Richard Dee's Blog, page 83

The Indie Showcase presents, Meredith Bond.

A fascinating guest this week, with a wide portfolio, including a hint of Fantasy, Historical Romance and Mystery.

Over to you, Meredith,

Writers are told, when they’re trying to
figure out how to market their work, to find their audience. Once they find their
audience, once they know who it is who would be interested in reading their
work, they’ll know where and how to sell to those people.

That’s great advice!

After writing for twenty years, publishing
for more than ten, I definitely know who I’m writing for.

Me.

I write to please myself. I write what I
love to read. The problem is that I love to read a lot of things. I read across
genres. One day I’ll pick up a mystery and devour it. The next day it’ll be a
vampire romance. On another day all I’ll want to read is historical fiction.
Non-fiction, yes! Classical literature, count me in! There’s hardly a genre
that I don’t read and enjoy (horror being the only one I can think of off the
top of my head).

So when I write for myself, I’m really
writing a number of audiences or strange people like myself who read just about
anything as long as it sparks the imagination and captures a sense of
adventure.

What that means is that I write historical,
romance, fantasy, and a touch of mystery—and sometimes all at once! I’ve never
written science fiction, although I enjoy reading that too. I just don’t have
the science background to be able to write it believably.

So, I appeal to you Dear Reader, to expand
your horizons with me.

Take a strange journey with me in this
world of my creation. I won’t ask very much of you, just that you open your
mind and let me in for a brief time. You might be amused.

I bet you’re wondering about that
historical-romance-fantasy-mystery story I alluded to earlier, aren’t you? How
could anyone shove all that into one book? Easy!

Imagine, if you will, the Regency times in
England—that would be the early 19th century when King George III
was declared mad and his fun-loving son took over as Prince Regent. You know it.
It was when everyone who could afford it aped the prince, his love of clothes,
theatre, dancing and fantastic dinner parties. (We’ll set aside our discussion
of those who couldn’t afford all that for another story.)

Onto this fun-loving historical background, we place a man. Well, but he’s more than a man, isn’t he? He’s magical, or, at least he should be. But our poor hero was born the wrong sex. He was supposed to have been born female. He’ll have to overcome this deficiency; his magical powers depend on it (hint, that’s where our romance comes in).

Because he was born a ‘he’, his mother hated him from the moment he slipped from the womb (she has reasons which you would need to read the preceding book to learn—it’s also a historical, fantasy romance, but there’s less mystery involved). Her hatred led her to shunning the child, which meant that she never taught him who he should have been, what he was destined for (greatness, naturally, as the most powerful of his people, the Vallen). Instead, the poor boy—now a young man about to turn twenty-one—has to figure this out all on his own (and here is our mystery).

Here is the “official” book description:

Destined for power…

Prophecy
foretold the coming of one who would be the most powerful of the Vallen,
destined to renew their magical energies. Born male, instead of the anticipated
female, Morgan Vallentyn is outcast from birth, banished to the forest by his own
mother. His magic weakened and caged by unknown forces, one
goal drives Morgan: if he can’t harness his powers by his birthday, another
will take his destined place.

Bound
by convention…

Adriana
Hayden paints with rare passion and vision. But Regency England is no place for
such an unconventional woman. Fleeing from a proposed marriage arranged by her
domineering guardian, Adriana escapes to the forest and into the arms of a
mysterious man with strange powers. A man who unleashes forces she never
suspected existed.

A
coming storm…

As the summer solstice approaches, the
electricity crackling between Morgan and Adriana is only a prelude to the building
tempest crackling across the skies. There’s magic in the storm they create
together, but to fulfill their destinies, each must find the key to unlock the powers in the other and claim the
most powerful magic of all.

So, where is my audience? Is it readers of
fantasy? Readers of historical romance? Mystery lovers? Is it all three? Surely
there are people who are like me and love a good
historical-fantasy-romance-mystery? I live in hope because that book was
incredibly fun to write. So much fun that after writing it, I went back and
wrote two prequels and then a sequel, making it a four book series! I’ve
written a number of short stories in the world I created with this series, and
then yet another three book series showing the beginning of the world—The
Children of Avalon.

If you love fantasy… if you love history… if you love Arthurian tales…you’ll love these books because they’re light and fun and filled with magic: here’s the link where you can find it (it goes to my website where you can choose from different e-retailers). But also tell me where you are because I’m having trouble finding you.

About Meredith Bond

Merry grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was introduced to Regency romances at a young age by her mother, who had a secret passion for Georgette Heyer.

After graduating with a bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania, Merry worked in fundraising for a number of non-profit organizations. When this didn’t prove as fulfilling as she would have hoped, she went back to school for a master’s degree in secondary education where she shared her love of history with inner-city teenagers and tried to instill the same love in them — the jury’s still out on whether it worked. Marriage and the birth of two children interrupted her second attempt at a career.

In order to keep her sanity while raising her children, Merry began living in a fantasy world filled with dashing, noble heroes and beautiful heroines. Desperately searching for an excuse to put the children into daycare, Merry decided to write down her fantasies and call it “working”. She was amazed when someone other than her husband actually liked her writing.

In 2002, Merry was one of the three winners of the Royal Ascot Writing Contest and was offered a two book contract with Kensington Publishers. Miss Seton’s Sonata, Merry’s first book, was released in January 2004 from Zebra Books. Her second book, Wooing Miss Whately, came out in June ’04. The last two books of the Merry Men Quartet, Love of my Life and Dame Fortune were published in June and September 2005, with her last book having the esteemed honor of being one of the last traditional Regency romances published by Kensington. Miss Seton’s Sonatawas the winner of the 2004 Golden Leaf Contest for best Regency Romance; Love of my Lifewon second place in the Write Touch Reader’s Award, 2005; and Dame Fortune was a finalist in the National Reader’s Choice Award, The Beacon Award and the NJ Golden Leaf.

Merry hasn’t let the “death” of traditionally published Regencies affect her. Instead, she turned to self-publishing. In the past two years she has published a book on writing, Chapter One; a Regency-set paranormal romance, Magic in the Storm, a prequel novella to go with her paranormal romance, Storm on the Horizon, and a short story, “In A Beginning” which originally appeared in the anthology Tales From The Mist.  She’s currently working on a New Adult Medieval Fantasy series, the “Children of Avalon”, set in the same world as her two Storm books.

