Jilly Paddock's Blog: Firebird and Brimstone - Posts Tagged "writing-life"
Hello!
Just signed up as a Goodreads author, so a little introduction is in order.
I've been secretly scribbling away since my early teens, only sharing what I wrote with a couple of good friends. I used to write in biro in cheap exercise books, then moved to higher quality lined paper when I could afford it. Bought an electric typewriter to transcribe the manuscripts - my mother hated the noise! - and then an Amstrad word-processor in the 80s. I needed a bank loan to afford it! I still think that Locoscript was the best word processing programme ever, even if the PCW was so slow in starting that you could make a cup of tea in the time it took to boot up.
I did the submissions thing in the 90s and even had an agent for a while, but failed to place the novel. I sold a couple of short stories to magazines and won a few quid in competition prizes, but just stuck to the day-job and didn't consider myself a proper writer.
Now I write on a PC in WordPerfect. I've retired, so I've decided to indulge my long-held ambition to be a real author and I'm self-publishing on Kindle. My first two novellas, No Earthly Shore and Spook/Spirit/Stone did well in their free promotions with 3-400 downloads each and several good reviews. They continue to sell slowly. I plan to add a novel, the first in my main series, and a collection of short S-F and fantasy stories soon.
I've been secretly scribbling away since my early teens, only sharing what I wrote with a couple of good friends. I used to write in biro in cheap exercise books, then moved to higher quality lined paper when I could afford it. Bought an electric typewriter to transcribe the manuscripts - my mother hated the noise! - and then an Amstrad word-processor in the 80s. I needed a bank loan to afford it! I still think that Locoscript was the best word processing programme ever, even if the PCW was so slow in starting that you could make a cup of tea in the time it took to boot up.
I did the submissions thing in the 90s and even had an agent for a while, but failed to place the novel. I sold a couple of short stories to magazines and won a few quid in competition prizes, but just stuck to the day-job and didn't consider myself a proper writer.
Now I write on a PC in WordPerfect. I've retired, so I've decided to indulge my long-held ambition to be a real author and I'm self-publishing on Kindle. My first two novellas, No Earthly Shore and Spook/Spirit/Stone did well in their free promotions with 3-400 downloads each and several good reviews. They continue to sell slowly. I plan to add a novel, the first in my main series, and a collection of short S-F and fantasy stories soon.
Cathaven Press
I publish on Kindle under the name Cathaven Press.
The name was coined in 2001 when I printed a booklet of my poetry, Dreams and Habitations.
In 2002 three more booklets were produced, two S-F detective stories, The URLKing and Five of Humours: one of Melancholy: one of Honey and a novella, GSOH, which is now on Kindle as No Earthly Shore.
If I ever get famous these will be collectors' items, as only one of each was ever produced, although I think there may have been two copies of the poetry collection.
I plan to take my first novel into print after it comes out on Kindle, and I'll use Cathaven Press as the publisher.
The name was coined in 2001 when I printed a booklet of my poetry, Dreams and Habitations.
In 2002 three more booklets were produced, two S-F detective stories, The URLKing and Five of Humours: one of Melancholy: one of Honey and a novella, GSOH, which is now on Kindle as No Earthly Shore.
If I ever get famous these will be collectors' items, as only one of each was ever produced, although I think there may have been two copies of the poetry collection.
I plan to take my first novel into print after it comes out on Kindle, and I'll use Cathaven Press as the publisher.
Firebird and Brimstone
Being the blog of Jilly Paddock, writer of S-F and fantasy.
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