hungry for answers. I struggle to stop reading Disclaimer at the moment and I’m not far from the end. I cannot wait to finish it hopefully over the weekend!

A great part (for me personally) of reading Disclaimer is that it shares a similar theme and main plot to my own novel ‘The Author‘ – allowing me to see how Renee tells a story using a book as one of the key aspects of the plot.

Writing DECEPTION!
As a side note, I have also been working on my new thriller ‘DECEPTION’ – why am I mentioning this in a post about Disclaimer? Well, because DECEPTION is currently the same size as Disclaimer (367 pages), everyone loves a fun fact!

I’m so close to the end of writing DECEPTION, before I then begin the editing process.