S in the A to Z bloggers Challenge

Second life.

my sl av although her hair goes between blonde and brown lol

I have to admit I am a Second life addict, but this wonderful world often gets a lot of bad press, the reality for a lot of people on first entering second life, is that there is sex sex sex everywhere, and although there is a lot of this, there is also a lot more, for those for who pixel erotic fun does nothing.
There are huge writers communitys on secondlife, even publishers are heading in world looking for the next publishable writer.
there is dancing and music, not all of it erotic either and many find love in world too.
you can visit hundreds of sims that have been based on real life destinations, take in awesome shows, go to the cinama and watch a whole host of movies (FOR FREE). Set up your dream home or land, create your own furniture and clothes, and all from the comfort of your own home.
I'm only touching the surface here, but there really is something for everyone, and people are producing some great and fun content in world. There are even live performances by big names, in the world of music, plays, and churches that hold real services.
a free account works the same as a paid acount, the only diffrence with the paid account is you get lindon rewards and a really bad house lol. Your much better off however simply buying your own lindons and renting a much nicer house in world and it would probably work out less, so i favour the free account personally.
so I dedicate my Blog today to all the second lifers out there.

and for your entertainment, I'll be posting some links to vids and pictures below, to give you an idea of the wonderful world of second life. be sure to watch the music vids at the end if nothing else bc they are awesome :)

second life- the online virtual world

some people like to get married in secondlife, its not a real marriage more an expression of love, but it certainly can feel real at times.

real sweet sl wedding vid

and of course kids, yes you can have kids on secondlife, for some women this is the only way they can ever have children of there own, and you can do the whole process starting with prim baby right the way through to a child avatar.
yes there are people willing to be children on secondlife, adults essentially playing children to some this might seem strange, but for some who never had a happy childhood or were abused this is a way for them to understand what it would have felt like to have loving parents.

the people delivering the baby in the vid below are actually real life midwives, so they know what their doing and make the r very realistic

baby vid.

you can see some cute babes and just how realistic avs can look when done well from this vid

some sl child avatars having fun

some sl music vids

my fav the little newbie

lady gaga secondlife music vid

chemical brothers under the influence sl music vids

ymca secondlife music vid

u2 in sl (yes the real u2 played a live gig in sl)

many rl big celebs do

R in he A to Z bloggers challenge

Reading.

I love to read, I could spend hours lost in a good book, and I have to have a book on the go at all times, often more than one.
I pretty much like to read everything, athough thrillers are my fav.
I used to be really into the real life storys of hell kind of books, abuse, suffering and so on, but I dunno, I think a few people did it, and others cottened on and there was suddenly a flood of them and it just put me off.
When I first read one it was like, wow, how brave I could never in a million years write a book about all I had been through, and then as more and more flooded the market, what I am sure was a form of theraphy for them, became a night mare for me.
Maybe it was to much of a reminder of my past, because mens I seem to be able to read fine but when it comes to ones written by women I guess some of them just hit a little to close to home.
anywho, I was wondering what was your fav sort of book.
flowers in the attic by virgina andrews, and junk by mavin burgess are two that really spoke to me when I was younger, and I continue to enjoy today.
so how about you what books stick out in your mind and what type of books to you enjoy most ?

Q in the A to Z bloggers challenge

Query Letters

the very thought of a query letter send shivers up my back, but I know that it's a must if I ever want to have a chance of making it as a writer.

but it gets me in a frazzle is this too short? too long? too detailed? not enough detail? I don't think i will ever be able to write one without constantly questioning myself over and over again.

I often think WHY?????? why must I send this letter, Why not just a first chapter, even though I am fully aware of why.

How does the Query letter make you feel?

P in the A to Z blogger challenge

pests

the spring is here and summer is on the horizon, and with it come pests. Spiders, moths, wasps, bee's and flys all of which bar flys scare the bejibbys out of me.
So it made me wonder, what pest scare you or cause you the most stress over the summer months and why?

(short post again but absolutely rushed off my feet at the mo)

love and hugs Joss xxx

O in the A to Z challenge

Obediant fish

I know, I know but I couldnt resist, it's a short post today but hopefully one that will make you laugh simply click here and watch the you tube vid.

