Find your inspiration

I have heard many authors complain that they do not have time to read.  That on top of the demands of a job and a spouse and a child, or four, finding the time to sit down and relax in the evening with a book is as likely as finding the missing link between man and monkey buried in your back garden.  But likewise I have also heard many writers claim that to not read is tantamount to claiming that you have no interest in the written word. That not having the time to read simply means you do not have the time to write.

I see the argument for both sides, although I have pretty much set up camp in the latter stronghold.  I know my writing limps along when I am not reading, and I know that equally it stops flowing if I am reading something that I am not enjoying.  It as if the melancholy I feel whilst reading something I am not fully engaged with attaches itself to my ability to write, and all I manage to get down on paper/screen are words that fail even to inspire the mind from which they originated.

Since I got my Kindle for Christmas it is much easier to try something new, and this has also conversely increased my passion for printed books.  In fact I have ordered more paperbacks, and even a few hardbacks in the last eight weeks since the arrival of the Kindle, just because browsing for eBooks has reminded me of some of my old favourites.

But in spite of my reading going into overdrive just lately I have still struggled with burnout when it comes to the work in progress.  As an indie author I have to take a lot of responsibility for my work, a lesson learned right at the start when publishing was swiftly followed by unpublishing whilst I fixed the errors in formatting and sneaky typos.  It would seem that I edited Psychophilia until I was drained of all writing ability, which left nothing much for the WIP once Psychophilia went off to the editor.

The last couple of weeks have been tough on the writing front.  I have turned up each day and put in the hours, but nothing seemed to grow into quite what I wanted it to become.  But there always comes a point when you find the right thing to inspire.  Books might be my craft, they teach me about the use of words, and I digest them to provide me with renewed energy for writing.  But today, stuck at home with a hellish virus and a husband with man flu taking up residency on the sofa, my writing has been easier and flowed more than the last two weeks.  Maybe it's the drugs, but as far as I was aware Panadol didn't have any hallucinogens in.  What I am sure it is, is music.  I stuck my headphones in, cranked up the volume to the music of my youth and started listening to Slipknot, Stonesour, and Megadeth.  All the music that seems frantic and far too loud for somebody with a headache.  But there is an energy about this music, and a freedom of speech that isn't replicated in other music genres with the exception, maybe, of rap.  

Metal, rock, whatever you want to classify it as, is full of emotion.  Most times the themes of the songs are about difficulties, struggles, emotional turmoil and pain that people struggle to communicate.  The feelings are raw, insular feelings ripped open and bled into the music and lyrics.  Sounds much like the life of a protagonist to me.  What are our characters in fiction if not representations of human struggle with which readers can connect with?  

I think it is so important to read, and it would always be my first piece of advice to any aspiring author.  But maybe I should also offer them something else.  Find your inspiration.  Whatever that is.  Find what helps you to search inside of yourself for the words and the ways to express that which you are trying to get out.

Thanks Corey! 

It's all in the detail

Some of you will have read my posts from around the time of NaNoWriMo, a great motivational month for an indie writer.  I got off to a flying start, even though I began four days later than planned thanks to a nasty bug that wiped me out.  I wrote my little fingers ragged for the duration of the event, and when I wasn't writing I was thinking about writing so that when I actually came to do some writing I didn't do a lot of thinking.  And therein lies my little problem.

Yesterday I was reading an excellent article about keeping a timeline when plotting a new novel.  It focussed on how helpful it can be to stay on track with the changes in your plot, the progression of your character's lives, and so that you know that what is happening in each scene is happening at the right point in time.

It got me thinking that I would love to write a book that is constrained by the time in which it is set.  I think it would be a really fun challenge, and in the context of a thriller it could really help to focus the action.  A great modern day example of this would be the television series 24, or the movie Momento which I am ashamed to admit I still haven't seen and think that this weekend I will try to rectify that.

But what this emphasised to the unashamed pantser that I am, is that it is all in the detail.  This kind of book writing experience would force me to change my ways, to start making (good) notes, and to know my characters pretty well before we even take the first step into chapter one.

Looking back on my NaNoWriMo efforts with this thought in mind, I realise that the details themselves are what is important about this story, and some of them are, let's just say, not quite on the money.

Now whilst I did plan this book better than I did the others, the other books were written at my pace.  Write a bit, think a bit.  Scrap a bit, revise a bit.  This gives me a chance to check on the details as I write.  Instead, NaNoWriMo just became a race to the finish, and I wrote like a juggernaut without actually, at times at least, engaging the whole of my brain.

So here I am half way through a major edit, and I realise now that I have used a building in London, but I have gifted it an extra 50 stories!  The action is set on floor 90, but there are only fifty floors.  Doh! This is just plain stupid!  So before I get any closer to the end, I now have to go back and make the facts, well, ur, factual.

