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...

I started creating stories long before I could write, dolls and teddy bears acted out scenes from my imagination.   I used to play with Star Wars Figures – I had a rather obsessed older brother, in fact he still is – so I guess as he never grew out of his Star Wars obsession, I never grew out of my obsession with storytelling.   My ability to tell stories and the ways in which I tell them has adapted over the years.   I was at a lecture given by the author Anne Cleeves recently, she said she realised at an early age her mind worked differently to others and that she’d come to realise that is what made her a writer.   That struck a chord with me, I’ve always been a little different and that applies to how I think to.   Anne Cleeves described it as having a running narrative in her mind, describing everything she saw as though transcribing a novel in her head.   For me it’s like a living a movie running in my head, I’m always a step away from real li...