Siobhan Daiko's Blog, page 5
June 4, 2016
The saga of converting my UK driving license to an Italian driving license
The downside of being immersed in the final stages of writing a book, I find, is that I shut out everyday life. My story and characters become my life, in effect. At the back of my mind, I knew I should get my UK driving license converted into an Italian one, especially as my UK license was due to expire in June, but I set the task aside until I’d released Three. With hindsight, I wish I hadn’t done that…
Publication week over, I paid a visit to the Italian Automobile Club’s office in Asolo on Monday to find out what documentation I’d need. Online information was sparse and contradictory. The lovely lady behind the counter told me to come back on Wednesday evening between 5-6 pm (the working day goes on longer in this area due to the fact that people take a three hour break for lunch). I’d need to have a “visita medica” and bring my UK license, two photos, my Italian ID card and my codice fiscal (social security). Great, I thought, seems simple enough. Ha, if only I’d known… 
Wednesday evening, I took my place in the queue to see the doctor, an officious man who seemed to be taking delight in telling people to get new glasses. When my turn came, my eyes and hearing were tested. All good. Phew! And then, the question, “Have you got a “Certificato Anamnestico per Rinnovo Patente” from your GP?” I gulped. WTF? “I didn’t know I’d need one.”
The lovely lady behind the counter, clearly feeling guilty for not telling me about this extra piece of paper, tried to help. But the doctor wasn’t having any of it. I needed to see my GP. Bear in mind, this was Wednesday evening. And, surprise, surprise, Thursday was June 2nd, Italian National Day, and a public holiday. “Try and see her now,” he suggested. So I drove to her surgery, twenty minutes away, only to find it was her afternoon off. Back at the Automobile Club’s office, the doctor said he categorically couldn’t let me have his certificate without seeing the one from my GP first. The lovely lady behind the counter came to my assistance, and it was decided she’d keep the eye test results and would let me have them when I came back with my GP’s certificate in two days’ time. Friday was the last day I could apply for my Italian license as my UK one would expire on Sunday, hence the urgency. I would have to take all my documentation to Motorizzazione (Department of Transport) in Treviso between 11 am and midday on Friday.
Up with the sparrows on Friday morning, I went to my GP’s surgery. The waiting room was filled with people who had made appointments. Obviously, I did not have an appointment as, by the time I knew I’d need one, it was too late to phone and Thursday was a holiday. So, I sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Woo hoo, at 9.30, my GP was free to see me, when she’d told me it would probably not have been until eleven.
After answering a few questions about my general health, and paying 61 Euros for the certificate (1 Euro = 1.10 USD), I left my GP’s surgery with the certificato in my hand and drove to the Automobile Club. The lovely lady behind the counter took a photocopy of all my documents and asked for 31 Euros to cover the eye test and tax. Then she gave me a bill to pay for my new license for 45,76 Euros. I couldn’t pay this to her, but could pay it at a newsagents or Post Office. By now, time was marching on and I was starting to panic. Treviso is a good 45 minutes’ drive away, and I wanted to get there by eleven. Back in our village, I went to the newsagents’ and tried to pay there. No way. It would have to be at the Post Office with their notorious queues. Thankfully, it was only next door. And, thankfully again, the queue wasn’t too bad. Only two people in front of me. However, they took an age to conclude their business, not to mention have a chat with the lady behind the counter, as one does in Italy. Eventually, it was my turn and I paid, got the appropriate receipt, and set off for Treviso by 10.30 to arrive at Motorizzazione at 11.15.
You can imagine my horror when I stepped into the waiting room. There were over twenty people queuing! 
How would they see all of us by midday? Especially as there were only two people serving behind the counter. I took a seat and waited, my eye on the clock. At midday, there were still ten people in front of me. Would they turf us all out and tell us to come back on Monday? I heaved a sigh of relief when they simply locked the door. We would all be seen. Yay!
Finally, another lovely lady behind the counter checked my documentation and I waited nervously for her to tell me I’d need something else. But no, all was in order. Just one moment of panic when she asked me where I’d passed my driving test. If it had been in China, I wouldn’t have been able to convert my license, but, thankfully, I’d actually taken my test in Italy and had converted my Italian license to a UK license when we’d first gone to live in England. All I had to do was fill in another piece of paper and sign that this is what had occurred. The lovely lady behind the counter gave me a receipt, and said my new license should be ready entre un mesetto “within about a month.” But she did take my phone number, “in case there are any problems.” Ha! I’m keeping fingers, toes, and everything else crossed…
May 26, 2016
What do you do when your editor tells you your book just isn’t good enough?
What do you do when your editor tells you your book just isn’t good enough?
Shell-shocked and emotional, I wept, tore at my hair and paced the floor. Husband patted my back and suggested I give it up as a bad job. “You are really good at writing historical fiction,” he said. “Maybe contemporary erotic romance isn’t the right genre for you…”
The only thing in life I’ve given up on, other than numerous diets, was riding horses, to my regret. I wasn’t about to give up on Three.
