Sonia Marsh's Blog, page 19
May 12, 2014
How I Started My New Life
New Life
“My Gutsy Story®” Laura McHale Holand
The Icelandair flight taxis down the runway. I peer out the window, a brown suede shoulder bag clutched to my chest. Moments later, the jet lifts off and zooms toward the clouds. New York City shrinks, the North American continent recedes, and it hits me: we’re crossing the Atlantic; there’s no turning back.
I open my bag to affirm the travelers checks, passport and open-ended return ticket are tucked where I last saw them—about a minute ago. Also inside is a note with the address of a friend of a friend in Switzerland, along with a list of Youth Hostels in Europe.
It’s 1973. I am twenty-three years old, and feel like my adult life so far has been a great big zero. No, scratch that. It’s been a negative number. I just left a man 13 years older than I am. A man I met when I was eighteen, and confused. A man I never loved but I married anyway because I thought I’d never be able to leave him. A man who recently threatened to kill me. That jolted me out the door, at last.
Now I am about to land in Luxembourg without a plan. I might be crazy; I don’t know. I’ve attended night school and I want to return to college full time. But when I think of sitting in a classroom with students several years younger than I am, I can’t imagine what I would say about myself. That I could have gone to college right out of high school, but I put it off, stumbled instead into things that ripped me apart and left me that way? That I allowed myself to be so completely controlled by someone that I often couldn’t even speak? That I don’t know if I deserve to have any hopes at all? Not exactly good ice-breaker material.
I want to create a new life, a different me. Flying to a continent where I don’t know a soul may be foolhardy. But I’ve heard that young people from all over the world hitchhike and ride trains throughout Europe, and the people there welcome them. I thought I’d give it a try.
I nap during the flight and then delve into The Teachings of Don Juan before the plane lands for a stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s 11 a.m. and pitch black when the other passengers and I deplane to explore the wares on sale in the airport store. I admire a brown lopapeysa-style sweater with a yoke of brown white and tan. A woman who looks about my age approaches and says, “Nice, huh.” The lenses of her wire-rimmed glasses are slightly fogged.
“Sure is, but it’s probably way too expensive for me.” I say.
“Me, too. Dan–the guy over there; he’s my boyfriend.” She points to a tall man with long, wavy red hair. He’s wearing a green parka and looking at a jewelry display–”Dan and I have about four hundred dollars to last us our whole trip.”
“I’ve got less than that, but there’s only one of me.” We both laugh.
“I’m Mags” She extends her hand.
“Laura.” I reach out, too, and we shake.
“Where are you headed when we land?” she asks.
“The Youth Hostel.”
“That’s where we’re going, Let’s go together.”
“Sounds good to me,” I say.
Dan looks up and motions for Mags to come over. “Oh, my guy’s up to something. I’ll see you later,” she says.
After we arrive in Luxembourg, Mags introduces me to Dan and three other young travelers she’s just met. We all pick up our backpacks and duffel bags and share a ride to the city, marveling at the breathtaking bridges we pass. Once we’re on the street, I find the address of the local Youth Hostel. Dan studies his map and picks a route. We march off but are soon lost.
“We should ask for directions,” Mags says. “Anyone speak French?”
I know a little French, but I’m sure someone in the group is more fluent than I am. After a long pause, I say, “I can try.”
I approach a tall woman with black hair and smiling eyes, “Excusez-moi, s’il vous plaît. Où est ‘lauberge de jeunessse?”
She replies with such speed I cannot understand her. I ask her to please speak slowly. She laughs and then drags out, “Allez tout droit pour un bloc, puis tournez à droite et il sera là.
I thank her and tell the group, we’re just a block away.
Mags grabs my hand and says, “You’re handy to have around.” She pulls me, skipping toward the hostel. I feel a little blush of pride.
In the morning, all those who bunked in the dorms gather over cafe au lait to talk about where we’ve been and where we’re going next. Mags and Dan are headed for Amsterdam. Two guys from Ohio are meeting friends in Paris. They ask me to join them. I recall staring at posters of Sacré Coeur and Montmartre during French class when I was in junior high. I opt for Paris.
The group of Ohioans and I become siblings for a few days. We buy croque monsieur sandwiches from street vendors, tour the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and all the landmarks I used to dream about as a child. We talk over French bread, cheese and wine long into the nights in our pension. Then they board a train to Marseilles, and I catch a ride with a Canadian family bound for Madrid. As I settle into a spot in the back of their VW van, a blue eyed preschooler offers me a bag of trail mix, “Wan’ some?” he asks.
“Sure.” I say. The van lurches forward. The boy tosses a roasted nut into my mouth. I toss a raisin into his. We continue our game as the van bounces along, and I realize my new life has begun.
LAURA MCHALE HOLLAND is a multifaceted storyteller and indie publisher, who has released two books: the flash fiction collection, The Ice Cream Vendor’s Song, and the award-winning childhood memoir, Reversible Skirt. Laura’s work has appeared in such publications as Every Day Fiction, Wisdom Has a Voice, several Vintage Voices anthologies, and the original San Francisco Examiner. Her prize-winning play Are You Ready? will be produced by Sixth Street Playhouse and Redwood Writers in May 2014. In all of her work, Laura strives to illuminate truths that are often hidden. Intrigued? Get her newsletter at http://lauramchaleholland.com.