This is yet more damning evidence to add to the haul already stashed away in an unused compartment of my brain that my pantsing ways must come to an end.  I am considering writing the sequel to Identity X soon, and there is no way I can glide my way through that without some pretty hefty notes.  This weekend I think I need to go out an buy a nice big A3 note book and start doing it properly.

Bookstore excitement? Yes please!

It's not very often that I get much time to myself at the weekend for blogging/reading/editing/writing/breathing, and this weekend was no exception.  If I had found a moment to myself I would have already shared the fact that my local bookstore has agreed to stop copies of Identity X. 

Previously I wrote about my trip back to the UK (read this post) and how I was planning to make a visit to the local library and to the local bookshop.  I had previously taken the decision that the best way of getting them to look at my work was simply to give them a copy.  I think when you are asking a local bookstore to stock your book it is a bit much to expect them to make a decision based on an eBook.  Or even worse to expect them to buy a copy.  How can they see what it looks like?  How can they know that the quality of the print is?  How can they judge the work in the capacity that they would sell it in?  From an eBook this is impossible.  So I ordered a few copies and handed them out without really knowing what to expect.

I cannot say that I thought the initial meeting was very positive.  It seems that the local people of Warwick, my home town, are a busy bunch.  According to Keith, the owner of Warwick Books, he had three visits from local authors all asking him to stock their book the previous Saturday, and told me there was no way to stock them all.  Regardless, I gladly gifted them the book, and he promised that he would hand it over to his wife and co-owner, Frances, so that she could take a look at it.

Within less than a week Frances has emailed me back, telling me that she was finding Identity X very exciting, a bit like a futuristic The 39 Steps!  And add into that the fact that she also gave me a couple of suggestions for the next set of reprints, advice that I am always happy to listen to and see if I can improve the quality of the product.

So thank you Warwick Books for taking a chance on a local indie author.  The first shipment is on it's way!

Letters to the Editor

After a trip to the UK which ended with a (possibly) successful trip to both the library and the local bookstore, I was feeling rather chipper about the whole indie publishing malarky.  So when I stopped by the local supermarket to pick up a Chai Tea Latte from a well known coffee shop, I was pretty excited to find a magazine about writing.  I hadn't come across anything like it in Cyprus, so I quickly snapped up my copy.

I sat down with said tea in hand and started devouring the magazine as if I was on a treasure hunt for the last piece of publishing advice ever written.  This magazine is full of helpful articles, and I have already read two excellent examples with regards to creating suspense and the plotting of a novel.  Maybe they will even make a planner out of me yet.  But what struck me most were the letters from the readers/writers.  One in particular struck a cord, and it went something like this.

Dear Editor,

I have been writing for over fifteen years now and I am frustrated at my lack of success.

My first novel was accepted by an agent.  They kept the novel for nine months and we began the editing process.  Unfortunately this novel was not picked up by a publisher and eventually the agent stopped representing me.  My second book was also picked up, this time by a different agent.  The sample chapters were requested by several publishers but after a search for a publisher lasting over a year, the agent decided that they would no longer be able to represent me.

I have since written six other books, all of which are full length novels and each of these books have been seen by both an agent and/or publisher.  Sadly, to date I have not been able to secure a deal to publish my work, although every publisher had something positive to say about my work.

Your magazine keeps me inspired and I will keep trying.

Yours faithfully......................

The first thing that struck me was the dedication that this writer has shown.  To span a period of fifteen years and eight books and still have nothing published for his/her efforts shows a level of commitment that many writers fail to achieve.  To sit down night after night and wrestle out words takes some strength mentally, especially when you have returned home from the day job, the kids are screaming and there is food to cook, and soap operas there to tempt you into laziness.  So credit where it is due and hats off to somebody who keeps trying to fulfil their dreams.  But the response from the editor was less enthralling.  It goes something like this.

Well done!  Great effort.  Keep plugging away and I am sure one day you will find a publisher!

Whilst this is indeed positive and encouraging, it fails to provide any other option for this dedicated writer.  I admit that I did not have the will to continue the search for an agent in the hope that one day a publisher would pick up my work.  After The Loss of Deference was turned down (and I have said before how it was rightly turned down because it needed a big edit prior to publication) I moved abroad, a fact I felt only made the search harder.  This is when I stumbled across self publishing, purely by chance one day when I was wondering how on earth I might still be able to follow my writing dreams.  I decided to give it a go, and it was this act of publication that spurred me on to write the rest of my books.  It is also through this process that I have learnt the value of editing, good cover design, and the valuable art of patience.  And a big part of this reason is the openness of the indie author community.

Now this writer in the above example clearly has a talent, and it would seem an endless amount of patience already.  To be picked up by agents and read by publishers on a number of occasions means there is some substance to her written work.  But there are now many options available to her in order that she might see her work in print, but nobody thought to point this out.  There are no barriers to publishing anymore, given a little bit of time and effort.  Self publishing is not a modern day replica of a vanity press, and neither should it be seen as such. 

