AUTHOR'S CORNER;

HOW DO I APPEAL???

Now, it's no lie that almost every author will write firstly for the pure love of writing.  Most of us, if not all, feel compelled by some obscure force to write and write and write!  Most of us see the world in different shades of colour and have a need to share with others.  We see characters enriched and have a desire to bring them to life upon the pages of our novels.  Nothing gives us greater pleasure than to create, animate and bring forth a character which is living and breathing and thinking upon page after page of a mini world, parallel to this, of our own creation.  Power in our fingertips, insight in our minds, stories at the tips of our tongues.  There is nothing that can compare to the power of imagination; because to imagine is to escape into a world of your own making, to let go of all inhibitions and spread our broken wings. To imagine is an alternative to reality and reality often drags!  

Now that's great; need met and desire fulfilled!  But now we come to the more difficult part, the part which every writer struggles or has struggled with at some point in their career; the appealing to others!  Remember, the writing part is the personal part, because that part was done in private, at the comfort of your own desk, in the safety of your own home. Now comes the real test, the bit where you have to put yourself out there and get someone to notice you.  Not as easy as it seems; for there are so many obstacles in your way, you'll soon realise that your resolve and determination are put to a very harsh test!  To mention a few, the obstacles in your way can vary from the style of your writing to the current market trend that's out there.  Not to mention that it is extremely difficult to break into the world of publishing; most big publishers do not want unsolicited manuscripts (which means, no author without Agent representation) and will not even give your manuscript a second glance!  Most Agents will be extremely picky (with good reason, they have to be sure they can sell your work) and they are often harder to obtain than publishers.....get the picture???  So one moves onto independent publishers in the hope of finding a platform.  And let me say, thank God for independent publishers, for they are a Godsend to most of us!  But then there is a catch, the catch?  you will find that you will need to do an awful lot of self promotion yourself!  Whilst the independent publisher will do a good job and give you very good treatment, they have not the bookshelf space a giant publisher might have in bookshops, nor the millions to put behind your promotion of that of the 'big boys', nothing personal, it's just a fact!  So the responsibility falls on you to promote yourself.  Easier said than done!

Don't ask me how it's done; if I knew I would be a millionaire by now!  The point is, one never really knows what or how to appeal to others.  You have tasks set out once you have published a book; mainly to sell as many copies as possible. And although your book is doing nicely on Amazon and other websites, you now need to spread the word to the masses. One way to do this is by book signing, but when you do approach shops, you are often told that the shop can not let you book sign because of blah, blah, blah!  Which basically means nothing to you, because they get the books free and only make a profit if they sell and never make a loss because they can send the books back!  Enough meetings with store managers and lame excuses can leave a writer quite disheartened!  You know you need to get the promotion but you can't pester the shop managers; you'll only end up making enemies and that is no good.  Remember, no matter how frustrating it may seem, you need the store managers' help at some point!  

The other way to promote yourself is to try and get yourself in the local paper; ring up, tell them you are a local writer and you've just been published!  Easy right?  Every local paper likes to write about a local writer, show some community spirit?  Wrong!  Basically, you are often regarded as wasting their time!  But come to them with a burglary story (as I did a few years back) and they will jump at your misfortunes, because it's juicy gossip!

The third way to promote yourself is to try and get yourself an interview on local radio....huh, have you tried?  It is like trying to get into Buckingham Palace!

The fourth way is to go on social media.  Yes, tweet, Facebook it and tumblr your way to the top.....um, right....okay, where the hell is the top???

The fourth way, of course, is to blog, get enough blog followers and your name will become popular.  

I personally have found this way to be effective, as many people on the web have   already approached me and expressed their pleasure in my blog!  At least with blogging, you know that you are reaching someone and yet you are sufficiently far enough not to be seen as pestering!

And as my friend Christine once suggested; perhaps a stint on Big Brother might do the trick!  Who knows, I might just put myself forward.......

AUTHOR'S CORNER;

THERE ARE...

There are stories to be shared, things that need to be said, people that need to be told.  There are a thousand reasons not to and a million reasons why we should.  Lest we forget and the suffering is all in vain,lest we comply with injustice and turn a blind eye.  

There are tears of despair, tears of anger and tears of regret. There are breaths taken in fear, breaths taken in desperation and gasps of anxiety.  There are breaths taken in sorrow as they predict the stories of the human race.  