Please join Laura on:
Twitter: @wordforest (I’ll follow you)
Facebook links: www.facebook.com/laura.mchale.holland and www.facebook.com/Wordforest?ref=hl (I’ll like your page, too)
Here are Laura’s books:
SONIA MARSH SAYS: I hope your gutsy story of seeking a new life helps someone take the plunge to do something bold and start over. Thanks for sharing your courageous story with us.
Click on cover to go to Amazon
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
Please leave your comments for Laura. She’ll be over to respond.
Next “Gutsy Webinar” on May 30th at 9 a.m. PST “Everything You Need to Know About Formatting e-books and Why Metadata is Important.” Jason Matthews, expert on e-books will be presenting with me. Reserve your seat TODAY.
Special June Book Coaching Offer. I have room for two new clients and am offering my 3-month coaching package, for only $499, instead of $599.
$599-CUSTOM-MARKETING-PLAN CLICK HERE now $499
May 8, 2014
The Author Entrepreneur
Sonia Marsh, Kathy Pooler and Susan Weidener
I’ve been invited to speak at the Women’s Writing Circle on “The Author Entrpreneur.”
I am thrilled to finally meet my East Coast memoir writer friends including Susan Weidener, founder of the Women’s Writing Circle, Kathy Pooler, and Jerry Waxler. invited me to stop by and meet her and present to her group of writers.
Author Entrepreneur Workshop
How to Sell Books and Build a Platform
Presented by Sonia Marsh
Date: Thursday, May 8
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Fairfield Inn, Exton PA 19341
Cost: $25 To Reserve Your Space: Contact Susan Weidener: sgweidener@comcast.net; 610-304-5370
Sponsored by the Women’s Writing Circle, this workshop is open to men and women who want to publish or who already have.
There are many options available for you to become a successful indie author. Want to get your books in COSTCO, land a front page story in the newspaper, get a radio interview, create your own Google+ hangout to chat with other authors and readers? During this two-hour workshop, Sonia Marsh will guide you through that and more.
Topics include:
• Building your platform to sell your books
• Creating your brand
• Pros and cons of various publishing options
• How to get endorsements from best-selling authors
• How to get reviews on publication day
• Creating a successful book launch party
• How to sell your book
• Mistakes to avoid
Sonia Marsh is an award-winning author who knows how to market books both online and in person. She continues to promote her own books at Costco, REI, and other retail stores and is committed to helping authors avoid common mistakes. Sonia understands that most authors cannot afford to hire an expensive publicist, so her goal is to help authors develop their own plan to sell books. Contact her at: sonia@soniamarsh.com or visit her website: http://soniamarsh.com/
It’s wonderful to finally meet friends you’ve met online, and in a way, thanks to Google+ Hangout interviews, it seems like you already know each other.
Here is my recent interview with Kathy Pooler on “How to Do Everything Right Before You Get Published.”
After my presentation this evening, I shall fly to Madrid, Spain, to volunteer with Vaughan Volunteers. More photos about El Rancho, the village where I shall be speaking English to Spanish business people for one week.
May 5, 2014
What I Did To Make My Life Happy
Not My Dream, But My Life
“My Gutsy Story®” Jennifer Barclay
I spent my fortieth birthday not being whisked away to a Spanish city for a romantic weekend, as had been hinted in what now seemed the distant past, but weeping and shaky with my parents. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
My life had seemed to be coming together, at last settling into year two with a nice man. We were talking about moving somewhere beautiful together. Then he changed his mind.
For a while, the only option was falling apart at the seams.
All I’d wanted was a simple, comfortable happiness at the centre of everything: helping me to be the person who sang tunelessly as she cycled to work in the morning, had good friends and a fulfilling job and got out into the countryside on the weekends. I’d lost not only the potential love of my life, but my love of life. I hated being a miserable me who cried herself to sleep on friends’ couches.
How did other people manage to stay in stable relationships? What was I doing wrong? Gradually, I started to think of a better question: how could I take action to make myself happier?
I was suffering from more than heartbreak, clearly. It hadn’t felt like I was in a rut, but now when I asked myself what I would really like to do with my life, I realised I’d been putting up with things because I thought they were temporary. I had to replace the plans I’d made with my ex, and come up with new ones; the age of forty seemed a good time to take a good, hard look at what I wanted.
Why wait for someone else to change my life? In fact, I was lucky: now, there was only myself to consider. I’d so often compromised for a partner.
Two years earlier, I’d been invited for a weekend in the country where I was surrounded by happy couples with beautiful children. I’d felt inadequate for two days, and the dinner on the Sunday evening was offering much of the same. Then one of the father-husbands asked me if I’d been on holiday that summer.
‘Not yet,’ I said. ‘My job’s always busy during the summer. But next week I’m off for a week on my own in Ibiza.’
His jaw dropped, and his eyes assumed a dreamy look. ‘I would kill for a week on my own in Ibiza.’
All those people in their seemingly perfect relationships had others to think about. I only had myself. In fact, I almost had a duty to think about myself, and how to be happy on my own.
