Catching up

Hello! It's been a while, how've you been? You look great... is that a new hair style?

So, what have I been up to? Actually, I'm not that sure. Time has drifted away from me over the past couple of weeks. I wanted to write a new short story, so I made some small attempts that petered out. I knew what I wanted to write about, and the feelings I wanted to create, but something was missing.

And then, last Thursday evening, Hubby took me to a gig with him.

This is Lusty Glaze Beach - it's a small, isolated cove, reached by climbing down a lot of steps. The bar/restaurant is beautiful, and this was the view.

Half-way through the evening, the storms started - amazing flashes of lightning and low, deep rumbles of thunder. And I could have sworn I saw two people sitting on the beach...

Peter Crawford and the beach

And that, for inspiration, was all I needed.

I have the first draft written, and in a moment, I'm going to read through it and cover the print-out with red and green pen.









In other news, it's been hot, hasn't it?

There's a new review of Our Beautiful Child up on A Thousand Words A Million Books, along with a short interview and a giveaway to win either a paperback or an ecopy.

My Facebook page book page also recently reached 200 'likers', so I'm also giving away books to three people - just comment on the pinned post at the top of my page, telling me which book you'd like and in which format!

Where did your last inspiration come from?

What's the weather like? And does anyone have 

any advice on coping with the heat?!

Is bad really better than good?

Warning: this might end up being a little bit of a rant.

I'm squeezing this post in between lots of guests - and on a Saturday afternoon when no one reads blogs anyway, no less - because it's topical.

Last Friday, I read an article in the Daily Mail about Quin Woodward Pu who sent a bizarre text to a man who 'dumped' her after two dates. (Note: after two dates, surely there is nothing to actually dump, it's more of an it was nice to know you, have a good life kind of deal?) A lot of the comments called her a narcissist and a bit delusional.

Reading the article further, I discovered this story had already been covered on Buzzfeed, which is more and more a trait of certain UK papers. Then, reading even further, I discovered this twenty-six year old woman was also a blogger and had two self-published autobiographies available on Amazon. (You'll recall the words narcissist and delusional from the previous paragraph, yes?)

But hang on a minute... what great publicity!! (Cue my cynical head, because - boy! - as a writer I would love this kind of free advertising for my books... albeit with a little less laughter at my expense.)

I attempted to follow the link to her blog, but my anti-virus programme blocked it (LOL!), so I did the next best thing and looked up her books. I found one here and the other here.

Do you see what I see (apart from the fact that this unknown woman has put herself on both book covers)?

The first book has 146 reviews, at the time I'm writing this. Mostly they are one star, and quite a number of them are from people who'd spent $10 on the paperback version... and what's more, when you read the reviews, they are from people who had bought the book after they'd seen this text melt-down by the author - and who assumed the book would be bad.

I'm going to reiterate that, because this is the source of my rant: people spent $10 on a book they knew was going to be bad. 

I know many writers, self and indie published, who would love to sell over 100 books in two days (myself included) - but they don't, we don't. It would be lovely to think that when we write, edit, proof-read and generally make our books the best they can be, readers would be on the other side of the process waiting to read them. But no! Apparently notoriety is a much bigger draw.

If anyone knows how we can change this, please let me know!

I am three!

Okay, not me, but my blog is three today!

It started with this post here (in case you're interested).

I can't believe I'm still blogging - according to my first post, I didn't expect to stay the course. Although, to be honest, it's all down to you guys - the way you keep coming back and reading my writerly ramblings.

And, of course, I love reading your blogs. I couldn't imagine having a mid-writing session cuppa without clicking on a couple of new blog posts. I mean, what do normal people do when they've got a spare ten minutes?





So, my plans for the next three years, I hear you ask?

• Publishing three more books - two written, one a mere glimmer in my eye at the moment
• Submitting and winning some competitions... some big ones!
• Writing some new short stories, and submitting to established literary magazines, like Granta
• Getting a fluke review that causes everyone talk about me (okay, that one's slightly out of my control)
• Getting some professional photos taken where I actually look half-way normal (yes, it'll probably take me all three years to summon the courage)
• Earning enough per year to give up the day job (I only work part time, so this could be achievable)

I think that's enough to be going on with.

What are your plans for the next three years?