Sunday 20 September 2020

How not to die like in the horror movies

Like a  lot of writers I love horror movies and tv shows and it's time well spent because I now have tips on how to avoid being killed by a knife-wielding maniac.


CLOSE THOSE SHOWER CURTAINS, FOLKS.




1.In bathrooms, shower curtains should always be left open never closed. I've seen far too many scenes where the killer/Jason/Psycho character is hiding behind it.


MAKE YOUR KEYS FUMBLE PROOF 



2.Don't drop your keys at your front door. No, put them in a key ring and keep it attached to your bag/purse. Less chance of some hooded killer coming up behind you with a knife and grabbing you after you've bent down and slitting your throat.


SAVE A DOG'S LIFE AND THEY'LL SAVE YOURS





3.Adopt a dog. A dog barking will make any potential creepy attacker think twice. Preferably adopt a decent-sized pup like my gorgeous goofball Harley and not one the size of a cat as a knife-wielding maniac is unlikely to be put off by a yapping dog they can tell is too small to bite them on the backside. He or she will save your life.


HAVE A FULLY CHARGED PHONE



4.Dont go anywhere you can't get a mobile phone signal and always make sure you have it charged and or have an emergency charger with you. I've lost count of the number of times a target - usually, a blonde woman in skimpy white t-shirt and shorts has been unable to call for help because of a duff phone. Don't let it be you.


Last of all and probably most importantly,  

5. try and keep fit so you have at least some chance of running away from a madman or woman. Run out of puff and you're dead.



5. try and keep fit so you have at least some chance of runng away from a madman or woman. Run out of puff and you're dead.


Tuesday 18 August 2020

It's been fun... farewell to the Cannibal City book tour



This is the final day of the Cannibal City blog tour and it's been amazing. I'm so sad it has to end.

Thanks to everyone who has taken part. You've been amazing and I appreciate the time you spent reading and writing about Cannibal City.

In truth, I haven't been feeling too well recently mentally and at times I've struggled to get any writing done because of a complete loss of confidence. 

Having this blog tour has given me a boost, so thanks to everyone for getting involved. 

A special thanks to damppebbles.com for doing all the organising.

I'd like to thank today's two stops on the tour for having #CannibalCity and me on on their fantastic blogs.



Here's what @cheekypee27 had to say about Cannibal City -

This is book two in the series and I highly recommend you read book one Vile City first.

There is a serial killer on the loose and DI Waddell is on the case. This series is different in that Waddell gets help from his colleague Stevie- who’s in a coma.

I really liked this storyline. The twists and turns had me glued to my kindle. Can’t wait to read more from this author.



Meanwhile, @colingarrow was kind enough to feature me in his Author spotlight


The double tragedy of Mary Duncan, 17, missing since 1976


Police Scotland photo

Of all the cases I have ever read about that are unsolved this is one of the ones that has haunted me. A teenage girl with her whole life ahead of love and a baby daughter she adored at home, Mary Duncan would have lived a full life by now. 

But instead, it seems likely that she was murdered at the young age of 17 in 1976 although her body is still to be found and nobody has been arrested for her murder. 

The young mum who became pregnant at 15 would not have gone quietly. She would have fought to stay with her child. 

I recently read on the news that police were searching the grounds of Vale of Leven hospital in Dunbartonshire in Scotland for the remains of the missing young mum.

The double tragedy of the disappearance of young Mary 44 years ago, is that soon after she went missing, Laura, the young daughter she loved to bits died of natural causes. The bairn hadn't yet reached her second birthday. 

When Mary was last seen she told her family she was going to meet a friend. Of course, being a teenager it has been suggested that Mary upped sticks and left, but this doesn't appear to be in character. 

According to Chief Superindent Calum Young: "Extensive inquiries continue in an attempt to find any indication of where Mary could be. However, due to the fact that she has not been seen or heard from in 44 years, we must consider the option that she may have come to harm."

Looking at pictures of Mary, you see a bright and happy young woman and a loving mum who would never have left her baby. It would have taken something awful to pull her away from her child. 

Hopefully, the police search will finally get some answers so that Mary and her beautiful baby will finally be able to rest in peace together. 

Footnote - Mary and her three sisters'stepfather, Norman Duncan, was jailed for 5 years for historical sexual offences against girls and was spoken to as one of a number of lines of inquiry.

Tuesday 21 July 2020

How to stop your Nokia 2.3 phone turning its screen on when not in use




How I avoided doing a Ron Swanson


Needing to update my technology, I recently bought myself a new phone. A Nokia 2.3.

I love that phone apart from one thing. One extremely annoying thing - every single time I put the phone in my pocket and click on the power button switch, which on all the phones I've had has locked the screen and stopped it from working when in my pocket, the phone screen with come back on again.

I would find garbled, nonsensical notes that had been written. It would open my email app. Even worse, it would start to dial up numbers.

At my wits end and ready to do a Ron Swanson and smash the phone to bits or toss it out the window, I did some internet research to try and see how I could solve this problem. 

Most of what I read talked about functions my phone disn't have. The one that it did have was about the ability to turn off the ambient feature. This was accessed through the settings menu and then by going on to display.

Unfortunately this doesn't work. 





Then I was looking through the functions on my phone and I came across the ~ Lift To Check My Phone Function. This was devised to check your notifications, time and and other information by simply lifting up the phone.

I found this on my phone in the SETTINGS - SYSTEM - GESTURES and deselected PICK UP MY PHONE and now when I click on the power button quickly with one press it stops my screen lighting up when it's in my pocket or sitting down on a table.

