Imogen Clark's Blog, page 16

Spring in the air . . . please!

Hi

I’m such a warm weather creature – most definitely a lizard not a penguin. So each year I struggle with the British Winter. It’s not much to write home about. We don’t have masses of snow as a rule, nor do our temperatures plummet much below freezing so next to lots of other places we Brits get off remarkably lightly. But the worst part about a winter spent here in Yorkshire is the damp climate and interminable grey skies. The grey settles over my house like a blanket and sits there for what feels like months. My character Cara in Postcards From a Stranger faces a similar struggle with them too!

But no more. It’s March and, as far as I’m concerned anyway, that’s SPRING. I am no longer going to tolerate this bone-chilling greyness. I am ready for some sunshine. I may have to wait a little longer however, looking at the forecast.

 This week is busy. I am working hard on the copy edits for the republished Postcards From a Stranger which is going to be rereleased on 1st August. I am also going on one of my long training walks for my Dales Way adventure in June. In case you missed it, a friend and I are going to walk from Bowness in Windermere to Ilkley in June. It’ll take us the best part of a week and there are a couple of quite serious walking days on the route so I’m in training. I’m hoping that my feet will be up to the challenge! Expect lots more details about that as well as photos of our adventure nearer the time.

I’m also travelling down to the University of Birmingham to see the dance show that my eldest and the rest of the Dance Society have organised. I am thrilled that both my elder daughters dance for their universities. Dance in all its forms is a huge part of what happens in this house and it’s great to see them keeping up with it.

Well, that’s all my news for now. I’ll keep searching for signs of Spring and be back when I find some!

 

 

 

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The Kitty Café

Hi there

Do you like cats? If you’re more of a dog person then you may want to skip to the news section at the bottom of this post. Otherwise – read on.

My son is a Leapling – that means that his birthday (29th February) only comes round once every four years. So each year, as well as having an argument about which day we should be celebrating, we pretend. This year we pretended at The Kitty Café in Leeds.

It’s a lovely place – all bright colours and squidgy sofas. There’s a varied menu, lots of teas and coffees to choose from and an impressive selection of cakes. And about twenty cats and kittens just wandering about looking for a home.

I have to admit that I was a little sceptical – hygiene being my main concern but actually the café was entirely delightful. The cats were gorgeous ( if you like cats) and the place was spotless. You have to watch your food or you might be sharing it but all in all it was a lovely place for my son and five of his friends to pretend that it was his birthday. Only 732 days to go until the real thing!

Last week was not just about the cats! The giant twitter chat went really well and our hashtag was trending in the Top Ten in the US. If you missed it, you can always catch up with what’s going on for the Lake Union authors by searching #LakeUnionAuthors or check out our Facebook page for giveaways and news.

I’m really enjoying writing the first draft of book 3 and have been toying with various titles which I’ll share when I’m feeling more confident. I do have some publication dates though. Postcards From a Strangers is going to be republished by Amazon on 1st August and The Thing about Clare is coming on 1st December just in time for Christmas. I’m very excited to finally have some dates to put on my calendar and am looking forward to developing the artwork soon.

This coming week we are all being told to brace ourselves in the UK against a patch of hideous Siberian weather so I’m going to work hard on my edits, light fires and read. I’m really enjoying  The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock although all  the London accents are playing havoc with my writing of North-Eastern characters!

Happy reading.

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My new website!

So it’s here! My all new website. What do you think? I’m really pleased and have to thank Simon and everyone at Bookswarm for their hard work and patience for getting me (keen and eager but with not much latent knowledge) to this point.

Please have a look round, click a few buttons and see what’s there. (If you come across anything that doesn’t look right then please let me know.) I would particularly like the ‘What I’m reading’ area as I’m inherently nosey about people’s book choices!

Of course, if you are interested in books you could do a lot worse than join my Book Café on Facebook. It’s a vibrant community of almost 300 other readers who all enjoy the same kind of books as me (and probably you) and there is always lots going on and book recommendations aplenty.

The other big news is that I am participating in a Live Chat on twitter with 45 of my fellow Lake Union authors. It will be on Tuesday 20th February kicking off around 3.30pm GMT and will go on all day. As well as a chance to talk to me and all the other authors, there will be competitions, giveaways and lots of new books to find and enjoy.

