Trees Are Not Lollipops

Old books give new ideas

2012-01-18T13:15:00.000+08:00

It’s school holidays here at the moment – summer holidays. Kids get bored after a few weeks at home. Looking for something to do the other day, Sausage started searching the book shelves in my office and discovered a book I was given when I was 11: “The Australian Girls’ Book of Crafts, Pets, Sports and Hobbies” by Prudence and Anthony Harvey. Having been published in 1969, it’s a little dated of course, but it still has some great ideas to keep a girl busy, from ‘archery’ through to ‘white mice’. My brother had the boy’s version and it’s interesting to note what was considered suitable for both boys and girls. Sadly, things like cooking, knitting and clothes care (ie washing and ironing) were considered girls only.

Sausage has long wanted a pet, so this book provided her with plenty of material to get her ideas flowing on what she wanted. I drew the line at white mice (I can’t stand the smell of mice) and her father wasn’t keen on rabbits (he’s a farmer, after all), so she finally decided on a budgie. Though Christmas has only just gone, I did agree that a pet for her would be good. We have a menagerie already, but none of them are ‘hers’, so something just for her would be good for teaching her care and responsibility.

I checked out the pet shop without her first – made sure there were no sweet little kittens or unbearably cute puppies. Fortunately the pet shop was still in its post-Christmas lull, so budgies and fish were about all he had. He had a cage full of budgies, every colour they can be, all chirping away. Then the pet shop man pointed at a cage behind me – “Or there’s this baby one, already finger trained.”

There, in a tiny cage, its head down in the corner, sat a tiny bundle of pure white misery. It perked up a little when he took it out, but as soon as he put it back, it went back to its corner.

My heart melted. No, I told myself, no sad cases. Get a healthy, happy budgie.

I took Sausage back later that day. I took her straight to the big cage, forcing myself not to look at the single bird in its solitary confinement. Sausage looked at all the budgies and her eyes opened wide. What colour? She stood there some time trying to decide. Then a mad chirruping came from behind us. The sad little baby bird was running up and down his cage, jumping and biting the bars. I could almost imagine him saying, “You came back for me! You came back for me! Take me hooooooome!”

Sausage took one look at him and was instantly besotted. Within five minutes he was ensconced in his new home (purple, of course) and in the car.

There’s been no sign of that sad little bird, now known as Ttokttok (Korean for smart), since we brought him home. He is so loved that he hardly gets time to sleep. Unfortunately the dog and cats are showing signs of loving him rather too much as well, so we’re going to have to find a safe place to hang his cage, but for now he’s on a small table in the kitchen and loving the constant attention from Sausage. We're not sure he is a he and not a she, (he’s too young to be able to tell), but Sausage is intent on teaching him to talk. Around here, it could be embarrassing what he picks up! Hopefully, nothing worse than, “Annie, get out! You stink!” or “Who left the door open?” But anything's possible.

I must think of some great literary phrases to teach him.

Mark of the Dragon Queen FREE for two days.

2012-01-12T20:24:00.000+08:00

This is just a quick news flash.

As part of KDP Select, my new YA fantasy novel will be downloadable to Kindle FREE for the next two days (12th and 13th January). If you'd like to read it but don't have a Kindle, there's a free app available from Amazon which will let you read Kindle books on computer, phone or iPad. Just look under where you press to buy the book and the app is there.

Available from Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon DE Amazon FR Amazon IT Amazon ES

A perfect present for a writer of fantasy

2012-01-10T13:50:00.001+08:00

I’d like to introduce you to a new friend of mine. I haven’t known him long, only three weeks or so. I don’t even know his name, but from the moment we got together, he has had a special place in my heart.

This old fellow was my children’s Christmas present to me. No commonplace box of chocolates or pretty vase for them. Their mum writes fantasy stories about wizards and dragons, so how could they go past this? Actually, we did go past it once. Sausage and I walked past it when we were out shopping one day and Sausage said, “Oh look at that wizard, Mum.” I seem to remember saying something like, “Yes, he’s lovely.” That was enough. My children went shopping and the wizard mysteriously disappeared from the shelf.

I love him. Not because he’s beautiful (though he does look rather awesome with his globe alight, doesn’t he?) but more for the look on my kids’ faces when they gave it to me. Love and pride. I’m a writer. In their eyes, this wizard was made for me. He will live on the top of the piano for many years to come. He'll weave his magic spells and make me write. How dare I not, with a wizard and a dragon glaring at me like that?

As you can see, this is not the first dragon to come into the house either. They're not all mine. I'm not the only dragon lover in the house.

Good Morning 2012

2012-01-01T08:42:00.000+08:00

I didn’t stay up to see in the New Year. I haven’t done for a very long time. In fact the only time I can remember celebrating the New Year was when I was about 20 and a group of us climbed the church tower and rang the bell at midnight. That was fun. Rather too much ginger wine that night, I'd say. These days, though, I prefer my sleep and one midnight is much the same as another. Maybe I’m just a killjoy.

So, 2011 is over. I can’t say I’m sorry. Yes, I epublished two books and that was exciting. We had a good season on the farm and the crops were great. But other things happened, more important things, that were not so good and I’m glad to be able to put them all behind me. I must say thank you, though, to all the people who helped me get through those difficult times. I have some lovely friends and family.

2012. What are my plans? I’m not looking that far ahead. I’ll be writing, of course, as long and as hard as I can. I would really like to get the sequel to Treespeaker out. It’s just a matter of sitting down and putting in the concerted effort. ‘Mark of the Dragon Queen’ is almost ready to go. I’m just doing a final sweep for errors and then I’ll format it for Kindle. Maybe in a few days…

As for the rest of the year, I’m not making any firm plans. Last year taught me that life will go its own way, no matter what plans you make. I’m hoping that my family had all the bad luck of about ten years rolled into one last year and so this one will be relatively trouble-free. New Year has a way of making you feel hopeful.

A wonderful friend sent me a book for Christmas – Eckhart Tolle’s “Guardians of Being”. This quote jumped out at me and will be my philosophy for this year:

"The key to transformation is to

make friends with the moment.

What form it takes doesn't matter.

Say yes to it. Allow it. Be with it."

Whatever your plans and circumstances, I wish you all a happy and creative 2012. Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog over the year. It means a lot to me.

A Challenge for 2012

2011-12-20T13:59:00.000+08:00

As a challenge to myself for 2012 I've decided to join the Australian Women Writers Challenge which I found out about through Goodreads. The idea is to read and review as many books by Australian women writers as you can in 2012. I'm choosing to be a 'dabbler' ie. someone who will choose from genres outside their usual preference, though of course there will be at least one book by Juliet Marillier in there. I couldn't go a year without reading at least one of hers (though I guess I will eventually run out of ones I haven't read and have to start re-reading). At the moment I'm going for the 'Miles' level, meaning I'll read six and review three. I may manage more, but I think that's a reasonable estimate.

Of course, working in a school library, I will have lots to choose from. Being on holiday at the moment, I'm having to mentally scan the shelves to think what's there, but I can think of at least five books that I'd like to start with. I'll be searching for some Australian e-book authors, too. We're not thick on the ground at the moment, but I know they're out there!

Wish me luck! And stay tuned for the reviews.

An interview with Ardyth DeBruyn

2011-12-08T17:46:00.000+08:00

I'm very happy to be able to post another interview today, this time with Ardyth DeBruyn, a superb writer I met through Critique Circle. She's a Children's/Young Adult writer and take it from me, her books are well worth having a look at. I've included some links at the end of the interview. Don't go away without checking them out, will you?

So who is Ardyth DeBruyn?

I’m the oldest of eight children, born in Portland, Oregon, USA. I come from an incredibly creative family. My mother (Monica DeBruyn) was a children’s book illustrator in the 1970s. My father is a composer and hymnal editor. And two of my brothers have done illustration work for my novels.

I got my college degree in Anthropology and am fascinated by other cultures. I’ve walked about 2000 km of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage trail across Europe and the subject of my thesis for graduation. If I ever have the money, I’d love to do something like that again, but in some new part of the world I’ve not seen yet.

As far as jobs that aren’t writing, I’ve worked with children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Currently though, I’m writing full time.

When did you decide that you wanted to become a writer?

I’ve always loved storytelling, but most of my early storytelling was in drawings or orally as a child. I found writing laborious. The ideas would flash out of me and my pencil couldn’t keep up, so it wasn’t worth it. I would entertain my younger siblings with stories aloud instead or spend hours imagining them in my head.

After I finally learned to type properly for school papers in junior high my essay writing rapidly improved, but for some reason I kept writing all my fiction by hand, I don’t know why. Perhaps because I’d always done it that way. While I wanted to write fiction, I still found it slow and frustrating, although I managed over 100 pages of handwritten novel in a notebook.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I discovered that I could not only write fiction on a computer, but it actually worked better that way. Then again, I also actually owned a computer for the first time as well instead of being forced to share one with my siblings, so that might have had something to do with it.

While I always loved storytelling and wanted it part of my life, for years I always thought of it as a hobby. It wasn’t until much later I decided I wanted to be a career author. That happened when I went on a field study after college to gear up for going to grad school. Instead of learning Spanish during my study, I wrote two children’s novels in all my spare time, and decided to put grad school on hold indefinitely and pursue writing instead.

