Constance Williams's Blog: Absolutely Me, page 3
December 8, 2013
I’m starting to feel vaguely christmassy
I’m starting to feel vaguely christmassy
November 27, 2013
Shonda Brock
Shonda Brock:
Welcome to the official website of author Shonda Brock! Buy her books, read her blog, leave your comments about vampires, Ancient Egypt, and romance…
Shonda Brock: Paranormal Wednesday
Read our feature on Shonda Brock's Paranormal Wednesday here!
November 13, 2013
urlannoying:
urlannoying:
can we just have a snow day that lasts 100,000 years?
i have been...
can we just have a snow day that lasts 100,000 years?
i have been informed that what i’m asking for is another ice age
morg-ana:
cabinporn:
Camp Merriweather, accessible only by...
Camp Merriweather, accessible only by canoe, in the Northeast Kingdom, Vermont.
Contributed by Lauren Lenz.
autumn, astrology ☾✵☽witchcraft,winter
October 31, 2013
Happy Halloween
It's that time of year again, except this time last year, I hadn't published a book in the paranormal genre. Suddenly, Halloween feels... more. Maybe it's because I'm a Brit and, for me at least, Halloween previously has been somewhat overshadowed by Guy Fawkes / Bonfire night.
But! That's neither here nor there. We were on Halloween. And we have some goodies for you.
Currently, and for today only, we're offering a 75% off voucher to buy The Dreamwalker from Smashwords - just use code VF78W! Offer ends at midnight, so hurry!
We've also added extra content to our website. You can see the new page, which includes pictures, and a short companion piece to The Dreamwalker, here
But! That's neither here nor there. We were on Halloween. And we have some goodies for you.
Currently, and for today only, we're offering a 75% off voucher to buy The Dreamwalker from Smashwords - just use code VF78W! Offer ends at midnight, so hurry!
We've also added extra content to our website. You can see the new page, which includes pictures, and a short companion piece to The Dreamwalker, here
October 20, 2013
Kobo - our reaction
If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear
I always held that this was one of the scariest phrases ever uttered. People use it to justify everything that really we should see as being at least a little dodgy.
My reaction to hearing that phrase is generally ‘yeah, right’ – and never more so than this week, though from a different angle than I had anticipated.
This week, Kobo suspended all UK trading of ebooks after hardcore porn was found listed for sale alongside children’s titles on the WH Smith site. In this article on The Guardian website, Kobo was quoted as saying, "When this issue arose in the UK, we felt it necessary first, to immediately remove the titles highlighted, and second, to comprehensively review all self-published titles in our catalogue to ensure that everything on the Kobo store meets our content policy."
The internet has, of course, exploded about freedom of speech and censorship – and rightly so. There has been a petition launched which, at the time of my writing this, has 14,126 signatures. I would highly recommend checking out this blog post by Dalia Daudelin which covers a lot of the issues.
We have been affected by this, along with a whole lot – if not most – other indie authors. This is the point at which I come back to my original comment – because The Dreamwalker is about as far from ‘erotica’ as we can get. Hell, whilst the book is aimed firmly at young adults, our youngest reader is 10 years old and the book has been firmly and wholeheartedly approved by his mother. The nearest it gets to ‘sex’ is a light kiss, and there may be three, possibly four mild swearwords in it. Nothing in the summary, on the cover, or in the text itself suggests that it could be mistaken for anything even slightly ‘dodgy’.
We have done nothing wrong, and yet we have been tarred by the same brush as those other indie authors who published hard-core porn, simply because we chose the same method of publishing. Because it seems that it is the ‘self-publishing’ that is being targeted here, rather than the ‘porn’ aspect – given that traditionally published porn is still available for sale on Kobo.
Regardless of the result of this episode, the loss of trust is inevitable. Kobo dealt with this entire matter very poorly. From what I can see this is technical issue, and as such the blame lies squarely with kobo. Kobo is a technology firm first and foremost. They make e-book readers and the software that handles reading and publishing e-books. With all this technical expertise could they not have invested time and resources in ensuring a comprehensive tagging and indexing system was put in place? Could books not be automatically scanned for keywords of an overtly sexual nature and then be raised for human review?