There are stories to be told, names to be shared and things that need to be said.  As the hand of humanity beats against the rhythm of life, hearts beat to the rhythm of life, life beats to the drumming of the hearts, entwining in rhythmic

motion. 

Blood runs through veins, veins that run to arteries and arteries that run to the life force and saturate the human race. Imprinting and decoding and reinventing humanity.  

Seas that beat against rocks, rocks that crumble from the mountains and mountains that peak from out of the seas. All marking and shaping and coding and decoding and reinventing the life force. 

There is life that is born and life that dies, there is life which is brought about and life which is destroyed.  And there is life which lingers in the hollow eyes of memory, making good of its existence by haunting the rest for all eternity.

There are stories to be said, thoughts to be shared, things that should have been told.  Sweat that saturates the earth, tears that feed the plants and fear that clouds the skies.  

There are clouds that shelter the earth, rain that exposes the secrets, and lightening that jolts the people.  There is justice in injustice if hope is let go, and happiness in unhappiness if it serves the purpose.  An incorruptible corruptness in a world of manufactured dreams, where souls are ten a penny and tears are plentiful.  Where souls are bought for as little as an illusion and sold on at a profit to line the rich man's pocket; to keep him appeased.  

There are stories to be shared, love that needs to be told, things that haven't been said.  There is famine and war, there is pain and suffering.  There is the lost dream that lingers in the corner of the poor man's eye, the shattered hope that beats at the heart of the victim and the broken, wondering spirit that plays upon the mind of the lost.  

There is the lost world of make belief, the lost hope in the eyes of intoxication.  There is the sorrow that sits on the temple of the head, reminding us all of the inevitable.  There is the glare of the sun, exposing the secrets and the harshness of the night, under the vast and lonely universe. 

There are stories to unfold, hope that needs to be shared and things that must be told.

There are dreams in nightmares and nightmares in reality and reality which seems like but a dream.  There is illusion in deception and deception in the truth.  All held together by the poor man's hope and desperate need for salvation.  

There are ...there are stories to be told. 

AUTHOR'S CORNER;

ALONE IN MY BUSY MIND!!

Now, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade, right? There is always a positive side to every negative and the sun always, always shines, even if the skies are grey and overcast! The world spins to many different tunes and there is more than one way to find happiness.  In other words, there is room enough for all of us in this life!  Yet in my mind, in my writer's mind, amongst the jargon, words, ideas and half plots of stories that are all fighting to get out at the same time, I often find myself ..... well I often find myself beside myself with desperation and frustration and an unhealthy need to push ahead!  

The need to live and relive and act and react and bring to life the reality of my warped and confused fragile mind often overwhelms me to the point of mild depression.  Why? Simple, I am a writer; which means I have an over active imagination and a fragile self esteem.  I need to imagine in order to feel complete.  I need to create worlds at my finger tips in order to build walls of armour and fortresses of disguise.  My temper flares as do my plots and goes on a low as does my will to continue what I am doing!  I am basically the blank page on which I write and I shape and reshape myself image by plots and fantasies. I only ever truly belong when I am in my novels and the world, the real world, is but a fictional reality that I find myself forced to reside in.... insanity is never that far away!

Life in it's stark form tends to bore me and leaves me despondent, I need to create and alter it slightly in order to feel whole.  And though there is lots I love about my life, lots I appreciate and I do have a lot to be grateful for, this is a problem I have suffered from an early age; my imaginary friends always seemed to follow me around as a child, and when it came to choosing between them and the real world, they always seemed to come up trumps!  They understood me, they appreciated my quirkiness more than any real life person could, and yes, I am aware...it could be because they were merely an extension of myself, a world which I had created.

When days were grey, I could conjure up the sun and when friends were sparse I could have a whole crowd around me.  And criticism was not present in my world, only in the outside world.  Inside my mind, the world was how it should be....playing to my tune!  In my world the world was real; real in my perception and solid in my convictions.  In my world, I was able to explore dangerous situations safely, love without getting hurt, cry without shedding any tears.  In my world....in any writer's world, the world is a playground, full of adventure without limitations or taboos.  

I suffer what most writers suffer; I exist in two worlds, coinciding and colliding; often intruding on one another, sometimes crashing into each other and wobbling at my

sensitivities and making me temperamental.  I see the personalities of people as though I were looking through a microscope; I read several traits into one personality and understand far more the intricate body gestures and facial expressions.  I see human love, suffering, anguish and distress, I see poverty and wealth and read into all what I see.  And it overwhelms and overpowers and sometimes I just need to recreate it all on paper in order to make sense of it all!  To stop the story reel rolling, and to quieten the confusion in my head....I recreate it all in order to kill it all!

