tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18064040292064851242024-03-21T14:42:55.254+00:00This is the year...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-18822693182213417302016-04-08T11:29:00.001+01:002016-04-08T11:29:15.794+01:00Extrinsic motivationThe sky is bright(ish), the birds are singing: this is a new day! And with it, my motivation has come back! Hurrah, rejoice, etcetera.<br />
<br />
I spent some time last night talking about it, and it helped. I also re-read my first chapters and quite enjoyed it, so the can't be that awful. I have a few ideas of how I could tweak the beginning to add more tension, but today my 20k so far don't seem so terrible. So I am now raring to go!<br />
<br />
This is to help get motivated:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BY81UGHH60f7Lou9T4SjRb0jBzvJQhrjE30cbNcqLVw8PxVjlgGjH-B3syC6Z4mnC8qPqEjmdRUkXo3qi8JJ8xGYzHXjj8EGBKK4JssL64IB64Qtfg70wGXwIFqgQssY3w58NdLdnks/s1600/IMG_0290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BY81UGHH60f7Lou9T4SjRb0jBzvJQhrjE30cbNcqLVw8PxVjlgGjH-B3syC6Z4mnC8qPqEjmdRUkXo3qi8JJ8xGYzHXjj8EGBKK4JssL64IB64Qtfg70wGXwIFqgQssY3w58NdLdnks/s320/IMG_0290.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Well, extrinsic motivation has never really worked on me. It's more of a treat, because, hey, it's the holidays (for a few more hours at least) and I've worked hard!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-91267254250139774512016-04-07T16:21:00.001+01:002016-04-07T16:21:30.527+01:00Banging onEureka! I see the light! I have finally figured out what was bothering me, what was blocking my progress, why I had lost my muse.<br />
<br />
That was the good news. The bad news is that it's this: my story doesn't start with enough of a bang. Which means:<br />
1. I have to revisit my plot<br />
2. I'm not sure what the heck I'm going to do with what I've written so far<br />
3. I still don't know what bang to put in!<br />
<br />
I kind of need everything I've written. It's super important for my subplots. But it means my main plot isn't the driver of the start of my story, which is a problem. I had added a prologue to add a bit of tension, but I don't think it's quite enough.<br />
<br />
So... what to do? What do do?<br />
<br />
I'm thinking of books I've read that I really liked and what gripped me. The thing is, I often find book beginnings difficult as a reader. I don't often get hooked until later.<br />
<br />
So what hooked me in Harry Potter for example? It was book 4, I should say. And I started reading it from a third in. Ok, bad example. But still, that prologue is soooo creepy, I find it quite powerful. And although it takes a really long time to start, the creepiness, the missing people... you get this sense all along that something isn't quite right.<br />
<br />
Am I normal Yet? is another one that got me hooked. I think I just loved Evie's voice and her problem is very obvious as a reader. I suppose it's a bad example for me because it's such a different sort of book. Issues in contemporary YA often feel a lot more mundane (you know, fitting in, dealing with your mental issues), which is not to say they aren't gripping or important, they are, but they don't need to 'bang' so much.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure where this leaves me. More thinking needed.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-91384460382308024522016-04-07T12:16:00.003+01:002016-04-07T12:16:59.194+01:00Chasing the museIf you are observant, you might have noticed that there is a new icon on the left hand side of the blog saying I am a Camp NaNoWriMo participant. Yep, that's right! And although than a lower wordcount, I'm not even a rebel: I'm writing NEW words (you know what I mean).<br />
<br />
I had no other plans than write (and do a bit of homework) for the holidays, so I figured I'd be able to do quite well. I had a few unplanned things that came up last week, but it wasn't April yet, so who cares? I was in the starting blocks on the 1st April, ready to go! I wrote 2700 words. Which isn't bad, but not the high words counts I was expecting. Then the weekend happened, which wasn't great. Monday was much better, and it looked like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9BzaxAZZO9CmyaGBhf0jv4AlKSOYLnCIwAbtqvVIj13Q4ilKc-XWh3-1_lkSORFt_NcE7yXVAj2qNm4p_atg6bqHQM89TmAI11kYgYddwb1VljhzsohEXhJwlN1YiHCCMVVNlnul178/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-04-04+at+21.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs9BzaxAZZO9CmyaGBhf0jv4AlKSOYLnCIwAbtqvVIj13Q4ilKc-XWh3-1_lkSORFt_NcE7yXVAj2qNm4p_atg6bqHQM89TmAI11kYgYddwb1VljhzsohEXhJwlN1YiHCCMVVNlnul178/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-04-04+at+21.17.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Pretty good, huh! Then Tuesday wasn't bad. Yesterday I did some work and then today...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5rMwUVpmw280wAYRr0owWE5bq6L_KEztg2kykBOPafRSj7zHQTh7Fl8g9sNsORbvHV0QhhbY8SLG6cJOD69wwmNXUNmQlbaIkG_-yvjVvkPj5MsDZ7BuStD-kmgRZiD0kIwEe_7pICJg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-04-07+at+11.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5rMwUVpmw280wAYRr0owWE5bq6L_KEztg2kykBOPafRSj7zHQTh7Fl8g9sNsORbvHV0QhhbY8SLG6cJOD69wwmNXUNmQlbaIkG_-yvjVvkPj5MsDZ7BuStD-kmgRZiD0kIwEe_7pICJg/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-04-07+at+11.52.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Flatlining!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have lost my mojo. I don't know why, the story's just left me. I had a plan, and was going with it, chapter after chapter (they're tiny chapters) and even had a few surprises. I don't know if it's taking a break or what, but today I am staring at my computer screen thinking, 'This is sh*te, I don't want to write this.' Some people call it writer's block, but it's not that my mind or my page are blank, it's that the inspiration isn't there, and I feel that what I write is just that: uninspired.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
There's a famous quite (although no-one agrees on who said it or what they said exactly) that goes something like this: 'I only write when I am inspired. But I see to it that I am inspired at 9 o'clock every morning.'</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm trying to sit down, grit my teeth and just get on with it. But instead I'm browsing pinterest boards, reading CampNaNo articles and, well, writing this. Let me be clear, it's not the process or the activity of writing itself that I'm avoiding, it's this mess of words that just won't come out, this feeling that 'it's just not quite good enough, so why bother?'</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Come on, Muse, or denial-about-my-own-writing-ability, whatever you're called: come back!</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-736035979824459202016-01-30T12:12:00.000+00:002016-01-30T12:12:13.637+00:002015 in booksI love mornings like this. It's Saturday, I don't have a lot to do and so I can be a bit lazy and read in bed.<div>
Also, I just finished a good book, and that's always a nice feeling.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Going into my Goodreads folders (to update the book from 'currently reading' to 'read'), I looked back at what I had read this year and realised I had been quite busy. So I decided to do a '2015 in review' post, inspired by fellow writer <a href="http://catherinequeen.com/" target="_blank">Catherine</a> (who by the way was a finalist at the <a href="http://www.undiscoveredvoices.com/?page_id=1106" target="_blank">2016 Undiscovered Voices competition,</a> so check her out!).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Books are in the order I read them and I will use the Goodreads star system. My personalisation of it is this: I only give 1 star to books I actively dislike (I think the Alchemist is the only one I would give this to, but I read it a while ago), so 2 stars is the lowest I tend to give. It doesn't mean it's a bad book, but just that it wasn't for me. It either annoyed me or I didn't enjoy it - or I enjoyed bits of it but the annoying parts were sooooo off-putting that overall I didn't like the book. 3 and 4 stars I enjoyed. 5 stars I obsess about (and I don't care about the bad bits, I love those books flaw and all!).</div>
<div>
The difference between 3 and 4 will be dependent on how much I enjoyed the voice, the pace, the characters and the extent to which the bits that annoyed me could be trumped by the bits I loved. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, without further ado, I give you...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">2015 in review!</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><u>Fiction:</u></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Providence Unveiled</b> (Memory's Wake trilogy #3) by Selina Fenech - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>14-14 </b>by Silène Edgar and Paul Beorn (French) - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Uglies</b> by Scott Westerfeld - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Pretties</b> (Uglies #2) by Scott Westerfeld - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Specials</b> (Uglies #3) by Scott Westerfeld - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Throne of Glass </b>(Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas - 2*</div>
<div>
<b>The Dragon Keeper</b> (Rain Wild Chronicles #1) by Robin Hobb - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Dragon Haven</b> (Rain Wild Chronicles #2) by Robin Hobb - 5*</div>
<div>
<b>City of Dragons</b> (Rain Wild Chronicles #3) by Robin Hobb - 3*</div>
<div>
<b>Blood of Dragons </b>(Rain Wild Chronicles #4) by Robin Hobb - 3*</div>
<div>
<div>
<b>Blackfin Sky</b> by Kat Ellis - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>The Territory </b>by Sarah Govett - 2*</div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Half Bad </b>(Hald Bad trilogy #1) by Sally Green - 3*</div>
<div>
<b>The Potion Diaries </b>by Amy Alward - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Noughts & Crosses</b> by Malorie Blackman (Noughts & Crosses #1) - 3*</div>
<div>
<b>Daughter of Smoke & Bone</b> (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor - 2*</div>
<div>
<b>The Knife of Never Letting Go</b> (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Am I Normal Yet?</b> by Holly Bourne - 5* (Yes, I am now obsessed!)</div>
<div>
<b>Sorcerer to the Crown</b> by Zen Cho - 3*</div>
<div>
<b>The Sin-Eater's Daughter</b> (The Sin-Eater's Daughter #1<b>) </b>by Melinda Salisbury - 3*</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u><b>Non-Fiction</b></u></div>
<div>
<u><b><br /></b></u></div>
<div>
<b>How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity an the Hidden Power of Character</b> by Paul Tough - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Dear Agent - Write the Letter that Sells Your Book</b> by Nicoa Morgan - 4*</div>
<div>
<b>Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution that's Transforming Education </b>by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica - 5*</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm not very good at finishing books I don't enjoy, which I think is why my ratings tend to lean towards the positive - I don't rate books I didn't finish. I also don't read a lot of non-fiction (as you can see), so for me to finish it, I must really enjoy it!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So there! 23 books read in 12 months. Not bad going, huh? I have to admit, apart from non-fiction they are all either YA or fantasy, and most are both. I also didn't put all the picture books I read (you know, for school, not *just* because I like picture books). In fact I haven't added any books I read at school. Maybe I'll edit the post some time to add them too.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-41686875075589161392016-01-25T21:26:00.001+00:002016-03-28T14:49:03.176+01:00Getting cracking on book 2 - finally!<br />
<div class="p1">
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">WARNING - Minor spoilers</span></b></i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>I wasn't going to post an excerpt from book 2, because I'm worried about spoilers and the freshly-written, unedited (read: needs a lot of work) chapter 1 is full of them.</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>However, I'm so bloody proud that I've FINALLY started writing book 2, and a whole chapter to boot, that I can't resist posting a little bit. And it is from the point of view of a character who's only got a minor part in Book 1 but becomes super important in Book 2. So important, in fact, she's a POV character.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>*Edit: Ok, now re-reading it, I'm not sure it deserves pride of place on the blog, but I'll leave it here just because it has been such a long time since I've written anything.*</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>So, for your eyes only, I present...</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Book 2 - The Timekeepers' Island</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Chapter 1</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">June knew her sister thought she was stupid. Otherwise, why
would she bring her to all these private meetings? Summer thought June too
thick to understand what was going on, that was why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">And it was true that when Summer asked her stuff, June gave
her the silent treatment and it didn’t make her look bright. But Summer was too
superficial to stop any further than appearances, and whenever June opened her
mouth, her lisp and her stutter were exactly where Summer stopped to assess her
intelligence. Besides, why should she say anything about what made her cry at
night to total strangers? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">‘Times have been very tough for us, Mister Galloway,’ Summer
would say in her sweetest voice, dripping like honey all over the fat sorcerer.
