After a great start to 2016 in terms of my writing goals and hitting them day after day, I hit a bit of bad luck, hard times, call them what you will. In short, it affected my writing and yet as I am writer, I know it won't be a permanent thing.
It could be life's way of saying slow down and focus on some other things. Perhaps. But it's like anything one is into, one has to do it, otherwise, the Cranky Monster will appear. Everyone knows who the Cranky Monster is; it just happens to be different depending on who you are and what you like to do. For most authors, they will feel very cranky if they don't get some writing done.
A lack of writing does not infer a lack of writing focus. In my case, I was finalising tweaks to the concluding segment of the Dark Winter trilogy. There's always mini-errors and omissions that one will find. Over the course of a 110,000 word novel, you bet there are.
Will it be a happy or violently bloody end for Romilly Winter?
However, my process involves viewing it in Word, as a PDF, printing off the entire thing from my own printer, sending it to beta readers, before viewing a proof edition. Even then, I am not finished.
But I am close. The book is available on Kindle via pre-order, with its official release being 21st February 2016. Once I had decided to move the date from October 2015, I felt I could deliver the final edition that I wanted to do. The end will please some, annoy others, but as JK Rowling herself said about the closure of her Harry Potter series, as the author of the work, she was happy. I am too with my own series. And now it is over to the good readers out there to tell the world what they think.
I've already had one review on Good Reads (thank you J Kahele) and I hope more of you will read the book (and the series, because the final book is not a standalone) and up until 21st February, both Dark Winter (I): The Wicca Circle and Dark Winter (II): Crescent Moon can be bought on Amazon for 99c/p each. This changes after 21st February - they will never be 99c/p again.
Kobo. Oh yes, I love Amazon who do help authors a lot to get their name out there, but I am branching out to other platforms too, and on Kobo you can already get Murderous Little Darlingson there, Amazon, iBooks and Nook.
But I will be adding The Ghost of Normandy Road (Haunted Minds I) to the platform in the next day or so, so Kobo users can get it there. But if you can't wait, look it up on Amazon for now.
With Dark Winter III done and basically dusted, fans of my works can look forward to the fifth vampire tale - Reunion of the Blood - which I hope to release end of April. I realise it is nearly a full year since book four - Dream the Crow's Dream came out, but you know I have been busy writing all new works.
March will see the paperback edition of my non-fiction How to Write, Keep Writing and Keep Motivated: Tips for Aspiring Authors book coming out. Kindle version here
So the wait is nearly over for that one.
Currently Writing:-
i) A dystopian tale to thrill and chill you. Anyone who knows me knows how highly I rate George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four, so expect something that I admit was inspired by this work, but will have my own unique take on the genre.
ii) A tale about a writer who plans to quit his successful career to spend the remainder of his years with his wife. Things don't quite work out as planned.....
I am excited about both, but made more progress on the latter. So it is likely that will come out first.
Short post today: When I wrote the first book in the Haunted Minds series, The Ghost of Normandy Road, and indeed, many of my books are enhanced by musical compositions that I reference throughout the stories.
For 'Ghost', the song that stayed in my head was released some twenty years ago. As I write this blog post, I cannot quite believe so much time has passed. But life has a way of doing that. Anyway why not play the music whilst you read short excerpt from the story. Maybe you will want to give the full book a try.
Every time I go to the house on Normandy Road, I think it will be the last. No matter how many times I do this, I find myself shaking uncontrollably. Perhaps it is understandable. I do this to myself, time and again. Because, I want to feel the excitement, the exhilaration, the fear. Okay, I admit it.
I want to see her.
I know she’s there. I’ve been told about her before. Only in ghost stories, they are just stories, they don’t mean anything, nor should they, to you or I. When I am not anywhere near that house on Normandy Road, that’s all it is. A house. Nothing more, nothing less.
I want to believe in her. I want to believe in the existence of ghosts.
Oh, I know you will think I’m being silly. Your questions? I’m sure you have many. I bet you have the answers to them all as well.
