Laura Lyndhurst's Blog, page 4

2nd NOVEL JUST PUBLISHED!

Not really a blog today, but a message to anyone who might be interested that I have just self-published 'Degenerate, Regenerate', the sequel to 'Fairytales Don't Come True'. It is available in eBook form, and on Kindle Unlimited, on the link below. The paperback version is currently In Review and hopefully will be available within the next couple of days.

So if you'd like to find out what happened next, go to:

Degenerate, Regenerate



I hope you enjoy it; the third in the trilogy is currently being written and will be available by late 2021/early 2022.

Editorial?

It’s been a while since I posted, what with finishing one manuscript, hawking another around various publishers and self-publishing a couple of books of poetry; and then, of course, Christmas and New Year happened.

I have found time for reading though, loads of it, and reviewing too. I realise the importance of reviews, now that I’m an author myself, and do my best to help out others; although I have to admit that I have some hope that, by the Law of Increasing Returns, I will gain some reviews myself.

I’ve been reading a mix of books by established and successful authors and those not quite so successful (not yet, anyway); other struggling newbies like myself in need of a break. What has struck me in so many of these books, however, is the need for a closer eye to detail in terms of the grammar and spelling; and I’m afraid it’s the self-published texts which are mainly at fault here, although not entirely. Many of the books by established authors contain a couple of typos, and one book by a wonderful and household-name author was full of errors, usually two words run together in what was obviously an act of sloppy editing by her publishers, for which she is paying and for which they deserve to lose her as a client. I reported it to Amazon, although I haven’t gone back to see if the faults have been corrected.

My own debut novel was not without fault, despite my having gone through it with a fine toothcomb, so to speak. I gave a copy to my mother-in-law (bad idea), who promptly went through it with an even finer comb and found two typos. Legitimate words, in some minimal defence of myself, which the spell-checker hadn’t found, given that it isn’t there to make sense but to pick up spelling errors. But I duly corrected the e-book (easy) and the paperback (not so easy), and I have to grudgingly admit that in future I will run things past the mum-in-law who has impeccable spelling and grammar plus a lifetime’s experience in finding fault.

The point here is that I would urge any self-publishing author to find their own mother-in-law-style editor to go over their work before they publish. Yes, I know it’s expensive to hire a professional editor, and most of us aren’t made of that kind of money. But we owe it to ourselves, and our readers, to make our work as good as we can. I’m pretty sure that I upset a fellow Goodreads author and friend when I imparted this advice to her, by way of feedback (and offering my own services for free, as a friend); and I’m sad about that, because offence was the last thing I wanted to give. So please forgive me, if you’re reading this; you know who you are.

Yet I stand firm on the point. Would you return to a restaurant where you’d had a less-than-adequate meal? To a hairdresser who’d given you a bad hairdo? A plumber who left the leak worse than he found it? Not if you knew what was good for you, you wouldn’t, and likewise you wouldn’t read another book from any author who was obviously shaky on a basic tool of their trade. It stands to reason that we, as writers, ought to do the best we can; which, at the very least (and lacking that mother-in-law figure) means Googling any aspect of grammar about which we’re not sure and using a dictionary (there are many good ones online) to make sure of our spellings. Use of plurals, of ‘your’ or ‘you’re, of ‘their’, ‘there’ or ‘they’re’ are difficult areas, but you can find out. Apostrophe use is an interesting one, but you can look it up. I’ve read books in which the author may have been unsure about this, because the characters spent the whole time saying ‘I will do it’, or ‘I have got it’, which became very wearing because it sounds so unnatural. We don’t speak like that on any everyday basis, we say ‘I’ll’, and ‘I’ve’ most of the time; just listen to yourself for a day.

I used to teach this stuff, and I’ve admitted that I don’t always get it right (see above). But I do my very best, which means going and finding out what I don’t know; and in these days of the internet, it’s not that difficult. End of lecture; I have books to read, and to write.

Happy New Year. May it be a better one for us all.