Has there been any one person/writer who has influenced you more than any other?

I would say George McDonald. My parents loved all his writing and named me after the title character in “The Princess and the Goblin” (my middle name is Irene). I grew up constantly listening to his fairytales and novels. With all that, it was natural that as a storyteller I wanted to be just like him. The greatest compliment I ever received in a critique group was when one of my crit partners spontaneously compared my writing to his. I aspire to reach someday his sense of wonder and depth of meaning and characterization.

Can you tell us a little about your books?

My first novel is “Chosen Sister” and centers around the relationship between a brother and sister. When a rather traditional looking Gold Wizard announces to their village that Austyn is the child warrior, big sister Reina is both jealous and afraid for him. He’s only six, and she’s suspicious the wizard isn’t capable of taking care of him. Trouble is, it’s “against the rules” for anyone to go with him. Austyn, in typical six-year-old brilliance, throws a crying fit about how scared he is, clinging to his sister, in front of the whole town. Naturally the impatient wizard allows her to come along to help take care of him. It turns out things are even more suspect than Reina originally thought.

I wrote this novel for my baby sister as a present originally, but I drew more on my own experiences as an older sister to write it. I often felt out-matched by them artistically, which is my inspiration for Reina’s jealousy over Austyn’s magic, but the moment they were in trouble I’d be right there, willing to beat someone up on the playground to keep them safe from bullying.

My second novel “A School for Villains” is about a boy whose father decides to send him to Dark Lord Academy, to become a villain. Danny’s older brother inherits the family business, and his younger brother gets to be a hero, because that’s only open to third sons. Danny doesn’t like the idea of being a villain, but he doesn’t figure out how to get out of it fast enough, and ends up at the school. Getting in, however, is a lot harder than getting out.

I wrote this one because I loved “Harry Potter” but also couldn’t resist poking fun at all the typical fantasy cliches. Satire has always appealed to me and many of my books have satirical elements (all those colored wizards in “Chosen Sister” are a nod to “Lord of the Rings”) but here I let myself go whole hog with the satire and run away with it. I had a great deal of fun.

Why children’s/Young Adults books?

First, because I never grew out of fairy tales, animal stories, and Newberry winners. As I grew older, my tastes widened to include young adult books and the occasional adult novel, but I always check out the children’s section of a library or bookstore first. It’s natural to want to write what I enjoy reading best.

Second, because I love children and want to inspire them in creativity and learning and books seem a natural way to do that. While I donate to literacy causes and spend volunteer time teaching children, there’s nothing quite so special as inspiring a child through a story and touching their imagination.

Why did you decide to publish an ebook?

I was pursuing traditional publication, and got back my first agent rejection of a partial request. In a fit of dissatisfaction, I thought, well, my next novel will be better, what don’t I need an agent for? I sent it off to an epublisher, expecting another rejection. To my surprise, three days later they asked if I’d like to sign with them. I’d only been half-serious, but when I looked into it, I realized that ebooks were a growing market and I decided I’d try epublishing as well as traditional publishing and decided to let them publish the book.

I decided to go indie with this section book because I wanted more control of the art in the book, not just the cover but to have pictures inside the book like a print middle grade novel would have. Art, however, is expensive, so I might go with an epublisher for some of my other work, depending on how it goes.

What, in your opinion, makes a good book?

I think at its core, it’s a story that sticks in your head and doesn’t let you forget it for some reason. The reason varies from novel to novel… the vivid world it creates, the fascinating ideas it raises, the dynamic characters and personalities, or the exciting plot, but something about the novel is remarkable.

I don’t think it has to be the same aspect for every novel, which is why it’s so hard to define at times what makes a good book. It doesn’t help that taste also is a large part of that. For example, I love “Harry Potter,” but found “Twilight” awful. Both books were hugely popular, so if you look at sheer numbers, lots of people would call both a “good book,” but I’m only able to call the first one a good book from my experience with reading them.

I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to define what helps make a book good, I think the final and most important ingredient is that it resonates with you in that unforgettable way. From listening to “Twilight” fans, I get the impression it was the characters that really gripped most readers, and they didn’t me, but it sounds like that’s the aspect of the book that was strongest. While I feel like “Harry Potter’s” strength was the world building… all those delightful descriptive and satirical moments that made the world come alive.

Where do your ideas come from?

My brain is constantly busy looking for ideas. Whenever I have a spare moment it starts playing around with an existing novel or coming up with brand new ideas. Conversations, experiences, an interesting view, artwork, just about anything can morph into a new idea. Sometimes debating what I like or don’t like about a book or movie I just saw can inspire me. I keep lists of ideas on my computer, waiting for enough other ideas that fit to get mashed together into enough to make a novel. Usually I need several ideas woven together to be ready to write a book. I have never had a lack of ideas.

What other writing projects do you have under way?

Too many. My latest rough draft from Nanowrimo is a middle grade novel entitled “Mortal Friends.” It’s about a goblin who becomes friends with the captive Princess he is supposed to be guarding. But I haven’t decided if I’m going to edit next or let it sit and go back to working on my historical YA novel, “Paladin Honor” which I’d like to start querying next year. There’s at least five or ten or twenty other things I’d also like to get to.

I tend to have a do everything approach with a whole list of novels I’d like to finish and have various plans and hopes for. I also want to write a sequel to “A School for Villains” this coming year and publish it as an ebook.

What do you most like to do when you’re not writing?

I assume for enjoyment… not things like laundry, cooking dinner, and driving my husband to and from work. Mostly reading. I read quickly and if I let myself I’ll read several books a day and not do anything else, so I limit myself. If I’m not reading, I’m likely role-playing, doing cooperative writing projects for fun, or critiquing other people’s books. As you can see, writing themed items tends to take over my life! When I have money, I go cruising second-hand stores for interesting items. I do a little bit of art, mostly wychinanki, which is Polish papercutting, and enjoy hiking.

Thanks for having me on your blog!

Thanks for being on my blog Ardyth! If you'd like to check out Ardyth's work, here are some useful links -

http://www.ardythdebruyn.com/

A School for Villains:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0061I23PU
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-school...
smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/103...

Chosen Sister

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Sister-eboo...
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/chosen-s...
Fictionwise: http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook8...

E-book Cover Design

2011-11-21T21:06:00.000+08:00

Original cover idea -rejected

Breaking news: I have a new book coming out on Kindle. That’s the cover for it there, underneath my other books. I finished writing it last year and have toyed with the idea of trying to get it published the traditional way, but if truth be told, I’ve lost all confidence in traditional publishers. Penguin’s recent move to e-publish unaccepted authors at an exorbitant cost confirmed to me that traditional publishing is on its way out and being able to do it yourself is the best option. How long that will last before the Big Six take over the e-shelves, I don’t know. But for now, I’ll publish my own.

Anyway, I spent a lovely two days designing the cover. I’d come up with something a few weeks ago, but when I put it up on my favourite Goodreads group for opinions, it was met with a lukewarm response. So I started again. My first idea was to go with a simple dragon’s eye. But I decided that it really didn’t say much about the story and had probably been done before.

So I went back to the original and started playing about. The girl, it seemed, was seen as ‘sneering’. I didn’t see her that way, but if that was the response, she had to go. But I liked the castle (or prison as it is in the story) so I kept that. Then I had an old leatherbound account book that my mother had given me a long time ago. The main character’s father is an academic who has spent his life filling books with sketches and research, so it seemed relevant. I had sketches of a hawk and a chameleon (which I warped into a dragon-like creature) for the pages of the book. Add in a locket given to me by a teacher long ago and a dragon in the sky, colour it in vibrant colours and voila! I’m pretty pleased with the result and glad I asked the group's opinion before I published.

A discarded idea.

Another discarded idea

It’s quite an art, getting an ebook cover right. Not only do you have to have a design and colours that draw the eye, the title and author have to be legible in quite tiny versions of the jpeg. It’s definitely not a matter of slapping a picture and title onto a page. It’s something I absolutely love doing, though. It distracts me from writing, yes, but once I have that cover done, I’m so keen to get the book out that my enthusiasm for writing is revived. I think I could quite happily become a full-time author and cover designer.

If wishes were fishes…

Book Review: Iditarod by Andre Jute

2011-10-29T13:54:00.000+08:00

A while ago, I read something about the concept of 'setting as character'. I didn’t understand it until I read ‘Iditarod’ by Andre Jute. The book has two main characters, Rhodes and James, both skilled athletes, both determined to better the other in the Iditarod, an annual sled race across Alaska. At first, I presumed that James was the antagonist. With his fame and wealth and slightly arrogant approach, he was the obvious candidate to be the baddy of the piece. It soon became obvious, though, that the real antagonist is the place, Alaska itself. Both Rhodes and James, while competing with each other, face this wild, desolate landscape alone and it throws everything it has at them to stop them succeeding.

As in all good books, though, the antagonist is a three-dimensional character with enough goodness about it to draw the reader in. Even when Rhodes and James were fighting the worst Alaska could muster, I was in awe of the spectacular beauty of the place so clearly described. It was not hard to understand why people would pit themselves against the place in such a dangerous way.