Do you know that you can even get fish training kits lol.
theres a nice little vid for that here

I don't know if i would have the patience to train a goldfish to play football, or do the limbo lol. But i thought it was pretty cute and so o just had to be obediant fish.

So excited.

a book that I am absolutely over the moon, jumping for joy, and chomping at the bit to read is being released on July 1st of this year, and is written by the lovely Melissa Kline called My beginnings, this is her first novel to be published and I have for you the book trailer or link too it if my video post thing refuses to work like it normally does.
Melissa is an absolutely awesome person with lots of great ideas and fun stories to tell, and her blog also is well worth a look so onto the links lol.

watch book trailer here

and check out Melissa awesome blog here

the book really does look amazing and I can't wait to read it, love and hugs to you all Joss xxx

Finerly hoping to loose the dye

(not me but about the colour my hair was (i'm me the very bright top part lol), well is at the ends now but was all over lol)

For years I fought my friends relentless pestering to dye my hair blonde using store bought dyes. Then in a weak moment I caved into her incessant pestering, as she reasured me that my brown hair would dye fine if she used lightners first.
So one day quite some time ago now she set to work, using to packs of lightner followed by two packs of blonde hair dye.
It was a kind of strewberry blonde by the time she finished and thats putting it nicely, the only problem was that this dye that was meant to wash out after a couple of washes didnt and I have had to wait for it to grow out, finerly there is only a small amount left and so tonight the last of it is going to be cut out.
I would have had it re-dyed at a hair dressers but to have that done is nearly 100 quid, plus the cut, and I just can't justify that much money for a hair cut.
Not when there are so many other things more important to pay out for.
so at last it is ready to be cut out that final taunting bit and I can not wait.
goodbye bad blonde I will not miss you lol.
I have ever had any hair horrors, if so I would love to hear about it.

N in the A to Z challenge

Nicknames.

I love some of the weird and wacky nicknames that people sometimes pick up, in my book Insane Reno one of my characters is nicknamed Tiz or Tizzy, her real name being lizzy but it kind of works on two levels because she is also very strong and not afraid to throw a tizzy if someone irritates her.

So I thought I would share with you some of the nicknames I have picked up over the years.

The first is

Babygirl

so many people call me this and it just seems to naturally move along to new friends, as they hear old friends refer to me this way, I can't even remember how it started now.

Jay or JJ, this was due to my old name, which was actually three jay's, hence why when I changed my name and allowed my friends to write name ideas on paper so I could pick one at random from a hat I asked them to stick to J names. At least for the first name, I ended up with Jossie Marie which actually is all my first name, not as I first thought a first and middle name lol.

little miss Flossy

this one was given to me by my close friend casp, after my name change and is slowly spreading among my other friends.
it always makes me laugh when he says it, its just the tone he uses lol.

another nickname I have had is

saltie/ salt lick.

this one sounds a bit odd but there is a really sweet reason behind it.
one of my friends on secondlife nicknamed me that because we both bread these ammaretto horses on there, and to make the horses happy you gave them salt licks.
so he nicknamed me saltie because he said I always make everyone happy which I thought was quite sweet.

shorty was a nickname I got from another sl friend, because my sl avartar is quite short compaired to most people.

and one friend used to call me slim all the time.

So what nicknames have you had over the years and why?

M in the A to Z bloggers challenge

Marriage

Like most women, when it came to marriage I dreamed of the perfect wedding and all the wonderful ways it could happen.

The reality wasn’t anything like that at all. Because well I’m not rich and neither was Dan lol.

But I’m not sure I really regret it, Yes I would have loved the big flashy dress and amazing venue, and all the big cake and all the other fancy things, but I’m not sure I’d have loved the debt so much, that that sort of wedding would have left us in, or for that matter would I have felt good about spending out enough money for a house for one day.

Because the reality is that the most important thing about your wedding day should be marrying the guy of your dreams, even if we sometimes get that man wrong lol.

Because let’s face it that happens.

So I’m glad we took the best option for us and went simple, however had I have been able to afford to do it properly without getting into debt or having to scrimp and save like crazy then sure I’d have done the whole big fancy thing.

So I was wondering what you thoughts were on this subject?

