The Perfect Plan for Indie Authors. Who's Got It?

Image: melbourneseoservices.com

What's your plan indeed? Everyone's plan is different, there is no "one plan fits all scenario", yet each of us is working on our own perfect plan and we take bits from here and there to suit us best. Joanna Penn has a good plan. http://www.thecreativepenn.com/entrepreneur/ and many useful links to further sites.

As an indie author I had BIG plans when I first started writing full-time a year ago. Since then I've published 8 books which is not a bad effort, although I know it could have been more, much more. I have CFS though which means I write when I can, and that amounts to about 6-8 hours a week including this blog. I didn't plan it that way, but that's how it happened. I wanted to write more, more, more, to allow all the ideas in my head to reach the keyboard and eventually the world wide web.

And of course, I had dreams of living off my new found wealth. That hasn't happened yet, but I'm only 8 books and 1 year in, so still consider myself a newbie indie.

Before publishing my first book I read lots of "How To" downloads and ebooks. This one was brilliant http://www.amazon.com.au/Publish-Repeat-No-Luck-Required-Self-Publishing-Success-ebook/dp/B00H26IFJS, and this http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Sell-Nonfiction-Kindle-Books-ebook/dp/B00BSG

I set up this blog and several social media accounts which were a new experience for me. I informed myself straight up on the best way to set up a platform, to make myself known. I'm an introvert who likes anonymity, ha ha ha, so you can imagine the quandary I found myself in. Maybe it's a writerly thing? Leave me alone, I want to stay home and write, I don't want to be in the public eye?

But thank God or whoever for the digital age.You can hide, sort of, and be out there at the same time. And if it wasn't for for the e-age, I and so many others would never have had the opportunity to publish our work. I love having information at my fingertips and to be in control of my output. Now anyone can write and self publish. Of course, it helps to write quality, and not flood the market with crap. I hope I don't.

Everyday there are more avenues opening for our books. There's no longer just Amazon. http://ebookbargainsuk.wordpress.com/ is a great site with the latest on new stores and how to get your ebooks listed. And then yesterday this email arrived from one of the Google Circles I'm in. http://dcakers123.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/free-book-submission-made-easy-what-took-so-long/. This is next on my "To Do" list. A step by step guide to getting you ebooks listed for FREE. ebooks stores are global now and it's easier than ever to have your books everywhere, and you should, to optimise exposure, readership and income.

Earlier in the month this came in from the same Google Circle. Another excellent step by step strategy to bring in the sales and the money. http://okdork.com/2014/05/07/10-marketing-tactics-to-net-41000-downloads-on-amazon/?hvid=2FYO01 I've got this on my "To Do" list as well. When I get around to both these plans is unknown, but they are planned. CFS remember.

This week luckily I stuck to my plan. In the 6-8 hours of writing I've done more "Staying Strong" editing. I had hoped to publish "Staying Strong" by June, but maybe in June now. Such is the way with plans. They do need to be flexible, not set in concrete.

Also, the Crystal book is firing along quite nicely. It's different from "Staying Strong" in every way. I'ts a guide book, not a story, and it has no plot, characters or theme! But I had a crazy idea one day and it's being transferred into this book. Of all my boards on Pinterest, Crystal Healing is the most popular, so my idea stems from there. I can't say when it will be out either, but you will be kept up to date.

That's it for this week.

Happy weekend everyone,

Leonie

Creative Nonfiction is as Good as Fiction: Show it Well and Don't just Tell It.

 I'm a writer of Creative Nonfiction and I love it. It's not the dry, dreary, boring or poor second cousin of fiction, but when written well, is just as vibrant, exciting and page turning. I love making my stories entertaining and informative and hope to enrich and excite readers' lives through the reading of those stories. And surely this is what good fiction aims for too, especially if you show and not just tell.

Just telling a story is not enough, in fact it's downright boring and I myself will put that book down fast. When you show me a story, i.e. bring it to life in my imagination, I'll read it with all that I've got. 