Merry also loves helping other people attain their writing and publishing dreams. To that end, she teaches other people how to write at the Writer’s Institute at Frederick Community College, formatting and self-publishing at both Frederick and on-line, and formats books for other self-published authors through her company Anessa Books.

~~~~

Thanks Meredith, for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.  

While you’re here,
why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot
more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

Don’t miss next Thursdays Showcase post, next Monday I’ll be on tour with a book review.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Meredith Bond. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Flash Fiction, Man of Mystery.

This week, I’ve been busy with the launch of my new novel, making sure that all the uploaded files are in place ready for the soft launch on Friday. The preparation of the paperback is also in progress, I’m just waiting for the final cover image to arrive and I can set it up and order a proof copy.

Basically, I haven’t prepared much of a post for this week!

Obviously, I’m going to pester you to buy a copy of the novel. I’m sorry but that’s just the way it is. The good news is that it’s on offer at just £1.99 until the end of February. In the past, I’ve put the advert at the bottom of the page, this time it’s here, so you have to read it to get to the good stuff.

Once you’ve done that, as a reward, I’ve posted a flash-fiction below the advert.

If you’d like to try my new novel Life and Other Dreams, you can pre-order it now and you’ll receive it on Feb 15th. Just visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KVHG384

My next novel.

Here is the flash fiction. It’s a piece I wrote for a competition a while ago, it features in my short story collection, inspiringly called Flash Fiction, which has just received this review,

The challenge for this piece was to write an introduction to a mystery, in less than 1000 words. I can’t remember where the competition was from but this was my attempt. It wasn’t short-listed, which was a shame. But it means I can use it when I can’t think of what else to post.

Man of Mystery.



Flash Fiction

The plastic bag lay on the bed where it had fallen from the package. This was it; the final piece of the plan had arrived. I was ready to begin.
I looked around the bedroom; it was a wreck, the doors had been ripped off the wardrobe and hung by the bottom hinges, the drawers were all tipped on the floor, contents strewn. The bed was unmade; quilt heaped. The heavy curtains were making the room dark; the window faced east and the room was normally filled with morning light. Not today.
It had taken me a while to achieve the look of a robbery and I had enjoyed every minute of it. I felt like I was starting to get my power back, that I was no longer at the bottom, a victim of events.

I picked up the bag; it was cool to the touch, a faint sweat on it from the ice-filled poly-box it had arrived in, the box now in the back of my car.

Red Blood Cells, it proclaimed in large letters; O Rh Positive, with a barcode. The contents felt thick and glutinous as they moved around under my fingers. It was my blood in there, taken a week ago at a special session. That was important. There were two tubes leading from the bag, one with a small tap arrangement. Taking a last look at the bedroom I opened it and squirted about half of the blood onto the bed, making a large irregular stain.

It’s true what they say, a little blood makes a lot of mess, the dark red liquid pooled on the bedding and sank into the mattress. Moving backwards I let the blood drip from the tube in a rough line toward the door. Moving quickly I dripped and splashed blood all the way down the stairs and to the front door.

As I passed each room along the stone hallway I saw that they had all been ransacked, I grinned, that had been more enjoyment, a primaeval feeling of exultation in destruction, part of all of us. Even though it was my stuff; my memories, I had really let myself go. There were no neighbours to hear and I had made a lot of noise.

By the time I had backed out of the porch and onto the gravel, there was a little liquid left in the bag. I squeezed the last of it out and took the bag to my car, putting it into the poly-box in the trunk.

Now I just had to finish up setting the scene.

I went back upstairs and into the bedroom. I grabbed a towel from the en-suite bathroom and making sure I stood in the blood splashes I roughly wiped the blood on the floor. Now it looked like a body had been dragged from the bed and bumped down the stairs. There was even the odd bloody footprint and I made sure that some smears made it onto the walls. It took a few minutes and the blood was starting to congeal by the time I had made it to the front door.

Back outside I pulled off my shoes, the ones with the distinctive tread and bagged them next to the poly-box. There were a pair of trainers on the back seat and I hopped around while I put them on, gravel stuck to one sock and made me wince when I put weight on the foot, I sorted that out and took a last look around.

My home for the past year looked serene in the early morning light, the door was ajar and the trail of red led inside. I glimpsed my face in the mirror as I settled into the driving seat, I was smiling, part one had been completed; I was dead and horribly so. Now I just had to dispose of a few things and part two could begin. I started the engine and drove away.

© richarddee 2016

There will be an Indie Showcase on Thursday and next Monday, I’m on tour with Rachels Random Resources, don’t miss my review of this fantastic thriller.

The post Flash Fiction, Man of Mystery. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Welcome to the Saturday Rewind

I started blogging back in 2011, just after I changed from working full time in Kent to working part-time, at the same job, only living in Devon and commuting. I was becoming fed up with the long hours, the broken nights and the ever increasing paperwork and scrutiny froorm managers who had never done the job they were telling me how to do.

So my wife and I sat down and worked it out. We found that we could downsize and live in Devon, as long as I worked one day a week in Gravesend, which my employers were happy to agree to. I would drive up, do my shift and drive home. It worked perfectly.

I started blogging, firstly about my new, relaxed way of life, about my walks on the cliffs, and the cooking and wine-making I was doing.

https://goingmyownway-moontide.blogspot.com/

Then I started an organic bakery, after getting requests from people who had tried my Sourdough bread.

http://brixhambread.blogspot.com/

And I started writing novels.

The point is, I have nearly a thousand posts on my old blogs, before my Richard Dee Sci-fi days.

In this new, occasional feature, I’m going to share a few of them with you. I might just put a link up, or I might rewrite the post and enhance the pictures, we’ll have to see.

To start with

Here’s a recipe I use a lot, when I want to make bread with as little fuss as possible. I’ve taken the original post and improved the quality of the pictures.

No Knead Bread

INGREDIENTS

500g bread flour, more for dusting

4g instant yeast

7g salt

PREPARATION

In a large bowl combine the flour, yeast and salt. Add 470g water, and stir until blended; the dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Let the dough rest for at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at room temperature. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles, like this or better.

Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball. Lift it into a 3-litre heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic), it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if the dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with the lid. Leave for two hours.

After one of the hours, turn your oven on and heat to its maximum temperature. When the two hours is up, put the covered pot in and bake for 30 minutes, the loaf will look something like this.

Leave the lid off and bake for another 15 to 30 minutes, until the loaf is browned. If you have a thermometer, the loaf’s inside temperature should be over 95°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, the loaf should sound hollow when you tap the bottom.

Take it out and cool it on a rack.

Next week, I’ll scour the archives again and see what I can find.

I’ll be back on Monday with a writing post.

The post Welcome to the Saturday Rewind appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, S.E.Smart.

I have to admit to having had this authors novel on my T.B.R. pile for some time now. I’ve read the sample and if the rest is as good, I’m in for a treat.