So if you use Twitter – or even if you don’t – just come along. Search for me @imogenclark or #LakeUnionAuthors to join in the fun!

Until then, happy reading.

 

Photo by Christian Joudrey on Unsplash

 

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A Real “Postcard From a Stranger”

Aloha!

I hope you all had a great January and are set to embrace February. I really struggle with the dark, grey Yorkshire winters and so March can’t come fast enough for me.

Great excitement around here as this week I got an actual postcard from a stranger. A Canadian reader had taken the book on holiday with her and enjoyed it so much that she decided to send me a postcard telling me. I am absolutely delighted! Wish I were in Hawaii too!

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In other news, I finally finished my office. I will be sending pictures out in my monthly newsletter so if you don’t get that already then you can SUBSCRIBE by filling in the box on the right.

I will show you this though – my beautiful new painting, commissioned from local artist Kerry Stoker. It’s called ‘Future Perfect’ and is full of writing symbolism which I adore. I love the colours and the fluidity which reflects the ebb and flow of ideas in my head, amongst other aspects.

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Finally, you might have missed my new Book Café which is now up and running on Facebook. It is already proving to be a vibrant space packed full of chat and great book recommendations. So, if you like to read the stuff that I write then click HERE to join in.

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Work wise, I have just clicked Send on the developmental edit of Postcards which will be republished by Amazon Publishing in the summer. This means that we will now move to the edits of my second book which I am dying to be able to share with you. As soon as I have any more news I will let you know.

In the meantime, happy reading.

Imogen x

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Imposter Syndrome and other labels.

Hi

Lots of interesting news this week – from where I’m standing at least. Firstly, I sent out my very first newsletter – Jottings. Diving straight into someone’s Inbox is scary – I really don’t want to annoy or irritate anyone. So until now I just haven’t done it.

[image error]But over Christmas, I read Playing Big by Tara Mohr in an attempt to combat my terrible imposter syndrome ( which is the label for my fear I discovered – doesn’t everything have a label these days?) After reading that, I decided that if people didn’t want to hear from me they perhaps wouldn’t have signed up to my mailing list. Obvious really.

Welcome 2018!

2018! How did that happen? I really do need to find a way of slowing down time but until then I have been thinking about the things that I’d like to make happen this year – assuming it’s here long enough for me to get started!

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2018 is a big year for me because it was ten years ago that I started my blog. Have a look HERE at my very first post. Back then I was trying to keep up with technology so that I didn’t get overtaken by my kids. I’m not sure how successful I was in that but I do now have a whole archive, recording my thoughts over the last ten years which is interesting to me if no one else. There are over 500 posts to look back on which is almost one a week for all that time.

This year is also when my books will be published by Lake Union, an imprint of Amazon Publishing which also happens to own the biggest bookshop on the planet. When I started writing novels in 2010 my goal was to have someone in publishing tell me that my book was good. I’m not sure how I expected that ambition to manifest itself but I think I’m there. So now I need a new goal.

Therefore, in 2018, as well as publishing two and possibly three books ( depending on the schedule) I want to work on building up my author world. That means finding more effective ways of communicating with my readers so that I write the stuff that they want to read.

Until now, I have been to do nervous to do this, assuming that no one would be interested in what I might have to say but I have given myself a stern talking to and will try to be much braver. I have started to tentatively build my Instagram platform and will be publishing a monthly newsletter with insights into my writing life, things that I find interesting and entertaining as well as sharing news about my books.

On top of all that, I am in the process of rebuilding my website and hopefully I will be able to do the big reveal very soon.

So, whether you have been with me for ten years or have just joined up, I hope that you’ll stick around to see how I make all this happen in 2018. Here’s to our best year yet.

Imogen x

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Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

 

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What a difference a year makes!

The end of the year is creeping up on us and I always like to take time to review and reflect.Looking back over the goals I wrote for myself this time last year,  I think it’s fair to say that 2017 was surprising and so, in the interests of posterity, I have jotted down the main events month by month.

January 2017 – the story so far . . .  Having decided that the only way to progress my writing career is to invest in it, in December 2016 I engaged an editor to give me a report on the Mummy’s Girl, the book that I had published under my pseudonym, Lucinda Fox. This was all about confidence building. I thought it was ok but I needed someone in the know to tell me. So this is what happened next.

