P.D.R. Lindsay's Blog, page 24
January 8, 2013
January 2013 and a resolution.
Heavens, I keep saying I must blog weekly but then I slip up. Life is too busy to waste time woffling a load of words with little meaning. if I can't blog with sense why blog at all?
So pick a topic and go for it. That's the advice my blogging friend are giving. A new one found for each week, scan the newspapers or keep on blogging about your favourite things, they say. There isn't the time. However the PR work for Writer's Choice has led me to Goodreads.com. This is mainly a place for readers to brag about how many books they've read, discuss what they are currently reading and review and chat.
I've not spent time at Amazon - I have ethical problems dealing with a company which is trying to set itself up without competition - but I have heard the complaints about reviews. Not just about the 'sock puppets' giving themselves lovely reviews and booing and jeering other writers' novels, but about shoddy reviews which are hurtful to sales. The reviews where either it is all important for the reviewer to be seen airing opinions or the reader shows little or no grasp of what s/he's read.
Many of the reviewers are readers only and not writers. They no idea what has gone into getting that story onto paper and into book form. I'm still very new to Goodreads so I don't know if they have a suggested format for reviews and comments. But a little polite consideration would go a long way to stopping some of the vapid, mouthy or just plain rude reviews. Some reviewers seem to have found books in genres they hate and then written bad reviews. I dislike intensely the trend for vampire/werewolf novels so I don't read and review them. That's my personal opinion and it should not be shouted across the internet in a review which I have not been asked to do or paid to do it. There is nothing wrong with a review in which the reviewer explains why they didn't like a book, but it had better be good honest criticism backed up with examples from the book and not just someone shouting disparaging comments because they can.
So pick a topic and go for it. That's the advice my blogging friend are giving. A new one found for each week, scan the newspapers or keep on blogging about your favourite things, they say. There isn't the time. However the PR work for Writer's Choice has led me to Goodreads.com. This is mainly a place for readers to brag about how many books they've read, discuss what they are currently reading and review and chat.
I've not spent time at Amazon - I have ethical problems dealing with a company which is trying to set itself up without competition - but I have heard the complaints about reviews. Not just about the 'sock puppets' giving themselves lovely reviews and booing and jeering other writers' novels, but about shoddy reviews which are hurtful to sales. The reviews where either it is all important for the reviewer to be seen airing opinions or the reader shows little or no grasp of what s/he's read.
Many of the reviewers are readers only and not writers. They no idea what has gone into getting that story onto paper and into book form. I'm still very new to Goodreads so I don't know if they have a suggested format for reviews and comments. But a little polite consideration would go a long way to stopping some of the vapid, mouthy or just plain rude reviews. Some reviewers seem to have found books in genres they hate and then written bad reviews. I dislike intensely the trend for vampire/werewolf novels so I don't read and review them. That's my personal opinion and it should not be shouted across the internet in a review which I have not been asked to do or paid to do it. There is nothing wrong with a review in which the reviewer explains why they didn't like a book, but it had better be good honest criticism backed up with examples from the book and not just someone shouting disparaging comments because they can.
November 11, 2012
The Next Big Thing
Rules of the Next Big Thing
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Fellow author J.G Berger tagged me for the online game ‘The Next Big Thing’: A blog circle where authors have a chance to discuss their current works in progress/ what they’re currently working on now.
Next Big Thing:
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book?
‘Aunt Tizzie’s Jubilee’
Where did the idea come from for the book?
The theme is something I often write about: women who suddenly discover that what they thought was true is not, and they have to do something about it, usually by changing their lives.
The idea came, as they so often do, slowly, over time. Several things drifted together in my mind: the old custom of St. Columba’s lambs; how families can pick on, cheat and deceive one member; the character of Tizzie who buzzed around in my head begging, in broad Yorkshire, for her story to be told after I’d been on a visit to old haunts in Yorkshire.
What genre does your book fall under?