Do the floorboards creak? Of course they do. Does the door open slowly, making a sound only those on the other side of the grave could possibly make? You bet.
Do the windows rattle? Yeah, for real.
All houses do this, don’t they?
Sigh.
Yes they do. Pretty much all of them.
Come on. Rationalise this. Everyone knows why I shake uncontrollably when I go there. It’s because she is real. She exists, and she will not rest in her grave. Why? Because she belongs there, belongs in the house on Normandy Road. She’s never going to leave, because she can’t. But I can. I tease her every time I go, daring her to scare the living daylights out of me.
Sometimes, I can swear she responds to my dare. But no-one will believe me. No-one believes in ghosts, where I live.
Perhaps they don’t believe because I have not followed through on the dare, and lived to tell the tale. I hear them say ‘you should spend a night in the house then’, or they put it in the rules of threes, you know, like saying ‘you should go there, three nights in a row. Whatever is in that place, sure won’t like that.’
Of course, it’s my own fault. I say I will go and stay the three nights, but I never do. I can’t, really. I have to be home soon after school, otherwise Mum will be mad.
To understand, you’d really have to see the world through my eyes. That’s the problem with convincing people of the truth. They are only ever willing to accept their version of it.
Everything else, is a lie.
---
“Came in from a rainy Thursday
On the avenue
Thought I heard you talking softly
I turned on the lights, the TV
And the radio
Still I can't escape the ghost of you.”
Ordinary World – Duran Duran
---
Act One: The Witch of Hill-Top Green
The route from my school to home takes about fifteen minutes to walk, maybe ten if I run. On the days that I dare to pass the house on Normandy Road that stands so tall, foreboding, and yes, terrifying to me, I go quicker. Much quicker. On those days, I don’t think Jesus himself could catch me.
It’s something my mum would term as ‘he’s got the fear of God put into him.’ That would be a pretty accurate way to describe it. My heart would beat fast as I would approach it, and even faster as I passed it. As to what happened to my heart as I ran alongside it, maybe, just maybe it stopped beating for a few moments.
I know you won’t believe me, and think that it is the overactive imagination of a child. I’m only ten years old, and I will soon be eleven. I think I might just be growing up, but I know for a fact that the adults think differently when they look at me.
They think I am scared of my own shadow, and well – they’re probably right.
I do have a genuine reason for being scared, I really do. I’ve been nervous for as long as I can remember. Maybe it is a case of genetics, and my parents have passed their fears on to me.
Every time I pass that house on Normandy Road, I refuse to believe my fears are anything to do with genetics. The fear – the one psychiatrists would say is not real or rational, nor one that could hurt me, takes on a life and persona all of its own.
I believe an entity that is the embodiment of all I fear resides in that house.
Now I know I’m being irrational.
At school, we are always trying to scare each other. Sometimes, it’s a dare like going into the girls toilets, even though it’s five minutes after hometime and only the teachers remain in the school.
Oh, and the caretaker. He’s always there.
And the ghost.
Well. We don’t know for sure. There’s an old story that the girls failed to confirm or deny, but it is said that a girl died after being locked in the toilets one night.
The official record of her death (say the girls) is that she died from a severe anxiety attack. The news had reported she was found with her eyes sewn up, and her tongue had been ripped out to stop her screaming.
The boys that heard this added something to it.
“She was killed by the Ghost of Normandy Road.”
Prior to them saying anything, I never believed there was a ghost on Normandy Road. Our school was in the next street, called Bayswater Road.
There was a church beyond it, and a football stadium on the other side of the road that stands to this day.
Normandy Road had tall houses back then, and it’s fair to say that adults were sure to be dwarfed by that big old house.
It stood alone, you see. Every other house was semidetached or part of a terraced block – all except that one. Why, I did not know, but I was intrigued to find out.
That’s what we kids do. We like to look around – if there’s a side entry, a dark alleyway, a broken window or an abandoned house, you can bet we want to check it out.
Not for its historical significance, if it had any, and not because we are without any sense of right and wrong. Don’t let anyone just say ‘oh, they’re kids.’