My wedding day was a simple registry office, heading over to the castle grounds for photos after, and then to the pub with friends, the honey moon one night in a local hotel overlooking the beach.

What was yours like, or what do you hope it will be like?

my first award

thank you to deirdra for my first award it will be cherished xxx

L in the A to Z blogger challenge

Lost girls

In the UK every year thousands of lost girls, are forced into prostitution.

Their lives completely destroyed before they have even had a real chance to begin.

Often these girls go unnoticed as the government focuses more of its attention on those that are trafficked in from other countries for the same purpose.

All should be deserving of help, those that are trafficked in and those who are forced into prostitution who are from this country.

Yet the lost girls of home are often forgotten.

These girls are locked up in tiny over crowded houses, where they are beaten, raped and forced to take drugs such as heroin in order to keep them manageable, on a daily basis.

Most of these girls know that they may never leave those houses alive. Those that are lucky enough to get out, are scarred and damaged both emotionally and physically for the rest of their lives.

Star a girl who once lived in one of these houses said...

“We were crammed into rooms often with no food for days on end, water was the only thing that was brought to us, and then barely enough to go around. Every so often men would come and pick one of us, and we would be dragged from the room raped and beaten.

The man who ran the house liked to play games, games that often ended with one or more of us being killed

The worst of these for me was always musical chairs, because as I got older I was picked less by the men who came into the room, and the less desirable I became the more I knew that my life was in danger.

If you weren’t earning you were no longer needed.

With musical chairs, a group of girls would be hung from the ceiling, chairs placed beneath us, when the music started men would lift us, as others moved the chairs around and around beneath us, laughing and jeering.

When the music stopped one of us would be left without a chair, and either slowly be allowed to slip through the man that held us arms, until the noose was tugging at our throats, or worse, allowed to drop quickly, our services having been deemed no longer needed.

The rest of us were left to watch, while another girl’s life was taken from her.

As I got older, into my 20’s I was subjected to this game more and more, each time certain that I would just be allowed to drop.

It was rare that people were simply allowed to leave the house.

But I got lucky, I was allowed to leave even given a small bed set to live in, my drug habit, which those men had created fed, on the condition that I helped get other girls to take the place of those that were growing too old.

Some of the girls were as young as 10.

I hate myself for helping to drag other girls into that horror; I was a coward, afraid for my own life, and sparing myself by allowing others to suffer.

The police had no interest in any of us, on the few occasions I tried to go to the police unable to cope anymore with what I was being made to do.

They laughed at me, refused to believe me and saw me simply as a junkie, one day when I attempted to go to the police again there was a young girl there, she wasn’t a British girl, but her English was ok.

We talked for a while and she told me that she had been trafficked into the UK, and that she had got away and had come to tell the police about her friends who were still trapped in that house.

I told her they never did anything, that I had come for a similar thing and every time had been ignored and turned away.

She must have thought me a liar, because when her turn came to talk to the police they were full of concern, and she was led through to a back room.

For me it was the same as it always was, I was told to stop wasting police time and sent on my way.

This is the reality still for thousands of British girls, yet all the news ever covers is those girls who are trafficked into the uk, don’t those of us born here matter at all.”

Star has escaped the horrors of that life, but lives a life of constant fear, and finds it hard to leave her home.

There are thousands of girls forced into prostitution in the UK every year. Red nose day aka comic relief, with the help of Eastender’s tried to highlight one side of this terrible reality, but there is still a much deeper and darker side, hidden away, in the streets of Britain.

So today I dedicate my post to the lost girls.

The one’s that are too often forgotten, and whose lives are lost at the hands of these evil men, all girls should matter not just those that are trafficked into the UK.

This post is dedicated to Fee, Sarah, Dotty, Lucy, Hannah, Becky, and all the other lost girls who lost their lives to young to brutal men.

If you see child abuse, report it, often a child who is being abused is a child who will later end up being forced into the sex trade.

If a child in your family is unhappy, becoming rebellious, or quite, talk to them, try your best to help and understand them, as they too could end up a lost girl.

Being a teen is not always easy, and although teenager’s problems may seem childish and unimportant in the scale of things, it can be huge for that child.

Weather it is your child, or a friends child, or even a neighbours child, someone taking the time to talk to them, and try their best to help them can save them from running away, or being taken in by a man who’s intentions are less than desirable.