If they had any money, they were always sorcerers. ‘June, won’t you tell Mister
Galloway how hard things have been for us?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">At other times Summer would act angry, the righteous kind of
anger, like today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">‘What of our hard work?’ she shouted now to the men in the room.
‘They call us roaches and lazy, but do you know how much magic is used each day
to restore and grow food for our people? Free magic, which costs nothing to the
governors! June, won’t you tell these gentlemen how hard our people are
working? And for no rewards! Until our work is recognised as worthy, how can we
stand a chance of making a contribution to this society?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">The five men and women were seated around a large polished
table made of one slab of mahogany. Like everything else in the room, it
screamed of understated opulence. The war had obviously not reached this part of the city. The table
alone could have fed June’s school for a week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">June never said anything at these meetings. She didn’t want
to do anything that would help her sister and she didn’t like the pity-disgust
in the gentlemen’s eyes when they looked at her. She knew exactly what her
sister was trying to do, which was to get Faerie back on the map and move back
there, and June had no intention of ever setting foot in that damned place
again, and if the spirits wanted to curse her for swearing, let them! As far as
she was concerned, not struggling against her sister’s grip and sitting there
looking like a dirty street urchin to make rich sorcerers pity her was as much
as she would consider doing for her sister’s cause. Even if it made her look
like a stupid, dirty street urchin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">But June wasn’t stupid, and as her sister droned on and on,
June’s head was full of schemes to escape her sister’s clutch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>56</o:Words>
<o:Characters>320</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Imperial College London</o:Company>
<o:Lines>2</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>392</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman";">She had tried many times before, and been successful on a
few occasions, but then had been caught. She knew she would be caught this time
too, but the question was always: when? How much time could she buy for herself? Time
free, away from the bullies at school and Summer’s snarky remarks, from the
expectations and the meetings. Time to just be June.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="p1">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">~ Edit, 28th March: I did some editing on this today! Whoop whoop! I won't post it as this is meant to be a raw post, and also because I am sure it will change so more. ~</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-26660217494259178672016-01-25T14:38:00.001+00:002016-01-25T14:38:38.231+00:00The nice kind of noI said a few months ago that I was on a 'want to get an agent' swing (you know, from my <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/to-self-publish-or-not-to-self-publish.html" target="_blank">to self-publish </a>or <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/to-self-publish-or-not-to-self-publish_29.html" target="_blank">not to self-publish</a> conundrum). I'm still on it and it doesn't look like I'm coming back down anytime soon. Well, not until I've exhausted all possibilities. I've given myself to 20.<br />
<br />
A long time ago (read 'when the first draft was finished'), I sent the manuscript to 3 agents. I can't remember if I've ever mentioned this. I didn't really tell many people at the time. I was more testing the water, I suppose, which is a really stupid way of burning a lot of bridges. But I was young and naive in the ways of publishing (hum...). Anyway, needless to say I only got rejections.<br />
<br />
Then in September I contacted 4 agents. I got nos one by one, and hadn't heard from the last one so this weekend, having some free time, I contacted 6 more. So that's 10, half of my target, but also probably the ones I had the best chance with.<br />
<br />
Then this morning I got the answer from the 4th agent I had never heard from. Quite a coincidence!<br />
Anyway, until now all the rejection emails I'd received had been fairly bog-standard, a polite "thanks but no thanks."<br />
<br />
The one I got today was slightly better, and so far the nicest no I've received. I know I shouldn't put too much stock by it - at the end of the day, agents can be nice people too, even when they're rejecting you, so it doesn't mean my novel is any good - but it does feel like the comments are personal and part of me is hoping. Hoping that this is a good sign.<br />
<br />
Anyway, this is the email:<br />
<br />
<div class="p1">
<i>Dear Soizic,</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<i>Many thanks for sending me the first three chapters of your novel to me. I thought this was imaginative, well-written, gripping with strong and original characters – it was an entertaining read with plenty of pace and had a good commercial premise. Lacie was a nicely empathic character with a good voice and strong narrative drive.</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<i>However, while I did enjoy this and think it an engaging read, I’m afraid I didn’t love it quite enough to take it any further. That’s not to say another agent may not totally disagree.</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<i>I do wish you all the best with your writing and thanks you again for sharing your novel with me.</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p2">
<i>Best wishes,</i></div>
<br />
Look! "Good commercial premise", she says. "Nicely empathic character with a good voice", she says. As nos go, this one has got me quite excited! I just need to stop myself from over-analysing and getting my hopes up. After all, she did say no.<br />
<br />
Gosh, this agent thing really is like dating, isn't it?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-19380718317726775132016-01-25T14:21:00.001+00:002016-01-25T14:21:08.016+00:00The one-track heartI have noticed something.<br />
<br />
I can't focus on more than one thing at the same time. No, I'm not talking about sex.<br />
What I mean is I can't give all my energy into more than one project at a time. I can't care about more than one thing. I have a one-track heart. You know, not the organ that delivers blood to your body, the part of your mind that is full of passion and worries and obsessions (it's not my fault if our forefathers thought that was located in our ribcage rather than our skull).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-e80FO-CSpom1HNSdGTu6nxdbPJWH0ByQYZ0wjLRoFq8yo4MFIyVfn-IUIL3HPHUeb-_8Ce4-PCieaGZozuN2PUIgmk9WUiCaBV0HpZFHagjsUmGyF-l9EYyLH1jXNLWW9zHiMZuUOE/s1600/6ff343d9a34fb6db5afe919afd20633d.1000x826x1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-e80FO-CSpom1HNSdGTu6nxdbPJWH0ByQYZ0wjLRoFq8yo4MFIyVfn-IUIL3HPHUeb-_8Ce4-PCieaGZozuN2PUIgmk9WUiCaBV0HpZFHagjsUmGyF-l9EYyLH1jXNLWW9zHiMZuUOE/s200/6ff343d9a34fb6db5afe919afd20633d.1000x826x1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
This is my explanation for not doing any writing recently. My job was all-consuming. It was the thing I thought about before going to bed, had nightmares about and seemed to be the main subject of conversation I had with pretty much anybody. Now that I am not going to work every day and instead am doing a research proposal, that seems to be the thing on my mind all the time (and which I talk about all the time - sorry, Mark!). I've had more free time in the last few weeks than since the summer holidays. And yet I haven't been able to think about writing, because all my energy and brain-space has been devoted to my research proposal.<br />
<br />
The problem is that if you want to write something, it's probably best to do a little bit every day (did you know this also applies to research theses? What do you mean I'm getting sidetracked?). But, especially in fantasy, you need to immerse yourself in the world your have created. It means my one-track heart needs to stay focussed on the writing - and that's only possible if there's nothing else in my life I care deeply about. You know. Like my career.<br />
<br />
What happens is that I won't write for ages. Then, like now, there'll be some freed up space in my head, and my writing waves frantically in the background so I take a closer look. But by the time I've re-read what I'd written, remember what the heck my dates mean and why I'd decided the make those changes last time, the free afternoon has evaporated and I haven't written a word.<br />
<br />
I don't know how other people do it. HOW DO YOU DO IT, PEOPLE? I mean people who have a day job that they care about - hey it's easy to find time to write when you're bored out of your mind. I know. I've been there. But how do you juggle up your head space to make room for writing?<br />
<br />
I'd like to know.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-76854021475978262102016-01-06T21:54:00.000+00:002016-01-06T21:54:06.199+00:00CobwebsGosh, it's dark in here, innit? Dust floating around, making you sneeze and tickling your throat. And... Oh no... I think I just walked into a cobweb.<br />
<br />
It has been a long time, huh!<br />
<br />
You'd hope I would have done lots by now. Not really anything new to report. I sent my book to a couple of agents but it got turned down. A couple isn't much, mind you, so I ought to try some more.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately life took over once more and I had no head space or energy for writing, not even cover letters. I was starting to understand the litteral meaning of 'exhausted'.<br />
<br />
Well, that was before the holidays. I'm hoping I might have some time soon-ish to get back to writing. I have a good detailed plan for book 2 and I want to start writing, but my head in swimming in non-novel related things at the moment, so I don't know when soon-ish will be.<br />
<br />
But soon-ish, I promise!<br />
<br />
Until then, better do some spring-cleaning around here.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-49285828780190633712015-07-29T19:58:00.001+01:002015-07-29T20:06:43.312+01:00To self-publish or not to self-publish - Part II<i>I peppered my last post with words of
warning that self-publishing wasn’t as rosy as I was making it seem. This is my
rebuttal, what part of my brain says when I swing back from my self-publishing
high.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>This is…</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Part II - Not to self-publish </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
i.e. publish traditionally. By this I mean the normal route of:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">finding an agent</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">the agent finding you a publisher
(big or small)</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">you getting an advance</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US">the publisher producing your
book and selling it (hopefully)</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>1/ You get a stamp of quality</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As much as I hate it, there is still some
stigma associated with self-publishing. And even though the barriers are coming
down, it’s still hugely important for many people to get that recognition.
