Taking Part … Newbie’s Version

Gulp! I have just signed up to my first ‘Blog Block Party’. And cue … panic … and breathe … I can do this, really I can.

Mini-panic over, so what I am I hoping to achieve. Well, it would mean that hopefully, on one day in August, my humble little blog will hopefully have a few more visitors and maybe some of them might even take a look at my books. I am willing to try. And, of course, there will be prizes, so that’s something else to look out for.

$5 or £5 Amazon Gift Card
$5 or £5 iTunes Gift Card
Signed copy of “Bound”, Volume 1 of the Diaries of the Cŵn Annwn
Signed copy of “Alpha”, Volume 2 of the Diaries of the Cŵn Annwn

So that makes four potential winners for this particular blog stop, and more to the point, I am willing to post the signed book copies out to the USA, given that I am in the UK.

I have the blurbs for each of my books. Those lovely Facebook memories reminded me that two years ago, I decided to take all those bits of stories that I had written over the years and turn them into proper novels, but even that stage wouldn’t have happened were it not for the encouragement of my two friends, Tracy Andrews and Donna DeBoard.

On several of the writing groups that I have subscribed, the question is asked time and again on the differences between self-publishing and traditional publishing. I went down the route of self-publishing, not least because, having worked in sales for a couple of decades, I couldn’t see the point in giving away a portion of my royalty income to an agent. Agents have lots of clients generally. Yes, they have the names and connections, and if I was dependent on my book sales for income, I might see this as an advantage.

But, I am in the fortunate position that I do have another source of income, so it means that succeed or fail, it will be down to how much effort I am willing to put into the promotion of my books.

So, back to the original point. Little steps into that big wide world. I will look at it as I did the first demonstration I ever did to a customer. Well, less said about that one … The point was, as bad as it was, my customer bought from me. Two decades later, I am doing a job I love. My efforts will determine whether writing will remain something I enjoy and love.

#RRBC #RaveReviewsBookClub

Procrastinap … The Fine Art

Procrastination

Wonderful word: procrastinap. My son defined it for me as the ability to delay working on something by taking a strategic nap, or, in my case, indulging in something else … anything else, except what you are supposed to be doing.

In my case, the timely reminder was that my father asked me to sign a paperback copy of my book for him. My son was looking at the flyleaf and commented that the next book was due out in October 2016. That would be Beta, the story of the Negrescu Cwn Annwn Pack Betas and how they find their own Mates. There is a lot more to the story that that, but as the saying goes, buy the book to find out.

Procastinapping then. I have actually set myself the target date of end of August for Beta to be published. The joys of self-publishing. Why? My niece in Australia has finished reading both Bound and Alpha, and she wants more. So, at her instigation, I am trying to produce Beta a bit sooner. But, I need to translate it from the 1st person narrative in which it was written into 3rd person deep point of view (POV). That is not a quick process. I have done around 50,000 words of a 150,000 rough draft, but that still leaves me with 100,000 words to go. And that will just be the first draft of the 3rd person deep POV version.

Then the work starts. Leave it at around 150,000 words, or try to reduce it down to 120,000 or so, about the length of the other two books. More words means higher production costs for the paperback version. Decisions, decisions. So what is my solution? Out and out procrastination.

I was telling myself that it was all for a good cause. I was working on some of the later manuscripts: Ddraig, Anatarchi and the current work-in-progress, Cythraul. So it was good, it was all related. But it is not Beta. Any writer will tell you, this is a common problem. Not quite writer’s block, but still the same effect. The book on which I need to work is the one I am avoiding. I need to ‘get back in touch’ with the main character. That’s the problem. Once I am in the zone, when I can hear Bran’s deep voice echoing in my mind, the warmth, the feeling of ‘cwtch’ that he epitomises, then it will start to flow again. I will hear the music in his voice, the emotion, the love that he holds for those dear to him, coupled with the rage if anyone thinks to harm those dear to him.

Picture me smiling … That’s better. I can ‘feel’ Bran in my mind now. So, my friend, shall we talk further?

Turn the black dog to a puppy

So, I was in a foul mood earlier, but now … what made a difference? Yes, sending off my Appraisal form to the boss. Now I can forget about it until Friday.

Now I shall relax a bit, and turn my mind to my stress-relief, which is my writing, and in particular, pulling all the chapters of the last but one work in progress into one document. That way, I can keep an eye on consistency in the earlier books.

