Paula R.C. Readman's Blog, page 34

It’s All About Taking Part.

You have to be in it, to win it. So they say, and I agree. Okay, so my novel Seeking The Dark wasn’t the overall winning novel in the (click here 50 Best Indie Books of 2021 to see all the winners) but at least it has made it to number 22 in the readfree.ly awards chart for their best 50 indie books of 2021.

This was my first attempt at entering one of my novels into a competition, and it won’t be my last either. Of course, all competitions are about trying to win, and in truth, I am a little disappointed that Seeking the Dark didn’t make it into the top three, but number 22 isn’t really that bad.

Seeking the Dark

I’m pleased that the first novel I ever wrote has made it into the top fifty indie books of 2021. So for Seeking The Dark to be placed at twenty-two is quite an achievement in my long writing journey. A huge Thank You to everyone who was kind enough to vote on it. Have a brilliant festive holiday, and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

I hope to have more interesting posts to share with you throughout 2022. So please keep yourself and your family safe over the holidays, and I shall catch up with you again soon.

Paula R.C.

The Light 💡 Bulb Moment

I always used to think… What is the point of promoting on the internet, no one is going to buy my books, let alone find it among the thousands of other books. Then I had a light bulb moment, when I suddenly found on Twitter readers asking for people to list books they had just finished reading. These readers also asked authors to leave links to their books. The different types of readers were asking for romance, horror, crime, etc writers to leave their links. These readers were looking for new ideas on what to read next. And, with any luck, they might select mine.

That was when I had my Twitter light bulb moment. I realised why Twitter was a more productive place to hang around looking for places where I could leave my book links. With Twitter, you have a better chance of meeting readers of your genre than you do on Face book. Yes, I do market my books on certain Facebook promotional groups, but I’m sceptical about them really leading to any book sales. These sites are awash with writers promoting their books to other authors. I’ve yet to find Stephen King, Ian Rankin, J. K. Rawlings or any other top-named author advertising or promoting their books in a FB Promotional Groups. Yes, it is easy for us lower league writers or authors to say ‘Oh yes, but they have an army of marketeers and a huge budget behind them.’ You might be right, but their publishers, agents or marketing team aren’t in these groups, promoting their books for them either.

I’ve fallen in love with Twitter, and use Instagram for making short promotional videos for my books. These videos are easy to share across the internet while promoting your work. In my Facebook writing group I’ve set up a retweeting page because I feel Twitter is a great place to help promote not only my work, but my writing group members’ books too. It is so easy to share other’s tweets while tweeting your own. It’s just a case of getting the hashtags right too. Promoting and marketing isn’t just about promoting and marketing your own work, it’s about helping others too. My mother used to moan that she never got many cards at Christmas when she saw the strings of cards I had received in my home.

I said, ‘how many cards to you give out?’

‘Oh, a few, just to my family.’

‘Maybe,’ I said, ‘if you gave out a few more cards to your friends, you might get a few more back.’

I agree, it shouldn’t be about expecting something in return. I don’t expect readers to buy my books, but if I don’t put in the effort in the first place, then I can’t expect to receive anything back at all. The saying, it’s all about give and take is true. We all find marketing tough. Standing on a street corner shouting in a gale force wind, ‘Come, buy my book!’ only results in us getting a sore throat while annoying others. And, it can seem pretty pointless, too. With retweeting, its about helping others while getting your name out there, and possibly finding a few readers along the way, too. But, we won’t know unless we give it a try.

I’m off to do more editing. Christmas is just around the corner now. Thank you for all your support and encouragement throughout 2021. Wishing you all the very best for 2022.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement throughout 2021

Dreams of Landgrabbing

There are two kinds of dreams. Daydreams when you think about and try to imagine what it would be like to win a large sum of money and then what you would do with it. Or maybe write a bestselling novel and earn a huge sum of money, and then imagine what you might spent it on. Then there’s the nightmares. Those are the dreams that come to you while you are sleeping. Here’s the one I dreamt of last night and yes, it is a mixture of fact and fiction too.

First let me explain something before I tell you my strange dream. I’ve never been rich. I come from a lower poor English background. My father was a miller, my mother an office cleaner. Both were uneducated, never owning their own home and my mother had learning difficulties. My siblings and I grew up at a flour mill surrounded by open countryside. I’ve always loved the British countryside so my dream had always been to live surrounded by open fields and to enjoy walking for miles without meeting another person and seeing only birds of prey, deer, foxes and other wildlife.