Words! I’ve always loved writing, but until recently this was mostly limited to unsolicited long correspondence with friends and family who I no longer lived close to. People would often tell me that my letters made them laugh and that I should write a book, but I was not really sure if I had what it would take to put a novel together. Many people dream of writing a book one day, but finally, I had a story that I was compelled to share. I wrote a few chapters and passed them to trusted friends, making them promise to save me from myself if it was truly awful. They loved it – demanding that I hurry up and write the rest. “We need more!”

I didn’t
camp out in coffee shops or get up at the crack of dawn, I just did a bit of writing
now and then when I felt up to it. Having romanticised the hardships that
unknown writers notoriously face it all felt a bit too easy, but I realise I
wasn’t portraying a complicated plot. I was writing about what I knew, because
that was the story I needed to get off my chest. I hoped it would become a
relatable, humorous and easy to read book, touching on a few sensitive issues
that are close to my own.

I put
the main character through many of the same experiences that I’d had in
searching for an explanation for my poor health over the decades. I now know
that I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (a connective-tissue disorder) and
Dysautonomia, with many peculiar aspects to my illnesses, although I didn’t get
diagnosed until I was in my 40s. There are plenty of great websites and blogs
about living with chronic illness, but I could find no reference to such
problems in fictional literature. So, Lizzie was born – and she
tells us what it is really like to live life with weird health problems,
negotiating friendships, dating and work… only, she does it in a light-hearted
way. The book is not so much about chronic illness; it is about a
character that happens to have chronic illness.

Soon
after starting to get the ideas down on paper I heard about the KDP Storyteller
competition and became spurred on by a fast-looming deadline. Imposter-syndrome
hit hard once I pressed the ‘publish’ button to make the book go live. I didn’t
tell my family that I had written the book to save myself from public failure,
but once the reviews started to come in I began to believe in Lizzie! Initially
unsure whether the humour would come across to people who didn’t know me, it
was a huge relief to read early reviews that it was ‘very funny indeed’, and
even ‘hilarious’! The title relates to both to the unfortunate situations that
Lizzie finds herself in, and to the various supports and braces people with EDS
often wear to hold their dodgy joints together.

I
undertook the classic write what you know, because before I wrote
anything else I just had to share this story, but in the same that way you
don’t have to be plotting a killing spree to enjoy a good crime thriller, you
don’t have to be sick to read Brace Yourself! The Devon-based rom-com
thread carries the story along, indeed one of the aims was to cross into the
mainstream enough for the book to be shared with family and friends. Wrapping
the issues up in a funny tale really helps, and besides it’s in my nature to
see humour in most things. My good friend, who inspired the character Kay,
described the book as ‘Bridget Jones meets ER‘, which I think was
a compliment!

This has
been a great experience, and it’s amazing that people like me can self-publish.
Of course I learned most of the lessons after I’d published the book,
and I soon found out that I’d broken almost every written rule. I wasn’t
able to invest financially in the project so I didn’t have a professional
editor on board, or a cover designer, and I was unsure whether I would ever
break even if I did, so I relied on the good will of friends to help me out
with proofing. I know it won’t ever reach the dizzy heights of best seller
status, although remarkably it briefly reached number 26 in its Amazon
category, but the fact that I received personal messages from readers who wanted
me to know that they laughed their way through the book, while finding plenty
of me too! moments makes it all worth it! It is extremely
exciting when I see that somebody has ordered or downloaded a copy, because I
feel as though Lizzie has made a new friend!

In real
life I have encountered some amazingly supportive people in the writing
community too, including a couple of really lovely writers and book bloggers
I’ve met through bookish twitter. Who would have thought that this adventure
would have gained me new friends?

I live in Devon with my teenage son and my little fluffy dog Millie. Working part-time as a communications officer, term-time only; gives me the school holidays to explore other interests. Having got the writing bug… I am now developing the outline for book two!

You can find me on Twitter: @BraceYourselfSS

Brace Yourself on Amazon

I hope you all enjoyed that.

While you’re here,
why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot
more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

Don’t miss next
Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, S.E.Smart. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The return of an old friend

Finally, after a few months of depression and apathy, I feel ready to get back to some serious writing.

Let’s start with a quote,

“When a sister hates you, it really is the worst thing in the world.”

That was a comment in my first Andorra Pett story, Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café. As is the case with so much that I write, initially it was only intended to be a throwaway line, a remark that showed the relationship between siblings. I hoped it would strike a chord.

However…., it stuck in my brain., When I finished writing Andorra Pett on Mars, the second part of what now looked like becoming a series, I wondered what Andorra could possibly get up to next. In a strange way, I had fallen in love with her, she had come to life and was almost a friend. It seemed such a shame to stop her from having more adventures. She had lots of places still to explore, in her universe the Moon was settled, as was Mars and there was the space station off Saturn. She had already seen some of them, but I felt that for a change, she could return to her roots.

Although she had left Earth and her sister behind, clearly that remark meant that there had been a falling out in their past. What, I wondered, if her sister desperately needed her help? Would Andorra be willing, would her sister be brave (or desperate) enough to ask? What could be the problem that would result in a cry for help?

In the end, it all came to me, a set of circumstances that followed logically. In a way I had already set it up, even though I hadn’t noticed it at the time.

If you’ve read Andorra Pett on Mars, then you’ll be familiar with the how it starts, as I included Chapter 1 of Andorra Pett and her Sister at the end. The trouble was, I then went into a bit of a block. After writing about 30,000 words I ran out of ideas for how things would end up. To further complicate matters, I had a rough outline for THE NEXT story, Andorra Pett takes a Break and spent time on that instead. Then I got side-tracked with all sorts of personal issues and nothing more got done.

Parts of the story were hinted at in a post which you can find here but I was no further forward with actually writing it, or getting it ready for publication.

It took a plea from a reader to get me started again, “Hi, I’m waiting with bated breath for the 3rd Andorra,” the message said. It’s always good to receive feedback like that, it’s what keep us writers going. I decided that if people were interested, I’d better do something about it.

Coming soon.

On one of my walks around the cliffs, the ideas started to
come to me, about how the story could progress and what the final outcome could
be.

And I’ve been working on it ever since, fitting it around editing and the other projects that fill my head with noise all the time. And I’ve been having some sort of life away from writing!

It can be tricky, as a man writing a female character and writing humour as well, what I find funny, or feminine might not be to everyone’s taste, but to be fair, I do have background knowledge, three daughters and two granddaughters have given me a valuable insight into developing a female lead. Of course, I can’t tell you which bits of them are included, as they might be reading this, suffice to say there’s a little bit of all of them in Andorra and her friends.

Andorra Pett’s adventures are available here,
Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café
Andorra Pett on Mars

For those who haven’t read the first chapter of Andorra Pett and her Sister, I suggest you get a copy of Andorra Pett on Mars. Even though I’m biased, I’ve been told that it’s well worth a read. For everyone who has read it, you’ll know what’s going on. Here’s a very rough extract from further into the story. Andorra is talking to Rupert Holmes-Smith, her sister’s solicitor, and his wife Annabelle.