In order to revive it all again and make sense of the world in which I exist!  To quieten my dreams and sleep soundly, knowing that I have reinterpreted the world the way I see it.   Madness? Perhaps, or maybe just a different point of view. Whatever you want to call it, rest assured most of 'us' writers have the same predicament, live with the scenarios that play themselves out day in day out in our minds.  Dream of normality yet seek to find it upon the twisted pages of our stories.  It is how we make sense of the world.  And when we are not heard, when we are not picked up and read, it leaves us self doubting and empty.  When we pour our hearts and souls out upon the blank pages and nobody notices, it leaves us wondering, it leaves us doubting....it makes us invisible and renders us vulnerable.  

For what are we if not the ghosts that play upon the haunted house of the minds?  What are we if not the spirit that shapes and reshapes the cognitive thinking of our readers?  What are we if we are not able to pass in and out of people's senses and thoughts?  What are we, if we are not writing the world to rights?

AUTHOR'S CORNER;

TEN WAYS TO KILL A WRITER!

Unbeknown to many people and not much discussed in public circles; is the fragile and indeed risky state of a writer.  You see we all think of writers as strong, intellectual types with a vast insight in life that nothing can possibly bother them.  Yet we find those strange people are often plagued by a sense of great despair and a tendency to sink deep into depression.  Why, you may ask, as those delightful beings literally have the whole world at their fingertips; creating and dictating stories and worlds which dazzle and capture the masses.  The answer is quite simple; they being the creators of stories and worlds and characters and morals and myths, leaves them rather vulnerable and open to so many of the elements of human torture, mockery and criticism   The fact they are able to create, feel the need to invent, have a burning desire to play peeping Tom in fictional lives, is indication enough of the vast insecurities they themselves feel about themselves!!  They are not sure of their own self worth and justification they endeavour to seek it through 'fictional avatars'; for every writer will 
have a character in their story which has an element of their real self; you as the reader, have just got to find it.  And if you are lucky enough to actually know the writer personally, you will start to see a certain character emerging in all the writer's novels, under the guise of many, many names! 

And in spite of what the ordinary reader may think; these writers are so easily destroyed, so vulnerable are they in their insecurities that one can simply pick and pull away at one of their threads and completely unravel them!  For as writers, all they have is their carefully constructed image, their persona, their oh so fragile alter ego!  

THERE ARE SURE WAYS TO KILL A WRITER, AND NONE OF THEM INVOLVE GUNS!

1.  Putting them under mental pressure to produce a piece of fiction!  A writer is essentially an artistic being, and asking them to write on demand is a sure way to kill their creative side!!

2.  Belittling their writer's block and labelling them 'just lazy' is a sure way to keeping them blocked for even longer! There is nothing that clogs the mind quite like someone standing over you asking if you are unblocked yet!

3.  The key word is in 'writer', they are not, will never be and have never been domestic people!  Chores such as cleaning and cooking is a drain on their creative juices and frankly quite boring!

4.  Whilst their spouses may think it is fun to stay up all night and watch telly and can't understand why, since all the writer does is sit at a desk 'enjoying' themselves, they can't stay up till the early hours of the morning watching films!  A writer needs rest and lots of brain power, since, really, it does take more than a few brain cells to come up with an entire 

plot!


5.  I know it is tempting to bring that smug writer down a peg or two, but believe me, they are so weak, so fragile, that any personal criticism will tip them over the edge.

6.  One sure way to kill the artistic essence of a writer, is poverty!  Yes, yes, the art thing is lovely and very romantic...but even a writer would like to eat from time to time!

7.  Asking a writer if they are in the 'right profession' is a sure way to destroy their confidence!

8.  If there is nobody to read their books to, a writer will surely perish!









9. Not getting recognition from bookshops, critics, or even locals, is a sure way to make a writer feel invisible!

10.  Trying and succeeding to understand your writer will only result in self destruction on the writer's part!!




 

AUTHOR'S CORNER;

YOU CAN'T RUN!