NEW POETRY BOOK JUST PUBLISHED

Another poetry book just published, 'Thanksgiving Poems & Prose Pieces', written during the month of November 2020 around topics relating to Thanksgiving. Available in ebook format on Amazon, and on Kindle Unlimited. If you're into poetry (maybe you've read my 'October Poems) then please do give it a go.

Many thanks, Laura

FREE EBOOK THIS WEEKEND!

Hello Everyone,

I want to let you know that, unexpectedly, I wrote a collection of poems during October, which I have just self-published on Amazon. In order to get these read more widely, I will be having a Free eBook Promotion Weekend on Amazon on SATURDAY 14TH and SUNDAY 15TH NOVEMBER. So if you like poetry then please download and enjoy.

The poems are social comments, both comic and serious, written in response to a series of picture-prompts and dealing with whatever the prompt of the day suggested to me.

I have called the collection ‘October Poems’ (unexciting but true), and the link to the ebook is as below. I have tried an automatic global link, but it was unstable, so this is the UK link. It ought to work anywhere, or you can change the ‘.co.uk’ to dot wherever you happen to be in the world. The only difference is the currency displayed; and FREE is the same in any currency! If you have issues, just look me up on Amazon wherever you are.

It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited, for those of you who subscribe to that.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MD6MPNJ

Many thanks in advance to those of you that take up on this; I look forward to reading and reviewing your books in turn.

Best regards,

Laura

Audible over Visual?

I haven’t posted a blog for some time now, and there’s a good reason for that, as below, and an extra-long blog now, to make up for it. So:

A question was asked recently on one of my Facebook author and reader groups: ‘What’s your reading speed, Words per minute?’ I’d never really thought about that, never timed myself, and posted to that effect, also noting that a good book goes fast, something which I’m not enjoying terribly goes slowly. So far, so good.

Then I was asked to read a particular book by one of my groups. The e-book version cost £5.99 on Amazon, but the audiobook was available free on the Amazon Audible programme; and, as I was having some problems with my eyes at the time (too much screen time; TV, phone, laptop) it seemed like a good idea. Added to which, Amazon had been sending me many emails suggesting that I take a free trial of Audible. Free or £5.99? Tired eyes? A no-brainer, really, so I downloaded the app, took out the free trial, and downloaded the book; and then started ‘reading’ via listening.

Now I realise that, for anyone with eyesight issues, audiobooks can be a godsend, a way to access literature that doesn’t require eyesight, and that’s great. But for myself, in need of glasses in older age but otherwise with (normally) well-functioning eyes, the idea just didn’t appeal.

But until recently I hadn’t fancied the idea of e-books either, until I published my own book and wanted an electronic copy to keep alongside the paperback version. So a download of the Kindle app, followed a download of my book, which was soon followed by a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, leading to a subscription; and now I’m up to my ears in e-books.

It didn’t take long thereafter for the question of reading speed to come back to me. Because it’s such a slow process. Sitting, or exercising, with my ear-buds in, listening to the voice telling me the story, I realise that I personally would read it much faster in the traditional manner. My attention wouldn’t wander off either; so I say, but of course it would, I have many things to take my attention, and they do, regularly; but with a book, hardback, paperback or e-book I can check back for what I missed. And that’s not so easy when you have to rewind, going either too far or not far enough.

But with the audiobook I find that my attention wanders quite a lot more, and part of that is boredom with the slow speed at which the story is unfolding. Nor do I know quite what to do with my eyes; they’re used to being a part of the process and now they’re lost, unless I’m listening with my eyes closed on the sofa, taking an afternoon rest, or in bed, before sleep. In both of these situations I do usually doze off, awakening some time later having missed who-knows how much of the audio-narrative, then having to fiddle around trying to find something I recognise to plug back into the narrative again.