Self publishing has launched many careers, and for the breakout stars like John Locke and Hugh Howey, there are hundreds more who are able to make a living out of their written work thanks to self publishing.  There are also the rest of us who are publishing and growing and working on their craft, and picking up the odd cheque along the way.  Being an indie author is for many a choice rather than a second option, and because the community is supportive of the 'competition' (because we all understand that another author does not equal competition) we help each other out and the word spreads, helping to connect writers with a group of readers who love what they have found.

Had I have known about the options to self publish at the very start of my journey, I admit that it is likely that I would have considered it a lesser, perhaps poorer option than getting a publisher through an agent and seeing my book on the shelves in W.H. Smith or Waterstones.  But that's because I was conditioned to believe that it was their way or the highway.  That there was only one correct way to publication, right?  Perhaps ten or fifteen years ago that was the case, and that the other options were the various faces of vanity publishing.  But publishing is a different world now, and it is a world that extends past the borders of London and NewYork. 

5 Mistakes that will Doom any Self Published Books

5 Mistakes That Will Doom Any Self-Published Book

May 27th, 2013 

       

I originally came across this article on Blue Ink Review and you can read it there in it's entirety.    In self publishing it is always easy to make mistakes, especially at the beginning.  I am no different.  I released The Loss of Deference with a substandard cover that had no relation to the genre, and the number of typos that got through to the final copy was like some sort of depressing treasure hunt that lead to me hitting the unpublish button and undertaking another edit.

As an indie author you have to be prepared to learn on your feet, and one of the best things you can do in my humble opinion is be prepared to acknowledge once you have made a mistake.  And say thanks to the person who is pointing it out.  No one likes an author who throws a strop with a well meaning reader/reviewer.

So over on Blue Ink Reviews Guest Blogger Paul Goat Allen is trying to show us that some of these mistakes are avoidable.  So wise up writers and check out this article that will no doubt improve the quality of your books.

By Guest Blogger Paul Goat Allen

I’ve read and reviewed enough books to know that self-published authors make common blunders that absolutely ruin the reading experience for me. These are giant red flags – ear-piercing alarms – warning me of an imminent bad read.

Consider this a public service announcement. Because as a reviewer, I want you, the self-published author, to bring your best; hit me with your best shot, to quote an old Pat Benatar tune. I want nothing more than to be blown away by a self-published novel and to shout about it from the rooftops for the whole world to hear.

Trust me on this: the last thing a professional book reviewer wants is to end up with a self-published novel filled with errors.

Listed below, in order of importance, are five mistakes that – in my humble opinion – will doom any self-published book.

1. Typographical and grammatical errors
Learn your craft, writers. Spelling and punctuation errors are the biggest red flags of all. If you can’t spell words that most fifth graders would know and you don’t understand how to use commas, chances are good that you probably shouldn’t be writing a book.
That’s not to say that a bad speller can’t be a fantastic novelist. It says he or she should’ve let a professional editor and/or proofreader correct it before publishing.

So now make sure you head over to the full article and read the rest of his advice regarding genre, cover, and when and where you should be boasting about your work. 

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

Homeward bound

Today I am in the process of packing my bag for a quick trip to the UK to catch up with my folks.  But there are some important bookish type tasks that also need completing whilst I am there.  So this list is as follows.

• Check new copies of Identity X

I decided to get an order of six or seven (can't remember) copies of Identity X.  But this is interesting because I have always been a fan of matt covers and have just tested out there new option to order covers in this format.  I think it will look a lot better than shiny!!

• Gift a book to the local book shop

I decided that the best way of getting a local book shop to stock my book was to just give them a copy or two.  I am really hoping that they like the free copy and chose to keep me around, but in the meantime it will just be nice to give back something to my 'local' book store.

• Have a meeting with my designer

This sounds a bit high brow, but actually she is one of my oldest friends so it'll be a good gossip and catching up session with a hefty dose of design chat thrown in.  We will be working on the Psychophilia cover, and I might also test the water for the next book too!  Might as well be prepared!

• Get new video camera

When I got married in August last year I decided to order a video camera for people to use at the wedding so that we could get some video footage.  The camera arrived at my Mum's house a week after the wedding, in another country.  So it has been sat there waiting for me ever since. 

• Start a video blog?

And this leads me to the question of the day.  Really don't know if this is a good idea or not.  I'm not sure I am much of a actress, but I keep seeing interesting video blogs about bookish topics and it makes me wonder if I should be giving it a go.  I keep reading Facebook is dying and that less and less people engage and I have noticed a decline in my views.  Maybe I just got less interesting, but I don't think so. 

So, I'll be checking in in the middle of next week.  You might still find me on Twitter, snapping pictures of Warwick, Heathrow, and Starbucks Chai Tea Latte from time to time, and maybe a snap or two of the 'business lunch'.  You can find me on Twitter HERE and see what I get up to.