They say women hold the future in the palms of their hands; with the souls of men in one and the hearts of children in the other. Holding tightly to their essence, they forever have ultimate power. They say women are the nannies, the matrons, the teachers of humanity; nurturing or corrupting the world how they see fit. And always forever holding men ransom to their needs and hostage to their desires.  The power in our fingertips far exceeds any weaponry that man can invent, far outweighs any price that man can put on an object.  For they hold them and their children in their web of love; and just like a spider, they can choose to devour them at any time. And they can't run from who they are. 

They say men run with the wind and break through the barriers of time; conquering land and looting, taking chattel and raping the world.  they say men understand nothing but their burning desires, comprehend no more than what their needs dictate, see no farther than what their greed thirsts for; forever victims of their own wrath and greedy disposition.  And they need the steady hand of good women to calm them, the gentle voice to soothe them and the resourceful eye to make them a home.  Good women to draw them into their bosoms and rest their weary heads for a while.  To wipe away their doubts and feed the emptiness in their souls.  And they can't run from who they are.

They say children are but gifts, they are given on loan; to nurture, to love, but never to own.  They are gifted to us for a moment in time, to help us lest we forget when we too had hope and innocence.  They say the laughter of children raise up a thousand sleeping souls and blow life into the world. They say they are as innocent as angels and as corruptible as demons and as fragile as flowers and as strong and compelling a presence as ever there was. They say children are the gifts of life.  And you can't run from what they are. 

They say no matter how fast or how long you run, you can never run from yourself. You will never outrun what you are, for it will only run up ahead of you.  It is like a wild dog, taking chase, stopping dead in front of your face.  But it will always be there, looking you straight in the eyes.  Might as well stop running. 

They say one can grow old trying to find the fountain of youth before death beckons anyway.  And when all is done and said, where else should we go but back over that bridge were once we came?  They say death comes to all of us, no matter how long we hold on, no matter how much we wish it, for earth is just a meadow we pass, we tally and enjoy, but only for a while.  

They say life is but a passing moment; a fleeting flicker in time.  A flash in the universe, forever consumed and lost in the cosmos. The only thing that sustains life is the memories we hold, forever floating through time and space, like the light of a dead star. 

And you can't run, you can't run from yourself, because no matter how far you go, or how long you run for, you will never be able to run from yourself; it will only run up ahead of you!  And you can spend your life running and your youth searching for the fountain of youth and your last breath trying not to die!  But you can't run, no, you can't outrun yourself, it will only run up ahead of you!  Might as well stop running.

AUTHOR'S CORNER;

MIDNIGHT RANT!

I SEE SAME DIFFERENCE

It saddens me to think of all the suffering and disasters that are taking place in the world; mainly conjured up through the stupid misconception that we are somehow very different from one another.  Race, religion and so called human rights seem to be the culprit of many a crime.  People are killing each other for the sake of preservation, how can that preserve?  People are murdering each other for so called human race, how can you have a human race when you differentiate against the races?   Can death ever be for the betterment of anything?

  

We like to seek out differences so that we may delude ourselves that we stand superior to our fellow man; the shade of one's skin, the colour of one's eyes or even the tightness in the curl of one's hair can be the difference between happiness or hardship, acceptance and rejection.  And although we like to say the right political jargon nowadays, and confirm that none of this actually matters, deep down inside, we don't believe it so, for each one just wants to be a bit more superior, better, smarter, richer, even a shade fairer than the guy next door.  It doesn't matter that we are all human and inhabit the same space.  

Because it shouldn't matter if your parents were black, white, yellow or brown; it's just a shade or two in either direction.  It shouldn't matter if your hair curls of hangs straight, we all have heads and hair follicles!  It shouldn't have to matter if you are Lebanese or Guyanese; the point is, you are human, a human being!   And should it matter what garment your grandparents wore, or what language they communicated in?  They had tongues in their heads and a brain that dreamt up ideas. Does the type of food you eat determine your worth and importance as a person?  We all have stomachs and we all need to eat in order to survive. 

We are the only animal/creature that differentiate our own kind by the colour of our skin!  Have you ever heard of black cats hating ginger cats just because of the colour of their fur?  Or white dogs attacking black dogs?  Have you ever seen animals behave as badly as humans?  

As for faith; the one thing that God told us to have, we've managed to make that an ugly thing and turned what is essentially humble into something horrible and judgemental.  killing for faith; how can you believe that God is the creator and yet still go ahead and kill his creation?  

 Or does the faith you hold make you better or worse than somebody else?  Don't we all worship our creator anyway?  

Don't we all worship our creator anyway? Don't we all pray for salvation anyway? In our own special way, don't we all pray?