We know what we are doing – we just happen to rely on the foolishness of society to let us off the hook. I know for a fact that there are some children at the school who play the ‘I’m only a child, I didn’t know it was wrong’ card on purpose.
As for me, I probably had one of those faces that looked innocent in one way, only to be ratted out by my guilty as charged expression.
Sometimes, it was innocent enough. I would be unable to wait to open at least one Christmas or birthday present. I would sneak down the stairs, placing one foot, then another on the far side of the stairwell.
Life was very simple back then. We had a bit of blue carpet that covered the stairs, except for the edges where I now depended on keeping my balance, my safety and my secret. In fact, falling down the stairs and breaking my neck would have been preferable to my mum or anyone else in the family catching me.
I wasn’t supposed to be out of bed. Young children were supposed to go to bed early, quietly, and stay there until the right time to get up for school.
Ugh.
School.
School itself was fine. Looking back, it’s hard to know exactly what we learned in class. I think we had fun for the most part. There was Miss McManus, who would teach us almost every lesson.
Maths, English, Music, she’d do it all.
Sometimes, we’d get Miss Oakley, who was a Nazi in a twinset. Okay, I’m being a little unkind. That sort of title was better reserved for Mrs Pearson (or Mizz Pearson, we were never quite sure and she was unlikely to explain her married status, or otherwise, to a class of school children) whose contempt for us was barely concealed.
Mr Flanagan would teach us Maths too, along with Geography.
P.E class would involve having to change with the other schoolchildren, which I disliked intensely. Not for the bizarre communal situation, no, it was just that certain boys would take it upon themselves to talk when they weren’t supposed to, and our class would be harder as a result.
“Today, we’ll be doing cross-country running.”
The teacher was probably going to let us play football, but decided on a change of lesson content just because one boy was sniggering or had been playing another boy up.
Now we would all pay for it.
“Hey,” they’d say to me, as we would go for the hated run in the mud, the rain, and the cold, “you had better keep up with the pack. The Witch of Hill Top Green is just behind one of the trees, waiting for you to pass.”
I’d fight back with words. “Witches wouldn’t hide in trees. They wouldn’t have to. And it’s you who needs to keep up with the pack, not me. You watch out for the bleedin’ witch!”
Ah yes, the Witch of Hill Top Green.
We’d all seen her, though no-one admits to it, at least, not openly.
We would run, and it would be pleasant enough. The September sun grazed our shoulders gently, unlike the harsh glare of early July. Honestly – two weeks before breaking up for the summer holidays, and they are making us run in blistering heat.
In contrast, I almost found myself enjoying the September run. Then, they’d start their annoying tales again.
“Roy’s gone missing,” said one of them. “I’ve lapped you lot twice now, and there’s no sign of Roy. She must have got him, her bony fingers must be gutting him out right about now.”
I would get a poke in the back when I’d attempt to ignore them, and continue on my run.
“Are you listening? She’s out there! Out here.”
No. I am not listening. I’m running, and will keep running until we get back to the school.
Usually, we would see the teacher over the course of the run. Where was he?
The Witch of Hill Top Green has got him, and Roy. Best be happy she hasn’t got you.
An old house stands on Normandy Road, uncared for and uninhabited for years, until one day, believing an urban legend that no-one dares to live there, a young boy decides to cross its threshold.
Yet the house is far from empty - within its walls, a terrible evil has been disturbed.
It will take one brave soul three of the longest nights of his life to unlock its secrets, but will he live to tell the tale?
***
Although told as a work of fiction, this tale really is based on a true story.
Wait. True story, you say?
Yes. Well. Sort of. You see, there really is a Normandy Road, and there is a red-brick house that stands on its own there too. When I was a kid, it was a bit run down, so I could go into the house, even though I wasn't supposed to. The house certainly had something eerie about it. I only wish I could have shown you what it looked like back then. It has since been done up. It looks like this now.
On the upstairs landing, there was a room and I dared to enter it. There was a wardrobe in one of the rooms, and one of the double doors was ajar. I didn't look into it, the first time I went inside, but I was braver the second time.
