I submitted a 140 character story to Miniature Stories/140story today. To my surprise mine was selected and published onto their site.
“Living a new life unnoticed, journeying undetected. Without a sound, without a voice, without a touch, watch over your loved ones.”
What do you think my story is about?
Do check out their site and have a go yourself. It’s a fun challenge. Visit 140 story at http://www.miniaturestory.org/
I submitted an article to ‘World Study Travels’ called ‘To go abroad or not…’ in which I speak about my opinion and experiences of travelling abroad and my holidays in the UK.
Go and have a read of my article in the ‘WST Magazine’ at: http://worldstudytravels.com/go-abroad/
Enjoy
As you may know today is National Poetry Day!
Not so long ago I did a blog event called ‘Poem Attempts’ I think it went reasonably well, I had no criticisms so my poems couldn’t have been too bad!
Relive my poems now in aid of Poetry Day! Click My Poem Attempts now! 🙂
You can take part in Poetry Day by visiting http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/national-poetry-day/ and joining in on the hashtags #thinkofapoem
The Author is completely different to my first book Endurance.
Endurance was the kind of book where the ideas came to me quickly. I had many ideas for it and I wanted to make it different, which is why I wrote it in the style of horror with segments of sci-fi and dystopia, and a fast paced narrative.
The Author however is intricate. Creating the plot was like piecing together a puzzle; it has many twists and turns similarly to Endurance, but the story is told in such a different way. The Author is told in the 1st person narrative from the view of the main character (who happens to be ‘The Author’, Ryan Milligan). The Author also takes more time to introduce the characters in more detail and setting the scene early on.
I also thought it would be interesting to tell a story which had another story to tell throughout, called ‘Killing For Your Love’ meaning that it gave me the opportunity to try adding the concept of a book within a book idea.
The Author builds up slowly but once it gets right into the story, that’s when the book becomes dark, twisted and creepy.
I don’t want to reveal any spoilers of the book so I won’t say too much more. But I will leave you with a little teaser (below).
To Keep updated with the release of The Author, please visit it’s official Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/TheAuthor2014
” As I turn to enter, I hear a noise inside. I pause to listen again. Silence. I take the key to the front door from my pocket and slowly insert it and unlock the door. I gently push the door, which creaks the more it opens.
Then I listen; no more sounds are heard. I step inside. The house is so cold… the door under the stairs catches my attention. It’s standing ajar. the door under the stairs catches my attention. It’s standing ajar. It creaks and I stare as I walk slowly towards it. The handle is cool to the touch. I yank open the door… “
Reviews from readers
“Dean Koontz meets Stephen King” – Amazon review
“I liked the mystery of Ryan’s missing wife and children and didn’t expect the twist in the end.” – Amazon review
“Once again, I found myself getting lost in another novel by T.J. Blake. The Author, Blake’s follow up to his debut novel Endurance, is full of twists and turns that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat–or bed, or wherever readers read.” – Amazon review
“I am not going to talk about the story because I feel that to give away too much, even of the smaller details would take a huge amount of enjoyment out of the book as the discovery of how it unfolds is one of the most enjoyable aspects.” – Amazon
“Movie Material!” Free-eBooks
“Best book I’ve ever read!” -Free-eBooks
The Author now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Waterstones.
getBook.at/B00HYN2QAI
Endurance: Apocalypse is currently under the editing process. We will work to edit it as quick as we can to make it available for you out there who are waiting to read what will happen next after Endurance!
You may be aware that I am writing a new book as well as editing. My new book (which will be available as eBook only) is a supernatural horror novel. I am yet to confirm a name for it. I do have one but I am still undecided on that. I have a cover idea and I am well and truly into the thick of the story. So I am hoping to get this new book out there as soon as possible for you all to check out.
I have never written a book of the supernatural kind. I have decided to take a risk and add my own twist to it, so you can expect an original story with a different outlook and set of rules for my spiritual world
“I have been living a lie. My husband Jack and my two daughters Lucy and Charlie believe that I am dead.” – Character Sarah from the new eBook. Coming Soon!
Today I have spent a lot of my day writing.
As you may know I finished my first draft of Endurance: Apocalypse a couple of weeks ago. I am now at the stage in which I need to go through it and edit it. This stage is very difficult but it is the stage which makes your book what it is. It can be very tedious and long for authors but it is something we must do as the author.
I am slowly working through it to make it what I want it to be and sound to my readers. However, I have been bugged by all of my other book ideas, which are constantly filling my mind. I sometimes feel my mind is working to quick for me to compensate all these ideas, and so I felt it was time to set Endurance 2 aside for today and to concentrate on another book idea of mine. I am hoping that this would unclog my mind ever so slightly so that I can concentrate solely on these two books.
This book idea is dark, and of a supernatural genre; with an interesting twist.
I cannot give too much away but I can tell you that I plan for it to be original. I have not decided on a name yet but I have written a fair chunk of the book.
This book will be available on eBook only and not paperback because I want to release this as a short story. I’m hoping this will be a short story that you can still relate and bond with the characters as well as the novel capturing your imagination and will make you think about ghostly spirits differently.
I will keep you updated on this title but this is the very early stages of this project.
So of course yesterday, my Poem Attempt 4 signalled the ending to my blog’s ‘Poem Attempts’.