END OF RANT; TIME TO SLEEP!

AUTHOR'S CORNER;

THE SEVEN DEADLY READERS

It has come to my attention as I was on my routine exercise walk this morning, exactly what it is that is making me feel a bit down and gloomy.  You see, I am a thinker; by virtue of being a writer, and tend to use my walking time not only as exercise but also a time to think, to contemplate, to reason and come to terms with those small nagging worries that seem to dance in the back of my head and plague my fragile mind.  

I should by all reason, be happy and content, as I have just had my second novel published.  Though not exactly rolling in fame and fortune, the mere notion of me, me, being out there in the book market, should fill me with sheer, unadulterated happiness.  Yet I find myself quite depressed and quickly fading into self criticism of the vulgar variety!  I have asked myself why many a time before; I have berated my ungratefulness and gave myself a strict telling off for not basking in the glory of my achievement.  The answer up until this morning had eluded me!

It is not the lack of international fame or the absence of insurmountable fortune that has depressed me; all writers start off small and it takes almost forever to get known properly (I have done very well so far) or even have priority on major bookshelves. It is not even the difficulties in finding a book store willing to give you a book signing; times are hard and even well known writers don't get the turn up they used to!  So what was it that was giving me such blues and rendering me sleepless?  It occurred to me this morning, and through thoughtful contemplation I was able to reason that probably most writers have encountered this strange phenomenon; I call it .....  THE SEVEN DEADLY READERS!   Let me explain; friends and family are there to give you moral support and encouragement, constrictive criticism and guidance, right?  the other group (The Seven Deadly Readers) are a set of people that you might have known before or on the onset of publishing your work.  They go under the guise of friendship and attach themselves quite closely to you.  There main purpose is not to love and cherish you, as friends should, but to put obstacle in your way, to diminish your confidence and put doubt in your mind. They are basically to writers what demons are to mankind.

OKAY, LET ME EXPLAIN ABOUT THESE WONDERFUL CREATURES!

The Critic:  This person will critique all your work, under the guise of well meaning, helpful pointers!  He/she will find fault in almost everything you write, everything you think, everything you say and definitely, everything you do!  Soon you too will find fault in yourself and hate the sound of your own voice!!

The Well Read: Basically this is a person who has read an awful lot of books, from the complete works of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Earnest Hemingway, and most contemporary writers, and loads of factual books to add to the mix. Not to mention self help, religious and new age philosophy, and can WE discuss please????  Soon you will feel like a dumb, dumb, idiot!



The Delusional: This person reckons that you are far more famous than you think you are, you are sooo sexed up in your real life because your books contain some romance, you are quite a bitch really because you have some swear words in your books and you are in actual fact writing about actual situations you have been through. You are also probably, very possibly writing about them!!!  Soon you WILL doubt your motives!

The Jealous:  Yes, this particular 'pretend' friend is actually jealous of you.  They don't hold the slightest bit of admiration for you and they only really wish to see you fall!  They do very, very little to hide their jealousy.  Soon you will feel apologetic for even existing!




The Snob:  This person does not believe that someone like you can actually obtain such heights as say- publishing a book!  He/She will seek to find flaws in your character, background or even ethnicity in order to validate their reasoning!  Your name is too foreign, your education is too inadequate, your hair is too blonde!!! Soon you will try to attain a higher standing in life by pretending to be 'posher' than what you really are.....that's when your downfall begins!


The Competitor: Usually, this is a person who is also fond of literature and also dabbles in writing, though not on a professional level.  They will seek to compete with you in everything else you do in life.  If you buy a new outfit, so will they, if you cut your hair, so will they, if you go to the cinema, so will they.  They will shadow your life completely and turn up to rain on your parade when you least expect it!  Soon life will become a drag, and the things you enjoyed doing will be meaningless!




The doubtful:  This person will make it their business to put doubt in your mind. They will look at you doubtfully when you tell them that you have just gotten a review for your book.  They will smile at you falsely when you say that you are writing a new novel.  They will ask you questions like, 'Have you had it proof read?' when you mention your book is out.  They will mention in passing that they are reading your book, then just stop short of telling you their opinion. Soon you begin to feel that maybe, perhaps, you are not as good as you thought!


SO WHAT HAVE I DECIDED TO DO ABOUT IT?  Well, just like with the seven deadly sins, my challenging nature has got the better of me and I have decided to indulge a little, court them, play with them and see if I can get away unscathed!  LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!