Stuart Bone's Blog, page 6

At the end of another year

Here we all are again, saying to each other; "I can't believe we're at the end of the year. Hasn't it gone quick. So much quicker than last year."

I'm not a big fan of celebrating New Year really (not that I would turn down an invitation to a party mind you) but it's just another day after all. I gave up on making resolutions years ago after I'd broken them all by 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the 1st.

I have to look back on 2016 as a positive year though. I may not have attracted a literary agent but I carried on, went it alone, and now have two novels published. I guess that's pretty good going. Hopefully in 2017 I'll be able to widen my readership while completing novel number 3.

I'm looking forward to Christmas; the wine, the food, the wine, the presents...oh yeah; and the wine.
I always like a practical present, something I actually want and need. With the carrier bag charge coming in, in England this year, wrapping up 20 bags for someone for a pound sounds like a good idea; especially if you buy them at Next. You get a better quality bag there for your 5p.

That gives me an idea for my serial killer in novel number 3. Maybe they shouldn't be a strangler. Maybe they could suffocate their victims using a Bag for Life?
Yeah, perhaps not.

Anyway, as this is my last blog for the year I would like to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Widening the online presence

I realised I hadn't really been pushing the second novel enough after publishing it last month. In an attempt to get a bit more noticed I have now set up a website. This can be found at: -

www.stuartboneauthor.com

I am also now on twitter at: -

https://twitter.com/sboneauthor

It sounds a bit odd to say, 'you can follow me there' but you know what I mean.

Review - SeriousReading.com

I've just had a review printed on SeriousReading.com and Driven to Distraction was given a 92% rating.

Please find links below to the review and to my author interview:-

Review
http://seriousreading.com/book-review...

Interview
http://seriousreading.com/author-inte...

Really pleased with the review.

Sometimes I worry myself

It was only through looking at an Amazon CreateSpace entry on Facebook today that I realised I could link my Goodreads blog to my Amazon Author Page.
As someone who prides himself on his attention detail this is a pretty major oversight. How on earth could I have missed that. But then it is technology and that isn't always my strong point. I'm still manually copying and pasting my blog onto my Facebook Page!!

I've set up the link on Amazon now and new posts should appear within twenty four hours. I've just tried saving some past entries to see if they will post too. If they do I hope it adds the correct date and doesn't put them all as 13th December otherwise they'll be confusing to read and that won't be much of an advert for my writing.

Must remember to check on it tomorrow night. I'll probably write myself a note rather than add a reminder to my phone or iPad.

A dark day

Working on my third novel today, the first in my crime series. Although it remains humorous I spent most of today with my serial killer, working out why the person kills, the method used and basically creating the whole psychological profile behind the character. I certainly went to some dark places!
Didn't realise I could create someone that twisted. Definitely need to look at the humour side tomorrow.

The killer slips on a banana skin? Perhaps not.

Making changes

Well that was a surprisingly quick decision to make. I've decided to scrap my third novel, Long Shadows, and move onto the idea I had for number four.

The idea came to me yesterday and just made sense, but with hindsight, I think the decision has been brewing for a while.

My next book will be a humorous crime story that I hope will become a series of novels. Having contacted agents recently with Nothing Ventured, I was amazed at how many particularly wanted to receive crime novels. It was difficult to find any that actually stated they took on humorous novelists. When humour was mentioned on their websites it was usually for either children's books or for non-fiction.

One agent that got back to me said that I had a great beginning and a lively narrative voice but that humour was difficult to sell as it's subjective. Personally I think that could be applied to all novels. Just because someone likes one particular book in a genre it doesn't mean they'll like the next book by the same author or another writer in the same genre. Surely, if an agent thinks a submission is good, he/she should at least request to see the whole book. There's a story behind the humour after all.

But anyway, that is what I was up against with Agents. Perhaps my crime novel, although still humorous, will have more of a chance.

So it was probably while I was contacting agents that I first considered writing the crime novel next but it was only yesterday I realised that perhaps I didn't need to write Long Shadows at all. It's a follow on from Driven to Distraction and, to be honest, I haven't sold that many copies of the first novel for it to warrant a sequel.

That's not to say writing a first draft of number 3 was a waste. I can still use some of the ideas/settings in my crime series; especially if I set those in my fictional county of Tenhamshire. I might as well use it now that I've created it; like Thomas Hardy's Wessex or Caroline Graham's Midsomer.

As soon as I'd taken the decision to scrap Long Shadows I began getting more ideas for, what I'm calling, my Maggie Reynolds Series. In Driven to Distraction, the coach party was meant to be staying in a spa town called Cunden Lingus. I was using this in book 3 as a work place for the character of Angela. I'm probably going to use this now as my setting for the crime series. The town (a cross between Bath and Salisbury) has recently been given city status and the mayor is pleased with the amount of investment in her new city and looks forward to an increase in tourism. What she doesn't need is a local serial killer spoiling that. The police put out a public appeal for information. Maggie Reynolds has some for them but she's reluctant to get involved due to the source of that information...and that's all I'm sharing so far.

Suffice it to say, I think my holiday from writing is over.

It's published!

Nothing Ventured is now available for purchase on Amazon in both eBook and paperback formats
They are currently showing separately until amazon links them together.
The paperback versions are a little slow appearing on the Canada & Australia Amazon sites but should hopefully be available within 48hours.
I hope you enjoy it and a review on Amazon/Goodreads would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

It's coming out!

I've just gone ahead and uploaded second novel, Nothing Ventured, onto Amazon. Am now just awaiting the proofs to approve before it goes live, which should be the middle of next.
Am looking forward to receiving that first paperback copy version. It's always a joy, seeing your name printed on the front cover.

I will keep you all posted as to when it's gone live on Amazon and will be adding it to my page on Goodreads as soon as possible.

Nothing to do but wait...

This may be my last Blog for a while. Now that I've contacted literary agents and have prepared versions of Nothing Ventured for eReaders and for a print copy, I've got time on my hands. The next six weeks or so will be devoted to catching up with friends, looking for a new job and generally relaxing until I either secure the experiences and services of an agent or self-publish the novel alongside Driven to Distraction.
Whichever happens, I won't be doing anything "author" related until then.

That's not to say I don't absolutely love spending my time writing and ideas for my planned future novels do sneak into my brain every now and then, but having been able to treat my writing as a job for the last few years; like any job, it's nice to have a break once in a while.

I've not really taken any time off this year at all. The first three months I spent finishing a draft of Nothing Ventured and then April saw me launching Driven to Distraction on Amazon and doing my best to publicise it. After that I wrote a first draft of novel number three (Long Shadows) and then I went straight into final edits of Nothing Ventured.

With a return to the banking industry, publishing/marketing Nothing Ventured and writing the next draft of Long Shadows on the near horizon, life is set to get even busier so a bit of time off now is very welcome.

Oh yeah...and Christmas is coming!!!

Remembering what I've read.

Adding books that you've read to Goodreads can prove difficult when most of the said books are currently in storage and your memory isn't what it was. I look forward to getting back into a home of my own and having my possessions around me again. In the mean time I add books as and when I remember them.

Contacting literary agents with my own novel, Nothing Ventured, is providing an additional service at the moment as I look at their lists of authors and remember I've read some or all of their novels.

Oh to see my name among them sometime soon.
Does any other budding author look at these lists and check to see whereabouts on them their name would appear...? Oh, just me then.