Baby names

Finding a title for my books is always a bit of a tough call.  I come up with lists and ideas and there is always something that I am uncertain about, and always something that doesn't seem quite right.  The only title that I have ever come up with and stuck to was the first book I wrote, The Loss of Deference. As an indie author, I get used to working on my own, and not really having a big team around me.  But sometimes you just need a bit of extra help, right?

When it came to Escaping Life there were at least ten other contenders that had the potential to make the final cut, and in the end I gave the final decision to my husband.  Entrusting him with such power seemed to enlighten something in him, and he has become a title providing machine ever since.  As soon as he gets the hint of a new book in the works, like a lion who suddenly spots a gazelle he wants a full breakdown of plot, characters, and to know the thematic threads which run through the novel and then he goes into overdrive, throwing titles at me sometimes before my eyes have even opened, or my head has lifted from my pillow.

So when I started writing during NaNo last year he was keen to listen to the plot, keen to point out it's flaws (another great help), and find out who the hero was going to be.  I came up with a working title, Omega, which he was obviously pleased about because it is Greek and so is he, and he feels like some of his superior/first/birthplace of civilisation might have rubbed off on me.  But although I could envisage the title on the cover in an elaborate mix of Greek and English characters, there was something that started to niggle at me.  I was starting to go off the idea almost as soon as I came up with it.  So then I checked Amazon, and found irrespective of my feelings about Omega as a title, there is already a book with that title doing pretty well on Amazon.  So I scratched it off the list and came up with another one.  The Winter.

Another perk of having a husband as interested in my publishing career as I have is that I no longer need to check my sales because he does it for me.  And by that I mean that he checks it at least three times a day.  I am sure this is because I promised him an Aston Martin when I make my first million.  So last night when he popped over to KDP to check the days sales, he found something he wasn't expecting. 

"What's this?" he said, looking over at me as if he had just found a message direct from George Clooney in my inbox.

"It's Omega," I said.  "I changed the title." 

Obviously disappointed with the removal of Greekness, he seemed distinctly less impressed by the new offering.  But I trust his judgement because he came up with both Identity X and Psychophilia, titles which I love.  I am not sure The Winter will make it through to final publication, but I look forward to the endless stream of ideas set to rain upon me in the next few weeks now that there is a new challenge ahead.

Back to the drawing board

Today I sit on the precipice of what is for me as an indie author, always the worst moment in writing a book from concept to completion.  The very beginning of the first edit.

This is the moment when you realise (hopefully) that halfway through the book somebody's name changed, that a certain character just disappeared from the plot altogether, and that at times it is doubtful I know what constitutes a full sentence.  This is also the moment when it is necessary to ask myself this one question; What the hell is this book about?

For me, the whole point of a novel is for something to happen.  For something to change.  That may sound simplistic, but I have heard many new writers asking for advice about plot lines and this is one of the most fundamental elements to planning a good plot.  Your protagonist, hero, bad guy, whoever it is you are writing about must undergo some sort of change, must experience the unexpected and the dreadful, so that by the end of the book he/she, and we as the readers, have learnt something.

I, like 309,020 others, signed up for NaNoWriMo2013 and wrote myself silly during November.  I put aside Psychophilia, the book that I was writing at the time to get stuck into the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month.  I hate to fail, and so I tapped away like crazy and got the manuscript finished with a couple of days spare. 

In the author community I have already started seeing some of the other manuscripts written during this time (Hugh Howey, Sand) come to publication.  So I feel quite sorry for my sad little file just sat there waiting patiently for me to give it some attention.  But by the end of NaNoWriMo2013 I was feeling completely skinned alive (see my post here) and needed to take a break.  The manuscript and I had fallen out.  I felt like because I had worked so tightly to a schedule, some of the fun had been ripped out of the writing process.  In all honesty I would have probably written the same number of words had I not been signed up for NaNoWriMo, but somehow the constant word counting and feeling like it was a race to the end, left me feeling a bit high and dry.

So now as I sit here looking at this very manuscript, the cursor blinking at me furiously to make a start, I am even doubting if the plot needs some fundamental changes.  Should I shift the survivors underground?  If I do, their whole lifestyle needs changing.  Should I work more on their clothes?  Where would they even come from?  And I am certain that Anthony Grayson becomes somebody else by chapter five.  So for me it is back to the drawing board.  Not just an edit, but a full overhaul.  The is going to be a long job.

There are some tough weeks ahead..........

What is the best eBook price?

Most of us at one point have bought a new car.  Now I am no petrol head, but I do appreciate a nice car, and have been known to browse the pages of Autotrader during an imaginary spending spree.  When faced with a list that has the likes of Range Rover, Aston Martin, and Jaguar, I can't help but take a look.  So lets just imagine I am about to drop a stack of cash for an Aston Martin DB9.  There are two almost identical models on Autotrader today.  One is selling for £31,500, and the other.........£850.  The automatic assumption is that this is either a mistake or a scam.  The price feels inherently wrong.  It's easy to tell, and nobody would go for the cheaper option. 