Holidays on Greek islands always gave me huge amounts of joy. My love of Greece started when I was a child on family holidays, and continued into my university years when I travelled around with a friend. I’d spent a year there after university, when I’d been feeling a little lost career-wise and didn’t know what to do. Then, Greece had been the answer – could it be the answer again? In recent years, holidays on Greek islands for a week or two snatched from my busy working year always left me feeling rejuvenated and wanting more. I wondered about going for longer, perhaps a month: two weeks of holiday and two weeks working remotely from there.
My boss took some convincing, but finally I had a month on a Greek island to look forward to; a month to swim in the sea, walk in empty hills, sit in the brilliant, warm sunshine; a month to think – but not too hard – about who I was and what I wanted to do next with my life. In the meantime, I’d put relationships on hold, and I’d start escaping from the never-ending cycle of work, beginning with a freelance day per week, taking a pay cut to invest in my future.
On my first morning waking up on the island of Tilos, with a view of deep blue sky and mountain from my bedroom window, and the glittering sapphire sea through my bathroom window as I brushed my teeth, I knew I’d done the right thing. In fact, it felt like the cleverest thing I’d ever done. Happiness is easy sometimes, as a Greek friend had once said.
I’d work in the peace of the morning, with sweet smells from the next-door bakery wafting up onto the terrace. At lunchtime I’d plunge into the sea, maybe doze a little in the sun as I dried off. After an afternoon of work, I’d walk around the bay, admiring the light and inhaling the fragrance of herbs on the hillside – herbs I’d pick to sprinkle over a simple dinner. In the evening I’d sit out in the balmy air and look up at the stars.
Halfway through my month there, I was snorkelling in a pretty pink-sand bay with my new friend Dimitris, when he found a fat red starfish and put it in my hand. I felt its feelers on my skin, then let it float gently down to the sea bed. Swimming back to the same spot ten minutes later, I saw it had fallen upside down and was slowly, slowly turning itself the right way up. Perhaps that’s what I was doing.
It was hard to leave Tilos at the end of that month. But I’d got my mojo back. And I thought of it not as an ending, but a beginning. Strong again, I decided what to do: not what was sensible or expected, but what felt right for me. The taste of freedom, working from home on a sunny Greek island, showed me the way forward. I could do it.
I used to have recurring dreams of Greek islands, especially in winter when things looked bleak: I’d see myself walking in sunshine on a wild hillside with clear blue water below, into the whitewashed alleyways of an old village. Now that’s not my dream, but my life.
JENNIFER BARCLAY is the author of Falling in Honey: How a Tiny Greek Island Stole My Heart, and blogs about Greek island life at www.octopus-in-my-ouzo.blogspot.com. Her first book was Meeting Mr Kim: How I Went to Korea and Learned to Love Kimchi, and she is the editor of many travel-related memoirs. Having worked as a literary agent and then an editorial director at a publishing company, she now works freelance from her home office as a writer, editor, writing coach and agent (www.jennifer-barclay.blogspot.com).
Join Jennifer on Twitter: @JenBarclayBooks
Click on cover to go to Amazon US
UK: KIndle
UK: Paperback
US Kindle:
US: Paperback
SONIA MARSH SAYS: What a beautiful, uplifting story to start a new week,, and a new chapter life, Jennifer. Your phrase,
“I decided what to do: not what was sensible or expected, but what felt right for me,
is so uplifting and motivating. I truly believe that travel allows us to “re-connect” with ourselves and find out what’s important to us.
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS FOR JENNIFER BELOW AND SHARE USING THE LINKS. THANK YOU.
Click on cover to go to Amazon
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
VOTING for your favorite April 2014 “My Gutsy Story®,” starts on May 1st, and ends on May 14th. The WINNER will be announced on May 15th.
PLEASE VOTE AND SHARE THESE STORIES USING THE LINKS BELOW.
May 1, 2014
Vote For Your Favorite April “My Gutsy Story®”
Get ready to VOTE for your favorite one of 4 “My Gutsy Story®” submissions. You have from now until May 14th to vote on the sidebar, (only one vote per person) and the winner will be announced on May 15th (from Spain!) and will select a prize from our generous sponsors.
Our 1st “My Gutsy Story®” is by Kathy Gamble.
SONIA SAYS: Kathy makes us feel what it’s like to live the expat life and try to adapt to the people and customs in each country.
Kathy Gamble
Our 2nd “My Gutsy Story®” is by Benny Wasserman
BennyWasserman
SONIA MARSH SAYS: Benny’s story makes us realize the impact that one person can have on our life.
Our 2nd “My Gutsy Story®” is by Alana Woods
Alana Woods
SONIA MARSH SAYS: After reading Alana’s story, I feel like I’ve exercised enough for the year, thanks to you for taking me on this amazing trek across the UK.
Our 4th “My Gutsy Story®” is by Ginger Simpson
Ginger Simpson
SONIA MARSH SAYS: Ginger asks her alcoholic first husband the question “I continually asked him if I was the reason he turned to alcohol.” So often we blame ourselves for others’ behavior.
Click on cover to go to Amazon
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
VOTING for your favorite April 2014 “My Gutsy Story®,” starts on May 1st, and ends on May 14th. The WINNER will be announced on May 15th.
PLEASE VOTE AND SHARE THESE STORIES USING THE LINKS BELOW.