This is especially true for creative nonfiction. I've read some wonderful stories long and short that, to me, are excellent examples of the what the genre is all about. Coming Clean by Kimberley Rae Miller is a memoir about a child growing up in a house of hoarders. The book and her writing style are very contemporary examples of creative nonfiction. 

As is this very short piece First Kiss by Sharon Lippincott. It's only 474 words, but speaks volumes and paints pictures and images so beautiful they linger much longer in the memory than the words alone. 

Let's look a little deeper. Creative nonfiction has all the Elements of Fiction: characters, plot, theme, setting and style.   

One of my first forays into creative nonfiction was a short ebook called Hi, I'm Winnie. Winnie is my very clever Labradoodle. She dictated the book to me and insisted it be written in her voice. The book became a series of 4 and  included Hunny, my other Labradoodle.

When I write my creative nonfiction stories, I use all of the Elements of Fiction. For example:

~ characters ~ Winnie and Hunny

~ plot ~ everyday funny, quirky happenings and challenges only dogs can have

~ theme ~ Winnie and Hunny's lives

~ setting ~ our backyard, our town, the beach

~ style ~ humorous, 1st person dog perspective

First and foremost I need colourful and interesting characters with issues, who readers fall in love with or hate, and whose personalities evolve and enrich reader's imaginations.

There needs to be a plot which takes readers on a journey and has an ending, a theme which is engaging and page turning, and a setting vivid enough in print to bring images to mind.

Then I like to use charming humour for these short stories because it's perfect for gorgeous fur-babies who've written their own books :)

Just as much effort goes into the work of my books, into creative nonfiction in general, just as much research, just as much blood sweat and, oh yes tears, as goes into fiction. Follow the same process and structure, write, edit and question what stays in and what goes. Edit more, fine tune again and again, and at some point there is a book which you're happy with and is ready and good enough for publication. 

The technicalities are the same, yes, and nowadays the products are pretty damned good too. 

And that's it. The essence of writing either fiction or creative nonfiction is the same. Whether the story is made up or whether it's true life doesn't matter, it must be able to show not just tell. Creative nonfiction does that now too.  

Next week: Updates on "Staying Strong" and the crystal book

Have a great weekend everyone

Leonie

Your Spare 5 minutes: Do You Write or Relax?

Yikes! As I got into bed last night (Wednesday 9.30pm) in Australia, I realised it was IWSG's monthly blog post and I has nothing prepared. I'd missed posting last month due to unforseen circumstances, and if I missed this month as well I could get the chop from the blog hop.

Fast forward 15 hours. I'm now sitting in hospital waiting for an MRI, having last night planned to write this post whilst waiting to see if I could fill the time productively rather than flipping through magazines and checking the clock to see how many 5 minutes I've been here. I wanted to see how much I could achieve in 5 minutes.

I have it on good author authority that every 5 minutes of spare time counts, and if you've got it, you could be thinking about, taking notes for, or writing your next article, short story, novel etc.

Personally, I dislike this idea. Firstly because I doubt anyone could do much creatively in 5 minutes. Prove me wrong if you can. It seems to me that it would take as long if not more, to get the ipad, iphone, tablet, or goodness me pen and paper out, then the thought processes organised, let alone get any constuctive work done, notes taken or words written. By the time I've ummed and ahhed and organised myself 5 minutes is up, game over. (sigh)

Secondly, I dislike the idea because we're already busy and pressured enough. Why fill life with more of the same?

Instead, I say, take 5 and relax, chill out, take some deep breaths, take a brief walk. I'm sure my/your creativity will benefit more from this activity than trying to squash in extra writing productivity.

So you've guessed it, I'm not into grabbing 5 minutes to write whilst waiting for a meeting to start or between train stops (yes seriously, author authority remember).

By the time I finished writing this at the hospital half an hour was up. I had chosen to take pen and paper although I could have taken my tablet or used my phone. I'm happy I made the old school choice as no one else was fiddling with any device whatsoever, as I suspected, and old school made me feel right at home.

Here then is to however, wherever and whenever we write.

Write on writers!