Agents are sometimes called ‘gatekeepers’, because they stop all the crap from
getting to the publishers. They’re the ones who have to sort the gems from the
slushpile they receive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Nobody stops anyone from publishing crap on
Amazon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now you may say that many crap books are
published by traditional publishers, but what you mean really is that many
books you think are crap are published by traditional publishers. Other people like the very same books you think are a total disgrace. But you won’t
find books that have loads of typos, are ridden with grammatical mistakes or
just make no sense.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now in all honesty, I doubt those terrible
Amazon books made their author very successful or have swamped the market.
They’re part of the data, sure, but they’re just there, doing not very much. (There
must be some very interesting articles on this data somewhere – if you know
any, do send them my way!)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Yet people still attribute this enormous
importance to ‘being published’. To having someone else say: ‘Hey, this is
good. We should sell it.’ Which brings me to point 2.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>2/ It takes a hell of a lot of guts to
promote a self-published book</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">You have to be pretty damn confident to go
around and ask people to give you money and invest their time in something that
no one but you (and your mum, or so I hear) think is brilliant. Relentlessly
ask people for money and time. As part of the jobs you take on, you have to be
the main marketing guy in your one-person company. Now of course you care
passionately about your book, which makes you well qualified to rave about it,
but it’s your baby. You’re too close to it. You might also be incredibly a)
sensitive, b) doubt-ridden, c) overprotective or d) all of the above (D,
please). You have to stomach bad reviews all on your own, and have nothing but
your own self-belief to keep you going. That’s haaaard.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>3/ A one-person company can be lonely</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I mentioned in a previous post I’d fallen
in love. It wasn’t so much love as that feeling you get when you’re single and
you see a loved-up couple. You might well be very happily single, dancing and
singing à la Natasha Bedingfield and Beyonce, (*all the single ladies, all the
single ladies, lalala*), but then you see that couple touching and kissing and looking
so lovely together you get that warm fuzzy feeling and you think, ‘Gosh, I wish
I had that.’ It’s not so much envy as hope. You see all that love and you
think, ‘That could be me.' That's why we watch romcoms, right?</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARfIgcweQDtN_FaVltLcLK1IDxzEI1dCJa-YzlEAcyX95ZkPPhMI0UuxfhCTelDDyBn40FOXCFDu2ZkyUIthz-5R3-f6nMTnYCLbZA3hi_Up4-S37Ooj1vG75L1NSY2RUbHP7haE5B20/s1600/notebook.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARfIgcweQDtN_FaVltLcLK1IDxzEI1dCJa-YzlEAcyX95ZkPPhMI0UuxfhCTelDDyBn40FOXCFDu2ZkyUIthz-5R3-f6nMTnYCLbZA3hi_Up4-S37Ooj1vG75L1NSY2RUbHP7haE5B20/s320/notebook.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Right, so this is what happened to me with
an agent. Not as romantic, I know. But the way she talked about her author was
so passionate (yes, I know it’s her job!) it made me want someone to
talk about my book like that. Someone who would be on my side and love it and
fight for it with me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I know there are many indie author networks
and circles. But being part of the traditional publishing process, you’re also
part of a team, and that team is working for your book because they believe in
it. Not because you’re paying them. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>4/ You get an advance</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now of course you’re not in writing for the
money, otherwise you’d be an investment banker (or insert other stereotypically
well-paid job). But it’s like with my other actual job (the one with the little
people): you don’t do it for the money, but you still need the paycheck at the
end of the month to pay the bills. If nothing else, getting an advance might
mean this: giving up the day job for a few months to write book 2 and do some
promo. And this little bit of time might make all the difference to your career
as an author.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>5/ It takes a lot of time to self-publish</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">(Have you noticed how nicely my paragraphs
flow into each other? I hope you’re impressed.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I mentioned earlier that as a
self-published author you take on all the jobs of a normal publisher. Now even
if you outsource some of it, it’s still a huge responsibility. It means learning
a huge range of skills and doing a lot of reading. It means coordinating and
proofing a lot of work. It takes time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Time you’re not spending writing your next
book. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>6/ Self-publishing costs money</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As indie author, you are your own investor.
You can do a kickstarter (or similar) to raise some money, but unless you
already have a following, you’re looking at your friends and family giving you
a hand. If you are successful, you should be able to recuperate the costs, and
hopefully even make some money (to take time off to write book 2, as with the
traditional route).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But let’s look at numbers. From what I’ve
seen, a book published to a professional standard will cost around £3000 (maybe
more). If you get about £2 back for every book, you’d still need to sell 1,500
books just to cover your costs. For an indie author, that’s already quite a
lot. So there’s also high risk that you’d lose money on the book. But at the
end of the day, if you’re self-publishing, it’s because you are willing to take
on that risk. So then you have to decide… Is it worth it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As for me, well… At the moment I’m in the ‘finding
an agent’ phase of my mood swings. Tomorrow, who knows?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-36070358949859982912015-07-29T19:11:00.004+01:002015-07-29T19:51:20.746+01:00To self-publish or not to self-publish - Part I<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>1297</o:Words>
<o:Characters>7394</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Imperial College London</o:Company>
<o:Lines>61</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>14</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>9080</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i><b>Foreword:</b></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Today I finished my new round of changes to
Book 1 (The girl from Otherworld).</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Now what?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>Well, apart from writing Book 2 (how’s that
synopsis going, you ask?), there’s publishing. And with it comes the important
question: to self-publish or not to self-publish?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>A few years ago, this might not even have
been a concern. You just tried for an agent first. But now self-publishing is
becoming more respectable, it is a real dilemma: should I even try for the traditional route, or just embrace self-publishing?</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>There’s a French saying that goes, ‘Between
the two my heart swings,’ and it really is how I feel about publishing. One
morning I’m rearing to self-publish, the next I’m back to wanting a publishing
deal.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>In the next couple of posts I’m going to try to explain
why, for me at least, it’s not a clear-cut answer, and what the advantages and
disadvantages are for both. Needless to say that this is NOT a guide for anybody
else to make a decision on whether to publish or not, but my own internal
comings and goings.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>I am therefore pleased to present …</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Part I - To self-publish</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>1/ My book doesn’t follow the rules.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My book is YA high fantasy, a combination
that’s not exactly hot at the moment, while YA is also said to be saturated. My
story has characters with quite different ages (14, 16 and 25ish), and a main
character who is scared of her own shadow (not the usual ‘moving the action
forward’ kind of character) and might well get on some people’s nerves.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It also has three different points of view.