We have thought long and hard about our reaction to this. What would be appropriate and what we feel is the right thing to do. As a result we have taken the decision that we are pulling our book from Kobo and will not publish through them in the future. Anyone who wants to buy our book for their Kobo, we would suggest that you do so from Smashwords.
We doubt very much that the loss of a single title from an entire online store will make much of a financial impact on Kobo, yet we cannot let this pass without taking action. The treatment of indie authors has been unwarranted and unfair. We have no wish to associate with an organisation which would treat authors in this way. We are hopeful that, regardless of the financial impact of our decision, this move – and those of other indie authors who may come to a similar decision – will be noted by Kobo and other ebook outlets.
We hope that this kind of thing will never happen again.
We hope you understand and support this decision.
I always held that this was one of the scariest phrases ever uttered. People use it to justify everything that really we should see as being at least a little dodgy.
My reaction to hearing that phrase is generally ‘yeah, right’ – and never more so than this week, though from a different angle than I had anticipated.
This week, Kobo suspended all UK trading of ebooks after hardcore porn was found listed for sale alongside children’s titles on the WH Smith site. In this article on The Guardian website, Kobo was quoted as saying, "When this issue arose in the UK, we felt it necessary first, to immediately remove the titles highlighted, and second, to comprehensively review all self-published titles in our catalogue to ensure that everything on the Kobo store meets our content policy."
The internet has, of course, exploded about freedom of speech and censorship – and rightly so. There has been a petition launched which, at the time of my writing this, has 14,126 signatures. I would highly recommend checking out this blog post by Dalia Daudelin which covers a lot of the issues.
We have been affected by this, along with a whole lot – if not most – other indie authors. This is the point at which I come back to my original comment – because The Dreamwalker is about as far from ‘erotica’ as we can get. Hell, whilst the book is aimed firmly at young adults, our youngest reader is 10 years old and the book has been firmly and wholeheartedly approved by his mother. The nearest it gets to ‘sex’ is a light kiss, and there may be three, possibly four mild swearwords in it. Nothing in the summary, on the cover, or in the text itself suggests that it could be mistaken for anything even slightly ‘dodgy’.
We have done nothing wrong, and yet we have been tarred by the same brush as those other indie authors who published hard-core porn, simply because we chose the same method of publishing. Because it seems that it is the ‘self-publishing’ that is being targeted here, rather than the ‘porn’ aspect – given that traditionally published porn is still available for sale on Kobo.
Regardless of the result of this episode, the loss of trust is inevitable. Kobo dealt with this entire matter very poorly. From what I can see this is technical issue, and as such the blame lies squarely with kobo. Kobo is a technology firm first and foremost. They make e-book readers and the software that handles reading and publishing e-books. With all this technical expertise could they not have invested time and resources in ensuring a comprehensive tagging and indexing system was put in place? Could books not be automatically scanned for keywords of an overtly sexual nature and then be raised for human review?
We have thought long and hard about our reaction to this. What would be appropriate and what we feel is the right thing to do. As a result we have taken the decision that we are pulling our book from Kobo and will not publish through them in the future. Anyone who wants to buy our book for their Kobo, we would suggest that you do so from Smashwords.
We doubt very much that the loss of a single title from an entire online store will make much of a financial impact on Kobo, yet we cannot let this pass without taking action. The treatment of indie authors has been unwarranted and unfair. We have no wish to associate with an organisation which would treat authors in this way. We are hopeful that, regardless of the financial impact of our decision, this move – and those of other indie authors who may come to a similar decision – will be noted by Kobo and other ebook outlets.
We hope that this kind of thing will never happen again.
We hope you understand and support this decision.
October 6, 2013
Amia Online Feature
Ever felt you have a novel inside you? Just waiting to emerge onto the page and into the sunlight - to be read in parks, on holidays, on buses, planes and trains around the world? Where does that urge to write come from? Constance Williams talk to Amia Online about her passion for writing and what ignited the author flame inside her....