It’s set in 1887 so is historical. I didn’t think a contemporary Tizzie would gain reader sympathy, and I wanted readers to see how a woman can be trapped and rendered unable to act for herself by the way her family treat her. Readers know there were far more restrictions on a young woman in Victorian times and would be more tolerant of Tizzie’s struggles. Perhaps then they might take some of that understanding into modern day thinking.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Good heavens. I don’t know many film actors. I’d love the entire Royal Shakespeare Company to act a play version. I love the idea of Yorkshire dialogue enunciated by those well trained voices. I think Sean Bean, who is a Yorkshire man, would make a good villain.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A young woman, cheated out of her marriage and life away from home, learns to fight back when she finally discovers just what her brother and his wife have done.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
If Writer’s Choice Co-operative accept it I will self publish it under their seal of approval. This means it will be edited, have a professional cover design, and be proof read to a high standard so that it can be called quality fiction.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Three years with much interruption.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There are not many writers who write straight historical novels without Royalty or Famous Persons having starring roles. Of those who do, I can’t think of a novel I’ve read that is similar enough to make a comparison.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I write because I have to, it’s like breathing. No real person or thing inspired me, but Tizzie’s voice in my head and her character popping in to my mind are what made me try to find her story.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Recipes, Tizzie’s daily life on a Yorkshire Dales’ farm, and details of traditional customs.
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Fellow author J.G Berger tagged me for the online game ‘The Next Big Thing’: A blog circle where authors have a chance to discuss their current works in progress/ what they’re currently working on now.
Next Big Thing:
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book?
‘Aunt Tizzie’s Jubilee’
Where did the idea come from for the book?
The theme is something I often write about: women who suddenly discover that what they thought was true is not, and they have to do something about it, usually by changing their lives.
The idea came, as they so often do, slowly, over time. Several things drifted together in my mind: the old custom of St. Columba’s lambs; how families can pick on, cheat and deceive one member; the character of Tizzie who buzzed around in my head begging, in broad Yorkshire, for her story to be told after I’d been on a visit to old haunts in Yorkshire.
What genre does your book fall under?
It’s set in 1887 so is historical. I didn’t think a contemporary Tizzie would gain reader sympathy, and I wanted readers to see how a woman can be trapped and rendered unable to act for herself by the way her family treat her. Readers know there were far more restrictions on a young woman in Victorian times and would be more tolerant of Tizzie’s struggles. Perhaps then they might take some of that understanding into modern day thinking.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Good heavens. I don’t know many film actors. I’d love the entire Royal Shakespeare Company to act a play version. I love the idea of Yorkshire dialogue enunciated by those well trained voices. I think Sean Bean, who is a Yorkshire man, would make a good villain.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A young woman, cheated out of her marriage and life away from home, learns to fight back when she finally discovers just what her brother and his wife have done.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
If Writer’s Choice Co-operative accept it I will self publish it under their seal of approval. This means it will be edited, have a professional cover design, and be proof read to a high standard so that it can be called quality fiction.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Three years with much interruption.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There are not many writers who write straight historical novels without Royalty or Famous Persons having starring roles. Of those who do, I can’t think of a novel I’ve read that is similar enough to make a comparison.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I write because I have to, it’s like breathing. No real person or thing inspired me, but Tizzie’s voice in my head and her character popping in to my mind are what made me try to find her story.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Recipes, Tizzie’s daily life on a Yorkshire Dales’ farm, and details of traditional customs.
October 15, 2012
The Launch.
Well, we've done it. We're off. The books are published - epublished - and available. We are Writer's Choice and now we need readers' words to sell our books.
The great experiment has provoked a great deal of comment in New Zealand since I've had PR articles in writers' magazines, online and in newspapers and on the radio.
Several people asked me I didn't wait for a 'real' publisher. Indeed there are people who said I should wait however long it takes. Having had cancer and coming very close to death I know how short life can be and how little time I have left. I know my work is publishable and marketable. My short stories have all been print published. My novel has been assessed and critiqued and agent/editor checked. It was short listed in three unpublished/first novel competitions. What more can I do?
Learn to write a selling query letter, someone else suggested. But why? Why do I have to beg an agent to take me on? Why do I have to wait on their whims and moods before I can reach a publisher?