My editor John Hudspith’s advice was to dig deep for a better story, and then rewrite it. And that the secret to success was CONFLICT. My original narrative was too twee and my characters lacked depth. I needed to keep asking, “what if?” rather than letting them passively accept their situation. I needed to force my imagination out of its comfort zone. I needed to up my game.
You’re a writer,” Johnny said, “and if you want your work to be great, to be compelling, to sell well and garner positive reviews, you must dig for it. Dig for hours, days, weeks, months. Dig for those gems until your brain hurts, until sweat pours down your face and you’ve pulled all your hair out. Push yourself then push yourself some more. Don’t accept the first gem you find; put it aside and dig for better, because you will find it. Understand that all the digging and hair-pulling and straining until your brain hurts is exercise for the imagination. Stretch it, push the boundaries outwards and keep repeating the mantra What if, What if, What if. Dig into the depths of each character, each place, each and every possible scenario. Make notes, pages and pages of notes. Keep doing all of those things and eventually the gems will pile up. And that’s when the magic happens. Gems come alive, start connecting, strengthening, birthing fresh gems with ease, and suddenly your story is there in substance, just waiting for the maestro to orchestrate it into a beautiful tune.”
Johnny’s advice was sound advice. I sat at my desk for hours every day, exploring, making notes, slowly but surely building foundations, finding those gems and then sweating and cursing until I found more. And I have to admit that I ended up enjoying the experience. When the hard work pays off and those sparkling gems are born, the pain of labour is banished.
“And don’t be smug,” Johnny added. “Realise that, at whatever point you decide to stop digging and start writing, there’s always something different, something better to be had.”
The premise of Three changed radically over the course of the next couple of months. What started as a sex romp “jolly” became a much deeper story with three lost souls coming together, overcoming their inner conflict and then facing an external one. Introducing the conflict was the key to the overall improvement.
Three is now published and the reviews are excellent. Today I can’t help feeling proud my baby achieved “bestseller” status on both sides of the pond.[image error]
Quotes from the most recent reviews:
“Unlike a lot of ménage books this has a great story behind all the sexy. Everything is not magically fixed by adding another. This is a great story with strong characters.”
“What starts as a bit of fun turns into a heart-warming tale of three people finding so much more.”
“The relationship Max, Steve, and Lauren have is amazing and touching. The connection they share and their trials are compelling.”
“I can’t believe these characters aren’t real, I loved each of them. Although it is sexually graphic, there is more to this book with a nice background story…”
“Three has a story you can follow (awesome story) and it keeps a great pace. Max, Lauren & Steven actually care about each other, that’s also another rare thing to me, normally it’s a wham bam thank you, ma’am…”
What have I learned from the whole experience? Not to be a lazy writer and go for the easy option, but to push myself, USE my brain, stretch it, dig for gems and then dig some more, because there’s always better to be found. Thank you, Johnny, for pushing me, for showing me how to stretch my mind and dig until it hurts.
And I won’t ever be smug. I wouldn’t dare. I’ve realised that stories have infinite versions, infinite possibilities, and that digging through the spectrum of possibilities is the key to great story. I’m now better armed for my next dig and can’t wait to enjoy the pain. Ha!
Onwards! (as Johnny likes to say).
May 18, 2016
REVIEW: Courtesan – S.C. Daiko
A fab review of “Courtesan”.[image error]
Title: Courtesan
Author: S.C. Daiko
Series: standalone
Genre: Historical erotic romance
Page count: 296
Rating: ****
I tend to stay away from historical romance as I have a background in archaeology and find it very difficult to read them without critiquing the accuracy of it. However, I’m immensely glad I made the decision to read this one – it doesn’t disappoint. Daiko has clearly put in a lot of research, evident through her vivid and detailed descriptions of food and materials, creating a rich, sensuous read.
He takes my hand and draws it between us. “You think you can get your pretty mouth around this?”
This book is split in half – the first is about Theodora, the second about Veronica Franco; both were courtesans, both rose high in a man’s world. With some intensely erotic, intensely filthy scenes, the focus is on these women’s relationships and their ambitions…
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May 12, 2016
★★★★★ RELEASE BLITZ ★★★★★ S. C. Daiko, Courtesan
My courtesans are together and re-branded!
Title : Courtesan
Author : S. C. Daiko
Genre: Erotica/Erotic Romance
Theodora
It’s not every day a girl gets to meet the most powerful man in the world – but it’s not every girl that’s deemed USEFUL. I’ve been deemed USEFUL to the heir apparent to the Roman Emperor!
My skin prickles with awareness of him.
His hips form a perfect V; his chest seems forged from iron.
I long to touch him.
I long to be possessed by him.
I long to lose all sense of Theodora and be lost in Justinian.
Crazy, impetuous, domineering Justinian. With each word he speaks, I drift deeper into the maelstrom of his mind.
They tell me he has unusual tastes. They tell me I must surrender to him. But as a former courtesan, it’s mostly been ME in charge. I’ve given pleasure to many, secure in my own sensuality, except now THIS…
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May 10, 2016
★★★★★ RELEASE BLITZ ★★★★★ Jade West, Teach Me Dirty
The latest release from my amazing friend Jade West. This is a “must read”!!!