April 28, 2014
Had I caused him to turn to drink?
No Genie in The Bottle
“My Gutsy Story®”-Ginger Simpson
I married my high school sweetheart and expected to spend eternity together. He worked as a police sergeant, and I spent my days as an Academic Counselor. Like most couples, I thought we had a perfect marriage–the average American family, two kids, two cars, two careers. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. One of our sons was grown and married, and the other just graduated high school. And then after thirty-two years, the proverbial crap hit the fan. I’m not sure how, or more importantly, why, but my husband found something he loved more than me, Jack Daniels.
At first the occasional drink didn’t concern me, but when his JD over ice became a nighttime ritual, I decided it was time for a talk. I told him I didn’t understand how a non-drinker suddenly became one who imbibed regularly. I tried to make him see how insecure his drinking made me feel. I offered to go for counseling but he insisted everything was fine. Of course, I continually asked him if I was the reason he turned to alcohol, but his answer was always ‘no’–he was completely happy and only drank to take the edge off his day. He promised to stop, but what he actually meant was he wouldn’t leave the booze where I could find it. Yet, every cabinet I opened had a bottle inside (some filled, some half empty), even the peg boards in the garage had JD hidden behind them, yet he insisted he didn’t have a problem.
Even when forced by his supervisor to go for rehab, he lied and told me he’d volunteered to go for us, but I later discovered the program wasn’t his choice. He either went or was forced into retirement. So, yet another lie to placate me.
Wanting someone to change isn’t enough. They have to WANT the change, and he obviously didn’t. I don’t think he believed I was strong enough to honor my threats of leaving. His ten-day rehab proved a waste of time that didn’t kill his desire to drink but made him a tearful drunk. He obviously got in touch with his emotions but only exposed them when he drank to excess.
At a time when I was looking forward to midlife security and being proud of our achievements as a couple, I had to decide if living in continued fear of what I’d find when I walked inside the front door was worth it. I’d already found him passed out, with a cigarette smoldering in the carpet and the house in disarray more times than I could count. Our youngest son had long ago stopped asking his friends over because his dad didn’t grasp the concept we all shared the same home. Our feelings ceased to matter.
The day I came home and found my husband…this man I had loved for so many years, passed out, naked, and soaked in urine, his usual cigarette burning yet another hole in the carpet we couldn’t afford to replace, was the day I decided to make the change. I couldn’t stand one more minute questioning my own integrity. Had I caused him to turn to drink? I went to an Al-Anon meeting and listened to stories like mine, but no one there had solutions. Others continued to live in the same hell, day after day, but I knew I couldn’t. Choices are pretty limited when you’re faced with a difficult one. If someone refuses to change, your only option is to remove yourself from the situation. I’d moved right from my parent’s house to a duplex I shared with my new husband, so I’d never lived alone. Could I find the inner strength I needed?
Starting over at forty-nine wasn’t an easy decision. Somehow, I mustered my determination, packed some clothes and walked out, leaving him with the house I once loved, and everything except the few things I needed. Luckily, I had shared my story with a co-worker who gave me a key to her house and told me she had an extra room. I took her up on the offer. Living in one bedroom, surrounded by nothing that belonged to me was hell. I don’t know which was worse–my living arrangements or still trying to work things out in my head.
I’d tried to make my husband understand that love is comprised of trust and respect, and every time he lied or I saw him in a repulsive state, the loss of trust and respect chipped away at that emotion. I’d often wondered about the saying “I love him but I’m not ‘in love’ with him,” because it didn’t make sense to me. Suddenly, I knew what those words meant, but not out of want.
God granted me sisters for moral support, and one, gratefully, for financial. With her help, I was able to get into my own apartment for the first time in my life and see what being independent was truly like.
Once our house sold, my husband relocated to the apartments next door to mine. I tried several times to tell him I was moving on without him, but he apparently didn’t believe me–or didn’t want to. In desperation, I put my feelings in writing, and explained I couldn’t help him heal. In my written plea, I also told him I wished him well, would always care for him, but in order to open new doors, I had to close the old ones. That was my determining moment–picturing him standing on the other side while I moved blindly into a new life, not knowing what to expect. That decision was the most frightful I’ve ever made. Sometimes, the unions we think are the best are missing elements we don’t realize until we seize the moment and make a change. It was the most difficult, gusty move I’ve ever made, but it worked out for the best.
Ginger and her second husband
GINGER SIMPSON BIO:
In 2002, Ginger Simpson decided to attempt writing her own novel, and in 2003 her first offering, Prairie Peace, was published. Since then, she’s dabbled in other genres but always seems to migrate back to her favorite historical era. As all authors continue to learn through the process, so has Ginger, and her debut novel has been recently released with a new cover and title, Destiny’s Bride. Although her biggest dream has been saying ‘yes’ when someone asked if her book was at Walmart, she’s happy with the progress of ebooks, but after repeated questions, she recently tucked one of her books into her coat and smuggled it into Walmart just so she could take a photo of it on their best-selling shelf. She never said it had to stay for long. http://www.gingersimpson.com
Please join her on Twitter @mizging
Ginger has several books on Amazon. Check out her Author Page.
SONIA MARSH SAYS: The phrase that struck me in your inspiring story is:
“Wanting someone to change isn’t enough. They have to WANT the change.”