Often if signs of unhappiness are spotted early enough, lives can be saved

Love and hugs joss. xxx

K in the A to Z blogger challenge

Kindle

I use kindle on my pc and I love it, and am desprate to get a proper kindle, hopefully i will be able to get myself on in a month or too finger crossed.
because as great as the kindle is on my pc its not hugely portable lol.
I love the ease with which you can download books and if you see one that you want you can have it in seconds.
I never thought I would go down this route but having tried it on my pc, I love it and so kindle is my major must have right now.

other words that begin with K are ...


K = Keen

I was less then keen on the idea of getting out of bed this morning lol

K = Kind hearted

I have lots of Kind Hearted friends

K = Kiss

mmmmmmm i love a good kiss, lol

k = kitten

My cat was such a cute kitten

k = kite

It's been a long time since I flew a kite

K = Kye

Kye is my beautiful baby boy, and would have been the K for my post, only I'm not sure the post would have ever have ended had I started to blog about him lol.

J in the A to Z challenge

Jossie.

Yep for J I'm doing my first name, the reason for this is people often confuse my name for the name Josie.

so here how my name is pronouced.

Joss-e

not

Jo-c

lol

This is a real bug bear for me and very few people prouncounce my name right, This wasn't always my name, lol.

The name I had originally was a name that I despised it also began with a J, No I'm not going to tell you what it is lol.

But although I wanted to change my name I wanted to keep the J, and so what I did was get all my friends to write down J names that they liked and put them in a hat.

then I picked one at Random and what I pulled out was Jossie Marie, I loved it and so thats how I got my name lol.

Changing my name was a huge decision and one that didnt go down well with my family, but it was something that I had to do for me.

and was something I did the first chance I got lol.

so my question for you is, do you like your name, or loath it, would you ever consider having your name changed by depole as I did, (that means legally changed for those who don't know, because it isnt as simple as just saying now I am going to be called.... there is a lot of paper work, and a solicitor involved and of course a fee) and if you could change your name what name would you choose, or would you do like me, and let your friends pick names they like and leave it to fate by picking a name from a hat?

anywho other words that begin with J are...

J = Juicy

I love Juicy courture handbags, but I have yet to own one lol.

J = Joy

I was full of Joy when my old name was finerly behind me.

J = Justice

I am so glad that the man who abused me and many other girls is now behind bars, and that justice has been done for my friends who sadly didnt survive to see him sent to prison.

J = Jelly

my fav kind of jelly is blackcurrent jelly.

J = Jolly

My best friend's last name is Jolly, I adore this man with all my heart, yay Jolly.

I in the A to Z bloggers challenge

Imagination

I could not have survived without my imagination, it has helped me take myself away from some terrible times in my life to a better place, and in so doing has enambled me to keep hope.
So I had to be for Imagination.

As a writer, my imagination plays a huge part in everything I do, but I think regardless of our career choices an imagination is always a great thing to have.

Look at children, their imagination is so vivid, and so clever, and so full of life, we all have this, but then over time as we grow it seems to fade.

I know why, because people tell us it is silly to imagine, or day dream as it often gets called. But is it really.
I think the imagination should be championed, because our imagination helps give us hope, helps us create wonderful new and exciting things, be it a story, a work of art, a sculpture or even a new invention.
Without an imagination where would we really be.

so my I word is Imagination, the biggest gift I ever recieved, and the one I love the most.

love and hugs all and keep on day dreaming :)

ps. other great I words are...

I = Impressed

I am very impressed with how well we are all doing in the A to Z challenge.

I = inspirational

There are so many inspirational people on blogger.

I = Invite

I invite you all to leave a comment :)

I = Ideas

I am filled with lots of ideas for my next novel.

I = Immerse

I am off to immerse myself in my work, take care all :)

18 hours

I'm exhausted having started my reading at midnight uk time, I have decided to call it a day with the reading.
I think for a first attempts thats not to shabby, lol.
as to whether I would do this ever again lol.
not on your nelly lol
If it was for charity I might, but just for the hell of it, hell no lol.
so thats me out love and hugs all xxx

H in the A to Z bloggers challenge

Harley de.