I remember seeing a television programme some years ago about a group of adults who couldn't read, for various reasons. One woman had tried and tried, but it just wasn’t happening for her. It was found that she had a form of a condition known as synaesthesia, whereby her senses needed to work in conjunction in an alternative way to those of the majority of people. For her, it wasn’t enough to see the words on a page; she needed to touch them, feel their shapes in her hands as she was also hearing their names. So cut-outs were provided for her, in paper or cardboard; the missing pieces of the puzzle, it appeared, because when she could physically feel, in conjunction with seeing and hearing the letters of the alphabet, she finally was able to read, and there was no stopping her; when last heard from, she was heading off overseas to teach EFL, and very good luck to her.

So something similar is going on with me and seeing words, rather than hearing them, and I don’t think audiobooks are going to become my new mode of reading. Of course, I remember being told bedtime stories by my father, or stories in school, when I was very young and just learning to read: and later, at university, I studied the old oral tradition of oral storytelling, from before stories were written down and universal literacy evolved. But having moved onto reading, rather than listening, I don’t think I can go back.

So goodbye, audio-books; I’m sure you are excellent for some people, but you’re not for me.

The Cryptic Commentary of Leonard Cohen

I’m about to buy the poems of Leonard Cohen, because he was a poet, before he decided to set his musings to music, as I’m sure many of you will know. So it’s legitimate to put a blog article about him on a website devoted to reading, I think.

I never had much time for his work when I was young. As someone whose theatrical preference was for tragedy over comedy, and who loved classical music to be mainly in a minor key, I was perfectly able to make my own life darker without any help from the likes of Cohen; thanks very much, but no thanks.

However, about a year ago an old friend got me listening to him, and I’m still listening and about to read; he’s still as dark as ever, but I can deal with him better now that I’m older and wiser, I guess.

I think his darkness, for me, resides in his ability to seem to be saying one thing but actually be able to say pretty much the opposite; not in every lyric, I hasten to add, but I seem to have picked up on this particular characteristic in a few songs and will doubtless find it elsewhere, the more I look.

Take ‘I’m Your Man’; … ‘I'll do anything you ask me to’, ‘I will step into the ring for you’, and so forth; exactly the kind of guy you’d want in your life, right?

Wrong.

Because if you continue listening, you find out that the impressive list of things he says he’d do for her turn out to be just ‘promises that I made and I could not keep’.

In recompense for which, he would ‘crawl to you baby/And I’d fall at your feet/And I’d howl at your beauty/And I’d claw at your heart … I’d say please, please’.

BUT: he won’t do any of these things either, because ‘a man never got a woman back/Not by begging on his knees’. So he won’t bother, presumably.

Then there’s ‘Anthem’. It sounds comforting, at first, to be reassured that nothing’s perfect, that ‘there is a crack in everything’, because ‘that’s how the light gets in’. However, when you think about this, and apply it to your own life experiences, you could well find that the light which the cracks allow in can be a very unflattering one indeed. Apply that thought to a relationship … and Beware!

And as to poor Janis Joplin in ‘Chelsea Hotel’; ‘I remember you well’, but actually, ‘I don’t think of you that often’!

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture. I’m open to any similar interpretations of Cohen’s other lyrics, if anyone has any to offer me?

Thank you.

Sacrifices for Writing

I usually get up really early in the morning; I can do my exercise session in the peace and quiet and really set myself up well for the day. It’s only occasionally that I treat myself to a lie-in, and today looked to be one such day. The sun was shining through the window, I was lying there thinking about whatever came to mind, and the bed was so warm and comfortable

BUT: the thoughts going through my head were great new ideas for my current book, which has just passed 50,000 words and feels great. So, the choice; stay where I was, in lazy comfort, or get up and get those ideas into the laptop before I forgot them?

Goodbye, warm and comfortable bed, hello keyboard. I’m glad I made the right choice, but oh, the sacrifices I make for my writing.

What sacrifices do you make for yours?

The Ups and Downs of Writing

I've been a bit busy for the last couple of weeks, in the best possible way. The new idea hit me one day and off I went into the land of waking up in the middle of the night to write down, or type up, the new development which had just come to me; or putting down my toothbrush in the morning to quickly go and record a particularly good phrase, or sentence, which had just occurred to me as being a better way of saying something which I'd already said.