This applies to everything in life, and I am also sad to see how women so often “blame” themselves when something is not right.
“I continually asked him if I was the reason he turned to alcohol.”
Thanks for sharing your “My Gutsy Story®” story and the fact that you left, and started a new life after 30-some years will help other women in the same situation
Click on cover to go to Amazon
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
Please leave your comments for Ginger. She’ll be over to respond.
Also, please check our next “Gutsy Google Hangout” and interview with Kathy Pooler, on May 1st at 9 a.m., PST. “What You Really Need to Know About Writing a Book in 2014.” Sign-up here.
Sign-up for our next Workshop on May 4th, from 2-4 p.m. at “Total Wine” in Laguna Hills. “How to Market Your Books Creatively and Get Results.”
Next “Gutsy Webinar” on May 30th at 9 a.m. PST “Everything You Need to Know About Formatting e-books and Why Metadata is Important.” Jason Matthews, expert on e-books will be presenting with me. Reserve your seat TODAY.
April 24, 2014
Authors Need to Become Entrepreneurs and Focus on Their Brand
Authors Need to Become Entrepreneurs and Focus on Their Brand:
6 Steps to Becoming a Successful Authorpreneur
A Detailed Look at Step One: Pre-Publication
I believe we are fortunate to be writing and publishing books in this day and age. With so many options available to us, we can make ourselves visible to readers, both online and offline. We can promote our brands without spending a dime. Notice how I used the term “promote our brand” rather than “promote our book.” How come? Well, indie (independent) or self-published authors have to become entrepreneurs if they wish to sell their books in book stores, Costco and other large retail stores.
At the February 2014 IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) “Publishing University” conference in San Francisco, publishers, agents and book marketing experts repeated the following:
The Author is the Brand
The Book is the Product
Author’s build fans with their Brand, not their Book
Most authors would prefer to stay home and write rather than market and promote their books. Some authors believe that the way to get readers to buy their books is to say, “Buy my book.” Unfortunately neither method is successful in building an audience of fans, potential readers or “customers.”
With the dramatic increase in indie-published books, it is crucial for all indie-authors to step-up to the competition, and to view themselves as entrepreneurs, rather than just writers.
If we look at statistics, Bowker reveals that the number of self-published titles in 2012 jumped to more than 391,000, up 59 percent over 2011. Add to that the number of traditionally published books, and we are now competing against 600,000 to 1,000,000 new books published each year.
According to Beat Barblan, Bowker Director of Identifier Services:
“The most successful self-publishers don’t view themselves as writers only, but as business owners. They invest in their businesses, hiring experts to fill skill gaps.”
As an indie author, publisher and now a “gutsy” book publishing and marketing coach, I’d like to share what’s worked for me, and what I encourage writers to think about when they start their journey towards becoming a published author.
Since most of us are not celebrities with tons of fans, press opportunities and a full-time publicist to book us on national TV shows, our biggest problem is:
Discoverablility (Another popular term mentioned at the (IBPA) conference. As the experts mentioned:
It’s easy to write a book
The hard part is selling the book.
So the question we need to ask ourselves is:
How can we publish and market our books professionally, on a small budget?
I’m happy to inform you that there is a solution:
You do everything you can to become your own professional marketing department and your own public relations agency while keeping those high standards of professionalism.
Step 1-Pre-Publication
Start marketing the minute you write the first word of your manuscript. I realize this may sound a little crazy, but this is the way to build your platform before your book is published. Marketing guru, Seth Godin, recommends starting your blog at least three years before you publish.
Start a WordPress.org blog based on a specific theme or niche that relates to your book. (Download Webinar) with tech expert, Jay Donovan to learn more about websites for authors and avoiding website pitfalls.)
Build a brand. Ask yourself, “What’s my brand?” Successful authors have a brand. (Sign up for free Google+ Hangout with author Kathy Pooler) on May 1st, at 9 a.m. PST about blogging, branding and social media)
Start building relationships with other authors online. (Google blogs related to your niche or theme.) Download Webinar on Relationship Building: The Secret to Marketing and Selling You Books.)
Start your social media presence. Join Twitter, FaceBook, Google + and LinkedIn.
Volunteer and network at libraries, author events, writing groups, Meetups.
In the following weeks/months, I shall cover:
Step 2-Writing/Editing
Step 3-Publishing
Step 4-Marketing
Step 5-Promotion
Step 6-What Next?
I shall fly out to Philadelphia to speak about this topic. Please join me and register below.
May 8th, Workshop on “The Author Entrepreneur: How to Build a Platform and Sell Books.”
May 8th, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Fairfield Inn, Exton, PA 19341 (MAP)
Sponsored by, “Women’s Writing Circle.”
Sonia Marsh is the award-winning author of the travel memoir Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of Gutsy Living on a Tropical Island and founder of the “My Gutsy Story®” series. The first anthology in that series, My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, was a silver honoree in the 2013 Benjamin Franklin Digital Awards.
Sonia offers “gutsy” book coaching to authors, as well as Webinars and Workshops. Contact her at: sonia@soniamarsh.com or visit her website: http://soniamarsh.com. Subscribe to her free “Gutsy” newsletter and receive two bonus prizes.