~~~~

Rupert came back before she
could answer, but her expression said that she was surprised. He had a bottle
and glasses. White wine, good choice, had he been checking up on me?

“Sorry about that, I had to
make that call. Blame your sister, I’m all behind. How are you two getting on?”
He poured us all a glass.

“Andi was telling me about
the bar, you must do something for her,” Anabelle said. There was warmth and
concern in her voice, I couldn’t help liking her. Not only that, she had called
me Andi; and not thought that I was a bloke. That was a big plus point.

“I will,” Rupert said, “as
soon as I have all the information, surely helping her sister is more important.”

“That’s his trouble,” she
said, turning to me. “he waits, I’d rather go over there and do something constructive,
or even destructive! Rupert insists on waiting, being polite.”

“It’s called getting all the
facts and obeying the law, not rushing off and doing something dozy.”

They looked at each other,
it was the sort of look that Cy and I exchanged, I could see straight away that
their relationship was the same. Apart from the one big difference.

“How did you two meet?” I
asked.

“I was protesting and got
arrested, along with a whole group of us,” she said. “Rupert was the duty
solicitor when we were up in court.”

“I got her off,” he said
proudly. That was potentially too much information. He realised what he had
said and went red. Anabelle punched him. Yep, they were just like Cy and me.

“She protests about
everything,” he said, “there’s only got to be a hint of something she doesn’t
like and she’s away.”

“Andi doesn’t want to hear
about us,” she said. She was wrong there, they were interesting and for the
first time in ages I felt myself start to relax.

“Can you please get all the
business out of the way before we go and eat,” I suggested.

“Sure,” Rupert said, “as
long as you don’t mind Belle hearing.”

“I can keep a secret you
know,” she said. I believed her. I shook my head.

“OK, I sat in on the
questioning again today,” said Rupert. “Your sister was charged this afternoon.”

“What with?” I asked. “Will
she be kept in custody?”

He shrugged. “Hard to say, they
charged her with importing controlled substances and money laundering. She’ll
be in front of the magistrates in the morning. She wants you to appear for her,
as I suspected.”

“I’ve bought a suit,” I
said, “I tried to work out what will happen, but I couldn’t understand it.”

“On the internet?” he asked.
I nodded.

“Don’t worry about that, if
you’ve never been in one before, it’s to your credit.”

“I could tell you how it all
works,” chipped in Belle and he looked annoyed.

“You don’t need to advertise
the fact,” he said, looking around. Nobody had taken any notice, “anyway that
was years ago, procedures have changed. Just follow my lead Andorra, you’ll be
fine.”

“Fair enough, I don’t want
to appear stupid or make things worse.”

“Don’t worry, you shouldn’t
have to say much. We’ll see you at the court, It’s Camberwell Green, do you
know where it is?

I did, vaguely. We had taken
small claims action against late payers through it in the old days.

“It’s near Denmark Hill
station?” I said.

“That’s the one. Be there by
nine, I’ll give you all the details then.”

“Is that it?” said Anabelle.

“Yes, it is,” Rupert
replied, “I’m not at liberty to divulge any more without my client’s permission.”

She looked upset. “We need
to meet up for coffee, just us girls.” I agreed, she would be fun to spend time
with, if I could manage it. Suddenly, the wait to the next shuttle didn’t seem
long enough.

“Watch her,” he suggested, “she’ll
get all the information she can out of you and you’ll become another of her
causes.”