Mine is not an uncommon story. I discovered my love of writing at a young age. I have vivid memories of sitting at the dining room table, carefully cutting up pieces of paper to the right size, then binding them together with a piece of string. I drew what I considered to be an elaborate front cover in crayon and then carefully wrote out my story inside in pencil. With further illustrations, of course. At five years old, that seemed incredibly important to me, for whom a story without illustrations was unthinkable. Once I was happy with my creation, I proudly presented it to my mother. Who was, of course, gushingly proud of her little girl's achievement.
Countless people have a similar story. I am not unusual. To read and to write are, of course, one of the first things we learn at school. Parents worry if their children do not love the written word. It holds a special place in our society. Words surround us and form an essential part of our lives.
Imagine a world without words. It is almost impossible to envisage, especially in today's fast moving, technological age. From the mundane to the fantastical, the written word is with us every moment of the day.
I err towards the 'fantastical' end of the writing scale, by choice. As a child, I loved nothing more than to lose myself in the endless different worlds which could be found between the pages of a book.
Literature became my refuge as I got older. That happy childhood led to difficult teenage years, where school bullying became a regular and usual occurrence. Struggling with the mundane 'real world', fiction was my escape. My way of leaving my own life and entering another's, where I could take on the role of the hero or heroine for a time. I immersed myself, often reading two or three books at a time. Taking a job in the school library helped to fuel my 'habit'.
I began to carry around a notebook and pen - so that I could scribble down ideas for characters and plotlines as they occurred to me (a habit which I retain to this day - much to the despair of my husband at the size of my handbag!) I wrote stories that, at that time, were never read by anyone. The creation in itself was enough.
I have always found writing to be its own reward. One that is quite separate from publishing. For years, I wrote for my own pleasure or for the pleasure of a very small number of people. I have, over the years, been part of small groups of writers. People who may or may not be working towards their own publishing goals, but in the meantime all want to enjoy writing for its own sake.
As a published novelist, I do appreciate those days. Where the emphasis was simply on the satisfaction of creation. Of crafting an interesting and enjoyable storyline, without the pressure of deadlines or word counts. Without knowing that the words that you put down on that page will be critiqued and corralled by an editor.
I started writing with my co-author, Lillian Bishop, some years ago now. We met through one of those writers' groups and our compatible styles and ideas lead us to start writing together. Our seemingly endless well of work then led us to seriously look at publishing. That was our first introduction to the editing process.
Sitting here today, I will be the first to admit that our work is a hundred times better, having gone through the editing process. That objective reviewing, rejecting and rewriting process is invaluable.
My own view, though, is that writing is a joy. It is my passion. It is something that, when I am not doing it, I feel like a piece of my life, my soul is missing. I could not imagine a world in which I was not writing.
Editing, on the other hand, is a job. It is a discipline. It is something which I do because I respect the opinions of our editor, and the help she gives us to make a good story great. To publish my work, I would never have one without the other. The sense of pride I have in a fully edited manuscript makes the work side of things so worthwhile.
Yet, there is something truly magical about writing for nothing more than simply fun. To not have the pressure of knowing that the words you put down on the page will be read and judged and commented on by strangers. Where the only person you have to please is yourself. I could have stayed there in the "easy" world, with no expectations or requirements.
Then I remember myself as a younger girl. The solace I found in fiction back then. How it made my life so much better. How I know I am far from the only one. My co-writer and I write for teenagers now. We create new worlds, that people can escape into. Worlds where nothing is impossible. Everyone needs to get away some times- however old they are.
And there's nothing wrong with that
Originally posted at Amia Online
Mine is not an uncommon story. I discovered my love of writing at a young age. I have vivid memories of sitting at the dining room table, carefully cutting up pieces of paper to the right size, then binding them together with a piece of string. I drew what I considered to be an elaborate front cover in crayon and then carefully wrote out my story inside in pencil. With further illustrations, of course. At five years old, that seemed incredibly important to me, for whom a story without illustrations was unthinkable. Once I was happy with my creation, I proudly presented it to my mother. Who was, of course, gushingly proud of her little girl's achievement.