Go with a Small Press, another person told me. But the marketing work is as much as if I had self published, and the ones I liked had long waiting lists.
Writer's Choice will support us in our ups and downs. We'll learn and perhaps, it seems to me, we'll do better financially. This, for one who is an overqualified, out of work, near starving and frustrated with the lack of employment person, is important. The government unemployment allowance is not even a bare minimum and any boost to near nothing will be gratefully welcomed.
The great experiment has provoked a great deal of comment in New Zealand since I've had PR articles in writers' magazines, online and in newspapers and on the radio.
Several people asked me I didn't wait for a 'real' publisher. Indeed there are people who said I should wait however long it takes. Having had cancer and coming very close to death I know how short life can be and how little time I have left. I know my work is publishable and marketable. My short stories have all been print published. My novel has been assessed and critiqued and agent/editor checked. It was short listed in three unpublished/first novel competitions. What more can I do?
Learn to write a selling query letter, someone else suggested. But why? Why do I have to beg an agent to take me on? Why do I have to wait on their whims and moods before I can reach a publisher?
Go with a Small Press, another person told me. But the marketing work is as much as if I had self published, and the ones I liked had long waiting lists.
Writer's Choice will support us in our ups and downs. We'll learn and perhaps, it seems to me, we'll do better financially. This, for one who is an overqualified, out of work, near starving and frustrated with the lack of employment person, is important. The government unemployment allowance is not even a bare minimum and any boost to near nothing will be gratefully welcomed.
September 23, 2012
We're off!
We have a deadline for our book launch - October 17th. Thank goodness. Sometimes it seemed we'd never make it.
On that day I will be in the library giving a talk about the Writer's Choice publishing co-operative. In the week running up to Launch Day I will also be interviewed on the local radio and the local TV. I'm angling for the national radio book slots and have approached the national newspapers with articles on me and Writer's Choice.
It's exciting, exasperating and frustrating. My first two books are anthologies, collections of short stories which have already been published in magazines in the UK, Canada, America and Australia. George is our American member of the group and his book is a novel. His book will be launched at the same time. I will talk about his novel at my interviews. He will talk about my anthologies at his interviews. We are a group, more power to our elbows.
It seems to me that either we will surf this new wave of publishing or be swamped. But we'll never know if we don't try. I'd rather aim at the moon and land on a mountain top, than aim at the mountain and get stuck in the foothills!
On that day I will be in the library giving a talk about the Writer's Choice publishing co-operative. In the week running up to Launch Day I will also be interviewed on the local radio and the local TV. I'm angling for the national radio book slots and have approached the national newspapers with articles on me and Writer's Choice.
It's exciting, exasperating and frustrating. My first two books are anthologies, collections of short stories which have already been published in magazines in the UK, Canada, America and Australia. George is our American member of the group and his book is a novel. His book will be launched at the same time. I will talk about his novel at my interviews. He will talk about my anthologies at his interviews. We are a group, more power to our elbows.
It seems to me that either we will surf this new wave of publishing or be swamped. But we'll never know if we don't try. I'd rather aim at the moon and land on a mountain top, than aim at the mountain and get stuck in the foothills!
September 14, 2012
I missed!
So much for weekly blogging. August blogging got lost. Well, I was blogging but on our Writer's Choice website. October 17th, our launch date draws near and we are all going flat tack trying to be ready and perfect. We can but try.
A long time online writing friend emailed this morning to let me know it was a month now since I was banned (tut!) from the AbsoluteWrite forums and I was missed. Kind soul. And another emailed to say he'd tried to get me reinstated to no avail. Bless him for trying but it was bound to be a waste of time. Two particularly intolerant moderators and the Big Boss have been trying to get rid of me for a while. No way would they have me back especially after the nasty trick they played to get rid of me.