When I tell people in the trade about this, I always get that sucking in noise
people make when they want to say: ‘Oooh, that’s bad!’ The ‘eeeesh’ kind of
noise. Then I get told I need to make sure each character has a really distinct
voice for it to work, and I hope I have achieved that, but they may well
disagree. I also don’t think it’s as big a problem as they say (in my
completely unqualified opinion). Game of Thrones has more points of view
characters than I can name, Alone in Berlin changes points of view mid-thought
(not that this is a good example to follow) and authors have been using
omniscient points of view for ever. So what’s the big deal?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The problem is that it’s unusual in the
kind of book I have written, and therefore there is a risk attached to it. A
lot of risk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I have heard great and terrible stories
about publishing, but on the whole what I understand about it is this: most
agents and editors care deeply about the books they sell, but they are also in
this business to make money. In order to find books that sell, they look at
what books have sold. Now everyone knows this is a poor predictor of what is
going to sell, but everybody is famously rubbish at predicting what the next
big thing is going to be. Both Tunnels and The Night Circus were predicted to
be as big as Harry Potter, and well... Have you even heard of them? Publishing a book costs money, and
publishers gamble when they take on a debut author. And that is why they don’t
want to take any extra risks. Now I’m sure people can argue at length about the
disastrous consequences this might have on the quality and diversity of
literature, but it’s not their money being put on the line.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I, on the other hand, would be willing to
risk it, because (most days) I believe I have written something solid. And that
is where self-publishing comes in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>2/ It is now easier than ever</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">If you wanted to make your book available
on Amazon, all you’d need to do would be to convert it to the right format and
upload it. That’s it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now it might well be that it’s unedited and
badly formatted, but the distribution on Amazon is that easy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I have read a number of tutorials, and the
reality is of course a lot more complicated. There are different platforms and
formats to consider, there is proofreading of conversions to be done, there are
tax concerns to deal with. And there are many, many companies out there who
want your money and will try to screw you over.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">However, the fact is that all the services
available to publishers – line editing, copyediting, proofreading, formatting,
illustration, cover design, typesetting, printing, even marketing and
distribution to real bookshops – are all now available to independent authors. Some
services are offered by large companies, others are by individuals who can be contacted on platforms
such as Reedsy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As I see it, as an independent author you
become your own publisher, which means you do all that a publisher would do. You either pay for it (as an
investment) or you learn to do it at a professional standard. There is a
plethora of articles and self-help books, as well as forums and writers’
groups, so if you are committed and do your research, the information is out
there and (mostly) free.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>3/ You can reach the same audience as a
traditionally published author</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Well, yes and no, but of course here I’m
going to argue yes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The ebook audience has long been the domain
of self-published authors. Platforms such as Smashwords reach a number of ebook
stores, except Amazon (but as we’ve seen, that’s dead easy) and the internet (blog reviews, Wattpad, Goodreads, etc.) allows indie authors to reach out to complete strangers. Sure, putting a book on Amazon and reaching an audience are two different things, but it's been done. A few self-published
author successes (the authors of Switched and Wool for instance) have shown that complete nobodies could become bestselling author.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">(If you are wanting to throttle your
computer as you scream ‘Yes, but!’, bear with me – I know it’s not all black
and white). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But for a really long time, that was it.
Bookshops, libraries, schools – no one wanted to hear from a self-pub author.
They had enough books to choose from and in my experience were the most likely
to suffer from prejudice against self-published authors. Why wouldn’t you get
traditionally published if your book was good enough? #stiffupperlip</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">From speaking to a few hopeful writers, it
is still an issue. To find a distributor, you need to be a publisher. To get to
bookshops, you need a distributor. Some people established their own publishing
companies (employees: 1), but this can be viewed as cheating (i.e. pretend
you’ve been "properly" published when you’re just another reject of the
traditional route).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">That being said, I think things are
changing. The attitude of the public and the industry towards self-published
books is not as negative as it used to. With companies like Matador* offering
distribution to bookshops, indie authors now have a shot at street retailing as
well, which is great news.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">*<i>I know I bang on about them – I swear I
don’t receive any percentage of their profits. I haven’t even tried them myself
– they just sounded pretty impressive and I haven’t found any negative articles
about them.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>4/ Authors have to do all
their promo themselves anyway</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Twitter presence, blog tours, writing
blogs… Whether they are traditionally or independently published, nowadays
authors are expected to be actively promoting their books. And it’s not just
author talks and interviews. </span>I have been told that authors should also be approaching bookshops directly to offer to sign stock or do events. So if
authors are going to be doing all their promo anyway, they might as well keep the profit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><b>5/ You've got the power!</b></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><b><br /></b></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgOQDbS2TzCEVe59nZnc7l4w7tC7Kgz_TYPA9KsyebWfelf2o7v58PQ3dTJNkjXEWs1zJDrWdjyE6KkqwUdTdKDaBo6L5T7pRgAi3NIfKAo6jAXfuY2aqVrK5p43DL0H3U2K9IleFwDt8/s1600/power.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgOQDbS2TzCEVe59nZnc7l4w7tC7Kgz_TYPA9KsyebWfelf2o7v58PQ3dTJNkjXEWs1zJDrWdjyE6KkqwUdTdKDaBo6L5T7pRgAi3NIfKAo6jAXfuY2aqVrK5p43DL0H3U2K9IleFwDt8/s320/power.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRv9wGf5pk" target="_blank">I've got the power!</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As a self-published author, you get to
decide EVERYTHING! You can choose the cover you want and what it’s all going to
look like. You have total control over everything (except, of course, whether
people buy it or not). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It’s terribly exciting, and it also means
that there are no nasty surprises. Nobody can make you change things you feel
deep down are wrong for your book and your career. You don’t find yourself in
the horrible situation where the heart of your baby (your book, that is) is
being torn to pieces by the people in the marketing department who clearly
don’t understand your work of genius. Or that ugly cover design over which you
have no say.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The problem with traditionally publishing
is that you are only the writer. Oh, yes, you’re supposed to help with
promoting the book, but the publishing bit is not your job. This has its advantages
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(see next post), but it also means
that if your publishers completely screw up your vision for your book (or even
your vision of you as an author), you have no leverage. You have signed a bit
of paper that has handed that over to somebody else and you are legally bound.
This, more than anything, is what scares the crap out of me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Of course you might also make all the wrong
decisions as an indie, but hey, at least they were your choices, and not
something imposed on you by a third party. Not great if you don’t like making
decisions, though… *whistles*</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-82876230662129792912015-07-24T08:19:00.000+01:002015-07-24T08:19:26.016+01:00AlternativeI hate my sister.<br />
<br />
This really wasn't what I was planning my next post to be. But then, a lot of things are going off plan recently.<br />
<br />
What happened was this: I was having a nice chat about visiting her and her work and life in general when we started talking about my book.<br />
<br />
And what do you know, two hours (and a few held-back tears) later, and our conversation has made me decide to make some major edits to Book 1. I'm trying to think of it as an 'alternative' version, rather than the 23400th edit, but it's still demoralising to be back to that. I was done with Book 1, damn it! I think I've found a new title for it, too: The Book That Is Never Finished (the Neverending Story was already taken).<br />
<br />
It all started because of a comment my sister made about Lacie, so really it's all her fault.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-30751572995323118612015-07-21T13:55:00.001+01:002015-07-21T13:55:17.557+01:00Number crunchingToday I decided to change the age of some of my characters (yet again). Partly it's because I've decided to make June a POV character for book 2 (Are you excited?!! I know I am!!) and therefore I need her to be a bit older, and partly it's because I'm thinking I need to narrow down the age group of my audience a bit more, and it's likely to lean more towards the older teens.<br />
<br />
So at the start of the book June is now 10, Theo 13, Lacie 15 and Izzie and Rowan 16. It doesn't really change anything for any of them since I'm not changing the way they act (which I think is appropriate for their new age as much as it was for the old one), just their age on paper. So you might ask: why all the fuss?<br />
<br />
Well, the exact age of my characters matters a great deal because it impacts on how much time has elasped since events in the past occurred. And this matters greatly because in my book because, as Esther says, 'Time doesn't pass the same in your world than in ours. That is to say it passes much, much more slowly.'<br />
It passes 8 times more slowly, to be precise. And I have a whole spreadsheet of when certain things happen so that I don't get confused (which I do. All the time.)<br />
