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Wednesday, 6 August 2014
Finishing a Book is Like Selling a House. It's All in the Detail.
Saturday, 19 July 2014
Writing is a Journey of Self-Discovery.
As I near publication next month of "Staying Strong" my memoir of breakdown, I know how relevant the self-discovery journey is to writers. Certainly I've had some big self-discoveries during the writing of this book. Understandable you may say, but isn't all writing about putting a little of your own heart and soul into your story, no matter what that story may be? And in so doing don't we discover truths or other aspects of ourselves previously not conscious?
I believe this is true for all artists, and thinkers . As we pour forth and pick over ourselves and our worlds, we 'allow' for more information to follow through, as the door widens ever more.
As writers and artists we must continue the journey of self-discovery our entire lives or risk becoming stale and boring. We need to hone our writing skills, our craft itself, the nuts and bolts of what we do, how to put together a great book or journal article, and also market, promote and sell etc if we're self-published, like me. But wait, more importantly, we need to uncover and understand more of ourselves.
I get fired up by such possibilities and potential discoveries. I'm a knowledge seeker and lover and can be inspired at any given moment to investigate an unknown thing, to uncover the magic and power of understanding.
I love it when this happens, when answers to questions come, when things unclear attain clarity. Sometimes I can work on a project but sense that in some way for me it is incomplete. It can be so close to completion yet that feeling remains, then as if by magic or design, I come across a piece of information, knowledge, a discovery, that explains everything, and changes me. It's the "aha" moment when the fog lifts and thoughts clear.
Writing a memoir is a mega journey of self-discovery. I knew it would be to some extent, and it has surprised me. It has taken a long time to discover what I wanted to know, 16 years in fact, and maybe I could have found my answers earlier, maybe not. Maybe it was all in the timing. In the end, what I discovered about myself has been life changing; beautiful, special and amazing. Imagine that.
Back in February I wrote a post entitled "Staying Strong" The Changing Names of a Memoir Part of that post described my journey through the book title changes I went through until I came to "Staying Strong" after reading this quote on Facebook. I was nearing the end of the first draft when I saw the quote and it was then that I had the first "aha" moment associated with the book. The title "Staying Strong" perfectly described how I felt before, during and after my experience but also portrayed a person full of inner strength.
Acceptance of myself and of what had happened to me and why had come to me via a very powerful quote. I felt more certain that what I was writing about would be okay. Memoirs after all are very self-exposing and therefore carry inherent risks. Was I really prepared to do this? I was, because I wasn't doing it just for me.
Then in April I had another insight on my journey of self-discovery which brought everything together for "Staying Strong" and for me. Whilst Pinteresting one day -I love Pinterest remember- and during conversations with my daughters, I came across personality information from Myers-Briggs Personality Type that seemed to scream "me". I already knew some of my personality type, don't we all, but the complete picture was very illuminating indeed and provided the second "aha" and explained so much about why I had had a breakdown as well.
Now I could finish my book feeling satisfied I'd put as much as I could into it. I'd covered all my bases, dotted my i's and crossed my t's for the story and as a bonus, for me.
This is why I love writing. It gives me a sense of wholeness and wellness, completion. It's not only from a memoir that I get this, it's from any writing that I do which I've carefully considered and constructed, which has sprung from my heart and been delivered thoughtfully to the page.
This creation is a journey, an inviting journey of self-discovery, one not to be taken for granted, for it is truly amazing and soul inspiring.
STAYING STRONG A Memoir. Coming soon to Amazon, Barnes and Noble (Nook), Kobo, iTunes, Scribd, and more, many more.......
Have an inspiring week everyone,
Leonie
Sunday, 13 July 2014
Writers: Get Your Fix, and Feast on Pinterest. 6 Pins to get You through the Week.
Have a great week everyone,
Saturday, 5 July 2014
Off With a Ducati Roar on Holiday whilst Celebrating, Reminiscing and Researching.