It used to be that one could discuss and swop opinions at the AbsoluteWrite forums. Now you must brown nose or expect trouble. How dare anyone disagree with or have ideas which are different from the inner clique moderators. If you do then expect to be abused. Interesting isn't it that a member can be banned for being rude to a moderator but moderators can be extremely offensive and it's fine? A bit pointless to have a rule which says don't be rude and then allow the board officials to be highly offensive. Really silly.
It seems to me that if the AbsoluteWrite forums have degenerated to the extent that Moderators actually delete and alter one's words to deliberately get one banned then the place isn't worth visiting. I am just sorry that someone I thought of as a writing pal would allow herself to be used to get me banned permanently. PM'd apologies are hardly worth complaining about.
A long time online writing friend emailed this morning to let me know it was a month now since I was banned (tut!) from the AbsoluteWrite forums and I was missed. Kind soul. And another emailed to say he'd tried to get me reinstated to no avail. Bless him for trying but it was bound to be a waste of time. Two particularly intolerant moderators and the Big Boss have been trying to get rid of me for a while. No way would they have me back especially after the nasty trick they played to get rid of me.
It used to be that one could discuss and swop opinions at the AbsoluteWrite forums. Now you must brown nose or expect trouble. How dare anyone disagree with or have ideas which are different from the inner clique moderators. If you do then expect to be abused. Interesting isn't it that a member can be banned for being rude to a moderator but moderators can be extremely offensive and it's fine? A bit pointless to have a rule which says don't be rude and then allow the board officials to be highly offensive. Really silly.
It seems to me that if the AbsoluteWrite forums have degenerated to the extent that Moderators actually delete and alter one's words to deliberately get one banned then the place isn't worth visiting. I am just sorry that someone I thought of as a writing pal would allow herself to be used to get me banned permanently. PM'd apologies are hardly worth complaining about.
July 25, 2012
Hurray for Writer's Choice!
Winter blahs, short dark days, so much to do, no money to do it with! Ah me, isn't life grand.
But with Writer's Choice getting closer to launch day things feel positive. My anthology is ready to go, George's novel is just about ready for formatting. Sharon is beavering away. Ann is still holidaying in the U.K. but promised to return with the novel perfected!
The website and blog are growing nicely. Friendly authors agree to be interviewed. The banner and logo are perfect. And I'm scared silly that all our work and effort will not be enough. Still, no use pothering about it, it's an experiment and I feel better knowing I have tried. It's no use sitting about moaning about bloody agents and traditional publishing, epublishing might just pay the bills!
I have been impressed by our covers though. We have a really good artist and she seems to know exactly what makes a good, eye catching ebook cover. I knew people bought by eye, but not how much it influences a book buyer.
I've been observing people and books in our library. This morning I spent time as I did my volunteer work shelving non-fiction and watched people picking up the new books and checking them out. Where the reader did not know the writer the cover played an important part in the choice. "It looks all right," they'd say if they decided to borrow the book. I am glad we have Dawn to create our covers.
But with Writer's Choice getting closer to launch day things feel positive. My anthology is ready to go, George's novel is just about ready for formatting. Sharon is beavering away. Ann is still holidaying in the U.K. but promised to return with the novel perfected!
The website and blog are growing nicely. Friendly authors agree to be interviewed. The banner and logo are perfect. And I'm scared silly that all our work and effort will not be enough. Still, no use pothering about it, it's an experiment and I feel better knowing I have tried. It's no use sitting about moaning about bloody agents and traditional publishing, epublishing might just pay the bills!
I have been impressed by our covers though. We have a really good artist and she seems to know exactly what makes a good, eye catching ebook cover. I knew people bought by eye, but not how much it influences a book buyer.
I've been observing people and books in our library. This morning I spent time as I did my volunteer work shelving non-fiction and watched people picking up the new books and checking them out. Where the reader did not know the writer the cover played an important part in the choice. "It looks all right," they'd say if they decided to borrow the book. I am glad we have Dawn to create our covers.
July 15, 2012
What is it about emotions which make people so afraid?I w...
What is it about emotions which make people so afraid?