But what about if the cheaper option was only $0.99 cheaper, and the differences we were talking about are only a dollar or a pound here and there?

When I first started self publishing it was 2012.  One of the first names I heard about was John Locke, and whilst being in the indie publishing news for all the wrong reasons, he was also fairly famous for making a lot of cash by pricing his books at $0.99.  It seemed to be the sweet spot as far as pricing went, with lots of excitable eReader owners going crazy for bargains.  But since the early days when self publishing was still fairly new, it has now grown into a well known and acceptable route for a writer to publication.  And therefore a great route for a reader to get their books.  But readers have certain expectations.  They don't want to fill their eReaders with nonsense that is badly written or badly edited. 

So how do they distinguish between a good eBook, and one that's, let's just say, not so good?  The cover, the Look Inside function on Amazon, and reviews, are all ways in which a reader can take a decision.  But there is also another way, one that has much more to do with reader psychology than any tried and tested method, and that is price.

According to Smashwords, who analysed 11 months’ worth of sales  ($12 million, 120,000 eBooks sold), the $0.99 price slot was no longer the best level at which to price your books.  It seems that most books were at priced at $2.99, but yet those priced at $3.99 sold more copies.  It also seemed that the $1.99 price tag was a complete waste of time.  One commentator even suggested that for a writer to price their book at $1.99 would suggest that not only do they not possess good business sense, but also that they are probably not a very good writer.

Escaping Life is at the time of going to press, priced at, yes you guessed it, $1.99.

So why did I do this?  Because I know I'm a terrible writer and have to shift my books at a bargain price?  You'd hope not.  I simply decided to try three different prices for my three different titles.  $0.99, $1.99, and $2.99.  Which sold the best?  The Loss of Deference at $0.99.  Second best?   Identity X at $2.99.  Coming in last therefore would be Escaping Life, (except for a one month outlier post promo period) lost in the apparent black hole of $1.99.

But it is also true that most books are priced at $2.99 (according to Smashwords) so there is a potential for bias.  If the most successful titles are priced at $2.99, then there is an obvious potential for skewing the results.  If you have ten outliers in that price range who all sell 10,000 books in a few months, this price point can and will obviously come out top in a simple look at averages.

My intention when pricing my book at $1.99 was in the hope of attracting more readers.  I thought the price might attract somebody looking for a bargain and told myself not to be greedy for a 70% Amazon royalty at $2.99.  But it seems to be a mistake.  It looks like not only am I doing myself out of profit, I am also turning off readers because they assume what I done writ is a bit, well, shite.  The price point of $0.99 is well received as a promotion, a short term offer of which people can take advantage.  But if you want to appear as an author of work worth a readers attention, it appears that first of all we as authors need to know our own value, before we expect readers to recognise it for us.

So I'm going to up my prices as a bit of an experiment.  The results will definitely be skewed this month because I had an ENT promotion and the sales were unusually high.  I have adjusted the price of two of my books to $3.99, the apparent new perfect price, and will wait to see what happens by this time next month.

I'll keep you posted.

Literature in Hawaii

Back in November last year, Jill Engledow, a British writer based in Hawaii appeared on my blog in order to introduce her new book.  The Island Decides is set in Maui in the 1960s, and follows a young mother's plight to reclaim her lost child.  I was taken by Jill's story, and by the idea of life on what is known by most as a tropical holiday paradise.  So I was excited when she agreed to come back and tell us more about the world of books and literature of Hawaii.  Over to Jill.

On a plane to Paris a couple of years ago, I discovered that Hawaii is not as famous as we who live here like to think. To my amazement, the Frenchwoman sitting next to me had never even heard of Hawaii. So for those who also are unfamiliar with these lovely isles, allow me to introduce them.

Hawaii is a chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, stretching some 1,500 miles from the ancient, almost submerged original islands in the northwest to the largest, newest and still-erupting Hawaii Island at the southeastern end. These islands grew from a “hotspot” under the Pacific tectonic plate, which sends a plume of molten magma from deep within the planet to build new land in long-lasting, spectacular but gentle eruptions. Because the plate moves very slowly to the northwest, older islands are carried away from the hotspot and gradually dissolve into the sea. Six of the newer islands at the southeastern end are populated. 

That’s the geological background of islands that are farther from other landmasses than any place on earth. Today, Hawaii is the 50th state in the United States of America (and the birthplace of President Barack Obama), a place many Americans dream of visiting, a tourist mecca attracting people from around the world. 

 

 

I live on Maui, the second-newest island, still bearing the marks of volcanic eruptions less than 600 years ago and still potentially live, since 600 years is nothing in the life of a volcano. Maui is a place of great natural glamour, a “Goldilocks” island that is not too big, not too small, not too hot, not too cold. It has miles of beautiful beaches, an amazing geological feature we call the “crater” at the top of the volcano that makes up the eastern end of the island, a wealth of talent among its people, and gorgeous views anywhere you look. Obviously, I am proud to live here, but it’s not just me. The island slogan is Maui No Ka Oi: Maui is the best. And Maui is regularly named the “best island in the world” by various travel magazines.  