I'm back.
I've been away holidaying, celebrating, reminiscing and researching, hence no post last week. I had no internet access yahoo, sorry for the pun, and mobile (cell) phone coverage was reduced to isolated pockets. It was wonderful.
I took my gadgets with me expecting to use them, indeed need them, but what I found was the glorious opposite. After 24 hours without I was relieved to be living independently of them. How little it takes.
Personally, I could easily live this way, far from the hustle and bustle and demands of modern day life, if someone else took care of the basics for me. I very much enjoyed living in the technology-free lane if only for 4 days. I glimpsed again how pressured and goal orientated life has become. Give me the 'good old days' like childhood, when now, as a mature adult those days were full of magic, wonder and awe, when everything was slow. Ahhh, nostalgia.
But wait, maybe it's BECAUSE I'm a mature adult that everything seems fast now. Oh dear and sigh, as realisation comes and I shake my head!
And speaking of fast, there are some fast things in life not to be missed. Whilst away, I had the great fortune to ride pillion on a magnificent red Ducati ST4s. For 3 hours last Sunday I sat thrilled and sometimes terrified as 3 of us snaked our way on 2 bikes around some narrow country roads and open highways. What an awesome day and a very special treat, one I wasn't going to miss for anything, except bad weather, of course. We did go very fast.
This week has also seen my eldest daughter move back 'across the ditch' to Dunedin in New Zealand, Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud, land of our birth. We came here to Oz 24 years ago, but home always calls. Those 24 years have passed faster than my childhood.
When it comes to reminiscing, part of my holiday was to do just that, as I wrote in my previous post. My friend Liz and I had travelled Europe in a kombi van during 1975 and 1976 and I needed her memories for my next series of books. Out came the old photo albums and as always, she remembered people, places and events that I didn't. Her information will be invaluable in recreating our story and adventure.
Last but not least amongst all of this I turned 60, a 'mature' adult. A joke really because I believe in fairies. And fast bikes, mostly without me on them but occasionally I'll go along for the ride because that's where you can find something extra, in life, and in yourself.
See you next week, and have a good one,
Leonie.
Saturday, 21 June 2014
How's Your Global Indie Publishing this Year?
I thought I might ask this question because we're now half way through 2014 and each year self-publishing becomes more intense. It seems that more is expected of indie authors with regards to book and self promotion and marketing. Is this good or bad? In my view it depends on whether you put pressure on yourself to keep up with developments, and whether it's easy for you or not.
Personally, I'd love to have my books in every new estore that opens, and there are more by the day. Markets have been opening in Asia, Russia, Africa and Europe where there are many English speaking readers who, through estores, have access to our books like never before.
But here's the rub. It's up to us to place our books in these stores. As if we didn't have enough to do! Sure, we're making ourselves known using social media etc., but if we need to do more and more distribution, promotion and marketing, we're left with less time for writing. How does this work? Ultimately, the pendulum will move from Write 80% Promote 20%, to less than Write 80%. Or, do we employ assistants for covers, editing, promotion and marketing? Oops, that's already happening. Well then, let's all set up our own publishing houses? And here we are back at square one. This is probably how the very first books were written and published methinks.
Please forgive me, I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering where indie publishing might be going. In the recent good ole' days all we had to do was write a book ( a good one of course), upload it to Amazon and leave it to the powers that be to do the rest. As you may have guessed, I don't like promotion and marketing. Let's face it, it's not the most romantic aspect of writing. I'd rather write and upload, sigh.
Then, there was only Amazon, now there's more, much more, so I mustn't grumble. As well as Amazon, I also have my books listed through Draft2Digital where they appear on Kobo, iTunes, B&N's Nook and now this week on Scribd, with more to come. Draft2Digital is more user friendly than Smashwords, and although I haven't used Smashwords yet, I do have an account and will upload books there soon because they have a wider range of stores.