<br />
It looks like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuK9v7IdagS079oNoMHT3V_THe2xw7MQhlBNzXjZIxiAOfu9HAN3PA9EtBH5BZ_XNCugZJ2avQk0ytoliI71XeT3_1pIUGvgdfpUyoG3Ae6URHAYKshCmTDnVs7rTRMDbyzISmmriRH5o/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.11.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuK9v7IdagS079oNoMHT3V_THe2xw7MQhlBNzXjZIxiAOfu9HAN3PA9EtBH5BZ_XNCugZJ2avQk0ytoliI71XeT3_1pIUGvgdfpUyoG3Ae6URHAYKshCmTDnVs7rTRMDbyzISmmriRH5o/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.11.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbgSM7JBZpKJg_mZNQWF5GV8vrDLBzSPfQ-rxFyoBlyBn7ePheLiE2xZG7wx2ig2f1fE8hkJ8DCfTj1KmYXB3PZcwMbM7cF87NPOVgt9It52TG4iP9pG-h_8Va0-E0IJ1HuukXUXoZwE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRbgSM7JBZpKJg_mZNQWF5GV8vrDLBzSPfQ-rxFyoBlyBn7ePheLiE2xZG7wx2ig2f1fE8hkJ8DCfTj1KmYXB3PZcwMbM7cF87NPOVgt9It52TG4iP9pG-h_8Va0-E0IJ1HuukXUXoZwE/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.05.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kzM8IQxZJY9jgxnHuWroCE1aM32CsnFiFvEL3Ya_XGJlYmMTd9vLe4jjZTgZgmnXVPrQvvs7sX1LGzBMLuBrzKwuvpFfO7iAQCezFnGgGfgklkgsMrEpKUXS6eIUeRydHMkNkboTrIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kzM8IQxZJY9jgxnHuWroCE1aM32CsnFiFvEL3Ya_XGJlYmMTd9vLe4jjZTgZgmnXVPrQvvs7sX1LGzBMLuBrzKwuvpFfO7iAQCezFnGgGfgklkgsMrEpKUXS6eIUeRydHMkNkboTrIU/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.39.png" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kzM8IQxZJY9jgxnHuWroCE1aM32CsnFiFvEL3Ya_XGJlYmMTd9vLe4jjZTgZgmnXVPrQvvs7sX1LGzBMLuBrzKwuvpFfO7iAQCezFnGgGfgklkgsMrEpKUXS6eIUeRydHMkNkboTrIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kzM8IQxZJY9jgxnHuWroCE1aM32CsnFiFvEL3Ya_XGJlYmMTd9vLe4jjZTgZgmnXVPrQvvs7sX1LGzBMLuBrzKwuvpFfO7iAQCezFnGgGfgklkgsMrEpKUXS6eIUeRydHMkNkboTrIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kzM8IQxZJY9jgxnHuWroCE1aM32CsnFiFvEL3Ya_XGJlYmMTd9vLe4jjZTgZgmnXVPrQvvs7sX1LGzBMLuBrzKwuvpFfO7iAQCezFnGgGfgklkgsMrEpKUXS6eIUeRydHMkNkboTrIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kzM8IQxZJY9jgxnHuWroCE1aM32CsnFiFvEL3Ya_XGJlYmMTd9vLe4jjZTgZgmnXVPrQvvs7sX1LGzBMLuBrzKwuvpFfO7iAQCezFnGgGfgklkgsMrEpKUXS6eIUeRydHMkNkboTrIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.27.39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>*** Spoiler note: I've hidden what all the dates and times actually mean, so this should be relatively spoiler free. ***</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifw8RUII8kSzzbkM0PpSjkjhAg7zYxPq97mUpNilx9RmZ_6QJ8A9KfADUkeSGuSFBJKV2Xd7cZO_1ZUCEC5qYx8fy5SnNBqzCDzaPhOo3CHK43cd9r1iCZ5CcYtAOUOrn9xbBm1LPY32A/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.25.30.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="109" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifw8RUII8kSzzbkM0PpSjkjhAg7zYxPq97mUpNilx9RmZ_6QJ8A9KfADUkeSGuSFBJKV2Xd7cZO_1ZUCEC5qYx8fy5SnNBqzCDzaPhOo3CHK43cd9r1iCZ5CcYtAOUOrn9xbBm1LPY32A/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.25.30.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0E_1lfQBBbWkePzimyHmVuBApCuq4QvNPW3gDms96mBpvuFqH_zJoFY-RWo6_yO4mO-zw7QqGfDrKnw_weqWPGSZPcWMd4RynVxIIwP4vV9saw8h-FfdTOw5Gm-zrmXXWnbUrd7uzNQg/s1600/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.26.23.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0E_1lfQBBbWkePzimyHmVuBApCuq4QvNPW3gDms96mBpvuFqH_zJoFY-RWo6_yO4mO-zw7QqGfDrKnw_weqWPGSZPcWMd4RynVxIIwP4vV9saw8h-FfdTOw5Gm-zrmXXWnbUrd7uzNQg/s320/Screen+Shot+2015-07-21+at+13.26.23.png" width="203" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This means that every time I change when something happens, or how old someone is, I have to change the whole blooming spreadsheet. And if I'm honest, it takes me a long time to remember what my calculations mean, let alone fix them.<br />
<br />
So there. This is what I did this morning. And that, kids, is why you should listen to your Maths teacher. You never know when it might come in useful.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05218346771170912712noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-3241031883323855362015-07-20T09:00:00.002+01:002015-07-20T16:26:10.715+01:00The MasterplanSo, world, long time no see. It's been so long in fact that my URL bar autofill had forgotten blogspot and *shock horror* I had to type it in myself.<br />
<br />
But now I am on holiday and I have at least 10 days before going anywhere, which means writing is back on the agenda! Hurray!<br />
<br />
I had promised about a thousand years ago that I would reveal my masterplan for my book. That was when there was a masterplan, which was in 3 stages:<br />
<br />
<b>Stage 1: become part of the community</b><br />
- get my book out on Wattpad so my friends/ family and even hopefully random strangers can see what I've written. In other words, build an audience. I'm happy to report I have 8 followers, 12 comments, 24 favourites and 216 views. Which is really pathetic in Wattpad stats, by the way, but makes my gratitude for those 8 followers all the more heartfelt.<br />
- be active on Twitter (which has happened, like, twice).<br />
- connect with online reviewers by reading their reviews and the books they recommend (note to self: add to to-do list).<br />
<br />
<b>Stage 2: crowdfund to self-publish</b><br />
I've always thought a crowdfunding campaign would be really fun. Also really embarrassing to beg people for money, since I am aware that most people who know me and read my blog are not actually that interested in reading high fantasy adventures for teens. Still, it would have involved making videos and promotional material and thinking of perks (the stuff you give to people who donate), all of which sounded exciting. My idea was to raise enough money to get an editor, a cover design, making the book (typesetting, printing, etc.) and promotion. Possibly pay for some of that myself (goodbye exotic holidays!), depending on the success of the crowdfunding.<br />
<br />
<b>Stage 3: self-publish</b><br />
This would have meant going through all the steps mentioned before, which as I understand it involves the following:<br />
<br />
- line editing: making it sound better, fixing dodgy sentences or unclear paragraphs, etc. It might sound like something you can do yourself or ask a friend to do for you, but this is the one thing that everybody says you should not skimp on.<br />
<br />
- copyediting: fixing typos, grammatical mistakes, etc. I have become totally blind to my typos, so I definitely see the need for a copyeditor.<br />
<br />
- typesetting: getting the file ready with the correct font, spaces, etc. so it can be printed.<br />
<br />
- formatting for ebook or print format<br />
<br />
- cover design and formatting. One of the tips I received at the London Book Fair is that a book has to be a beautiful object for booksellers to want it. I particularly like the ones with foil blocking.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbR5HOQgue8-alsXlKdiEiPh6fk0qpEkoS86yonwJ-aebw5O2FqJa15g0BHdAu_27sDBDJOggjN9mBn8UxV2dgkEtuxeRrg5os588AYmZLNim2opLV3RH71E9tRNVWuhxn6WowG4huzbUX/s1600/Watchmaker-front-cover-149x230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbR5HOQgue8-alsXlKdiEiPh6fk0qpEkoS86yonwJ-aebw5O2FqJa15g0BHdAu_27sDBDJOggjN9mBn8UxV2dgkEtuxeRrg5os588AYmZLNim2opLV3RH71E9tRNVWuhxn6WowG4huzbUX/s1600/Watchmaker-front-cover-149x230.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love foil blocking! (That's the gold stuff on here.) This is not my book, obviously, but I love this cover I had to ask some guys to move so I could take a picture of it on the tube.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
- printing: does what it says on the tin. Printing can be 'on demand', which is more expensive per copy but is the only option for very small print runs, or it can be for a particular print run, usually over 200 copies, which is then cheaper per copy.<br />
<br />
- distribution: for ebooks, there's a variety of platforms from which to distribute the book, all of which seemed achievable as an indie author without paying anyone for it. However to reach the printed book market (and how cool would that be!) you need to go through a distributor. Distributors and bookships don't usually accept indie books if you contact them directly so I thought that was the end of the story, but there are some publishers which, for a fee, will place your book with distributors, and tehrefore bookshops. I know that you have to be very careful, though, with vanity presses, and I have heard of many a horror story of people paying through their nose for services they never received and gave up their copyright for their work in the process. I think, though, that with the rise in self-publishing, a few The one I was the most impressed with at the London Book Fair was Matador, which is a self-published imprint of Troubador (and from my little research, doesn't seem to be fleecing writers in exchange for hot air). They were upfront about the costs, had some legit endorsements and very helpful advice booklets. And because they are part of an actual publishing house, it didn't seem like a fraud (though<a href="http://indiereader.com/2012/07/penguins-new-business-model-exploiting-writers/" target="_blank"> that's not always a guarantee</a>). Anyway, as you can see they did a good job of convincing me they were the best in town for my purposes, because I had my heart set on them.<br />
<br />
The reason this needs to be paid for is that a publisher would pay for it. And if you want your book to look professional, it needs to be done by professionals.<br />
<br />
Some self-published authors also pay for marketing, but I was mostly keen on doing that myself: blog tours (blogs publish a piece about you or your book on different days within a week/ month - like a tour, but online), twitter presence, entering competitions, doing giveaways on Goodreads...<br />
<br />
From this point on, my path was set for glory, right?<br />
<br />
But like I said, this WAS the masterplan. And now... well I have fallen in love, and it's changed everything.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-51726630788818010942015-06-14T12:43:00.002+01:002015-06-14T12:43:34.632+01:00I am not deadI swear.<br />
<br />