 

With that background, I’d like to share some suggestions for those who want to read about Hawaii. The islands have a long history of storytelling. The Polynesian people who first arrived here nearly 2,000 years ago believed fervently in the power of the word, and though they never developed writing, they memorized long, subtle, elaborate chants to preserve their history, tell of their chiefs’ adventures and praise the beauty of the land.

When Christian missionaries arrived in 1820, their first task was to create an alphabet, and within a few decades Hawaii had one of the most literate populations on the planet. They filled thousands of newspaper pages, putting ancient stories into writing. At last, that work is being digitized and translated into English, bringing a long-lost literature to the modern world. One great saga, of journeys undertaken by the little sister of the volcano goddess Pele, is The Epic Tale of Hiiakaikapoliopele. This illustrated book is pricey but precious, a collector’s item indeed. But there are plenty of Hawaii-themed books for regular readers.

A contemporary look at the skills and knowledge of the native people of Hawaii is in Voices of Wisdom: Hawaiian EldersSpeak, by MJ Harden, who interviewed highly accomplished elders, tapping wisdom passed down through generations. The beautifully written book is illustrated with equally beautiful black-and-white photos.

 

James Michener, an early master of the multigenerational saga, lived in Hawaii for years and wrote the fabulous book called Hawaii. I first read this when I was a youngster, and I remember sitting in the car waiting for my mother to buy groceries, reading the incredible first section that describes the Islands’ fiery rise from the ocean. Though I myself had seen amazing recent eruptions, it still boggled the imagination to think that the supermarket and its asphalt parking lot were built upon that fiery base. Michener’s version of Hawaii history is fiction, but I think it is true to the spirit and the general trend of Hawaii history over many generations. This classic is now available for the Kindle.

The American artist Georgia O’Keeffe visited Hana, a remote and beautiful area on Maui, in 1938. She stayed with a family whose daughter, now an old woman, has written a memoir of that visit, illustrated with paintings O’Keeffe did while in Hawaii. 

My own writing has been nonfiction until recently, mostly appealing to regional readers who know and love the Islands. Now I’ve ventured into fiction with The Island Decides, a tale of a young mother who “finds herself” when she travels to Maui to reclaim her lost child. I specialize in writing about the history of Hawaii (The Island Decides is set in 1971, which probably qualifies as history for younger people), and future novels will draw on the knowledge I’ve accumulated writing about Hawaii’s past. 

There are many other books about this beautiful place, including some by famous early visitors such as Mark Twain, Jack London and Isabella Bird. More are on the way, with a lively set of self-publishers on Maui alone; mysteries set in the Islands are particularly popular. If the books I have mentioned pique your interest, perhaps you’ll want to read more--or even come for a visit.

   
 

When your local bookstore is 3000 miles away

My first memory of going to the bookstore was at school.  One of the teachers ran a weekly book club for which you could buy tokens to save up to buy books.  Now that same teacher may have been infamous for throwing a desk across the classroom - I kid you not - but I wasn't going to let a small thing like reputation stand in my way.  I bought my tokens every week, and every few weeks happily handed them over in exchange for a new book.  After this, and perhaps because of the teachers reputation, my mum got me into the local library, a place I went routinely right up until leaving my home town.  This was the time when I exchanged my residency in the fiction section for the biochemistry section at university.  It was definitely a lot less enticing. 

After moving to Cyprus my local book store became a lot less personal, too.  Whilst there is a great section for foreign literature, knowing that 95% of the books are not for me.......well that's just depressing.  I don't mind reading in Greek, and do so when I find something that doesn't look too difficult.  But reading fiction in Greek is only any good if I want to read a book every couple of months, or every three to four if I am being honest.  But also, other than being slow, it dramatically increases the changes of me speaking and writing in Greeklish rather than English, and as far as I heard, they were not looking for scriptwriters for Shirley Valentine take two.  Therefore when it came to books, Amazon, and the post office became my best friends. 

I love Amazon, I really do.  If it wasn't for Amazon I would most likely have five manuscripts sat in a cupboard rather than be published, and have way less access to the books I want to read.   But there is one element with which it just cannot compete.  The local bookstore.

There is something magical about that small shop on the corner full of books where you can go and browse.  I miss the idea that there is an independent bookstore just down the road where I can pop in and get them to order me a book that I can't find elsewhere.  Every shopper can benefit from an assistant who genuinely loves books, and who can make recommendations based on something other than your previous purchases or Kindle content.  I regularly do interviews on line and on other blogs, but I remember meeting an author in the flesh as a child and being amazed that the person who actually-wrote-the-book was standing in front of me and was signing my copy.  Such experiences brought me closer to my love of reading and the world of books.  But yet independent bookstores are suffering, and in 2012 The Booksellers Association reported a fall in the number of independent bookstores for the sixth year running, whereas Amazon reported a record number of sales.  Independent bookstores and independent authors seem to me to have something in common, and yet we barely have a relationship.