Problem solved👍 No more risk of butt dialling or of throwing my phone off a bridge. 

Friday 17 July 2020

The coolest introduction to a book ever for How Kirsty gets her kicks





This is the coolest introduction to a book ever. 

Thanks to the awesome Mark Pelletier @MPell2137 and to Shotgun Honey for publishing How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks https://twitter.com/MPell2137/status/1283790631538589696?s=19

What's the book about then?

A tale of skullduggery that plays out on the mean streets of Glasgow…

One-legged barmaid Kirsty is in a shit-load of trouble after she kills one of gangster Jimmy McPhee’s enforcers with a stiletto heel to the head after he gets a bit too handsie.

Now she’s on the run from the gang boss who loves to torture his victims before he kills them, with a safe-load of cash she stole from him and a hot gun. And she has company—a choirboy barman Jamie who just happens to be the only witness.

She needs to survive long enough to spend the cash.

How difficult can it be to catch a “daft wee lassie with one leg?” Glasgow hardman Jimmy McPhee is about to find out. Kirsty’s made a laughing stock out of him and he doesn’t like that one wee bit.

Bring together a one-legged barmaid who’s legged it with a safe load of dirty cash, a spurned gangster’s wife who wants a walking womb for her mail order sperm, a giant birthday cake and a mad chase to the end, and you’ve got How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks: one freaking minute at a time.

Monday 1 June 2020

3 ways to get more writing done during lockdown

one writer's office
"I can't seem to find the time to get any writing done with everything that's going on."

That's a common refrain I'm hearing from writing pals. It's understandable given the circumstances caused by the coronavirus.


But there are ways you can get some writing done.

Here are just four -

writing is work

1. Don't tell your family that you're going to "get some writing done". 
Nope, tell them you have some work to do.

A funny thing happens to writers I know. When they tell their families they're off to do some writing they get constantly interrupted by kids asking where stuff is and partners coming in for a natter. 


Unless you say you're working, your work will be treated like it's not work at all.

Not everything good comes in large packages

2.  Try to do your writing in manageable chunks. If you have 10 minutes to spare use that time. You might find it easier than say telling yourself you need to set a few hours aside to work on that article or your novel.

Speech to text can get that writing done

3. A slow typer or just someone who likes to read something out loud that you've written to see how it scans, making use of the speech to text capabilities on your phone, tablet or laptop is a good way to get your writing done. It's also perfect when you just want a break from typing and want to be productive.

I use OneNote on my phone.

Monday 4 May 2020

Revamped Die Hard for Girls books series out now



The Crime Files
By Jennifer Lee Thomson


The DIE HARD FOR GIRLS  SERIES by Jennifer Lee Thomson is AVAILABLE NOW! These books are a MUST if you're a fan of the thriller, mystery, and suspense genres!



HELL TO PAY - Book #1



- SYNOPSIS -
Nancy Kerr refuses to be a victim—even when she walks in on her parents’ killers and is raped and left for dead…

Fourteen months later, Nancy wakes up in a psychiatric hospital with no knowledge of how she got there.

Slowly, her memory starts to return.

Released from the institution, she has just one thing on her mind—two men brought hell to her family home.

Now they’re in for some hell of their own…


- PURCHASE -
AMAZON US ➜ CLICK HERE 
AMAZON UK ➜ CLICK HERE



THROWAWAYS - Book #2



- SYNOPSIS -
Huddled in a doorway, in a blonde wig, and my best Pretty Woman outfit, I'm already soaked to the skin. As downward spirals go, this was bad.

But I wasn’t here because I was reduced to turning tricks for a living. I was here to catch a killer…

Throwaways.

That's the word they're using for the four Glasgow sex workers who've gone missing. But two people do care.

When Suzy Henderson was found dead in a landfill site, her eyes pecked out by crows, they found the finger of another missing woman wedged in her throat.

Nancy Kerr and Tommy McIntyre are on the case and they won’t stop until they find the missing women.

But, how can they trust anyone when they can’t even trust each other?


- PURCHASE -
AMAZON US ➜ LINK
AMAZON UK ➜ LINK




DON'T COME FOR ME Book #3


- SYNOPSIS -
What if you were charged with your boyfriend’s murder, but you knew he wasn’t even dead?

That's the position rape survivor Nancy Kerr finds herself in. Now, she faces a race against time to find Tommy before she’s convicted of his murder.

But, someone doesn’t want her or Tommy’s Special Forces buddy, Eric from finding out the truth.

And getting too close could get them killed.

- PURCHASE -
AMAZON US ➜ CLICK HERE 
AMAZON UK ➜ CLICK HERE



JENNIFER LEE THOMSON -

Jennifer Lee is an award-winning crime writer who has been scribbling away all her life. She also writes as Jennifer Thomson and loves going for walks with her rescue dog.

Inspired by her love of zombies and The Walking Dead, she wrote Dead Bastards.

She kills people for a living in the Crime File series of books for Limitless Publishing. Book 1, 2 and 3, will be out soon. To find out more details, check out ADD SOMETHING 

Her novella, How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks, about a one legged Glasgow barmaid who goes on the run with a gun and a safe load of gangster's cash after killing one of his henchmen, will be out soon.

Vile City (Detective in a Coma Bk 1) will be published by Caffeine Nights in 2017.

She blogs about writing at http://ramblingsofafrustratedcrimewriter.blogspot.com/ and about zombies at http://deidbastards.blogspot.co.uk

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/jenthom72
WEBSITE: http://jennifer-thomson.blogspot.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/HelltoPaybyJennyThomson

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