Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 37

You are cordially invited – Book Launch for Happiness Matters

You are cordially invited to the official launch of my new book Happiness Matters. 

 

To coincide with the extended release date, next Monday 19th June, you are cordially invited to a book launch for Happiness Matters. We are having an evening get-together at Thistle Foundation’s Edinburgh offices from 6 – 8pm. There will be drinks and snacks, conversation and books! You are all most welcome to come along.

Writing a book about happiness is not everyone’s flute of bubbly, nor even their cup...

Review of Trapped by Sam Keane

This morning I received a review of Trapped by Sam Keane.

I’ll let Sam speak for himself.

‘My name is Sam I’m a young adult battling Cerebral Palsy.

For my final project for English class we had an assignment to write about a non-fiction book.  I wanted to do my assignment based on something real, something I could directly relate to in a strong way.

I chose to write about life with Cerebral Palsy and some of the choices and consequences involved. The choices and consequences weren’t just ab...

Easy peasy lemon squeezy

Easy peasy lemon squeezy

Indie publishing is great fun. We get to see our baby take shape, totter its first steps, and, in the midst of updates, changes and design decisions, we can really see the potential of a new product, our new product.

So why, when the process – which is like taking a hundred small steps on spider-web silk – is such fun (easy peasy lemon squeezy…) , and so interesting, do I also find it knackering? I think I may have found an answer.

It’s because there are so many proce...

‘Philomena’ by Martin Sixsmith

Book Review – ‘Philomena’ by Martin Sixsmith

 

This is a relatively fat book, written by a very reputable journalist with an engaging and informative style, so I was really looking forward to it. Despite hints in the subject matter – tales of the Magdalene Sister slaves having now come into public awareness – that all would not be well, I looked forward to reading about Philomena and learning about her life.

Interestingly, this account is about so much more than one woman, and exposes the de...

Amazon CS or IngramSpark

To add to the ongoing debate about whether to source our books from Amazon CS or IngramSpark…

I have ordered two proof copies of my new book, Happiness Matters, one from Amazon’s CreateSpace and the other from IngramSpark, the ‘publishers self publisher’ which is widely used for extended distribution.

How do the paper copies compare?

Amazon CreateSpace

Quick delivery if you opt for the priority or express delivery but expensive for a proof copy, and no reason that I can see to downgrade ‘stan...

Waiting to see

Waiting to see

In the midst of setting up the paperback of Happiness Matters for publication, I find myself quite literally waiting to see what it looks like. I have ordered a first proof from CreateSpace, and another proof copy from IngramSpark and I will be delighted, as well as intrigued, when they arrive. How will they compare? Which copy will have the edge? I’ll let you know.

It isn’t just publication that is now waiting for the next stages. Lots of other things in my life seem to be ha...

Publishing step by step

Publishing step by step

My main aim, with publishing step by step, is to acquire some basic knowledge about how self-publishing works, with all the details included and ticked off from an incredibly long list, one at a time. Do one thing, and two more beg to be taken care of…

Not so very long ago, undertaking a task of this web-like intricacy would have given me nightmares; and I take it as a sign of real progress that these days, I am happy to plod on, meeting and dealing with first this st...

Reading Joanna Trollope

Reading Joanna Trollope’s The Soldier’s Wife I come across this passage early on, which had me leaping out of bed

‘….Dan had said that deployment on active service made you long for extremes, either the supreme domesticity of home when you were away from it or the violence of action and danger when you were back. You couldn’t halt the pendulum, he said, you couldn’t stop it crashing from side to side, often out of control. Even if it sometimes hit her – or the children – as it swung….’

Someth...

Being happy as defiance

Being happy as defiance

I’m well aware that, writing a book about how to be happy, I’m likely to come in for a certain amount of stick from certain quarters. Hey, even my internal critic has a go at me sometimes, What the hell do you know, sitting in your ivory tower while the world is going to Hell in a hand-basket. Grow up!

Apart from the context, that I have been – was – depressed for many years and found a way to claw out of that; Apart from the realisation that writers write about thing...

Reading Books

Reading Books

So in the midst of a busy Tuesday – riding, laundry, shopping – last week I went to the library and quickly collected four books, all different, and so far, all good. If you want to see what they are, visit Goodreads where I have updated my ‘currently reading’ shelf.

The interesting thing is, so far, that apart from being grateful that they are all good enough to keep me reading to the end – some are better than merely good – these books have all, in their varying ways, reminded...