This is a determined adversary that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. Hardly a page goes by without the potential for disaster being raised. At times, I must admit, I was a little annoyed at Jute’s use of chapters written from the point of view of a pack of wolves. It took me some time to understand the significance of these chapters and-- as he tended to put them in just as one or other of the characters was in dire straits-- I became impatient with them for a while. In truth though, they gave chance for the reader to have a rest from the fast paced action* whilst they quietly developed the setting as a character. By the end of the story, I felt sympathy for those wolves (who epitomised Alaska) despite their actions.

This is a book that has obviously been the subject of detailed research. Everything, from the history of the Iditarod to the detail of the landscape along the way, is meticulously described. It’s an old-fashioned, beautifully written adventure story that won’t disappoint any modern reader who enjoys fast-paced action. I highly recommend it.

*If I have any criticism of the story, it would be that perhaps sometimes the action scenes were so fast that I couldn’t quite picture what was happening. However, that could have been more to do with the fact that I know nothing about sleds, snow, ice etc., rather than the writing itself.

An interview with Ben White

2011-10-21T12:44:00.003+08:00

I'm delighted to be able to have another interview on my blog today, this time with New Zealand author, Ben White. I met Ben on the Kindleboards when I first started looking at epublishing. One of his books, 'Resonance:Birds of Passage', was the first Indie book I ever bought and I was very impressed. I'm still waiting for the sequel! (Did you hear that, Ben?)

Hi Ben,

So who is Ben White?

He's just this guy, you know? I have a fantastic wife and two adorably splendid young daughters, I live quite near the centre of New Zealand, and I like chips.

Also, sometimes I write a bit.

When did you decide that you wanted to become a writer?

I'm not sure, actually. I wrote little silly stories when I was around eight-nine-ten and was praised for my imagination, but I always wanted to make games, not write books. Then when I was around sixteen or so I got a lot of positive comments about the reports I wrote while on an IT course--all of the teachers mentioned how clearly I expressed myself and how they often got caught up just reading what I'd written, rather than objectively marking it. I took this as a good sign and started writing fiction, a lot of half-baked stuff that never got finished, but it led me to joining an online young writers' group which was really just fantastic. Lots of positive, encouraging, supportive people, some of whom I'm still friends with. The honest criticism and feedback I received also helped me a lot, I think the single most important thing a beginning writer can do is to expose their work to good criticism.

Getting back to the question, I don't think I ever made a firm decision, "That's it, I'm going to be a writer!". I just pottered around doing a lot of different things, almost all of which involved writing in one way or another, and as time went by I focused less on the things I couldn't control--many of my projects were games or movies or TV shows--and more on what I could control, which were the words. Books are great because it's just the writer and the reader, nothing else in-between, no budgets to worry about, no special effects or programming issues or anything, just the best words to tell a story.

What, in your opinion, makes a good book?

For me, three things: good writing, a compelling story, and engaging characters. That last one is the most important to me. I'll forgive almost anything if I like the characters enough.

What do you most like to do when you’re not writing?

Generally speaking, anything that can be prefaced with 'sitting quietly and ...' is likely to be a favoured activity: 'sitting quietly and reading', 'sitting quietly and playing a game', 'sitting quietly and eating chips', these are all activities I enjoy. Of course, I also love spending time with my family, whether sitting quietly or not (usually 'not', actually, with two young daughters both 'sitting' and 'quietly' are rare enough).

I also like media of all kinds, books, comics, games, cartoons, movies, TV shows--I love good stories and great characters, and I'm not fussy about how they're delivered to me.

Where do your ideas come from?

I've actually been thinking about this recently, and it could be that the main source of my inspiration is 'dissatisfaction'--either along the lines of "Why hasn't anyone written THIS book? Am I going to have to do it? Oh very well then" or seeing something that's less than it should be and thinking, "Right, we'll just see about that". As an example I'm working on a twisty-turny timey-wimey sort of thing partially influenced by Doctor Who--I love the show but the latest season has left me a little cold, so in a way this book is me saying "THIS is how it's done!"

Other than that, and aside from the usual 'everything I've read, played, listened to, watched, or otherwise experienced', usually just odd little thoughts--often questions--that refuse to go away.

You’ve said that your books tend to be about the empowerment of girls. Why that theme?

I think about this one quite a bit. Part of it is that this is still a question that has to be asked--as long as we still have to think about prejudice, inequality, gender imbalance and so forth these issues are worth thinking (and writing) about. I also find it easier to write more subtle, interesting characters when they're female, and presenting female characters with traditionally male challenges can produce some interesting results. Then there's the rarity value----if you give me a character who's, for example, a basic fighter-type, making that character female will instantly double my interest simply because a lot of writers don't let girls be fighters. That's changing now and I'm glad of it, but there's still an imbalance between male and female characters and the roles they're 'allowed' to fill. It may also be influence from Japanese media--in anime and manga especially there tend to be just as many female characters as male, if not more, fulfilling all kinds of roles. In the kinds of stories I like (ie good ones) character gender (and to a certain extent sexuality) is less important than other attributes, but at the same time a vital part of who that particular character is.

So I guess the simple answer is 'because when I'm figuring out who a character is most of the time they're a girl, and I don't have much interest in writing weak characters regardless of their sex'. Also I have daughters, and there just aren't enough good books about strong, independent, determined girls out there. I figure that every book I write is one more out there with strong female characters, and that can't be a bad thing.

Finally (phew), it's just a matter of personal interest. I like writing about things that other people aren't writing about, and there just aren't that many people writing about girls kicking arse. It's still very much a minority thing. I'm not sure why, girls are loads of fun to write about, but it may be that--thinking of Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction now and very generally speaking--boys often only want to read about boys, while girls are more flexible. I can remember being this way myself when I was younger, ashamed to be reading Pippi Longstocking and hiding the cover between Hardy Boys novels--which I always thought were okay, but Pippi could have kicked their arses.

Did you try the traditional publishers before you went Indie? If so, what sort of feedback did you get? If not, why not?

Waaaay back when I submitted a single sci-fi short story to an anthology and received a very nice rejection letter--much nicer than I deserved--but that's the extent of my attempts to be traditionally published. I did look at agents and so forth but the whole thing just seemed like a huge hassle, and being located in New Zealand didn't help. Living in the most geographically isolated country in the world does have some disadvantages--that extra layer of 'disconnect' from the world of traditional publishing just made it seem impossible that I'd ever get noticed. Also, I've heard so many horror stories from so many people about losing control of their work, not having any input on the cover, being forced to make changes ... traditional publishing doesn't have much appeal to me. Aside from the great community, my favourite thing about being an indie author is the control it gives me over my books.

If you couldn’t write for a whole year, what would happen?

Some kind of localised explosion, possibly.

Has there been a highlight to your writing career so far?

Getting my first reviews, this affected me more powerfully than I had expected. Even when a reader didn't like one of my books I really appreciate that they not only gave it a chance but also took the time to share their thoughts with others. Of course, it's when a reader really gets what I was trying to do that I feel the happiest, and I've been both impressed and moved by the insight displayed by many of my reviewers. I think it was Neil Gaiman who said that good reviews are like keys; they unlock deeper understanding and appreciation. Until recently, I didn't realise that this applies to your own work as well.

Tell us a little about your love of tea.

It's just great stuff, is all. One of the things I love about tea--I'm talking mostly English Breakfast, the classic--is that there's nothing else like it, you'd never describe anything as 'a bit tea-ish'. Although English Breakfast is and always will be my One True Tea, recently I've started branching out a little. Rooibos is very nice, and peppermint tea with milk is delightfully refreshing.

What would be your idea of an ideal world?

Basically, kind of, sort of, this one. I love the idea that this is the best of all possible worlds. I know there's a lot wrong with the world right now, a lot of problems and suffering and hardship, but I can't help the fact that I am, at heart, an optimist. I feel that things are getting better, slowly but surely, every day, that the future is an intrinsically good thing, and that if we just all do our best and pull together then everything's going to be all right. Having said that it's difficult to stave off cynicism completely, and this is one of the themes that I find myself exploring in my books--there are times when idealism is best, but also times when cynicism is necessary. Figuring out a good balance between the two is a big part of growing up. I do lean towards idealism most of the time, though--for example, in The Undying Apathy Of Imogen Shroud, although it mostly takes place during a zombie apocalypse, the characters tend to help and support each other rather than bicker and fight. I suppose my feeling is that most people are pretty decent when you get right down to it, and will band together against adversity rather than let it drive them apart.

If I could change one thing about the world, though, make one 'push' towards a more ideal state of existence, it would be to encourage a greater understanding of and love for diversity. There are times when I feel like this is what's holding the world back, that if more people would just try that tiny bit harder to understand others then we'd all be happier. Not just tolerance, not just acceptance, but celebration of diversity. That's what I'd like to see more of.

Katie: Amen to that!

Thanks for the very interesting talk, Ben. If anyone would like to know more about Ben and his books - here are some links. I highly recommend Birds of Passage and I'm just about to start 'The Boy and Little Witch' with my daughter.

http://cloverisland.co.nz/
http://www.facebook.com/TheAuthorPerson
http://www.amazon.com/Charlotte-Powers-Power-Down-ebook/dp/B004NIFW30/
http://www.amazon.com/Undying-Apathy-Imogen-Shroud-ebook/dp/B004WP56O4/

Writer's block

2011-10-15T13:37:00.000+08:00

Over the past few days, I’ve written a chapter of my new novel. That doesn’t sound much, but it’s one chapter more than I’ve written in the past few months, so it feels like quite an achievement. There were two reasons why I wasn’t writing. One was general life issues that I won’t go into, the second was good old writer's block.