What was inside? A bloody corpse. A skeleton. The carcasses of a family piled on top of each other.
No. Nothing so dramatic as that. But there was something odd. The wardrobe had lots of clothes in them - and the period...you'll have to forgive me, but it was a long time ago and I really have think hard to work out the details. The wardrobe had clothes in it. That's all - but they were maybe from the 1950s and 1960s, and when you think I first went into the place in the early to mid 1980s...that means the house was probably empty for all that time.
I never had the 'GET OUT' moment that happens in 'Amityville' but there definitely was a presence there. But there's no more to the story....except that I believe I saw the ghost of a girl in the window. My imagination has always been vivid...but not that good!
So yes, I would say the place was definitely haunted. I wonder do the current inhabitants know?
Here's my review of debut author Carol White who lived in the North-West of England (hey, fans of Wilmslow and Alderley Edge!) , but was born in Malta. Now if only I could be as interesting.....
Synopisis:One minute living the Chelsea highlife, the next drinking vodka with a down-and-out, money-driven Londoner, Jess Wallace only begins to make sense of her life when a crew of ultra-slick con men embezzles her out of her inheritance.
Anxious of reporting the crime, for fear of further incrimination, and also sensing her troubles have only begun, Jess unwittingly manifests wanton chaos into her life until the moment a book on the Law of Attraction changes her entire perspective. When she learns that everything in life is profoundly connected, and that her deception, rather disturbingly, was no random act, leads her to further unearthing shocking family secrets she could neither have predicted nor even imagined. Armed with an unwavering belief that everything in life happens for a reason, Jess knows she must summon all her courage if she is ever to triumph over her adversities.
Forfeit is the first of an engaging and refreshing revenge read, incorporating elements of Hustle and Rhonda Byrne’s (The Secret).
Review:Everyone in this story (apart from a tramp who appears later on) seems to be a well-to-do person and so at first, I wasn't sure if I could relate to the characters. Fortunately, Carol White is an accomplished author - yes, it can be said (!) and writes like someone who has been writing a long time.
Forfeit: An Inheritance Fraud is a fast paced, taut thriller that mixes risky romantic interchanges with some heady falls from grace.
The way Jess, our main character rebuilds her life - literally from scratch, is believable and I think you would have to have a heart of stone not to feel for her. This is the author's power - her character elevates above certain parts of the story, lifting her situation off the page and into your mind. That's powerful writing.
Sometimes the characters seemed a little overwhelming for me, and I felt Alec was made a little one dimensional - it seems he couldn't say or do nothing right! But maybe this is how the character was meant to be.
The story is a complete one in itself and will please those who stick with it. It's an entertaining ride, full of little sub plots that engage the reader. The old lady and the cat subplot was a particular fave of mine, and the iPhone story was just fantastic.
There will be a sequel, and I think that could be even better than this tale. If you want a fast paced story with entertaining characters and a really excellent reveal at the end, get this debut novel now!
In the minefield of books, it is difficult, if not near-impossible to select a book you will be happy with. Sure, you can go by the reviews, but ultimately, you go with your gut (unless you have bags of time and money) and with Amazon's Look Inside feature, or the sample you can send to your Kindle, you can get a good feel for a book without actually buying it.
If you are an author, at whatever stage you find yourself, at best, this book will certainly help you sell more books and at the very worst, you will have learned something about the dark arts. I'm not talking about witchcraft - I am talking about Marketing.
This book is the perfect guide to assist authors who want to publish on Createspace. It's amazing what assumptions people make - the typographer for one of my books said 'Oh all you have to do is send me your Createspace template'...I had no idea what she was on about. That was more than two years ago now (scary) and I can say I do know more about Createspace and what it does.
There are no assumptions that I could find in this book, just clear, concise facts and it is a truly excellent step by step guide to help with publishing on Amazon, which is the easy part. The dark art of Marketing, however, is covered extremely well here and even though I majored in the discipline, that was years ago before the age of social media. The basics of marketing and sales have not changed since the dawn of time. There is a market and there are sellers that operate within that market.