I was treated to a trip to the cinema on Saturday. There was a Norwegian film I really wanted to see: 'Letters to Father Jacob'. People whose opinions I valued and a couple of intelligent, non-Hollywood watching critics had given the film excellent ratings.
I like to hope perhaps the audience was willing but not used to subtitles. They were older people I would have assumed had lived enough life to be able to listen and watch. The film was an exquisite production, the photography superb, the acting - mainly from just two characters - brilliant, the story a real onion of a plot with layer upon layer to plumb.
I don't usually weep over unreal situations, after all a film is a created artifice meant to work on the emotions. 'Letters to Father Jacob' made me weep. I noted the women next to me wiping away a tear, but as the lights came up a loud woman and her Aussie friend in the seats in front of me yawned.
"Just two people, a real budget film," she said to her OZ friend.
"Yeah and I can't believe people live in rotten old houses like that."
I nearly throttled them. For me the film had been a cathartic experience, rare and precious. They just chattered. I muttered rudely. The women next to me patted my arm. "They're just hiding their emotions," she said.
I hope that was it. Otherwise they were simply insensate louts!
I was treated to a trip to the cinema on Saturday. There was a Norwegian film I really wanted to see: 'Letters to Father Jacob'. People whose opinions I valued and a couple of intelligent, non-Hollywood watching critics had given the film excellent ratings.
I like to hope perhaps the audience was willing but not used to subtitles. They were older people I would have assumed had lived enough life to be able to listen and watch. The film was an exquisite production, the photography superb, the acting - mainly from just two characters - brilliant, the story a real onion of a plot with layer upon layer to plumb.
I don't usually weep over unreal situations, after all a film is a created artifice meant to work on the emotions. 'Letters to Father Jacob' made me weep. I noted the women next to me wiping away a tear, but as the lights came up a loud woman and her Aussie friend in the seats in front of me yawned.
"Just two people, a real budget film," she said to her OZ friend.
"Yeah and I can't believe people live in rotten old houses like that."
I nearly throttled them. For me the film had been a cathartic experience, rare and precious. They just chattered. I muttered rudely. The women next to me patted my arm. "They're just hiding their emotions," she said.
I hope that was it. Otherwise they were simply insensate louts!
July 5, 2012
Sometimes...
A magic wand! That's what I need. Or more properly a belief that the future will be less crazy than the last four years.
To be jobless is demeaning. Trying to create work by setting up and running a Language School and Writer's Retreat is dispiriting when the P.R. and adverts attract lots of queries but few bookings. (Four this year so far.) The idiot neighbour's daily harassment is wearing, especially as he's taken to creeping along the boundary hedge and suddenly leaping up with deafening hyena-like laughter or shouts every ten minutes.
And it is so depressing to note that I have not been able to afford to plant anything like the number of hazel, almond and fruit trees which would bring me in enough money to buy more trees and pay some bills.
Thank God for the Writers' Choice co-operative and my three colleagues egging me on. If we can get all our books launched in October, work hard at the PR, maybe there will be a small income, and I will be able to say that the chaos of the last four years is over and my fifth year home in N.Z. will finally be one where I can stop worrying about where the money will come from for this week's food and afford to buy some new underclothes. At last!
To be jobless is demeaning. Trying to create work by setting up and running a Language School and Writer's Retreat is dispiriting when the P.R. and adverts attract lots of queries but few bookings. (Four this year so far.) The idiot neighbour's daily harassment is wearing, especially as he's taken to creeping along the boundary hedge and suddenly leaping up with deafening hyena-like laughter or shouts every ten minutes.
And it is so depressing to note that I have not been able to afford to plant anything like the number of hazel, almond and fruit trees which would bring me in enough money to buy more trees and pay some bills.
Thank God for the Writers' Choice co-operative and my three colleagues egging me on. If we can get all our books launched in October, work hard at the PR, maybe there will be a small income, and I will be able to say that the chaos of the last four years is over and my fifth year home in N.Z. will finally be one where I can stop worrying about where the money will come from for this week's food and afford to buy some new underclothes. At last!
June 21, 2012
Why on earth...?