The early chapters of the book flowed really well. I started it when I first finished Treespeaker and as it’s the sequel, I was still close to the characters and had a great sense of direction. Then I got distracted by another story. By the time I came back to this one, I’d lost the enthusiasm (or maybe I’d lost it before and that was why I was so easily distracted). Then I hit a point in the plot where I simply couldn’t think how to make something happen that needed to happen, while making it appear like a natural part of the plot. Everything ground to a complete halt. I scribbled ideas on bits of paper. I stayed awake all night considering this idea and that. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get around or through the major blockage.

About a month ago, circumstances happened that meant numerous trips to the city, over an hour’s trip each way. Feeling stressed out, I forced myself to think about anything and everything other than what was causing the stress. Soothed by the music of Patrick Hawes, I started thinking about this book, going through what I’d already written, what I knew had to happen at the end and suddenly, out of the blue, the answer came. Where I’d been thinking one character had to do something to move the story on, it became perfectly clear that another character was in a much better position to do it and it all made logical sense.

Unfortunately I’ve not had time to get the ball rolling again until these past few days, but now I’m on my way once more. I’d love to phone into work and tell them I can’t come in on Monday because I have far more important things to do, but I don’t suppose I’d get paid if I did that, so I’ll carry on as best I can. This is only the first draft, so I’ve a long way to go, but it’s moving and that’s cause enough for celebration!

Take heart, all those writers who are suffering from the dreaded writer's block. There is hope. In the most unlikely of circumstances, who-or-whatever has caused the blockage will suddenly come clear and you’ll be caught on the tide of new ideas.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to do some writing. Could you shut the door on your way out, please?

TREESPEAKER GIVEAWAY!

2011-10-09T16:09:00.000+08:00

Hi Everyone!

To celebrate the new cover and blurb (soon) for Treespeaker, I'm having a Giveaway at Smashwords. So if you don't yet have a copy, get in there before Oct 23rd 2011 and you can download it to read free (use the code UB25D when you check out). It's there in any format you wish.

Here's the link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/57915

HAPPY READING!

New Cover for Treespeaker

2011-10-07T22:26:00.000+08:00

A few days ago, I put Treespeaker on Victorine Lieske's blog Why is My Book Not Selling to find out why it wasn't selling (well, obviously). The general consensus was that it might do to have a new cover and a tighter blurb. So I've just spent a couple of days messing about on Photoshop (such a hardship - you know how I hate messing about on Photoshop) and this is what I've come up with -

I was rather fond of the old cover, but those who hadn't read the book seemed perturbed by the 'blue thing' and the busy background, so we'll give this one a try and see if it makes a difference. I like this one too, really. Well, I must, mustn't I? Otherwise I wouldn't be using it. Actually, I like it a lot, but it's always hard to let your first-born go! However, there's no point in asking for advice (and Victorine is very generous with her help) if you're not going to take it. So...

I still have to work on the blurb, but I'll get to work on that tomorrow. Meanwhile Smashwords is now regrinding the whole book. I hope it makes it through for a second time!

Guest interview: Marti Norton

2011-10-04T17:17:00.000+08:00

Today I’d like to welcome a guest on Trees Are Not Lollipops: Marti Norton, author of “Unchosen Mage”. I first ‘met’ Marti back in 2006 when I joined Critique Circle to have Treespeaker critiqued. She critiqued my first chapter, noticed I came from Australia and wrote to ask where exactly I was from. I was very coy with my answer, wary of giving away too much information to a stranger (especially one I thought was a man – how embarrassing). It turned out though, that she had spent eighteen months at the same school as I attended for my final two years. Unfortunately she had left the year before I got there, but the coincidence was incredible all the same. It’s not every day you meet someone on the other side of the world who’s been to the same small country school you did. Since then she has been a faithful critic of all my books, in all their drafts. So it’s an honour to have her here today to talk about her new book, Unchosen Mage, which I have read and critiqued in its various drafts. I have never known anyone so dedicated to getting her book perfect as Marti and I’m delighted that it is finally out there where it should be, for people to read…

Hi Marti. So tell us, who is Marti Norton?

I'm a native Texan and live in the Piney woods of East. I've traveled the world, visiting twelve countries outside the US, and lived in Western Australia for a year and a half. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Communications-Media from California University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters of Education from Stephen F. Austin State University. I taught science in the public schools for nine years.

In college, I was a member of Army ROTC Ranger and Orienteering units and have always enjoyed the outdoors: camping, hiking, rappelling, spelunking (caving), and fishing.

I'm married to a wonderful man, named Rudy, and have three children and five fabulous grandchildren. I also have three dogs, a cockatiel and two turtles.

When did you decide that you wanted to become a writer?

About fifteen years ago. I enjoyed reading at a young age, but not what they wanted me to read in school. After high school, I really began enjoying reading much more because I could read exactly what I wanted. Even though I enjoy thrillers and action novels, my greatest loves are science fiction and fantasy. In the process of reading so many novels, I found that I wanted to try writing. I knew I could put together a story that would be just as good as the novels I had been reading all along.

I wrote my first novel many years ago, a science fiction piece, but after I decided to try my hand at writing fantasy, I was hooked.

What, in your opinion, makes a good book?

Multi-dimensional, believable characters; a great story that's unpredictable; action, lots of action; and a story readers can relate to in some way.

What do you most like to do when you’re not writing?

I enjoy gardening, mostly vegetables; I'm hooked on home canning, and I really enjoy going to Renaissance Faires. I sew, draw, and sing karaoke (although not very well).

Where do your ideas come from?

Nowhere in particular. They just come to me. And when I think of a possible storyline, I let it hang out in my head for a while and grow. I allow my ideas to take on an uninterrupted life of their own before I start fleshing them out.

You’ve put a lot of work into this book, writing and rewriting numerous times. Why was that important? How much do you think your book has improved from the original?

Writing the first draft of a novel is easy, at least for me it is. The hard part starts when it reaches the revision stage. Only by revising can the story grow.

How much has it improved? A LOT! The first draft, for me, is more like an outline where I work on basic storyline and fairly developed characters. In revisions the difficult job of flow, continuity, and deep character development takes place. Through all my revisions, my stories grow more complex and the characters become real. The plot of "Unchosen Mage" remained basically the same throughout my revisions, but there were major changes made in parts and the beginning of the story changed a number of times. In addition, the title changed three times before it was definitely decided. So I would say the changes in the story, from conception through final version, were like night and day. I would like to add that the revisions would have been MUCH harder had I not had an awesome critiquing team that always let me know what wasn't working. If you are a beginner writer, the BEST thing you can do for your writing is to have a solid writing circle that you trust. Having extra eyes on a project is paramount to its success. There are always things the writer misses after reading their own work over and over again.

Did you try the traditional publishers before you went Indie? If so, what sort of feedback did you get?

Yes, I tried the traditional publishers and literary agents before I decided to self publish online. Generally, I got good feedback from the experts in the industry, but, being a previously unpublished author, I had no track record. Either that, or a particular publisher or agent was not looking for mid-grade fantasy at the time.

On the subject, I would like to add that I believe publishing for ereaders is going to grow in popularity quickly. With the increase in technology, I think readers will begin to prefer ereading more and more due to the amount of very good stories now available online for instant download at a reasonable price. Most of the more popular ereaders can hold thousands of full-length novels making it possible to carry an entire library with you.

What other writing projects do you have underway?

"Unchosen Mage" is the first book in a series entitled "The Legend of Ravenwood". The second book in the series is currently in revisions and the rest of the series is written in first draft version. I'm also working on an adult action novel, which is currently about half-way complete. There are also three other stories I have milling around in my head, growing and forming.

Do you have any interesting hobbies?

Designing and sewing Renaissance/medieval costumes, bags, and shoes; home canning everything in sight; and experimenting with different ways to garden in a drought-stricken area. I also enjoy researching things online for my stories.

Where can readers find your latest novel?

"Unchosen Mage" is currently available for download at Smashwords and will soon be available on Amazon Kindle, Apple ipad, Barnes and Noble Nook, and the other major ereaders.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/90323

http://unchosenmage.weebly.com/

Short blurb for "Unchosen Mage" : Fourteen year old Krys Anderwood lives in a small village in Lanterra. His world changes in one terrible day, right before a centuries-old prophecy and an ancient tome reveal that he must leave home and find a cursed wizard lost 200 years earlier. Barely able to perform basic magic, Krys fears he will fail, and his beloved homeland will fall victim to evil magic.

Scams and Shams

2011-10-02T09:28:00.001+08:00

I ‘Googled’ my books last night, as I do about once a week to see if I’ve missed any reviews etc and was shocked to find a site that seemed to be offering my books for sale. Horror! I’d been pirated! But on further investigation from friends with more intelligence than me, it became clear that in fact, the site didn’t have my books or anyone else’s books. It was just a big scam to get money off those who would like to download free books rather than pay for them.