Countless people have a similar story. I am not unusual. To read and to write are, of course, one of the first things we learn at school. Parents worry if their children do not love the written word. It holds a special place in our society. Words surround us and form an essential part of our lives.
Imagine a world without words. It is almost impossible to envisage, especially in today's fast moving, technological age. From the mundane to the fantastical, the written word is with us every moment of the day.
I err towards the 'fantastical' end of the writing scale, by choice. As a child, I loved nothing more than to lose myself in the endless different worlds which could be found between the pages of a book.
Literature became my refuge as I got older. That happy childhood led to difficult teenage years, where school bullying became a regular and usual occurrence. Struggling with the mundane 'real world', fiction was my escape. My way of leaving my own life and entering another's, where I could take on the role of the hero or heroine for a time. I immersed myself, often reading two or three books at a time. Taking a job in the school library helped to fuel my 'habit'.
I began to carry around a notebook and pen - so that I could scribble down ideas for characters and plotlines as they occurred to me (a habit which I retain to this day - much to the despair of my husband at the size of my handbag!) I wrote stories that, at that time, were never read by anyone. The creation in itself was enough.
I have always found writing to be its own reward. One that is quite separate from publishing. For years, I wrote for my own pleasure or for the pleasure of a very small number of people. I have, over the years, been part of small groups of writers. People who may or may not be working towards their own publishing goals, but in the meantime all want to enjoy writing for its own sake.
As a published novelist, I do appreciate those days. Where the emphasis was simply on the satisfaction of creation. Of crafting an interesting and enjoyable storyline, without the pressure of deadlines or word counts. Without knowing that the words that you put down on that page will be critiqued and corralled by an editor.
I started writing with my co-author, Lillian Bishop, some years ago now. We met through one of those writers' groups and our compatible styles and ideas lead us to start writing together. Our seemingly endless well of work then led us to seriously look at publishing. That was our first introduction to the editing process.
Sitting here today, I will be the first to admit that our work is a hundred times better, having gone through the editing process. That objective reviewing, rejecting and rewriting process is invaluable.
My own view, though, is that writing is a joy. It is my passion. It is something that, when I am not doing it, I feel like a piece of my life, my soul is missing. I could not imagine a world in which I was not writing.
Editing, on the other hand, is a job. It is a discipline. It is something which I do because I respect the opinions of our editor, and the help she gives us to make a good story great. To publish my work, I would never have one without the other. The sense of pride I have in a fully edited manuscript makes the work side of things so worthwhile.
Yet, there is something truly magical about writing for nothing more than simply fun. To not have the pressure of knowing that the words you put down on the page will be read and judged and commented on by strangers. Where the only person you have to please is yourself. I could have stayed there in the "easy" world, with no expectations or requirements.
Then I remember myself as a younger girl. The solace I found in fiction back then. How it made my life so much better. How I know I am far from the only one. My co-writer and I write for teenagers now. We create new worlds, that people can escape into. Worlds where nothing is impossible. Everyone needs to get away some times- however old they are.
And there's nothing wrong with that
Originally posted at Amia Online
October 3, 2013
Books should be smelly
More in the line of 'released' updates. This one feels a little different though. At long last, The Dreamwalker is available in paperback! We've had so many people ask us when the paperback will be released. We're sorry it's taken this long, but paperback publishing is rather more involved than e-publishing.
It's been a wait, but that day is now here. You can now get your paperback copy of The Dreamwalker through Amazon here!
It's been a wait, but that day is now here. You can now get your paperback copy of The Dreamwalker through Amazon here!
Absolutely Me
This blog is a mixture of updates about my books and random ramblings which occur to me. There is probably little rhyme or reason to what goes in here, and at times I can get a little verbose. Feel fr
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