It's such a good feeling, I hope you agree; the imagination is in top gear and the creative juices are flowing, so you just get up and go with it.

BUT - 2 weeks and just over 42,000 words after the new idea hit, the Up is moving along a gentle slope towards a Down. Now that I've developed many of the ideas, characters, scenarios and so forth which I had, it's time to start putting the episodes I've written up into some sort of coherent order, then start on the rest of them and try to work out where they ought to go. Not to mention suddenly coming up with a new character to work into the storyline, which necessitates some changes to bits I've already written to maintain continuity.

This is the really hard work, the dig my heels in and get on with it part; the part where I wonder why I had this idea in the first place and wish it was written already.

To every High there is a Low, but it'll be worth it in the end; I just need to keep telling myself that!

A Blog About No Blog!

Hi People,

I was pleased that I'd finally started; it gives me a place to sound off about what bothers me and what I'm enjoying in the world of writing and reading.

So, alongside happily working on my third book, I was promoting the first and enjoying contributing to Goodreads and reading the contributions of others.

Another blog was required; however, it hasn't happened until today, because everything else has been put on hold due to my new idea. It was a chance thing, a small conversational exchange which sparked a thought, and before I knew it I had a Great New Idea for yet another book,

So, the book which I was working on has been put aside while I get the new stuff down on screen or paper. You may know what that's like, depending on how you work. The idea comes, you open a new page and get it down there. It bounces around inside your head and the developments start to come. You're up in the middle of the night, getting it all down on paper, or on the PC, before you forget. In my case it has to be the PC because my writing is so terrible, especially when I'm in a rush, that there's little chance of my translating it into English, and it making sense, in the morning, or when we arrive at wherever, if I'm in the car.

Those issues aside, it's such a great feeling, even when the ideas are safely typed up and you have to sort them into some kind of order, and expand on them, before the next ideas hit you, hopefully.

There's also the word-count anxiety; brilliant as this subject may seem, is there enough in it to make up the 80,000+ needed for it to make a respectable book; not too short? Or is there so much that you'll need to chop it down so that potential readers will eventually be frightened off by a too-long read?

So many questions, so I guess the best thing is go with the flow, live in the moment and hope it comes out alright. Enjoy the high of the flow of creativity before the low of the long slog of re-reading, editing, publishing and promotion.

However the ideas come to you, enjoy them!

Original Subject Matter

Last week, I was pleased to be contacted by my new favourite author, Miranda Rijks. She writes psychological thrillers and, although they weren’t previously something I read, I was seduced by the cover of 'Roses are Red' on Kindle Unlimited and loved the book. So I began reading her other books and then joined a Facebook group which I found on her website. After I’d posted a few comments, she herself came on to thank me for reading her books; great!

Today, after I’d posted the subject matter of my book, ‘Fairytales Don’t Come True’, in response to a group question, Miranda came on again to say that she liked the idea and that her new book, ‘The Arrangement’ (due out at the end of August), was about something similar. I was pleased for her, and told her so, and I’ll certainly read her book; but this put a little crimp into my day because her book, as that of a successful author, is bound to sell from the word Go, while I have still to slog away at trying to find readers.

We all know how hard it is to break into this world of authorship, and know how it feels like one step forward and two back sometimes. Part of that is finding new subject material, something original, that hasn't already been done. I was more than a little fed up when some people who read my book (and I do appreciate their having done so) commented that it was, in parts, like '50 Shades of Grey'. I've never read that book, although I've heard about it (who hasn't?), but I was trying to do something quite different, both in subject matter and style of writing. I suspect that the first agent who rejected me (obscenely quickly) thought that I was jumping on the ‘50 Shades’ bandwagon, but no way; a significant proportion of books are about the relationship between a man and a woman, with or without the sex, kinky or otherwise, when you come to think about it.

But how do you find something completely original to write about? I wish I knew.

On the plus side, at least I published in May, so no-one will be able to say that I copied Miranda; and also, that this will make an interesting topic for my blog.