After that little adventure, I went on and found another site offering ‘The Dragon Box’ for sale. Again it was a ruse, what for I’m not quite sure, but the ‘extract’ it had for the book had me in stitches. Another Perth writer, Meg McKinlay, once blogged on something similar she’d found as a ‘review’ of one of her books. It’s obviously a conglomeration of phrases from a huge number of books, but I don’t recognise any of them. The result, though, is hilarious –

“The claims stewart justice being thus satisfied and the majesty katie the law fully vindicated, the deceased crocodile is lamented and buried like a kinsman; a mound is raised over his relics and a stone marks the place of his head. If possible keep breast halves in a separate pan from legs and thighs as they will cook more quickly. For some time it had influenced the kings mind. For the first time in his life, he did long for revenge,-revenge against the one for stealing his patrimony, and refusing his hand; and that revenge he hoped to gratify. Der Herr hat auch wohl den schwarzen Storch gesehen, der nicht weit von der Burg auf einer abgestumpften Buche horstet. I saw the torches Flash on their visages a dreadful light- I saw them whilst the black blood rolld adown Each stern face, even then with dauntless eye Scowl round contemptuous, dying as they lived, Fearless of fate. " Mrs. Through these hidden caves I found my way; but your young feet may the dragon the mountain summits.”

Doesn’t that just make you itch to read The Dragon Box?

Heaven knows where all the lines came from, though they did cite Shakespeare at the end. Ah, I needed a good laugh.

A Poem

2011-09-16T21:41:00.000+08:00

A quick post today - a poem I wrote some time ago. I dedicate it to all those who are affected in any way by Alzheimer's disease or any other form of dementia...

The Long Goodbye

We watch you slowly walk away,
beckoned by the thief
who leads you.

In the evening light,
distant stars shine brightly,
but closer suns have lost their flame.

We call to you,
dragging on your hands to slow you down.
Remember when?

But our words
run like water through your fingers
and you shake your head.

You know us still;
your humour sparks our laughter.
But the present holds a joy that quickly dies.

How long before you wave
and turn the corner,
leaving us to mourn?

Katie W Stewart 2010

The need for creativity

2011-08-31T10:46:00.001+08:00

Years ago, I was feeling really low and phoned my mum to have a chat. I’d got caught in a cycle of ‘things to do’, none of them what I really wanted to do. As far as I could see, there was no time for me; I had to do what needed doing. After letting me offload my woes for a while, she asked, “What have you been doing this morning?” I replied with a list of all the cleaning I’d done. Her immediate question was, “Why? Who’s coming?” When I said that no one was coming, but that the house was a mess, she asked me when I had last drawn a picture? A strange question? Not really. In that question, she had summed up my whole problem. To be happy, I need to be creative. In those days it was drawing, these days it’s drawing and writing. I went off and drew a picture and immediately felt a whole lot better.

My life has been full of ‘things to do’ lately, none of them creative and I’m beginning to feel that old woe-is-me attitude coming on. Today, for example, is my day off work, but already it’s filled with a long list of things that need doing. I’m writing this while I drink my morning coffee before I do some household ‘must dos’. Then it’s back to town again to complete ‘things to do’ there. Tonight though, so far, is free. Tonight I’m going to disappear into my office and I’m going to draw. It’s ages since I drew anything, so that’s what I’m going to do. With everything that’s been happening lately, I can’t get my head around working on my novel, but drawing is a forgiving activity. I don’t even need to know what I’m going to draw; I can just let it come out. If anything decent comes of it, I may even let you see it!

Speaking of feeling low, I once posted here about ‘Absurdity Therapy’ and how I’d used it to get over the ennui of shopping. Yesterday I had the most wonderful absurd experience without even thinking about it. I’d nipped out of work to tick something off my list during my lunchbreak. As I drove down the hill an old, bright blue VW car came towards me. On the top was a large wooden tea tray – about four feet across, and on the top of that sat a cup cake – a huge cup cake, in a red and white striped case and with a cherry on top. That was funny enough, but I caught a glimpse of the lady driving the car and her smile was brighter than the cherry! She was obviously enjoying the reactions of those going by. Absurd. Surreal. Wonderful.

The Dragon Box

2011-08-28T13:07:00.001+08:00

Now that my children’s novel, The Dragon Box, is ‘out there’, I thought I’d give a little background to it.

This was the first book I started writing. Not the first book I finished, but the first I started. That was back when Eldest was 10 or 11. He was having trouble with another boy calling him names because of his ineptitude at football. The truth was Eldest HATED football and only played it because he had to during sport at school. But he was in a class that had older children in it as well and this one boy, a sporting champion (though not a sportsman, obviously), decided he’d encourage him along with some choice names. The school soon put an end to it when I complained, but the seeds of a story were planted and I began to write ‘The Dragon Box’ for Eldest. If you want to know how we dealt with the problem of the teasing as a family, you'll have to read the book!

About ten chapters in, the novel stalled. My husband read it and suggested that the idea of a young boy being befriended by an old man in this day and age might be seen as ‘politically incorrect’. I thought that was pretty silly, but had to admit that PI sticklers might indeed see it that way. So it sat on my hard drive for a long time until discussion on a writing site gave me the idea of making the old man a long-time, trusted friend of the boy’s mother. Not a perfect solution, but it worked for me.

Two completed drafts of the book went through CritiqueCircle. I ended up cutting four chapters from the beginning, realising that the fantasy element started way too late to keep children’s interest as it was. The first six chapters of the final draft stayed in the Top Ten at You Write On for 30 days. Had it stayed there one more day, it would have won a professional review from a major publisher, but them’s the breaks, as they say.

Then it sat for a lot longer on my hard drive until a friend gave me a virtual kick and insisted I send it to a publisher. Actually, she did more than that. She sent it to a publisher, one of the Big Six, something I would never have been brave enough to do. Though they didn’t end up taking it, it did get to that final decision-making stage we all dream of reaching (and passing) and their feedback was promising. After that we tried a few other publishers, but it wasn’t to be and the long waits were getting to me. I figured if I waited for as many rejections as JK Rowling, I’d be into my sixties before I was published. So, now it’s an e-book, hopefully ready to ride the crest of the children’s e-book wave. With Kindles now available in real stores, I figure more and more young people are going to be using e-readers. My daughter loves mine!

By the way, the dragon on the cover is one I drew ages ago when I was on holidays. I didn’t intend to use it for the book then; it was just an illustration for the sake of something to do. But I’m glad I did it. It made doing the cover so much easier!

Looking back on July

2011-08-14T16:10:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. So far, August for me on a private level has been the month from Hell. But I wrote this post at the end of July, so I thought I’d post it now, just to try to cheer myself up. It’s not meant to be a list of how wonderful I am, just a reminder to myself during the darker times, that things can go well.

What a month July has been as an author! To start with, at the beginning of the month, I heard about the Smashwords Summer/Winter Promotion. I decided to add Treespeaker to it, to see what happened if I just gave it away free for a while. The answer was, it did a whole lot better than selling it, the high point being one day, early on, when I gave away eighteen in one day.

Later in the month, a lovely little site called Love Thy Author, which features Indie books and links them back to Amazon, included Treespeaker, listing it as an “Undiscovered Gem”. While I was still high from that, I received a great review from Tracy at Booked Up.

Still flying, I sent an interview to India Drummond as I’d arranged to do months before. It was only supposed to stay up on her site for a few days, but was actually there for two weeks and I began selling books at Amazon, even though I was still giving copies away via Smashwords. At the same time the number of people ‘adding’ my book on Goodreads began to grow.

The cover of Treespeaker was also featured on Cover Art Review. That was less successful, with the few comments it got being rather negative, but at least they were looking at it!

In the meantime, I had two projects on the go – firstly to get a new website up and running and secondly, to get my children’s book ready for epublication (as I mentioned in my last post)*. My website was sadly out of date and because I’d done it myself and then lost all the files when the computer crashed, I couldn’t do much about it. I couldn’t even take it down and start again, because the most up-to-date Microsoft Office no longer has Front Page, which is what I’d used. Then I discovered Weebly, which allowed me to do everything I needed free-of-charge and keep my old domain name. If I’d know how easy it would be, I would have done it ages ago. It’s simple, but I can add to it as I go along.

Towards the end of the month, as an experiment, I changed the category that Treespeaker was listed under to “Christian Fantasy”. It’s not a book about Christianity, but it does have Christian themes and nothing that might offend sensibilities, so I thought it might appeal to that market. I sold two books in Britain one weekend and it shot to #6 in Christian SciFi and Fantasy which was a thrill while it lasted!

I also added a tag to the book of ‘Environmentalism’. Within days the book was being advertised on various environmental websites. I’m not sure that it led to sales but it was interesting to see that happen!

Another thrill was when only three days after joining iAuthors.org, my book was chosen as ‘Book of the Day’. Not only that, but a piece on ‘professionalism’ was put with it to explain why it had been chosen.

So, that was the month of July. Now to try and get this month back onto an even keel personally, so that I can relax again and start writing.

