Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Pick A Pocket Books


http//www.pickapocketbook.com

Here’s a new type of book. It’s small enough to fit in a back pocket or purse, has a flip cover and contains two long short stories, or two short novellas – whichever description takes your fancy. Pick a Pocket Books were designed for the traveller to have a quick read on their journey. The books cost $12.00 and can be bought directly from the website.

Now, you might think this is an advert. Yes it is, though in the publishing world we call it a promotion. As I said when I started this blog, it’s mainly for advertising my own stories and novels – though I did review another writer’s novel not long ago. Whatever takes my fancy.

My pocket book contains two romantic stories. “The Courting of Roscoe” is about 14,000 words and set in Tasmania. Here’s how to seduce a lady with chocolate and cherries! “The Colour of Sunset,” which is the second story, is played out on a cattle station in the Western Australia and is shorter, at 6,000 words. Lady artist meets roving journalist with a nose for a story!

This pocket book is a neat little creature. The publisher will have a stall at the “Back to Booktown Festival” at Clunes in Victoria on 3rd and 4th of May.
I’m sure Marlene Meier will be happy to answer any questions you care to ask if you’re in the area. They might even sell you a book or two.

If you can’t make the festival, please drop in on the site and see what’s on offer from myself and the other authors. And if you want to know what else I’ve published, do please visit my website.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Why I write novels

I’ve just finished writing my twenty-second novel. Actually I’ve written about thirty, but the first half-a-dozen were downright duds. The early models of my novels reside in a single wardrobe. Trying to read one is quite humbling. It reminds me that my writing was unpublishable in the early days – though at the time I didn’t know it! Some writers dig out their early novels and resurrect them. Alas, every one of my early efforts seem stale and out of date and I’d rather write a new book.

Like most skills, the craft of writing has to be learned. Some people go to creative writing classes. Yes, you can learned the steps needed to craft a novel. Now start putting it into practice, because I can almost guarantee that the majority of students will not be able to write a publishable novel until they’ve input a few litres of sweat and tears. There are exceptions, but they are few.

This is not to say that creative writing classes aren’t useful. They are. Usually they’re the first step towards a career as a writer. I did a correspondence course in creative writing, which was helpful in showing me what I was doing wrong (which was everything at first!). It also helped me to sort out the style of writing I enjoyed doing most, which was women’s fiction in novel form, and short stories.

I didn’t get my certificate, because I was one lesson short. Enthusiasm bit me on the bum. I wanted to get on with what I knew I was going to write – and technical writing wasn’t it. It totally bored me. I can’t believe now that I abandoned the course one lesson off completion. Do I regret it? No. I did happen to get my first publication during that time – a story for children that I wrote for the course. A certificate proving that you’ve completed a course in creative writing doesn’t get you publication. It may give you the confidence and persistence to keep writing towards the goal of publication though.

A few years ago I enrolled in a script writers course, mainly because I wanted to learn the technique of scenic writing so I could apply it to my own work. I think this was the most useful course I’ve ever attended, it taught me how to write in a scenic sense, which was a technique that could be applied directly to my own work. It did not, however, turn me into a script writer. I enjoy writing scenery and inner dialogue, exposing the emotions and travelling on the complete creative journey with my characters. In script writing this can’t be done to any great extent or in such detail.

Mentally and physically, writing is hard work. You're in self-imposed solitary confinement. You sit in front of a computer and gradually type your fingerprints off. After a while your wrists ache, so does your back and your neck. Your shoulders freeze, your eyes begin to dry up and after a while you develop twitching eyelids. Oh yes, and the backside tends to spread. The rewards are not all that great, either. It’s an occupation where only the few seem go on to wealth and fortune, and it’s not a profession where equal skill and pay always go hand in hand. It takes me five months to complete a book. Sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day, seven days a week steaming my brain for a clever metaphor or a bright and lively twist of conversation is not always fun. And what other profession will offer you a biannual pay packet six months after you’ve earned it!

So why do I do it? I’m obsessed. I love every moment of writing a novel, even the moments I hate. When it’s produced and I hold it in my hands in its shiny new jacket, and it finally looks, smells and feels like a proper book instead of several figment of my imagination cobbled together with string, it gives me a huge sense of achievement.