In my nightmare last night I dreamt my husband and I found ourselves in the situation where we were able to buy a house surrounded by land. I was so excited at the thought of what wildlife lived on my land. As I explored the land I discovered some abandon outbuildings and greenhouses. As I was looking around I saw four people and two of them were carrying two disabled children. The adults were chattering away in a language I didn’t understand. I tried to explain to them that they were on private property. One of the men explained to me in perfect English that they were homeless and was looking for somewhere to live. I explained they couldn’t move into the buildings because they were unsuitable. There wasn’t any running water or power. The man said he could fix them up. I said, maybe if they came to live there, they could work the land and we could share the food. As soon as I said it I knew it was the wrong thing to say.

In my dream-like state my mind recalled a law in this country about squatters rights. There was such things known as landgrabbing. It was born out of the enclosing of land in Britain known as Common Land. In Britain during the Middle Ages the land known as Common land was land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who had a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others were usually called a commoner. A Commoner would be the person who, for the time being, was the occupier of a particular plot of land. These plots of land were known a strip-fielding or Open-field system which were the prevailing agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages. These strips of land were normally only big enough to grow a few crops on, much like allotments or houses with gardens of today, and is why common land for grazing livestock was so important to the poor commoners of Britain.

Here’s you can see strip of land owned by commoners and common land (Wikipedia)

So back to my nightmare. My good heart said I should help these people but I called my solicitor to draw up a contract to protect myself and the wildlife. Before I knew where I was, I had put a series of mobile homes on the site to house, not just one homeless family but quite a few. The next moment the original group of people came back with a large mobile home on a back of a huge trailer and was having it craned into position. When I protested, they quoted Erection of cottages act 1588 at me. This was a real belief, if you could build a house on common land in a single day between sunrise and sunset. i.e. raise the roof over your head and light a fire in the hearth then you would have the right of undisturbed possession. It was sometimes known as ‘Keyhole Tenure’. It persisted as recent as the early 20th century. But in fact this was a fallacy because the Act of 1588 was to stop landless people from unlawfully squatting or building any homes on common land.

On waking and telling my husband my strange dream, I was left feeling angry and annoyed. Mainly because I wanted to give the natural world somewhere safe to enjoy and make their home. Housing lots of homeless people may have seem the right thing to do in others’ eyes, but the problem for me in my nightmare was the rest of my land would be invaded by the homeless people living on the site too, and seeing it as their right to do so thus disturbing the wildlife and my enjoyment of seeing the natural world around my home.

Thank goodness it was only a dream. Yes, my husband is used to my strange dreams.

Have a great weekend.

When the unexpected happens…

Yesterday, I received a private message asking me where my books could be purchased from, other than online. The person said they didn’t want an electronic book, but a paperback. This didn’t surprise me as I’m finding this to be the norm for my books as I seem to sell more paperbacks than eBooks.
I don’t know why this is so, but perhaps my style of writing attracts readers who enjoy physical books more than electronic ones. 

Anyway, the lovely lady came to my home to buy a copy of Seeking The Dark. Yulia is Russian and a brilliant artist, too. She told me she had read about me and my writing on the village Facebook page and went on to explain that she’s doing an English course. Her teacher told her to read classic British authors such as Dickens, and William Shakespeare, and more modern authors too. So Yulia decided to support a local author and read my novel. She has to write an essay and discuss my book in her class. She also asked if she had any further questions, could she contact me. Of course, I said yes. 

I’m looking forward to finding out what Yulia thinks of my novel, so I shall keep you posted. 

As you know Seeking The Dark is up for an award for The 50 Best Indie Books of 2021 It is in their paranormal category and is still looking for votes. So if you haven’t, and would like to, you can still vote on it. Click here for the link

Seeing Things Clearly.

Question: They say wisdom comes with age. Do you find that the realisation of what makes you tick comes from the understanding of what has happened to you in the past?

I watched a short video about a man who had gone to a dog rescue centre to find a companion. He had been in the army, and was suffering from PSD. He said, that the first dog they offered him had too many issues for him to cope with, while he was dealing with his own problems. He felt having a fresh start with a puppy would help him to learn how to love again, and receive unconditional love back.

I have always been aware of a coldness in my nature, and I often joke, my heart is a block of ice. There is a detachment in me towards others, which makes it difficult for me to relate to some needs other people might have. This isn’t to say I have no understanding, or I’m unfeeling towards them. It’s just a case of growing up in a household where you were told constantly to pull up your socks, and to get on with growing up. That you’re responsible for making your own bed. If you didn’t make your own bed, then you would have to lay in it. In other words, Life is what you make it. Either you do what’s needed to be done to make life comfortable for yourself, or you have a rough life of your own making, because you shouldn’t expect others to help you.