All one has to do, is provide supply for the demand. What demand though? How can you create demand for your book? My other half has a way of putting it, whenever I go into overdrive about one of my favourite books:-
"Whichever book you have, you will still want a new one, a new story, a new adventure. People always want something new."
That's true, and I feel she is right on this. I may love Lord of the Rings, but people will always want the new Lord of the Rings, the new Hunger Games, the new Harry Potter. Dare I say....the new Dark Winter book?
This book helps someone like me....who admits to not being very good at promoting or marketing himself. That's not because I lack confidence - it's more about that I don't want to be a nag, and I believe that if people want to read my books, then they will. I just needed a push to say 'hey, read my book' once in a while, whilst hopefully being supportive to others.
Rick Smith has organised the thoughts we often have, turning them into meaningful actions, and you'll find yourself doing it.
I am trialling a few things from this book:-
Doing the Createspace edition first, not the Kindle version
Joining relevant groups without being a PITB (pain in the butt)
Taking myself seriously as a writer and involving people I know in the process
The last point is very relevant for me. My first non-fiction book came out in 2011, and it was a full two years before I had a meaningful non-fiction book to push out. Two years! Now I do believe in quality over quantity, but we can write more faster than we do. It's shameful when you think about the time we waste.
I have the Kindle version of this book, but I am inclined to purchase the paperback as there is information that may get by you on the e-book. The print edition would force to write your little darlings. Yes, the words nag at you, but unless you park yourself in that chair and disconnect the internet - the words will not get done. Once they are done, you will need a constant reminder to push the book out.
Things I loved:-
"People frequently fail at new things they attempt simply because they do not have a system to follow."
True. Give yourself a system, and follow it, follow it. Follow. IT. (That's enough of the CAPS fury!)
"99c/99p is the new free."
Yep. 'Free books' don't have a value attached and I am not certain they create run-on sales. My first non-fiction book sold just fine without a free book promotion. That doesn't mean I haven't done one; I have, just in my view they do not work. Rick is right - 99c does at least give you a bump up in the early weeks when you are trying to get traction.
"Even in the lower reaches of the top 10k, you'll be moving anything up to 500 units a month."
Doesn't that motivate you to get there too?
Finally, I have to say thanks to my good friend and fellow author Elizabeth for recommending this book. You see, friends, recommendations are so important. We need them. So get reading, get reviewing, and get productive making the best book you can. Give the readers a professional, awesome book that they will happily recommend too!
There are two days to go on the giveaway for Book One, and just over one month until Book Two arrives. So you need to read this first! If you only want the Kindle version, grab it here:- Dark Winter Kindle Version
I thought it was about time I updated you on where I'm at, and if you've been looking at the blog, and I know some of you have, and were wondering when an update was coming, well here it is.
It doesn't mean I've stopped reviewing books (!)....and you really should check out some of the books I have reviewed this last month or so.
Reviewing Books and rating them
However, as I suppose I am an author now, with three books out (two fiction, one non-fiction) that my policy on reviews changed somewhat. Generally if a book didn't work out for me, it doesn't mean it is a bad book. Clearly someone will love it, and it's not necessarily limited to the author and his or her mum!
In the old days, if a book didn't work out for me it might get three stars. If I loved a book, it would get five. I expect I'm not that different from many of you out there. Life is too short to let a book annoy you to the point that you go on a rant to bring an author's rating down. Now, if you are a Stephen King or a Cassandra Clare, maybe you don't have to give a hoot. But if you're trying to establish yourself, maybe think before you do that 1 or 2 star rating. That person has no way to fight back - except perhaps to write an even better book that the haters may have to concede is actually not that bad! Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Just in my case,, I'd rather not attack someone. I used to have a martial arts channel for You Tube and since you can get 'keyboard ninjas' on You Tube, I elected to make the videos private for my students view only.
That seemed to be the best way to deal with it.
