Journal Entry from Amanda Blake second installment. (The Deadly Caress)

The Deadly Caress O. N. Stefan.

I found my mother dead today. I still can't believe it. I don't want to believe it. 

Jean, my mother, was lying so still with her eyes staring at nothing. It was awful.

A toothbrush lay beside her. I stared hard at her outstretched fingers, wanting them to curl around the handle, to show some small sign of life.

Finally, I stared at the marble vanity cluttered with the mundane necessities of the living—a half-drunk glass of water, an open bottle of mouthwash, toothpaste, an open bottle of pills, perfume, lipstick and a compact.

I must have fainted because the next thing I remember was Brian, Dorian and Estella standing round me with worried looks on their faces. 

I had hoped to spend time getting to know my mother, but she's been taken from me. And it's tearing me apart. 

www.getBook.at/B00I0DI0MY

Journal Entry from Amanda Blake (The Deadly Caress.)

The Deadly Caress O. N. Stefan.

I met my mother today. I don't know exactly what I expected but one thing for sure was that I didn't think I'd look so much like her.

I want so desperately to like Jean but I'm at sixes and sevens trying to get used to the knowledge that I have a mother. She seems to be trying hard to help me come to terms with all this but I'm resisting and I can't help it. It's tearing me apart as all I was used to was a woman who I thought to be my mother, Elaine, who died when I was twelve. But now I know different. 

Funny how life throws a curve ball at you and you can't duck it no matter what you do.

The picture below is an antique camera from my little collection. I'm a professional photographer and love what I do. I get to go all over the world taking pictures of wildlife and go to places where few people have been.

www.getBook.at/B00I0DI0MY

Death and cremation

The Australian Writer's Festival is on and I went to an author talk today. Caitlin Doughty spoke about her career as a Mortician.

She's an entertaining speaker and I learned much about cremation, how the body is burned and that the family can attend the burning if they wish but no one ever tells them this. Wow!



I didn't know that the hardest part to burn is the chest area which needs to be face up. The the body is turned to burn more evenly. Old people burn quickly say from 45 minutes to an hour and overweight people can take up to two hours.

Also, the bones don't all burn and they are put into a grinding machine to ground to a powder that the family will receive in a box.

One question I didn't get to ask is what happens to the box. The funeral industry pushes the family to buy the most expensive box. Does it get recycled back to the funeral company when it is actually owned by the family that paid for it?

Caitlin is opening her own funeral home in July. I wish her all the best as she's come across as a caring person and I can't think of anyone who would look after your dearly departed better.

Her book, a New York Times bestseller, is about her career and her experiences in the industry of death.
I purchased 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & other lessons from the Crematory' and hope to read it shortly. I can't wait after hearing snippets of her experiences.

http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Gets-Your-Eyes-Crematory/dp/0393240231

I have to say that I'm a little uncomfortable with looking at a dead body but at least now I can shake of that conditioning of speaking about death.

Prescription for murder

In the current thriller (Sleep then my Princess) which I'm editing, I had to find a way to murder someone without doctor's and pathologists becoming suspicious. My background is pharmacy and I love to research. I looked in to a combination of medications for a way that would work for this scenario. I came up with something that I knew could happen in real life. Please don't do it to your relatives.

Sleep then my Princess will be out in mid 2015.

Subscribe to my blog or my website www.onstefan.weebly.com to find out how my villain did this.

I'll be posting exerts here when Sleep then my Princess is almost ready to be published.

Have an interesting and eventful day.

O.

Fruit chain cholla cactus from the Arizona Desert.

Some of these hook spikes anchor themselves in the villains boot after he covers the body of the child he's just murdered with branches. He goes crazy trying to dislodge them.

Sleep then my Princess. Release date will be July 2015

It's been along journey. I didn't expect that this book would take so much time. I'd written it a few years ago. So it should have been easy to bring it up to speed. Wrong.

I'd had this story assessed and the assessor suggested I take out a secondary plot as it was overshadowing the main plot. So I listened to her and removed a third of the story. Now I had gaping holes and I edited the first third pretty well but the rest of the manuscript was very raw. I had left it like that as I'd lost interest in fixing it up by then. This story gathered "dust" until I pulled it up on my screen mid last year.

Fast forward to today. I'm now ready to send the manuscript off to an editor. I have a cover in mind, finally, and will use the cover designer I previously used on the Deadly Caress to make the cover as eye catching as it can be and to convey what the reader can expect from the story inside.

What's next. I'm planning to change pace and go back to the fantasy trilogy, of which I've written two books and need to at the very least outline the third before I can go back and start polishing the first in the series.

Trailer for the Deadly Caress O. N. Stefan

Sleep then my Princess - due for release mid 2015

Hi All
I'm happy to say that The Deadly Caress is selling reasonably well. I'm pleased so many people are finding my book entertaining. Thank you to those that have left great reviews.

My next thriller 'Sleep then my Princess' is due for release in about two months. I'm nearly finished the last round of edits. My writing buddy Victoria Chie was kind enough to go through the story with a red pen and outlined many flaws which I have now corrected. Hopefully, it's a coherent story now. If not, then it's all my fault.

I'll shortly send the manuscript off to an editor. Then it's back to me for another round of edits till I feel happy with it. I'm waiting for my cover designer to get back from holidays so he can create a great cover. This book has taken a lot longer to complete than I anticipated. Nevertheless, I've enjoyed the process. I ask myself what else would I be doing with my time? Shopping, enjoying the garden and more. Let's not go there.

All the best.
O.

Trailer for the Deadly Caress.

I've decided to post chapters of The Deadly Caress on Wattpad. Please read, enjoy and share with friends.

http://www.wattpad.com/library/OlgaOlha

Thanks for dropping by.

O.

2014 in Review

2014 went too fast for me. I published the Deadly Caress early in 2014. Being a first time author was a steep learning curve for me. Marketing is only one aspect of writing I'm learning as I go. 

There are so many people I want to thank that helped me put that book onto Kindle. The first one is Victoria Chie, Max, Chris and Nicole and all my friends who helped with marketing.

I have to thank my readers for their reviews and encouragement. 

The Deadly Caress wasn't an easy book to write and to hear that it was an easy read was heartening for me. It took many revisions to get it that way. Writing a book isn't a singular task. It takes a team of support people to assist along the way from editors, proofreaders and cover designers.

I plan to release my next thriller early 2015. I've been bogged down with scientific research on this one but loving it all the same.

On the reading front, I've manage to churn through many books this year. Some were amazing tomes and others, not so.

One of note is: Bloodgifted 
Bloodgifted


Another is: 

Agency Rules - Never an Easy Day at the Office

Agency Rules

I hope you have a happy and prosperous 2015.