Teach Me Dirty
Author: Jade West
Genre: Erotic Romance
They tell me it’s unhealthy, just a stupid crush. They tell me it’s infatuation, and will never come to anything. Never mean anything.
Because what would I know, right?
I haven’t even finished school. I’m just a silly little girl.
And no little girl should want the things I want from him.
No little girl should have the thoughts I have…
But they’re wrong.
I really do love Mr Roberts.
I love Mr Roberts because he’s the most amazing man, the most amazing artist, the most amazing teacher that could ever have existed.
And what if… just what if Mr Roberts wants me, too?
What if Mr Roberts really does want to Teach Me Dirty?
AMAZON US
AMAZON UK
This wonderful novel gripped me from…
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April 25, 2016
Dealing with Writer’s Block by Lynda Renham
How Lynda Renham has dealt with writers’ block.
I’m very excited to be on the Write Romantics’ blog. Thank you so much for inviting me and for featuring my new novel ‘Perfect Weddings’ which I can now tell you, I never imagined would be finished.
I’m overwhelmed by its success and how much people are enjoying it. It’s the first time I have had so many messages from people telling me this is my best book yet. I have to pinch myself sometimes when I remember how I almost gave up on this book.
I developed that nightmarish thing that us writers despair of, named writers block. Nothing and I mean absolutely nothing seemed to come out of my head. I would sit at the laptop day in 
and day out, praying for something. I’d go for walks. I would sit and cry. I would demand of my cat Bendy, ‘why isn’t it happening?’ But he wasn’t much…
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April 7, 2016
On John Hudspith and Editors and Editing
Mike Chara on John Hudspith, who kicks my writer’s arse all the time.
So I knew Johnny was the editor for me right from the get go, when I was first deciding to write a novel. I had wanted to write this novel several times over a period spanning a decade, but the time was never quite right. So being the [occasional] optimist, even before I put pen [fingers] to paper [keyboard], I started looking into how one goes about producing a novel from start to finish.
This was when I decided that editors were a thing you needed [logic below], found out book covers can be expensive, and avoided as much as possible all the decisions to make on publishing. This was when I visited various ‘editor’ websites; and found some of them splattered with terrible grammar, syntax and even spelling mistakes! One even had an entire paragraph dedicated to how help was given in making sure prose was clear and easily…
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March 26, 2016
Chocolate Erotica
As many of us overindulge in chocolate over the holiday weekend, read this fascinating post from Jan Ruth. Happy Easter, everyone!
Erotica: (from the Greek ἔρως, eros “desire”) is any artistic work that deals substantively with erotically stimulating subject matter. All forms of art may depict erotic content, including painting, sculpture, photography, drama, film, music or literature. Erotica has high-art aspirations, differentiating it from commercial pornography.
How dark can you take it?
High art. Does this apply to chocolate? In my opinion, it applies more to chocolate than a lot of literature. And if chocolate was graded according to fiction then surely it would have to be erotica? Award Winning Cathryn Cariad Chocolates are most certainly the high-art end of chocolate creation, removing themselves from the crude porn of supermarket chocolate bars and divulging our senses of the most sophisticated chocolate experience.
Cathryn Cariad chocolates are not bound by the conventional selection box either. Be prepared to delve into several sub-genres and rest assured that chocolate dragons will be someone’s erotic fantasy, but…
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March 16, 2016
Amazon Takes Aim At Scammers But Hits Authors
Move your TOCs to the front of your books!
Amazon is an extremely innovative company – and usually quite responsive to self-publisher’s concerns – but sometimes it gets things very wrong too.
Today is one of those times.
I’ve received several reports from writers threatened with having books removed from sale, and heard even more worrying stories from others who had their titles actually removed from the Kindle Store without notice.
What were these authors guilty of? What crime did they commit for Amazon to adopt such heavy handed treatment? Something completely innocuous: the Table of Contents was at the rear of their books instead of at the front.
Yep, that’s it.
We’ll get to what might be the root cause of this crackdown in a moment, but Amazon is claiming that having a TOC in the end-matter instead of the front-matter is a breach of the (ever-changing, 100+ pages) Kindle Publishing Guidelines (PDF). Amazon says that rear TOCs result in…
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How To List At $0.00 On Amazon. No Exclusivity Or Price-Matching Required.
This might well be useful…
Mark Williams - The International Indie Author
Free On Amazon! And No, This Is Not A Self-Promo Post.
Yesterday I took one of my Sherlock For Kids titles out of KDP and uploaded to Amazon by another route and listed the price at $0.00.
Today here it is on Amazon at $0.00 with the immortal words “This price was set by the publisher.”
No exclusivity. It’s still on Apple, Kobo, etc.
No Select five days free every ninety days. This is free for just as long as I want it to be.
No going free on other retailers and just hoping Amazon will price-match, or getting friends to tell Amazon there’s a better price elsewhere. In fact it’s still at 0.99 on several retailers, but free on Amazon.
How? By uploading my title to StreetLib, the Italian aggregator (don’t panic, the site is in English!) that in many ways continues to lead the aggregator pack.
StreetLib’s Anne-Catherine…
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