Now it might seem I have changed my policy on reviews - not a bit of it. I can still rate a book 1 star and absolutely hate it AND tell people not to buy it....but putting all that on-line is rather harsh in my view, so I won't do it. I wouldn't have done it pre-2011, and I won't do it in the future. Feel free to disagree with me - or challenge me on it!
Stormling: Mordana exists, right?
I finally published my fantasy novel Stormling this month, and the print edition is going through its editing and checking phase. Mordana, the world where most of the action takes place in the book does exist, at least it my head but also in an e-book sense for anyone who purchased the story.
However, one of the provinces of Mordana, Rowse Briar, could have little homes that look like the picture below. I took this picture myself and it's from Charlecote Park in Warwickshire. Couldn't you just see elves, dwarves and other creatures living here? I want this house!
Below is the city centre shopping mall where I live. Yeah it's fine and all that, but I prefer the tranquillity and awesomeness of the place above! Birmingham is a place where people shop, and eat....
And in other parts of the shopping centre, the people shop....and eat....that seems to be about it!
Major thanks to:-
Franny @ Dark World Books for putting up with me whilst I was slow with book files, email responses and
me being generally a difficult customer to deal with! Eye infections are a b*tch to deal with, but the rest from the computer did me the power of good.
Claudia @ Phatpuppyart for continued awesomeness in preparation for the cover art for the second book in my horror trilogy, Dark Winter: Crescent Moon. Final cover art to be revealed and soon.
The Awesome Bloggers on this list who hosted Stormling on their blog. Thanks a million. Remeber to enter the giveway on any of the bloggers er....blog, to win a printed copy of Stormling.
Next up:-
I will be reviewing three new books this coming month.
Finally
Most people I know like cats. This is one of mine (or more accurately, I belong to her). You rock, Gui-Gui. But if I don't sell more books this month, I will have to cut my arm off and feed it to her....you know, like that dude in Survival Type by Stephen King....
"A human arm instead of boiled lobster and caviar? My fur protests!"
I'm sorry to say that some (of my) books continue to appear on pirate websites. Fortunately, Amazon do tend to let you know.
What I would like to say to authors who are getting 'pinched', do contact Amazon or the relevant book seller.
Threatening the pirate sites, even if you are able too, seems to have little effect. All the same, we must keep trying.
I would not even worry about this if I had made some return from the book (s), and in some cases these sites host famous authors who have indeed made their money.
That in itself don't make it right. I think people that do this are the very lowest kind of people.
Anyway, this is the sort of thing Amazon writes to you. I think it is good that Amazon do this, because it helps authors take action.
Do contact Amazon for assistance, because your book may be removed from their special platforms (like KDP Select, KOLL) and it is not fair that authors get punished for this.
I wish you all a successful and piracy-free 2014.
---- Hello, We found the following book(s) you've published doesn’t meet the KDP Select content guidelines because it is available in digital format on another platform. Books enrolled in KDP Select must be exclusive to Amazon in digital format during the entirety of their enrollment in the program. Dark Winter (ID: B00G559BB8) is available on: (I have removed the link as I do not want to give this website ANY promoition). You may need to copy and paste the entire URL above into your web browser to see where we found your book. You can also do an online search for your book to discover where else it may be available. In order for your book to remain in the KDP Select program, we'll need you to ensure that it is exclusive to Amazon within 5 days from the date of this email. If, after this 5-day period, your book is still not exclusive to Amazon, it will remain for sale in the Kindle Store but will be removed from KDP Select. Upon its removal, your book will no longer be eligible to earn a share of the KDP Select fund. Please note that violations of the program’s exclusivity requirement may result in loss of KDP Select benefits, including participation in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL) and the usage of Kindle Countdown Deals or free promotion days. To ensure KDP Select benefits are not revoked, please be sure that all of your KDP Select-enrolled books are exclusive to Amazon in digital format at the time of enrollment. Check out this page to learn more about the KDP Select guidelines: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=200798990#eligibility For all other KDP questions visit: kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/contact-us Thank you for taking the time to ensure your book(s) meets the requirements of the program.