April 21, 2014
Our 200-Mile Trek Across the UK
Trekking across the UK
“My Gutsy Story®”-Alana Woods
In April 2013 I was in the UK helping my oldest daughter cope with three children under 7: two boys, 6 and 2, and a new baby girl. After the birth I stayed on because daughter and her man were getting married on 1 August in Italy and daughter had asked me to stay handy.
End of June saw my husband John touching down at Gatwick and after a week of the boys and him getting re-acquainted we took off to do a few weeks travelling. No point getting under the son-in-law’s feet.
We spent a week touring Ireland visiting John’s ancestral roots and then headed back to the UK to undertake a walk we hadn’t long known about. The famous Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast walk. John had seen it on TV in Australia before flying over. You cross the UK from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, starting at a little village called St Bees and finishing at Robin Hood’s Bay.
The 200+ mile walk takes you through the Lake District, over the Pennines and across the Yorkshire Moors just a little way down from the Scottish border.
We knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. We’d booked through a company called Mac’s Adventures and their website lists it as 4 out 5 in difficulty. But we figured We’re Aussies, we can do it.
And we were right, we made it, no disasters. But, and it’s a big but, it was a real test of stamina. And that’s taking into account the best weather the country had seen for years. That meant no armpit-deep bogs to sink into—only ankle deep—no soaking wet clothes to peel ourselves out of every evening, and no howling gales to pitch ourselves against.
And thank goodness for that, because just walking those distances—up to 16 miles a day—up and down mountains was shattering enough.
Tradition is that you take a pebble from the beach at St Bees and dip your boots into the Irish Sea. Then at the end you drop the pebble and dip your boots in the North Sea.
Start at St Bees
Second day in we were in the Lake District and despite what I’ve said above the weather was horrible. The guidebook advised against tackling peaks in bad weather so we took the low route. But at Loft Beck there’s no escaping a stiff climb from one valley to another—in icy sheeting rain, with gusting howling winds. About half way up I had to give myself a stern talking to. I was darned if I was going to be the one they had to send in the rescue helicopter for that day.
The second day in and the weather is foul,
we’re scaling Loft Beck and the wind it does howl,
what I would give
to be sure I will live,
is everything I’m carrying to survive.
The rain stings with little bullets of ice
that hit my exposed bits like pellets of rice,
it cascades down the rocks
soaking my socks,
I have doubts I will ever revive.
The wind roars and blows,
I can’t stem the flow from my nose,
snot flies to every point in the land
because I daren’t spare a hand.
All I want is to safely arrive.
We had two truly shattering days in the walk. The first was the last day in the Lake District, the 16 mile Patterdale to Shap leg, with no tea houses, pubs, shops or anything else to ease the pain. My God! There’s the last peak, Kidsty Pike, then there’s traversing Haweswater reservoir which the guidebook describes as “Soon you’re panting like a hippo on a treadmill” at the end of which you leave the Lakes national park and start picking up a few C2C signs. By then, if I’d had the breath to say it, I would have been calling “My kingdom for a tea house!” We were total ruins by the time we reached that night’s accommodation, much too tired to eat.
The Pennines and moors gave great expansive views and lots of boggy ground to skirt. An unexpected sight were the Nine Standards, ancient sentinels against no-one knows who or what. I imagine one day they’ll be cordoned off like Stonehenge but for now we cheerfully sat on them while taking a lunch break.
The Nine Standards
Alana resting at Nine Standards
By the time we arrived at Ravenseat Farm, several hours on from the Standards, we were gasping for the tea and scones the farmer’s wife, Amanda, is famous for. We weren’t sure she’d be open because she’d given birth to her 8th baby less than a week before. But she was! Serving everyone herself. Now there’s a gutsy story for you! I loved the ‘Warning. Free range children’ sign at the gate.
Welcome tea and scones
The Yorkshire Moors were a delight. Comparatively easy up-and-down-dale walking with long stretches of rolling tweed colours. We were a couple of weeks early for the moors in all their purple heather glory and I was sad about that. It would have been a memory to keep forever.
Tweed coloured moors
Purple heather
For all its fame the Coast to Coast isn’t an official walk so there are no signposts in the national parks, and they make up quite a percentage of the distance. In the Lake District successive walkers have built stone cairns to indicate the path but it’s not foolproof. We wandered off non-existent paths numerous times, sometimes following other walkers who were going somewhere entirely different!
The last day was the second of our shattering walks. The North Sea came into view miles before we hit the coast and the first town of any size we spied was Whitby with its abbey ruins standing proud and alone on the cliff. But there was still a hell of a way to go and by the time we saw Robin Hood’s Bay we were almost too tired to make the steep descent to the sea where we found the tide out and had to walk half way to France to reach it!
Whitby and the North Sea
Robin Hood’s Bay
John dropping pebble
Alana dropping pebble
Would we do it again? Not on your Nellie! Got nothing to prove by repeating it.
But it has given us a taste for more walking. I think that’s pretty gutsy of us.
ALANA WOODS … intrigue queen. As a novelist, that’s me. I toyed with ‘thriller queen’ as an author description but my novels are much more suspense intrigue.
I’m a storyteller from way back but not a prolific producer. It can take me years to be satisfied with the quality of a story and how I tell it.