Only trying to keep up with life. I will post soon, I promise!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-76116610165883946792015-04-18T12:56:00.000+01:002015-04-18T13:14:13.210+01:00Read That Grey Area<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fantastic news!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">You can now read Book 1 - The Girl from Otherworld on Wattpad!</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Following my days at the London Book Fair, I learned that the best way to get people to care about my book is to get readers. I now have a big plan (more details soon), and the first step was to post my book on a reading platform like Wattpad. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>How it works is this</b>: people sign up to read, they find something they'd like to read by looking at categories or using recommendations, then they start reading, chapter by chapter. Some stories are finished (marked as 'completed'), some are not. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If readers like it, they can vote for each chapter by adding it as a favourite (a yellow star at the bottom) or they can leave comments. Books that have many reads, many favourites, and many comments are more visible, and get more readers.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b>I will be posting chapters every few days. Just <a href="http://www.wattpad.com/myworks/37476864-that-grey-area-book-1-the-girl-from-otherworld" target="_blank">click here</a> to start reading. And if you like it, remember to vote or leave comments so I can reach new readers!</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You need to create an account to be a reader, but it's quick and free.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thanks to all the lovely people who have been supporting me in doing this. It is scary, putting my book out there for the whole world to see. Not just an extract where I can say, 'What, this old unedited thing?', but the real thing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So thank you. You are amazing and I couldn't do this without you.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-84903876949682851012015-04-18T12:44:00.001+01:002015-04-18T12:44:13.198+01:00Lessons from the London Book Fair<br />
By chance the London Book Fair fell during one of my weeks off and so I took a bit of time off from editing to infiltrate the publishing business and listen in.<br />
<br />
These are some of the lessons I learned. Now bear in mind that this isn't <i>my</i> advice, but what the pros at the fair were saying.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMdONZ2bs-r8Zw0xKhLii2YkfSom___rxg3VGnuNW6PJj-lJfHtWbrw41sK9GtEYyPMXmZ9J57wsFb3UweWPjWn7B5fA4HVHUShp-0BzLEKKq66t66rFEQvgmiZ0cwynejBHXkugNK6YG/s1600/DownloadedFile.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIMdONZ2bs-r8Zw0xKhLii2YkfSom___rxg3VGnuNW6PJj-lJfHtWbrw41sK9GtEYyPMXmZ9J57wsFb3UweWPjWn7B5fA4HVHUShp-0BzLEKKq66t66rFEQvgmiZ0cwynejBHXkugNK6YG/s1600/DownloadedFile.jpeg" height="200" width="124" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beauuuutiful cover!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>#Lesson 1: Pretty books matter</b><br />
One of the comments that was made by booksellers over and over is that what a book looks like matters hugely. Don’t judge a book by its cover? Forget it, everybody does. Booksellers are flooded with hundreds of books, so if you want your book to stand out, it’s got to be stunning. In the words on a bookseller, ‘make it a beautiful objects that people want to get their hands on’. That being said, easier said than done…<br />
<br />
<b># Lesson 2: Use social media – but be genuine</b><br />
One of the advice I heard the most is also the least helpful: use social media. Oh thanks, geez, hadn’t thought about that! Everybody said it, especially those who haven’t grown up breathing and living twitter and facebook. They mostly said sensible stuff that seemed pretty obvious to me, but it least it’s making me think I’m doing things right:<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Don’t be a knob. Be polite and enthusiastic and give other people a hand. Or as somebody put it, forget about the self-absorbed part of your brain that drove you to be shut up in your own little world for months to write a book.<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Don’t spam people to ask them to buy your book. Nobody wants someone’s book rammed down their throat all the time. An <a href="http://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2015/4/13/please-shut-up-why-self-promotion-as-an-author-doesnt-work" target="_blank">interesting blog post post on this topic </a>came out this week telling authors to 'shut up'.<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make connections. When publicists tell authors to use social media, what they mean is to reach out to people, engage in conversations, have a ‘presence’. The same blogger who told authors to 'shut up' wrote<a href="http://www.whimsydark.com/blog/2015/4/14/wait-keep-talking-author-self-promo-that-actually-works" target="_blank"> a following blog</a> explaining what authors <u>should</u> do instead of spamming.<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Be genuine. Find what social media comes naturally to you and do that one. For me it would be blogging, but an author was talking about reaching our to other debut authors through twitter was how she started using twitter, linking to pages she liked and found useful.<br />
<br />
<b># Lesson 3: Build an audience. </b><br />
I think this is in competition with ‘use social media’ for most annoying advice! Yeah, thanks, I’d love to. HOW? In all honesty, I can’t say I got the answer to that one. But I got tidbits of information, things that might help.<br />
<strike>-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>travel back in time to a time when there weren’t a million bloggers (see blog earlier)</strike><br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>sign up to websites such as wattpad or platforms where your readers are and engage with the people there (genuinely, not spamming – see above). Make the networking part of your routine.<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>publish nothing until you’ve got 3 books. Or, without going that far, publish books very close together, so your audience can continue to engage with your books. If you wait too long between books, you will lose your audience and have to start all over again<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>call on your family and friends to help you spread the word<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>start a mailing list<br />
<br />
<b># Lesson 4: Metadata matter</b><br />
Lots of acronyms like SEO and SEM got brandished around, and in all honesty I mostly didn’t have a clue what these people were talking about. Google tells me this is ‘Search Engine Optimization’ and ‘Search Engine Marketing’. Note to self: do some more research.<br />
<br />
<b># Lesson 5: Do your research</b><br />
When contacting people – publishers, agents, booksellers – find out what they like and don’t like, and find the name of the person you should be contacting, then contact them, and not their colleagues, who might have completely different tastes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>And finally, The Bookseller’s secret to success:</b><br />
<b>-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Write a great book</b><br />
<b>-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Find your audience and given them time to tell their friends about your book</b><br />
<b>-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Repeat</b><br />
<br />
Now I learned another very important thing, but that deserves a post of its own, so stay posted.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-27425130702859806962015-04-16T11:42:00.001+01:002015-04-16T21:40:35.198+01:00Help! I need somebody, help!I finished editing my book this morning, and I have quite a lot of things I want to blog about, but I thought I would start with a problem I have.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My title.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And I need YOUR help.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My book has changed titles many times but for years now it's been called 'That Grey Area', in reference to the main theme of the book, that things are not being black and white, and to Lacie's realisation at the end that there aren't 'good people' and 'evil people'.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And I like the sound of it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It also doesn't help readers get a sense of the book at all. But then again, book titles I love are things like 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' or 'Under the never sky', which don't really tell you what the book is about either.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So I'm a bit stuck. Should I change the title? What do you think of it?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And if I do change it, then I have an even bigger problem: what the heck am I going to call the book?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At some point the book was called The Darkness Within, in reference to a riddle inside the book (and the idea that everybody can do evil). I actually quite like this title, but I thought it made it sound too gothy (another book called The Darkness Within is a vampire book).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And if not that... well, I don't really have any ideas.</div>
<div>
Part of the riddle also says 'If you are without sin', which could work, but again I think this gives the wrong impression.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I don't like titles that have things like Faerie in them, and I don't really want to mention the Tree Circle, e.g. I think 'The secret of the Tree Circle' sounds a bit lame.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Please leave a comment</b> on what you think of:</div>
<div>
- That Grey Area as a title</div>
<div>
- The Darkness Within as a title</div>
<div>
- Any ideas YOU have of what the title should be (though I understand that might be hard if some of you have only read bits or <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/p/that-grey-area-syopsis.html" target="_blank">the synopsis</a>).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Thank you!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
~*~<br />
<br />
<b><u>Edit:</u></b> I had a look at titles, following Catherine's comment.<br />
How about 'The girl from Otherworld'. Or is that too much 'the girl with the dragon tatto'?</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-70912024441875023052015-04-14T09:52:00.002+01:002015-04-14T10:01:09.221+01:00Have courage and be kind<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Something a little bit different today. Although this blog is about writing, it is also more generally about storytelling.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Besides, this is <u>my</u> blog so I can talk about whatever the heck I want.)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So today I am going to talk about a story. A very old story. The story of Cinderella.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or rather, Kenneth Brannagh's live action version. Having read mixed reviews, I went to see the movie with my mum last night with no other expectation than it would look pretty. (And it did - oh that blue twirling dress!)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhod62FxNlmKkmORM7tTqUEuLvvvjjHBat6ApEcC4t8PKtm2TNhUOIFzk1mcViTm3nk_UASpNwg9HbOSdhA9h0a5SDfnQeP15tbjMuYsmFSMFZtlVhB-2wCZwv7V-3OBSW66YY8sWTEOZYK/s1600/cinderella.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhod62FxNlmKkmORM7tTqUEuLvvvjjHBat6ApEcC4t8PKtm2TNhUOIFzk1mcViTm3nk_UASpNwg9HbOSdhA9h0a5SDfnQeP15tbjMuYsmFSMFZtlVhB-2wCZwv7V-3OBSW66YY8sWTEOZYK/s1600/cinderella.gif" height="133" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What I wasn't expecting was such a strong moral message. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On her death bed, Ella's mother asks her daughter to promise to have courage and be kind, two rules by which Ella strives to live, even when life deals her a pretty bad hand.