Cheers,

Leonie

Can Ice-Cream save the Great Barrier Reef? Will it? Decisions.

Can ice cream save the Great Barrier Reef? It would be a first, but why not? Stranger things have happened, like a government boycott on ice-cream. What the?

The Queensland Government's Environment Minister Andrew Powell has accused Ben and Jerry's of  "false and misleading" statements regarding threats to the Great Barrier Reef.  In fact, Australians are being urged to boycott the brand altogether. I believe Ben and Jerry's sales have sky rocketed in the past week. Good on ya Ben and Jerry's, I'm with you.

These days there are many worthy causes, fights to fight, opinions to voice, and serious decisions to make such as which side of the Great Barrier Reef issue do you take; do you Save the Arctic, the Whales, the Bimblebox or do you simply sit on the fence and take no notice of any of these?

Many of us take a stand in one way or another, often unawares that we do, and I don't mean voicing opinions opininatedly (I doubt there's such a word but it fits what I mean here). I mean that in every given moment of every day we make decisions about what happens next based on what happened before.

What happened before could be anything in our personal experience. For example, what we "learned" from our parents, teachers, friends or acquaintances in the form of love, advice, pain, habits etc. We tend to follow what we've always followed, and therefore decide what we've always decided. Life's comfortable that way.

But what happens when challenges come along and life throws a spanner in the works? It will happen, someday.

What do you do when say, The Great Barrier Reef is under threat of being poisoned by dredge spoil? Well, probably not a lot because for most it's on the other side of the planet. It's not affecting you, you can't see it, someone else will take care of it. If you live on the Reef's doorstep there's a higher chance of action.

What do you do if you currently live in Ukraine or Russia? I'm sure you'll be doing a lot of worrying if nothing else. You may have decisions forced on you, and have major decisions to make.

It's all relative. It's all about where we are at any given place and time. For some of us, decisions and actions are non-negotiable, they must be taken. For others, there is a choice.

In my own little world, I discovered this morning that my sweet Winnie woof probably has epilepsy, and that I may have some decisions to make regarding her future well being. She is only young at 2 and 1/2. I've been through fur-baby epilepsy before with another dog I had many years ago. Sadly, his fits became so bad I made the decision to let him go to fur-baby heaven. He too was only young.

Maybe medical advances will ensure a better future for Winnie, as I'm not wanting to make a decision for her based on one I made in the past.

Winnie's 1st birthday photo with birthday ribbon round her neck.

Now I'm off to have a chat with the vet. Then it's back to head down, fingers on the keyboard and onward with the Crystal Healing book.

Until next week, have a great weekend everyone, and enjoy some ice-cream.

Leonie, Winnie and Hunny.

Write Then, It's Time to Write Again.

                                        image Susan Smith

There's been a writing hiatus here lately. Events have unfolded in the past month that have kept me away from "Staying Strong" but which have required me to do just that. I'm now chomping at the bit to continue with my memoir, and have had a brilliant idea about another ebook on my "to write" list.

It's on the healing benefits of crystals, but with a clever twist, which I'm not about to reveal, of course.

Many years ago I was a practicing Crystal Healer, along with other natural therapies, and I still use crystals daily. My post from February 2 talks about crystals; Now for Something Entirely Different: Crystals.and my Crystal Healing board on Pinterest, (see it also on the sidebar), has the most re-Pins of all of my boards, making it the most popular. So why not put this book at the top of the list I thought to myself?

Now crystals don't appeal to everyone, I understand that, but I'm not a mainstream sort of person either. I circulate to the left of centre, therefore my interests lie there and so does what comes into and out of me.

Being left of centre also means I'm more likely to to do things my way, rather than follow the crowd, sometimes to my detriment, eg, when I want to make myself known in the literary world but write obscure books on crystals. However, and oh well, at least I write what I love and maybe one day I'll be famous ( laughing happily).

We're told these days to do what makes us happy, write? Do what you love then you'll love what you do.