But that damn black dog. I don’t mind admitting it. My first encounter with yon black dog was just after my son was born, 22 years ago. Periodically, it rears its head again, that voice that tells me I am not good enough. Strange how it hits at appraisal time.

What can I do about it? I can ensure that the niggling voice which tells me I am not good enough is silenced, or at least pushed into the corner where it belongs. I can look at the feedback I receive from my friends and my family, the people whom I trust to be honest. They are the ones who matter to me.

Mental illness, depression, is still a taboo subject. Now, with employers putting more and more pressure on individuals, any weakness is something unwelcome. Don’t delude yourself that they care. All that matters is the bottom line. The ones that care are closer to home: your family, your true friends. They are the ones who will understand. So it took me a couple of decades to learn that lesson, but there you go.

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Finding my ‘oomph’ …

my-black-eyed-dog1

What is it about that time of year … The Annual Performance Review, a time for ‘the management’ to make themselves feel good. No, no! It is a time for you to put yourself forward, to show what you can do and what you have achieved. It is your time to shine, and to blow your trumpet, because the Gods know, no one else is going to do it.

Excuse me while I reach for the bucket/bin/paper bag …

In case I wasn’t clear, I hate the annual performance review, because after 20 years in sales, one thing has become apparent. A salesperson is hired to sell. Fail to achieve your target and it doesn’t matter one whit what else you have done, whether you have glowing references from your customers, whether someone else caused a problem. Fail to hit your sales target and you have failed. End of story.

The thing is, how do you take it? Sales is a tough game. Even tougher than it was when I started. I am a third-generation salesperson as well, courtesy of my grandfather in India and my father here. So, if anything could be send to be a part of my genetic material, it was a career in sales. Like I said, the field of sales in which I work has changed dramatically, and as this is written under my real name, that’s all I will say on that one. Other than last year, I did not hit my sales target.

The reasons don’t matter. What matters is what I will do about it.

I don’t mean what wonderful plans I will put in place, what projects I will set up. I don’t mean how much more proactive I will be in the follow up of those projects. I don’t mean whether I will let a setback be a problem or an opportunity to change the game plan.

Whoops! Need that bucket again …

Okay, what I will do is I will examine what went wrong, because if I didn’t achieve my target, then clearly something went wrong. To me, that was my innocent belief that somehow my colleagues and I are in this game together. To be blunt, no we are not. It is a lonely old world out there, and when it comes down to it, the only one who will look out for you is … you. So, big girl panties pulled up, and a tough dose of realism.

Whether you are trying to make it in a sales career, maintain the impetus in a sales career, advance up the career ladder, the message is still the same. Only you can make the difference in what happens. I am sure others will say they are there to support you, but if there was one lesson I learned in reviewing my performance for The Appraisal, it was that their support will disappear faster than snow on the Equator.

Rely on yourself. Simple as that. Your dream. Your reality.

So, you are a writer

Were there ever five words which are heard more than once or twice. And, let’s not forget that, because the cover implies romance, the next question: “Is it like …?”. I will leave out the name of THAT book.

Actually, I am not just a writer. I am a working mother and wife as well as being a writer. Ironically, more recently, the writing came about as a means of relieving stress and boredom as my day job requires more than a few nights away from home in hotels. I had long since thought that no one would want to read what I had written. It was just a schoolgirl’s fantasy, after all …

In to my Facebook messages dropped a note from someone who ran an online role-play group related to one of my own favourite authors, Sherrilyn Kenyon. Would I be interested in writing with their group? Cutting to the chase, I started to write the part of one of the Dark Hunters of Ms Kenyon’s creations, and much to my surprise, I discovered that people liked the way that I interpreted how he might react after the story in ‘his’ book.

Unfortunately, that group imploded for various reasons, and I started my own group, the very early stages of the Hunter’s Arrow. I was delighted when my writing partner from the role-play group decided to continue writing with me, and even more so when another writer from that group joined us.

It seemed that we ‘clicked’ as writing partners, as demonstrated by us writing a first draft of what would become Volume 3 of our series over the Christmas break of 2014. Who would guess that by 2016, we would be writing the first draft of Volume 9?

And now? Where are we now? Volume 9 “Cythraul” is progressing. Volume 3 “Beta” is being edited for publication in October 2016. We have three very gifted and creative younger writers who have joined our group. I have made friends with people around the world. Yes, some whom I had called friends have parted company, but that is life.

In answer to that question above: yes, the stories do contain sex. And no, it is not like that ‘other’ book. If you want to know more, then look up the titles on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Smashwords and iTunes.