I've been shelving the newest purchases at the library. I found a new Shona MacLean, which was a nice surprise, but I did start to wonder what has happened to book covers and book blurbs.
They are all the same!
Historical novels have a photograph type cover, usually a female in fancy dress, or part dress, and nearly always made to look sexy despite the title of the book or its contents.If it's a male on the cover he has to be unshaven and brooding, leaning against something with a sexy scowl. Oh yes, the shirt's half open, of course. The title will be scrawled illegibly in imitation of a quill pen's writing or old style printing press printing.
If the genre is vaguely chick lit then the cover has what I call stick drawings of people, usually women. It's not quite a cartoon style cover but getting close. Murder Mysteries have brooding landscapes, Cozy detective stories have village scenes.
But no matter what the cover pictures the darned words are always the same. 'Best Seller', 'Must Read', 'Unforgettable', 'The Read of the Year' on every book.
Really?
Don't tell me what I must read. And if the book's a best seller how come all the others are too? What does a best seller really mean? Why can't we have more blurbs which tell the story without all the screaming puffery?
So many books don't even carry a blurb any more. I can't tell what they are about. If I have to delve into the book itself then it's bye bye book. It's obviously not my style with its half naked couple on the cover, and a MUST READ shouting on the back cover.
I reckon the publisher who goes back to plain coloured, gilded tooled leather (well, look alike tooled leather) covers with clear legible titles and actually has a plot description blurb which matches the contents of the book is on to a winner.
They are all the same!
Historical novels have a photograph type cover, usually a female in fancy dress, or part dress, and nearly always made to look sexy despite the title of the book or its contents.If it's a male on the cover he has to be unshaven and brooding, leaning against something with a sexy scowl. Oh yes, the shirt's half open, of course. The title will be scrawled illegibly in imitation of a quill pen's writing or old style printing press printing.
If the genre is vaguely chick lit then the cover has what I call stick drawings of people, usually women. It's not quite a cartoon style cover but getting close. Murder Mysteries have brooding landscapes, Cozy detective stories have village scenes.
But no matter what the cover pictures the darned words are always the same. 'Best Seller', 'Must Read', 'Unforgettable', 'The Read of the Year' on every book.
Really?
Don't tell me what I must read. And if the book's a best seller how come all the others are too? What does a best seller really mean? Why can't we have more blurbs which tell the story without all the screaming puffery?
So many books don't even carry a blurb any more. I can't tell what they are about. If I have to delve into the book itself then it's bye bye book. It's obviously not my style with its half naked couple on the cover, and a MUST READ shouting on the back cover.
I reckon the publisher who goes back to plain coloured, gilded tooled leather (well, look alike tooled leather) covers with clear legible titles and actually has a plot description blurb which matches the contents of the book is on to a winner.
June 15, 2012
A name at last. Writers Choice is born. We are a multicul...
A name at last. Writers Choice is born. We are a multicultural, international group of writers - sounds serious doesn't it? - who think it's time to experiment with some of these non-traditional means of publishing. Does that sound convincing?
Our Logo is being discussed. We have a rather novel idea from an artist friend which I really like. Have to have a vote of course, but all is proceeding amiably.
Suddenly we have a September/October Deadline and it's all a bit panic inducing. I am having doubts about my work being good enough yet the anthologies of stories I will e-publish have already been published in journals and magazines in Australia, Canada, the U.K. and the USA.
What we writers do to ourselves in the way of put downs and self doubt is crazy. My novels are off to competitions and then to some Small Presses. Maybe I will be able to earn money and self respect again!
Our Logo is being discussed. We have a rather novel idea from an artist friend which I really like. Have to have a vote of course, but all is proceeding amiably.
Suddenly we have a September/October Deadline and it's all a bit panic inducing. I am having doubts about my work being good enough yet the anthologies of stories I will e-publish have already been published in journals and magazines in Australia, Canada, the U.K. and the USA.
What we writers do to ourselves in the way of put downs and self doubt is crazy. My novels are off to competitions and then to some Small Presses. Maybe I will be able to earn money and self respect again!