If you missed it you’re probably thinking ‘What the hell are you on about?’
Well basically if you do not know, I am a writer of the genre Psychological Horror, Mystery, Thriller and Sci Fi I have written two books Endurance and The Author.
I have never been a fan of poetry nor have I ever written it. But for my university course, I had to write poetry. Of course, I was very worried about it. I remember fearing that this one module would finish me off and make me lose my degree. But I actually enjoyed writing poetry.
I decided to share my poems on this blog for you to read. I decided to do a ‘Poem Attempts Weekend’ event on my blog over four days. I uploaded a poem once a day.
If you missed this then you can catch up with it all by scrolling through my blog or you can just click here to see all my poems on one page.
If you want to see the posts separately with my thought process/commentary, then please click on each of the poem attempts below to see each blog post.
Poem Attempt 1: Invisible Friend
Poem Attempt 4: Emotion + Experience – A Path Of Life
Thank you for reading!
This is the last post of my ‘Poem Attempts’.
I hope all that have followed have enjoyed my experiment and attempts with poetry. Please feel free to share which one of the 4 poems were your favourite and maybe even share your own poems.
If you have missed my other poem attempts, read them here now by clicking on their title – Poem Attempt 1: Invisible Friend , Poem Attempt 2: My Family , Poem Attempt 3: 4 5683 968
My final poem was in all honesty, really odd. I came up with the idea to experiment with the difference between context and emotion. I did this by aligning the different contexts to the left and then the emotions to the right.
Aligned in the centre are something different, a marker to distinguish growth, maturity and life changing decisions.
The final line can be interpreted in many different ways. It would be great if you could share what you believe the last line is telling us and whether the poem works for you or not.
Copyright © 2014 T. J. Blake
All rights reserved.
Emotion + Experience – A Path Of Life
The monster under your bed,
An influence of a child’s imagination
Staring into the darkness,
Susceptible to vulnerability
The uninvited thought of death,
Fear the end of life
A knife in the back,
Experiencing deceit and pain
Friendships go missing,
Rejection and Disappointment
Life moves quickly,
Dread the future
Many decisions…
The beginning of a parting path of human life
A life threatening choice
Become a unit,
Fight for your country,
Wear your uniform,
Be proud, gain maturity and discipline
Silent your fears,
Control your fear
Look out onto the battlefield,
And Fight.
No longer fear.
By T. J. Blake
And that concludes my ‘Poem Attempts Weekend’ which overlapped onto a Friday and Monday.
I hope you enjoyed my poetry and have inspired you to maybe consider writing poetry.
What I have learnt from writing poetry is that you can write whatever you want, in what ever way you like in many different presentational styles. Another thing – Poetry does not have to rhyme.
Thank you for reading.
Firstly I would like to thank everybody who is following my ‘Poem Attempts Weekend’ with me. Hope you’re enjoying them!
Although poetry is completely out of my comfort zone, I decided to throw romance into the mix.
This was another task for my university course. The task was to write a poem using or about technology. A pretty broad subject right?
I decided to focus partly on texts/texting, including stereotypical ‘text speech’.
If you haven’t already been following my ‘Poem Attempts Weekend, then please feel free catch up starting with ‘Poem Attempt 1: Invisible Friend’ followed by ‘Poem Attempt 2: My Family’.
But for now, here’s Poem Attempt 3!
Copyright © 2014 T. J. Blake
All rights reserved.
4 5683 968
Dazzled by the phone’s screen in the blackness,
Waiting for a text or call.
Staring at her name, I picture her within,
Lustring hair,
Outstandingly addictive stare,
Voluptuous and,
Enticing lips.
Previous message, “its nt u its me”,
Patterns itself across my watering eyes,
The inner voice repeating the text,
That un-describable feeling from my stomach to my throat,
Salted tears fills my senses, hope disperse.
“plz dnt leave”, followed by 4 5683 968. Send.
Phone groans, light shines; burning eyes.
“needin space” comes the reply,
The brain freezes, the heart sinks,
Loneliness settles,
Tears fall.
I begin to type, what to say?
Beg her? Respect her plea?
Instead, I just type “4 5683 968”,
“I Love You”
By T. J. Blake
We in the UK are experiencing weather which we are certainly not used to. Sun and heat!
My next poem attempt will be a good one to read in the sun!
This is the first poem that I wrote.
It was part of a task at university where we were given a number of words that we needed to include into the piece. The words I chose were feud, whir, Blackberry and a couple of other which I cannot remember.
But please, tell me what you think of my poetry. You can look at my ‘Poem Attempt 1: Invisible Friend’ by clicking here.
Enjoy!
Copyright © 2014 T. J. Blake
All rights reserved.
My Family
Standing upright, forgetting the past feuds,
I stare.
Blades of grass, stroke between my toes,
Clouds afloat on the deep blue,
Wind hits the trees, peeling to a whir,
Curls of smoke cascade the flame, cooking raw meat.
I stare.
Dangling hand feels the rough, moist lick from the Spaniel,
The Blackberry drones against the wood,
The bass of voices vibrate through the ground,
Followed by a roar of laughter,
I stare.
Forgetting the past feuds, I stand upright.
I join my family around the fire.
By T. J. Blake
T. J. Blake #Author 