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Have courage and be kind.</b> I was surprised - and impressed. Kindness and courage are rarely associated.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now I'm going to go a little bit personal on you.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I was growing up, I was a bit of a goody-two-shoes, and my older sisters, dutifully doing their jobs as older sisters, teased me for it. They called me Cinderella (mostly when they got into trouble because I was crying or I'd told on them). It became an insult. Being a Cinderella was being whiny goody goody who couldn't stand up for herself.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And that's often how people view kindness. Now I'm not claiming to be as good as Cinderella, and when mice eat from my kitchen they leave droppings everywhere. But being generally nice, and usually shy, I can still appear to be a bit of a pushover. A Cinderella.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is, in some people, a simplisitic view of what being kind or being brave is.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some people think that being 'nice' is being a smiling warm person and having good manners, saying nice things and flattering, and avoiding conflict.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But being kind is something else entirely. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being kind is caring, especially about those who are more unfortunate than you are or those society deems unworthy - like Cinderella, sharing the little she has with the mice.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's thinking of others, and sometimes putting their needs before your own - like Cinderella giving milk to the poor old lady, having lost everything herself . It's about giving, of yourself, your time, and whatever you have. It's about forgiving, like Cinderella forgives her stepmother </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(I won't carry on giving examples from the movie, but you get the gist)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. It's giving people a chance, and giving them a second chance. A chance to be kind, too.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVPorWGmQEsXol5Gke5lx1pjT_gIemIG5ayyzjJahwmpZUEh8y-t-1_HOCHtL186eKqU4J1TeAtOKkAVrmBHNPru_G81CnAeZ8AEWQIXXe5ULUSZQZ9r_1MPKko1GlEPMQf0vxjE2uk5z/s1600/Kenneth_Branagh__the_mice_DO_talk_in_live_action_Cinderella___you_just_have_to_slow_the_sound_down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVPorWGmQEsXol5Gke5lx1pjT_gIemIG5ayyzjJahwmpZUEh8y-t-1_HOCHtL186eKqU4J1TeAtOKkAVrmBHNPru_G81CnAeZ8AEWQIXXe5ULUSZQZ9r_1MPKko1GlEPMQf0vxjE2uk5z/s1600/Kenneth_Branagh__the_mice_DO_talk_in_live_action_Cinderella___you_just_have_to_slow_the_sound_down.jpg" height="120" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the same way, brashness and confidence are often mistaken for bravery. Some people think the brave ones are those who speak louder than everyone else. They think of courage and see men with swords, charging into battles.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But in the wise words of the Starks:</span><br />
<h1 class="quoteText" style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><i>'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?'<br />'That is the only time a man can be brave.'</i></span></h1>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bravery is about not giving up and keeping going, even when things are tough and don't look like they're going to get any better. It's doing what you're afraid to do and daring to show the world who you truly are. It's standing up for what is right and saying no to wicked deals, even if it will cost you everything. All those fascets of bravery, Cinderella demonstrates in the movie. I wrote a post a while ago <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/womens-day.html" target="_blank">about strong female characters</a>. To me, Kenneth Brannagh's Cinderella is strong. She's strong from within.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now this isn't a lesson life teaches us often. I know that to appear sassy wins more hearts in the real life than being a Cinderella, and I know having a big mouth gets people's votes. I also know that 'nice guys finish last' and people don't get ahead in life but putting others first. There aren't any fairy godmothers in the real world to give good people a happy ending.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But what a sad lesson that is. And what a sad world it would be if these were the rules we lived by.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So you might scoff at Cinderella, at the twirling dresses, at love at first sight and graceful dances. You may think Cinderella's wet eyes and candid manner are twee and you may think the storyline too simplistic <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">(I loved it all)</span>. Or you might think there was no need for a live action version of an animated classic, or even for anything straying so far from the original fairy tale.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>But I, for one, am grateful that there are still people out there telling stories that teach us the importance of having courage and being kind.</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>I've got a feeling we're going to need them more than usual before long.'</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">(Bonus points if you can tell me what book this is from. Hint: the quote doesn't refer to kindness and bravery, but to laughs.)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sYPXeNzpDJE" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-18844619653839211642015-04-13T16:35:00.001+01:002015-04-13T16:35:19.093+01:00Some other people's thoughtsHello world!<br />
<br />
I have been very busy editing during the Easter holidays - you can follow my adventures on my new facebook page - but it's not left me a lot of time to post on the blog. I have lots of blacklogged ideas for posts, but it will have to wait until the weekend, when I'll (hopefully) be finished with my current round of editing.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, though, other people have written interesting stuff.<br />
<br />
Catherine, a fellow writer and teacher, did a <a href="http://catherinequeen.com/2015/01/17/what-are-13-year-olds-reading/" target="_blank">survey of what 13-year-old girls in her class were reading</a>, and she found some cool things. Mostly I noticed none of them were reading unheard-of indie authors. *cough*<br />
<br />
Harry Bingham of the Writers' Workshop, did a timely survey of authors and what they thought of their publishers. The verdict? <a href="http://agenthunter.co.uk/blog/363/" target="_blank">Grumbling but not quitting</a>. That being said, it doesn't make you want to work with publishers (but more on that later...).<br />
<br />
And finally, I came across this <a href="http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack/2015/04/the-pointlessness-of-book-reviewing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FFiSA+%28Me+And+My+Big+Mouth%29" target="_blank">blog post debating the usefulness of book reviews</a> in driving book sales. It uses personal experience and some stats to back up its ideas, and it's well worth a read.<br />
<br />
As for me... well, I'm only 15 000 words away from the end, so I'll resurface with my own thoughts when that's done.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-1733492878734826332015-02-28T12:38:00.002+00:002015-02-28T12:48:12.599+00:00To write or be published<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>414</o:Words>
<o:Characters>2361</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Imperial College London</o:Company>
<o:Lines>19</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>4</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2899</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
A while back I wrote <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10507293-the-selection" target="_blank">a post about ratings on goodreads</a>, my bottom line basically being that different people have different tastes. Someone’s trash is somebody else’s treasure (or if you’re like me, you love <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10507293-the-selection" target="_blank">your trash</a>).<br />
<br />
More insightful, perhaps, is this quote James posted in the comments:<br />
<br />
<i>"It’s not the job of the artist to give the audience what the audience wants. If the audience knew what they needed, then they wouldn’t be the audience. They would be the artists. It is the job of artists to give the audience what they need." –Alan Moore</i><br />
<br />
<br />
And it’s got me thinking.<br />
<br />
A lot of advice to writers I read is about getting published (see <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-toolkit.html" target="_blank">my toolkit</a> to know what I mean). From what I understand, publishers are very timorous. They buy what they know will sell. So if I want to be published, I need to write what sells. And I understand that. I don’t think studying the market is a cynical way of writing. After all, why should anybody take a financial risk on my behalf? How can I expect to be read if I don’t write something people want to read? Good writing takes into account the audience and how the reader will be gripped – even my nine-year-olds learn this. Fine. Don’t write shite and expect others to read it.<br />
<br />
But I don’t think it’s that simple. I recently read <a href="http://www.welovethisbook.com/features/qa-jon-mcgregor?page=7" target="_blank">this interview</a> with a literary author whose book, Even the Dogs, I had just read – the book is depressing and certainly literary, but also very clever, in a way I will never be able to write. The part of the interview that struck me was this:<br />
<br />
<i>"When I started writing Even the Dogs I decided to ignore any concerns about readers who might not buy into what I was trying to do: to write the book as I wanted to write it, and wait to see what happened."</i><br />
<br />
Of course, as a literary writer he is allowed, even expected, to be experimental. The kind of writing he admires is ‘barely readable’ (his own words). I am writing genre fiction, as mass market as it gets: YA. Not quite comparable. Yet I do think there is something true there.<br />
<br />
Yes, I would love to be published. And I have studied pace and points of view and all of those good tips and techniques to make my writing better. As good as I can possibly make it.<br />
<br />
But I spend my weekends and holidays writing because I love it. I love Lacie and Rowan and Meuriaden and Faerie more than publishing. And if getting published meant that the changes I was required to make corrupted the core of my book and its message – and it might well be that my current plot/ characters/ story are unmarketable at present without massive changes – then I’d rather carry on as I am now: an amateur holiday-time writer.<br />