*The book, ‘The Dragon Box’, edited and with the cover approved by a class of ten-year-olds is now available on Amazon

A new plan

2011-07-27T22:27:00.000+08:00

I know I said in a recent post that I was getting together a couple of short books to post to Amazon, but since then I've decided on a new plan. I am still going to do that, but I'm also going to epublish my children's novel, 'The Dragon Box'. There's not a huge market for children's ebooks at the moment, but this novel has done the rounds of the publishers and despite getting to the final editor's table with one of the Big Six at one stage (the table where they decide their 'list' for the next round of publishing) it still hasn't got there. It's also the one that managed to stay in You Write On's TopTen for 30 days before being knocked out the day before it would have won a professional critique from an editor from one of the publishers. I'm tired. I'm disillusioned. So I'm taking charge and seeing what it can do for myself. If JK Rowling has spurred sales of ereaders with her recent publication of the Harry Potter books, as I suspect she has, I might just catch the wave. Or not. We'll see.

The Dragon Box is aimed at children aged 8-12. It's a fantasy with a hint of science fiction. James, the star klutz of the local football team, is befriended by his neighbour who is into inventing weird and wonderful gadgets. He gives James an electronic game he has invented - 'The Dragon Box'. But this is a game with a difference and James is far from prepared for what happens when he turns it on.

I've still got a couple of read-throughs to go, despite the fact that this is the same version I sent to publishers, but I'm hoping to have it out very soon. I'm wondering if I should use a pen-name, seeing as 'Treespeaker' is billed as an 'adult' novel, but I'm feeling inclined not to. I don't think it's that big a problem really.

COMING SOON TO AN E-READER NEAR YOU!

Fame

2011-07-24T09:59:00.000+08:00

Aren’t children wonderful for putting things into perspective? A couple of days ago, I took Sausage shopping (I really must give her a new nickname, she’s getting a bit old for ‘Sausage’ these days). It was Friday and school goes back from holidays on Tuesday, so town was busy. I drove around and around the carpark looking for a spot and was getting quite frustrated until Sausage shouted from the back seat, “Come on, people, make way for the famous author!”

That simple remark held so much. First, it implied a pride in my daughter at her mother’s achievements. I won’t burst her bubble for a little while yet. I don’t mind being famous in my own house. It also put ‘fame’ into perspective. So what if I were famous? What difference would it make in this sleepy little hollow where I live, or even in this sleepy little state? I’ve driven around a fair few carparks in my life and never yet seen a bay marked ‘Reserved for the Famous’. Even they have to find a place for themselves…unless they have their chauffeurs do it, I suppose.

Why do people adore the rich and famous so much? Why is so much fuss made about them? Are they any different to the rest of us, really?

Years ago, my father refused to go to a luncheon for Prince Charles at the place where he worked, because he objected to the amount of money that had been spent (money that the place couldn’t really afford) to repaint where Prince Charles would be visiting and to plant flowering plants in the gardens he would pass. He had nothing against the Royal Family, just against money being wasted. His reaction was considered strange by his colleagues. But in an interview before he returned home, the Prince was reported to have said that he’d had a lovely time visiting the state, but that he was saddened to see how much money had been spent on such things as paint and flowering plants in the places he’d been to. He would much rather that it had been spent on things that were needed. Needless to say, Prince Charles went up in our estimation after that. What a shame others can’t have that perspective.

So when I'm rich and famous, don't worry, I'll still be the same. I'll still curse and swear while I drive around the crowded carpark! Or at least, I shall allow my chauffeur to curse and swear.

Naming a Novel

2011-07-09T15:29:00.000+08:00

With the Indie revolution, the explosion of books has led to a problem that has probably never been so much of a problem before ie. the repetition of titles. A number of threads on Indie sites have been about the frustration of finding that a beloved title has already been used, sometimes by more than one author. Should it be changed or should it be left as it is?

Long, long ago, when I dreamed up the title ‘Treespeaker’ I thought I was being quite original. Then an online competition in which authors were asked to give a summary of their work-in-progress brought me back to reality. Not only had someone else written a novel with a ‘Treespeaker’ in it (though thankfully they hadn’t called the novel that), their premise wasn’t too different from mine either, on the surface at least. I kept going, though, determined that my Treespeaker would make it as it was and be original enough to stand out.

I didn’t really think about it again until after I’d epublished. Then I began to wonder if that other novel had ever been published. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t, but I did find another book with the same title as mine, except that the two words are separated. The book is for children and doesn’t seem to be still for sale, so I breathed a sigh of relief. However, Twitter has taught me that Treespeaker is also the name of a character in a rather popular computer game, so searches for ‘Treespeaker’ are always going to bring up links to that. If I were lucky, maybe the fanatics of that game would see my book and buy it, just to see if there’s a connection. From what I can see though, said fans are mainly 15-40 year-old males, who would probably find my Treespeaker far too tame.

All this makes me nervous about naming my other books. The sequel to Treespeaker is on my computer as ‘Forest Child’. Go onto Google and that name brings up a plethora of places where the name has been used, from books, to plays, to blogs. So while ‘Forest Child’ links more closely with ‘Treespeaker’, maybe my other title choice – which includes the name of my mythical creatures – would be better (makes note to self to check that name on Google, too.)

Does it really matter? The answer to that probably depends on a number of things. Is the previous use of the name going to overshadow yours? Is the other book so similar to yours that the two will be confused by readers? It's really up to the author to decide.

If I knew anything about marketing, I’d be able to work out how to use these similarities to my advantage, but I don’t, so I bumble along doing what I can. That’s the main reason why I entered the competition that’s given me that shiny new gold medallion you see attached to my blog. The prize, if I manage to win, is marketing for my book. That can’t be bad, can it? So far, ‘Nominated’ means they didn’t throw my book out on first glance. Now it’s fingers crossed that I might change ‘Nominated’ to ‘Finalist’. Meanwhile, I’ll keep writing…difficult with crossed fingers, but I'll try.

A little promotion.

2011-07-02T13:03:00.000+08:00

Please forgive me for this self-promotional post, but it would be a shame for my efforts to get Treespeaker read by as many as possible to go by without anyone noticing.

For the month of July, Smashwords is running a 'Summer/Winter Promotion' (depending where in the world you happen to be). As part of that, Treespeaker will be FREE, yes FREE, for the whole month. So if you haven't already bought it, now's your chance. Just go here and put in the code SSWFS when you go to 'buy'. You can't get lower risk than that!

In the meantime, I'm trying to get together some short stories that have been sitting around on my hard drive forever, with the idea of publishing some 'shorts'. One is a fantasy (I'm going to subtitle it 'A fable for those with a soul'), and the others, which I'll probably group together are contempory, but with a hint of fantasy. Stay tuned!

What does it mean?

2011-06-28T17:40:00.000+08:00

A few years ago I wrote a letter to the editor of a magazine in response to a short piece they wrote about a prize-winning poet. I don’t remember his name, but apparently on receiving his reward, he made a comment about people asking him to write poetry for weddings. For him to do that, he said, would be like an artist painting pet portraits. As a painter of pet portraits myself, I found that remark rather offensive and wrote to the magazine to say so.

I love doing pet portraits and would never consider it ‘beneath me’. For one thing, I love animals, but the main thing is that in recreating someone’s pet, I’m connecting with that person. The painting, though I enjoy doing it, is not self-indulgent in the way that some paintings are. I’m doing it for a particular audience and when I look at the portrait and feel satisfied, then I can be fairly sure that the pet’s owner will, too.

And now for something completely different –

In my dreams, I could frame this up, give it some deep and meaningful name and sell it for thousands -- if I was brazen enough. Art critics would go into a frenzy of scalp-scratching, dictionary searching to find the words to describe its nuances and subtleties. They would sit in rapture, staring at it for days in an effort to unlock its meaning. But the truth is this piece has no real meaning at all. I simply picked up my pastels one day and started messing around with line and shape, colour and shading. I had no particular concept in mind when I did it. Now that it’s finished, I can find something of myself in it that may have come out subconsciously, but few others know me well enough to guess what part of me that might be.

When I first went to University, I was intent on doing a degree in English. It took only a very short time for me to decide that I hated it. Tutorials spent trying to find ‘what the author meant’ drove me to distraction. When a poem by Browning (which I’d loved and saw as a wonderful piece of imagery) was turned into a rather sordid description of love-making, I decided my future lay in another direction. I moved onto a degree in Anthropology. At least that was about real people. I didn’t have to find hidden meanings that I didn’t really feel existed.

My stories are, first and foremost, about people and the way they interact. As I write, themes do appear, but I don’t deliberately set out with particular themes in mind. I don’t try to be clever, to hide meaning within meaning. I’m not that clever myself. If the story doesn’t make some sort of immediate sense to the reader without deeper analysis, then I’ve not succeeded. Just as I work to make a pet’s eyes gaze out of the picture and connect with the viewer, I work at making the characters real to the reader. That is my main aim. When a reader actually understands the underlying themes as well (as this recent reviewer did), then that’s a huge bonus. Then they’ve understood a little of me. The last thing I’d want, though, is for people to spend hours trying to work out what I meant and coming up with all sorts of weird and wonderful conclusions. People should have better things to do with their time.

There are voices in my head!