There are a multitude of other estores to upload your books to. I discovered just how global you can be when I subscribed to E Book Bargains UK Blog. Some stores are accessible through Smashwords, some you have to access yourself. That's where my distribution stops.
Because I can't spend a lot of time writing, I spend less time on promotion, so I have to weigh my odds and stick to what I CAN do. I can best use MY time writing and uploading to Amazon, Draft2Digital, and Smashwords, and tell you all about it via this blog, Twitter and Google+.
Everyone has a way which works for them. Thank goodness for the digital age and the ability to self publish. How many of us would never have realised our dream of writing if we'd been born before this time?
I for one wouldn't be on the brink of publishing my 9th book, "Staying Strong". That's right, everything is complete except for my beta reader to finish, and editing. I even have a cover sorted. I'm excited!
My crystal book is "coming along", and I have started preparing for a new series. In September 1975 my girlfriend and I set off in a kombi van from Arnhem in Holland, and spent a year traveling Europe. We were in our early 20's and had "the time of our lives". It was a great adventure. We traveled through Germany, Luxembourg, France, Andorra, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
My travel buddy and I remain close friends 40 years later, and I shall be seeing her next weekend, partly to celebrate my upcoming 60th birthday Yay!, and partly to reminisce over and garner stories for this series. I've already gone over my old scrap book and photo album, and have begun to plan.
With that it's time to sign off. Wishing you all a great weekend,
Leonie
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Are You DIFFERENT? Are You UNIQUE? Then HOORAY! You're OKAY.
What I wrote then was about finding peace in a world where being different is hard to accept, for me and for others. Me, I'm a serious lone wolf. I prefer my own company in a quiet, secluded environment, away from the demands of the world, to the extreme. I dislike going out, and prefer the company of my 2 fur babies Winnie and Hunny, who you've met, to that of visitors and other people. Mostly all I need is my peaceful, beautiful garden to gaze upon and stroll through. I write, often from my veranda, or from my office/guest bedroom which overlooks the garden. I also read, research and crochet from the veranda, or garden and play with the dogs when I can. I go out only when I must. Now I'm not being rude. It's just how I am. But some people don't understand that about me, and I'm okay with that, now. It wasn't always that way.
Many people would consider my lifestyle unhealthy, weird, sad or worse. Few would think I live an idyllic life in subtropical eastern Australia, by the beach.
My personal experience is that my way of 'being' sits outside the majority way, and other people seem to have a need to rope me in like a stray from the herd. You have to belong or you're an outsider. Being an outsider can be uncomfortable and create issues for all parties, but for some it's our path.
If you're an outsider, different in some way but not necessarily a lone wolf, you've no doubt felt pressure from the masses to fit in at some stage in your life. My mum, bless her, always pressured me when I was a teenager. She tried to get me involved in activities, to 'join in' and be gregarious. I tried for years, believing I 'should', because everyone else was. I hated and resented it, only wanting to be with a good friend or 2. I wasn't okay then.
Teenage years were testing enough and even as a young adult I somehow felt the differentness was a fault, my fault, and I should change it. I set about attempting to change, living out and believing in the life of others yet always searching for me. I looked outside of myself for peace and happiness, but because I couldn't find it, I kept finding it for my nearest and dearest, thinking I'd find mine too.
I knew I wanted and needed space, but how do you achieve that when you have a family? And I wasn't even clear what space meant to me. I'd been brought up to be the same as everyone else but knew I wasn't. On the outside I looked similar to everyone, on the inside there was a power struggle between the real me and the pretend me. Trouble was, even as an adult I couldn't tell which was which.
Then my children grew up and left home. I would be alone. I couldn't wait, and I LOVE it! (I love them too and they know it). These years are heaven and have given me the space to uncover me and my differentness. Maybe I'm a slow learner in that I've not understood myself sooner, but some just don't. Maybe I've got such depth that it takes longer to explore me??? :) I like exploring and excavating all sorts of things including myself and these pursuits take time. That's how I'm most happy, how I'm at peace, when I'm okay. It's my natural state of being.
