M.B. Feeney's Blog, page 11
February 26, 2015
Show me your books!
No, I said BOOKS!!!
I’ve set up a Pinterest board just for you, my stunningly gorgeous readers. Email me a selfie with one of my books (ebook or paperback) to mbfeeneyauthor@gmail.com and, with your permission, I’ll showcase them on the board for the world to see. I’ll even pick one lucky reader to win a little something from me.
So far, only my mug is on the board, and it’s getting a bit lonely.
Check out the board, and others, HERE!
Also, if you don’t feel comfortable sending a picture, drop me a line anyway. I love hearing from you.
February 23, 2015
Blown Away!
The last time I did a free promotion of one of my books, about 50 people downloaded it. I admit to feeling a little despondent, especially when it didn’t lead to reviews or other sales.
I always knew Honour was a pretty niche book. After all, it’s a collection of short stories which don’t seem to be huge sellers unless it’s an anthology of multiple authors. Also, it’s military based dealing with emotion and loss rather than featuring hot soldiers. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a hot soldier just as much as the next girl, and never say never about me possibly writing about one, it just wouldn’t have fit this particular book.
So when I decided to offer a free weekend for Right Click, Love, I was nervous as hell. I had just released The One That Got Away, and while it was getting good reviews, it wasn’t flying off the shelves so to speak. This is totally fine, because any sale at all makes me happy. I don’t care if 1 person or 10 people buy it, as long as they enjoy it. That’s the draw of writing for me.
Anyway, Right Click, Love… while it had been on the market for 2 years in it’s previous incarnation, the re-release went well – way better than I expected, is a favourite of mine. It’s the first ‘book’ I finished and published. Putting it up for free, even just for a couple of day, felt as if I was handing my baby over to a stranger while I went out drinking. What if no-one downloaded it? What if they did and hated it? What if, what if, what if?
Well, I got absolutely BLOWN AWAY! 1,110 people downloaded it in a weekend. Those numbers to me are insane!! To a lot of authors, that is just a small percentage of their reader base, but to me, that’s like Ed Sheeran selling out Wembley Stadium for one night only.
I want to thank each and every person (who will most likely never see this post) for taking a chance on my book. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy it and maybe, possibly, check out the others!
Now, I need to stop procrastinating and get on with my writing.
February 21, 2015
Right Click, Love – Sale
To celebrate the release of The One That Got Away, I have decided, for one weekend only, to offer Right Click, Love up for FREE on Kindle!!!
If you don’t already have a copy, NOW is the time to grab it.
Get your copy HERE (UK) or HERE (US)
Make an author happy, leave a review (whether you liked the book or not). If you don’t, Dean will cry, and I can’t handle Dean crying!
February 20, 2015
Thank You
This post is just my way of reaching out to everyone who has helped me get through Release Day today. I wasn’t able to be around as much as I’d hoped (yay for smartphones) and so many people went above and beyond in my absence.
My street team have been epic today, and I have no idea how I can thank them!
Bloggers and other authors have been brilliant posting my release day blitz, and sharing it all over social media. Again, I have no idea how to thank you all. I am humbled by your support.
So, once again, and this word feels so redundant today….
Inspiration – Where it comes from, and do I go looking?
I’ve completed, and read, a fair amount of interviews since becoming an author and book blogger. There are a lot of questions that seem to pop up time after time. The one I’ve usually struggled with answering is “Where do you get your inspiration from?” (or words to that effect).
The simple answer = everywhere.
I once watched an interview with Take That not long after they first came out (bear with me, it totally makes sense) and the interviewer asked Gary Barlow where he got inspiration for songs from. He went on to say the best place was the newspaper. He’d flick through, looking at headlines, and when one caught his eye, he would go on and read the article and “see what happens”.
I’ve never been inspired by a newspaper article, but that answer always stuck with me, and since then I’ve read the newspaper and watched the news. You never know, right?
I’m a naturally visual person. When I was at school, I had to physically read texts and make notes before stuff would sink in. I’m the same with my writing. I can’t just open up a fresh word doc and start typing away, I have to work things through by hand. Even if I only start then continue on the computer. If I get stuck, I print off what I have and scribble all over it before going back to the computer and working my way through my notes. So, because of this way of thinking, photographs are extremely inspirational to me.
In an English class at uni, the tutor gave us photocopies of pictures drawn by a man called Harris Burdick and we had to, individually, pick one that drew our attention and write something about it. It could have been a story, a poem, a newspaper article. Anything. We could be as literal or as abstract as we wished, the only limitation was that we had fifteen minutes. I, of course, wrote a short story. It was only about 3 paragraphs, but I had to finish it when I got home. Eventually, I posted it online and it got favourable reviews. (I have recently moved it to my Wattpad account).
