Category Archives: Writing & Self Publishing

I’m learning how to stand on a bowling ball!

In my new novel, “The Emerald Dragon”, one of the baby Aguiva Warbirds felt it necessary to learn how to stand on a bowling ball. In the end, it helped his balance, strengthened his legs and made him incredibly more observant. In learning how to be a good Indie Author, I discovered the similarities between authorship and a baby Aguiva Warbird.

In other words, we need a balanced approach, a higher level of observancy of peoples’ needs and a new level of strength to get up every day to be an author. Anyone who’s tried it knows exactly what I mean. So, metaphorically speaking, I decided I needed to learn how to stand on a bowling ball.

So where is this crazy metaphor going, you ask???

I recently read a blog post written by Merry Farmer, a guest writer on the Novel Publicity blog, in which she discussed the importance of finding what she called a “tribe” – a group of like-minded individuals with similar goals. She states that this is important, especially for the Indie Author, because “There is not only safety in numbers, there is caring, support, and networking.” An author has a far better chance at making it in this “Indie Revolution” with encouragement from others on our journey to climb our way from the unknown to our ultimate success as a writer. Merry writes, “In essence, we have banded together in this vast sea of independent authors to form a tribe.” The founder of Novel Publicity, Emlyn Chand, also describes it as “karma”; you give what you get. In helping one another, we build “our writerly karma”.

With all of this in mind, I have been exploring the many avenues for building relationships with fellow Indie Authors and exploring what it is that we can do to reach our ultimate goal…our book/s in the hands of the Reader.

Here are some of the channels I have found to be of great help! (Listed in no particular order)

Goodreads Groups such as:
- Goodreads Authors/Readers – (over 5,000 members) Contains an amazing array of discussion groups, including an author list, a folder index of the many genres where you can specifically mention your books with links, a list of giveaways, author bloggers, reviewers and supporters…and the list goes on!
- Novel Publicity’s Author Karma – (over 200 members) A great place to meet with other authors for “Author Blog Swaps” and where you can share your book trailers and get friendly feedback!

There are so many wonderful groups on Goodreads, look through them and find what fits for you!

Novel Publicity & Co.– This website is a fantastic source of information! Emlyn Chand has really outdone herself! The blog features such categories as: Writing Advice, Publishing Advice and Social Media Advice. There’s tons of information for bloggers and those interested in blogging. Novel Publicity also offers their services in Marketing, Editing and Design for all budgets! One of my favorite features is the “Karmic Initiative”!!
- Karma – Novel Publicity’s free initiatives help to build our social media family! Be sure to visit their website to learn about their Karmic Fan Chains on Goodreads, Karmic Liking Chain on Facebook and their Retweet Chain on Twitter!

My Pathway to Books: Indie Revolution – this is a blog devoted only to Indie/Self Published Authors! The creator, Tess, has started her own initiative – “Indie Revolution“ and is a weekly feature on Thursdays that will spotlight a different author each week with Giveaways, Guest Posts, Interviews, Excerpts, etc. She has an awesome “Indie Revolution” badge you can add to your website, blog, facebook, etc. Be sure to check out her blog and submit the application provided on her site!

For those of us that write poetry, I found a blog called “Novelista” (created by IE Castellano, a Speculative Fiction author), that loves to feature poetry submissions every Wednesday! The Face of Love from my book “Tapestry” will be featured on the blog this Wednesday, May 2^nd!

The list could go on, but I’ll save that for part two! I encourage you to go check out these sites and start forming your “tribe”! That my friends is my introduction to…learning how to stand on a bowling ball!

One last thing…a lot of people have one tucked away in a closet somewhere. Go on, pull the bowling ball out…you know you want to. Give it a whirl! It’s harder than it looks! 🙂

Posted in Writing & Self Publishing

3 Comments

Tags: emlyn chand, goodreads groups, ie castellano, indie authors, merry farmer, my pathway to books, novel publicity, novelista, self publishing, The Emerald Dragon, writing

What’s that clicking sound??