She pouted, “I wouldn’t, I expect Andi is on her own here, most likely everyone she loves is somewhere else, she needs support.”

~~~~

I’ve left this one a bit less sci-fi than the others, as it’s set around Greenwich on Earth. I wanted to keep it less science and more fiction; if you know what I mean. As I prepare to publish this post, my word count is just over 45,000. As long as the ideas keep coming, I should be at the first draft stage around the end of February. With luck, the book will be published before Christmas. I’ll keep you informed.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to try my new novel Life and Other Dreams, you can pre-order it now and you’ll receive it on Feb 15th. Just visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KVHG384

My next novel.

As usual, I’ll be back with another Indie Showcase on Thursday, see you then.

The post The return of an old friend appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Joy Lennick.

My guest today has a fascinating story, I must thank her for contributing.

Looking back a long time…I probably wanted to
emulate my Dad, who was a dab hand at Calligraphy and letter writing. I enjoyed
writing in pristine exercise books, and was soon in love with words. The
passion has never faded.

When World War Two broke out, I was
evacuated, to Wales,
along with my two brothers, and to placate the loneliness felt on being parted
from my parents, joined the local library and read everything I could get my
hands and eyes on. Each night – by candlelight – I consumed frightening stories
by The Brothers Grimm and had nightmares…Hans Christian Anderson stories were
usually kinder, and I worked my way through a whole raft of fairytales and
several books written for adults, plus many of the classics, including Dickens,
as the years rolled on. “Jane Eyre” remained a favourite. I attended seven
schools during the war period and had an abysmal education, so my mother sent
me to Pitman’s College to smooth out the rough edges and learn shorthand and
typing, which opened up another world to me when I left school at fifteen. (I
took my A level Literature exam as an adult amid several, more youthful
stares…)

 I worked for a Secretarial Agency for a while
and, later on, secured my favourite post as secretary to the two editors of the
publishing company Kaye & Ward Ltd., in the city of London. Sometimes meeting authors and
illustrators and making ‘mock-ups’ of one or two children’s books was a delight
and I was in my element.

By then, married with three sons,
and in business with my husband, my life wandered down different pathways for a
while, but I still wrote short poems and a few articles which – eventually – when
they saw the light…were published in several newspapers and magazines. Another
of my interests was cooking and meeting people, so, as we often entertained, we
decided to buy a “ Tea Rooms,” a desire, it seemed, shared by half the
population! They were just too expensive, so we plumped for running an
attractive Edwardian hotel instead (see https://joylennick.wordpress.com/
) in Bournemouth. We thoroughly enjoyed the
experience, hard work though it was, but times and fancies were a-changing and
people were going abroad more. Nevertheless, we were quite successful, although
needed a cash injection to improve the ageing hotel… and eventually decided to
change course, which we did. What happened next still amazes me to reflect on…

Having moved back to Essex and bought a house, a letter was following,
offering ME?! the chance of writing a book on hotel life. Wow. An editor at
Kogan Page Ltd of London
happened…to ask one of my old bosses did she know anyone suitable for the
task.  So I did, it sold so well there
was a second imprint and they asked me to update a few of their books, which I
was happy to do. They further asked me to write a book on Jobs in Baking and
Confectionery, and I really enjoyed the research for it.

‘Life,’ took a dip for a while,
during which period I didn’t write much, until the sun came out again and I
started a poetry club called Odes for
Joy. After that, it was Upwards and Onwards.

            I then joined a local writing circle and met a charming, knowledgeable teacher, who was most helpful.

SUNSET

Did you see who lit the match

which set the sky on fire?

Surely one who was intent

on poets to inspire.

Or had Turner’s mistress painted

a scene to inspire wonder –

a scene to tug at heart and soul

and wrench belief asunder?

~~~~

Although, I was reading prodigiously
and writing many short stories during that period. I realise now I wasn’t as
committed as I should have been (I tend to go with life’s flow and am not very
ambitious.) I suppose that figures, as I was more introverted than the
opposite. Confidence doesn’t always rush to help, does it?!

Fast forward to the year 2,000, and we moved to Spain. The Culture department of the Town Hall ran the first Torrevieja International Short Story Competition five years later, I entered and won first prize. I have to use a cliché here, as I really was over the moon! I was a judge for the following two years and joined the Torrevieja Writing Circle, which was great fun. I then wrote several articles for the only English magazine in the area, and was introduced to an “adventuring sailor” called Andrew Halsey. He asked me to write an account of his rowing ventures at sea and had already conquered the might of the Atlantic! He then rowed off across the Pacific, leaving three, salt-stained Log books with me for deciphering and deleting generous expletives…I felt pity for him as he was epileptic (harnessed in when rowing) and he nearly died during two attempts to cross the Pacific. Doubtless a brave and formidable man, but it cost me dear to publish his book “Hurricane Halsey” – took two years and quite a few euros. . A costly lesson in trust, but I put it down to “life experience.”

I next wrote my memoir of evacuation in the war years (which went to No. 1 on Kindle in the social history and memoir category), followed by a novel based on the true 2005 terrorist bombing of a London train and the fate of the two fictional protagonists. On its heels came a collection of short stories, written with writer friend Jean Wilson (nicknamed “The Angel of Aldgate” due to her wonderful work in the East End of London as a nurse after the war).  A local friend then gave me his grandfather’s memoir to upgrade: “From the Prairies to Passchendaele” (an incredible man), and I had several more short stories and poems included in anthologies. After editing and typing a memoir written by my husband, we worked together on a modest, humorous book called “The Moon is Wearing a Tutu” (short poems and jokes).

And I am at present working on another book called “The Highs and Lows of the Dombrowski Family.” Asked to write several lines from the seventh page of the book, they are as follows…

‘Then the thoughts took on a different form. Had he – his teenaged self – really been so sharp with his loving, warm, over-needy Mama; disenchanted with the sometimes cloying atmosphere of the home he really loved? He shrugs, briefly reliving the testosterone-absorbed years. His Papa came into focus: bearded, prematurely white-haired, sharp-featured (‘his nose could pierce a can’ from his Mama) and serious. How he had insisted on absolute commitment to him learning Hebrew, the Talmud and Russian! That he, Daniel, held a very different opinion on organized religion soon came to light.’

I enjoy interacting with other writers, and have interviewed a few on my web-site. Writing a book can be a daunting prospect, but what else would I do with the words?

MY GENTLE WAR

THE CATALYST

WHERE ANGELS AND DEVILS TREAD (SHORT STORIES)

THE MOON IS WEARING A TUTU

SEVERAL ANTHOLOGIES

( All available from Amazon, Kindle, Kobo and joylennick@gmail.com)

The Chair at Writers Ink, Ink Spot:(www.writersinkspot.com/)