I still consider my local bookstore as the one that is over 3000 miles away.  Not exactly somewhere I can pop in on a day to day basis.  But I am on my way back to the UK for a few days in the next few weeks, and right after booking my plane ticket, I have sent a message to my 'local' store asking them if I can call in and give them a few free copies of Identity X.  It would be a real treat to see them on the shelf.  And whilst I am there, I might just stock up on a little bit of that magic that has been lost from the major sellers.

A new year and a new start? No thanks

 

So a new year arrives and another one disappears.  The clock strikes midnight and we toast and celebrate, and then I do it all over again when the 'real' new year arrives (I'm still on London time for some things).  But what does it really mean?  Does life change in the time it takes for the second hand to strike twelve?  Can we learn from our mistakes and resolve not to take them forth into the year ahead?  Does everything change on the stroke of midnight?

Personally I am not so sure about the idea of resolutions, and I never make them.  In fact, I do the opposite.  I purposefully ensure that I don't change anything in January, if only to ensure that I do not join the crowd of people who by the end of January have already got their faces back in the biscuit barrel at 9 pm.  I resolve not to resolve in January, and it is just about the only thing you will find me promising anybody as the previous year draws to a close.

But this time last year I did make a series of evaluations of my publishing career to date.  I vowed not to make my own covers, to make sure I edit properly, and listen to the advice of others who are in a better position to give it.  Sounds like I was giving myself some good advice, and I did take it.  But it comes as somewhat of a surprise to me that it was only last year that I was learning these things.  It seems to me as I sit here today that I have been publishing forever, and when I look back on the old Michelle who used to type up stories at night after her on call shifts in the hospital had finished, it seems unbelievable that I didn't know these things.  Was there really ever a time that I wasn't writing my books? Did I ever think that becoming published would be impossible?  Did I really think that the first cover I knocked together for The Loss of Deference was good enough, and was it really only a year and one cover ago that I decided that I would never again make my own?

I cannot believe that it was only a year ago, because it seems so much has changed regarding my books in the twelve months gone past.  A year it seems, is a long time, and changes happen slowly throughout it.  But in other instances the changes come as fast as lightening.  I married my wonderful husband this summer, but only three months before that I was in ITU and my differential diagnosis was bleed/tumour/viral encephalitis/stroke.  You can plan all you like, but you can never predict something like that, and sometimes you just have to get your act together and do your best in whatever situation you find yourself in.

My initial plan was that I would have three books published this year, but instead I only published one.  I wrote the first draft of two others, but nothing is ready for publication yet.  But only yesterday I totalled up my expected royalties for the last couple of months and know that I am expecting a cheque from Amazon anytime soon.  Last year I was happy to have sold a few books a month, and this year I am happy with a few hundred.  Happy changes, totally unplanned.  I didn't sit down and say by next Christmas I will be selling three hundred books in a month, but it happened.  But equally I bet that there was somebody else selling three hundred books this time last year who is now selling more than three thousand and when they look back they too cannot quite believe it. 

So this year I am not making any predictions or planning any of the details.  Whatever happens, happens.  I resolve only to keep working hard.  But I do believe that I can learn from the year behind me.  I can learn that we are not able to make things happen, or prevent them.  Instead we can just enjoy the ride.  Whatever that ride might be.

Catching Up!

Busy busy day so let's not beat around the bush.  I have got three things to say, and so I might as well say them all in super quick time because you, like me have loads to do if you are celebrating Christmas.  So, this is a quick Monday night check in to tell you that..........

 The Loss of Deference and Escaping Life are on sale today. Free in fact! Help yourself!

 

 

THE LOSS OF DEFERENCE ON AMAZON     

 

ESCAPING LIFE ON AMAZON 

Secondly I have written an advice article for new writers, hosted by the Gal in the Blue Mask.  It's not really a do this and do that article, but pop over, say hi to Meghan and see why I think that believing that you are a writer is just as important as opening your blog and your Facebook page.

THE GAL IN THE BLUE MASK

Finally, I got a lovely new review from Barbara over at Sun Mountain Reviews.  She also has some great giveaways happening at the moment.  Head over and check it out and see what she has to say about Identity X.

 

IDENTITY X REVIEW AT SUN MOUNTAIN REVIEWS

 

That's it for today.  Catch up with you all tomorrow in the final hours before Christmas!

Welcome Eric Buffington!

Eric Buffington was born in Ontario Canada, where he lived until he was eighteen. After that he traveled with a Canadian government program, for one year (what he did is top secret), he then moved to California to serve a two year mission working with the Laotian people.