It’s fun to look at pictures and think of a story to go with it, I’ve done it more since Mr Linden’s Library (The photo above), a couple are included in Honour and are among some of my favourites.
Music, while not visual, is another thing that inspires me. I was introduced to a great UK based band by a friend, and when I heard the below song, I started writing a story – in fact, I have to finish it one day and publish it or posted online, depending on length.
Other authors I have spoken to have spawned entire plot lines in their head after overhearing a snippet of a conversation when they’re waiting to pic up the kids, or watching people in the park.
This just goes to show that the smallest thing can spark an idea. You don’t have to actively go looking, but it’s a good idea to be constantly observant. I love people watching, and many of my characters have come from me being a bit nosy. I may not have a story for them at the time, but they get stored away in a notebook, just waiting for the perfect time to come out and play.
So, like I said. The simple answer is everywhere, but for different people, everywhere means a slightly different medium, but the end results can be amazing!
It’s HERE!!! The One That Got Away Release Day!!!
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Content Warning: Sexual situations and bad language.
Cover designer: Grafix Momma ~ Editor: Sydney Kalnay & R. E. Hargrave
There’s something about that one person we date in our teens but never become intimate with. Why does a sexless relationship render us unable to stop carrying that person, the what if, with us into our adult life?
For Heidi Johnson, Shane Hughes is her “one that got away.” Through the years, he has stayed in the back of her mind while she became an adult, a mother, and her own person. Meanwhile, Shane has lived a life of regret that he let Heidi go for the wrong reasons: fear and a misguided sense of not wanting to hurt either of them.
When they reconnect online, the memories they’ve tried to suppress over the years return, reigniting the feelings never explored ‘back in the day.’ Will a school reunion in their home town of London, surrounded by old school friends, help the pair address the questions the years apart left unanswered? Or will they still be left with wanting more?
For almost half an hour I sat at an abandoned table by the wall, smoking my cigarettes one after the other. Apart from a few voices filtering out through the open doors, I sat in complete silence. Not one other person came out, but I could hear voices. It seemed most of the smokers were outside the front, leaving me to feel like I was the only smoker in the building.
Leaning back against the wall, I let the soft breeze play over my flushed face and was savouring a bit of peace and quiet when I looked at my watch and jumped. I hadn’t realised that it was so late—time certainly does fly when you’re having fun. Which I had been having, before the need to escape into the dark overtook me. Crushing out my cigarette in the huge metal ashtray, I stood to go back inside. I stalled when I caught sight of Shane making his way through the crowded downstairs room of the pub, walking in the direction of the beer garden. Towards me. Crumpling back down onto the seat, I lit another cigarette, my hand shaking from nerves, and . . . something else. It was okay sitting close to him in a crowded room surrounded by people, but the garden was deserted and dark. He spotted me pretty quick thanks to the glowing orange tip of my lit cigarette.
“Nice spot.” He pointed to the overhanging branches of ivy that partially hid the table. Without speaking further, he sat down next to me and took my face between his warm, strong hands. All I could see were his beautiful eyes locking on me—right before his lips crashed into mine.
Amazon Author Page
M. B. Feeney is an army brat who finally settled down in Birmingham, UK with her other half, two kids and a dog. Currently at university studying for her BA (Hons) in primary teaching, she procrastinates on her assignments by listening to music of all genres and trying to get ‘just one more paragraph’ written on whichever WIP is open. She is also a serious doodler and chocoholic. Writing has been her one true love ever since she could spell, and publishing is the final culmination of her hard work and ambition.
Her publishing career began with two novellas, and she currently has multiple projects under way whilst Honour, a compilation of her own military based shorts, was released in November 2013. Always having something on the go can often lead to block which eventually gets dissolved by good music and an even better book.
Her main reason for writing is to not only give her readers enjoyment, but also to create a story and characters that stay with readers long after the book is finished, and possibly make someone stop and think “what if…”
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February 12, 2015
Authors as Readers
I had to write an essay as part of my teaching degree about why it’s important for teachers to be readers. Not just journals or the newspaper, but books, for pleasure. I think a lot about that assignment, and most of it can be applied to authors too.
Ever since I could spell, I read. As most kids do, I started off with one word per page book,moving slowly to one sentence per page; onwards and upwards until I would disappear into my room with a novel and shut off from the world around me. Some of favourite books at the ages of 8-12 were The Chronicles of Narnia (I still have the exact box set pictured above – just in better condition), followed by The Hobbit and Goodnight Mr Tom.
I have always been a bit of a speed reader, sometimes able to read 2-4 books in one week, especially as a child, often reading multiple books at the same time – a habit I’m trying to prevent my children into getting.