Columnist with the Costa Blanca Newspaper (Re Writers Ink)

~~~~

Thanks, Joy, for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.  

While you’re here,
why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot
more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

If you’d like to try my new Novel Life and Other Dreams, you can pre-order
it now and you’ll receive it on Feb 15th. Just visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KVHG384

Don’t miss next
Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Joy Lennick. appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The blank page and other Syndromes

When it comes to writing, I suffer from a lot of phobias, whether I like to admit it or not.

I found out that one of my pet hates has a proper name, I’m referring to the panic which comes over me as soon as I click on “Create new Document.” It’s comforting to know that I don’t suffer alone, if only I could work out how to say it, I could drop it into conversations. Now that it’s properly labelled, it can join the rest.

Here is the official definition,

Blank–page-o-phobia now has a
name! Atelodemiourgiopapyrophobia – the fear of imperfect
creative activity on paper. ‘Atelo’ from Greek ateles literally ‘without end’,
meaning incomplete, inchoate, imperfect. … ‘Phobia‘ from Greek: φόβος,
phóbos, meaning “fear” or “morbid fear”.

The fact that it has a name proves what I always suspected, that I wasn’t alone in hating the sight of a blank page staring at me when it’s time to write anything. I find that it’s almost as if there’s some sort of energy pushing my thoughts away, the whiteness and emptiness of the screen taunts me, daring me to think of a worthy subject and expound on it.

I remember the writer Eddie Braben (Morecambe and Wise) saying the thing he hated most about Mondays was staring at a sheet of paper, knowing he had to write a script by Friday.

The thing is, once you actually put the first word down, the fear goes away. Which should help you to learn that it’ll be alright next time. Except for some reason, it doesn’t. Maybe it’s because you’re only really as good as your last piece of work.

Leaving phobias for a moment (we’ll be back later), today is a day for celebration, despite the lack of inspiration, or maybe because of it. I’m at the end of one project and undecided which way to go next. I received the final edited version of Life and Other Dreams last week and after adding the front and back pages for the eBook and print versions, I sent it all off to be properly formatted.

Now I know I could use the tools that Amazon provides for free but in the past, I’ve seen that they don’t always work perfectly. This leaves you with the job of going through the novel umpteen times, repeating the procedure, one correction at a time. And very often, changing one thing results in some issue that spoils the reading experience. Such as the last word of a chapter appearing on a new page.

To be quite honest, I’m sick of the sight of the story by
now, I’ve written and rewritten it, checked it for typo’s and grammar, I can
almost recite it. Because of that, I’m blind to it and not really the right
person to format it for consumption by the public. So now I send it all off and
get it done, its more efficient and if there is a problem, its not my job to
fix it.

As I don’t limit myself to selling on Amazon, I need more
than one different filetype anyway, each one has its own quirks and
requirements. Maybe one day I’ll learn, at the moment, I’m aware of my own
limitations and happy to delegate.

While I’m waiting for the finished files to come back, I have to decide which project to get on with next, I have several to choose from, each with their own plus and minus points. Or I could do some marketing. There’s another phobia.

New Projects

I have sequels, five of them to be precise. All in various
stages of writing. I also have readers asking me when they will be published,
so they can catch up with the next part of the stories they have enjoyed so
far. Which is nice but puts me under pressure to deliver something that’s as
good as what’s already been read.

I have new projects, three of them. I’m really excited about
them and full of ideas.

I have finished novels that need polish, four of them. All
the hard work is done here, its just a case of tidying them up.

The easiest thing to do would be to polish the finished
stuff. After all, the more novels I actually manage to publish and get out
there, the more chance there will be of someone finding and reading one of
them.

Because that’s the name of the game, I guess that makes marketing more important, especially as I have the new title being published shortly. I have sent out ARC copies and am awaiting the views of the readers. I’ve already had feedback from my wonderful beta team so I’m not too concerned about the story itself, but these guys are the ones who will (I hope) put reviews on websites for me. That alone is daunting, have I succeeded in what I wanted to do? does it all make sense? Is it going to be worth writing a sequel?

Moving on to my other major phobia, you can probably guess what it is. This time I can’t find a name for the fear of marketing, but again, I know I’m not the only sufferer. The thing with marketing is that I don’t like doing it, in fact I would say that I find it slightly distasteful.

I hate being marketed at and am no fan of the aggressive marketing you find all over social media, and in real life. My worry is that everyone my marketing is directed at will think that I’m the sort of person that I dislike. Also, and this is perhaps more relevant, I worry that should I persuade anyone to buy my book, and they don’t like it, I would be overcome by remorse and want to offer them a refund. Because, deep down inside, like a lot of the authors that I have spoken to, I suspect that my books are not good enough. And that, of course, is Imposter Syndrome.

And there’s enough there for a whole new post!

If you’d like to try Life and Other dreams for yourself, you can pre-order it now and you’ll receive it on Feb 15th. Just visit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KVHG384

Lastly, comes the fear of appearing to be boastful, my father always used to tell me to be modest in my achievements; hence I now resist the urge to share good reviews, in case you think that I’m showing off. Here are two for Life and Other Dreams, if you’ll excuse the self-promotion for a moment.

I’ll be back on Thursday with another Indie Showcase, see you then.

The post The blank page and other Syndromes appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Meeting Mathilda: The Outlaw’s Ransom

This week, my guest on the Showcase is a multi-genre author. Today, she has her historical fiction hat on. Please welcome Jennifer Ash.

Many thanks for inviting me
to your blog, Richard.

After over a decade of writing romance and romantic comedy, over the past three years I have taken a change of direction with my writing style and sidestepped into the world of historical fiction. Today, I thought I’d talk a little about my medieval mystery, The Outlaw’s Ransom– the first book in The Folville Chronicles.

Within The Outlaw’s Ransom, my fourteenth century protagonist is a
nineteen year old woman called, Mathilda of Twyford in Leicestershire. In the
medieval period, nineteen was the age of a full grown woman. Most females would
be married and have children by that age. Mathilda however, is single, as she’s
been looking after her father and brothers, running the home and the family
pottery business since the death of her mother.

Her life changes abruptly
when she is forced to get to know the notorious Folville family rather better
than she would have liked. Suddenly, Mathilda finds herself surrounded by
criminals and under a very frightening type of suspicion…

Blurb-

When potter’s daughter Mathilda is
kidnapped by the notorious Folville brothers as punishment for her father’s
debts, she fears for her life. Although of noble birth, the Folvilles are