The same goes for the details. I love writing. At the moment romance fiction is hot, hot, HOT. There's money to be made if you can make it writing in this genre, but I don't think I can. I have to admit I haven't tried and maybe I will down the track, no doubt when it's all over red rover.

I like creative non-fiction where I can tell a true story and dress it up with all the sights and sounds of fiction, that way I don't have to start from scratch with plots and characters and all that. I've already got half the book in my head if I'm writing something from personal experience. Much easier.

So whatever comes out of me will always be different and unusual to some degree.

"Staying Strong" is that. It is a difficult book for me, its finishing point, like many goal posts, keeps moving. I expect it will be finished one day soon.

'Till then, I'll write when I can on "Staying Strong" and get started on the crystal mystery.

Cheers everyone,

Leonie

E is for Eostre, Eastre, Easter, even Ostara. What..?

Goddess Eostre

Wherever you are in the world you may be celebrating Easter, you may be celebrating spring, or you may be in the southern hemisphere like me where it is autumn. All the same, you're probably feeling the vibe.

I'm not celebrating per se. Although I was brought up Catholic, I chose to leave religion behind in my late teens, many, many years ago. As for eggs and bunnies, well, having children and grandchildren means they're still part of my cultural experience.

Many Christian festivals are said to have deep roots in ancient indigenous, traditional, seasonal festivities some people refer to as pagan rituals. Christmas and Easter are obvious and easy examples. There are many cultures globally which have variations on numerous festival themes and a quick internet search on any of them brings up enough results to keep anyone happy.

Back to Easter, and I did just that as I'm interested in the deep roots and origins of things rather than what's put in front of my face. It's a simple assumption that Easter was adopted by Christianity from earlier festivals celebrating the return of the sun: i.e spring, after a long, cold, barren winter, and further to add a young woman (goddess) to the festival. At this time of year birds lay their eggs, soon the chicks are born along with many young animals, flowers bloom, days lengthen, the cycle of life begins again etc.

Yet there's no hard evidence to suggest that there was a goddess associated with an Easter-like festival, and that her name was Eostre/ Eastre/Ostara. Easter Goddess? Have some of us been trying too hard to create something from nothing?

I'm of the opinion that Christianity pinched most of its festivals from older traditions. I hold those traditions in higher regard because they follow natural rhythms and cycles, and incorporate both the feminine and the masculine. In ancient times spring festivals occurred in March around the vernal equinox for you northern hemispherians, as Easter does in some years, but as you can see from the above article, the goddess worshipped at spring time was probably not Eostre/Eastre/Ostara. So where does that leave todays Easter?

Maybe it's a Christian festival after all and maybe it's not linked to earlier, ancient spring celebrations? I'd like to think it's not. I'd like to think they're separate and autonomous, and have their own meaning, symbolism and story.

I like to keep an open mind about, well, everything. That way, life's exciting. That way, I can suddenly be off and running on some never explored subject of extreme interest and fascination, just like this one.

   And that way, maybe myth, magic and imagination can be kept alive and real.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE.

Daughter, Sister, Mother, Wife.

Image: Wikipedia

DAUGHTER, SISTER, MOTHER, WIFE

Once, a lady shared my life,

She was daughter, sister, mother, wife.

Far away she came to be,

And traveled long across the sea.

From family strong and loving, kind,

A different life she had to find.

With her husband, soon a child,

She settled in a country mild.

Four years on came baby two,

Her life was full with much to do.

Supremely caring, ever loving,

She gave her all, willingly, smiling.

Patience and kindness were her style,

Never was anything a trial.

Friends and gardens a joy for her,

And creatures great and small with fur.

Love and grace in full she had,

Strength to endure when life was sad.

She the determined and forthright one,

At times was I at odds with mum.

When twilight years came along,

Her man and son had already gone.

The women continued to carry life,

Mother, daughter, sister, wife.

Mother and daughter, four to two,

Family re-shaped, changed, new.

Now mother passed, back to one,

Rust zacht, I love you mum.

My mum passed recently, hence no post last week. I am happy for her, she is finally with my dad and my brother.