2011-06-19T13:30:00.000+08:00

I did something rare for me last night – I watched TV. Well, no, I didn’t actually watch TV because my boys were watching Dr Who, but I got onto our free TV viewer on the computer and caught up on a couple of programmes that had been on during the week. One of them was a British programme called ‘Am I Normal?’

I’ve often wondered about that. Who is normal? Some people who have been considered ‘odd’ by others, have been amongst the most interesting people I know. As a teacher, I often found the ‘odd’ children the most interesting to teach. They had a whole different perspective on the world. Last night’s episode was about religion and ‘hearing voices’; which begs the question – are writers who hear their characters talking to them, ‘normal’?

When I’m deeply involved in writing a novel, I have to admit I do ‘hear’ voices. They’re inside my head, but voices all the same. Driving on my own is a wonderful time for them to start. A trip from home to Perth takes an hour-and-a-half. That’s lots of time to have a good conversation and sort things out. For instance –

Voice 1 (Male): You’re going to have to kill me, you know.

Me: (Of course, I don’t answer out loud. I’m not that mad…yet.) No.

Voice 1: You don’t have a choice. It’s the only logical way to finish the story.

Me: I don’t want to kill you! All right?

Voice 2 (Female): He’s right. You have to kill him.

Me: How can you say that! He’s your father!

Voice 2: I know, and I love him dearly. But it’s supposed to be MY story and you’re not going to be able to let me save the day if he’s still around. Unless you rewrite it with him as the main character.

Me: I can’t write another story with a middle-aged man as the MC. Boring!

Voice 1: There is an alternative, I suppose.

Me: What?

Voice 1: You could go back and rewrite from where the prophecy came in, so it’s more ambiguous as to who it’s about. Then it won’t matter whether I’m dead or alive at the end.

Me: What! But prophecies are really hard. It took me ages to get that one right. I don’t want to rewrite it. There has to be another way.

Voice 1: There is. You kill me.

Me: I can’t do that.

Voice 1: Yes you can. You’ve almost done it a couple of times already. Just go that one step further.

Voice 2: It would be good for the story. You’re supposed to be cruel to your main character. Just think how miserable my father dying would make me.

Me: It’d make me miserable, too. I can’t do it.

Voice 1: You know your problem, don’t you? You gave me the face of an actor you like too much. You should have chosen someone else.

Me: But you wouldn’t be you if you weren’t him.

Voice 1: You’re not making a lot of sense; you know that, don’t you?

Me: Hey, I’m talking to non-existent people. Where does sense come into it? But I know what I mean. Now go away. I’ll think of some way of doing this without killing you.

Voice 1: All right, but it had better be good. It has to hurt!

Me: I didn’t write you as a masochist.

Voice 1: You know what I mean.

Me: Listen, I’m the writer. I can do it. Without killing you. Now go away.

Am I mad hearing these voices? I don’t think so, but then, I have just published Treespeaker, which is all about a man who has to deal with the idea of not hearing voices in his head any more. Maybe I am mad, and just don’t want to admit it because I enjoy the voices. One of the psychiatrists on the programme last night suggested that there are lots more ‘odd’ people in the world than we think – they just don’t admit to being mad.

So did I just admit to being mad? I’ll go and ask my characters and let you know.

Where do characters come from?

2011-06-15T20:30:00.000+08:00

A few interviews I’ve done on various blogs recently have asked the question, “How do you find your characters?” or “Where do you get inspiration for your characters?” so I thought I’d write a little bit about how some of the characters in Treespeaker came to be.

Faces are what usually inspire me to create a character. Faces have always fascinated me. Some people have faces that tell stories by themselves. The truth is that if I hadn’t seen one particular actor in a children’s programme I was watching with Dynamo, Treespeaker might never have been written. He was a very dry, serious actor (at least in that programme), small, broad-shouldered, gravel-voiced and with a face full of character. I had that bearded visage floating in my head for quite a while before the other ideas came together and gave him a world to live in.

I tend to get in trouble, when people critique my work, for not giving enough description of my characters. There’s a reason for that. As a reader, I don’t like to be given much detail about characters’ looks. I much prefer to imagine them for myself. Funnily enough, after a group of people had critiqued Treespeaker from beginning to end on Critique Circle, they got together and started discussing who would play Jakan in the film version of the book. (If anyone ever wondered why I felt encouraged to e-publish this book – there’s your answer.) Despite the fact that I’d described Jakan as having gingery, curly hair and blue eyes, the consensus was that Morgan Freeman would make a great Jakan. Did that bother me? On the contrary, I have to admit that the demeanour of a younger Morgan Freeman would fit perfectly with Jakan. But I’m not going to tell who he’s really based on.

There’s a great advantage to using lesser known actors as models for characters. If you start to lose that feeling of closeness with the character, then you can watch them on a DVD for a while and they come alive again.

My other characters were less clear in my head. Kattan, the chief elder, was very loosely based on another actor. Dovan, Jalena and Grifad were purely from my head – mixtures of lots of people. Dear old Hekja took on a life of her own without any planning. She wasn’t even meant to be there for more than a page. I had plotted for her to come in, do a bit of healing and then leave again, just some little old wise woman, a bit part. But Hekja had a mind of her own. In she walked, sporting the totem tattoo of the Arrakeshi at her throat (she was supposed to be Carlikan) and then she took over the scene. It just seemed right to let it happen. She’s popped up in the sequel I’m writing, too. I found myself in a difficult spot plot-wise and in she walked. She’s ancient now, but just as strong willed as ever.

Needless to say, no matter how well I think I know what is going to happen in my stories, detailed planning is a waste of time for me. But plotting is a whole other post. Now I’m off to see what Hekja thinks she’s up to. There’s another post too – the idea of talking to characters inside your head.

What Is Success?

2011-06-10T11:47:00.000+08:00

A couple of threads on forums and a few conversations I’ve had recently, have started me thinking about success. Or rethinking. What is it?

Shortly after we brought Dynamo home from Korea, we had a couple of experiences that helped me to define success to myself and I’ve been reminded of that in my recent ruminations. Firstly, we were accosted by a salesperson in a shopping centre trying to sell us education insurance for our baby. By putting in so much money per year, we could guarantee that he would have the money he needed to attend university.

“What if he doesn’t attend university?” I asked.

“But he’ll be able to with this scheme.”

“What if he doesn’t want to?”

“But if you have this insurance, you’ll be able to encourage him in that direction.”

I looked at my son, new to us, with no genetic road map to give us any idea of where he might be headed. “What if he isn’t university material?”

She stared at me, obviously exasperated. “You push him! It’s good to have a university education.”

“Sorry,” I said, “but I’m not going to risk him feeling a failure, just because I’ve invested money in him going to university.”

Then I left, to the sound of her telling me how sorry I’d be in eighteen years.

At around the same time, an internet adoption support group started calling for members to find the names of adoptees who had made a success of their life, so that we could use them as role models for our children. By ‘successful’ they meant those who had become top sportsmen, actors, politicians, writers, singers etc. While I could see what they were trying to do, I wrote back and questioned the idea. What about the man who tends the public gardens every day, then goes home to a happy family home in the evening? Is he not a success? Or the woman who quietly nurses the sick and spends her time off playing tennis with friends? If she is content with her life and enjoys her work, can she not be considered successful? Famous doesn’t equal success. Rich doesn’t equal success.

So where does that leave me in my quest to be a writer? I went to our local arts group the other day, to ask if a flyer about my book could be put in the next newsletter. The man in charge was very enthusiastic, wanting me to do a workshop. When I said that I really didn’t know a lot, that it was just an ebook and not that big a deal (I know, I know, that sort of talk doesn’t help me one iota, but it’s a habit I’m still to break, orally at least), he said something that made me think - “You’ve written a book. Lots of people want to do that, but not many actually do it.”

That makes me successful, doesn’t it? Thirty years ago, I wanted to be married, with children. Done. Ten years ago, I wanted to write a book. Done, three times over. When I’d finished those books, I wanted them to be read. Now one is being read and if I chose, I could get the others out there, too. Am I a failure because I’m not selling in huge numbers? No, because that’s not the goal I set myself. Little by little I can broaden my goals, but as long as they’re within reason, I will continue to be a success. I was interviewed by the local newspaper this week. That’s never happened before!

My family and friends don’t care if I sell a million copies, they don’t care if I make a million dollars. To them, it’s not going to make a difference to who I am. As long as I’m happy, the wife, mum, friend they know, all the sales in the world won’t make a difference to who I am to them. What better family and friends could one ask for? Success!

Win an electronic copy of Treespeaker!

2011-06-03T21:40:00.000+08:00

A momentous occasion passed with the last post, almost unnoticed. My 10 000th visitor popped their head in without fanfair or music. But it's not too late to celebrate, so I thought I'd have a bit of a competition and a giveaway at the same time. If you would like to be in the draw to win one of 10 copies of Treespeaker, send your name and email address to -
nenabrookart at yahoo dot com dot au - and I will choose 10 lucky winners out of a hat and send them a Smashwords coupon.

Don't forget to go over to the Treespeaker blog for more information about the book, the characters, me (as if I haven't talked about myself already) and some excerpts. And if you haven't already seen it, I have an interview up at the moment with the lovely Tracy at Tall Tales and Short Stories about the experience of e-publishing. It's a brilliant blog and I feel very honoured to be there.