I realise now my detachment also comes from having things taken away from me. My earliest memories was being given a kitten to keep and play with by my father. Both my brother and I had one each. We called them Pinky and Perky. These names came from a pair of string puppet characters off an early children’s programme. One day the kittens disappeared, and we were told they had gone to live in the country. Soon another two kittens appeared. Once again we were allowed to name them and we called them, Timmy and Tiger. Again they disappeared from our lives only this time the ending was different when I overheard my grandmother talking about drowning kittens in a bucket of water.

Life becomes a cycle of loss and things been taken away never to be seen again. We moved house when I was six, so earlier friendships I made at school were broken. I remember the teacher getting me to stand in front of the class so she could tell the children I was leaving. During the rest of the day, the children didn’t want to play with me, because in their minds, I was already gone.

The friendships I created in my junior school were lost too. I lived outside the catchment area for the main school my friends were moving up to, so I never saw any of them again, and had to find new friends. On the first day at my new school I sat next to a girl called Catharine Grant. We became close friends until Catharine’s father died, and she and her mother moved to Wales. I did, of course make other friends at school but I always felt there was a barrier between them and me. One being I didn’t live on the housing estate near the school, so I had no contact with them outside school hours. At fourteen, my parents divorced, and so the pattern of detachment continued.

It doesn’t go away the older you get because life becomes cruel when you reach a certain age. Death starts taking friendships away too. My iced heart and I are all ready for the next stage of my life. I guess it is why I enjoy my own company, and enjoy writing from the first person point of view. Not only do I find it a comfortable view point to write from, but I’m able to see everything so clearly now.

Oh, sweet editing, lend me your ears.

Editing, editing, sweet editing, lend me your ears. For each word I cut, you make me replace four. How can you be so cruel? Only you know my dreams and passion to turn this jumble of words into a masterpiece.

Every scene, a delicate balance of prose. Each paragraph, a tour de force. I question every word. Can I find a better one? One with more strength to say what I want with less words. Sentence by sentence, I learn there’s a hidden layer to my story that only my characters knew. You, dearest editing, are slowly revealing their secret conversations to me. These I cannot ignore, for I had not expected to find them.

Before my very eyes, a hidden truth lies. The answer to the question all readers and newbie writers ask… So, where do you get your ideas from? Well, the truth lies here. For it is within your task, sweet editing the place of new ideas are found. One can never rush you, sweet editing, in fear that some vital reveal would be missed as the jumble of words begin to fall into their final resting place.

All the missing words must come home to roost as the ticking clock of suspense grows for my readers. My main characters must play their part as the plot flows towards the final climax. No wasted words, abandoned threads, uncompleted thoughts, no clichés, no sagging middle, or disappointing or contrite endings.

Dearest editing, you know my fears. Those cutting words that a reviewer might say, if you and I don’t do our best. Such is the shame!

This book needs more editing!

So now I’m off to do some pruning, rewriting, revising and strengthening. Have a great day.

So What’s New Pussy Cat!

At the moment I’m still busy editing my third novel, my fifth book. I really wanted to be further ahead than I am, but it needs more work. It’s coming together slowly, but I keep reading back over the parts I thought I was happy with, only to find that I can make further improvements.

When doubt creeps in you lose all sense of perspective, and it makes editing twice as hard. I enjoy the task as it is what takes your writing to the next level. It’s a job I hate too rush, as I feel my brain needs time to process every word, sentence, and paragraph before I can move on to the next page. So it is very time consuming, but I want my novel to be the best I can make it. Unfortunately the deadline I had set myself to finish it looms forever closer.

I’ve also been busy promoting too. It’s another time-consuming part of a writer’s life once you’ve had your first book published. I’m finding that Twitter is the most enjoyable media to use to promote my books now. Whether this is because I have finally understood the concept, I’m not sure. My following has started to grow on both Instagram and Twitter. Instagram allows me to make my own little advertising videos which my creative brain enjoys, though, I’m still hunting around for an individual formula that works well for me. Once I have more time, I would like to make better videos to market my works.

My books are steadily selling, though I think I sell more paperbacks than eBooks. It’s hard to tell really as I’ve worked out not to rely on Amazon. Over the course of the day, Amazon seems to fluctuate for any number of reasons, and not necessarily because you have sold a book. So I’ve stopped panicking when I see only red arrows pointing down. My royalties statement shows I have had sales just recently in Canada, USA, UK and Australia which is lovely. It would be nice if my sale figures would start showing signs that they were steadily increasing, but I’m not sure how I can achieve this at the moment. It all goes back to me investing more time and money in marketing, which I have neither until I’ve completed my edits to free up time, and sell more books to invest my royalties back into my writing business.