I have two suspense intrigue thrillers, a short story collection and a writing guide published to date, and I’m reworking a third thriller that should be out this year.
Quality is the name of the game and it’s what I strive for. Website: http://www.alanawoods.com
Please join Alana Woods on:
She has published 4 books:
Amazon links: These are Georiot links that send people to their local Amazon store:
— Imbroglio: http://georiot.co/IMBROGLIO
— Automaton: http://georiot.co/AUTOMATON
— Tapestries and other short stories: http://georiot.co/TAPESTRIES
— 25 essential writing tips: guide to writing good fiction: http://georiot.co/25WritingTips
Click on cover to go to Amazon
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
April 17, 2014
Winner of the March 2014 “My Gutsy Story®” Yelena Parker
Yelena Parker
CONGRATULATIONS
5 outstanding “My Gutsy Story®” authors in March. Their stories will be included in our 2nd “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology, published in the Fall of 2014.
It was a tight vote, and Yelena Parker won 1st Place for her “My Gutsy Story®” about stepping out of her comfort zone and volunteering in Tanzania for several months.
Yelena Parker
2nd Place goes to Peter Jones, a beautiful story of love, loss and finding happiness again.
Peter Jones
Peter Jones
3rd Place goes to Angela Marie Carter and her beautiful and amazing story about how poetry saved her life.
Angela Marie Carter
Angela Marie Carter
4th Place goes to Rachael Rifkin who captures the essence of travel: exploration, freedom, fulfillment, trusting yourself and the opportunity to get to know yourself.
Rachael Rifkin
And finally, we have another fantastic “My Gutsy Story®” by Rosalie Marsh about living life to the fullest while you can.
Rosalie Marsh
Thank you to all five authors. Your stories are all WINNERS.
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Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
April 14, 2014
The Impact of One Teenage Friend Who Cared
A Teenager Who Cared
“My Gutsy Story®” Benny Wasserman
“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
For many years I told people a book by Jack London turned my life aroun¬d. It turns out the teenager who gave me that book was more important than the book itself. In the end it was this high school friend, whose faith in me changed the course of my life.
My father was fifty-two when I was born. He was a poor, Polish immigrant who could hardly speak Eng¬lish. When I was seven years old my mother committed suicide. My father physically and verbally abused me most of my childhood years. What¬ever re¬spect I had for him was out of fear.
From the time I was eight years old I had some kind of a job. Everything from sweeping floors, paper routes, working in a bakery, driving delivery trucks, and by the time I was twenty I was working in a slaughter house killing cows.
Although I’m ashamed to admit it, I was also involved in criminal activities which could have resulted in prison sentences. Fortunately my life turned around before I ever got caught. I don’t paint this picture of my youth for sympathy. I do so to show what a high school friend was dealing with when he tried to have some positive influence on me. He was dealing with a func¬tional illiterate who had no self-esteem or self-worth.
Now for the part of this story that has meant so much to me for the past forty-six years.
What is important about this story is not how much time I spent with my high school friend, but the incredible compas¬sion and faith he had in me. I had no idea at that time that another teen¬ager would become so concerned about my future. I now be¬lieve that what he did for me during the follow¬ing eight year period was just part of his benevo¬lent and charit¬able nature.
It all began when I was sixteen years old in my friend’s backyard. We had just finished playing stick-ball. I was about to get on my bike to go home, when he told me to wait a minute. He ran into his house, came back out, and handed¬ me a book to take home to read. All he said was, “see if you like it.” I said noth¬ing.
Nobody had ever loaned me a book to read. I took it home, kept it for a couple of weeks, and than returned it — unread. He never asked me if I liked it or not. If he did, I would have made something up. There was no way I was going to read a book.
During the following two years he loaned me three more books. It never occurred to me why he was loaning me these books, and I never asked. I never read any of them.
Before my friend went off to college, he asked me which college I was going to. After telling him I wasn’t going, he asked me why not. I told him because my father couldn’t afford the $75 for tuition. He than asked, “is that it?” I said, “yes.” Of course, I lied. I had no intention of going to college. I still hated school with a passion.
The following day my friend knocked on my door at home and handed me a check for $75 signed by his father. He said, “I think that should do it.” I could only shake my head in disbelief. What could I say, except thank you.
Two years later, on a college break, my friend came to visit me. He asked, “How’s school?” My face turned red as a beet. I had quit college three months after I enrolled. I told him that it just didn’t work out.
By then I was working in a slaughter house killing cows. It was 1954 and I was twenty years old. My friend suggested I join the Army for a couple of years to sort things out. So that’s what I did. Unfortunately I came out of the Army with no more vision of what I wanted to do with my life than before I went into the Army.
As a result of the training I had in the Army, and the GI Bill, I was able to attend an unaccredit¬ed trade school for Radio and Televison Repair.
At the age of twenty-four I got married. Although my friend was unable to attend the wedding, he sent us a strange wedding gift: A book! In¬scribed inside this book were the words, “To the Wasserman’s on Their Wedding Day.” That was it!
With the encouragement of my wife, it took me two years to read the book. Each time I learn¬ed the mean¬ing of a new word, and there were 747 of them, my self-esteem and self-worth took a giant leap forward. My life was never to be the same again.