Anyway, what I’m getting at is the fact that my sheer love of reading has fostered my writing ability. Reading increases spelling and an author’s vocabulary. There’s nothing worse, as a reader, than seeing repeated words used over and over again in a book.
Also, how can an author ensure they avoid clichés in their chosen genre if they don’t read regularly? Reading the genre they write in isn’t completely necessary,but reading in general prevents certain phrases from being used.
If I could get away with it, this would be my entire house!
Another benefit to regular reading for leisure, and having friends who read a lot, is keeping on top of which trends are popular with readers. I’m not saying authors should write what they know will sell, but being aware of what kinds of books are released over an over can only help.
So, if you get the dreaded, often thought of as a myth, writer’s block, close your word doc and pick up a book. Then, share that book with your friends and leave that author a review. It’s like a virtual hug to an author.
February 11, 2015
I am moving...
I will leave this blog up until the release of The One That Got Away on 20 February 2015. After that, it shall be deleted, and no new posts will be posted here.
To follow the new blog, click HERE
Many thanks
February 4, 2015
Not Long to Go…
I’m not at ‘excited’ yet. With 16 days until The One That Got Away releases (hopefully), I’m at the “I feel nervous sick” stage.
A whole bunch of what ifs are floating through my head right now.
What if it doesn’t release on time?
What if people don’t like it?
What if it doesn’t sell?
You see the common theme here?
This book has been in the making from the very beginning for about three years. It started life as fanfiction (I hear the hisses) one shot. When I decided to extend it, I thought it would be easy to change the names/descriptions before adding the rest of the story. Yeah, that’s not what happened at all. I split the original story into three chapters, then decided that the story needed t be told from both characters points of view, so I started to write Shane’s feelings on what was happening with Heidi.
Then, I stopped writing. For a long time, I just couldn’t get into the story, so I worked on other things, things that are still sitting in folders, on my computer, unfinished. Will they ever get to see publication? Honestly, I have no idea. I hope so, because when I start writing, it’s because the story interests me. It’s a story I not only want to tell, but to read myself.
Getting the cover made up helped, but it didn’t quite feel right The above image never really worked for Shane and Heidi after the reunion.It worked for their backstory, but myself and my cover designer, the amazing Grafix Momma and I went on a search. Well, she did, I was writing again. Filling in the blanks. Evenyually, the right cover was created and the story was finished. So I thought.
Three times, since finishing, I have had editors go over the manuscript, and three times there have been quite a lot of changes made. I even sent ARC copies out to a select few, before the story was fully complete. I admit, I got teary eyed over the response the story, my story, received. So, I worked my arse off to make the story the best it could possibly be.
So, now the story is in the final stages of polishing.I’m working on the acknowledgements and then it’ll go through formatting (thanks Rach), and it’ll be ready. Whenever I think about that step, I feel sick. Hopefully, over the next 16 days, I’ll start to feel excitement.
I just want my readers (all 7 of you) to enjoy this book as much as I have, mostly, writing it.
Not Long to Go...
A whole bunch of what ifs are floating through my head right now.
What if it doesn't release on time?What if people don't like it?What if it doesn't sell?You see the common theme here?
This book has been in the making from the very beginning for about three years. It started life as fanfiction (I hear the hisses) one shot. When I decided to extend it, I thought it would be easy to change the names/descriptions before adding the rest of the story. Yeah, that's not what happened at all. I split the original story into three chapters, then decided that the story needed t be told from both characters points of view, so I started to write Shane's feelings on what was happening with Heidi.
Then, I stopped writing. For a long time, I just couldn't get into the story, so I worked on other things, things that are still sitting in folders, on my computer, unfinished. Will they ever get to see publication? Honestly, I have no idea. I hope so, because when I start writing, it's because the story interests me. It's a story I not only want to tell, but to read myself.
Getting the cover made up helped, but it didn't quite feel right The above image never really worked for Shane and Heidi after the reunion.It worked for their backstory, but myself and my cover designer, the amazing Grafix Momma and I went on a search. Well, she did, I was writing again. Filling in the blanks. Evenyually, the right cover was created and the story was finished. So I thought.
Three times, since finishing, I have had editors go over the manuscript, and three times there have been quite a lot of changes made. I even sent ARC copies out to a select few, before the story was fully complete. I admit, I got teary eyed over the response the story, my story, received. So, I worked my arse off to make the story the best it could possibly be.
So, now the story is in the final stages of polishing.I'm working on the acknowledgements and then it'll go through formatting (thanks Rach), and it'll be ready. Whenever I think about that step, I feel sick. Hopefully, over the next 16 days, I'll start to feel excitement.
I just want my readers (all 7 of you) to enjoy this book as much as I have, mostly, writing it.