I'm not saying there is always a dichotomy (unlike my title suggests), and still hope for a bright future for my book. But if it doesn't turn out like that, at least I have written the book I wanted to write. If I find out it’s not publishable, well… tough.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I’ll carry on trying to make it as close as possible to what I want it to be.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-17981497739687867892015-02-21T19:19:00.002+00:002015-02-21T19:19:49.790+00:00After partySo...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAIQESZKHmZOQ2CusbuJhYinqJ6DrNZhMe6Mq2lcLLbsD7Jxqsa69eGEogyE2IkxRZKEQ1yYx6LH6cxtCp1YzsDnYiZ2SE69X5jtoMSHfWS-v3h5Jw-poUXSN9R8jDdoYlpw1y1W5AZ_A/s1600/parties-over.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAIQESZKHmZOQ2CusbuJhYinqJ6DrNZhMe6Mq2lcLLbsD7Jxqsa69eGEogyE2IkxRZKEQ1yYx6LH6cxtCp1YzsDnYiZ2SE69X5jtoMSHfWS-v3h5Jw-poUXSN9R8jDdoYlpw1y1W5AZ_A/s1600/parties-over.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Thank you to everyone who came and in particular all those who commented. 39 comments! Ok, so about half of them are my replies, but still. I am deeply moved that so many people took the time to come.<br />
<br />
Now there's two more things that have come out of this party.<br />
1. I need to make a page about writing resources.<br />
2. We have a winner! I forgot to mention it again, but as I had previously said, I have picked a commenter at random (using the random number generator on Excel... At least I've remembered one thing from statistics lessons at uni). This lucky winner will get not only to read a never-before-seen chapter, but also have their own guest blog here.<br />
<br />
And the winner is...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;">Clara!!!</span></div>
<br />
Congratulations Clara (or maybe commiserations?) Really looking forward to your post - I hope you're up for it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-20137013131481219632015-02-21T17:03:00.003+00:002015-02-21T17:03:53.367+00:00Happy Birthday to me!<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Welcome, welcome!</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFLuFHi_x126nMRt-lrJAPquc_PIp-dkMEyTrS40EJFuw26fTa-EepwJ_2KtTKE6d8zSSr17E1YO4WYDSXoWEzyA3iOFqzh4aQTSrBTT8eBlJQJCWs1Z2C3K1NoMHQQTU6IFxHzfy-SOUq/s1600/bc4d4e28cda57b21a6cad6cda6d03575.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFLuFHi_x126nMRt-lrJAPquc_PIp-dkMEyTrS40EJFuw26fTa-EepwJ_2KtTKE6d8zSSr17E1YO4WYDSXoWEzyA3iOFqzh4aQTSrBTT8eBlJQJCWs1Z2C3K1NoMHQQTU6IFxHzfy-SOUq/s1600/bc4d4e28cda57b21a6cad6cda6d03575.jpg" height="320" width="198" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<br />
Come on in and make yourself at home.<br />
<br />
Cake? Glass of champagne? Are you sitting comfortably? Is the music ok?<br />
<br />
All right, fine, I need to calm down.<br />
<br />
Welcome to my blog’s virtual birthday party. The idea is that you leave comments and I reply or you reply to each other. So get commenting!<br />
<br />
Here are some of the things you might want to have a look at:<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/p/that-grey-area-syopsis.html" target="_blank">What the book is about</a><br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/p/tga-characters.html" target="_blank">Who the characters are</a> - or take <a href="http://www.gotoquiz.com/which_that_grey_area_character_are_you" target="_blank">this test</a> to find out which character you are the most like!<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Perhaps you’d like to learn more about the world in <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/p/library.html" target="_blank">the library</a><br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Or you want to have a sneak peak at what I’m writing by reading<a href="ttp://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/excerpt" target="_blank"> some excerpts</a><br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Or maybe you want to start a debate and argue on one of my <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/opinion" target="_blank">opinion posts</a>.<br />
<br />
Whatever you choose, feel free to comment on any post, even old ones.<br />
<br />
There is also a <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/q.html" target="_blank">Q&A post</a>, so if you have any questions for me, you can leave them there and I’ll answer them.<br />
<br />
Just remember to be nice and cordial to each other, even if you think this is all pants and why on earth any adult in their right mind would write a story about fairies.<br />
<br />
Have fun!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-66217045970301717252015-02-21T16:58:00.001+00:002015-02-21T16:58:13.705+00:00Q&AThis is the place for you to ask any questions you want answered during the amazing fantabulous Virtual Party! Or anytime, really.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQG6ONFwDXrmnNfZwKFiDVsiYHkg7BMmnjYt_PZpqRAlYYoumqcRcL0hWZ6rKv8OanPGsteoAoBhoOWxxvyauQ0mpz-wc5PqHNwQ_ylFnQX-HMV9vVLAd-42RdotinNG_Kkmsul3sNAIs/s1600/original.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQG6ONFwDXrmnNfZwKFiDVsiYHkg7BMmnjYt_PZpqRAlYYoumqcRcL0hWZ6rKv8OanPGsteoAoBhoOWxxvyauQ0mpz-wc5PqHNwQ_ylFnQX-HMV9vVLAd-42RdotinNG_Kkmsul3sNAIs/s1600/original.png" height="320" width="274" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-51689644600697695932015-02-21T16:56:00.001+00:002015-02-21T16:56:13.593+00:00For the love of numbers<br />
And so a year has passed. A year since <a href="http://soizicsplace.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/writers-anonymous.html" target="_blank">my big coming out</a>. And what a year it has been:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>43 posts</li>
<li>80 comments (including my responses)</li>
<li>1854 page views (nearly 50% more if you ask blogger rather than google analytics, but it can inflate the number of page views because it includes bots)</li>
<li>680 sessions</li>
<li>327 users (people)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Now if you know a lot about blogging, you’ll probably think all these numbers are pathetically small. But to me it’s a big deal. 1854 page views! Considering only people I know visit this blog, it feels like a lot. When I wrote the first post, I didn’t even know if anyone would bother to come and read it. I didn’t know if people were going to make fun of it.<br />
So thank you to everyone who has come, even just once. Thank you to all those people who come discreetly, but then tell me they think it’s great I’m doing a blog. Thank you to those who comment, even on the French version (which is on hold for the time being). Thank you for the feedback.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VWK1XKtxuQutB5SK-x_wOilUzhvoV_HD8_xUpVXruzVkb8Foat0coiKyagaSohoC8s_D6nhQUQ4ti14U8o6569tP0tBOVO3QOwW2OnUljT6FqDLQEr7qgIClmCgSrPawPWy8xd9xlWPZ/s1600/200.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VWK1XKtxuQutB5SK-x_wOilUzhvoV_HD8_xUpVXruzVkb8Foat0coiKyagaSohoC8s_D6nhQUQ4ti14U8o6569tP0tBOVO3QOwW2OnUljT6FqDLQEr7qgIClmCgSrPawPWy8xd9xlWPZ/s1600/200.gif" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Of course, the really important numbers are the ones about my book.<br />
2014 is:<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>25,000 words of brand new (or completely rewritten) material<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5 new chapters and 7 new scenes<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Over 82, 000 words of edits<br />
And many, many words cut out (I haven’t counted those).<br />
<br />
The book is currently about 130,000 words long and I have about 50k left to heavily edit before I do a final editing for style. The current plan is to finish this summer. If you’re interested in beta-reading the book, or part of it, especially for the writing (no further rounds of editing that will affect plot or characters), then do get in touch!<br />
<br />
Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year, be it through kind words or by pushing me to write a little bit more. I feel I can finally see the end at the light of the tunnel.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggC2ef7D0dMTpv6TkHFJO08wKnPSLcVnf4HzrEYjpzlUe-J40SHrgJlidWmw_2fYyvvi3ZdlRUupGsOjDb-dXbZvCLLz52lYazsuT6OwxY3Y74BpGDEaisxsNT_fLFW_rpNSi5SjmX_SPU/s1600/card_front_large.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggC2ef7D0dMTpv6TkHFJO08wKnPSLcVnf4HzrEYjpzlUe-J40SHrgJlidWmw_2fYyvvi3ZdlRUupGsOjDb-dXbZvCLLz52lYazsuT6OwxY3Y74BpGDEaisxsNT_fLFW_rpNSi5SjmX_SPU/s1600/card_front_large.png" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1806404029206485124.post-14848844891443015862015-01-31T12:09:00.000+00:002015-01-31T20:00:33.423+00:00This was the year – book, interrupted<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>330</o:Words>
<o:Characters>1452</o:Characters>
<o:Company>Imperial College London</o:Company>
<o:Lines>26</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>8</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>2310</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
You might have noticed
my absence, and if you have, I am both sorry and impressed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I did a lot of work
over Christmas, in spite of the family situation (which I don’t really want to
go into here). I edited over 25k of words, some of which required some heavy
re-writing. I still have the first chapter from hell to <strike>edit</strike> rewrite, and then
about 2 chapters of Rowan and 6 chapters of Lacie. It’s about 45k still of
editing though hopefully it won’t be any nearly as difficult as Stus’s stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Ideally I’d also like
to have another read through to try to cut down on superfluous words and
phrases. The book is long – over 130k – and way too long for a YA novel. But I
also think it’s roughly the size it needs to be. After all, I have two plots
intermingling and so really I have two stories in one. But if I have any chance
of this working, I need to make sure the writing is as tight as I can possibly
make it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Unfortunately, that won’t be any
time soon. Easter is the closest I think I’ll be able to even glance at the
damn thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">If you’re following,
then yes, it means I haven’t made it. This was the year I finished. This was
the year I finally let go, and it looks like it might be another six months at
the very least. 'The Year' finishes on the 19th February.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But my current
circumstances mean I can’t focus on my book right now. It’s a ‘now or never’
moment in my professional life, which means that it’s my priority and takes up
all of my energy, creativity and time (and health). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Anyway, I like to
think positively. The point of this year, this blog, was to get me back to
writing, after a disastrously writing-free 2013. And from that point of view, it has been a massive success. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">So in a few weeks’
time, when it is the one-year anniversary of this blog, I will hold a little
something special to thank you all for following and give a summary of my progress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But in the meantime, and
all the way until Easter, it will be a bit of a downtime here. See you at the other end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0