JANUARY: The editor likes Lucinda’s book, suggests I change the title and gives me a list of agents to submit to. I  change the titles and the covers of both Lucinda’s books. I don’t submit it.

FEBRUARY: I speak to another editor about what I hope will be my first book published under my own name, Postcards From a Stranger. She is mildly encouraging but still think it isn’t ready. I decide to park it. In the meantime, I sent The Mum Swap to four agents. (As I write I am still waiting to hear anything!) I learn how to build a website and revamp my own including book reviews and a book group forum which I hope might attract readers. ( It doesn’t!)

MARCH: After coffee with an old and trusted friend, I have an epiphany about clear thinking and decide to focus on one thing at a time. I then discover that 1 in 4 books sold in the UK in 2016 was sold-published. I make the difficult decision to abandon the traditional route to publishing and go it on my own as an independent author. ( Read about it HERE.) Lucinda publishes The Dream Team.

APRIL: I study. I watch videos, I read blogs and I listen to podcasts. I absorb everything I possibly can about independent publishing. In the meantime, I get editor 1 to review Postcards. She loves it and makes almost no changes.

MAY: I commission a cover for Postcards and then set up a preview which readers can get by signing up to my mailing list. I have some postcards printed and my brother and I traipse round the county delivering them to all and sundry.

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JUNE: I redo all the covers for Lucinda for the second time this year. I quietly publish Postcards. Early readers ( mainly friends and relations ) are complimentary. I don’t believe them.

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JULY: I arrange a book launch in a pub in Ilkley, invite lots of lovely and supportive friends and read from the book. It’s terrifying! (Watch me doing the reading HERE!)  One evening, whilst my husband is watching Game of Thrones, I get an odd email from someone claiming to be at Amazon Publishing saying how much she likes Postcards. I assume it is a scam.

AUGUST: The Amazon thing turns out to be real. The editor is very interested in the book and asks me if I have anything else. I send her the first draft of The Thing about Clare. Then everyone goes on holiday. I start a new manuscript and wait.

SEPTEMBER: Finally I hear from Amazon Publishing. They offer me a three book deal with their imprint Lake Union with an advance and everything. I accept and wait for the contract. I research whether I need an agent and decide that I’ve come this far on my own wits and so go it alone.

OCTOBER: Quite independent of the Lake Union contract, Amazon Kindle offer me a month’s promotion which I accept. Postcards rockets up the charts reaching number 12 in the whole UK Store and Number 1 in it’s category. It stays in the top 100 for two months. I receive an All Star bonus for having one of the best selling kindle books in the UK.[image error]

NOVEMBER: With the contract signed, I am itching to get going on the edits of Postcards and Clare but I have to wait. I finish the manuscript that I started in the summer. I get another All Star bonus for November.

DECEMBER: As my ‘intensive’ edits are due to start this month, I race round getting my Christmas sorted to free up time for when we get started. However, the start date changes to January 2nd 2018. I am currently waiting.

So there you have it. My year. It’s been amazing. As I write this on Boxing Day 2017 I have sold 14,399 ebooks, 303 paperbacks and had 3,307,496 pages read under Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited programme. If you had told me when I was writing my plan for the year that this is how things would turn out I would never have believed you . . . and yet here I am.

So what will next year bring? Well hopefully Postcards and Clare will be published under the Lake Union banner in ebook, paperback and audio book and will be translated into various languages and I will write book 3 which is currently just a mess of ideas in my head.

If you’re reading this and you have a book in you n( or any other burning ambition for that matter) then I say just do it because sometimes dreams do come true.

Thank you for coming on this journey with me. Here’s to the next twelve months. I’m off to write my plan for 2018!

Imogen x

 

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Merry Christmas!

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I know . . . you’re busy. If it’s anything like my house round at yours then the pre-Christmas pressure will just be starting to fizz. I seem to spend the week before the Big Day chasing my tale as I work at super-human pace to make everything totally perfect for my nearest and dearest.

It’s mad I know. They really wouldn’t notice if I didn’t do half the things that I do but for me it’s important that I get things done. I use the words ‘for me’ here having read this interesting article by Melanie Kirkbride at The Soft Road and I am going to try and defuse any pre-Christmas tension around here by adopting the expression whenever I remember.