Well I thought I would take a break from reading for the 24 hour read-a-thon to bring you my H in the A to Z bloggers challenge.

And my H had to be for my ever loyal dog Harley de.

first let me just say that I am not a huge fan of harley davidson motorbikes, but my mother was, and at the time harley was born I was living with my mum, and when I asked to keep one of Tamika's puppies, she said, only if I kept a boy and called him harley lol.

anywho, Harley has been with me since before he was even born and he is a real good old fashioned mix breed.
are you ready for this? lol

Harley is a parson's jack Russel x dalmation x border collie x dachhound x corgie.

But ultimately he looks like a slightly longer in the body, and quite stocky, (it is stocky not fat regardless of what my hubbys says, its all muscle honest hehe) black and white parson jack russel, with a few dalmation spots mingled in with the white.

harley was born at exactly 3 am christmas morning 2000, I was there at his birth, having been sat with his mum all night, who was desprate for me not to leave her side.
she had a litter of 6 pups, who all got loving homes harley the only boy among the lot staying with me.

Harley has now been with me 10 years, when he was born he had a smooth coat that was a beautiful crisp brown in colour and gleamed in the sun. But as harley got bigger, his face fungus began to sprout starting around his face, then down his back, until it pretty much covered everything.

now you can only see his smooth brown undercoat when he gets clipped down in the summer. still has the face fungus though lol.

Harley believes he is royalties, and expects to be treated as such, when I met and married my husband his place as top dog got knocked down a peg, but he still rules over the rest of our pets.

he's a very inteligent dog, too smart sometimes, and has a weird penchant for gnawing on small pieces of wire, I'm talking tiny pieces so small you can barely see them.

its only the grinding of his teeth on it that tells you he is up to no good. So we have to be careful not to leave any thin wires around him.

this is the only place where Harley can be classed as bad however for the most part he is very obediant, if growing grumpier with age.

he'll groan, moan, and snarl in disgust if you nudge him while he sleeps, then looks horrified when he realises its you, the one that hands out the treats, and not one of the other dogs lol.

Harley is very set in his ways and knows exactly what he likes and doesn't like, and God help the things he doesn't like.

One of harley's biggest pet hates it men with long hair. He's fine until they speak the instant they do and he hears a deep voice, war is declared.

he will sit sulking by mine or dans feet and he will growl, snarl, and snort in protest everytime they speak as if to say how dare you have a deep voice and long hair.

He also has a deep hatred towards one of my best friends jade, while adoring her partner Karl. Karl finds this greatly amusing as harley will lay in his lap not letting jade come anywhere near karl.

Thankfully harley is all bark and no bite, his prefered methord of dealing with a persistant pet hate if it refuses to leave him alone is to run away and sulk loudly in a corner.

We are not sure why Harley hates Jade so much, the only reason we can come up with is that she looks quite similar to me, but has a very strong liverpool accent and is quite loud.

and Harley does seem to have a problem with people who dont sound how he thinks they should lol.

Harley has a firm beliefe that he is top dog, and this is ever evident with how he acts around our other dogs one of which is a male rottie twice his size called Hooch, Harley squares up to hooch on a regular basis, and promptly puts him in his place.

Recently this has caused some problems as hooch has started to challenge Harley for the top dog spot.

When ever hooch makes an attempt at this all hell breaks out, and Harley completely looses the plot, flying at hooch in a rage, and refusing to let up until hooch is practically cowering in the corner, about to wet himself.

They have never drawn blood on each other or even hurt each other, which i am so thankful for, so I guess it is more a show than an actual attack but still it can be pretty scary, especially when I have to dive in the middle of it and yank out a seething Harley, who just does not want to let it go without scaring hooch half to death.

My biggest fear is that hooch being twice the size of harley could one day have enough and give harley a nasty bite, so I have learned to spot the signs of them getting narky with each other and separate them.

thankfully things seemed to have calmed down abit recently and all I can hope is that when Hooch once again decides to try for boss he'll be wise enough to wait till harley is a bit older and not so quick.

Harley is also a very good hunter, although this must purely be due to instinct as I never trained him.

he takes on rats, and rodents with enthusiams, and his normal savage temper, so much so that he once took on a huge rat that ripped chunks out of him, including a huge chuck that is now missing from harleys ear.

but harley wasnt going to let the rat off till he'd killed it.

