And now for something completely different... Poetry!

Next up on my guest list is Joanne Faries. Joanne is a great blogging friend, who has supported me since Cat and The Dreamer was a mere kitten, so when I noticed she was publishing three collections of poetry with a whisper, I thought I should shout about them for her!!

Amazon US and UK

Amazon US and UK

No memorization required!!!  No hidden meanings.

Amazon US and UK

Follow the links under each title to take you directly to the Amazon page of your choice.

Welcome to my blog, Joanne. I'll admit it straight away, I'm a little out of my depth when it comes to poetry... Tell me a bit about the collections you've just published? 

Thanks, Annalisa, for having me and I'm out of my depth on poetry too. It's the last thing I expected to write. However, I met Sheryl Nelms through Trinity Writers' Workshop.  Her poems were funny and I understood them. I could express myself with poetry, and actually my first publishing successes in on-line journals were poems. Now over five years later, I chose to compile my work and certain themes sorted out - nature/childhood nostalgia/emotion. I decided to keep my Wordsplash title and call these Poetry Puddle. I hope folks splash through the collections and come away thinking, "Huh, I like poetry. Who knew?"

Yes, your blog is called Word Splash and your collection of flash fiction is called Word Splash Flash. I read and loved your flash fiction, so I'm looking forward to reading these collections. Do you prefer writing prose or poetry?

Thanks. The words flow into prose or poetry depending on how the picture takes shape. Some tales need dialogue and become flash. Some teensy thought just needs word brush strokes to become a poem (and they can have a small plot or a character - read Brush Your Teeth in Hazy Memory. It conveys astonishment at my Nana's false teeth)

How do your ideas form themselves into finished poems? I've read thousands of fiction writers' methodologies, is poetry similar? 

I hear a phrase or drive in fog or sit on my patio in Texas having heat stroke - there are a few "hot" poems in Nature.  In Hazy Memory - I reflected on times at the beach or with my grandmother. I had a happy childhood, so these poems are joyful gauzy memories. In Tread Water - I tap some deeper emotions. I have one about communication. It evolved from watching folks dining out and not talking. Everyone was staring at a cellphone.

Have you ever started writing a poem and found it turned itself into a piece of flash fiction? 

Absolutely and vice versa. I'll write a flash and decide I like some phrasing or image, and turn it into a poem. It's funny - I have trouble writing full blown fiction. Maybe it's my business background, but I was great at writing terse memos. Now, the few novels I've attempted - I find them too talkie. I can't seem to expand. I remove extraneous verbiage, and use a thesaurus, etc to choose the absolute right word. I also like the letter "S" - I definitely use a lot of slithery, slippery, skedaddle words.  

Do you float around meadows staring at the clouds like Wordsworth? (Yes, my vision of poets is very romantic!)

In Texas, you float in the pool. Splish, splash.

What question are you dying to be asked that no one has ever asked you?

Which poem has been rejected the most, but you love it anyway? Answer - Hardy Garden and yes it is in the Nature book.

Final thoughts: 

I will say - don't be afraid of poetry. I hope my poems demonstrate that and just make folks happy or nod their heads in agreement at the moment I captured. I haven't studied meter or anything fancy and I don't pretend to think I'm Maya Angelou or Mary Oliver. I try to space the words on the page as needed and sometimes the whitespace adds dimension to the poem story. Sound is important - the words need to clunk, clink, kerplop - they add action and can heighten tension.

I used the word shlop in one of my stories  - I love words like that! Thanks for visiting my blog today, and good luck with your collections.

Joanne Faries

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!

Ashley Chappel trailer reveal

Today I'm thrilled to be part of Ashley Chappel's book trailer launch. I've never had a trailer on my blog before - and I've never considered doing one myself - but this is awesome. As I told Ashley, the fact she composed her own music for the trailer swung the deal for me.

Book Title: TILT: Dreams of Chaos #2
Release Date: October 11th, 2013 




Blurb: Two years ago, teen goddess Trotter saved the entire pantheon of Realm from a dark god bent on revenge. Her battles led her into fantastic and dangerous worlds where she discovered new friends and family as well as new foes. She also discovered the extraordinary secret behind her birth that her parents had kept hidden for centuries: Trotter had been marked by Chaos himself. Now, cast out from Realm by the very gods whose lives she saved, her refuge among the humans on Aevum has been destroyed as the world is tilted violently from its sun. Trotter will stop at nothing to save the world and the people she loves, but winning this fight will force her into a choice that may mean giving up the only home she’s ever known. TILT is the second book in the Dreams of Chaos series which has been hailed by reviewers as "Darker and more enchanting than the Heroes of Olympus Series."

**** FREEBIE! As part of the upcoming book launch festivities, ALICE WILL: Dreams of Chaos #1 will be FREE on Amazon for Kindle from 11 - 14 October! Get your copy here: **** 

CONTACT INFO
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Email  

Yo-yo writing

You've heard of yo-yo dieting, but I've discovered the joy-pain-joy cycle of yo-yo writing.

I have WIP1, which is resting - I love the story, but I'm not sure it should be the next book, I think it would work better as the one-after-next.

So, I brought WIP2 out from under the bed and started to read it, loved it, hated it, tried to re-write it, decided it was perfect as it was, hated it...

... and searched out WIP3... Meh. Yeah, all right, I guess. Needs so much work... hmmm, but if I just take this sub-plot out, tweak this character, change this woman to a man... Oooh, I love this novel... Wait, no I hate it!