Click Here To Vote Thank you: (I would love to see my book as number 1 in Paranormal Category)

I’m still promoting Seeking The Dark regularly as it is in the running for The 50 Best Indie Books of 2021. So if you haven’t, and would like to vote on my novel, please click on this link here. (Click on the words shown in red for links) It should take you to a form that’s partly filled out for you.

Please allow me to introduce you to Brutus. He was a neglected cat who wormed his way into our hearts and home. Both him and his sister came from the same house where they didn’t received the love and attention they needed. Willow arrived first and has the freedom of the house. I like to keep an eye on Brutus when he’s indoors as Willow dislikes him. Yesterday, Brutus kept me company all day. Though, he did get quite noisy at times.

What An Amazing Weekend

Out of the blue, I had an amazing offer put to me by a special friend. Someone, I know, and have worked with in the past, so hopefully all will work in both our favours. Everything is still in the early stages, and there are a few things which we need ironing out. Watch this space for more news.

Just now I have received an email to let me know my novella, Never Reaching The End has been accepted for publication some time in the new year. I’m really excited by this news as I love this story. It’s dark and twisted.

I’m still busy editing my novel The Phoenix Hour but at last I have found the flow of the book and the characters are less wooden now, and the heart of the story has become much clearer to me.

Keep safe everyone, and remember to wear your masks.

The Power of Curtains

I have this thing about curtains being left closed during the day. My husband has a habit of forgetting to open them, if he’s in a hurry to get ready to go to work. If I don’t go back into the bedroom then they remain shut all day. On finding the curtains still drawn a chill runs through my bones, and makes me feel quite ill. Of course, this is an irrational feeling, they are after all just two pieces of material.

From the beginning of time when humans first lived in caves through to more modern times we have used some form of suspended material to shut out the cold, be it animal hides or tapestry panels or sheets of cloth. These were used for privacy, warmth, and decoration, and as well as creating dividers to separate areas within a large space. The word ‘Curtains’ carries a darker meaning too.

To actors it means ‘the death of a show‘ the final act before the curtain comes down and they are out of work. This has moved into every day life as we watch the curtains move slowly around the coffin after we have all said our final goodbyes at a funeral of a loved one.

A spot of bad luck brings the statement… “It’s curtains for him.” This seem strange that something so cosy and domestic as drawing the curtains at the end of the day has the undertone of sadness, something so final. To dream of curtains have hidden meanings too. If you dream you’re closing them then you’re concealing something, or something is being hidden from you. Opening curtains represent an invitation for opportunities to come your way.

As a child, I recall my grandmother saying that curtains left closed was a way of telling your neighbours that there has been a death in the family. I’m guessing it was something left over from the First World War, when news had arrived from the front line to say that a family member had died. Maybe closing the curtains became the quickest way of letting your neighbours know, Now isn’t a good time to drop in for a chat.

What are your thoughts on finding you have forgotten to open your curtains?

The 50 Best Indie Book of 2021… includes mine 😊

Seeking the Dark has a special place in my heart as it was the first novel I wrote. Over the years I had worked on it while learning how to write and rewrote it three times, edited it countless times, to the point where the characters became almost part of my DNA make up. I felt I knew them almost as well as I knew myself.

For a long time I lost confidence with Seeking the Dark when I began submitting it to publishers and the rejections started rolling in. In the end, I set Seeking the Dark to one side and worked on writing short stories and other novels. It always worried me that I might never see the book in print.

Yesterday when I received the email to say Seeking the Dark had made it into the top fifty of the Best Indie Book of 2021 I was delighted. I have my fingers crossed that I might be lucky enough to win an award for it. Today’s email from ReadFree.ly said that the winners will be notified a week before Christmas. What a great start to the New Year, it will be if I’m that lucky.

Here is a new link (below where it is highlighted in red ) that should make it easier for you to vote if you haven’t already.

Seeking the Dark by Paula R C Readman Genre Paranormal

You will find that the form had been partly filled in for you. You will need to complete it. Thank you if you do, and a big thank you if you have already voted.

Now it’s all down the readers now.

[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://paularcreadmanauthor.files.wo..." data-large-file="https://paularcreadmanauthor.files.wo..." src="https://paularcreadmanauthor.files.wo..." alt="" class="wp-image-10563" width="290" height="193" srcset="https://paularcreadmanauthor.files.wo... 290w, https://paularcreadmanauthor.files.wo... 580w, https://paularcreadmanauthor.files.wo... 150w, https://paularcreadmanauthor.files.wo... 300w" sizes="(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px" />Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com