Apr 11

Posted by solitaireparke

I was asked recently about my writing process…hmmm. First of all, I use an outline…but I’m not married to it. I find that if the outline is loose enough it stimulates the writing flow. Even though I get up every morning with the idea of getting to work, being methodical; the fact of the matter is most of my ideas come to me in the middle of the night in the form of dreams. The characters in ALL of my books are modeled after people I know. That way it’s easier for me to hear conversations that would involve them. For instance, the character Stephen Anthony from my novel “Vengeance of the Wolf” was modeled, in part, after my father. He’s intelligent, brash, aggressive, impulsive and prone to say whatever is on his mind at the time. He is the perfect characterization of the private detective. So…if I wake up at 2am with an intense idea of a conversation between characters, I’ll make a bee-line for the computer before the idea simply fades away. It was during one of those nights that I kept hearing a clicking sound. I don’t know how long it took me to realize what I was doing, but eventually it dawned on me that my forehead was on the keyboard. I had typed one letter for several pages! As a result I have developed my own curriculum; the number of hours changes daily. I do however try to keep my face off the keyboard!

As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve also been known to take long sojourns around my back yard; pretending to be both characters in any given dialogue. I’m sure my neighbors think I’m nuts! It does however make them seem more realistic. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand at the end of a rainbow in Ireland? Or watching the earth light from the moon? Or at the very least, have you ever seen a martian sunset? The answers to these are probably no, because in most cases there is probably no way for you to know…But, it occurred to me to ask the characters that I’ve created; and I’ll be a son-of-a-gun, they DID!

In conclusion, let it be it known that I also work on more than one book at the same time. However I recognize that this is potentially a recipe for disaster. Take two stories, add fatigue and total darkness; paragraphs have actually made it from book one to book two! I’m glad it doesn’t happen very often because whatever it is that flows is where my computer goes.

Oh! One more thing…

Call me paranoid, but part of my routine everyday involves saving the document I am working on in two completely different folders on two completely different hard drives. This ensures that should one of my hard drives crash, I have a backup. This actually happened to me while writing my very first book. I come by my paranoia honestly. 🙂

Posted in Writing & Self Publishing

Can’t see the forest through all the DARN trees!

Apr 10

Posted by solitaireparke

Somewhere in the writing process I realized I wasn’t capable of doing it all. Shocker I know! I wrote the book…I’m finished right? I don’t need to edit; who needs it proofread, didn’t I just do that?! If I talk with perfect diction, doesn’t it stand to reason that I would type that way as well? REALITY CHECK!! With so many thoughts, character traits, and dialogue all floating through my head at the same time…not likely! In my case, that averages out to about one mistake every six words! Then one day the book is finished and I’m ready to sprint for the finish line! Time to upload and experience one million downloads every thirty minutes!! Yeah I know…I’m delusional! But it’s a nice thought, right? The reality is the actual writing of the book turns out to be the smallest part of the total process (for me the most fun).

I needed to take my hands out of the cookie jar, stop micro-managing and recruit some help. This was also the point where as a graphic artist I had to ask myself, should I go with my own thoughts where the book cover is concerned or is it time to go for new blood? I mean seriously?? How come I can’t see the forest? AHA! It’s because there are too many darn trees in the way!! So I relinquished control. I’m quite proud to say that my daughter just happens to be not only a premier graphic artist but also on my staff. (She will be implementing the first of her cover designs on my soon to be released action/sci-fi novel “Tinker Smith & the Conspiracy of OZ”.) The two editors that I now depend on daily rip and snort their way from page one to page last fixing me and making sure I don’t publicly humiliate myself. Now I know what you’re thinking…how does a new author afford all of this?! I call them family. When it’s time for the proofreading, I lean on my friends. This all accomplishes the same things that the big name writers enjoy every day. So far everyone humors me and I am indebted to them forever!

The point to my ramble is this; no author is an island, not even one with my first name. It takes oodles and oodles of SUPPORT and the invaluable information and advice given freely from other authors and experienced professionals. Many thanks to everyone!!

For tons of useful information, be sure to visit:

Joel Friedlander – The Book Designer and follow on Twitter @jfbookman

Joanna Penn – The Creative Penn and follow on Twitter @thecreativepenn

Molly Greene – Writer and follow on Twitter @mollygreene

Melissa Foster – Founder of World Literary Café and follow on Twitter @Melissa_Foster

World Literary Café – Where Readers & Authors Unite and follow on Twitter @WorldLitCafe