Where's WIP2? Great story... No it's not, it's too depressing and doesn't make sense

Am I making too much work for myself, should I just get WIP1 ready to submit?

BUT it's not the right story...

Oooh, that's a great line I've just woken up with in my head. Now, does it fit it WIP 2 or WIP3?

If you're in the middle of working on your most favourite story ever, I salute you - and feel a little jealous. I know I'm pretty lucky to have three great projects available for me to work on (which doesn't even consider the fact I've got another one gathering dust that Hubby thinks I should finish!) but there's something stopping me. I've got this horrible feeling that the stories are too big for me, that I won't be able to do justice to the characters and their plights.

A chat with Teresa F. Morgan

Last week I visited Teresa F. Morgan's blog, and today she's popped in to see me.

Teresa has just released her debut book with Harper Impulse, so what better time to share her with my lovely blogger buddies.

So, Teresa, I first met you in May 2011 (I checked) via Sally Quilford's 80,000 Words in 80 Days... Been busy since then?
Wow, was that when we first met? Well, back in May 2011 I'd put my first book on hold, to let it rest and started writing my second book (current working title Perfect Isn't An Option) in the 80,000 words in 80 Days - great challenge! That first book is now called Plus One Is A Lucky Number and has been published by Harper Collins' imprint company Harper Impulse. I have a two book contract, so I'm currently trying to tidy up the second book - it needs editing and some additing - to send it off to them. I've had a few dramas in my life since May 2011, divorcing and moving house, so haven't been so busy on the writing as I'd like to be. Now I'm settled in my new house, I am hoping to get into a better routine with my writing.

How did that feel, having your book accepted after working on it for so long?

I guess I feel relieved... and I'm still pinching myself that I'm a published author!

I started writing Plus One for the Mills and Boon competition in 2010 (I think it was around September). I didn't get anywhere but continued writing the book. So it has taken me three years to get published, and I'm chuffed to bits. You hear a lot of writers never getting their first ever written novel published, and I have. I sent it out to publishers last year, but with no joy. When I heard about Harper Impulse, my book was still with the RNA New Writers' Scheme and I was awaiting a full critique back, but I sent it off anyway, wanting to grab the bull by the horns as it was a fairly new company. 

Did you ever consider self-publishing, or were you always heading towards a publisher?

For me, I always wanted to head towards a publisher. I feel rather new to the game, as I only started writing in 2006 and decided to do it professionally in 2009. I know that self-publishing works for some, but I think because I lacked confidence in my ability, (and still do!) and didn't want to be one of those writers who publish tripe (they do exist - seen it in the fanfic world!), I wanted my writing to be endorsed (is that the right word?) by a publisher - someone saying yes this woman can write! I think if it was 10 years down the line and I still hadn't been published, then I might have done it just to get my book out there, lol! But at first I wanted to try the 'traditional' route.

What's next?

Book two - Perfect Isn't An Option. I really want to get this off to my publisher so I can write my third book! I think the only way I'm really going to get back into the swing of writing again, is to write. Editing is very hard to get motivated over... well, for me it is.

Is your writing career how you imagined it?

At the moment, no! I would love to be spending afternoons in Costa brainstorming, days out researching, hours reading then writing in my study (which I no longer have), but instead, it's very much the same as before. I'm running around after two boys, trying to keep on top of some of the housework and having to do the part time jobs which keep me afloat with a regular income. lol! When I do get to do writing, I've now got a desk in the corner of my lounge. One day, if I can give up the part time jobs, and have an office/study where I can go write - shutting the door to the outside world, that will be lovely. I've eyed up my son's bedroom to become my study, but because he's six I think I have a long time to wait. All depends on how clean he keeps his bedroom... otherwise I might convert it sooner rather than later!

About Plus One is a Lucky Number:

Sophie’s going to a wedding where the invite is strictly plus one… but with her single girl status not exactly fitting in with the bridesmaid dress code, and the best man being none other than the ex she would rather forget, Sophie needs a date and she needs one fast!

Luckily for Sophie, her dreamy but distant co-worker Adam Reid owes their mutual friend James big time…and his gorgeousness more than fills the role of the ‘Perfect Boyfriend’!

As they take off to the sunny shores of Cornwall for the wedding weekend, it’s not long before pretence leads to passion and Sophie and Adam must decide; is their relationship real or is it all for show?

Teresa lives in sunny Weston-super-Mare, trying to hold onto her Surrey accent where she was born and bred.

For years she persevered with boring jobs, until her two boys joined the nest. In an attempt to find something to work around them, and to ensure she never endured full time boredom again, she found writing.

Teresa is at her happiest baking cakes, putting proper home cooked dinners on the table (whether the kids eat them or not), reading a good romance, or creating a touch of escapism with heroes readers will fall in love with.

You can find Teresa here:

Blog / Website / Twitter / Facebook

Add on Goodreads

A song for a lazy Sunday

One of my favourite Duke Special songs. I hope you enjoy it. I saw him live in Plymouth, UK in April this year and he was fantastic.

I'm visiting Teresa

I know you're not used to me posting everyday, but this is just a quickie to say I'm being interviewed over on Teresa Morgan's The Wittering Woman blog today.

Teresa has recently published an ebook with Harper Impulse, Plus One is a Lucky Number...

Click here to visit Amazon UK

Teresa will be here next week to talk about her new book.