My Life as a Writer

Tomorrow will see the release on Kindle and in Paperback of The Poppy Garden, a project I've been working towards my whole life. It's not quite sunk in yet, from tomorrow my work is public and open to others to read and interpret how they may.   I hope people like it, I hope they enjoy it, most of all I hope it means something to someone. It's strange not having it to work on anymore, that story now at an end its like leaving a piece of you behind in order to move forward.  I have a choice, this was a genre I never intended to write in and soon enough I'll know whether it's a genre I can write, my choice will be what comes next. Its time to start a new story chapter by chapter while The Poppy Garden is out there being read and reviewed by all who are tempted to pick up a copy. But it's not really the end of that story - not the real story anyway. The Poppy Garden was never just one piece of work, one story to tell, it's more about the legacy it com...

Writing a book isn't the hard part, you have the idea, you let the words flow and then, then the hard work begins.   If you are an independent author, like me, you are everything, writer, publisher, marketing, sales etc.  There is no-one else unless you are lucky enough to have a budget to pay for certain services, you are on your own.  The success of your book is based solely on what you can do to raise its profile, get word out there and with any luck entice the reader to buy.   If you have done the basics to get this far, the plotting out of the idea, the writing of the book, proof reading, formatting and cover design then your on your way, but it doesn't stop there it's time to work on the marketing and promotion of your work.   So as an independent how am I going to do this;  Fellow bloggers  - Reviews and Interviews There are a wealth of talented book bloggers out there who will review your book and work with you.  If...

It has been quite a while since I posted here, but to be honest what could I really tell you about the last few months in writing terms?  Not much really, it would be pretty boring to detail how I sat at my desk, or on my laptop and tapped out 26 letters in particular order to create a story.  That's what you expect me to be doing since you know I'm writing a book. A writers life can be pretty lonely, mundane and repetitive.  The only interesting part to the readers of this blog would probably be more about what distracted me from writing not the actual process of typing out the images in my head. So anyway, I didn't bore you and I don't intent to now. The update right now, well The Poppy Garden is complete. It's been around three weeks since I wrote the last words. Finishing a book is a strange sensation, there's elation that you've done what you set out to do, you got all of those words, images, emotions down on piece of paper or in my case saved o...

When you browse through the book shelves or the pages of your favourite website what is it that first attracts you to a book? What is the first thing that catches your eye and draws you in encouraging you to delve deeper and find out if that is the book for you? The Cover is one of the most important elements of attracting readers to your book, it’s the first impression your work will make so it has to be a good one. There’s an art to cover design, a fine balance of the right image, the right text, the right font and the right colours.   It has to convey the story implicitly, in a way that not only catches your eye but promotes the story in its intended form.   I’ve always said I’m not an artist, I’m a creative, I can put pen to paper and weave images but hand me a pencil and ask me to draw and the most you will get is a stick figure.   So for cover design I rely on an artist.   Over the last few years I’ve worked exclusively with Jeanie Henning,...