I was petried at the sight of him after, all dripping blood, but harley stomped around with pride, all puffed up, well till the next day where he was all sorrowful and giving everyone his best pity me eyes because he was sore.

now it might sound from what I have said that harley is a bit of a git, but really he is a very affectionate dog, and everyone that comes into contact with him falls in love with him, well those that he likes at any rate.

he just has so much character, and is so gentle where it matters, for instance with my son, he'll sit for hours just letting kye stroke him or dress him up.

like i said he just knows what he likes and doesnt like and well the things he doesnt like sadly gets a rough deal.

I mentioned that harley was smart so I should give some examples of this.

Harley suffers from stiff joints in his legs when the weather is cold and so we had pills that he had to take. Getting Harley to take something he doesnt want to is never an easy task, so we would hide the pill in a piece of cheese.
it didnt take harley long to figure out if he limped he got cheese, and so now when ever he spys cheese he gets a limp.

and he will limp everyday all day until all the cheese is gone.

The worst part is I fell for his ploy for a long time before my husband, who is not quite so devoted to harley pointed out that he was playing me.

Then there are tricks, harley is so quick to learn new tricks, he can roll over, beg, give high fives, and even sing along with how much is that doggy in the window, simply adding in the barks at the right times.

I couldnt imagine my life without harley he has been with me since before my husband and I hope he will be with me many years to come and I'm very hopeful as his father scampy who lives with my mum is now about 20, is still going strong, even if he does have catrax is deaf as a post, and like harley gets stiff joints in cold weather.

oh one more thing in the hunting area, harley and pheasants, it is amazing watching harley take out pheasants, he has worked out that they can only fly so far, and so harley chases them and as they come back down, he'll catch them, break there necks and grab for the next, I once watch him bring down 5 pheasants in quick succession like this.

I love this dog, and always will, so today had to be all about Harley De.

harleys nicknames are.

de man, hols, De and grumpy old man. and there you have it, my grumpy old man, de lol.

ps other words that begin with H are...

H = Handy

My husband is very handy to have around, after all we all need someone to throw things at don’t we lol (just kidding)

H = Heaven

I hope to go to heaven one day, but until then I’ll enjoy the beauty of the world we live in, and relish in the wonderful people, that I’m privileged to share it with.

H = homely.

I’m told something being called homely in America is seen as a bad thing, to me homely has always been a nice word. A cosy place, that is comfortable, welcoming and warm, or a person who has similar attributes.

H = hospitals

I have a deep fear of hospitals.

H = happy

I am happy to have met so many wonderful people through blogger

The death artist

I’ve just finished reading the death artist by Jonathan Santlofer, and all I can say is WOW!!!!

The whole way through I was guessing and guess at who the death artist was and just getting it wrong time and time again.

The book does a wonderful job of sucking you in and keeping you hooked there, and leads you on misdirection after misdirection, right until the very end.

I loved it and really recommend it to others.

about the book from back cover.

A killer is preying on New York’s art community, creating gruesome depictions of famous paintings, using human flesh and blood as his media. Terror stalks this world of genius, greed, inspiration, and jealousy – a world Kate McKinnon knows all too well. A former NYPD cop who traded in her badge for a Ph.D in art history, Kate can see the method behind the psychopath’s madness- and the grisly slaughter of a former protégé is drawing her into the predator’s path. As each new murder exceeds the last in savagery, Kate is dragged into the twisted obsessions of the Death artist, who plans to use her body, her blood, and her fear to create the ultimate masterpiece.

my sprinf thing 2011 reading list...

1) the death artist by Jonathan Santlofer (finished reading) 9th April

2) A slow burn by Mary E. Demuth (finished reading) 7th April

3) A life in Defiance by Mary E. Demuth

4) Men are like waffles and women are like spaghetti by Bill and Pam Farrel

5) Painless by Derek Ciccone

6) It’s no secret by Rachel Olsen

7) Insane Reno by Jossie Marie Solheim (well I gotta do a full read through now the editings complete just to make sure so why not lol)

And last but not least (the one I am most looking forward too hehe is ...

8) My beginning by Melissa Kline.