I am also going to try to be kind to myself this Christmas time too. It doesn’t have to perfect. Christmas really is one of those times when good enough will do. If a room as a mess then I’m going to close the door. If my trifle layers aren’t totally pristine then I shall think to myself that at least I made a trifle.

And once the Big Day is over I am planning to take some well-earned time to just chill. I have a PILE of books that I want to read and I’m hoping that there’ll be some snuggly new pyjamas in Santa’s sack for me so that I can settle back with a cup tea and a mince pie and just enjoy the moment.

However you’re spending your Christmas this year I hope you manage to take a little time for yourself. In fact, why not schedule it in right now!

In the New Year I will have a lovely new website to reveal and my office refurbishment will be finished and I will start working with my new editor at Lake Union on the edits for book 2. Then it’ll be on to the first draft of book 3 and I’m so excited to release my new set of characters from my head and onto the page.

But in the meantime, I hope you have a lovely Christmas time. Be kind to you and make space to breathe.

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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Happy reading.

Imogen x

 

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Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen

[image error]Don’t you love to travel and visit new places? Me too! So I was delighted to get to go to Copenhagen last weekend. It was my first trip to Denmark and I loved it although it was flipping freezing!

It was all about the style in Scandinavia. The Christmas decorations were up but there was none of your bright red tinsel or garish plastic baubles. Tiny, twinkling lights and twigs! That seemed to be the order of the day and it was all very elegant and simple. I feel the need to raise my festive game at home as a result. And so many candles! Every table in every cafe had a candle and a lovely, snuggly blanket to keep you warm whilst you enjoyed your coffee or hot chocolate.

In England when the weather is cold we all retreat indoors. Not so the Danes it seems. Everywhere had space to sit outside (with candles and blankets) and the chill in the air didn’t seem to put anybody off.

Hygge (def: a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture) is definitely alive and well.

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Photo by Sweta Meininger on Unsplash

In other news, it’s all happening around here. As I hinted a few weeks ago, I’m very excited to announce that Postcards From A Stranger and my next two books have been bought by Lake Union, an Imprint of Amazon Publishing and I’m very much looking forward to getting started with them. And as if that weren’t exciting enough, I am also working with Bookswarm to rebuild my website so watch this space to see what we come up with.

I asked if you wanted reviews and you said that you did so I’ll get back on it ASAP.

In the meantime, if you are starting to think of Christmas gifts then why not buy someone a copy of Postcards and give them a good excuse to put their feet up in this holiday? I’m sure they’ll be grateful. It’s now got 130 five star reviews on Amazon and 218 on goodreads.

Happy reading until next time.

Imogen x

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Dying to tell . . .

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I’m so sorry that I’ve been quiet. The trouble is that I have big news to share but I can’t do it just yet so I’ve been waiting. But I’m bored with waiting now so I’m back and you will all just have to wait patiently with me!

So in the meantime, it’s business as usual around here. I’ve been busy all summer working on what I hope will be my third novel. I think I’m nearly there with the first draft but I just have one character who is not behaving herself and who I must snap into line before I start to think that I have the bones of something worthwhile.

Also, November is more hectic than usual for some writers as it’s Nanowrimo time. For the uninitiated ( which I assume is most of the planet) Nano, as it is affectionally known, is where you attempt to write a novel (or the first 50,000 words in any event) during the thirty days of November. It’s a tall order and requires focus and determination but I love the challenge and the buzz.

This year, rather than starting a new project, I am using my Nano month to finish the novel that I mentioned above so I’m desperately hoping that the new idea re troublesome character lands some time over the next two days or I’m going to be wasting valuable writing time thinking about her future!

Postcards is still doing well. It has been sitting in the Top 100 of the Amazon Kindle store for well over a month now and I’ve been getting some lovely reviews from readers. I always love to hear from you so please get in touch if you’d like to.

I haven’t been posting my book reviews recently as they weren’t getting any feedback but I’m still reading so if you’d like those back then please comment below and in the meantime I’ll get back to manuscript. I hope to be back with my big news very soon.

Kind regards,

Imogen.

Photo by Andrew Small on Unsplash

 

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