Accepting being different, i.e being at peace with who I am has not been easy. It's an ongoing and evolving process. Recently my process hit a major roadblock. I've had to stop and take stock of a big chunk of my life, again. It's harder being a lone wolf because I'm more self reliant than other people and have to make important decisions myself more often than not. There's a risk of becoming too alone, so I need to be aware of myself. Currently I'm learning to evolve, learning not to repeat mistakes made in the past. I'm learning more everyday about me, what feels good, what works for me, therefore what's right for me, not what's right for others anymore.
If you're reading this and going "What the...?" then you're OKAY already, HOORAY. If my words gel with you and you feel different, take heart. Being different is okay just as much. If you can accept that, you've got yourself in the right frame of mind. Set about supporting you as that person, loving your uniqueness, and see it as a gift that no-one else has.
Being different often means being a lone wolf and therefore being disinclined to join support groups or clubs or online chat groups for help. It's like knowing that visitors are coming; you've got to be there for them, be responsive and alert, when all you really want to do is ignore everyone and be left alone. Often it's hard to find what you're looking for about yourself but these days the internet offers so much information without ever becoming involved. Personality tests such as Myers-Briggs are excellent and fun, yet serious ways to get insight into yourself. I did it and was blown away by what I discovered.
I also ask myself these questions from time to time. The answers keep my happiness, my differentness on track.
- What do I like?
- What makes me happy?
- What is fun?
- What is good?
- Where is good?
- Who is good?
Maybe there's a book here one day.
At the moment I'm catching up on some leisure-time reading, mostly when I've gone to bed. I've started on R D Brady's The Belial Stone series and am loving it.
That's it from me and Winnie and Hunny for this week, have a great weekend everyone,
Leonie
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Blogging's YaYs Outweigh YuKs.
- Improved book writing. Through writing my own and reading other peoples' blogs, I've learned a great deal about honing and cleaning up my skill. For example, my use of adverbs is now almost non-existent YaY! This is a biggie because I'm not a trained writer and I've climbed some steep mountains in the past year to become acquainted with the craft.
- I'm persistent. I love writing. Sometimes I'm unable to write much for health reasons, but if I keep my blog going I'm still writing and improving my writing. I'm not giving up, and writing a once a week post is do-able.
- Good discipline. It's a little like being persistent. Blogging is writing, and being disciplined about writing is always a plus.
- Information. Blogging has opened up a wonderful world of bloggers and their information. If I hadn't started blogging and following other blogs I'd never have discovered so much helpful information on writing.
- Helps with organisational skills. Blog posts need to be planned and organised. I'm not too good at this one yet, but there's been significant improvement in the past year. I used to have no plan and just write. Now I'm more organised and have a plan which I think of and add to during the week before a post.
- Communication. I can write in my p.j.'s if I want to. I can write anytime, anywhere and no-one knows. Blogging is a means of remaining private whilst going public.
- Social media. Social media is wonderful! Now I can communicate my thoughts and ideas across the planet with a click of my mouse button. I can tell the world, via my blog, about progress with upcoming books or how my week's been. If the world wants to know that is.
- Time. Blogging takes up way more time than it should. When I think about it I almost shudder. Some say half an hour is all you need per post. I don't. Mine are magnum opi, time wise. I won't tell you how much time I spend each week on a post. Maybe it's because I'm a 2 finger typist?
- Pantster. There's that word again. Pantster. AKA 'fly by the seat of your pants'. I'd love to have my posts planned before they are written. And even though I'm improving, even though I now prepare before post day and have a draft ready, I often rearrange the post, like today.
- Not my favourite. Sadly, blogging is not my favourite writing exercise. Despite all the benefits it brings to writers, and I firmly believe it does, remember visibility, I'd rather be doing something else.
- But it's growing on me!