Shortly after returning home he met the love of his life, moved to Pennsylvania and married her. He has since completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in education. He currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wonderfully supportive wife, and their four children.  He currently works as a High School math teacher in an online cyber school. You can watch his math lessons on his Youtube channel.  He is here on my blog today talking about how we overcome our challenges.

Ever counted the words on a writing assignment just to be sure you made it to the minimum requirement, or within ten words of the minimum? Have you ever gotten an F on a writing assignment and looked enviously at the other kids who got A’s so easily? That pretty much describes my High School career.

In High school my math and science teachers loved me and my English teachers probably wished that I would just drop out. In ninth grade I thought I was pretty brilliant with my 88% in English, but from there my grade dropped 10% each year. As the years went on, my teachers, friends, and parents all consoled me, telling me I just wasn’t an ‘English’ person. My guidance counselor even joined with them. So that I wouldn’t fail my senior year I switched to a current events class that he said would count as an English credit.

By the time I graduated High School I had convinced myself that I would never be any good at writing. I basically stopped trying. If anyone told me my spelling was atrocious or my penmanship was unreadable, I’d just let them know that I was not an ‘English’ person, it was an easy way out for me.

And one thing led to another and now I’m a published author… Just kidding.

Between High School and College I took three years off to do a government program and a mission for my church. In that time two things happened that began my transition into being a writer. I had one roommate who was a grammar Nazi, he didn’t let me take the easy way out. We had to fill out forms and he made me write my part legibly, and correctly. I also had a different roommate who was so passionate about fantasy novels, especially Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, that it was contagious.

When I returned home and began college, I realized that writing was going to be a big part of my life again. With my renewed love for reading and some grammar lessons under my belt I thought I’d finally be able to write something really amazing! Then I submitted my first essay and it was pretty much terrible.

At this point I knew, either my English teachers had called up my College Professor and they were all out to get me, or there might be something that I needed to learn or fix… I was pretty sure a phone call was made.

I spent hours writing and checking each assignment and the results were similar. I passed the course, but never really excelled, and I was again feeling again like I was just not cut out to be an ‘English’ person.

During that summer I got engaged, and shortly thereafter we were married. We moved out west and I began at a different college. I signed up for an English 101 course with the hope that I could learn to write before taking a bunch of courses that just expected me to produce essays.

The first writing assignment came and I typed out an essay, printed it out and brought it home to show my wife. She looked at it and grabbed for a pen. I felt like I was in High School all over again. She was crossing stuff out, and making comments like ‘does not make sense’ all over the place.

Although her comments were very familiar, this was a new experience for me. I knew that she loved me and was trying to help me do better. It was hard to see the feedback and it was even harder to swallow my pride and realize that she, and all my previous teachers, had been right, but it was needed. While I was worried about my ego, she was probably freaking out that her husband would fail out of college and she’d need to sell vacuum cleaners for a living. Either way I knew that she was just trying to help me improve my writing, and that made a huge difference for me.

By the end of the semester I felt like a big boy because I actually wrote an essay on my own and got a decent grade on it. In the end I earned an A- in English 101. I say earned with the greatest respect for the word, I worked harder in that class than I have ever worked in any other class to date. That A- became a stepping stone for a lot of the success I would have in the future.

About four years later, I was talking to a friend of mine about a reading & writing test I needed to take to become a certified teacher. She waved her hand dismissively and she said something that I have always remembered. She said, “That test will be a breeze for you, you’re an ‘English’ person.”

It might have been the fact that I said things like “I’m doing well.” or “I couldn’t care less.” or that I always carried a book with me, but somehow in those years, I had learned enough to fool my friend into thinking I was comfortable with English, and now I’ve also convinced a publisher and hopefully some readers.

When I graduated, I got a job as a math teacher, and I have worked as an online math teacher for several years. I am comfortable with math, and enjoy teaching something in my comfort zone. But what most of my students and many teachers do not know is that I have also taken the tests and became a certified English teacher. I love the look of shock that they get when they learn their math teacher could next year be teaching their literacy class, and then I risk giving them a complete heart attack when I tell them I’ve written a book.

 

In our lives we will have challenges, struggles and obstacles. We may not be the kind of person we feel we want to be and others around us may seem to easily have the skills that we do not.  What I have learned through the past decade is that when we have a goal, or a dream, we can’t let people tell us we’re just not good enough. If your dream is to be an author, don’t ever let someone tell you you’re not an ‘English’ person. Face your challenges head on, seek help from those who care about you, work your tail end off, and then you will be able to see the rewards in the end.

 

In a world where each person is born with a magic ability, the island of Denall is on the verge of an attack from a power hungry sorcerer, Mordyar, as he scours the world in search of the Stones of Power. While the stones are gathering, and their power begins to be revealed, four boys leave their village on a rite of passage into adulthood and are swept into an adventure that will make men and heroes of them, if they can survive.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure

Retail: Paperback 14.95
E-book 2.99

Release Date: October 11 2013

Center One Publishing Website: Sample Chapters & Discounted Prices

 

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