Slowly but surely I became addicted to reading. My new found fascination with learning would never end. This experience was not only responsible for me becoming an aero¬space engineer for thirty-five years, but more importantly it led me to other books which were respon¬sible for allowing me to raise my children so dif¬ferently than the way I was raised. I was able to break the cycle of violence. And all of my children have advanced degrees.
Oh yes, the book was “MARTIN EDEN,” by Jack London. And that high school teen¬age friend, who never lost his faith in me, was Carl Levin, who is presently serving his sixth term as a U.S. Senator from my home state of Michigan.
Benny Wasserman and U.S. Senator Carl Levin
BENNY WASSERMAN was born and raised in Detroit, Mich. Graduated Central High in 1952. He was in the U.S. Army 1954-56. Trade school – Radio and TV Repair 1954-1956. He got his AA degree Pierce College. Attended UCLA with a major in Sociology. Benny married in 1958, and has three sons (one physician and two attorneys). He has nine grand-children.
Benny was an Aerospace technician, Engineer, and Manager (1958-1992). He retired at age 58.
Benny Wasserman became Einstein impersonator – 1992 to present.
Benny as Einstein impersonator
Published book, Presidents Were Teenagers Too in 2007. Journal writer since 1985 – 10,700 pages ( page a day) Completed autobiography Circumstances Beyond My Control.
Click on cover to go to Amazon page
Recently submitted parenting memoir, How Imperfect Parents Raised Perfect Children.
Please follow Benny Wassserman on the following sites:
Facebook — www.facebook.com\presidentswereteenag...
Twitter — @prezwereteens2
Yes, my book, Presidents Were Teenagers Too, can be found on Amazon and in six presidential gift shops around the country including the Richard Nixon Presidential Museum and Library in Yorba Linda, CA.
Autographed books can also be ordered from me directly for $10 plus shipping. E-mail Benny Wasserman for your copy: Wassben@aol.com
SONIA MARSH SAYS: Benny, your story makes us realize the impact that one person can have on our life. I so admire what your friend, Carl Levin, did for you and how you became an author, after being illiterate as a young man. What a beautiful story of compassion, and perseverance. Thank you for sharing your amazing life journey through struggle and raising a successful family of your own.
REMEMBER TO VOTE for your favorite March 2014 “My Gutsy Story®.” VOTING ends on April 16th.
The WINNER will be announced on April 17th. 13th.
Click on cover to go to Amazon
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
PLEASE VOTE AND SHARE THESE STORIES USING THE LINKS BELOW.
April 10, 2014
Don’t Get Stuck in the Web – Avoiding Website Pitfalls
If you want to become a professional author, you need to invest in your website. This is your own piece of “online real estate,” which showcases your brand, your writing, and helps you build an audience of fans.
At the IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association) Publishing University conference in San Francisco, presenters talk about the need for writers to develop their brand, and build an audience of fans and followers. They all mentioned that professional authors use web-hosted WordPress websites/blogs, and I think it’s time we spoke to an expert who can answer our questions.
My author friend, Angela Ackerman, with her successful blog, Writers Helping Writers, joined my FaceBook group: Gutsy Indie Publishers (please join if you want free help with your blogging, publishing, marketing questions) and introduced me to her tech guy, Jay Donovan.
I shall be interviewing expert Jay Donovan from Techsurgeons.com who will answer the following questions and others during this Webinar.
In this presentation you will learn:
How to start your author website
What you need to know about selecting domain names
Whether you need a web-designer for a WordPress.org blog
How to transfer from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
Why you should consider a transfer from Blogger.com to WordPress.org website
How to tell if your website is slow and how this can hurt you
Which plugins are most helpful to writers
How to make the best author website for you
‘Pitfalls’-What to do if you’re not happy with your hosting company
RESERVE YOUR SEAT NOW- CLICKABLE LINK
Guest Tech Expert: Jay Donovan has been a geek since before geeks were cool. He’s done it all, from remotely debugging the Internet connection for a US aircraft carrier deployed to *REDACTED*, to being responsible for the servers & networks for one of the largest Internet sites in the world, and now the most challenging job of them all – parenthood.
Jay is an author groupie and is co-founder of TechSurgeons. (TechSurgeons keeps my website running lightning fast. He’s trained as a Certified Ethical Hacker (yes, really!) and always uses his geeky powers for good. When he’s not neck deep in wires and computer parts, you’ll find him hanging out on Twitter as @jaytechdad or on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jay.attechsurgeons
REGISTER HERE
(Limited Seating)
Webinar on Friday April 18th at 9 a.m., PST.
ASK JAY YOUR QUESTIONS
in the comments section below.
He will answer them during the Webinar.
You can also e-mail me the questions with QUESTION FOR JAY in the subject line.
E-mail to Sonia@SoniaMarsh.com
Subscribe to my free “Gutsy” newsletter and receive two bonus prizes. Check out my webinars on topics related to blogging, publishing and marketing.
REMEMBER TO VOTE for your favorite March 2014 “My Gutsy Story®.” VOTING ends on April 16th.
The WINNER will be announced on April 17th. 13th.
Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?
Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
PLEASE VOTE AND SHARE THESE STORIES USING THE LINKS BELOW.