I'll leave the competition open until 9pm Friday June 10th (Western Australian time). Good luck!

Kindness

2011-06-01T10:35:00.000+08:00

It’s nearly six weeks since I published Treespeaker. What have I learned? Well, firstly that it’s not as easy as it looks to market a book. In fact, it’s a hard slog. But by far the most important thing I’ve learned is that there are some beautiful, kind people in the world. Of course, I already knew that, but some people have been so generous in helping me with my book that I have had my knowledge reinforced.

I’m not talking here just about the myriad other Indie authors who have opened there blogs to book reviews, interviews etc and always lend a hand or give advice when you shout ‘help’. I’m talking about individuals who have stepped forward to help me personally. There have been friends who raced to buy my book then plugged it to all their friends. Acquaintances who spread the word on the internet. A friend who looked (and is still looking) for any avenue of marketing he could find and made sure I was aware of it. Other internet acquaintances have offered me a place on their blogs (stay tuned for the latest on that).

It’s not just people I know, though. Complete strangers have befriended me and offered advice. Complete strangers have bought my book to help me along. Complete strangers have become friends.

I only hope that somewhere in amongst all this, I can find a way to pay all this kindness forward and back. There are so many worthy books struggling to find their way to the top of the pile, so many good writers wondering if they dare take the plunge into e-publishing. It’s like struggling to the top of the barricades in a revolution. Everyone needs a hand to climb up. Not that I'm sure that there's any enemy, though. Maybe conquering Everest would be a better analogy. I dream of the view from the top, but the peak is going to have to be wide enough for a lot of other people...all those who have pulled me up and all those who have pushed! Thank you to you all. Whether I get there or not, I’m very grateful.

A Sad Farewell

2011-05-21T16:54:00.000+08:00

Our family was saddened yesterday to learn of the death, a few days ago, of a wonderful man who played a huge part in making us the family we are.

Dr Kim Duk Whang retired at the age of 60 from his position in the Ministry of Health and Welfare in South Korea. In his job, he had seen a great need for someone to care for the thousands of children left abandoned each year. So in 1972, he founded the Eastern Social Welfare Society, dedicated to finding families for children like those. Though he would have liked for all the children to be adopted within Korea, social attitudes at the time made it impossible. He looked overseas for families like ours. Many thousands of children over the years found families overseas in places like Australia and the US. Many of them returned to their homeland later to learn about their roots, all with the help of programmes set up by ESWS. Only now is domestic adoption becoming acceptable in Korea and that very much through the efforts of Dr Kim and ESWS.

Under Dr Kim’s direction, ESWS expanded to help not only homeless children, but those with disabilities, single mothers, the poor and the elderly. Dr Kim was also an Elder in his church and worked tirelessly to do what he believed to be God’s will. He retired from his position as head of ESWS only two years ago at the age of 94! There was barely a day he hadn’t come into the office to work.

We met Dr Kim twice, first when we picked up Dynamo and again when we picked up Sausage. His gentleness and caring shone through his grandfatherly face. Every child, every life, to him was a gift and he prayed and shed tears for every one that had to leave Korea. I can well imagine St Peter rolled out the red carpet when he arrived in heaven, for he was without doubt a saintly man. But I suspect Dr Kim would have walked beside it, for he was also a very humble man and would not realise it was for him.

Rest in Peace, Dr Kim and thank you.

Procrastination

2011-05-18T14:02:00.000+08:00

I told a friend in an email the other day, that I was suffering from 'procrastinitis'. Being an ex-nurse, she read that as 'pancreatitis' and was getting a little worried. Of course when she told me that, I immediately had to head off to Wikipedia to find out exactly what pancreatitis was and while I was there, got a little distracted by all the other ailments listed with it. By the time I'd checked them out, I felt too ill to do any work.

That's how procrastinitis gets you. Every little thing suddenly becomes more important than what you know you're supposed to be doing. Even sweeping the floor and doing the ironing become more attractive than the task at hand. I know that on my two days off work during the week, I have two priorities - marketing my book and writing the next one. The proportion of time I tell myself I should spend on that is one-third marketing, two-thirds writing (I can top up the marketing in the evenings after work). Yet somehow, I find myself back on Twitter or the Kindleboards or washing dishes or even cleaning the bathroom, rather than writing. It's not that I don't like the writing, or don't like the story, so what's wrong with me?

Today I have done the shopping and put it away, I've checked out all the sites I need to look at (and then again, just in case anything exciting has happened in the past hour), added pages to my Treespeaker blog, talked to a few people on Twitter, Facebook etc, and written this post. And my book? I've written half a page. Half a page I will probably go back to and think, 'no, this is disjointed' and scrap. I have to get going with this book!

Is there a cure? Maybe it will tell me on Wikipedia...

An Anniversary to Harp on About.

2011-05-16T16:26:00.000+08:00

I realised today that I have let an anniversary go by without mention. A little over a year ago, I got my beautiful ‘Siomha’, the Celtic harp of my dreams. It only feels like five minutes, but the hours of pleasure she’s given me can’t be underestimated. I still love her as much as I did the day she came, if not more, because now I can actually get a few tunes out of her and get lost in the playing.

I’m glad to say that my left hand, so uncoordinated in those early days, is now under my control. Even the double-jointed thumb is stronger. Unfortunately, the arthritis that the rheumatologist promised me was on the way six years ago, is now showing up in swollen knuckles on a couple of fingers. But they don’t hurt and I’m convinced it’s the playing that’s stopping them from stiffening. Exercise has to be good for them, doesn’t it?

As far as performing goes, I’ve done a lot more than I would ever have believed possible at this time last year. From a simple concert for my parents, to a private tune for an Irishman who knew everything there was to know about O’Carolan, then onto the school’s Presentation night where I played with a lovely flute player who covered my mistakes and on to St Patrick’s Day when, dressed in a red wig and emerald dress I tied my fingers in knots in front of 300 kids …and they still told me I was awesome! I need to work on those nerves though.

Happy Anniversary, Siomha!

Rollercoaster

2011-05-14T13:23:00.001+08:00

It's a bit of a rollercoaster ride, this e-publishing business. Just when I think things are going well, something goes wrong. Just as I think it's the end of the world, things start going well again.

Earlier this week I discovered that I had a review. It was one that I'd asked for, but I hadn't been told it had been done and just happened to look at the blog on the right day. I have to admit to being a little disappointed. It wasn't a bad review, but it wasn't good either, though she'd said some positive things. I felt sure it would ruin my sales, but they kept going at a steady pace.

Two days later they stopped. I have no idea why, but for a while I sold nothing. Just as I was thinking they'd never start again, I suddenly sold more than I had in any one day before. Then they stopped again. I think the moral of the story is that I really shouldn't look at my sales figures and only go to look once a month. But that is so hard to do!

I'm still finding that the marketing side is taking up a lot of time. It's so easy to get sidetracked when I'm 'networking' or searching for review sites. But I'm also meeting a lot of helpful and interesting people and I have some lovely friends who are out there looking for opportunities for me, too. I have to say, it's gratifying to know how many people want to help make Treespeaker a success. I only hope I can repay them when they need help.

Thanks, everyone!

Oh, by the way, I did finally get my formatting accepted by Smashwords, but it's still under review for the Premium status. From what I've heard, that's taking a loooooong time at the moment. I'll keep you posted.

Getting it right.

2011-05-08T10:28:00.000+08:00

Having heard that formatting for Smashwords was a bit of a nightmare, I didn’t bother with it when I published Treespeaker to Kindle. I figured I had enough grey hairs by the time I’d worked out how to do even that. This weekend, though, I decided that it was probably a good idea to have Treespeaker available through as many outlets as possible, so I took a deep breath and stepped out into the world of Smashwords.

Carefully I followed the instructions, checked, double checked and pressed the button. Then my heart fell. 'You are in the queue at No. 4675', it said. So I went away. I came back an hour later. No.4358. Went away again, returning two hours later. No.3846…you get the picture. A friend who had just published hers through Smashwords told me that hers had taken 26 hours and then she had formatting errors so had to start again.

Now I waited in dread. It reminded me of when I was doing Archaeology in University and had to use a statistics programme called SPSS. The handbook for using the programme was three inches thick and had to be followed exactly. I’m going to show my age now by admitting that this was in the days before PCs. The computers were the size of fridge-freezers and entering data was done via a pile of cards with holes punched in them at just the right places. The university had only one machine that punched these holes, so preparing the cards generally meant lining up until 3am. Once you’d prepared the cards, you handed them in to the nice computer experts behind the little window and crawled back home to sleep.

The next morning you’d rush down to the department and look in your pigeon hole. What you should find was a thick wad of paper with all your results. Inevitably what I found was two pieces of paper-- a cover page and another saying something like “Error:Line3”. I fully expected much the same from Smashwords and sure enough, when Treespeaker finally came through the queue I was told that there was an error in the size of the font I’d used (I’d forgotten to change the title page from size 16 as it was on Kindle) and my Table of Contents was wrong.

So yesterday, I spent the afternoon carefully redoing the Table of Contents, deleting hidden bookmarks that seemed to multiply as quickly as I zapped them, and making sure that there wasn’t a single font over size 14. Then I sent it off again.

Now I wait. Sigh.