infamous throughout the county for using crime to rule their lands—and for
using any means necessary to deliver their distinctive brand of ‘justice’.

Mathilda must prove her worth to the
Folvilles in order to win her freedom. To do so, she must go against her
instincts and, disguised as the betrothed of Robert de Folville, undertake a
mission that will send her to Bakewell in Derbyshire, and the home of Nicholas
Coterel, one of the most villainous men in England.

With her life in the hands of more
than one dangerous brigand, Mathilda must win the trust of the Folville’s
housekeeper, Sarah, and Robert Folville himself if she has any chance of
survival.

Never have the teachings gleaned from
the tales of Robyn Hode been so useful…

***

Women in the fourteenth century had to be strong-willed,
as well as physically fit, or they’d never have survived. Putting aside the
obvious pressures and problems of childbirth, they ran family businesses
alongside their men folk, kept the house, dealt with all the food and raised
the children. In fact, it all sounds fairly familiar!

I’ve never been keen on the idea of writing weak
characters; be they male or female. Such protagonists/antagonists frequently
fail to hold the interest of a reader, often frustrating you into wishing
they’d just grasp the metaphorical nettle and get on with it- whatever, ‘it’
is.

In the case of The
Outlaw’s Ransom, it was particularly important for me to have a determined,
capable and intelligent female in the driving seat. I wanted Mathilda to not
just survive her enforced hostile environment, but to hold her own and show the
Folville brothers that they were dealing with a feisty, clever, woman who could
give as good as she got.

Here’s a little taster from when Mathilda – having just been hauled out of the Folville family cell – meets her keeper, Robert de Folville, for the first time.

Extract

…The Folville didn’t say anything else, but
satisfied himself with watching Mathilda as she stood, half bowed, before him.
She wasn’t shaking now. He’d noticed how hard she had fought within herself to
still her external reactions to his news of her change in circumstance and had
admired her self-control. It was almost as if she had an offended dignity about
her rather than terror; an unusual reaction from a prisoner in the presence of
a Folville.

He wondered if she’d been
taught her letters. Most families didn’t waste their time teaching their
womenfolk such things, but Mathilda of Twyford was clearly sharp and capable.
With her mother gone, she’d run the household, and he imagined she did that job
well. He saw that his family’s plan for this girl might work, but only if she
kept that nerve. Otherwise… well, she wouldn’t be the first to die during his family’s
quest to maintain their position.

Breaking the silence that
had stretched out between them he said, ‘I recall you have questions for me. I
can see your head jarring with them.’

‘If I may, my Lord?’

‘You may, although I
should caution you, I may not choose to offer a reply.’

Mathilda licked her lips
and ran her clammy palms down her grubby belted surcoat, which largely hid her
brother’s leather hose, and flexed her numb bare toes.

‘Please, my Lord, who are
you?’

This produced a bark of
laughter, ‘You are well-mannered despite the indignity of being thrust, if only
for a short while, into our cell. I am Robert de Folville, one of seven
brothers of this manor.’

Mathilda curtsied, more
out of natural impulse than any feelings of reverence towards this man, whom
she knew for certain, had been party to at least one murder. ‘You are kin to my
Lord Eustace, my Lord?’

‘Yes, girl, I am.’ He
cocked his head to one side. ‘That worries you?’

‘He is a man I have been
taught to fear, forgive my impudence, my Lord.’

He snorted. ‘I would
rather have honest impudence than bluff and lies. So, you have been instructed
by your father to be wary of us?’

‘Not only my father,
sir.’ Abruptly worried that her boldness might place her family in more danger,
Mathilda clamped her mouth shut. Seeing, however, that the Folville wasn’t
cross, but had an expression of acceptance on his face, Mathilda braved a
further question.

‘Where is my father, my
Lord, and Matthew and Oswin, my brothers?’

Robert de Folville paused
and, after a moment’s consideration, gestured for the servant boy to bring her
a chair. Mathilda was glad to be allowed to sit down, but was puzzled at the
equal status she was being afforded after her earlier abuse, as Folville sat
next to her, leaning uncomfortably close to her slight, tense frame….

(Please note that if you have read Romancing Robin Hood by Jenny Kane and Jennifer Ash- then you will already be familiar with the story with The Outlaw’s Ransom)

If that has whetted your appetite- then here
are those all important buy links!

The Outlaws Ransom – Kindle Version

The Outlaws Ransom – Paperback Edition

Happy reading,

Jennifer x

Bio

With
a background in history and archaeology, Jennifer Ash should really be sat in a
dusty university library translating Medieval Latin criminal records, and
writing research documents that hardly anyone would want to read. Instead,
tucked away in the South West of England, Jennifer writes stories of medieval
crime, steeped in mystery, with a side order of romance.

Influenced
by a lifelong love of Robin Hood and medieval ballad literature, Jennifer has
written The Outlaw’s Ransom (Book One
of The Folville Chronicles), The Winter
Outlaw (Book Two of The Folville
Chronicles) and Edward’s Outlaw (Book Three of The Folville Chronicles (Pub. Littwitz Press, 2018).

All
of Jennifer and Jenny Kane’s news can be found at www.jennykane.co.uk

@JenAshHistory

@JennyKaneAuthor

Jennifer
Ash https://www.facebook.com/jenniferashhistorical/

Jenny Kane https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011235488766

Thanks, Jennifer for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.

While you’re here,
why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot
more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

Don’t miss next
Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post Meeting Mathilda: The Outlaw’s Ransom appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

Another of my hobbies

The eagle eyed among you will have spotted that this post is
a day early. There’s a reason for that, I’ve been looking at the way I post in general
and I’ve wondered if the day has anything to do with the reach. It seems that the
things I post on Facebook have more engagement on Sundays, so I wondered if it
would be the same for blog posts.

So this week, I’m posting my thoughts on a Sunday.

For a change, I’m abandoning talk of my writing to show you what else I get up to. There’s not a lot of words, just a few pictures.

I’m not talking about baking this time either.

As a way of relaxing, I took up cross-stitching in 2005. My wife had been doing it for ages and I fancied a go, as something different to do. I’ve found that it relieves the ache that I get in my fingers if I do a lot of typing. Not only that, it helps me switch off from distractions. It’s my way of unwinding from all the niggles that can get on top of you if you’re not careful. I started with simple designs,

as my competence increased, I moved on to more complex pictures. I did pictures for my daughters first homes,

and a few for my own place.

A Joan Elliot Design



Detail

I find that, as I’m engrossed in the act of counting, my mind slows down to the pace of the needle.

Naturally; there are frustrations, you get the occasional knot in the thread, miscounting is something to beware of and running out of thread with one stitch to go can be annoying. But overall, I find that the slower pace that you are forced to adapt to is very therapeutic. And, like writing, there’s always another new project to get excited about.

I hope you enjoyed that look at what I get up to when I’m not writing. The Showcase will be back on Thursday. Until then, have a good week.

The post Another of my hobbies appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..

The Indie Showcase presents, Helen Hollick

Today’s guest has a special place in my writing life. If it hadn’t been for her, I would never have been where I am today. She has encouraged me at every turn and I’m very pleased to welcome her to the Showcase.

The
Big Problem…

by Helen Hollick

‘Write
about anything, you, your writing, your books…’ said Richard when I asked him
what sort of article he wanted. So I guess my question – and his answer – were
both of those ‘how long is a piece of string’ sort of  things. Unhelpful.

I have an ongoing problem. I didn’t always have this problem. Back in the days when I only had my Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy ‘under my belt’, as the saying goes, it wasn’t a problem.

Nor was it a problem when my novel, Harold the King (titled I Am The Chosen King in the US) about the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was published. It started becoming a slight concern when A Hollow Crown (titled The Forever Queen in the US) appeared in print.

And became the conundrum it is now when my series of pirate-based adventures, the Sea Witch Voyages set sail.

Marketing.
Spreading the Word. Shouting (politely and not too loud) about the books I’ve
written (and a few I still hope to write) that is the problem. To coin a
well-known phrase (with apologies to Bill) ‘To do or not to do, that is the
question?’

‘Do’
is the obvious answer of course. Without marketing how will readers know what
good  books worth reading are out there?
Having a book available on Amazon, the Great Bookshop On The Interweb, is all
very well, but there are millions of titles on there (even trillions?) How, as  authors do we do so? Yes we, for my problem is the
same problem for nearly every writer, especially indie writers, because ‘do’ is
easier said than done.

When
my Arthurian Trilogy came out, and Harold, I was with a mainstream publishing
house, one of the Big Names. But computers and the Internet, back then pre 2000,
were new-fangled things. Believe it or not there was no Facebook, no Twitter,
no whatever-a-gram. And – biggest shock of all – we didn’t even have Amazon! I know, amazing isn’t it?

The
publishers, back then when my first novel, The
Kingmaking was published in 1995, took care of the marketing. And boy did I
get marketing! They had paid a rather nice advance (for the three books of the
trilogy) and, so I thought, wanted their money back plus a lot of profit. Turns
out the first bit of that last sentence was true, but not the second bit. Once
publishers have had their investment repaid they lose interest, unless you
happen to hit the jackpot with a runaway best seller, in which case you become
their darling and you get marketed all over the place. Otherwise, forget it.
You get a month’s worth if you are lucky, then that’s it. Zilch. Nothing more.
If the book doesn’t sell, too bad, once the advance is earned back you are no
longer important, and neither is your novel. It’s the equivalent of being shoved
away in that old cupboard up in the attic, you know, where you put things you
don’t really want any more but don’t want to throw out in case it might be
worth a bob or two in about 100 years.

I
digress.

For
the Kingmaking  I had my five minutes of fame (nope, not even
the traditional fifteen). The press were on to me: ‘Author has huge advance’
(not true by the way). The Evening
Standard wanted an exclusive so they took me and the family out for the
day: lunch, photos, questions. I was invited on to you-name-it-I-was-on-it
radio. ‘Wow’ I thought.

Then
the publishing company was sold. They were in financial do-do. The Kingmaking, despite the media
attention wasn’t a best seller. Part Two of the trilogy was published, Pendragon’s Banner. Barely any marketing
happened.  I was told: ‘Don’t worry,
we’ll do the marketing when the pocket-size paperback comes out.’ That changed
to: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll do the marketing when the third book comes out.’ They
didn’t.

Skip
to the publication of Harold the King.
Ditto above.

A Hollow Crown, not even ditto. No marketing whatsoever. Historical
fiction in the early 2000s was no longer popular so the publishing house
dropped me. So did my agent. (Who, I must say, had done s** all for me anyway!)

I
spent two weeks sobbing, picked myself up… blah blah… and decided to go indie.
Which is when I realised that to sell
books meant to market yourself and
your books.

In
between 2006 and now, in 2018, I have learnt a lot about marketing, using
Social Media, going to conferences, giving talks, writing articles, running a
blog, getting my name (and my books) known.

The rule for self-marketing is: don’t go on and on about how wonderful your books are. Yes of course, every so often Tweet or Facebook with things like: ‘one of the best novels about 1066’ or ‘King Arthur – the man not the myth, what a refreshing change’ or ‘ I loved Sea Witch’ (see what I did there? Banging on about how wonderful your books are is a tad off-putting isn’t it?) So marketing is subtle: write articles as guest posts, blog about the subjects you write about, chat, make on-line friends, take up all your writing day promoting the book or books you’ve already written while being aware that you really ought to be writing the next one…

Ah,
is that ‘The Problem’ then, I hear you ask? All this stuff diverting attention
from the next book that I ought to be writing, instead of sitting here writing
this article for Richard?

Well,
no actually, I regard article writing and social-mediaring as all part of the
job, and I enjoy it. I get to meet new, nice people, and hopefully sell a book
or two at the same time.

The
Problem is… which book do I promote next?
I can’t do them all at once. Or can I? Hmm maybe I need to think about that…

Oh,
I’ve just taken another look at Richard’s guidelines:

“Don’t
moan or whinge’ he said.

Does
trying to share decision-making about what books to promote and how, in order
to try to sell them, but knowing it’s an uphill struggle and that you might be
wasting your time anyway, count as a whinge? Maybe not in this case, because I
know for a fact that every indie writer has the same doubts… and the same problem…

Hang in there folks. It IS worth it. Honest. (I think.)

©
Helen Hollick

Helen lives on a thirteen-acre farm in North Devon,
England. Born in London, she wrote pony stories as a teenager, moved to
science-fiction and fantasy, and then discovered historical fiction. Published
for over twenty years with her Arthurian Trilogy, and the 1066 era she became a
‘USA Today’ bestseller with her novel about Queen Emma The Forever Queen (UK
title A Hollow Crown.) She also writes
the Sea Witch Voyages, pirate-based nautical
adventures with a touch of fantasy. She has written a non-fiction about pirates
and one about Smugglers In Fact and Fiction, due to be published in 2019. She
also runs Discovering Diamonds, a
review blog for Historical Fiction.

LINKS

Website: www.helenhollick.net

Newsletter Subscription: http://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick

Main Blog: www.ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com

Amazon Author Page (Universal Link) viewAuthor.at/HelenHollick

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelenHollickAuthor/

Twitter: @HelenHollick

Discovering Diamonds : https://discoveringdiamonds.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks to Helen for a great post. I hope you all enjoyed it.

While you’re here,
why not have a look around the site? There are FREE things and a whole lot
more, just follow the links at the top of the page.

If you want to be
featured in a future Showcase, where you can write about whatever
(within reason) you want, then please let me know. Use the comment box below
and I’ll get back to you.

You can catch up on
previous Showcase posts by clicking HERE

Don’t miss next
Thursdays Showcase post, and my musings every Monday.

Have a great week,

Richard.

The post The Indie Showcase presents, Helen Hollick appeared first on Welcome to my Worlds..